8 Great Queer films to stream this weekend

TANGERINE

On the day she is released from prison Sin-Dee Rella (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her. Alexandra (Mya Taylor) helps her out but also has her own problems to navigate and a hopeful singing career to chase. The film follows these two trans women of colour through a day and introduces you to a host of emotion. Not to mention director Sean Barker offers us a visually striking movie shot on an iPhone.

SHIVA BABY

Danielle (Rachel Sennott) runs into her sugar daddy while at a Jewish post-funeral. She then runs into a host of other characters including her ex-girlfriend Maya (Molly Gordon). All while her parents (played by Polly Draper and Fred Melamed) act as Jewish-parenty as possible. Things get fun and anxiety-ridden in this black-comedy piece.

PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE

Celine Sciamma masterfully subverts the male gaze in favour of a feminine eye in this lesbian love story set in the 18th century. Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) is the daughter of the house, betrothed to a wealthy Italian whom she does not want to marry. Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is the Parisian artist hired to paint Héloïse’s portrait. The love between the two is explored through this rich but restrained piece that also champions beautiful frames and colours.

PARIS IS BURNING

An LGBTQ+ classic for a reason. Beauty, joy, pain and sensuality of queer life are beautifully shared, while exploring the beginnings of ballroom culture. This one is a documentary favourite.

LAURENCE ANYWAYS

Gender, relationships and love are peered into in this journey closely along a couple’s life. Director Xavier Dolan does what he does so well in offering us a look into Queer lives and the lives of those who they love and are loved by. The characters strongly drive the film.

HAPPY TOGETHER

This beautifully stylized, raw and lovely offering from Wong Kar Wai is a 90s Queer favourite. Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Leslie Cheung Kwok Wing play a couple traveling through Argentina. They go through turbulent cycles of passion, jealousy and destruction. Brutally intimate.

FIRE

Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das carry this loving and quietly powerful film. The Queer eroticism in Fire shows us passionate and loaded moments. Deepa Mehta pulls at sociocultural threads beautifully while presenting a moving love story.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

Camp. Cinemafantastique. Life. It’s serving all of that and more. Jim Sharman’s film about two sweethearts who break down in the rain and end up at the house of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, transvestite scientist, is a cult classic for a reason.

And the songs are really catchy.