Once again exploring repressed sexuality after 2002's "Far from Heaven," starring Julianne Moore as the wife of a closeted gay man, Haynes infuses "Carol" with silence and deep longing, as the characters' stolen glances eventually spill over into a brief moment of heated passion. Todd Haynes' sumptuous adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's 1952 novel "The Price of Salt" follows a sophisticated married socialite named Carol (Cate Blanchett) who falls for ingenuous department-store clerk Therese (Rooney Mara).
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Streaming on Hulu (with Starz add-on) and Amazon Prime (with Starz free trial) 10. Brimming with tension, lust and melancholy, the actors movingly capture the spark of an old flame and the pain of reconciliation. And in the movie's most memorable scene, Salvador reconnects with a former lover (Leonardo Sbaraglia), now married with a wife and kids. Wonderfully surreal yet subdued, the film is most poignant in its depiction of Salvador's queer awakening as a young child and his fraught relationship with his mother (Penélope Cruz) as a result.
'Pain and Glory' (2019)Īntonio Banderas earned a best actor Oscar nod for his achingly vulnerable work in Pedro Almodóvar's meditative drama, about an ailing gay filmmaker named Salvador taking stock of his life. In theaters Friday, available on demand and digitally March 2 11. The magnetic pair has more fire than a kerosene lamp, with one of the most intensely erotic first kisses we’ve seen in recent memory. While many beats of their forbidden romance seem familiar, Waterson and Kirby deliver career-best performances as women quietly bonding over grief, motherhood and unrealized dreams. They’re valid concerns, but also shouldn’t dissuade you from watching heartrending frontier drama “World to Come,” about two unhappy housewives (Katherine Waterson and Vanessa Kirby) kept apart by their domineering husbands (Casey Affleck and Christopher Abbott). What will it take for Hollywood to give lesbians some electricity? With the back-to-back releases of "Portrait of a Lady on Fire," "Ammonite" and now "The World to Come," some on social media have expressed frustration that so many queer love stories center on stifled white women in the past. The less you know the better about this sexy, darkly funny movie, which has plenty of gasp-worthy twists and a surprising female empowerment story. 'The Handmaiden' (2016)Ī stylish thriller from South Korean director Park Chan-wook ("Oldboy"), about a young Korean grifter (Kim Min-hee) hired to scam a Japanese heiress (Kim Min-hee) out of her inheritance.
Streaming on Amazon Prime (with Strand Releasing free trial) 13. Although the film may be too grim and unsentimental for some, Vidal-Naquet manages to find striking moments of intimate connection, and the feral final shot will stick with you for weeks.
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Filmmaker Camille Vidal-Naquet's human approach is still sadly rare for a movie about sex work, refusing to cast judgment on his reckless protagonist as he jumps between nightclubs and backwoods cruising for men. 'Sauvage / Wild' (2019)Ī visceral and surprisingly tender window into the life of a young gay prostitute (Félix Maritaud). It's also a touching story about acceptance, as David struggles with his conservative father's (Bradley Whitford) refusal to acknowledge his sexuality. "Other People" explores grief and love with acerbic humor, gentle pathos and scene-stealing turns from John Early and Josie Totah. 'Other People' (2016)Ī criminally underseen dramedy from "Saturday Night Live" writer Chris Kelly, co-creator of Comedy Central's brilliantly subversive "The Other Two." David (Jesse Plemons) is a gay comedy writer going through a breakup who moves home to take care of his cancer-stricken mother (a never-better Molly Shannon). ‘I'm being way too method': Kate Winslet talks self-imposed isolation for lesbian romance 'Ammonite' 15.
'Brokeback Mountain' at 15: Why it still stuns as a universal love story and LGBTQ triumph With the release of period romance "The World to Come" in theaters this Valentine's Day weekend, we decided to rank the very best LGBTQ films of the past two decades. Although some movies were more cringe than cute ("Happiest Season," "The Prom"), it's still a more vibrant and nuanced landscape than the one "Brokeback Mountain" came into 15 years ago. This past year, we've been gifted a number of spectacular LGBTQ stories, with heartfelt comedies ( "Kajillionaire," "The Half of It"), Oscar-worthy dramas ("Ammonite," "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom") and tear-jerking documentaries ("Circus of Books," "A Secret Love").