NewNowNext spotlights the latest (and queerest) movies, TV shows, web series, and other LGBTQ shit for your viewing pleasure in our weekly watch list. Grab your popcorn, squirrel friends!

In Theaters

Socrates

After his sick mother dies (in a bummer of an opening scene if there ever was one), gay Brazilian teenager Socrates (Christian Malheiros) desperately seeks work to pay the bills so he won’t be forced into foster home hell or back with his father (Jayme Rodrigues). Although he finds romantic connection with a young laborer, Maicon (Tales Ordakji), homophobes toss a wrench in the works, and Socrates’s situation grows more urgent. Director Alexandre Moratto made his naturalistic, intense feature debut with the help of students from UNICEF-sponsored, at-risk teenager organization Instituto Quero. Film buffs should watch this with two other LGBTQ-inclusive Brazilian films about youth in crisis, 1981’s Pixote and 2007’s Querô. Also available on VOD/DVD August 20. (Now Playing, Breaking Glass Pictures)

DVD and VOD

Booksmart

In Olivia Wilde's feature directorial debut, the ribald Superbad-style teen buddy comedy gets a fresh AF female remix—with a lesbian main character to boot! Kaitlyn Dever stars as queer high school senior Amy, whose BFF Molly (Beanie Feldstein) can talk some serious trash: “Do you know how many girls are gonna be up your vagina next year? Every time I come to visit you, you’re going to be scissoring a different girl.” The pair have spent their adolescent years sacrificing parties and their social lives to cram hard, and now they just want to cram all that lost fun into a big epic blowout. (Available on VOD August 20, Annapurna Pictures)

Diamantino

If you think most queer cinema is too conventional, Diamantino is what you’ve been waiting for. Co-directors and writers Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt have whipped up a Jeff Koons-gone-Portuguese satire involving a dim and narcissistic soccer champion, Diamantino (Carloto Cotta), who has visions of giant puppies and gets embroiled in a plot involving a lesbian undercover officer he mistakes as a male teenage refugee, while being cloned by a mad scientist, which results in his growing breasts. Whaaattttttttt?! Now give them your money! (Available on VOD August 20, Kino Lorber)

TV and Streaming

David Makes Man

Tarell Alvin McCraney, Moonlight’s Oscar-winning gay co-screenwriter and playwright, drew from his experiences growing up poor in Florida to create this 10-episode series about an intellectually gifted black teenager, David (Akili McDowell), who lives in South Florida’s gritty Homestead Village projects while attending a buttoned-up magnet school. As he grapples with these two opposing worlds and what could be a crush on his BFF Seren (Nathaniel McIntyre), we also meet a gender nonconforming character, Mx. Elijah (played by gay actor-comedian Travis Coles). Trans actor Trace Lysette (Transparent) makes a cameo. (Wednesdays on OWN)

The Heart Is Never Wrong

In a groundbreaking first for the telenovela genre, this Mexico-set series (originally titled El Corazón Nunca Se Equivoca) features a young gay couple as its main characters. A spinoff of telenovela Mi Marido Tiene Más Familia (My Husband Has More Family), which ran from 2017 to 2019, these 26 new episodes chart the further adventures of teenage lovers Ari (Emilio Osorio) and Temo (Joaquín Bondoni), a.k.a. #aristemo, as they move from Oaxaca to Mexico City to attend college, pursue their respective career goals of music and politics, and face challenges in their relationship (and social media influencer status!). Alas, viewers who don’t understand Spanish will need to wait on an English-subtitled version on another network or streaming service. Hola, Hulu! (Tuesdays on Univision)

Mindhunter

David Fincher’s engrossing 2017 series about two behavioral science FBI agents (Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany) picking the minds of convicted serial killers finally returns with Anna Torv as the agents’ lesbian mentor and associate, psychologist Dr. Wendy Carr, and a focus on the grisly “Atlanta child murders” of 28 African American boys. (Streaming now on Netflix)

Miss Rosewood

Haven’t heard of New York’s “transgender-terrorist” queer performance artist Rose Wood? Then Helle Jensen’s globetrotting documentary (a Revry original) will open your eyes to the queen’s audacious life, art, and activism, which has included vomiting on Susan Sarandon (vote blue no matter who next time, bish!) and dumping used condoms on Leo DiCaprio and Middle Eastern royalty. (Streaming August 18 on Pluto TV)

The Queens

Alaska, Jinkx Monsoon, Sharon Needles, and Katya spill their tea big-time in this new Revry original. Shot over two years, the documentary promises glimpses into the RuPaul’s Drag Race alums' lives, including their highs and lows on- and offstage. Be there for it. (Streaming August 18 on Pluto TV)

Drag Race Thailand

Thailand’s official RuPaul’s Drag Race iteration made franchise herstory with two transgender contestants, a Muslim queen (Vanda Miss Joaquim), and several international competitors including California-based Indian American Genie. WOW Presents Plus streams episodes weekly with English subtitles, and Season 2 is literally on fire—look out for several flaming runway looks, one of which goes awry. Start your engines, krub! (Streaming August 21 on WOW Presents Plus)

Photo: Katya in The Queens.