Review: Was 2015 the Year of LGBT Film?

This past year appears to have been a banner year for the mainstreaming of queer cinema. But was 2015 the year that mainstream moviemaking got it right? It's certainly not a year that gave us anything like Al Pacino's CRUISING, or the "straight guy's gonna land a lesbian" CHASING AMY. It did give us GET HARD, however, which while not as homophobic as the legendary NORMAN, IS THAT YOU? was still fairly toxic in its representations both of gay men and of African-Americans. (THE GUARDIAN's Alex Needham commented, "I suspect that in years to come, media studies students will watch this film and be amazed that such a negative portrayal of homosexuality persisted in the mainstream in 2015.")

But everything on screen wasn't overtly toxic - some of it was, or appeared to be, not only non-homophobic but positively enlightened. SPOTLIGHT addressed the plight of abused boys and girls in the Catholic Church, though it wasn't, strictly speaking, a gay-themed film. It was, however, a film that addressed the matter with sensitivity and that is one of the year's best films. Tom McCarthy's film about journalists, which certainly ranks with ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN as one of the great films about the news industry on a mission, will be one of the hot contenders for this year's film honors.

Then there's Paul Weitz's GRANDMA, with a marvelous Lily Tomlin as the namesake character. While the movie isn't about the title character's lesbianism, but is rather an intergenerational THELMA AND LOUISE roadtrip to get money for her granddaughter's trip to the abortion clinic, it treats the themes of her lesbianism and her determined, still-extant first-generation feminism seriously, and the detours to the former occupants of her life who might have money are handled as if perfectly normal and not exotic trips to LGBT-land. It's a not-quite-gritty dramedy with fine acting and noteworthy directing, and also made THE ADVOCATE's top ten LGBT films list even without being identified as an LGBT film.

But the two films vying for the big-budget, high-profile, big-star We're Here, We're Queer, Eat Popcorn While Watching Us STAKES in 2015 were CAROL and THE DANISH GIRL. Cate Blanchett! Eddie Redmayne! Todd Haynes directs! Tom Hooper directs! Weinstein! Focus! They're lush. They're elegant. They're well-acted, gorgeously costumed, and represent a new level of taking LGBT story lines seriously and presenting them as art.

Or do they? Even LGBT reviewers are mixed on the points. Both Kilian Melloy and Kevin Taft of Edge Media Network consider CAROL one of the ten best films of the year of all genres, and Melloy also places THE DANISH GIRL on his list. Georgia Voice film critic Jim Farmer calls CAROL "possibly one of the all-time great lesbian films" and calls THE DANISH GIRL "absorbing" but notes that some critics have found it too pretty. THE ADVOCATE has both films on their "ten best" list for LGBT flicks of 2015. On the other hand, critic Ren Jender of Bitch Flicks finds THE DANISH appalling. While she has yet to render a public critical opinion on Todd Haynes' adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's THE PRICE OF SALT, her feelings on THE DANISH GIRL are that it's a toxic confusing of drag and transvestism with actual transgender men-to-women; she finds that it fetishizes women's clothing, rather than showing a man deeply conflicted about his body identity versus his inner self. Transgender activists have voiced similar opinions.

While LGBT critics may be almost unanimously amazed and delighted by CAROL and at odds on THE DANISH GIRL, one major LGBT picture has been left off of all the LGBT top tens and takes Jim Farmer's vote for worst commercial LGBT films of the year. The brainchild of out gay filmmaker Roland Emmerich, STONEWALL, a history of the groundbreaking gay rights riot in 1969, focuses on a mythical appealing young gay male while insulting the drag queens and older men who were the main regulars at the Stonewall Inn.

The sleeper of the season was Magnolia Films' TANGERINE, directed by Sean Baker, starring two transgender actresses, Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor. You'll sooner find it on Netflix than in a theatre, but if you want dark, nearly film-noir comedy, this little gem about a "working girl" out to find a down and dirty pimp who backstabbed her is your film. If you're more interested in a film that's likely to contend for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars, there's another transgender theme in VIVA, directed by Paddy Breathnach (Benicio Del Toro is executive producer) involving a hairdresser in Havana. This was wildly popular at Telluride, so expect Academy Award traction here.

A personal favorite here, and a film likely to be popular with much of the LGBT community though it's not LGBT-themed, is Magnolia Films' IRIS, one of the last two Maysles Brothers films (Albert Maysles, 88, died of pancreatic cancer in March). The documentary, almost certain to be liked by anyone with an affection for GRAY GARDENS, is a fond, gentle look at fashion maven Iris Apfel, she of the round glasses and much costume jewelry. Also out this year was LEGEND, Brian Helgeland's production of John Pearson's book on the Kray Twins. While the gay content is limited, it's nonetheless there, and then there's the added attraction of the film's gimmick, Tom Hardy playing both Reggie and Ronnie Kray. Fine actor that he is, Hardy succeeds in making them two highly separate, very different individuals, one gay and one straight. While it's played to mixed reviews, this was another favorite for this writer; it's a visually attractive film, a strong and accurate visual depiction of the seedy side of London in the Swinging Sixties.

Was 2015 the Year of the LGBT film? Possibly. Though the major production companies seem to have swung and missed on accurate depictions of transgender characters, independent cinema and foreign cinema delivered in a big way. CAROL is a lush, gorgeous lesbian romance, though it's a period piece that doesn't address the modern realities of lesbian life - something Hollywood hasn't taken on yet, although GRANDMA comes closer to it while not being a "lesbian film". Gay male characters were depicted honestly and realistically in SPOTLIGHT and in LEGEND, among other films this year. On the other hand, GET HARD is still perpetuating the fear of gay men raping straight men in prison, in what we're told is a comedy. Critically panned though it was, it's the film that drew the largest number of straight viewers out of anything mentioned here that was released this past year.

Vibrant commercial cinema that depicts the LGBT community honestly and sensitively is finally starting to emerge. But when the exact opposite is still what's being marketed the most heavily to moviegoers in such vehicles as GET HARD, which certainly had higher ticket sales, it's difficult to feel triumphant.

Photo Credit: Sony Classic Pictures

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