Another year of social distancing, masks, and (mostly) staying in the house winds to a close. Thank the Lord for the movies which have helped us pass the time and maintain our sanity.
And thank goodness the movies are much better than last year. We’ve seen a gay couple arrive in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Eternals), characters pop up in major awards bait (West Side Story, In The Heights) and queer artists head up productions both indie (Swan Song) and blockbuster (The Matrix Resurrections).
Note that our list here does not include documentaries, though we will give a shout out to Pray Away, The Capote Tapes, The Velvet Underground, Killing Patient Zero, I Carry You With Me and Whirlybird as among our favorites.
As for scripted fare, join us in our countdown. These are the most awesome queer movies of 2021.
domen8r
fairly sure “villAIn” of the year was meant, unless the rural, work-based landworker of “villein” was meant (with an inverted/substitution of final vowels but maybe appropriate to the drama’s mise en scene). From a writer with the screen name “English Teacher” on reddit : A villein was a serf in medieval European feudal systems; a person who works land for a lord (basically one step above a slave); and is pronounced “v?l??n” OR “v?-l?n?.” The words are related: both stem from Latin villanus (a person employed at a villa/house/estate). Because of the low social status of villeins, the word (later changed to villain) came to mean a person who was uncouth, uneducated, rude, savage, etc., which is how it came to mean the bad guy in a story.
Mark
While I am quite sure that these are all well considered movies, I think another contender would have to be Single All The Way from Netflix! I am not a big Hallmark-style fan, but this movie had the star power, the Feels, and the potentially trope-centered storyline without being corny, badly acted, or overplayed. It is simply a VERY good Christmas themed story about two friends who realize their potential thanks to the rural north eastern family of the main character. The star power is definitely there in aces. The Feels are real and not played for such. And all of the tropes present are underplayed and not overblown and in your face. If you have not yet seen it… GO… NOW… watch it!!!
Queertogeno
What the hell is The Matrix doing in a list like this?
You should have included Eric Steels Minyan. It was one of the great surprises of the year for me. Interesting, thoughtful, elegant, sexy. Samuel H Levine is absolutely fantastic. Great movie.
jasentylar
Cicada is actually about gay people and it’s not on the list, but the Matrix is.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Ok…
azzolina
Whoever wrote this didn’t understand Summer of 85 at all. David was 18; Alex was 16.