Queer Sh*t to Watch This Week
NewNowNext spotlights the latest (and queerest) movies, TV shows, web series, and other gay shit, for your viewing pleasure in our weekly watch list. Grab your popcorn, squirrel friends!
In Theaters
If you think prostitution looks glamorous, well, writer-director Camille Vidal-Naquet’s astounding debut feature should send you screaming to a corporate job fair. BPM’s Felix Maritaud plays Leo, a hungry-eyed French hustler defined by a mix of low self-esteem, aimlessness, and empathy—not to mention ominous health symptoms he dismisses. Leo falls in love with gay-for-pay Ahd (Eric Bernard), who doles out tenderness, disgust, and violence in equal doses. It's compelling, sometimes explicit yet by no means erotic, and you’ll really want a Francophone Richard Gere to swoop in and save the day. (Strand Releasing)
Much like Fifty Shades of Grey started as Twilight fanfic, author Anna Todd’s After started as a One Direction romance, with a following that dubs themselves “Afternators.” Alas, there’s no shipping of Harry and Liam to be found in the story of college student Tessa (Josephine Langford), who falls for Styles stand-in Hardin (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, son of Ralph Fiennes), but there is a lesbian couple: Tessa’s roommate Stephanie (Khadijha Red Thunder) and girlfriend Tristan (Pia Mia). (Aviron)
This year has already seen a wave of documentaries, series, and films about the transgender community, bringing a whole lot of awareness to audiences. Director Vlada Knowlton—parent of a lovely 5-year-old trans daughter—addresses the right wing’s 2016 flurry of “bathroom bills,” which promoted hysteria around the notion of sexual predators putting on wigs and pretending to be trans to assault women if they are allowed to use the bathroom aligning with their gender identity. It's deeply upsetting at times to see ignorant people actively causing profound harm to their fellow human beings, but spoiler alert: We win. (Passion River)
Elle Fanning plays Violet, a teenager living in the dull AF British Isle of Wight, who auditions for a reality singing competition with hopes of becoming a pop star with encouragement from drunkard opera has-been Vlad (Zlatko Buric). The gays are going to gobble up Teen Spirit’s soundtrack with Fanning’s awesome covers of songs by Robyn, Tegan and Sara, Ellie Goulding, Annie Lennox, Sigrid, and more, plus Carly Rae Jepsen’s previously unreleased “Wildflowers.” (Bleecker Street)
On Demand and DVD
Caden (Matt Pascua) is encouraged by his dying, cancer-stricken twin sister (Leah McKendrick) to have a relationship with her husband, Beau (Patrick Zeller), after she dies in this unusual drama inspired by a Reddit account of two straight men falling in love when one nursed the other back to health. (VOD, Amazon)
TV and Streaming
In another first for LGBTQ representation, star-writer Ryan O’Connell’s comedy series is based on his own experiences as a gay man with cerebral palsy navigating sex and a career in TV. (April 12, Netflix)
The final season hits, and although GOT’s most prominent LGBTQ characters have seemingly all perished, out actor Kristian Nairn might be back this season as Hodor, although it remains to be seen whether he’s gone supernatural zombie or not. (April 14, HBO)
Netflix has been giving the gays a lot of love lately, and even their “straight” original films and series feature memorable LGBTQ characters (Atypical, She’s Gotta Have It, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Sex Education). In its new comedy The Perfect Date, Brooks Rattigan (Noah Centineo) raises cash to fund his education by coming up with an app to rent himself as a stand-in “dream boyfriend,” and we’ve also got his tech-savvy gay bestie, Murph (Odiseas Georgiadis), to root for. Can we rent Odiseas, please? (April 12, Netflix)
The sitcom saga of the Short family returns for a fourth season, hopefully with more of lesbian character Dougie, played by openly queer stand-up comic Fortune Feimster. (April 18, CBS)
Photo Credits: Sauvage/Wild courtesy of Strand Releasing, The Most Dangerous Year courtesy of Marymoor Productions, After courtesy of Aviron, Say Yes courtesy of Matt Pascua Couch, and Special courtesy of Netflix.
