God’s Own Country was one of the most acclaimed LGBTQ films of 2017. Josh O’Connor and Alec Secareanu star in the indy flick, which one or two people (everyone) has called the British Brokeback Mountain (but with a better ending and hotter sex scenes.)
Related: The trailer for “God’s Own Country” — a.k.a., The British “Brokeback Mountain” — is here
It’s about a young farmhand in northern England who drowns away his sorrows by binge drinking and having casual sex. His life is suddenly transformed after he meets a hot Romanian migrant worker.
Related: “American Gods” just broadcast mainstream TV’s most hardcore gay sex scene
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
But you didn’t click on this post for a summary of the movie — which you should absolutely see when you’re not checking out goods on Queerty.
The scenes have made their way online, which you can find HERE (best not watch while Pam from accounting hovers over your desk and regales you with last month’s adventure of taking the kids to Legoland).
You’re welcome.
davidjohng
Saw this film twice. I cant understand how this great unappreciated film wasn’t shown and promoted more in the US. And, for the most part, missed awards over here. I thought it was on a level with Brokeback.
JarodD
I think it’s significantly better than call me by your name and yet it has gotten significantly fewer accolades which is unfortunate because it’s quite good.
oz1967
Could not agree more, far better than Call Me By Your Name and nice to have ending that is not the usual way these type of movies end (hope that not too spoilery) well done to all concerned.
BudNOLA
Or you can, you know, watch the whole movie on Amazon and experience all the emotion that goes along with the relationship and not just check out their dicks. Easily one of the best LGBT films to come along in a while. Even better than Call Me By Your Name.
Luis
I completely agree. This is a love story. If I want to watch random gay sex scenes I know where to find them, and it’s not on Queerty.
ptb2016
It’s a pity this wonderful movie is being reduced here to just the sex scenes as it is really a love story, and for once in a gay movie has a happy ending! It’s beautifully made and acted, with looks speaking volumes at times, while the countryside of wild Yorkshire is a major character too. In comparison to French thriller Stranger by the Lake the sex is quite tame. An interesting comparison to Call Me By Your Name which is lovely to look at but very slow at times, and an unsatisfactory conclusion.
d2d7
Saw it twice, it’s a great feel good LGBT movie. Brokeback mountain was great, but the ending hurts. But it is part of our reality.
OzJosh
God’s Own Country might have been more impressive and more resonant had it been released in the 1970s – or at least firmly set in that period. Otherwise it’s hard to explain Johnny’s Neanderthal approach to his sexuality. Sure, he’s an isolated rural boy raised by backward, inarticulate parents. But he presumably went to school, watched television and had the occasional conversation with contemporaries in the pub before becoming too drunk to think clearly. Yet the character’s connection with his own sexuality would be more at home in a film set in the 1860s. Of course, this is what allows for the primitive fight-sex and the wordless animalistic courtship that fans of the movie seem to find so charming. Ah, the good old days! Seriously?
stub27
Mate that is what certain parts of the UK is like, we are not all London, and some LTGBQ people have that experience, as the same in some of your states
whitakerk861
“it’s hard to explain Johnny’s Neanderthal approach to his sexuality.” You either a virgin, middlesex, female, or closeted. God’s Own Country did a great job of depicting the animal desire that young men have, gay or straight. Relegating it to the ’70s is equivalent to denial. Call Me By Your Name is nothing but creepy and rapey. There was zero emotion in that film while God’s Own Country was raw and dealt with the more universal issue of how to deal with your sexual desires at a young and confusing time in your life. It didn’t resort to grooming a teenager into having sex.
Sam6969
I watched this movie too. There may not be many dialogues, but each word counts and the psychological background is credible. In particular, the rejection wound and the toll it takes on the love relationship and Johnny’s difficulty to express his feelings, especially, are quite well set out, though not taking too much place for love to be smothered.
