It's Pride Month, when corporations of all kinds like to show their support for the LGBTQ+ community, and Amazon is no exception: among the best new movies on Prime Video in June 2024 you'll find some classic movies made by, made for or claimed. by queer people. Some of them are large and campy, others are more sober and somber. But the five films here are worth your time and this Pride Month and every other month too.
It's worth noting here that some of these movies were made quite a while ago, and that means some of them can be a bit problematic when viewed through today's more enlightened eyes. But they have been made with the best intentions, and for me that is enough to justify the occasional misstep or wrong note. Whether you're in the mood for high camp or something more subtle, these five movies are welcome additions to Prime Video this Pride Month.
1. Bram Stoker's Dracula
Technically, this isn't a queer movie, I know. But we all know that vampires are very rare, and Dracula – whose author, Bram Stoker, was gay – is a key text in the pantheon of homoerotic horror with a clearly bisexual central character: Salon has an excellent explanation if you want to know more. This is one of the bloodiest adaptations, with a cast that includes Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves and an atmosphere of repression and sexual tension that is almost unbearable. As Nerdista put it: “Dracula It has always been a sensual and tragic romance. Coppola leans heavily on that and amplifies the eroticism. The whole process has a theatrical decadence that created something completely outlandish and over-the-top in a way that '90s horror films rarely came close to being.”
2. The Danish Girl
Anti-trans obsessives would have you believe that trans people were invented by Laverne Cox in 2014. But of course, we've been around forever, and this 2015 film is a sensitive portrait of Lili Elbe, one of the first trans women in understand gender. Confirmatory surgery: Surgery that was performed almost 100 years ago. Eddie Redmayne is beautiful as Elbe, and while the film takes some liberties with her story, Redmayne's portrayal of her is heartbreaking, because ultimately Elbe's story was so sad. As MovieFreak.com put it, it is “a story of self-acceptance and discovery that transcends its historical inaccuracies and allows it to ascend to a level of magnetic emotional resonance.”
3. tangerine
Tangerine stands out not only for its story but also for its production: it was filmed with iPhones. But this isn't a gimmick movie: With a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, it's a critical success with praise from the likes of the New York Times, which called it “beautiful… a perfectly cast and directed movie.” beautiful”. The film follows her sex worker Sin-Dee, who discovers that her boyfriend has been cheating on her during her last stint in prison. The furious Sin-Dee sets out to track him down. It's uneven but it's also a lot of fun. According to Vogue: “By turns funny, outrageous, and in tune with unfulfilled dreams, Tangerine is the closest I've seen an American come to capturing the subversive panache of the young Pedro Almodvar.”
4. The adventures of Priscilla, queen of the desert
Not to be confused with the Elvis movie. priscilla, which is very different, this outrageous road movie stars Guy Pearce, Hugo Weaving and Terence Stamp as two drag queens and a trans woman who travel around Australia in the titular motorhome performing for both enthusiastic audiences and obnoxious homophobes. A camp classic, it's also an LGBTQ+ milestone with a celebratory tone that feels even more vital today. As Peter Bradshaw writes in The Guardian: “It's a tremendous film that was ahead of its time on LGBT issues and, in some ways, ahead of ours.”
5. To Wong Foo, thank you for everything, Julie Newmar
When you think of actors who should play drag queens, Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo may not be the first people that come to mind. But they're fabulous and fun here in this story of three New York drag queens who find themselves stranded in a small town when their car breaks down. It is essentially an American version Priscilla, queen of the desert and while it's not as good, it's still a fun watch and its heart is in the right place.
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