Look no further than our extensive list of 72 Gay Movies if you’re looking for that man on man fix.
Whether you’re looking for a drama, romance, a true story or a light-hearted comedy, we have it all listed below.
Take a look at our lists of Gay TV Shows and Gay Web Series if you’re looking for a regular dose of LGBTQIA+ Inclusive media. We also have a list of Gay Fiction Books for our bookworm readers.
Grab your popcorn, kick back and enjoy our list of recommended Gay Films…
How to Win at Checkers (Every Time) (2015)
After the loss of both parents, 11 years old Oat faces an uncertain future when his older brother must submit to Thailand’s annual military draft lottery. Unable to convince his brother to do whatever he can to change his fate, Oat takes matters into his own hands resulting in unexpected consequences.
Based on the stories from the bestselling book “Sightseeing” by Rattawut Lapcharoensap, the film is set in the economic fringes of Bangkok and examines the joys and challenges of growing up in contemporary Thailand. This is one of the only Gay Movies listed from Asia.
Watch the Trailer on YouTube here
Steam Room Stories: The Movie
Failing cosmetics magnate Sally Fay (Traci Lords) will stop at nothing to possess the waters of the Steam Room to help lift her sagging empire.
What she doesn’t count on is the Steam Room Guys banding together to thwart her evil plans.
Watch the Official Trailer on YouTube
Stream Steam Room Stories: The Movie on Amazon Prime Video
Mambo Italiano (2003)
Angelo Barberini (Luke Kirby) lives at home and harbors a secret from his Italian parents, Gino (Paul Sorvino) and Maria (Ginette Reno) : He’s gay.
Angelo’s decision to move out surprises Gino and Maria because they believe that Angelo should only leave home if he’s getting married. The trusted few who know the truth are Angelo’s older sister, Anna (Claudia Ferri), and his secret crush, Nino (Peter Miller). As Angelo and Nino grow closer, their families get more and more confused.
Boy Erased
Boy Erased tells the story of Jared (Lucas Hedges), the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, who is outed to his parents (Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe) at age 19.
Jared is faced with an ultimatum: attend a conversion therapy program – or be permanently exiled and shunned by his family, friends, and faith. Boy Erased is the true story of one young man’s struggle to find himself while being forced to question every aspect of his identity.
Watch the trailer on YouTube.
Watch on HBO with Amazon Prime Video
Before Night Falls (2000)
A richly imagined journey into the life and writings of brilliant Cuban author and exile Reinaldo Arenas.
It spans the whole of Arenas’ life, from his rural childhood and his early embrace of the Revolution to the persecution he would later experience as a writer and homosexual in Castro’s Cuba; from his departure from Cuba in the Mariel Harbor exodus of 1980 to his exile and death in the United States.
Happy Together (1997)
Lai (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and his boyfriend, Ho (Leslie Cheung), arrive in Argentina from Hong Kong, seeking a better life. Their highly contentious relationship turns abusive and results in numerous break-ups and reconciliations.
When Lai befriends another man, Chang (Chen Chang), he sees the futility of continuing with the promiscuous Ho. Chang, however, is on his own personal journey and, ultimately, both Lai and Ho find themselves far from home and desperately lonely.
Watch the Trailer on YouTube.
Touch of Pink (2004)
Alim (Jimi Mistry) is a gay man living in London to escape the domineering eye of his conservative Muslim mother, Nuru (Suleka Mathew), back in Canada.
Alim keeps his homosexuality secret from his mother, so when she comes for a surprise visit, he and his boyfriend, Giles (Kristen Holden-Reid), must put on a straight facade to hide the truth. Throughout all this turmoil, Alim imagines himself talking to the spirit of Cary Grant (Kyle MacLachlan) as a means of coping with the stress.
My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
One of the older Gay Movies in our list. Set in a seedy corner of London, Omar (Gordon Warnecke), a young Pakistani, is given a run-down laundromat by his uncle (Saeed Jaffrey), who hopes to turn it into a successful business. Soon after, Omar is attacked by a group of racist punks, but defuses the situation when he realizes their leader is his former lover, Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis).
The men resume their relationship and rehabilitate the laundromat together, but various social forces threaten to compromise their success.
Watch the Trailer on YouTube.
Tropical Malady (2005)
One of Thailand’s leading experimental filmmakers, Apichatpong Weerasethakul directed this ambitious examination of fear and desire. Keng (Banlop Lomnoi) is a soldier who has been assigned duty as a forest ranger in the woodlands of the country. While on duty, he meets a young man named Tong (Sakda Kaewbuadee); Keng becomes deeply infatuated with Tong, but while Tong is friendly with Keng, he is obviously unwilling to respond to his romantic overtures.
