Beneath the shimmering visceral pleasures of the summer months lies a sinister undercurrent.
Queer people have always been attuned to that delicate interplay between pleasure and danger, embedded as it is in our historical memory. Pride, for example, is a time of beautifully unbridled hedonism, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the brutality that led to the Stonewall Riots — not to mention the fact that the Stonewall Inn, like many other contemporaneous gay New York nightlife hotspots, was once operated by the mafia. Cruising culture developed around warmer weather, bringing flocks of queer people to idyllic beaches, parks, and wooded glens; but there has always been inherent risk involved in seeking public sex with strangers, and that rang especially true in the days when sodomy was criminalized. Something about the heat of summer seems to make our unruliest desires run rampant, impossible to be quelled even when we should know better.
This was the predominant theme I noticed while curating the below list of sexy summer-themed queer films, nearly half of which involve murder plots. I promise that, as much as I have a personal penchant for erotic thrillers, this was not intentional. But that’s how it turned out. Maybe it’s a longstanding consequence of the Hays Code, which basically necessitated the invention of queer-coded villainy. Maybe it’s a response to the violent consequences that queer people have faced throughout history for daring to pursue sex. Perhaps portrayals of gay sex have historically only been deemed moderately acceptable in film when deployed to transgressive ends. Most likely, it’s a combination of all of the above.
But the good news is that depictions of queer sex and desire in movies are definitely changing. The other, non-murder half of this list ranges from sultry historical lesbian dramas to trans coming-of-age films, and that doesn’t even account for the mini-boom of raunchy queer rom-coms that have been released in the past few years, like Bottoms and Bros. Still, plenty of these films will get your heart racing in more ways than one. Whether you use these movies to Netflix and chill, or to actually just chill on your own in the comfort of a dark air-conditioned room, here are 11 steamy queer movies that scream “summer” for your viewing pleasure.
Stranger by the Lake (2013) — Kanopy
When I think of sexy queer summer films, this 2013 French thriller is the first one that comes to mind. Directed by Alain Guiraudie, Stranger by the Lake follows a young man named Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps), who spends his summer days cruising at the titular lake. He finds himself drawn to a handsome stranger, Michel (Christophe Paou), whom Franck soon discovers has a dark secret — not that that deters him. Notably, the film contains several unsimulated gay sex scenes, replicating the timeless gay tradition of trawling the woods for anonymous hookups with men who couldn’t care less whether you live or die. It’s a voyeur’s dream that just might turn nightmarish.
Cruising (1980) — Criterion
It’s a scorching hot summer in 1970s New York City, and a killer has been targeting gay men at leather bars in the Meatpacking District. Enter Officer Steve Burns (a very dashing young Al Pacino), who goes undercover to solve the case. Cruising, written and directed by William Friedkin of The Exorcist fame, has been controversial since its 1980 premiere; in fact, gay rights groups organized protests and boycotts of the film before it came out. But it is an excellent time capsule of a once-thriving subculture that was decimated by government-ordered closures during the advent of the AIDS crisis. According to the Village Voice, Cruising was filmed in actual New York leather bars, with the alt-weekly writing that the film’s “lasting legacy isn’t political but archival.” Most importantly though, it’s hot and contains some shockingly explicit portrayals of kinky gay sex acts, including one particularly notable fisting scene.
Mutt (2023) — Netflix
Vuk Lungulov-Klotz’s 2023 directorial debut explores a hot summer day in New York City through the lens of Feña (Lío Mehiel), a gay trans man navigating the changes in his close relationships as he undergoes the epic highs and lows of early transition. Mutt isn’t all sexy all the time — in fact, Feña is misgendered and deadnamed throughout the movie, so I would advise watching with caution. But Mutt is a rare depiction of a gay transmasculine character in film, and contains an even rarer depiction of gay transmasc eroticism.
