Even though they don’t get as much press as the blockbusters, LGBTQ coming-of-age tend to carry important lessons with them. The movies normally revolve around younger LGBTQ characters that are struggling to find an identity after discovering their sexuality. Like in the real world, they face numerous societal challenges but eventually end up happy.
There are numerous great coming-of-age films about the LGBTQ community, thus narrowing them down to the ten best ones could prove to be a challenge under any other circumstances.
Moonlight (2016) – 7.4
Moonlight was the first-ever Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards to feature LGBTQ themes. It was also the first Best Picture winner with an all-Black cast. Critical acclaim aside, Moonlight was highly profitable, grossing $65 million against a budget of $1.5 million.
The film follows the protagonist Chiron Harris through three stages of his life: his childhood year, his adolescence, and his early adult life. The challenges related to his sexuality and identity are deeply explored. Mahershala Ali gives an amazing performance as Chiron’s adoptive guardian.
Show Me Love (1998) – 7.5
The Swedish film follows two girls who go to the same school in the small town of Åmål, Sweden. Elin is an outgoing and popular girl but she is still unsatisfied with her life. Agnes, on the other hand, is an introvert. She has no close friends and is also dissatisfied with her life. Agnes also has a huge crush on Elin but she doesn’t know how to tell her.
Elin soon discovers that she is attracted to Agnes too but she doesn’t want to admit it.
Boys Don’t Cry (1999) – 7.5
Boys Don’t Cry tells the real-life story of an American transgender man named Brandon Teena (portrayed by Hilary Swank), who tries to discover his identity as well as find love. Sadly, he becomes the victim of a brutal hate crime organized by his two male acquaintances.
The film was nominated for multiple Oscars at the 72nd Academy Awards in 2000, Swank ended up winning the Oscar for Best Actress while Sevigny got nominated for Best Supporting Actress. However, a couple of people that were close to Teena in real-life criticized the film for not portraying the events as they really occurred.
Love, Simon (2018) – 7.6
Love, Simon was the first film from a top Hollywood studio (20th Century Fox) to revolve around gay teen romance. Though it didn’t perform so well at the box office, critics highly praised it. After the success of the film, a Hulu TV series titled Love, Victor was made.
The plot covers Simon, a secretly gay high school student who finally finds someone he can confide in when he begins communicating with an anonymous, online pal named Blue.
Mysterious Skin (2004) – 7.6
In what was one of his early feature film roles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt proved just how talented he was in this film. Mysterious Skin was initially rated NC-17 though the studio appealed the rating in order to allow the film to be released theatrically. The appeal was successful.
The story revolves around two pre-adolescent boys who both saw something strange when they were young and it ended up affecting their early adult life. One of the boys becomes a daring, sexually liberated male escort, while the other keeps experiencing strange symptoms throughout his life, leading him to believe that he was abducted by aliens.
God’s Own Country (2017) – 7.7
God’s Own Country didn’t get much press or make much money but critics totally loved it. The film follows Johnny Saxby (Josh O’Connor), a farmworker in the north of England, who often feels lonely and bored. He thus spends his nights binge-drinking at a local pub and having casual sex with random people.
However, when a Romanian migrant worker named Gheorghe comes to work at the farm, Johnny’s life changes. The two men are hostile towards each other at first, but Johnny soon finds himself falling madly in love with Gheorghe.
Blue Is The Warmest Colour (2013) – 7.7
Léa Seydoux is best known for her role as James Bond’s most recent love interest Madeleine Swann but it is this LGBTQ film that made her rise to prominence. The French film quickly became one of the most popular foreign-language films of the 2010s thanks to the brilliant plot and stunning visuals.
Blue Is The Warmest Color follows a high-school girl named Adele who ends up falling madly in love with an aspiring female painter named Emma (Léa Seydoux). The two can’t get enough of each other and they go on to share many romantic moments.
The Way He Looks (2014) – 7.9
In the 2014 Brazilian film, Leonardo is a blind teenager who is trying to be independent and enjoy life a bit more but his strict mother won’t let him. He thus contemplates going on an exchange program abroad, much to the disappointment of his female best friend Giovana.
However, his plans change when a new student called Gabriel joins their class and Leonardo falls for him deeply.
C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005) – 7.9
The Canadian coming-of-age drama film is set in the 1960s and ’70s. It follows Zac, a young gay man who finds himself constantly dealing with homophobia that mostly comes from those around him. Growing up with his four brothers proves to be a challenge and the fact that he has a conservative father makes matters worse.
At one point, his angry father even forces him to see a therapist in order to “cure” his homosexuality. He thus decides to get into a relationship with a girl in order to get his father off his back. But soon, he realizes he can’t take it anymore and decides to stand up against everyone that opposes his sexuality.
Call Me By Your Name (2017) – 7.9
Set in Italy, Call Me by Your Name follows a seventeen-year-old boy named Elio and his experience over a single summer. Elio ends up falling for an artistic graduate student named Oliver who is an assistant to his father, an archaeology professor. The two go on to have a passionate fling.
The movie was nominated for four Oscars at the 90th Academy Awards. It ended up winning Best Adapted Screenplay because the story had been adapted from André Aciman’s 2007 novel of the same name. It was also made available in three different languages, namely: English, Italian and French.