As Keng deals with his disappointment, he learns that a number of animals and villagers have fallen victim to a vicious predator who may be a tiger or a shape-shifting shaman. Keng gathers his courage and begins tracking the beast, which alternately resembles a jungle cat and his friend Tong. Sud Pralad ( aka Tropical Malady) was screened in competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
View Trailer on YouTube
The Sum Of Us (1994)
A young Russell Crowe features in this Gay Movie from the early 1990s. Harry (Jack Thompson), a middle-aged father who suffered through the death of his wife, is ready to get back into dating. Harry shares a home with his gay son, Jeff (Russell Crowe), who is also looking for a serious relationship.
Harry and Jeff, who are very close, decide to help each another look for potential partners. Jeff finds a boyfriend who is still in the closet, and Harry begins dating Joyce (Deborah Kennedy). She has a bias against gays, which puts Harry in a tough spot.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Probably one of the most well known Gay Movies, and for its time of release, one could argue it was a game changer for LGBTQI+ exposure in cinema. The story is set in 1963, where rodeo cowboy Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and ranch hand Ennis Del Mar (the late Heath Ledger) are hired by rancher Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid) as sheep herders in Wyoming.
One night on Brokeback Mountain, Jack makes a drunken pass at Ennis that is eventually reciprocated. Though Ennis marries his longtime sweetheart, Alma (Michelle Williams), and Jack marries a fellow rodeo rider (Anne Hathaway), the two men keep up their tortured and sporadic affair over the course of 20 years.
Watch the Trailer on YouTube
Buy the DVD on Amazon
Weekend (2011)
Following Russell and Glen in this Gay Film as their one-night stand unexpectedly turns into something far more reaching.
Following a Friday night party with his friends, Russell pulls Glen at a club, and, instead of never seeing each other again, the two men spend most of the next day and the following night together.
Watch the Trailer on YouTube.
Bent (1997)
In 1930s Berlin, homosexual Max (Clive Owen) sleeps with German officer Wolf (Nikolaj Waldau), only to see him killed by his fellow Nazis the next morning. Fleeing with his boyfriend, Rudy (Brian Webber), Max is eventually caught and forced to beat his partner to death on a train to prove they have no connection.
He’s then sent to Dachau concentration camp and meets Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), a proud gay man also bound for the camp. Despite their harsh surroundings, the two fall in love.
Call Me By Your Name (2017)
Of course this makes our list of Gay Movies! It’s the summer of 1983, and precocious 17-year-old Elio Perlman is spending the days with his family at their 17th-century villa in Lombardy, Italy. He soon meets Oliver, a handsome doctoral student who’s working as an intern for Elio’s father.
Amid the sun-drenched splendor of their surroundings, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever.
At the 90th Academy Awards, it received four nominations, including Best Picture, and won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Watch the Trailer on YouTube.
Alex Strangelove (2018)
A high school senior plans on losing his virginity to his girlfriend.
Things get complicated when he meets a handsome and charming gay kid from the other side of town who unwittingly sends him on a roller-coaster journey of sexual identity.
Watch the Trailer on YouTube
Mysterious Skin (2005)
“The summer I was eight years old, five hours disappeared from my life. Five hours, lost, gone without a trace…” These are the words of Brian Lackey, a troubled 18-year-old, growing up in the stiflingly small town of Hutchinson, KS. Plagued by nightmares, Brian believes that he may have been the victim of alien abduction.
Local Neil McCormick however, is the ultimate beautiful outsider. With a loving but promiscuous mother, Neil is wise beyond his years and curious about his developing sexuality, having found what he perceives to be love from his Little League baseball coach at a very early age. Now, 10 years later, Neil is a teenage hustler, nonchalant about the dangerous path his life is taking. Neil’s pursuit of love leads him to New York City, while Brian’s voyage of self-discovery leads him to Neil — who helps him to unlock the dark secrets of their past.
View Trailer on YouTube.
But, I’m a Cheerleader (1999)
We love this film! It was one of the first Gay Films we watched. With a lesbian centered story, must see LGBT romantic comedy ‘But, I’m a Cheerleader’ stars some of the best LGBTQIA+ characters that are still in the spotlight and doing the community proud.
A younger and most definitely fabulous Ru Paul plays the role of Mike, a closeted gay trainer at an American gay ‘conversion camp’ called True Directions. Natasha Lyonne and Clea DuVall star alongside hilarious gay characters played by Dante Basco, Joel Michaely and Eddie Cibrian.
Watch the hilarious Trailer on YouTube
Moonlight (2016)
A beautiful Gay Movie featuring a chronicle of the childhood, adolescence and burgeoning adulthood of a young, African-American, gay man growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami.
The film presents three stages in the life of the main character; his youth, adolescence, and early adult life. It explores the difficulties he faces with his sexuality and identity, including the physical and emotional abuse he endures growing up. Moonlight premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on September 2, 2016. At the 74th Golden Globe Awards Moonlight won Best Motion Picture – Drama and was nominated in five other categories. The film subsequently won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 89th annual Academy Awards, along with Best Supporting Actor for Ali and Best Adapted Screenplay for Jenkins and McCraney, from a total of eight nominations.
Watch the Trailer on YouTube
Arizona Sky
Two men re-unite after twenty years. As boys they share a secret fondness for each other, until one boy moves away.
Twenty years later, both men discover that meeting again as friends has given them a new chance to find out who they are, and that their love for each other is stronger then ever. A delightful romance story… under the Arizona Sky.
Prayers for Bobby (2009)
In this adaptation of a true story, devout Christian Mary Griffith (Sigourney Weaver) fights to “cure” her gay son, Bobby (Ryan Kelley). Although he tries to please his mother, Bobby cannot change his lifestyle, and his depression leads to suicide.
Mary questions her faith and searches for comfort, but after the church is unable to help her cope with Bobby’s death, she seeks to understand her opinions on homosexuality for herself. Eventually, Mary becomes an advocate for gay rights.
Watch the Trailer on YouTube
God’s Own Country (2018)
One of the British Gay Movies in our list. Johnny Saxby (Josh O’Connor) works long hours in brutal isolation on his family’s remote farm in the north of England. He numbs the daily frustration of his lonely existence with nightly binge-drinking at the local pub and casual relations.
When a handsome Romanian migrant worker (Alec Secareanu) arrives to take up temporary work on the family farm, Johnny suddenly finds himself having to deal with emotions he has never felt before. An intense relationship forms between the two which could change Johnny’s life forever.
Watch the Trailer on YouTube
My Own Private Idaho (1991)
Gus Van Sant’s dreamtime riff on Shakespeare’s “Henry IV, Parts I and II” features River Phoenix as Mike Waters, a narcoleptic male hustler who is first seen drifting on a stretch of highway in Idaho. Mike shifts from Seattle to Portland, where he has taken up with Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves), who is also a hustler.
The difference between them is Mike’s sleepy state betrays an uncertain future, while Scott is ready to inherit a fortune from his father within a week. Mike feels a real affection for Scott, but Scott does not believe men can really love each other. Besides, Scott is mostly hustling as a means of slumming and killing time before he inherits his money. Mike, however, delusionally thinks Scott will continue with his life as a drifter after receiving his inheritance. Mike’s belief is shared by the dregs of Portland, who live out of an abandoned hotel with their spiritual leader Bob (film director William Richert). They’re convinced Scott’s fortune will benefit them all, when in reality Scott has other plans.
View Trailer on YouTube
120 Beats Per Minute (2017)
In Paris in the early 1990s, a group of activists goes to battle for those stricken with HIV/AIDS, taking on sluggish government agencies and major pharmaceutical companies in bold, invasive actions. The organization is ACT UP, and its members, many of them gay and HIV-positive, embrace their mission with a literal life-or-death urgency.
Amid rallies, protests, fierce debates and ecstatic dance parties, the newcomer Nathan falls in love with Sean, the group’s radical firebrand, and their passion sparks against the shadow of mortality as the activists fight for a breakthrough.
View the Trailer on YouTube here
Jongens (Boys) (2014)
Boys tells the story of Sieger, a sporty, rather quiet 15-year-old boy who discovers love during the summer holidays. Sieger is training in the new athletics team for the national relay championships and meets the intriguing and unpredictable Marc. The friendship that develops seems nothing out of the ordinary, but Sieger secretly harbours stronger feelings for Marc.
He engages in a lonely struggle with himself when it emerges that Marc is also in love with him. With his best friend Stef, Sieger discovers a motocross track outside the village.
Events soon take on a momentum of their own as Sieger quickly becomes involved with Jessica. At last, he counts for something in the eyes of his tough older brother Eddy, who is secretly using the track to tear around on a moped.
Sieger keeps quiet about this to his father, who often clashes with the rebellious Eddy since their mother’s death. Sieger tries to make peace between the two, but his mind is elsewhere, as he finds it increasingly difficult to deny his feelings for Marc.
View the Trailer on YouTube
The Normal Heart (2014)
Starring Mark Ruffalo, Julia Roberts and Jim Parsons.
This drama tells the story of the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 1980s, taking an unflinching look at the nation’s sexual politics as gay activists and their allies in the medical community fight to expose the truth about the burgeoning epidemic to a city and nation in denial.
Watch the Trailer here
The Happy Prince (2018)
The Happy Prince is a 2018 biographical drama film about Oscar Wilde, written by, directed by, and starring openly gay actor, Rupert Everett, in his directorial debut.
The plot focuses on an ailing Oscar Wilde who lives out his last days in exile, observing the difficulties and failures surrounding him with ironic detachment, humour, and the wit that defined his life.
Front Cover (2015)
Front Cover is about openly gay New York City fashion stylist Ryan (Jake Choi), who rejects his traditional Asian upbringing. Ryan is given an assignment to style Ning (James Chen), a famous Chinese actor, for an important photo shoot.
After a rocky start, an unlikely friendship develops between them, leading Ryan to examine his identity and consider an enticing new path for his life and career. A tender, funny look at clashing cultures and love, FRONT COVER is a delight for the urban fashionista in us all.
