The 18 best queer coming-of-age movies

Irish indie film is essentially if Nick and Charlie were platonic boarding school roommates (not the ) and didn’t have to constantly truck back and forth to each other’s houses. Also “Nick” is played by Nicholas Galitzine, who kind of came out of nowhere (well, not entirely; his is generating a lot of discussion on X) to feature as both the asshole jock boyfriend in Bottoms and in another film later on this list. Also, Andrew Scott—a.k.a. The Hot Priest from —is in this!

The 2018 mega-hit tells the story of a closeted gay teen who is “just like you,” actually. While the Greg Berlanti-directed flick may not be the most subversive on this list—or actively progressive, at least by today’s standards—it still made waves when it was released for featuring an LGBTQ+ character in a leading, romantic, and mainstream role. Also, its spin-off show, , is pretty good.

This is easily the heaviest film on this list—and would frankly make a pretty odd pairing with Bottoms—but any collection of queer coming-of-age films would simply not be complete without the queer coming-of-age film of the last decade, . Director Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning odyssey chronicles the journey of one young man growing up in the Miami projects as he grapples with his sexuality, poverty, and drugs, as well as the meanings of life, love, and what it means to be a man. It’s a tour de force from all parties involved, and one that should absolutely be required viewing.

Sometimes you’re simply not lucky enough to be a modern, American teen who can sucker-punch her way into a really good hookup. Sometimes you draw the short end of the stick and end up as an 18th-century French lady caught in a toxic, hetero-patriarchal society where all you can really do is yearn. And sit for portrait sessions. And touch each other’s armpits. And yearn some more. is devastating (like really, brutally sad), but it’s also one of the most beautiful movies to grace our screens in recent memory.

is the first film to capture since the hype for Barbenheimer (slightly) died down—and for good reason. Namely, it’s really fun! Nicholas Galitzine (his third shout-out on this list) delivers a performance as Henry, the closeted prince of England. His scene partner Taylor Zakhar Perez … doesn’t, but he’s not bad and he certainly looks the part. Uma Thurman delivers a genuinely insane approximation of a Texas accent and name-drops Truvada at one point. Rachel Maddow is there! A cake ! It rules.

Rachel Sennott may play a fully grown adult in y, but her character—a bisexual college senior studying “the business of gender” while moonlighting as a sugar baby—still has a whole lot of growing up to do. Over the course of a family shiva that makes up almost the entirety of the film’s tight, 78-minute runtime, Danielle (Sennott) manages to ruin at least one marriage, make out with her far more successful ex, and cry in front of literally everybody. She’s a messy bitch who lives for drama, and we love her for it.

Okay, fine. We’re cheating a little bit with . But while Haley Graham—the hotheaded narrator and protagonist of the classic, Blink-182-filled gymnastics movie (“it’s not called gym-nice-tics!”)—isn’t explicitly queer, she’s certainly queer-coded and has served as something of an awakening for a whole generation of sapphic millennials (including this writer’s friend, who has the ice bath scene tattooed on her arm). What we’re trying to say is that Sennott and Edibiri’s characters from Bottoms have definitely watched it, and you should too if you somehow haven’t already. Plus, the film’s many bumps and bruises will fit right in with Bottoms’ blood and black eyes.

With all the noise around this summer’s two biggest releases (), you this gem of a film that defied gravity and didn’t throw away its shot despite flying very low under the radar (okay, we’re done now). While Theater Camp—about a ragtag group of thespians trying to save their beloved camp—is largely concerned with the exploits of its adult counselors (including a sidelined but still hilarious turn from Ayo Edebiri), the arc of one little boy coming to terms with a … let’s just say rare sexuality among his fellow campers is not to be missed.

This sweet Brazilian film about a blind, gay high school student should go down like a nice dessert—or at least an ice pack—after some of the harder punches on this list. This is also a safe choice for the love triangle-weary among us. In the words of reviewer Keith Uhlich, “there are so many cheap and hokey ways this love triangle could play out that it’s almost a relief [director Daniel] Ribeiro … keeps things consistently tranquil. Situations that would be treated histrionically in many movies … are passed over with relative placidity—a ripple as opposed to a tidal wave.”