12 Movies to Watch This Fall

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As we come to the end of the third month of the actor’s strike and the fifth month of the writer’s strike, movie delays are becoming more frequent. Hollywood is on hold, which means you might have to look slightly harder for your next favorite watch. Luckily, there is a whole world of cinema out there – literally! – and plenty of good stuff to go around. 

What follows is a collection of semi-recent films that you should add to your list. Many of them flew under the radar at the time of their release and deserve renewed attention. Most of these films have some sort of gay element to them, because I know my audience. Many of them are also non-American and directed by women. Strap in and enjoy!

The Five Devils (2020), dir. Léa Mysius

Rent on Apple TV, Vudu

If you saw Blue is the Warmest Color as a young person and it broke your brain a little bit, you get it – Adèle Exarchopoulos has always been That Girl. The French icon starred in a film last year that didn’t get nearly enough recognition. In The Five Devils, Vicky (Sally Dramé) is a young girl with supernatural abilities involving her very strong sense of smell. Her parents are Joanne (Exarchopoulos), a swimming instructor, and Jimmy (Moustapha Mbengue), a firefighter. When Jimmy’s sister, Julia (Swala Emati) arrives out of the blue, Vicky learns more about her family’s secret history and how she came to be. 

Is it gay? Yep! This film has one of my favorite narrative elements, what I like to call surprise lesbianism. I know I’ve just spoiled that fact for you, but I won’t reveal anything else. It’s a psychedelic, time-bending love story with Adèle Exarchopoulos - that’s all you need to know. (Adèle X fans should check out Passages as well.)

House of Hummingbird (2018), dir. Bora Kim

Stream on Amazon Prime

The South Korean film House of Hummingbird is a queer coming-of-age story never explicitly named as such. It’s Seoul in 1994, and 14-year-old Eun-hee (Park Ji-hu) is preparing to enter high school. Ignored and berated by her family, Eun-hee finds solace with a friendly teacher at school and her friends. As the problems at home intensify, Eun-hee grows more and more attached to her teacher, though her friendships become complicated. Set against the backdrop of South Korea’s rapid modernization, Eun-hee struggles to stay true to herself and forge her own path without being left behind. 

Is it gay? As I said, Eun-hee’s story is recognizably queer – the intense friendships, the obsession with a teacher – though the growing pains she experiences as a 14-year-old are universal. The genius of Kim Bora’s film is that it depicts a harrowing period in a young person’s life while still leaving room for hope and beauty. 

In Between (2016), dir. Maysaloun Hamoud

Rent on Amazon Prime

Maysaloun Hamoud’s In Between depicts three young Palestinian women living together in Tel Aviv. Layla (Mouna Hawa) is a lawyer from a secular Muslim family trying to reconcile her desire for freedom with a new love. Nour (Shaden Kanboura), who is from a religious Muslim family, has a fiancè whom she did not choose and is more interested in her studies. Salma (Sana Jammelieh) is a lesbian DJ who brings her girlfriend home to her Christian family, with disastrous results. It’s easy to root for all three women, who have more in common than they realize. Joy and pain coexist here. 

Is it gay? Yep! Salma is a DJ, which means she’s obviously a bit of a cool-girl rebel (as is her BFF, Layla). Her relationship with her girlfriend is sweet, even if everything doesn’t go to plan. 

All The Beauty And The Bloodshed (2022), dir. Laura Poitras

Stream on Max

All The Beauty And The Bloodshed is one of the best documentaries in recent memory. The film is a portrait of photographer Nan Goldin, who was part of New York City’s underground art scene in the 1980s. The film looks at all aspects of Goldin’s life, from her repressive upbringing in the suburbs and the death of her sister, to her days of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll in the city, to her later crusade as an activist fighting against the opioid epidemic. It’s a moving account of what it means to build community and make art out of one's life – living for art’s sake, and making art for the sake of living. Goldin’s life, and especially her dedication to taking down the Sackler family – also known as the architects of the opioid epidemic – is a blueprint for how we might move through the world with care, passion, and conviction. 

Is it gay? Yes – Goldin herself is queer and was very immersed in the queer community in New York during the 1980s and beyond. Goldin was friends with other queer artists like David Wojnarowicz, a prominent AIDS activist who died in 1992. John Waters mainstay Cookie Mueller and her girlfriend also feature prominently in the film. 

Nelly & Nadine (2022), dir. Magnus Gertten

Stream on Amazon Prime

Nelly & Nadine feels like the stuff of a Hollywood melodrama, except it actually happened. Sylvie Bianchi is a middle-aged French woman whose grandmother, Nelly, was a Holocaust survivor. Nelly lived for many years with her closest companion, Nadine Hwang, whom she met in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. A box of Nelly’s things sits in Sylvie’s attic, and it has taken Sylvie years to finally open it. What she finds is indisputable evidence of Nelly and Nadine’s love story, a story she had never known until now. 

Through archival evidence and Sylvie’s own investigations, we’re taken through Nelly and Nadine’s incredible journey, which, rather improbably, had a happy ending. The historical footage here is breathtaking – we’re shown beautifully remastered video from the liberation of Ravensbrück, and director Magnus Gertten takes the time to slowly linger on the faces we see, narrowing in on Nadine, looking for her love. The fact that we have such rich artifacts from their lives is a miracle in and of itself, and the care taken with their story is evident. 

Is it gay? Yes, obviously. (You might cry.)

Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate (2023), dir. Benjamin Cantu

Stream on Netflix

Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate is a documentary that looks at how WWII affected LGBT people in Germany. Our story begins in Weimar Berlin, one of the queerest cities and periods in the last century. Berlin during this time was filled with queer locales, and the work of sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld was revolutionizing how people understood gender and sexuality. As the Nazis rose to power, things began to change – slowly, and then very quickly. 