Watch the Trailer on YouTube
Boy Culture (2006)
A male prostitute who has dismissed the need for love in his life learns a lesson about affection from one of his customers in this independent comedy drama from filmmaker Q. Allan Brocka. X (Derek Magyar) is a gay hustler whose enigmatic name reflects his emotional distance from the world around him; he doesn’t much believe in love, and isn’t interested in intimacy unless he’s being paid for it.
X has a dozen regular customers he calls his “disciples,” and shares his home with two roommates — Andrew (Darryl Stephens), whose good looks sometimes tempt X, though he’s still uncertain about his own intimate feelings, and Joey (Jonathon Trent), an uninhibited and outré teenager who openly lusts after X, to no avail. Gregory (Patrick Bauchau) is an older man who regularly hires X for companionship, but he refuses to have relations with the hustler until he’s willing to acknowledge that their attraction is mutual. X isn’t about to admit to any such thing, but one day Gregory shares a story with X that forces him to reconsider his thinking.
Watch the Trailer on YouTube
Burning Blue (2014)
They have been trained to meet danger head-on, to execute vital strategic maneuvers while flying at breathtaking speeds. But after a series of fatal accidents, a close-knit squadron of male Navy pilots begins to splinter-and becomes the focus of a criminal investigation.
As a government agent digs to uncover the cause of the accidents, two of the pilots engage in a secret, forbidden relationship. Their affair is exposed…and the squadron is engulfed by an incendiary scandal that will challenge each pilot’s notions of friendship, love, honor and courage.
Watch the Trailer on YouTube
I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)
Steven Russell (Jim Carrey) becomes a cop, gets married and starts a family, but after a terrible car accident, he vows to be true to himself.
He comes out of the closet, moves to Florida, and finances a luxurious lifestyle with bad checks and credit cards. In prison, Steven meets Phillip (Ewan McGregor), a mild-mannered inmate who becomes the love of his life. Determined to build a beautiful life with his lover, Steven embarks on another crime spree.
G.B.F (2014)
In G.B.F., social warfare erupts when three high school clique queens battle for supremacy: drama diva Caprice, Mormon princess ‘Shley and blonde fashionista Fawcett. When unassuming Tanner is outted, he finds himself cast as the hottest new teen-girl accessory: The Gay Best Friend.
The clique queens immediately pounce and makeover Tanner into their ideal arm candy, forcing him to choose between popularity and the true friends – including his own B.F.F. Brent – that he’s leaving behind.
Watch YouTube trailer here
Rent (2005)
In this musical, set at the dawn of the 1990s, a group of New Yorkers struggle with their careers, love lives and the effects of the AIDS epidemic on their community.
Mark (Anthony Rapp), an aspiring filmmaker, and Roger (Adam Pascal), an HIV-positive musician, scramble for money to pay rent to their landlord and former roommate, Benny (Taye Diggs). Meanwhile, their friend Tom (Jesse L. Martin), a professor, has fallen for Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia), who is slowly dying of AIDS.
The movie has since been adapted into a global theater production.
Watch the trailer on YouTube
Buy the Soundtrack on Amazon
Victim (1961)
In its time, this movie was considered as daring a film as had ever been made in England. Dirk Bogarde plays a lawyer who agrees to defend a friend on a theft charge.
What set this film apart is that the lawyer had once been his client’s gay lover.
View the full movie on YouTube
Shortbus (2006)
Sofia (Sook-Yin Lee) is a couples therapist who is unable to climax despite the ministrations of her loving husband. Gay couple James (Paul Dawson) and Jamie (PJ DeBoy) decide to open the doors of their relationship by inviting in a third partner.
All three attend a mixer in which partygoers partake.
Watch the trailer here
Summer Storm (2004)
A teenager comes to terms with his sexuality and his feelings for his best friend over the course of a summer. Tobi and Achim are best friends and rowing teammates, and they have competed together in several races.
During a summer training retreat, Achim’s increasingly serious relationship with his girlfriend stirs up feelings in Tobi that suggest he views Achim as more than a friend. Events come to a head as the summer comes to a close and a big race is on the horizon.
Watch the trailer on YouTube
Stream on Amazon Prime Video with Here TV
Christopher And His Kind (2011)
The `divinely decadent’ Berlin cabaret scene is in full swing when a young and wide-eyed Christopher Isherwood arrives in the city to stay with his close friend and occasional lover, the poet WH Auden.
To Isherwood’s reserved English sensibility, the city’s thriving gay subculture is thrilling. However Christopher soon finds himself heartbroken after the failure of a hopeless love affair, and so sets out on a process of self-discovery.
Watch trailer on YouTube
Latter Days (2003)
Aaron Davis (Steve Sandvoss), a young Mormon, arrives in Los Angeles with three fellow missionaries to evangelize. The group’s promiscuous gay neighbor, Christian (Wes Ramsey), makes a bet he can seduce and sleep with one of them, and his flirtatious ways help Aaron realize he is actually gay.
Returning home to small-town Idaho in shame, Aaron is sent to a faith-based center to be cured of his homosexuality — while Christian, who’s fallen in love with him, desperately tries to find him.
Watch the trailer on YouTube.
The Bubble (2006)
Ashraf (Yousef “Joe” Sweid), a Palestinian, meets Noam (Ohad Knoller), an Israeli, at a checkpoint station. The pair begin a relationship, and Ashraff moves in illegally with Noam and Noam’s roommates, Lulu (Daniela Virtzer) and Yelli (Alon Friedman).
The hip Tel Aviv neighborhood in which they live insulates them from the ongoing conflict between Arabs and Jews, but their protection cannot last forever.
Watch the trailer on YouTube here.
Love, Simon (2018)
Everyone deserves a great love story. But for seventeen-year old Simon Spier it’s a little more complicated: he’s yet to tell his family or friends he’s gay and he doesn’t actually know the identity of the anonymous classmate he’s fallen for online.
Resolving both issues proves hilarious, terrifying and life-changing. A Gay Movie directed by Greg Berlanti (Riverdale, The Flash, Supergirl), written by Isaac Aptaker & Elizabeth Berger (This is Us), and based on Becky Albertalli’s acclaimed novel, ‘Love, Simon’ is a funny and heartfelt coming-of-age story about the thrilling ride of finding yourself and falling in love.
Watch the trailer on YouTube.
Buy the ‘Love, Simon’ Book on Amazon
Beautiful Thing (1996)
Another Gay Film set in the UK. Shy Jamie (Glen Berry) and athletic Ste (Scott Neal) are teen boys who live near each other in the London projects. Both boys think they could be gay, and finally explore their feelings when Ste is allowed to stay over at Jamie’s place after an incident with his abusive father.
There, the boys grow close and open themselves up to the idea of homosexuality, while Jamie’s caring mother, Sandra (Linda Henry), and quirky teen neighbor, Leah (Tameka Empson), offer much needed emotional support.
Watch the full movie on YouTube.
Maurice (1987)
In 1909, Maurice Hall (James Wilby) enters Cambridge, where he befriends wealthy Clive Durham (Hugh Grant). Clive confesses he is attracted to Maurice, who realizes he is a homosexual when he begins to return Clive’s feelings.
The two embark on an intense but chaste affair to avoid tarnishing Clive’s reputation, but eventually the relationship ends, and Clive marries Anne (Phoebe Nicholls). While visiting Clive, Maurice is drawn toward his friend’s servant, Alec Scudder (Rupert Graves).
Watch the trailer on YouTube here.
Buy ‘Maurice: A Novel’ on Amazon
4th Man Out (2016)
A young mechanic comes out to his extremely straight best friends.
Once they get used to the idea, they’re determined to help him find the right guy. One of the Gay Movies on Netflix!
Watch the YouTube trailer.
The Way He Looks (2014)
Leonardo is a blind teenager searching for independence.
His everyday life, the relationship with his best friend, Giovana, and the way he sees the world change completely with the arrival of Gabriel.
Watch the trailer on YouTube.
Looking for Langston (1989)
Artistically envisioned and lovingly done, Looking for Langston is an exploration of the life and consequences of late African-American poet Langston Hughes. It is impossible to tell Hughes’ story without delving into the social atmosphere in which he thrived. The Harlem Renaissance was in full swing when Hughes found his voice.
He represented the unabashed energy of the Cotton Club and the emerging tone of beat poetry. Filmmaker Isaac Julien fuses together a multitude of images to create a patchwork of impressions about the changing gay culture. Archival footage and a jazz soundtrack breathe life into this documentary journey. Looking for Langston has become a favorite within the gay community for its willingness to examine the viewpoint including sexuality and the black experience.
Watch the trailer on YouTube here.
Get Real (1999)
Steven (Ben Silverstone) spends his school days longing for all-star athlete John (Brad Gorton). But John has a gorgeous girlfriend, and Steven is still in the closet about being gay.
The only one who knows the teenager’s secret is his friend Linda (Charlotte Brittain). After a curious run-in with John in a public restroom, Steven starts to wonder if the jock is straight after all. When they start a romance, it threatens to expose the truth about both of them.
Watch the trailer on YouTube here.
Pride (2014)
PRIDE is inspired by an extraordinary true story. It’s the summer of 1984, Margaret Thatcher is in power and the National Union of Mineworkers is on strike, prompting a London-based group of gay and lesbian activists to raise money to support the strikers’ families. Initially rebuffed by the Union, the group identifies a tiny mining village in Wales and sets off to make their donation in person.
As the strike drags on, the two groups discover that standing together makes for the strongest union of all. This is one of our favorites, a truly heartwarming Gay Movie.
Watch the Official Trailer on YouTube
Buy the DVD on Amazon
Four Moons (2014)
A young boy fights to suppress his growing attraction to his male cousin.
