5 LGBTQ movies and TV shows you need to watch in August

August is typically the month that the summer season season begins to wind down. Children put together to go back to school, whereas adults work out the right way to spend the previous few days of trip they’ve left for the season. On the films and streaming entrance, nevertheless, the schedule stays as busy as ever, and that holds true for content material concerning the LGBTQ+ expertise.

In theaters, the comedy Bottoms and the drama Passages showcase the highs and lows of affection, whereas the hit Netflix streaming present Heartstopper returns for a second season. As well as, there’s an incisive documentary a few famously closeted homosexual Hollywood star on Max whereas Prime Video debuts a captivating rom-com concerning the First Son and the Prince of England having a secret romance. There’s one thing for everybody, and these 5 LGBTQ movies and exhibits are certain to maintain you entertained nicely into the autumn.

Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed (out now)

You could suppose you recognize all there’s to learn about Rock Hudson, however as All That Heaven Allowed proves, there’s extra beneath the beautiful floor than it’s possible you’ll suppose. For individuals who don’t know who Rock Hudson is, right here’s a short overview: Hudson was a matinee idol of the Fifties and Sixties who lived as a closeted homosexual man for many of his life. He was solely outed within the mid-Eighties because it was revealed he was rapidly dying of AIDS.

In contrast to most documentaries that concentrate on closeted life, All That Heaven Allowed emphasizes simply how blissful Hudson was as a serious film star who additionally explored his sexuality, albeit discreetly and punctiliously. This emphasis on queer pleasure, and reinstating Hudson’s significance within the homosexual neighborhood and function within the public acceptance of the AIDS epidemic, is what units the documentary aside. It’s additionally surprisingly humorous and raunchy, with surviving members of Hudson’s interior circle telling entertaining tales about Hudson’s sexual escapades and Tinseltown anecdotes.

All That Heaven Allowed is now streaming on Max.

Heartstopper season 2 (August 3)

Netflix’s twee tween hit Heartstopper returns for one more season on August 3, and there’s certain to be extra longing seems to be, animated swoons, and a dozen completely timed needle drops in its subsequent batch of 10 episodes. The season roughly adapts volumes 2 and three of Alice Roseman’s charming graphic novel collection of the identical title, which see leads Charlie and Nick grapple with being in a romantic relationship for the primary time, the gradual popping out course of to family and friends, and a category journey to Paris which opens them each as much as a wider world of acceptance and temptation.

When the primary season debuted on Netflix in April 2022, Heartstopper was rightly praised for its low-key attraction and deeply sympathetic method to its teenage characters. Season 2 guarantees extra of the identical, with extra consideration given to its gifted supporting solid, notably Yasmin Finney’s Elle and William Gao’s Tao, who each start to wonder if their friendship is morphing into one thing extra with every episode. Heartstopper‘s lo-fi cuteness could irk some, however for most individuals, the present is a uncommon depiction of teenagers as delicate, clever creatures. It’s the anti-Euphoria, and that alone is definitely worth the worth of admission.

Season 2 of Heartstopper will stream on Netflix on August 3.

Passages (August 4)

Are you want me in considering 2023 has been severely missing in grownup dramas that deal truthfully with love and intercourse? Ira Sachs’ NC-17-rated drama Passages guarantees to fill that want with a provocative story of a love triangle gone terribly mistaken. The movie stars rising German actor Franz Rogowski as Tomas, a filmmaker in a cheerful and steady marriage to Martin (No Time to Die‘s Ben Whishaw). One night time in a crowded dance membership, he meets Agathe (Blue is the Warmest Shade‘s Adèle Exarchopoulos), a younger schoolteacher who ignites a lust in Tomas that surprises even him. Quickly, Tomas and Agathe start an affair, which jeopardizes Tomas’ marriage to Martin, who begins his personal affair.

Erotic dramas was a staple of summertime moviegoing; bear in mind Untrue, the Adrian Lyne film that got here out in Could 2002 and nabbed star Diane Lane an Oscar nomination for Greatest Actress? Passages could not have as a lot of a mainstream enchantment as that film, however early opinions point out it’s as cerebral and sensual as its intriguing trailer suggests. If Heartstopper is concerning the starting of younger love, Passages showcases the endpoint of a relationship that’s been exhausted by an excessive amount of freedom.

Passages will likely be launched in theaters on August 4.

Crimson, White & Royal Blue (August 11)

Foolish rom-coms aren’t only for straight folks anymore. The premise of Amazon Prime Video‘s film Crimson, White & Royal Blue is intentionally absurd: the son of the U.S. President. Alex Claremont-Diaz, should befriend his hated rival, Prince Henry, to easy over relations between America and England. Their pressured partnership rapidly turns into one thing extra, they usually embark on a secret romance that, if uncovered, might spoil Alex’s mom’s probabilities of re-election and threaten the British Monarchy. How’s that for stakes?

Crimson, White & Royal Blue leans into the outrageous plot, and within the course of, turns into the uncommon rom-com that’s really form of romantic and humorous. As performed by relative newcomers Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine, Alex and Henry have a basic love/hate relationship that carries on the rom-com custom of the 2 leads grudgingly falling in love with one another because the film progresses. The style lives or dies primarily based on the main stars’ chemistry, and Perez and Galitzine have it. Crimson, White & Royal Blue received’t rock your world like Oppenheimer and even Barbie, nevertheless it’s a captivating diversion from an actual world that has far too few buttercream cake fights and romantic walks within the moonlight.

Crimson, White & Royal Blue will stream on Prime Video on August 11.

Bottoms (August 25)

After No Hard Feelings in June and Joyride in July, Raunchy Woman Summer season concludes with Emma Seligman’s Bottoms, a delightfully filthy comedy that received over audiences at South by Southwest earlier this 12 months. The film options rising stars Rachel Sennott (who additionally co-wrote the movie) and The Bear‘s Ayo Edebiri as PJ and Josie, two queer youngsters who’re too dorky and socially awkward to get dates with the highschool cheerleaders they lust after. They determine to kind an all-girls battle membership to realize the eye of their objects of affection. Naturally, issues don’t go fairly as deliberate, and hijinks ensue.

Described by Seligman as “a campy queer highschool comedy within the vein of Moist Sizzling American Summer season, however extra for a Gen-Z queer viewers,” Bottoms dials up the awkward humor and doesn’t flinch from portraying its central feminine protagonists as determined, attractive, and humorous as hell. The film’s rapturous reception at SXSW, mixed with its hilarious trailers, guarantees to shut out the summer season of 2023 with just a few well-earned laughs … and possibly a life lesson or two as nicely.

Bottoms will hit theaters nationwide on August 25.

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