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WATCH: Our Top 10 Must-See Films at This Year’s LGBT Film Fests: Brent Corrigan, Lesbian Space Aliens, and Forbidden Love in Iran

By Matty B May 16, 2011 at 3:37pm
The LGBT film fest season is now in full swing and, if you’ve ever been to one, picking from the crop of movies can be like taking your chances in a darkened back room: you might be left with a sore ass for very little return. So, if you’re looking for an expert opinion on what to watch, Queerty teamed up with ThatGayMovie.com to get their personal picks of the very best queer flicks to see this Summer. Here they are, in no particular order and with trailers aplenty.
Judas Kiss
Brent Corrigan goes legit; Richard Harmon plays gay; Timo Descamps stops singing and Charlie David hopes to put “Dante’s Cove” behind him in this sexy, time-bending thriller (I guess Matthew Montgomery was busy). David plays a washed-up filmmaker returning to his old alma mater as a judge for the school’s annual film festival. After sleeping with one of the students (Harmon), who may or may not be him in some parallel time and place, he starts to see a way of altering his past and future at the same time. Strapped was the best gay movie of last year and if you liked its blend of mystery, sexiness and surrealism, you’ll probably enjoy Judas Kiss.
We Were Here
Making a documentary about the early days of the AIDS crisis is like climbing a mountain and director David Weissman approaches it by taking a microscope to five personally affected individuals who were there on the front line. He includes archive footage and photographs but it’s the first hand accounts which are deeply affecting. Weissman doesn’t sugar coat anything, but the overall tone of the film is inspirational rather than depressing and there is a strong message for young gays about the power of community.
Weekend
This film generated a lot of buzz at the recent SXSW festival in Texas (which means the sales agents were doing their job). Former editor Andrew Haigh’s sophomore effort follows two British blokes – one out; the other not so much – as they meet, shag, talk, ‘get twatted,’ and stir some strong emotions in each other over the course of three days. Haigh’s first film, the docu-drama Greek Pete, divided opinion with some finding its year-long account of a London rent boy too scripted and hollow. Haigh seems to have found his groove with Weekend, discarding any pretense of reality and focusing on what is most personal to him.
Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same
If Tim Burton were a) a lesbian and b) still talented, this is probably the kind of film he would make. It taps those 1950s B-movie alien invasion pics to poke fun at the trials and tribulations of lesbian dating in the 21st Century as females from the planet Zots have to find sapphic love on Earth in order to save their race. Genre-spoofing comedy films with “lesbian” in the title aren’t always a hot prospect (did anyone see “Lesbian Vampire Killers?”) but CLSASS is warm, witty, irresistible and has its heart in the right place.
Christopher And His Kind
Smart move casting Matt Smith as Christopher Isherwood in this glossy account of the gay author’s formative years in pre-war Berlin what with the “Dr. Who” star’s growing queer fanbase, although rumor has it the BBC put a stop to any appearance of the Time Lord’s naked rear end. He does have one very athletic sex scene, but the film is fairly tame considering Isherwood’s fondness for the city’s rough trade and the fact that his real-life exploits inspired the musical “Cabaret.” The film does give Smith a chance to flex his acting muscles away from his increasingly ADHD-afflicted-English-boffin-on-speed turn as The Doctor and the production meticulously recreates a time in Berlin when long Nazi shadows were starting to cast themselves over the city’s wild hedonism.
The Real Anne Lister
Last year’s surprise documentary hit was about a pair of folk-singing lesbian twins from New Zealand and there is no reason why this fascinating film about “England’s first modern lesbian” shouldn’t be just as popular as “The Topp Twins.” In the era of Jane Austin, when women were supposed to sit quietly in the corner and look pretty, Anne Lister was off climbing mountains, beating her male business rivals and having hot lesbian sex with the locals, all of which she documented in her secret, coded diaries. Gay comedian Sue Perkins, “the British Ellen DeGeneres,” traces Anne’s adventures with a light-hearted touch and a keen interest in history and wonders why we never learnt about her in school.
Gun Hill Road
Ignoring the fact that this Sundance hit is virtually the same story as last year’s criminally overlooked La Mission starring the even more criminally overlooked Benjamin Bratt, Gun Hill Road is powerful stuff and should appeal to a wider audience. This time Esai Morales plays the tough Latino ex-con leaving prison only to find his son likes hanging with the homies, but in a different way, and worries what their macho community will make of Michael/Vanessa’s sexuality. Writer/director Rashaad Ernesto Green went hunting among New York’s coolest club kids for an unknown to play the part of the transgender son and found the striking form of Harmony Santana who steals the film à la The Crying Game.
Loose Cannons
Mixing farce, colorful melodrama, queer themes and horny, older women this full bodied Italian dramedy sometimes feels like the kind of movie Pedro Almodóvar used to make before he went all serious, and that is no bad thing, even if it feels a tad dated. It all revolves around a large, pasta peddling family headed by a strict, conservative pappa who expects his offspring to take over the family firm. Things don’t run to plan and, as Oscar Wilde might say, to find out one son is gay might be considered a misfortune, but two…
Going Down In LaLa Land
“The Big Gay Musical” turned out a lot better than it sounded and this time director Casper Andreas has the source material in Andy Zeffer’s funny/tragic novel about a hot, young it-boy who moves to L.A. with dreams of movie stardom and ends up working on gay porn sets and servicing rich Hollywood clients. Actor Matthew Ludwinski looks a lot like a younger Zeffer (he plays Adam Zeller in the movie) and the fun is in guessing which bits are based on the author’s real-life experiences. I wonder if Ludwinski will have a bittersweet exposé to write a few years down the line…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VljAN3jrWSA

Circumstance

Iran is a political hot potato right now and this Tehran-set (but Lebanon-filmed) love story between two teenage girls is potentially incendiary stuff in a country where their relationship could mean the death penalty.

Despite this ever present threat, first time writer/director Maryam Keshavarz manages to turn a lot of common preconceptions on their head in this surprisingly sensual film and shows two rebellious and defiant young people dreaming and dealing with stuff just like teenagers everywhere, it’s just they have to hide it deeper underground.

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16 Comments*

  • QJ201

    In Gay Lit class in the mid 90’s we read Anne Lister’s Diaries. Fascinating, but a damn long read.

  • dazzer

    Wonder why they aren’t pairing the Anne Lister documentary with the BBC drama about Lister starring Maxine Peake. It was a great drama.

  • Frank

    In that Judas Kiss clip, Brent Corrigan is so stunningly gorgeous he looks like he could possibly be the first gay porn star to get a legit career. As his porn work has shown, the camera loves him. He could play Zac Efron’s little brother. Woof.

  • ChrisC

    WOW! ‘Circumstance’ looks amazing!

  • matt

    so glad to see richard harmon play gay! thought he was great in AMC’s The Killing and super cute!

  • Hannah

    I’ve seen Loose Cannons. Its pretty good. Its definitely worth a look.

  • gina

    Let’s try again and rephrase your description of Gun Hill Road:

    “It’s about a Latino family in the Bronx coming to terms with having a trans daughter.”

  • Kaitlyn

    Ugh “Christopher and His Kind” was so good. Matt Smith is brilliant both in this role and as Doctor Who. Love him.

  • danzrr

    @dazzer: We’ve already paired “The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister” with the doc, “The Real Anne Lister” in last year’s Frameline34: the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival 🙂
    http://www.frameline.org/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=2077&FID=47

    Aside from “Loose Cannons” and “Circumstance,” I’ve already seen all of the films featured and they’re fantastic! Great choices!

  • ousslander

    @Kaitlyn:It does look good and love him as The Doctor.

  • Coffee&Chicory

    The leading women in Circumstance are INCREDIBLY pretty

  • Brian

    Only 3 Lesbian movies out of 10?? There are a ton out there including the comedic burlesque romp Fishnet starring Eating Out’s Rebekah Kochan.

  • emaa

    Looking forward to seeing many of the films you have listed. I am especially looking forward to seeing Gun Hill Road.
    I am suprised that you didn’t have Fishnet on your list. It was a fun and quirky lesbian film with plenty of humor and hot chicks.

  • MOlly

    UMMM… where is FISHNET !?! The best lesbian comedy!

  • Reynalda Oberski

    Really nice read! http://www.gamesfor.co Would you mind if I link back to this article?

  • Rooney

    Lesbian Vampire Killers was on TV last week, one of the worst pieces of shit movies I’ve ever seen (I didn’t watch until the end, I’m not into pain). And false advertising. This one? I will give a shot.

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