June is Gay Pride Month, so the five Geek Out’s this month focus on some of my favorite gay-themed movies, books and music.
First up for the month is the 1996 film Beautiful Thing. This is the story of two working class boys from London who, over the course of a few weeks, fall in love. The movies works so well because the actors portraying the boys capture perfectly the initial hesitation they both have at acknowledging their feelings for each other—will this person like me as much as I think I like them? Should I put my heart out there and possibly have it rejected, or worse? I guarantee that anyone who watches this film, gay or straight, will see themselves in what the boys go through as their love grows and they figure out how to be supportive of each other and make their relationship work.
Adding to the emotional impact of the film is the use of the Mamas & Papas catalog with songs like “Make Your Own Kind of Music” and “Dream a Little Dream of Me”along with the perfect use of “You Are Sixteen Going on Seventeen” from The Sound of Music (I’m not giving away how it’s used, you’ll just have to watch the movie for yourself).
This movie has been showing up on Logo a lot lately, and whenever I see while I’m flipping channels I end up and watch it even though I’ve got the DVD. It always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.
Here is a clip from the film, in it Ste is staying over at Jamie’s for the night. They haven’t yet figured out they have a thing for each other, but you can see here that there is a lot being left unsaid.