Fire Island (2022) — Hulu
Fire Island, directed by Andrew Ahn, isn’t necessarily overtly erotic in the same way that many of the other movies on this list are, but we’d be remiss to exclude it. After all, Joel Kim Booster (who also stars as Noah) might have written the movie as a modern-day Pride and Prejudice, but it is also a refreshingly candid rom-com about that titular gay vacation destination, the experience of which often involves a lot of sex and drugs. Ahn depicts those aspects of Fire Island with an unusual frankness and levity, rather than attempting to sanitize the less “respectable” aspects of gay life.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) — Hulu
This may have been one of the dying gasps of the cinematic lesbian yearning industrial complex of the 2010s. But damn, did it go out with a bang! Portrait, written and directed by Céline Sciamma, recounts a whirlwind summer love affair set in late 18th century France between Marianne (Noémie Merlant) and Héloïse (Adèle Haenel), complete with a suggestive armpit-fucking scene and a heartbreaking deployment of Antonio Vivaldi’s “Summer.”
Y Tu Mamá También (2001) — YouTube via IFC
Is there anything that says “summer” more than a road trip movie? Combine that with a coming-of-age tale centered on a friendship filled to the brim with homoerotic tension, and you’ve got Alfonso Cuáron’s Y Tu Mamá También. This 2001 classic follows two teenage best friends, Julio (Gael García Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna) on a meandering road trip through the Mexican countryside with Luisa (Maribel Verdú), who’s married to Tenoch’s cousin. Yes, the premise is incredibly messy on several fronts, so don’t expect a happy ending. But do expect a good time.
Hustler White (1996) — Vimeo via Strand
Bruce LaBruce and Rick Castro’s 1996 tribute to Sunset Boulevard explores the nearby Santa Monica Boulevard, which serves as the epicenter of West Hollywood and a former hub for gay hustlers. LaBruce himself plays writer Jürgen Anger, who gets sucked into the L.A. gay hustling scene while trying to write a book about it. Hustler White, like the rest of LaBruce’s oeuvre, emphatically rejects the false dichotomy between art and porn, and also treads into some truly shocking territory. Without spoiling, I’ll only say that this one is certainly not for the faint of heart.
The Living End (1992) — Prime Video via Strand
Is it cheating to classify L.A. movies as summer movies? Maybe, but we’re doing it anyway. Like Y Tu Mamá También, Gregg Araki’s 1992 breakthrough is a road trip movie that ends in tragedy, but the similarities end there. Luke (Mike Dytri) and Jon (Craig Gilmore) are two young gay men recently diagnosed with AIDS who end up as fugitives from the law. A radical response to the government neglect and the sexual respectability politics that characterized much of mainstream gay activism at the time, The Living End lives up to the title card’s proclamation that it is “an irresponsible movie.” And despite — or maybe because of — that irresponsibility, it is really hot.
Wild Things (1998) — Netflix
Okay, maybe it’s a bit of a stretch to call Wild Things a “queer film” based on one threesome scene that involves two girls making out for the sake of the “male gaze.” And yes, the fact that it revolves around those girls making false rape allegations is exactly the kind of problematic plot you’d expect from a ’90s erotic thriller. But on the other hand, the plot of Wild Things is so absurd, and its tone so trashy, that you just can’t take any of it seriously, and it has become a bit of a camp classic as a result. Also, the threesome scene in question — which features Matt Dillon, Neve Campbell, and Denise Richard — is extremely hot, especially when you consider that the rest of the movie kind of feels like you’re watching an extended porn intro.
Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down! (1990) — Max
The relationship that Pedro Almodóvar depicts in this film is ostensibly a heterosexual one — but it’s a very kinky, camp take on heterosexuality that only a gay man could dream up. Plus, we get to see a somewhat lengthy sex scene featuring a young Antonio Banderas, which is undoubtedly a gift to the gays. Also, Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down! is partially responsible for the creation of the MPAA’s NC-17 rating, which is absolutely the stuff of queer legend.
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.
from "sexy" - Google News https://ift.tt/dDJO8Bh
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment