Queer Cinema
If it's queer, it's here! Gay, Lesbian, Queer, Alternative... However you want to label it, this is the place for some of the most compassionate, honest, witty and memorable films at Alice in Videoland. The list below contains works that feature important gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender characters and issues; many using same-sex romance or relationships as an integral plot device.
"Queer Documentaries" may be accessed within the "Documentary" feature, left.
Right: Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Querelle".
Withnail and I (1986)
Director: Bruce Robinson
Starring: Richard E Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths
London. The 1960s. Two unemployed actors - acerbic, elegantly wasted Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and the anxiety-ridden "I" (Paul McGann) - drown thei... Read more
Law of Desire (1986)
7.2/10
Director: Pedro Almodovar
Starring: Eusebio Poncela, Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas
Bizarre and beguiling gender-flipping tale from Spain, detailing the quest for happiness and love by two siblings: one a successful gay theatre direct... Read more
Parting Glances (1986)
7.8/10
Director: Bill Sherwood
Starring: Richard Ganoung, John Bolger, Steve Buscemi
Authentic gay film focusing on the final stages of a love affair, featuring fine performances by Richard Ganoung and John Bolger as the couple. Read more
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
7.4/10
Director: Hector Babenco
Starring: William Hurt, Raul Julia, Sonia Braga
Two prisoners in a Latin American jail, one a Spartan revolutionary leader (Raul Julia), the other a movie-obsessed homosexual (Best Actor Academy Awa... Read more
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
7.9/10
Director: Paul Schrader
Starring: Ken Ogata
Paul Schrader's visually stunning, collage-like portrait of acclaimed Japanese author and playwright Yukio Mishima (played by Ken Ogata) investigates... Read more
Mala Noche (1985)
6.7/10
Director: Gus Van Sant
Starring: Ray Monge, Tim Streeter, Doug Cooeyate
Writer/director Gus van Sant's debut feature, adapted from Walt Curtis' autobiographical novel. Living an isolated life in Portland, Oregon, slacker s... Read more
My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
6.9/10
Director: Stephen Frears
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Roshan Seth, Saeed Jaffrey, Gordon Warnecke, Shirley Anne Fiel...
A small, brilliant film from Britain's alternative network, Channel 4, about a young Pakistani named Omar (Gordon Warnecke), who convinces his wealthy... Read more
Desert Hearts (1985)
7/10
Director: Donna Deitch
Starring: Helen Shaver, Patricia Charbonneau, Audra Lindley
Wonderful love story between a repressed English professor who is waiting for a divorce at a dude ranch for women, and a beautiful casino worker in Re... Read more
The Robert Epstein Collection: The Celluloid Closet / Common Threads / Paragraph 175 / The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
Director: Jeffrey Friedman, Rob Epstein
A collection of four documentaries from queer filmmaker Robert Epstein. "The Celluloid Closet" (1995) - This entertaining and often hilarious look at... Read more
The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
8.3/10
Director: Rob Epstein
Starring: Harvey Fierstein
More than a story of one man's life, this Academy Award-winning documentary traces the coming of age of the Gay Rights Movement in the late '70s. Harv... Read more