Best LGBTQ Movies - Nathaniel's List
Monday, June 24, 2019 at 11:43AM
NATHANIEL R in LGBT, List-Mania, Pedro Almodóvar, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Todd Haynes, foreign films

by Nathaniel R

At the beginning of the month we shared a collection of disparate lists from various websites on the "best LGBTQ films ever" and since that got such a good response let's return to the well for something more personal as Pride month winds down. Naturally when you make personal lists the order can be justifiably odd, even to your own eyes, so we must acknowledge first and foremost that this is by no means definitive: I haven't seen every queer movie ever made, and were the list to have been made on a different day or perhaps a different hour, it might be noticeably different, at least in ranking.

Nevertheless here's to hoping you enjoy this imperfect list of... 

Nathaniel's 125 Favourite Queer Movies

  1. Cabaret (Fosse, 1972) 8 OSCAR WINS INCLUDING BEST DIRECTOR
  2. Carol (Haynes, 2015)

     
  3. Paris is Burning (Livingston, 1990)
  4. Brokeback Mountain (Lee, 2005) 3 OSCAR WINS INCLUDING BEST DIRECTOR
  5. Law of Desire (Almodóvar, 1987)
  6. Heavenly Creatures (Jackson, 1994)
  7. All About My Mother (Almodóvar, 1999) OSCAR WINNER BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

     
  8. Far From Heaven (Haynes, 2002)
  9. Moonlight (Jenkins, 2016) OSCAR WINNER BEST PICTURE
  10. The Times of Harvey Milk (Epstein, 1984) OSCAR WINNER BEST DOCUMENTARY
  11. My Beautiful Laundrette (Frears, 1986)
  12. BPM (Campillo, 2017)
  13. The Kids Are All Right (Cholodenko, 2010)

     
  14. Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Elliott, 1994) OSCAR WINNER BEST COSTUME DESIGN
  15. Madonna: Truth or Dare (Keshishian, 1991)
  16. Tangerine (Baker, 2015)
  17. Pride (Warchus, 2014)
  18. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (Fassbinder, 1972)
  19. Beau Travail (Denis, 2000)

     
  20. Victor/Victoria (Edwards, 1982) OSCAR WINNER ORIGINAL SONG SCORE
  21. Weekend (Haigh, 2011) 
  22. The Hours (Daldry, 2002) OSCAR WINNER BEST ACTRESS
  23. The Handmaiden (Park, 2016)
  24. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Mitchell, 2001)
  25. Orlando (Potter, 1993)
  26. Can You Ever Forgive Me (Heller, 2018)

     
  27. Rope (Hitchcock, 1948)
  28. Bound (The Wachowskis, 1996)
  29. Fox and His Friends (Fassbinder, 1975)
  30. Call Me By Your Name (Guadagnino, 2017) OSCAR WINNER BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
  31. Longtime Companion (René, 1990)
  32. My Own Private Idaho (Van Sant, 1991)
  33. Bad Education (Almodóvar, 2004)
  34. Maurice (Ivory, 1987)
  35. Pink Narcissus (Bidgood, 1971)
  36. Beginners (Mills, 2011) OSCAR WINNER BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

     
  37. High Art (Cholodenko, 1998)
  38. Priest (Bird, 1995)
  39. Prodigal Sons (Reed, 2008)
  40. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Sharman, 1975)
  41. Farewell My Concubine (Kaige, 1993)
  42. Gods and Monsters (Condon, 1998) OSCAR WINNER BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
  43. Velvet Goldmine (Haynes, 1998)
  44. Love is Strange (Sachs, 2014)
  45. Looking for Langston (Julien, 1989)
  46. The Crying Game (Jordan, 1992) OSCAR WINNER BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
  47. Shortbus (Mitchell, 2006)

     
  48. Suddenly Last Summer (Mankiewicz, 1959)
  49. The Birdcage (Nichols, 1996)
  50. Teorema (Pasolini, 1968)
  51. Farewell My Queen (Jacquot, 2012)
  52. The Talented Mr Ripley (Minghella, 1999)

     
  53. Yossi & Jagger (Fox, 2003)
  54. The Celluloid Closet (Epstein & Friedman, 1995)
  55. Boys Dont Cry (Peirce, 1999) OSCAR WINNER BEST ACTRESS
  56. Burnt Money (Piñeyro, 2001)
  57. Kiss of the Spider-Woman (Babenco, 1985) OSCAR WINNER BEST ACTOR
  58. Lilies (Greyson, 1996)
  59. We the Animals (Zagar, 2018)
  60. Show Me Love (Moodyson, 1999)

