Watch List: “Boy Erased” Brings the Tears, Music Icons Get Their Due in “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Maria by Callas”
In Theaters
Rami Malek plays Freddie Mercury in this Queen biopic, which covers its formation, Mercury’s sexual self-discovery, the making of iconic hits like "We Will Rock You," and their triumphant 1985 Live Aid performance (which serves as the energetic, rocking climax). (November 2, 20th Century Fox)
Upon being outed to his parents, gay Arkansas college student, Jared (Lucas Hedges), is exiled by his minister father (Russell Crowe) and mother (Nicole Kidman) to Love In Action, a gay conversion therapy center. Director Joel Edgerton, who adapted the film from Garrard Conley’s 2016 memoir, also stars as the center’s villainous head, Victor Sykes, while Troye Sivan plays another gay youth trapped at the center (and he contributed the new song, “Revelation”). (November 2, Focus Features)
Tom Volf lets the late icon, opera singer Maria Callas, share her life story through an impressive mix of archival footage, never before shared private letters and memoirs, and personal home movies and photographs. (November 2, Sony Pictures Classics)
A week after his delightfully eccentric A Bread Factory opened, openly gay Asian-American director Patrick Wang brings us this somber tale—based on Leah Hager Cohen's 2011 novel of the same name—of a family grappling with a newborn’s death and the arrival of the father’s pregnant adult daughter from a previous marriage, Jess (Sonya Harum). (November 2, Patrick Wang)
DVD/Blu-Ray/Video on Demand
Jheri Jones isn’t your typical 74-year-old Mississippi Bible Belt mobile home matriarch. She’s a sassy transgender woman, and her life and relationship with her grown children (two of whom live with her), was shot over a five year period for Moby Longinotto’s inspiring and sometimes tearjerking documentary. (VOD, Gravitas Ventures)
Trailblazing, four-time Tony Award-winning gay playwright Terrence McNally receives the documentary treatment from director Jeff Kaufman. From his Corpus Christi, Texas childhood to career milestones like "Love! Valour! Compassion!" and relationships, much is covered with plenty of commentary from fellow Broadway luminaries and peers including Nathan Lane, Christine Baranski, Rita Moreno, John Glover, and many others. (VOD, The Orchard)
After moving to Berlin, Canadian Matthew (Antoine Lahaie) becomes so obsessed with handsome local Mathias (Nicolas Maxim Endlicher) that he begins to adapt his appearance and, after a twist of fate, even tries to take over his life. (DVD, TLA)
In this most unorthodox love triangle drama, Berlin pastry chef Thomas (Tim Kalkhof) is having an affair with an Israeli married man, Oren (Roy Miller), who routinely visits for business. When Oren dies, Thomas lets curiosity get the better of him, heads to Israel, and ingratiates himself with the widow, Anat (Sarah Adler). (DVD, Strand Releasing)
When small-town teenager Cameron Post (Chloe Grace Moretz) is caught kissing a girl, she's sent to a religious, gay conversion therapy center in the sticks run by Dr. Lydia Marsh (Jennifer Ehle) and "ex-gay" Reverend Rick (John Gallagher Jr.). (VOD, FilmRise)
TV/Streaming
With Kevin Spacey's career dead, so is his bisexual onscreen alter-ego Frank Underwood, leaving wife Claire (Robin Wright) as the first female POTUS. Expect first-class backstabbery, a murder mystery (who killed Frank?), and hopefully, some sexual power plays while she’s at it in this final season. (Netflix)
