The Year in Gay Movies

On the Second Day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

2 Surfer Dudes (Shelter)

Way back in January Regent released Shelter, a quiet, good-natured romantic drama about two gay surfers who find love in Los Angeles. Starring gay-fave Brad Rowe and adorable newcomer Trevor Wright, this touching, fresh and very sexy love story managed to sidestep most of the trappings of your standard coming-out movie and offered gay audiences a well-crafted romance the likes of which hadn't hit screens since a certain couple of sheep wranglers shared a tent on a certain mountain a few years back.

Shelter brought us the story of Zach, an aspiring artist whose family responsibilities are keeping him from pursuing his dreams and whose post-high-school days flipping burgers and watching his nephew are starting to spell out a life of disappointment. When Zach runs into his best friend's long-lost gay brother Shaun (Rowe) at their beach house, the two strike up a secret friendship that eventually blossoms into something more.

There was a lot to like about Shelter, from the mellow vibe to the refreshing way that Zach's best friend reacted to his coming out; but the central romance between the surfing buddies was ultimately what swept away audiences.

On the First Day of Christmas my true love gave me...

The gayest major motion picture ever made (Milk)

Following decades of development and months of eager anticipation, Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic Milk was practically set up to disappoint. So when the filmmaker delivered a restrained, streamlined and deeply sensitive movie about the man who became the first figurehead of the gay rights movement in the United States, the results were positively electric. To date the film is one of the best-reviewed movies of the year and has earned a host of accolades ranging from a Golden Globe nomination for Sean Penn to the esteemed Stanley Kramer Award from the Producers Guild.

But industry kudos aside, Milk is a tremendous achievement. The film did more than bring Harvey Milk's story to vibrant, grinning life; it took mainstream audiences into the gay experience in a way that no film before it ever has: gently, but unapologetically and without shame. Gay men of all stripes fill the screen almost constantly. Gay romance and affection and brotherhood are the architecture of the entire film, and Harvey's message of understanding and hope is delivered with incredible clarity and impact.

Much in the way that Harvey Milk was himself an unlikely face of a movement, Milk's successful conception was somewhat unexpected given its development troubles and complicated subject. But an assured and fascinating script, an entirely committed lead performance and the willingness of the otherwise artsy director to shelve his more experimental tendencies in service to the story combined to bring genuine humanity to an Oscar-season biopic. In terms of gay visibility and the continued fight for civil rights in our country, the film is nothing short of a triumph.

Bring on the figgy pudding!

Of course, this isn't everything cinematically pink this year. Gay characters popped up here and there in other mainstream movies and a slew of direct-to-video gay indies and documentaries (like the hilarious doc Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon, which I couldn't quite squeeze into the holiday carol above) wound their way to the top shelves at the local video store.

And much as the world around us continues to evolve in terms of acceptance (or so we'd like to hope), the idea of visibility in entertainment continues to change. We saw different kinds of gay movies (Genre films! Something other than coming-out stories!) and saw different kinds of gay characters in mainstream fare, for better (Tropic Thunder) or for worse (X-Files: I Want to Believe).

But beyond the images on screen, the industry itself continued to evolve as well. Gay directors and screenwriters continued to write and direct big-budget mainstream fare (Adam Shankman's Bedtime Stories, Bryan Singer's Valkyrie, Carter Smith's The Ruins, Roland Emmerich's 10,000 B.C.). And while these movies might not have promoted gay visibility through the stories they told, the men behind them did by proving that out and proud gay men can play the Hollywood game with the best of them.

And with actors at the top of their game on the small screen continuing to come out, who knows ... maybe next Christmas Santa will bring us a proudly gay A-List Hollywood movie star. Start making your list!