The ending could have well been very different and that would not have been surprising. So, yes a good Indie movie with good looking and credible actors.
s
Exactly! It’s dreary as all hell. And grunts and pouts are the limit to the characters’ development
Sam6969
“Josh, 27, reveals that the relationship between the characters led to the two actors forming a close bond. “Our friendship in reality developed as we were falling in love on screen,” he says.”
source: https://attitude.co.uk/article/15668/gods-own-country-stars-talk-gay-sex-scenes-and-brokeback-comparisons/
Also, there was some kind of controversy bout the fact they (at least Josh) were straight and the Director did not hire gay actors. As he said, he was looking for the best actor, not the best gay actor.
ptb2016
I’m sick of these calls for only gay actors to play gay roles. What next, only killers to play killers? Ludicrous. The best actor – that is someone pretending to be someone else – needs to get the job. I mean so many gay actors play straight guys on screen!
Blackceo
Hopefully that screenshot isn’t another unrealistic spit and stick scene like the tent sex in Brokeback Mountain.
Frank
that’s exactly what it was…just spit and go…
Paco
Ready… Set… IN!!!
Ahh the magic of movies. No prep, well lubed and stretched out with no pain or mess.
Shimata
I used to think the spit and stick sex scene in Brokeback Mountain was pretty unrealistic as well. Then I moved to a big city and started going to blackout nights at a couple of local bars. I’ve “spat and stuck” so many different men since then that I can assure you it’s very realistic with some guys. And no, they didn’t all have worn out holes.
stub27
It’s such an amazing movie
JaredMacBride
A great movie that deserves recognition other than the sex scenes. For all of us who thought we’d never see a gay movie with great actors and a hopeful ending.
IanHunter
This should have definitely been a contender at the Academy Awards. I do think that it will be one of those movies that will go down in history as one of the most unappreciated movies in history. It is definitely going to be high on the list of gay movies to see in your lifetime.
surreal33
I turned the movie off after the first scene of random, unprotected sex.
I tired of the lazy, inane, narrative of gay men “casually” engaged in unprotected sex and/or substance abuse.
Gay men and gay sex are more than the limited, boring, self-destructive, bullshit which is the vast majority
of gay cinema.
CastleSF
Your criticism of this film, specifically the intimate scenes, is out of place and misguided. I think deep inside you are conflicted about what you criticize. You are particularly drawn to these scenarios you deem so objectionable because secretively you find them alluring.
crowebobby
“Romeo and Juliet” is kiddie porn and all copies of it, both in print and on celluloid, should be destroyed.
Luvstoread
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. And, the ending was one filled with hope. Too many gay movies end are so maudlin, depressing, and sad at the end. Looking forward to Love Simon. Really enjoyed the book!!
Luvstoread
Ugh… gay movie endings.. Why isn’t there an edit button??
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
What an unutterably crass way to treat art. How typically Queerty
Kieran
It would be great to see films like this airing on Logo. But I guess that would mean Cable’s erstwhile “Gay Channel” would have to cancel some re-runs of “Mama’s Family” “Golden Girls” and “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer”.
MinnesotaNotNice
Damn, why am I just hearing of this movie, now??
hansniemeijer
I watched the film and was horrified to see a (dead?) calf shot dead and a still born lamb being skinned. Not really contributing to my idea of a raw low story.
Shimata
Because heaven forbid characters in a love story mirror things that actually happen in real life. Apparently love can’t exist where things are too “icky.”
ptb2016
Interesting how thé actors had no qualms about appearing full frontal, unlike the guys in Call Me By Your Name, nor performing sex scenes, though not explicit. In French movies 120BPM sexand nudity is integral to the story, but is so well dealt with as not to be offensive. And there are few French actors not willing to show it all, my crush Gaspard Ulliel is one, Pierre Niney another. But then the French have a very different attitude to sex and nudity. And then there’s the film Sauvage from last year about male prostitute. Hard to watch but it pulls no punches.