Tag Archives: Kiss Me

3 Lesbian Films That Break the Mold

Most lesbian films follow a simple formula:

One straight girl + one mysterious queer woman + a shadowy male authority figure representing the patriarchy + cute scenes set to indie music = a top spot in Netflix’s LGBT movie section.

But some lesbian films are breaking the mold. They manage to still be cute enough to watch with your girlfriend on a date night, but unpredictable enough to keep you interested. Let’s look at the top 3.

Kiss Me (2011)

To be honest, this movie’s a little melodramatic, and it does stick to a tried-and-true format. A girl (Mia) is engaged to a man but falls in love with a carefree, dangerous woman (Frida). Antics ensue.

What makes it different: At the same party where Mia announces that she’s going to marry her boyfriend, her father announces that he’s getting married, too – to the woman who turns out to be Frida’s mother. Yes, the two women are about to become stepsisters. This movie is the definition of family drama.

But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)

Everyone knows that cheerleaders always date popular male jocks. That’s just what they’re supposed to do. But something is wrong with head cheerleader Megan: Everyone seems to know that she’s gay except her. Her parents send her to conversion camp where she ends up, predictably, falling in love with the “bad boy” lesbian.

What makes it different: This movie is delightfully cheesy. It’s satire. This hilarious film pokes fun at all of the lesbian stereotypes of the 90s, many of which hold true today. Plus, see Natasha Lyonne before she made her Orange is the New Black debut as Nicky Nichols.

Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)

Heterosexual Jessica is tired of being heterosexual. She answers a newspaper ad for a bisexual woman looking for a girlfriend (Helen). The two women date, and Jessica spends months agonizing over whether she’s actually queer. The ending is happy. And then it’s not. No spoilers.

What makes it different: Bisexuality. It’s rarely addressed in lesbian films – both women are usually lesbians, even if one woman doesn’t know that at the start of the film. But Kissing Jessica Stein actually addresses the nuances of bisexuality.

If you’re not familiar with the nuances, here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUDab9piv_U

‘Dual’ Is a Love Story Where Language Barriers Don’t Matter

Europe has delivered some great gay films over the past few years.

In 2006 we were blessed with Imagine Me & You with Rach and Luce making us all shed a tear, 2011 had Swedish film Kiss Me (Kyss Mig) about a woman who has an affair with her stepmother’s daughter and in 2013 we fell for Blue Is The Warmest Colour‘s gorgeous French accents.

So after having enjoyed a good run of queer media both on the British Isles and on the continent, it’s time to add yet another film to the ever-growing list.

The next movie to join their ranks is Dual, which is a film that stars two leads (one Danish and one Slovene woman) who speak English to one another throughout the movie.

Dual_03

Our two protagonists meet when 25-year old Danish woman Iben’s travels are temporarily ground to a halt when her plane is forced to stop in Slovenia.

The travel company sticks the passengers on a bus, to go to a hotel but when most of her counterparts leave, Iben decides to stay on, asking airport shuttle driver Tina (who is also in her 20s) to give her a sightseeing tour.

From then on, it’s quite easy for Dual‘s viewers to fall for the pair. With a language barrier being a bit of an obstacle, Iben and Tina speak English and when Tina says that she hates sleeping, they stay up talking all night.
Dual_02

Dual_01

In fact, you know this duo is a big deal when not only does Iben skip her flight to be Tina but after a job interview goes wrong, Tina decides to ditch home and travel with her. Iben even accompanies her when Tina goes to come out to her parents.

Although Tina’s mother is ok with Tina’ sexuality (though she warns Iben that when they break up to make sure that Tina will “have the courage to go on alone”) Dual isn’t exactly a simple find yourself/fall in love type of story as Iben is also holding to a huge massive secret that viewers will want to keep watching for.

That’s all part of the intrigue though and you can see Dual at the Outflix Film Festival.