Where to watch: Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Netflix. Mahershala Ali also won a best supporting actor Oscar for his eloquent father figure. About this list: (+18) join me in a total non-heterosexual movies. Moonlight (2016) Barry Jenkins’ poetic, compassionate 2017 best picture Oscar winner follows the awakening of Chiron (Ashton Sanders), a young black gay man growing up in Miami. Why do we need the word “queer” to expect to see queer characters? Don’t we all encounter LGBTQ people every day? And why don’t our “regular” movies reflect that?įrom stories that nail the hardships of LGBTQ teens to those that capture the magic of a first love, here are our favorite queer coming-of-age stories.Ī version of this story was originally published in March 2018. A list of 10 films compiled on Letterboxd, including The Ornithologist (2016), O Fantasma (2000), Pink Narcissus (1971), Sebastiane (1976) and Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo (2016). We should not only insist on more queer coming-of-age stories, which can be life-changing for LGBTQ youth who don’t see themselves depicted elsewhere, but insist on our inclusion in so-called “regular” coming-of-age stories. Many of my favorite coming-of-age stories are heartbreaking for just how poignantly they show this plight, from Hilary Swank’s performance in Boys Don’t Cry to Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain. Of course, it’s only recently that LGBTQ youth have had the possibility of a coming-of-age story like the one shown in Booksmart. LGBTQ youth have lived in fear of bullying, harassment, and abuse for decades, and it’s important to tell those stories to let those suffering know they’re not alone.
