WATCH LIST: “Touch Me Not” in Theaters, “Boy Erased” on VOD, TV’s “Schitt’s Creek” Returns
In Theaters
Director Adina Pintilie fuses documentary and fiction while telling the story of a handful of individuals, including a 50-something woman (Laura Benson) and two men with disabilities (Tómas Lemarquis, Christian Bayerlein), exploring intimacy and sexual freedom. Transgender sex therapist and sex worker Hanna Hoffman plays a version of herself. (January 11, Kino Lorber)
DVD/Blu-Ray/Video on Demand
Upon being outed to his parents, 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, while Troye Sivan (who contributed the Golden Globe-nominated song “Revelation”) plays another gay youth trapped at the center. (VOD, Universal)
Bradley Cooper directs and stars in a serious Oscars contender about an alcoholic country and western superstar, Jackson Maine (Cooper), who discovers a female singer, Ally (Lady Gaga), at a drag bar (where else?) and helps launch her to stardom while his own career begins to crash. (VOD, Warner Bros)
Bisexual fashion magazine illustrator Antonio Lopez was the toast of the fashion world during the 1970s and reveled in its decadence. Director Jay Crump’s documentary revisits his work, era, and lots of the fabulous friends in his circle, including Karl Lagerfeld, Jessica Lange, Jerry Hall, and Bill Cunningham. (VOD, Film Movement)
Studio 54, the legendarily decadent and pansexual 1970s NYC nightclub, is the subject of this comprehensive, entertaining documentary that sheds much light on late gay co-owner Steve Rubell. (VOD, Kino Lorber)
TV/Streaming
The teenage son of a sex therapist mother (Gillian Anderson), Otis (Asa Butterfield) starts his own informal practice counseling fellow students on their sexual dysfunctions and predicaments. His out best friend Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) is also a major character in this eight-episode sex dramedy. (January 11, Netflix)
The latest reality series from World of Wonder (RuPaul’s Drag Race, Million Dollar Listing) focuses on sassy NYC landscaping and exterior design firm Manscapers—Garrett Magee, James DeSantis, and Mel Brasier—as they tackle high-end gigs and draaaama. (January 17, Bravo)
The Canadian comedy about the suburban Rose family—patriarch Johnny (Eugene Levy), wife Moira (Catherine O’Hara), and adult children David (Dan Levy) and Alexis (Ann Murphy)—enters its fifth season, promising some musical fun and more of polysexual David’s relationship with business partner Patrick (Noah Reid). (January 16, Pop TV)
The second season of Seth Rogen’s sci-fi comedy about a slacker gamer, Josh Futturman (Josh Hutcherson), recruited by time travelers to save the world, features a plotline involving multi-spousal poly family units called “clusters” that future soldier Wolf (Derek Wilson) is part of. Be sure to catch episode 3! (January 11, Hulu)
If true to the Image comic series on which its based, this Syfy series about a high school for assassins—produced by Marvel movies’ wonder team the Russo Brothers—will feature LGBTQ characters, including a member of clique The Preps. (January 16, Syfy)