     
  61. Pariah (Rees, 2011)
  62. Battle of the Sexes (Dayton & Faris, 2017)
  63. Edge of Seventeen (Moreton, 1999)
  64. God's Own Country (Lee, 2017)
  65. Trevor (Rajski, 1994) OSCAR WINNER BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
  66. Milk (Van Sant, 2008) 2 OSCAR WINS INCLUDING BEST ACTOR
  67. A Summer Dress (Ozon, 1996)
  68. Undertow (Fuentes-León, 2010)
  69. The Wedding Banquet (Lee, 1993)
  70. Stranger by the Lake (Guiraudie, 2014)
  71. Disobedience (Lelio, 2018)
  72. Grandma (Weitz, 2015)
  73. Heartbeats (Dolan, 2011)
  74. Taxi Zum Klo (Ripploh, 1980)
  75. Tom at the Farm (Dolan, 2013)

     
  76. The Way He Looks (Riberio, 2014)
  77. Happy Together (Wong, 1997)
  78. Beautiful Thing (Macdonald, 1996)
  79. Poison (Haynes, 1990)
  80. Wigstock the Movie (Shils, 1995)
  81. My Summer of Love (Pawlikowski, 2004)
  82. Wild Reeds (Téchiné, 1995)

     
  83. Swoon (Kalin, 1992)
  84. Dottie Gets Spanked (Haynes, 1993)
  85. I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (Rozema, 1987)
  86. Parting Glances (Sherwood, 1986)
  87. Futuro Beach (Aïnouz, 2014)
  88. The Raspberry Reich (LaBruce, 2004)
  89. A Fantastic Woman (Lelio, 2017) OSCAR WINNER BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
  90. In a Heartbeat (Bravo & David, 2017)

     
  91. Tongues Untied (Riggs, 1989)
  92. For a Lost Soldier (Kerbosch, 1992)
  93. Summer Storm (Kreuzpaintner, 2004)
  94. The Armoire (Travis, 2009)
  95. The Children's Hour (Wyler, 1961)
  96. Edward II (Jarman, 1991)

     
  97. Tropical Malady (Weerasethakul, 2005)
  98. We Were One Man (Vallois, 1979)
  99. Querelle (Fassbinder, 1982)
  100. The Saddest Boy in the World (Travis, 2006)
  101. C.R.A.Z.Y. (Vallée, 2005)
  102. Strawberry & Chocolate (Alea & Tabío, 1994)
  103. Sebastiane (Jarman, 1976)
  104. Other People (Kelly, 2016)

     
  105. Appropriate Behavior (Akhavan, 2015)
  106. No Skin Off My Ass (LaBruce, 1991)
  107. Diamantino (Abrantes & Schmidt, 2019)
  108. Another Country (Kanievska, 1984)
  109. North Sea Texas (Defurne, 2012)
  110. Head On (Kokkinos, 1998)
  111. Vito (Schwartz, 2011)
  112. Gayby (Lisecki, 2012)

     
  113. Tarnation (Caouette, 2003)
  114. Achilles (Purvis, 1995)
  115. Boys (Kamp, 2014)
  116. The Fourth Man (Verhoeven, 1983)
  117. Apartment Zero (Donovan, 1988)
  118. Funeral Parade of Roses (Matsumoto, 1969)

     
  119. The Boys in the Band (Friedkin, 1970)
  120. In & Out (Oz, 1997)
  121. Making Love (Hiller, 1982)
  122. Desde Allá / From Afar (Vigas, 2015)
  123. Bent (Mathias, 1997)
  124. Closet Monster (Dunn, 2015)
  125. The Sum of Us (Dowling, 1994)
  126. A Very Natural Thing (Larkin, 1974)
  127. To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar (Kidron, 1995)

There are many more LGBTQ movies worth seeing including as well as dozens of great films that are sometimes listed as LGBT that don't strike me as being LGBT even if they could be argued to be so technically (aka: Mulholland Drive, Midnight Cowboy, The Haunting, Dog Day Afternoon, Showgirls, Silence of the Lambs, Booksmart, and The Favourite)

Disclaimer about the list above: There are several queer-themed films made before the mid 70s that I haven't seen.... here's a good list that stretches way way back into film history. The two I feel guiltiest about still having never seen are Victim (1961) and Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971). 

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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