The Eldorado was a cabaret club that catered to a queer and trans clientele, and it represents all that Weimar Berlin was. The film follows the lives of several queer and trans folks in the 1930s – how they fought to live their lives and escape persecution. It’s equal parts inspiring and devastating, and it makes the heart ache as you consider all that was lost. 

Is it gay? Yes, totally. If you’re not familiar with this period (and even if you are), you should definitely check it out for a moving queer history lesson. 

Of An Age (2022), Goran Stolevski

Stream on Amazon Prime

The first cut is the deepest – isn’t that how the song goes? Goran Stolevski’s Of An Age zeroes in on the experience of first love, suggesting that it’s not the length of time you know a person but the intensity of that feeling that really matters. Kol (Elias Anton) is an 18-year-old ballroom dancer who comes from a Serbian family. He meets Adam (Thom Green), his dance partner’s older brother, and they have an immediate connection. They fall in love over the course of just 24 hours, an experience that alters the course of Kol’s life. Of An Age feels of the same ilk as Andrew Haigh’s Weekend (2011), with a little bit of Moonlight (2016) thrown in there for good measure. Beautifully shot and tenderly acted, this one’s a quiet punch to the stomach. 

Is it gay? Yes, but it’s just our brethren, the gay men. 

Benediction (2021), dir. Terence Davies

Stream on Hulu

Like his 2016 film A Quiet Passion, Terence Davies’ Benediction is a movie about a poet where poetry becomes the language of the film. While A Quiet Passion generally elided Emily Dickinson’s queerness, Benediction hones in on the queer stature of its subject, WWI poet Siegfried Sassoon, exploring his rare joys and many pains. Sassoon returns from war a broken man, yet his poetry launches him into the echelons of the European literati. He’s also a bitter person, and while he has numerous romantic dalliances in his life, never forgets his first love, severed as it was by the Great War. Jack Lowden plays Sassoon with a detached brilliance, at once charming and acrid, romantic and cynical. An older Sassoon is played by Peter Capaldi, who reveals that Sassoon’s bitterness has calcified into something nearly bulletproof. It’s a lyrical, swelling piece of work, with a final scene that will take your breath away. 

Is it gay? Very, but no lesbians here.  

Anaïs in Love (2021), dir. Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet

Stream on Hulu

Sometimes 30-year-old women are immature losers, okay? If you liked Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person In The World but wanted something gayer, or if you didn’t like The Worst Person In The World but want something as sweepingly European, or if you have no idea what I’m talking about but want to watch a messy lesbian romance, check out Anaïs in Love. Our titular character (played by Anaïs Demoustier) is a thirtysomething with no money who is having an affair with a married man. Anaïs is immediately bored by this man and becomes obsessed with his wife, Emilie (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), instead. Anaïs is exactly the kind of character who should be insufferable, but her chaos is charming enough that she’s ultimately lovable. Her charms work differently on a middle-aged woman, but that’s why their relationship is so delightful.

Is it gay? Yep. Watch for a sapphic take on the French New Wave.

Girl Picture (2022), dir. Alli Haapasalo

Rent on YouTube, Vudu, Apple TV

Is there anything better than a movie about teen girls coming of age, and all the messiness that comes along with it? Girl Picture follows three girls during a dark Finnish winter. Mimmi (Aamu Milonoff) and Rönkkö (Eleonoora Kauhanen) are two best friends hoping to shake things up. Mimmi meets Emma (Linnea Leino), a dedicated figure skater. While Mimmi and Emma fall in love, Rönkkö embarks on a quest for sexual pleasure. Girl Picture doesn’t provide any new revelations about girlhood, but it is delicate and sweetly rendered. Mimmi and Emma’s relationship is adorable, and a certain needle drop deserves its own accolades.

Is it gay? Yes! Rönkkö is off on her straight journey but Mimmi and Emma occupy much of the plot. 

The Hand of God (2021), dir. Paolo Sorrentino

Stream on Netflix

Because we live in a highly gendered society, coming-of-age movies about girls tend to be quite different than those about boys. The Hand of God falls into the latter category, and it’s one of the best the genre has to offer. If you like 20th Century Women or soccer in the 1980s, this one’s for you. Based on director Paolo Sorrentino’s own youth, the film follows Fabietto (Filippo Scotti), a teenage boy who lives in Naples with his family. Longing to study philosophy when he goes to college, Fabietto bides his time by listening to music and rooting for Diego Maradona, the star of his local soccer team. When faced with a personal tragedy, Fabietto must reckon with his future sooner than he’d imagined. 

Is it gay? No, there is really nothing gay about this movie. But it does make you root and care for a teenage boy, and there’s something admirable about that.

No Exit (2022), dir. Damien Power

Stream on Hulu

If you haven’t been following the online discourse about Bottoms, you might not know that Havana Rose Liu is the sapphic It Girl of the moment. She shines (sparkles, even) as the popular cheerleader in Emma Seligman’s film, but in 2022 she starred in a much different movie. No Exit is a tightly wound thriller that delivers everything you want it to. Liu plays Darby, a college student on her way to visit her mother during a snowstorm. Darby gets trapped at a rest stop with several strangers, where she interrupts the kidnapping of a young girl. She tries to uncover who the kidnapper is before time runs out, and without becoming a victim herself. A 90-minute thriller that wastes little time in getting to the good stuff, you might want to add No Exit to your list for spooky season. 

Is it gay? No, but considering how some of you feel about Havana Rose Liu, with a little imagination, it could be.