The 2020s have been a fantastic decade for queer films so far, with instant classics like Challengers, Love Lies Bleeding, I Saw the TV Glow, Bottoms, Monica, All of Us Strangers, and Nope, as well as stunning films from emerging filmmakers like Mutt, Problemista, and The Stroll.
Now, with 2025 coming to an end, it's time to take a look at the best comedies, dramas, documentaries, and musicals that we loved this year. If you're looking for LGBTQ+ excellence in film, watch these 11 movies.
'Wicked: For Good'
While Wicked: For Good didn't fly as high as the first Wicked film, there's no denying the power of Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda. After the first film focused mainly on Elphaba, the second shifts its focus to Glinda as she struggles with her decision to stay in Oz now that her best friend has left. Come for the beloved story and characters, stay for the Oscar-worthy leading ladies.
Read our review
Streaming on Prime Video
'The Wedding Banquet'
Andrew Ahn (Fire Island) reimagines Ang Lee's classic gay rom-com, adding a lesbian couple in this hilarious and heartwarming film starring Bowen Yang, Kelly Marie Tran, Lily Gladstone, and Han Gi-chan. When Min's (Gi-chan) grandparents say he has to get married, he proposes a lavender marriage to his lesbian friend in exchange for paying for her IVF procedure. The cast has great chemistry, and the story will make you cry and cheer.
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Streaming on Paramount+
'The History of Sound'
Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor star in this quiet and beautiful historical drama from Oliver Harmanus. Lionel (Mescal) meets fellow music student David (O'Connor) while studying at the Boston Conservatory in 1917, only to have their blossoming romance interrupted by David being drafted into World War I. After he returns from the war, David invites Lionel to go on a trip across New England to collect folk songs and try to reconnect.
Read our review
Streaming on Mubi
'Kiss of the Spider Woman'
When Bill Condon's musical Kiss of the Spider Woman premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, Out's Mey Rude said the film is "one of the most beautiful musicals in years," and that star Jennifer Lopez "was born to play" her role and "may have found her Oscar role."
A tribute to classic Hollywood musicals, Kiss of the Spider Woman follows political prisoner Valentin as he gets to know his new cellmate, the gender-ambigious Molina. Molina entertains Valentin with the plot of his favorite musical, giving the stars a chance to play two roles each. A must-see for musical fans.
Read our review
Available to rent on YouTube
'Ponyboi'
This drama about an intersex sex worker named Ponyboi (played by the brilliant River Gallo) premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, but wasn't released until this year. It follows Ponyboi over a single Valentine's Day night when she must go on the run after some bad meth kills a member of the mob. Gallo is an instant star, and Dylan O'Brien, Victoria Pedretti, and Murray Bartlett are terrific.
Read our review
Available to rent on Amazon
'Come See Me in the Good Light'
After watching Come See Me in the Good Light once, it's impossible to finish the film without feeling changed. The documentary follows the late Colorado poet laureate Andrea Gibson alongside their wife, Megan Falley, as they navigate Gibson's medical journey with an incurable ovarian cancer. But as everyone who had a hand in making the film has said, it's not a film about dying — it's a film about living. Gibson was known for their exquisite musings on life, death, and everything in between, and the audience gets to see them ruminate on their existence in this richly shot documentary.
Streaming on Apple TV
'Peter Hujar's Day'
Ira Sachs's intimate and tactile film presents exactly what its title promises: a day-long conversation between photographer Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw) and his friend, writer Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall). The film only has the two characters, and there's not much action, but the performances and dialogue will grab hold of your heart and never let go. Some films are like time machines, where you feel like a fly on the wall in a specific moment in the past; this is one of them.
Currently in select theaters
'Plainclothes'
Debut filmmaker Carmen Emmi has a gem on his hands with Plainclothes, a drama starring Tom Blyth as a young police officer in the 1990s named Lucas who is tasked with going to gay cruising spots, luring men, and then arresting them. Then he meets a kind older man named Andrew (Russell Tovey) and starts falling in love. It's an excellent exploration of the suffocating stress and paranoia of the closet and being true to yourself.
Read our review
Available to rent on Prime Video
'Enigma'
Zackary Drucker's latest documentary is one part chronicle of European trans history and one part examination of celebrity and life in the public eye. By exploring the lives of two models and cabaret performers, April Ashly and Amanda Lear, Drucker shows two very different versions of what a great trans life can be. With more and more people trying to erase trans people from history, movies like Enigma are more crucial than ever.
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Streaming on HBO Max
'Twinless'
Writer/director and star James Sweeney introduced the world to the next great gay scammer, following in the footsteps of Tom Ripley and George Santos, as Dennis in this film. Twinless focuses on the members of a twin bereavement group, where Dennis meets and instantly befriends Roman (Dylan O'Brien) and entangles himself completely in his life, all while keeping huge secrets from him. This movie is darkly hilarious, deeply sexy, and disturbingly strange.
Available to rent or buy on Prime Video
'Hedda'
Tessa Thompson is divine in Nia DaCosta's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's novel, Hedda Gabler, as the titular 1950s British wife and socialite. On the night she convinces her academic husband, George, to throw a lavish party to help him get a professorship, her former lover — and George's academic rival — Eileen (Nina Hoss) decides to show up. Hedda is a brilliant addition to the list of problematic queer women we love to hate and just plain love.
Streaming on Prime Video
