Throughout the month of June, the LGBT community will be celebrating the the 57th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, the wave of protests that kicked off the modern movement for queer equality. That means that LGBT folks across the country will be gathering from their local Pride parade.
But if you’re more of a “Netflix and chill” person than someone who likes to dance on floats, or if you’re in desperate need of something to distract or numb you from the events in Orlando, you’re in luck. The streaming platform has a robust selection of queer films—from a documentary about trans women in Puerto Rico to a Romanian thriller about lesbian nuns.
Here are 13 of the best options for LGBT viewers currently streaming on the site. (And if you’re here for But I’m a Cheerleader, bad news: It’s only available through the mail. Maybe it’s time to renew that DVD subscription after all?)
1) Beginners
The second directorial feature from Mike Mills (Thumbsucker) was a personal one. After Mills’ mother passed away, his elderly father came out of the closet. In the film, the patriarch, Hal, is played by Christopher Plummer (Venus), while the ever-ageless Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting) is the befuddled son. Mills’ film has a bad habit of giving into indie quirk, such as in a romantic subplot involving Inglorious Basterds’ Melanie Laurent (the director is the partner of Miranda July, after all). But there’s a reason Plummer won a long-overdue Oscar in 2012: Plummer gives a performance of boundless warmth and humanity. To see the octogenarian Hal fall for a younger man (E.R.’s Goran Visnjic) is a reminder of how far we’ve come in the era of marriage equality. Love didn’t just win; it made Hal possible.
2) Beyond the HillsRomania is having a moment in the international film scene. When Cristian Mungiu's tour-de-force abortion thriller 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days won the Palme D’Or in 2007, it announced the country’s New Wave as a force to be reckoned with. These are gritty, realist films that examine life in Eastern Europe under a time of extreme repression. 4 Months examines the absurdity of Nicolae Ceaușescu's communist regime in the 1980s, while Beyond the Hills explores faith-based homophobia.
Cosmina Stratan and Cristina Flutur—who shared the Best Actress prize at Cannes—play two Orthodox nuns who become romantically involved. Alina (Flutur) wants to flee to Germany, where the women can be together, while Voichita (Stratan) believes they can be saved by their faith. The methodical Beyond the Silence isn’t the taut nail-biter for which Mungiu is known, but his ballad of silence is equally gripping.
3) BridegroomIn the tradition of LGBT-themed documentaries like Freeheld, the Bridegroom is one hell of a tearjerker. Directed by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, the film made headlines in 2013 when it was presented at the Tribeca Film Festival by former President Bill Clinton, who highlighted the award-winning doc’s incendiary subject matter. Mild spoiler alerts for those touchy about that sort of thing: In 2011, Shane Bitney Crone’s partner, Tom, was unexpectedly killed after falling off the couple’s roof. Because the two men were not legally wed, Crone wasn’t able to receive benefits—or even attend his partner’s funeral. Given the progress made since the film’s release, Bridegroom might feel like a time capsule, but it’s a powerfully important one, as well as a reminder of the right to basic dignity for which the LGBT movement continues to fight.
4) The Kids Are All RightI discussed The Kids Are All Right in my Netflix rom-com roundup, so to avoid plagiarizing myself, I refer you to my earlier comments on the film, which are still accurate:
The Kids Are All Right is anything but the movie you will expect it to be going in. When the buzzy Sundance hit debuted in theaters, I expected a light, frothy family comedy that just happened to feature a lesbian couple—Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Annette Bening). What I got instead was an acrid dramedy about infidelity. Jules (Moore) sleeps with the sperm donor that fathered the pair’s children, played Josh Hutcherson and Mia Wasikowska. (Given that said donor is the ever-dreamy Mark Ruffalo, you can’t totally blame her.)
“I have friends who hated, hated, hated this movie, but years later, I still can’t get certain scenes out of my mind. Lisa Cholodenko’s script completely nails the neurotic tension inherent in long-term relationships, especially in a restaurant scene where unsaid feelings boil over during a conversation about (what else?) organic farming. ‘If I hear one person say they love heirloom tomatoes, I’m going to f**king kill myself,’ Nic announces. Agreed, Nic. Agreed.
5) I Love You Phillip MorrisI Love You Phillip Morris should have been a full-fledged comeback for Jim Carrey. The one-time comedy superstar has fallen on hard times the past decade (Mr. Popper’s Penguins, anyone?), but directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra (Crazy, Stupid Love) put his trademark manic energy to expert use in their criminally underrated 2009 dark comedy. It was a box-office bomb, which gives you a chance to rediscover what audiences missed. Philip Morris is one of those stories so delightfully absurd it must be true: A con-man (Carrey) repeatedly escapes prison to be with his partner (Ewan McGregor, again). Gay-themed movies for straight audiences often toy around the actual fact of queer sexuality, but one of the many refreshing things about Philip Morris is that the film lets its lovers be extremely intimate with each other. This GIF of McGregor saying “Enough romance, let’s fuck” is the only GIF you’ll ever need.
6) Mala MalaQueer viewers likely know April Carrión as a contestant on the sixth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race (that was the year Bianca Del Rio won). Carrión, however, is also the star of Mala Mala, the must-see 2015 documentary about Puerto Rico’s queer, transgender, and drag communities. Directed by Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles, the film is clearly inspired by Paris Is Burning, the influential (and controversial) documentary about 1980s ball culture in New York City. The connection is even in the title: In Puerto Rico, “mala” is akin to “fierce,” a word that was popularized by Jennie Livingston’s film. (Pepper Labeija famously proclaims herself “the fiercest mother of them all.”) The colorful Mala Mala is both a document of a community in transition and a real-life Almodovar film, a celebratory look at a vibrant culture come powerfully to life.
7) PariahIt’s a little sad that Pariah is best known for a drunken shout out: When accepting the Golden Globe for The Iron Lady in 2012, Meryl Streep slurred the name of Adepero Oduye, the film’s lead. But inebriated or not, Meryl knows what’s up. Directed by Dee Rees, making her debut, Pariah offers a fresh take on the coming-out story. Giving a star-is-born performance, Oduye plays Alike, a black teenager experiencing her queer coming of age on the streets of Brooklyn, New York. As she soon discovers, figuring out who you are isn’t without difficulty: The girl she likes (Aasha Davis) views their relationship as nothing more than “youthful experimentation.” Meanwhile, her parents force her to choose between her sexuality and her family. For Rees, the little-seen film was the beginning of a promising career: She directed HBO’s Emmy-winning Bessie in 2015 and will be helming the network’s Stonewall drama, When We Rise.
8) A Single ManFashion designer Tom Ford’s directorial debut takes a completely different tone than Christopher Isherwood’s landmark 1964 novella. Isherwood’s writing is impassioned and angry, enraged at the state of gay life in pre-Stonewall America, whereas Ford’s film is mournful and melancholic. Often referred to as a feature-length perfume commercial, the rapturously beautiful A Single Man unfolds like a undulating plume of cigarette smoke. But there’s a lot underneath Ford’s impossibly perfect surfaces: Colin Firth (in an Oscar-nominated role) plays George Falconer, a college professor who finds himself adrift after the recent death of his partner (Matthew Goode). During his period of mourning, George becomes drawn to a student (a breakout Nicholas Hoult). The film retains Isherwood’s somber ending, but rather than downbeat, Ford’s eye for poetry imbues A Single Man with a tentative hope.
9) Stranger by the LakeNobody makes psychological thrillers like the French. From Clouzot’s classic Les Diaboliques and Ozu’s Swimming Pool to Guillaume Canet’s Tell No One (which has more twists than a 1960s sock hop), L’Hexagone has long staked its claim as an international capital of suspense. One of the best in recent memory is Stranger by the Lake, an erotic stunner that doubles as an allegory for the AIDS crisis and a queer homage to Alfred Hitchcock. In Alain Guiraudie’s 2013 Cannes winner, sex is death. At a gay cruising spot nestled at the edge of a picturesque lake, Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) meets the sexy Michel (Christophe Paou), with whom he has an instant connection. There’s just one problem: Michel is a murderer. Franck spies his the object of his affection drowning his current lover in the lake—but continues to get closer to him. In the movies, there’s nothing deadlier than l’amour.
10) TangerineTangerine was a groundbreaking moment in LGBT cinema. Sean Baker’s micro-budgeted indie (which was filmed on his iPhone) was the first film to ever launch an Oscar campaign for a trans actor. Following the historic Emmy nomination for Laverne Cox (Orange Is the New Black), distributor Magnolia Pictures pushed Mya Taylor and Kitana “Kiki” Rodriguez for consideration at the 2016 Academy Awards. The campaign wasn’t successful (although Taylor earned an Indie Spirit award for her performance), but it showed just how far trans representation has come. Tangerine is both thrilling to watch and deeply humanizing in its portrait of a day in the life of two transgender sex workers in Los Angeles. If there’s any justice in the world, it will only be the start of many more great things to come from its talented pair of actresses. Hollywood desperately needs them.
See also: Eric Schaeffer’s Boy Meets Girl, starring breakout trans actress Michelle Hendley
11) Tig2014 was a breakout year for Tig Notaro. During a performance at New York City's Town Hall, the lesbian comic came out as a breast cancer survivor. In a career-making set, Notaro performed shirtless, baring her double mastectomy for the world to see. After the act generated massive buzz (and applause from those who lauded her fearlessness), she would do it again—this time on her HBO standup special, Boyish Girl Interrupted. The acclaimed Netflix documentary Tig examines the comedian’s life during her treatment and in recovery—as she and her partner attempt to have their first child. Kristina Goolsby and Ashley York’s film is both as candid and disarmingly intimate as you would expect a film about Notago to be. The documentary is a testament to human resilience—about finding the courage to go on after enormous hardship.
12) WeekendAndrew Haigh has been one to watch since Greek Pete, which perfected the director’s seemingly improvisational style. The film, about a London rent boy, is so lived-in that it feels like a documentary. Haigh, best known in the states as the creator of HBO’s short-lived gay drama Looking, would perfect his vision with Weekend. The naturalistic 2011 indie owes a great deal to Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, dialogue-heavy films about brief encounters between star-crossed lovers. Whereas Jesse and Celine share a connection on a train ride heading to Vienna, Glen (Chris New) meets Russell (Tom Cullen), a lifeguard, shortly before leaving for art school. The couple’s lost weekend may be their last together, but their fleeting romance feels both intense and real. The power of Haigh’s films is that they encourage both reflection and recognition, documenting universal experiences that feel painfully familiar.
See also: Andrew Haigh’s masterful 45 Years, starring Charlotte Rampling.
13) We Were HereThere’s been an embarrassment of great documentaries on the '80s AIDS crisis in recent years, the most well-known being David French’s great How to Survive a Plague. The year before Plague was released, David Weissman and Bill Weber directed We Were Here, an equally important look at queer life during an era where being gay was looked at as a death sentence. What’s refreshing about We Were Here is that shows a community coming together for hope and healing. Weissman and Weber interview psychologist Ed Wolf, activist Paul Boneberg, and others who worked to fight the disease, which had infected 50 percent of gay men by the mid-'80s, including Guy Clark, a dancer who lived in San Francisco’s famed Castro district during the epidemic. He brought flowers to the funerals of those who passed away from HIV. The uplifting We Were Here is a stirring reminder of the power and beauty of solidarity.