A relationship between two reunited friends threatens devastating repercussions, the appearance of a third party throws off the balance of a committed gay relationship, and a family man gives into his obsession over a handsome male prostitute in this film featuring four tales of personal struggle.
View trailer on YouTube.
Shelter (2007)
Love brings together two men who aren’t sure where to fit a relationship into their lives in this romantic drama. Living in the oceanfront working-class community of San Pedro, Zach (Trevor Wright) is a young man in his early twenties who has been forced into the role of emotional anchor for his dysfunctional family; his mother his dead, his father is too ill to work, his sister Jeannie (Tina Holmes) is too busy partying to look after her five-year-old son Cody (Jackson Wurth), and Zach is the only one with the wherewithal to hold down a job and keep the rent paid.
He’s sacrificed his dream of attending CalArts in order to help Jeannie raise Cody. Between cooking at a diner and looking after Cody, Zach has little in the way of spare time, but as often as he can he heads to the beach to indulge his passion for surfing. While hanging out with his surfing buddy Gabe (Ross Thomas), Zach meets Gabe’s brother, the struggling homosexual writer Shaun (Brad Rowe), who has taken a break from Tinseltown while rebounding from a dysfunctional relationship. Shaun goes surfing with Zach one day, and the two discover they’re powerfully attracted to one another, and a flirtation turns into a love affair. As Shaun has to explain to his girlfriend why he no longer wants to be with her, Zach tries to make Jeannie and his father understand why he’s come out of the closet. Shelter was produced for the gay and lesbian-oriented cable television network Here, though it enjoyed a brief theatrical release before its broadcast premiere.
The Boys in the Band (1970)
Michael (Kenneth Nelson) is hosting a birthday celebration for a pal when he gets an unexpected visit from old friend Alan (Peter White). The problem is, Alan is straight — and extremely straitlaced — and everyone else at the party is gay.
Michael hopes to conceal his sexuality from Alan, but this charade doesn’t last. After being outed, Michael turns on Alan, accuses him of being a closeted gay, and forces him to partake in a revealing party game that has devastating consequences. The movie has recently been made into a theater production starring openly gay Jim Parsons (Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory).
View the movie trailer on YouTube
Come Undone (2000)
Story of two young French boys who begin a passionate relationship that boils over and threatens to destroy both their lives. Shy Mathieu (Jeremie Elkaim) is 18-years-old and on summer vacation in the south of France. He spends his days lazily sunning himself at the beach, until he spies the handsome Cédric (Stéphane Rideau) and falls in love.
The film, like a dream, flows back and forth between the past and present, often asking us to fill the deliberate jumps in time.
Watch YouTube trailer here.
A Single Man (2009)
In Los Angeles 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis George Falconer, a 52 year old British college professor is struggling to find meaning to his life after the death of his long time partner, Jim.
George dwells on the past and cannot see his future as we follow him through a single day, where a series of events and encounters, ultimately lead him to decide if there is a meaning to life after Jim. George is consoled by his closest friend Charley, a 48-year-old beauty who is wrestling with her own questions about the future.
View trailer on YouTube
Handsome Devil (2017)
Ned, the bullied outsider, and Conor, a new boy and star athlete, are forced to room together at their cloistered boarding school. Conor is drafted into the senior rugby team, whose actions dominate school life and whose privilege and entitlement have made Ned’s life to date at the school a misery.
The boys take an instant and visceral dislike to each other, and Ned and Conor seem destined to remain enemies until an English teacher, Mr. Sherry (Andrew Scott), begins to drill into them the value of finding one’s own voice. This lesson isn’t appreciated by everyone though, not least the rugby coach, Pascal (Moe Dunford), who has his own agenda, and who harbors some deep suspicions about Sherry.
Watch the YouTube trailer here.
Trick (1999)
It’s lust at first sight when Gabriel (Christian Campbell), a songwriter with Broadway ambitions, runs into Mark (John Paul Pitoc), a hot go-go dancer at a local gay club.
They head to Gabriel’s place to seal the deal but are thwarted when Gabriel’s roommate Rich (Brad Beyer) arrives with opposing plans for their closet-sized apartment. It’s the first of many obstructions in a wild night that leaves the pair physically unsatisfied, but developing an unforeseen romantic bond nevertheless.
Milk (2008)
In 1972, Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) and his then-lover Scott Smith leave New York for San Francisco, with Milk determined to accomplish something meaningful in his life. Settling in the Castro District, he opens a camera shop and helps transform the area into a mecca for gays and lesbians.
In 1977 he becomes the nation’s first openly gay man elected to a notable public office when he wins a seat on the Board of Supervisors. The following year, Dan White (Josh Brolin) kills Milk in cold blood.
Watch the Trailer on YouTube
Buy DVD on Amazon
Free Fall (2013)
Devoted cop and expectant father Marc (Sense8 star Max Reimelt) begins to question his sexuality after his growing friendship with the handsome Kay (Hanno Koffler) stirs feelings he has never felt before.
Now, Marc will be forced to choose between continuing the life he has created for himself, or throwing caution to the wind by embarking a whole new journey.
View the trailer on YouTube.
Just a Question of Love (2000)
Cyrille Thouvenin stars in this bittersweet tale of a twenty-something man reluctant to come out of the closet. Laurent keeps his homosexuality a secret, but things get complicated when he falls in love with Cedric.
Openly gay, Cedric has no problem introducing Laurent as his boyfriend, even to his own mother. But Laurent’s need for secrecy forces Cedric to give him an ultimatum: Either Laurent comes out of the closet, or Cedric will leave him.
View the trailer on YouTube
Big Eden (2001)
Henry Hart (Arye Gross) is a young gay artist living in New York City. When his grandfather has a stroke, Henry puts his career on hold and returns home to the small town of Big Eden, Montana, to care for him.
While there, Henry hopes to strike up a romance with Dean Stewart (Tim DeKay), his high-school best friend for whom he still has feelings. But he’s surprised when he finds that Pike (Eric Schweig), a quiet Native American who owns the local general store, may have a crush on him.
Watch the YouTube trailer here.
Yossi and Jagger (2002)
Jagger (Yehuda Levi) is the outgoing unit leader of an Israeli Defense Force squad stationed on the Lebanese border; Yossi (Ohad Knoller) is his commanding officer. A contemplative soldier, Yossi is starting to buckle under the burden of his secret homosexuality.
Jagger and Yossi explore their growing feelings for one another under the suspicious eyes of their fellow soldiers. Their colonel (Sharon Raginiano) brings news of an impending attack, which tests the bond between the two lovers.
Watch the YouTube trailer here.
The Cakemaker (2017)
Thomas, a young German baker, is having an affair with Oren, an Israeli married man who has frequent business visits in Berlin. When Oren dies in a car crash in Israel, Thomas travels to Jerusalem seeking answers regarding his death.
Under a fabricated identity, Thomas infiltrates into the life of Anat, his lover’s newly widowed wife, who owns a small café in downtown Jerusalem. Thomas starts to work for her and create German cakes and cookies that bring life into her café.
Watch the YouTube trailer
The Broken Hearts Club (2001)
A fresh, funny, real story about a group of gay men in Hollywood, their lovers and friends, and the often hilarious, occasionally poignant space in between. That is if they can get any space at all!
As they make their ways in the world with and without each other, they are suddenly faced with an unexpected tragedy. The group finds comfort the only way they ever have — together.
View the trailer on YouTube.
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
An Al Pacino classic. Based on a true story from 1972. Sidney Lumet’s 1975 drama chronicles a unique bank robbery on a hot summer afternoon in New York City. Shortly before closing time, scheming loser Sonny (Al Pacino) and his slow-witted buddy, Sal (John Cazale), burst into a Brooklyn bank for what should be a run-of-the-mill robbery, but everything goes wrong, beginning with the fact that there is almost no money in the bank.
The situation swiftly escalates, as Sonny and Sal take hostages; enough cops to police the tristate area surround the bank; a large Sonny-sympathetic crowd gathers to watch; the media arrive to complete the circus; and police captain Moretti (Charles Durning) tries to negotiate with Sonny while keeping the volatile spectacle under control. When Sonny’s lover, Leon (Chris Sarandon), tries to talk Sonny out of the bank, we learn the robbery’s motive: to finance Leon’s sex-change operation. Sonny demands a plane to escape, but the end is near once menacingly cool FBI agent Sheldon (James Broderick) arrives to take over the negotiations.
View trailer on YouTube.
Stranger By The Lake (2013)
Summertime. A cruising spot for men, tucked away on the shores of a lake. Franck falls in love with Michel, an attractive, potent and lethally dangerous man.
Franck knows this but wants to live out his passion anyway.
Watch the trailer on YouTube here.
Philadelphia (2003)
Fearing it would compromise his career, lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) hides his homosexuality and HIV status at a powerful Philadelphia law firm. But his secret is exposed when a colleague spots the illness’s telltale lesions.
Fired shortly afterwards, Beckett resolves to sue for discrimination, teaming up with Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), the only lawyer willing to help. In court, they face one of his ex-employer’s top litigators, Belinda Conine (Mary Steenburgen).
Watch the YouTube trailer here.
Longtime Companion (1990)
During the 1980s, a group of gay men and their straight female friend confront the spread of AIDS. Personal trainer Willy (Campbell Scott) watches the epidemic grow, advocating for awareness. Willy’s friend John (Dermot Mulroney) is the first to be infected, but soon it becomes clear that a pandemic is underway in the gay community.
Willy, boyfriend Fuzzy (Stephen Caffrey) and his adopted sister, Lisa (Mary-Louise Parker), look on as their friends and loved ones succumb to the disease.
View YouTube trailer here.
Beach Rats (2017)
An aimless teenager on the outer edges of Brooklyn is having a miserable summer. With his father on his deathbed and his mother wanting him to find a girlfriend, Frankie escapes the bleakness of his life by causing trouble with his delinquent friends and flirting with older men online.
When his chatting and webcamming intensifies, he finally starts hooking up with guys at a nearby cruising beach while simultaneously entering into a cautious relationship with a young woman. This is one of the more modern Gay Movies in our list.
Watch the YouTube trailer here.
Beginners (2010)
After his mother dies, Oliver (Ewan McGregor) is stunned when his father, Hal (Christopher Plummer), recently diagnosed with terminal cancer, comes out of the closet.
When Hal passes away a few years later, Oliver grows depressed, struggling with his failing career as an artist while constantly remembering his childhood and time spent with his dad. Oliver’s loneliness is eased when he meets actress Anna (Mélanie Laurent), but their relationship is threatened by their mutual fear of commitment.
Watch the YouTube trailer here.
Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (2015)
Two teenage boys, preacher’s kid Henry Gamble (Cole Doman) and his friend Gabe (Joe Keery), have a sleepover the night before Henry’s seventeenth birthday pool party. Typical teenage boy chat quickly turns intimate, and it’s silently implied that Henry, on a search for identity, has a crush on Gabe. As dawn arrives on the day of the party, Henry’s mom Kat (Elizabeth Laidlaw) wakes in a state of limbo, middle-aged, with a secret.
A little while later, Pastor Bob (Pat Healy, CHEAP THRILLS) is making breakfast, and they are joined by Henry’s 19-year-old sister Autumn (Nina Ganet), home from college for the party. Later that afternoon, as guests arrive – both from the church, as well as Henry’s own “secular” friends – and day turns to night, Henry carefully navigates the religious strictures and secrets of his community, as do the adults and teenagers of the party, all struggling to tread the public and private, and their longing, despite themselves and their faith, for earthly love.
View trailer on YouTube.
Parting Glances (1986)
As Robert (John Bolger), a successful young gay man, prepares to leave New York City for an extended work assignment abroad, his boyfriend, Michael (Richard Ganoung), must contend with his imminent absence and its effect on their relationship.
Meanwhile, Michael also cares for his ex-lover, Nick (Steve Buscemi), who is struggling with HIV. At a going-away party for Robert, emotions run high as the men and their friends deal with their changing realities.
Watch the trailer on YouTube here.
Eastern Boys (2015)
Arriving from all over the Eastern Bloc, the men who loiter around the Gare du Nord train station in Paris are scraping by however they can, forming gangs for support and protection, ever fearful of being caught by the police and deported. When the middle-aged, bourgeois Daniel played by Olivier Rabourdi approaches a boyishly handsome Ukrainian who calls himself Marek for a date, he learns the young man is willing to do anything for some cash.
The drastically different circumstances of the two men’s lives reveal hidden facets of the city they share. Presented in four parts, this absorbing, erotically charged drama from writer-director Robin Campillo is centered around anonymous liaisons, in which motivation, risk, and desire produce volatile and unexpected consequences.
Watch the trailer on YouTube
Beau Trevail (2000)
In this military drama, a military man finds his position of prominence questioned when a new recruit wins the commander’s favor. Galoup (Denis Lavant) is an officer at a French Foreign Legion outpost in the Gulf of Dijbouti, where he enjoys a close relationship with the Commanding Officer (Michel Subor) and works with a team of fit young men who work hard all day and play hard all night.
When Sentain (Gregoire Colin), a new recruit, joins the troops, Galoup believes that it upsets the delicate balance between the C.O. and the other men. Sentain is well-liked by his comrades for his good humor and selfless nature, and his virtues make him the C.O.’s new favorite. Galoup is jealous of the attention Sentain receives, and he devises a plan to discredit Sentain in the eyes of the other men and have him drummed out of the service. Galoup’s plot is found out, however, and Galoup is stripped of his rank and sent home. Beau Travail was loosely based on Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville, though disco dancing did not figure quite as prominently in Melville’s novella.
View the trailer on YouTube.
Keep The Lights On (2012)
It’s 1997 and New York City is in a state of intense flux when documentary filmmaker Erik Rothman (Thure Lindhardt) first meets Paul Lucy (Zachary Booth), a handsome but closeted lawyer in the publishing field. What begins as a highly charged first encounter soon becomes something much more, and a relationship quickly develops.
As the two men start building a home and life together, each continues to privately battle their own compulsions and addictions. A film about intimacy, friendship, and most of all, love, Keep the Lights On takes an honest look at the nature of relationships in our times.
View the trailer on YouTube.
Adam and Steve (2005)
Adam (Craig Chester) and Steve (Malcolm Gets) are two gay youths who have a one-night stand that ends embarrassingly. Nearly two decades later, Adam, now a Manhattan tour guide, and Steve, a psychiatrist, meet again — but neither remembers the other from years before.
The two begin dating, even playing matchmaker for their friends Michael (Chris Kattan) and Rhonda (Parker Posey), but their promising relationship hits a major snag when Adam and Steve finally recall their past connection.
View trailer on YouTube here.
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