GUEST EDITORIAL: 10 Best LGBTQ+ Movies of the Last Decade
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10 Best LGBTQ+ Movies of the Last Decade
by Marques Coleman
For decades, LGBTQ+ stories have been silenced and kept out of mainstream media. In the 2010s, queer filmmakers and queer stories have finally started getting their chances to shine and receive the recognition they deserve.
Here’s a list of 10 must-see LGBTQ+ movies that came out in the last 10 years.
Call Me By Your Name
If you haven’t heard of Luca Guadagnino’s hit gay drama, you have probably been living under a rock. Call Me By Your Name dominated the 2017 award season and turned Timothee Chalamet into Hollywood’s golden boy practically overnight.
Set in Northern Italy in the 1980s, Call Me By Your Name is a story of love between Elio, a self-concious and sensitive 17-year-old boy, and Oliver, a student in his twenties, who is staying with Elio’s family over the summer assisting Elio’s father with archeology research. Amazing score by Sufjan Stevens, gorgeous scenery, and the chemistry between the two leads draw you right into the story before shattering your heart into pieces.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
By the time Portrait of a Lady on Fire was released in 2019, the audiences have already seen many good LGBTQ+ period dramas. However, none of them portray a relationship between two women in such a poetic way as Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
In the movie, we are introduced to Héloïse and Marianne. Héloïse is soon to be married, and Marianne is hired to paint her wedding portrait. At first, Héloïse is very cold towards Marianne, but after they spend some time together, that coldness turns into love and passion none of them could see coming.
Moonlight
Most people only know Moonlight as the movie that quite literally snatched the Best Picture Academy Award out of the hands of La La Land. But those who have seen Moonlight will tell you without doubt that it was a much-deserved win.
Directed by Barry Jenkins in 2016, Moonlight is a story about Shiron, a black boy growing up in the slums of Miami with his mother, who is struggling with drug addiction. The story is told in three parts — childhood, adolescence, and adulthood — all of which represent different stages of Shiron coming to terms with his sexuality as a gay man.
Booksmart
Compared to other movies on the list, Booksmart is a much lighter watch, and that’s exactly what makes it so special. At the center of the movie are Amy and Molly, two best friends and high school seniors who decide they need to go to at least one school party before they graduate and go down in history as boring nerds.
Amy is gay, and throughout the movie, she’s trying to approach her crush, and does it in a way that will make every young lesbian feel seen and understood. Booksmart is heartwarming, funny, and just the right amount of ridiculous, making it one the best feel-good LGBTQ+ movies ever.
Carol
New York, 1950s. An elegant middle-aged woman named Carol enters a department store in Manhattan. There, she meets Therese, a reserved clerk and aspiring photographer, who helps her choose a present for her daughter. After a minor accident, Therese ends up reaching out to Carol, and what was meant to be a one-time meeting turns into something more.
Carol is a classical story about forbidden love, but it is shot, written, and directed so masterfully that even six years later, it remains a true lesbian masterpiece. The way it shows the complexity, loneliness, and intimacy of a relationship between two closeted women is something that’s really hard to forget.
A Fantastic Woman
What is it like to live as a trans woman? How does the society treat you when you’re trans? No movie answers those questions so well as A Fantastic Woman, a story about Marina, a transgender woman in Chile who suddenly loses her boyfriend, which leads to many unpleasant consequences that don’t allow Marina to mourn her partner in peace.
“This is the first Academy Award winning picture with a storyline about the trans community played by Daniella Vega, who is a vocal voice for Latinx trans people. "A Fantastic Woman" is truly a fantastic movie!”, says the Taimi Top 10 Transgender Movies list published by the biggest LGBTQ+ social and dating app in the world.
The Favourite
The Favourite is a queer drama like no other. Overall, a lesbian love-triangle is not something you would expect from Yorgos Lanthimos, the filmmaker who directed niche art-house movies such as The Lobster or Dogtooth. Yet, The Favourite works amazingly well.
A satirical period piece, it tells the story of Queen Anne, a relatively unknown British monarch portrayed by Olivia Colman, and two women fighting for her heart and other possessions. Its unique offbeat atmosphere, eccentric characters, and bold humor make it a truly unforgettable watch.
Boy Erased
Conversion therapy is something many LGBTQ+ people all over the world still go through in 2021. Boy Erased is a movie that shows the tortures of conversion therapy through the eyes of Jared, a timid young man who gets outed to his parents after becoming a victim of sexual assault in college.
Boy Erased is a beautifully shot movie with believable complex characters and a heartbreaking plot that has touched the hearts of millions of viewers all around the world.
Blue Is the Warmest Colour
Blue Is the Warmest Colour is a tale of first love between Adèle, a 15-year-old high-school student, and Emma, a confident blue-haired artist. They meet at a lesbian bar and feel a strong emotional connection and sexual desire straight away.
The movie’s director has been widely criticized for several reasons, including oversexualizing the relationship between Adèle and Emma. Yet, Blue Is the Warmest Colour is still one of the most sensual, immersive, and realistic movies about female sexuality, a topic surrounded by lots of stigma in today’s society.
The Danish Girl
In 2015, The Danish Girl achieved what no other movie had done before — brough a story about a transgender person to big screens. It is a story of Lili, a Danish transgender woman played by Eddie Redmaine, who went through gender transitioning while being married to Gerda portrayed by Alicia Vikander.
In real life, Lili Elbe was a Danish painter who is known as one of the first people ever to go through gender confirmation surgery in the 1930s. Although it has been criticized by some as historically inaccurate, The Danish Girl is still definitely worth a watch.
The LGBTQ+ representation in media has improved a lot over the last decade, but still, there are members of the queer community that remain largely underrepresented. Hopefully, in ten years’ time, we’ll see even more diverse LGBTQ+ movies with gay, trans, non-binary, bisexual, and asexual characters.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marques Coleman is a contributing writer at https://taimi.com. He is a LGBTQ+ activist, as well as a researcher on human rights violations. Marques has a passion for writing about relationships and queer issues.
