The world has come a long way since 2005, the year "Brokeback Mountain" was released.
Ang Lee's romantic and revolutionary cowboy drama, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, was unsurpassed at the box office and won many Oscar nominations - but at the time, there were not too many mainstream films that dealt with same-sex love or boasted In proud heroes.
Today, it seems, the situation is very different, and evidently, compiling this list, which focuses only on films made in recent years, has been a much more difficult task than expected.
Not because the supply is scarce, but simply because there are so many good (and even excellent) films that have had to stay out.
maybe next time.
Happy Pride Month!
Carol (2015)
Todd Haynes' acclaimed film, based on Patricia Heismith's groundbreaking book ("Mr. Ripley's Talent"), which she published in 1952 under a pseudonym, tells a forbidden love story between two women in the conservative United States of the 1950s.
Cate Blanchett plays Carroll, a wealthy married housewife who is in the process of parting ways with her manipulative and forceful husband, while Roni Mara plays Therese, a young and insecure photographer who is completely captivated by Carol's charms.
So far so good.
But how can they realize their love?
And what will Carol's husband do when he finds out who she's hanging out with at night?
As a main course in a gourmet restaurant.
"Carol, Photo: No Credit
Similar to "Away from Heaven," Haynes' earlier masterpiece, "Carol" is a beautiful and restrained film that looks and sounds like a Hollywood melodrama produced at the time it takes place.
Each of its frames is like a main course in a gourmet restaurant, and its artistic design is rich, meticulous and instructive.
Passion is burning, the heart is aching, emotions are dizzying and threatening to burst out of the chest - and in an unusual (and refreshing) way, the solution that fate has long given to our two heroines is actually not tragic.
Perhaps because of this, "Carol" was also chosen as the greatest LGBT film of all time in a survey conducted in 2016 by the British Film Institute.
Moonlight (2016)
Screenwriter-director Barry Jenkins' Oscar-winning film is a small, clever and moving adolescent drama that mixes "The Undertaker" with "Brokeback Mountain."
The film is divided into three episodes, which take place in different periods, and which all deal with Shiron - a black, poor and introverted boy who grew up in one of Miami's troubled neighborhoods in the 80's.
In the first episode Shiron gets to know the neighborhood drug dealer, Juan (Mahrashla Ali), and it takes him under his wing and provides him with a bit of paternal attention.
In the second episode, which takes place when Shiron is already in high school, our protagonist continues to suffer from the harassment of his classmates, and at the same time develops a brave friendship with a boy named Kevin, who understands his heart.
The third episode, however, jumps ten years ahead and presents a surprising twist that brings the story to the finish line in a powerful and unexpected way.
A masterpiece of gestures and nuances.
"Moonlight", Photo: No credit
"Moonlight" is a masterpiece of gestures and nuances and is a fascinating antithesis to Spike Lee's warlike films.
Unlike Lee, who tends to convey his messages in shouts, Jenkins whispers, and miraculously, it turns out to be no less effective.
This is a humanistic, tolerant and optimistic film that sneaks into the heart and takes root there.
This is a film that makes a tiny but significant change in the perceptions of its viewers without them being aware of it.
This is a gentle, beautiful and empathetic film about a lonely guy who needs love.
like all of us.
Fantastic Woman (2017)
Chilean director Sebastian Lelio's film, which won the 2018 Foreign Film Academy Award, is about Marina - a transgender waitress / singer who fights for the right to mourn with dignity, after her beloved, Orlando, dies suddenly.
Although there was great love between the two, Orlando's conservative family looks at Marina with a crooked eye and treats her with suspicion and disrespect.
They demand that she immediately vacate the apartment she shared with her partner and warn her not to even think of coming to the funeral home to pay her last respects to Orlando.
A sensitive, sad and elegant film.
"Fantastic Woman", Photo: No Credit
But Marina, played by transgender actress / singer Daniela Vega, will not give up easily.
She faces the hostile environment with impressive self-confidence and admiration, and does not let the endless humiliations she suffers break her spirit.
"Fantastic Woman" is a sensitive, sad and elegant film that uses some beautiful surrealistic moments to convey its universal and tolerant message, and Vega leaves a great impression in her first cinematic role.
"120 beats per minute" (2017)
The informative, moving and inspiring film by screenwriter-director Ruben Campillo, which picked up the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, takes place in the early 1990s and traces a group of young Parisian AIDS patients fighting for their lives and rights against the French establishment and activist group Act Act. ".
The semi-autobiographical script that Campillo co-authored with Philippe Mangau (based on their experiences as group members) cleverly and sensitively combines the personal and the political, the intimate and the group, and passion and death, all of which help the film become much more than just another "theme film".
Combines wisdom and sensitivity between the personal and the political.
"120 beats per minute", Photo: No credit
The main weapon of "120 beats per minute" is its lack of sentimentality.
It's hard to imagine a Hollywood movie that dares to deal with similar issues in such a direct and honest way - without distinct heroes that audiences can identify with (aka "Dallas Customer Club"), and without dramatic legal victories (aka "Philadelphia").
But Campillo does not lose focus for a moment.
Amazingly, the feeling that the film leaves at the end of watching it is not a feeling of death, but a feeling of life.
"Portrait of a Girl on Fire" (2019)
Screenwriter-director Celine Siama's spectacular film is about a quick and impossible novel that takes place towards the end of the 18th century and revolves around two women - Eloise (Adele Hannel), a rebellious aristocrat who does not want to marry, and Marian (Naomi Marlan), a disciplined painter who arrives at the beach estate Where Eloise is staying to paint a portrait of her without her knowledge.
The suspicious and tough Eloise reveals herself to her companion with seductive slowness, while Marianne, who somewhat loses her balance (while trying to remember Eloise's facial features and draw her portrait from memory), reveals the real reason she came to stay at the mansion.
Different from anything you've seen in years.
"Portrait of a girl on fire", Photo: No credit
The politically subversive dimension of "Portrait of a Girl on Fire" may be present throughout, but fortunately, it is not overly oppressive and does not distract from the main characters and / or the intense emotions they express.
Hanel (who unfortunately recently announced her retirement from acting) delivers an intense and great performance, and Marlan actually complements it - both in terms of looks, and in terms of character and demeanor.
Meanwhile, Siama navigates the piece wisely and delicately, placing a handful of frames on the screen that you will not soon forget, and saving some nice surprises for the end.
The result is a special, exciting and tumultuous romantic experience that is unlike anything else you have seen in recent years.
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