So I watched Love Simon. I love it. Now it’s on my 5 top gay (live action).
Edited because I been watching gay content during quarantine, adding Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List and Were the World Mine.
Jongens (English title: Boys) is a 2014 coming of age drama film produced in the Netherlands. It was directed by Mischa Kampand features Gijs Blom and Ko Zandvliet. The film was released on 9 February 2014.
Sieger is a fifteen-year-old boy, living with his widowed father, Theo, and his brother, Eddy. Along with his best friend (Stef), Sieger is a member of the local athletics team. They—and two other boys, Tom and Marc—are chosen to represent the team at the national championship relay race. In order to win, they must train intensively. One day, they decide to go swimming in a nearby river. After Stef and Tom leave, Sieger and Marc share two kisses.
Heartstopper is a British romantic comedy television series on Netflix, adapted from the webcomic and graphic novel of the same name by Alice Oseman.
Written by Oseman herself, the series primarily tells the story of Charlie Spring (Joe Locke), a gay schoolboy who falls in love with classmate Nick Nelson (Kit Connor), whom he sits next to in his new form. It also explores the lives of Tao (William Gao), Elle (Yasmin Finney), Tara (Corinna Brown) and Darcy (Kizzy Edgell).
Heartstopper was released on 22 April 2022. It received critical acclaim, particularly for its tone and pacing, as well as its representation of the LGBT community. It gained instant popularity, being among the top 10 English series on Netflix in just two days. It also prompted the popularity of the graphic novels as well as the series’ songs. On 20 May 2022, it was announced that Heartstopper was renewed for a second and third season.
Love, Simon is a 2018 American romantic teen comedy-drama film directed by Greg Berlanti, written by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, and based on the novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. The film stars Nick Robinson, Josh Duhamel, and Jennifer Garner. It centers on Simon Spier, a closeted gay high school boy who is forced to balance his friends, his family, and the blackmailer threatening to out him to the entire school, while simultaneously attempting to discover the identity of the anonymous classmate with whom he has fallen in love online.
Love, Simon was released in the United States on March 16, 2018, by 20th Century Fox. Critics praised the film for its “big heart, diverse and talented cast, and revolutionary normalcy”, describing it as “tender, sweet, and affecting” and a “hugely charming crowd-pleaser” that is “funny, warm-hearted and life-affirming”, with reviews comparing it to the romantic comedy-drama films of John Hughes. Notable as the first film by a major Hollywood studio to focus on a gay teenage romance, it grossed $66 million worldwide.
Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List is a 2015 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Amy Andelson and Emily Meyer, and directed by Kristin Hanggi. It is based on the 2007 book of the same name by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. The film stars Victoria Justice, Pierson Fodé, and Matthew Daddario. It had its world premiere at the Outfest Film Festival on July 17, 2015. It was then released on September 18, 2015, through video on demand. The film produced over 1 million dollars in the box-office and was made on a budget of 3 million dollars.
Naomi and Ely have been best friends and neighbors in the same apartment building in New York City for years. Ely is gay, often having casual hook-ups with other guys, while Naomi is heterosexual and has recently begun dating “Bruce 2”, although she has always been secretly in love with Ely. Naomi and Ely have a “No Kiss List” where every guy on the list is forbidden to them both. In the beginning of the film, they add Gabriel, their young and handsome doorman, to the list.
O Beijo do Escorpião (English: The Kiss of the Scorpion) is a Portuguese telenovela broadcast and produced by TVI. It was written by António Barreira, author of some of the biggest hits of the channel. The telenovela premiered on 2 February 2014 and its last episode aired on 4 October 2014, totaling a number of 194 episodes. The telenovela was recorded in Lisbon, Portugal.
The Way He Looks (Portuguese: Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho – literally, “Today I Want to Go Back Alone”) is a 2014 Brazilian coming-of-age romantic drama film based on the 2010 short film I Don’t Want to Go Back Alone(Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho). It was directed, written and produced by Daniel Ribeiro, and stars Ghilherme Lobo, Fabio Audi, and Tess Amorim, reprising their roles from the short.
The Way He Looks opened in the Panorama section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2014. It was released to cinemas in Brazil on 10 April 2014. The film was met with positive reviews from critics and audiences; both groups praised Lobo, Audi, and Amorim’s performances, the soundtrack, and Ribeiro’s direction. It ranked as the 5th most viewed film in the country on its first day of release.
Were the World Mine is a 2008 romantic musical fantasy film directed by Tom Gustafson, written by Gustafson and Cory James Krueckeberg, and starring Tanner Cohen, Wendy Robie, Judy McLane, Zelda Williams, Jill Larson, Ricky Goldman, Nathaniel David Becker, Christian Stolte, and David Darlow.
The film is a story of gay empowerment, inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Timothy (Tanner Cohen) is an openly gay student at a private boys’ school. Although now in his senior year, he is still persecuted by the aggressive rugby team, on whose captain, Jonathon (Nathaniel David Becker), he has a crush. Timothy lives with his mother, Donna (Judy McLane), who is struggling with her son's sexuality and with getting a job, and his father who is not a part of his life.
Handsome Devil is a 2016 Irish comedy-drama film directed by John Butler. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.
It centres around an ostracised teenager (Fionn O'Shea) at an elite rugby-obsessed all boys boarding school in Ireland modelled on Castleknock and Clongowes, whose new roommate (Nicholas Galitzine) is the school’s new rugby star-player. The two form an unlikely friendship until it is tested by those around them. The film features themes of homosexuality, while examining the hypocrisy and snobbery of the Irish private school system. Handsome Devil has received critical acclaim, winning the award for Best Irish Feature of 2017 from the Dublin Film Critics’ Circle; four nominations at the 2018 Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) Awards, including Best Feature Film; and the Best Single Drama Award at the annual Celtic Media Festival in 2018.
