2023 was a very queer year in film, with tremendous visibility. There were many highlights and a few disappointments. But overall, it was a strong year. Here are some of the best films and performances by, for and about the LGBTQ+ community.
Best Locally-Connected Biopic
“Rustin,” produced by West Chester’s Bruce Cohen, was a galvanizing film about out gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin’s (Philly native Coleman Domingo) efforts to organize the largest peaceful protest that was the 1963 March on Washington. It was far more inspiring than “Maestro” — director/cowriter and star and Philly native Bradley Cooper’s ambitious but disappointing film about Leonard Bernstein’s marriage to Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan).
Naughtiest Titles
The raucous comedies “Dicks: The Musical” and “Bottoms” both sounded like they should be porn films, but they were both sweet in their own strange way. “Dicks: The Musical” was gleefully, irrepressibly irreverent as twins Craig (Josh Sharp) and Trevor (Aaron Jackson) conspire to get their divorced parents back together. In contrast, “Bottoms” featured two lesbians, PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri), who start a fight club at their high school in order to meet girls. Both films were hilarious.
Best Queer Coming-of-Age Films
Aitch Alberto’s superb adaptation of Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s beloved YA novel “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” is heartbreaking in all the right ways. The film delivers all the feels as the title characters (May Pelayo and Reese Gonzales), two Mexican American teenagers, come of age and come to terms with their sexuality in 1987 El Paso. This was easily my favorite queer film of the year.
Out gay writer/director Goran Stolevski’s shattering, slow-burn romantic drama “Of an Age” centers on Kol (Elias Anton), a teenager who finds himself attracted to his best friend Ebony’s (Hattie Hook) brother, Adam (Thom Green) during a long car ride. This film brims with gay longing and desire. Stolevski taps into emotion like no other filmmaker.
Best Comic Relief
As the lesbian best friend of Ben (Justin H. Min) in Randall Parks’ disarming romantic dramedy, “Shortcomings,” Sherry Cola steals every scene with her deadpanning. (Sample quip: “Just because I’m hypocritical doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”) The bisexual Cola also scored laughs in the funny and profane “Joy Ride” as one of the besties who flies to China to find their friend Audrey’s (Ashley Park) birth mother. She is a treasure and needs a starring role stat!
Best Romance
“Red, White, and Royal Blue” was a charming rom-com, adapted from queer writer Casey McQuiston’s irresistible bestseller, chronicling the enemies-to-lovers romance that develops between Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez), the biracial First Son of President Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman), and Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) of Britain’s royal family. This sweet, funny and sexy film provides smiles even on repeat viewings, and the guys were totes adorbs.
Best Documentary
“Little Richard: I Am Everything” was a glorious film about the legendary Black, queer singer, musician and songwriter. As seen in fantastic archival clips and interview footage, director Lisa Cortés unpacks Little Richard’s strange and wondrous life and career thoughtfully, doing her subject plenty of justice. “Let it all hang out!” Little Richard urges, and this terrific documentary does just that, providing an admirable, appropriate and affectionate showcase for its subject’s complex legacy.
Best Horror Film
Out gay filmmaker Carter Smith’s “Swallowed” has Ben (out actor Cooper Koch) and his buddy Dom (newcomer Jose Colon) involved in smuggling “bugs” across the Canadian border. But things go sideways. It would spoil things to reveal more, but this thriller contains some really squirm-inducing scenes, which is why it is so good.
Best International Film
“The Blue Caftan” is an exquisite slow-burn romantic drama from Morocco, about Halim (Saleh Bakri), a tailor who works painstakingly by hand. When he starts training Youssef (Ayoub Missioui), a handsome new apprentice, the looks they exchange smolder with desire. However, Halim also has deep affection for his ailing wife, Mina (Lubna Azabal). How they navigate their desires forms the basis for this moving film.
Best Performances of the Year
In “Cassandro,” Gael Garcia Bernal is incredibly charismatic in a multidimensional performance as the out and proud lucha libre wrestler Saúl Armendáriz. The character eventually plays up his femininity as the showboating wrestler Cassandro, but he gives Saúl tremendous heart in his scenes out of the ring with his secret lover (Raúl Castillo) and his mother (Perla de la Rosa).
Rosy McEwen gives a staggering performance in “Blue Jean” as a closeted gym teacher in Newcastle, England in 1988. As her character deals with the possible fallout when one of her students (Lucy Halliday) spies her in a lesbian bar, McEwen visibly masks and conveys her very real emotions in her body language, her facial expressions and her demeanor as she encounters a series of difficult situations.
Lîo Mehiel in “Mutt.” Viewers get to spend 24 nerve-racking hours with Mehiel’s Feña, a Latinx trans man in New York City in trans writer/director Vuk Lungulov-Klotz auspicious feature debut, and Mehiel’s breakout, lived-in performance has viewers rooting for Feña as he deals with complicated relationships with his ex (Cole Doman) as well as his family members.
Jodie Foster’s supporting turn in “Nyad” was absolutely fabulous. It made everyone who saw the film wish Foster could be their ride-or-die bestie.
Best Nude Scene
Barry Keoghan’s naked dance in “Saltburn,” which oddly wasn’t the most shocking scene in this queer film, had tongues wagging.
Additionally, an honorable mention must go to tattooed dreamboat Manuel Kornisiuk, who is objectified at every opportunity in the campy Aussie flick, “The Winner Takes It All.”
Worst Film
“I’m Not Gay: A Musical” was a cringe-inducing queer mishmash of ideas, characters, songs and dance. One could get quite sloshed if they take a drink every time Misha (out actor Sydney James Harcourt) forcefully utters the title phrase.