The Best Movies About Gays

By John Farr, Huffington Post. Posted January 5, 2009.

The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert (1994)- Invited to perform at a casino in the Australian outback, aging transsexual Bernadette (Terence Stamp) -- still grieving for a recently deceased lover -- reluctantly hops aboard a lavender school bus (dubbed "Priscilla") with drag artists Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) and Adam/Felicia (Guy Pearce). As they make the long trip to tiny, remote Alice Springs, the unusual, cross-dressing trio encounters a variety of bizarre characters, as well as open hostility. This campy, madcap road trip through the Aussie frontier was a huge hit in the U.S., loved for its cheeky humor and absurd scenarios -- most involving awestruck locals encountering the gaudily clad men. Stamp delivers an aching, funny performance as a weathered transsexual who has begun to question his life's path. Weaving and Pearce are equally watchable as flamboyant drag queens with a gift for lip-synching show tunes. For a quirky, comic drama about lovable fringe types, hop aboard "Priscilla"!

Gods and Monsters (1998)- Still mentally spry but not in the best of health, elderly gay movie director James Whale (Sir Ian McKellen) strikes up a unique friendship with his new gardener, Clayton Boone (Brendan Fraser), whose hunky, youthful frame cheers the aging man's aesthetic sensibilities. Under the watchful eye of cheerless Hungarian housekeeper Hanna (Lynn Redgrave), Whale draws Boone into his artistic orbit, while the easygoing young man indulges his employer's remembrance of things past. The magnificent, under-exposed "Monsters" is a moving, elegiac twist on the last days of Whale, the real-life director of "Frankenstein." McKellen offers an elegantly witty, finely graded performance as the white-haired Whale, who obviously delights in teasing Fraser's Clayton, a straight ex-Marine who agrees to pose nude for the lonely old man. The movie's flashbacks to the set of Whale's "Bride of Frankenstein" are especially rewarding for their fealty both to the original material and to the neglected artistry of the film's creator. The magic of "Monsters" is subtle, but wholly effective.

L.I.E. (2001)- Howie (Paul Dano) is an adolescent Long Islander whose mother's death and father's neglect leave him open to a variety of perverse possibilities. At first, he falls in with a group of delinquents, befriending young tough Gary (Billie Kay), who sidelines as a male hustler. Still longing for a father figure, Howie eventually finds solace and support in Big John (Brian Cox), a back-slapping former Marine who takes more than a paternal interest in young boys. A gritty, take-no-prisoners yarn, "L.I.E" offers no easy answers or resolutions to Howie's plight, and its willingness to paint life's roadblocks in shades of gray is precisely what makes it work. While certainly not for every taste, "L.I.E" is a startlingly original, credible glimpse into humanity's underbelly and the rough and tumble ways of the street. Veteran player Brian Cox is fabulous as usual, as is Dano, who injects considerable pathos into a demanding role.

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