Love, no matter its form or gender, is in the air. That means June for many, as it marks one more anniversary of Pride Month, a holiday that serves to commemorate the LGBTQ+ community and the events that occurred at the Stonewall in a bar in June 1969.
Production companies and streaming platforms, over time, have realized the need to include characters and stories from the LGBTQ+ community in their film catalog and series. More and more great characters make us laugh and cry in different films where inclusion is notorious. However, much remains to be done.
Netflix is one of those many companies that still does not have a wide catalog of stories, which narrate the life or adventure of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender characters, and all those who feel identified with the LGBTQ+ community.
However, and despite the lack of content, this does not impede putting together a list of the best films that tell stories and feature LGBTQ+ characters.
Without more to say, we leave you with the best titles that Netflix has so that you can enjoy Pride Month in the best way:
Brokeback Mountain (2005):
I remember when Brokeback Mountain came out in 2005. Despite being in the last years of elementary school, jokes about cowboys or two men on a mountain were more than recurrent. Some past in tone and out of place. However, and leaving the controversy out, the film directed by Ang Lee was a masterpiece of drama and with an exceptional narrative.
The film, set in 1963 Wyoming, is about two shepherds (Ennis and Jack) who are hired by Joe Aguirre to herd his sheep on Brokeback Mountain. Over the course, the two develop an emotional and sexual relationship. However, the relationship is complicated as both are married to their respective girlfriends.
While it featured a cast starring straight actors (Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams), this didn’t stop them from making one of the best films of 2005 and one capable of portraying one of the best queer stories ever made, capable of getting to your heart.
The Boys in the Band (2020):
While it features Jim Parson in the main cast, the film is far from a Big Bang Theory comedy. The Boys in the Band, directed by Joe Mantello would become an updated version of the same film released in 1970 that, curiously, was directed by one of the writers of the current version: Mart Crowley.
The Boys in the Band, set in 1968, is about a birthday party where a group of friends gets together. Everything starts to take its course when a drunken game ends up making 7 gay friends talk about their feelings and tell truths that more than one guest will not like at the party.
While Parsons is involved, the cast also consists of Kenneth Nelson, Leonard Frey, Cliff Gorman, Laurence Luckinbill, Frederick Combs, Keith Prentice, Robert La Tourneaux, Reuben Greene, and Peter White.
Disclosure (2020):
Please make no mistake about the film of the same name that starred Michael Douglas and Demi Moore. Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen, is a documentary that shows the lives and stories of different transgender personalities in the world of art and entertainment.
Directed by Sam Fender, the main objective of the film, in addition to showing the stories of the different personalities that are part of the documentary, is to take viewers on a cultural and historical journey, where it will be portrayed how harmful the representation of transgender figures and ideas has been in cinema. Especially in the United States.
Disclosure: Trans Live on Screen featured the stories of personalities such as Laverne Cox, Susan Stryker, Alexandra Billings, Jamie Clayton, Chaz Bono, Alexandra Grey, Yance Ford, Trace Lysette, Jazzmun, Mj Rodriguez, Angelica Ross, Jen Richards, Elliot Fletcher, Brian Michael Smith, Sandra Caldwell, Candis Cayne, Jessica Crockett, Zackary Drucker, Lilly Wachowski, Ser Anzoategui, Michael D. Cohen, Zeke Smith, and Leo Sheng.
The Half of It (2020):
Imagine this situation: your friend asks you for help in conquering “the girl of his dreams.” In all this, you pretend to be him and engage in a conversation with the girl in question and end up finding what is possibly the love of your life, because of the number of tastes and things in common they have.
That’s The Half of It, which will tell the story of how young Ellie Chu, from the Squamish village, is contacted by Paul Munsky to conquer Aster Flores. What started as a simple help, ended up helping Ellie find herself, run into feelings she hadn’t felt before, and plenty of reasons to stay in Squamish.
