Coming Out

COMING OUT AROUND THE WORLD

This issue we look at three new films from different parts of the world all dealing with the issues of coming out, new love, and new lives.

 BOYS (Jongens)

This Dutch coming of age coming out film centers on two teenage track stars Sieger and Marc. Taking place over just a few weeks this sweet and beautifully told story shows us blossoming young love between these two high school athletes. Sieger is coming to terms with his emerging homosexuality while struggling with issues at home, including a trouble-making brother. He fights his desire for Marc by trying to get a girlfriend, but in the end their magnetic attraction, afternoons swims, and shared love of ice cream wins out as the boys prepare for the biggest relay race track meet of their young athletic careers. BOYS is a wholesome uplifting teen drama that takes its time and honestly portrays the two boys’ emerging new feelings.

Available on Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes.

THE WAY HE LOOKS (Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho)

An equally wholesome coming of age queer teen drama is the Brazilian film THE WAY HE LOOKS. Directed by Daniel Ribero this film follows Leonardo a blind teenager balancing his life between his over bearing protective mother, high school bullies, and his loving best friend Giovanna. Leo’s one goal for the summer is to return to school having finally kissed someone. At first Leo thinks this will be an impossible task, but everything changes when a new boy moves into town named Gabriel. Leo quickly develops a fascination and attraction with Gabriel that slowly through the course of the film develops into a budding romance. Ghiherme Lobo’s standout performance as Leo makes it hard to believe the actor is not actually blind.

Available on Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes.

FOUR MOONS (Cuatro Lunas)

A moving and powerful film from Mexican director Sergio Tovar Velarde, FOUR MOONS presents four very different tales of gay male love and self-acceptance from four different times in life. An eleven year-old boy fights to keep his secret attraction to his cousin but then has to deal with public shame and ridicule after naively acting on his feelings. The second story deals with two childhood friends reuniting in their mid-20s and starting a secret relationship forces them to confront their sexuality, identities, and homophobic families. Next a gay couple of many years struggle with their future as their relationship starts to crumble and one reveals his is seeing someone else. And finally an elderly poet of note, married with children, secretly spends his time at gay bathhouses. Its here he becomes obsessed with a young, shallow and rude rent boy he must have at any expense. These four stories, while unrelated, are intertwined beautifully to show the drama and struggles of life with the overarching theme of learning inner strength.

Available on Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes.