2023 might be remembered by many as the year of “Barbenheimer.” Both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” opened on the same day over the summer and both turned out to be critical and commercial successes. Yet the year will also be looked back on for its high number of quality LGBTQ features.
One of the most high-profile is Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” which he directs and stars in. It’s about composer Leonard Bernstein and his relationship with actress Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan), as well as his dalliances with men throughout his life. Fortunately, it’s anything but a standard look at an icon — and Cooper is a favorite now for a Best Actor Oscar. For my money, though, “Maestro” is really Mulligan’s movie.
Out actor Colman Domingo portrays Bayard Rustin in the drama, “Rustin.” Directed by George C. Wolfe and written by Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black, it’s a straightforward but vivid look at the gay activist’s life, refusing to play by others’ rules. An ensemble full of recognizable faces helps. “Rustin” could finally net Domingo an overdue Oscar nomination, where he’d hypothetically compete against Cooper.
Starring two decorated and beloved actresses, “Nyad” casts Annette Bening as lesbian swimmer Diana Nyad, who decides to try to swim from Cuba to Florida in her 60s, despite not being able to complete the journey in previous attempts. The lead character here is so harsh that it leaves a hole in the film — what’s never explained is how Diana manages to keep others in her corner despite doing her damnedest to run them off. The most satisfying element of the film proves to be Jodie Foster, who plays Diana’s ex and her current coach Bonnie Stoll. It’s Foster’s first time playing an out character — and it’s her most vibrant turn in years.
“Promising Young Woman” director Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn” revolves around Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), who is attempting to fit in at Oxford. There he meets and befriends Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) and develops something of an infatuation with him. “Saltburn” goes batshit crazy in its final 20 minutes, but it’s highly watchable and entertaining — and Keoghan, hunky Elordi, and Rosamund Pike (as Felix’s mother) dive headfirst into the material.
With out actors Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge as a gay couple, “Knock at the Cabin” is a horror film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The filmmaker’s post-“The Sixth Sense” work usually grates my nerves, but “Cabin” is a tense and disturbing thriller that’s much deeper than it could have been.
From Emma Seligman, the director of the acclaimed “Shiva Baby,” came this season’s “Bottoms,” 2023’s funniest, most politically incorrect offering. Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri headline the cast as high school lesbians who start a fight club so they can begin dating cheerleaders.
While it’s not queer-themed, out director Todd Haynes’ filmed-in-Savannah “May December” is one of the most talked-about films of the year, showcasing Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore. It’s loosely based on the story of Mary Kay Letourneau, who began a relationship with a 13-year-old boy. Like “Saltburn,” it is a divisive film for audiences, although critics have been quite kind to it.
Some of the best LGBTQ films of the year were smaller projects. One of the best is Georgia Oakley’s “Blue Jean,” a stunning debut about a closeted physical education teacher living in England in the ‘80s. It came and went with little commercial fanfare, but is well worth checking out.
Another gem is “Monica,” featuring a bravura performance by Trace Lysette as a trans woman who comes home to take care of her sickly mother (Patricia Clarkson). It’s moving and well-made.
Ira Sachs’ love triangle, “Passages,” was applauded for its complex and committed performances by Ben Whishaw, Adele Exarchopoulos and (especially) Franz Rogowksi. The film received an NC-17 rating for its lengthy sex scene between Whishaw and Rogowksi, but its distributor decided to release it unrated.
“Rotting in the Sun” was another of 2023’s sleepers. Sebastián Silva’s movie initially made noise for its frontal nudity and graphic sex, but those who looked harder found it to be a stirring look at class, with a disillusioned filmmaker meeting an enthusiastic social media influencer.
In terms of documentaries, two of the strongest had Georgia ties. “Little Richard: I Am Everything” chronicles the life of the Macon-born artist and his professional and personal challenges, while D. Smith’s “Kokomo City” is a look at transgender sex workers in New York and Atlanta. One of its subjects, Rasheeda Williams, aka Koko Da Doll, was murdered this spring in Atlanta, a few months after the film premiered at Sundance. Another well-received 2023 documentary is “Every Body,” exploring three intersex individuals, including former Atlantan Sean Saifa Wall.
Need more? The lead character of the exceptional “Anatomy of a Fall,” is a bisexual writer whose husband dies after plummeting from a window, while the sly, very funny “American Fiction” has Sterling K. Brown as a gay character. The suspenseful “How to Blow up a Pipeline” features a lesbian couple.
Other notable titles included “Cassandro,” with Gael Garcia Bernal as the gay amateur wrestler who became world famous, the crowd-pleasing “L’Immensita” with Penelope Cruz as the mother of a transgender child, Goran Stolevski’s sharply drawn “Of an Age,” the animated “Nimona,” and the nutty “Dicks: The Musical,” which featured gay characters and a much-discussed flying vagina.
Opening at the end of the year are two films with LGBTQ themes — Blitz Bazawule’s new version of “The Color Purple,” with a cast including Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo (again) and Taraji P. Henson, and Andrew Haigh’s “All of Us Strangers.”
Here are my overall favorite films of 2023 (so far):
- Barbie
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Anatomy of a Fall
- American Fiction
- The Holdovers
- Oppenheimer
- Bottoms
- Monica
- How to Blow up a Pipeline
- Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret