Gay-themed film that changed your life.

[bi_janus]

Interesting article to be published in the Sunday NYT Arts & Leisure section.

http://artsbeat.blog...d-your-life/?hp

[The Pecman]

I think the 1982 movie Making Love changed my life. I came out of the closet a week or two after seeing it, and just passed 30 years of that anniversary.

[colinian]

When I was about 11 years old I saw Beautiful Thing on TV. It showed how two guys could fall in love with each other and come out and be accepted.

Colin

[Bruin Fisher]

I seem to have amassed quite a collection of gay movies on DVD, some of which, let's face it, are not great. But among them are several that have had an effect on me, such as:

Maurice

Brokeback Mountain

Beautiful Thing

My Beautiful Launderette

A Single Man

A Love to Hide

The Lonely Hearts Club

Naked Boys Singing

Cockles and Muscles

Walking on Water

Loose Cannons

Sascha

Shelter

... the list goes on and on. Some of these are not great movies, although none of them are bad movies, I think. But all of them played a part in helping me to 'orient' myself - to recognise that other people see life from the same point of view that I do, and that there's nothing wrong with that. For that reason I am fond of these movies, and they stand higher in my estimation than they would in the estimation of someone for whom they do not have such association.

[R.J.]

I really enjoyed Latter Days. :) Made me cry haha :D

[Bruin Fisher]

Yes - Latter Days should have been on my list, too.

[vwl]

I just purchased A Love to Hide, a French movie taking place during WW II. The movie is about a Jewish woman and two gay men in occupied France, where any of them could be taken away by the Vichy government or the Nazis.

Excellent film, but not an upper.

[DesDownunder]

I have posted an article relevant to this thread, but I think it is bit long to post here.

[JamesSavik]

I am yet to see the gay themed movie that changed my life.

L. I. E. was pretty good... but not life changing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.I.E.

Mysterious Skin was very disturbing but brilliant film. http://en.wikipedia....Mysterious_Skin

This episode of 21 Jump Street opened my eyes to some things that I didn't want to see.

[Bruin Fisher]

Glad you liked A Love to Hide, vwl - it's one of my favourites, too.

[colinian]

Thanks for the link, James. That's an episode I hadn't seen.

Colin

[TracyMN]

"My Beautiful Laundrette"

and later, "Brokeback Mountain"

[The Pecman]

There were also a lot of bad gay movies that kept me firmly in the closet, affecting me in the wrong direction. The Boys in the Band (1970) was way depressing, and Cruisin' (1980) was grim and violent. Neither were my idea of what being gay should be. At least with Making Love, it was more about affection and making a choice.

I also really, really liked Queer as Folk (many years later), and the show inspired me to write gay fiction for the first time, in 1999 and 2000.

[DesDownunder]

What I am seeing is that there is more a common time than common film for influence from a movie. What is inspiring for one is depressing for another.

This is probably an indication that at the right moment a film will come along that speaks to us as individuals. I remember loving Doris Day in Calamity Jane, but being only 9 yers old or so, I didn't get the hint.

Also there were lots of cowboys and indian movies with indians with bare backsides and cowboys with bulges. Then there was Tony Curtis, and that boy in grade four who I told that I wanted all the boys to lose the shorts, and..Dirk Bogarde as a cute young Doctor in the House. Not to mention Bugs Bunny in dresses. No wonder I find it hard to believe that anyone is really straight.

[dude]

The Boys in the Band (1970) was way depressing

The Boys in the Band was the first gay move I saw in the cinema... I credit it with keeping me in the closet for years.

[DesDownunder]

People flocked to Boys in The Band here in Adelaide. It was helped by a previous stage version in a local theatre. The general reaction was one of immense desire for a change in the law as well as the straight community showing some degree of awakening tolerance.

If you want depression, I recommend the film/play (1971/1968) Fortune and Men's Eyes. Now that one really had the censors working overtime.

[The Pecman]

The Boys in the Band was the first gay move I saw in the cinema... I credit it with keeping me in the closet for years.

Yeah, I always thought that it was interesting that William Friedkin directed this one and Cruisin'. Go figure -- the guy is ostensibly straight and has been married several times. Very difficult guy, but he can do good work (as with The Exorcist).

[Chris James]

I really think I was aware of my gay side back in 6th grade, but I don't recall any one film that allowed me to feel I was a part of society. Back then the gay image was so negative, gays died in films because they were unnatural, perverse creatures. Yeah, well I didn't accept that one bit.

I do recall seeing Mando Cane when I was 14 (Okay, it was an art film, but I liked strange films back then) which only reenforced the idea that I didn't want to be straight. The scene I refer to is the girl in Lapland and the reindeer. If you have never seen the film then I won't go into details...you don't want to know.

La Cage Au Folles made quite an impression in later years, as did Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. In those I saw the fun gay men could have and not just because of the drag. In my theater work I did technical work for one of the annual drag shows in Washington, D.C. Most of my contemporaries wouldn't have anything to do with it because of the homophobe factor, but I saw it as a job and enjoyed the hell out of doing it.

James has mentioned Mysterious Skin, a disturbing film to say the least. (But I own a copy) I have followed the career of Joseph Gordon-Levitt since his childhood, and I have been pleased as his roles developed into an amazing career. His character in this film is believeable only because of his acting skills. That had to be a very tough role.

But now movies like Brokeback Mountain have mainstreamed gay film. A tragic love story akin to Romeo & Juliet in my mind, a film I have to prepare myself to watch because of the strong emotions. And despite the other films I have mentioned here, it is probably one of the most profound I have ever seen.

[Paul_and_Paco]

I collect a lot of old movies, and a few older TV serials. If my set of "The Rifleman" was not on dvds I would probably have worn them out by now. As for first movie... I would have to say "You Are Not Alone", that let me know I was OK, and "L.I.E." that let me know there were stranger kids in this world than I.