The Best Gay Coming-of-Age Films
A chronological list of the best coming-of-age films centered around young gay male characters.
Follow me on Letterboxd for more great film lists: https://letterboxd.com/kjtenorman
Follow me on Letterboxd for more great film lists: https://letterboxd.com/kjtenorman
List activity
81K views
• 23 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
46 titles
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsRiver PhoenixKeanu ReevesJames RussoTwo best friends living on the streets of Portland as hustlers embark on a journey of self discovery and find their relationship stumbling along the way.
- DirectorGregg ArakiStarsJames DuvalRoko BelicSusan BehshidSix queer teenagers struggle to get along with each other and with life in the face of varying obstacles.
- DirectorGregg ArakiStarsJames DuvalRose McGowanJohnathon SchaechJordan White and Amy Blue, two troubled teens, pick up an adolescent drifter, Xavier Red. Together, the threesome embark on a sex-and-violence-filled journey through an America of psychos and quickie marts.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsLeonardo DiCaprioDavid ThewlisRomane BohringerYoung, wild poet Arthur Rimbaud and his mentor Paul Verlaine engage in a fierce, forbidden romance while feeling the effects of a hellish artistic lifestyle.
- DirectorHettie MacdonaldStarsGlen BerryLinda HenryScott NealJamie is a shy teenager, often bullied at school. His neighbour Ste has a rough time at home, being beaten by his father and brother. This issues bring them together and they find that what they feel for each other is more than friendship.
- DirectorGregg ArakiStarsJames DuvalRachel TrueNathan BextonFollows a day in the lives of a group of Los Angeles high school students and the strange lives they lead.
- DirectorWiktor GrodeckiStarsMiroslav CaslavkaDavid SvecPavel SkrípalTwo gay teenage runaways thrown out of their repressive homes try to survive on the streets of Prague. Hunger and desperation forces them into a life of prostitution, drugs, and teen-porn.
- DirectorDavid MoretonStarsChris StaffordTina HolmesAndersen GabrychA teenager copes with his sexuality on the last day of school in 1984. It shows him coping with being gay and being with friends.
- DirectorSimon ShoreStarsBen SilverstoneBrad GortonCharlotte BrittainA tenderly romantic coming-of-age story as two boys in a British school fall in love.
- DirectorJim FallStarsChristian CampbellJohn Paul PitocTori SpellingThe misadventures of two young gay men, trying to find a place to be alone, one night in Manhattan.
- DirectorCesc GayStarsFernando RamalloJordi VilchesMarieta OrozcoA Spanish coming of age story focusing on the antics of two 17 year olds, who have a posh beach house almost all to themselves one summer. This is also a summer of sexual awakenings.
- DirectorSébastien LifshitzStarsJérémie ElkaïmStéphane RideauMarie MatheronMathieu, 18, spends the summer at his mother's summer house, in Brittany. On the beach, he meets Cédric, a boy his age. A love-story begins between the two boys.
- DirectorMichael CuestaStarsBrian CoxPaul DanoBruce AltmanA 15-year-old Long Island boy loses everything and everyone he knows, soon becoming involved in a relationship with a much older man.
- DirectorRoger AvaryStarsJames Van Der BeekIan SomerhalderShannyn SossamonThe incredibly spoiled and overprivileged students of Camden College are a backdrop for an unusual love triangle between a drug dealer, a virgin and a bisexual classmate.
- 2001–20031h 26mUnrated6.9 (2.1K)TV Episode52MetascoreDirectorFabrice CazeneuveStarsJulien BaumgartnerJulia MaravalJérémie ElkaïmWhen Vincent finds himself a victim of outing in his high school, he must accept to live with the drastic changes it provokes, and redefine his relationships with his friends and family.
- DirectorC. Jay CoxStarsWes RamseySteve SandvossMary Kay PlaceA promiscuous gay party animal falls for a young Mormon missionary, leading to crisis, cliché, and catastrophe.
- DirectorMichael BurkeStarsEmile HirschRichard JenkinsTom GuiryThe film follows the story of Duncan, a fourteen-year-old misfit farm boy trying to fill the void and alleviate the numbness left by his mother's passing. Unable to let her go quite yet, Duncan mimics his dead mother. He talks in her voice at the dinner table and wears her fur coat to bed. Edgar, Duncan's distant sixty-year-old father, doesn't understand the strange manifestations of his son's mourning. Why can't Duncan grieve like a normal person? Macho mate Perry Foley, who has it physically even harder on his dad's farm, usually comforts Duncan and defends his 'wimpiness' to their cocky ruffian mates Travis, Scotty and Brent. But although clearly attracted to gentle Duncan himself, the socially unacceptable suggestion of 'sissy' homosexuality makes Perry over-react and turn on his friend.
- DirectorGregg ArakiStarsBrady CorbetJoseph Gordon-LevittElisabeth ShueTwo pre-adolescent boys both experienced a strange event and later it affects their lives in different ways. One becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous prostitute, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.
- DirectorTennyson BardwellStarsMichael McMillianLea CocoSteve FletcherHigh school senior Dorian begins a gay man's odyssey when he determines that he's gay and decides to come out. Chief among concerns is the reaction of his father, who has never liked him.
- DirectorMichael MayerStarsColin FarrellDallas RobertsRobin WrightA boy who has experienced many losses in his life grows to manhood and enters into a love triangle with a woman and his boyhood friend.
- DirectorMarco KreuzpaintnerStarsRobert StadloberKostja UllmannMiriam MorgensternA close friendship between two crew teammates is tested when one slowly discovers he's gay and attracted to the other.
- DirectorJean-Marc ValléeStarsMichel CôtéMarc-André GrondinDanielle ProulxA young French Canadian, one of five boys in a conservative family in the 1960s and 1970s, struggles to reconcile his emerging identity with his father's values.
- DirectorAuraeus SolitoStarsNathan LopezSoliman CruzJR ValentinA young boy falls in love with a handsome policeman who is investigating his family's criminal activities.
- DirectorTodd StephensStarsMichael CarbonaroJonathan ChaseJonah BlechmanFour gay high school friends make a pact to lose their virginity before they go to college.
- DirectorCam ArcherStarsMalcolm StumpfPatrick WhiteMax ParadiseA lyrical telling of the coming of age of a 13-year-old boy who learns to cope with his newfound sexuality and his unrequited love for the cool kid in school.
- DirectorRussell P. MarleauStarsTad HilgenbrinkBrett ChukermanAldevina Da SilvaA confident, out-of-the-closet gay teenager has the support of an eclectic range of friends while dealing with a homophobic bully during his first year at an international high school.
- DirectorJonah MarkowitzStarsTrevor WrightBrad RoweTina HolmesWhen his college dreams are sidelined by family obligations, a young man finds comfort in surfing with his best friend's brother.
- DirectorTom GustafsonStarsTanner CohenWendy RobieJudy McLaneA bullied and demoralized gay student at an all-boys school uses a magical flower derived from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream' to turn many in his community gay, including a comely rugby player for himself.
- DirectorJames BoltonStarsStephan BenderThomas Jay RyanDiana ScarwidBased on the novel "Dream Boy" by Jim Grimsley, this film chronicles the relationship between two gay teenagers in the rural south in the late 70's.
- DirectorGregg ArakiStarsThomas DekkerHaley BennettChris ZylkaA sexually "undeclared" college freshman's clairvoyant/prophetic dreams are the first sign that something very strange is going on involving his classmates -- with him at the center.
- DirectorAlan BrownStarsHale ApplemanCharlie BarnettAdam BarrieA modern take on Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'. Set at an isolated all-boys military academy, it follows the forbidden relationship between two cadets.
- DirectorJan KomasaStarsJakub GierszalRoma GasiorowskaAgata KuleszaAfter suffering extreme humiliation at school, Dominik holes himself up in his room and begins spending all his time in a virtual reality chat room.
- DirectorBavo DefurneStarsBen Van den HeuvelEva van der GuchtThomas CoumansA teenage boy's search for love finds him fixated on a boy who lives nearby.
- DirectorSabine BernardiStarsRick OkonMax BefortLiv Lisa FriesA drama centered on the relationship between a two young men, as one of them navigates the difficulties of life as a transgender man.
- DirectorAndrew HaighStarsTom CullenChris NewJonathan RaceAfter a drunken house party with his straight mates, Russell heads out to a gay club. Just before closing time he picks up Glen but what's expected to be just a one-night stand becomes something else, something special.
- DirectorBrian DannellyStarsChris ColferRebel WilsonChristina HendricksA high schooler recounts the way he blackmailed his fellow classmates into contributing to his literary magazine.
- DirectorGary EntinStarsCameron Deane StewartJustin DeeleyMeaghan MartinAt Goodkind High School, a group of students with varying sexual orientations form an after-school club as a discreet way to share their feelings and experiences.
- DirectorDarren SteinStarsMichael J. WillettPaul IaconoSasha PieterseWhat happens after Tanner is outed by his classmates and becomes the title "gay best friend" for three high school queen bees?
- DirectorLee GaleaStarsTristan BarrLucas LinehanRohana HayesMike has felt alienated and alone for as long as he can remember, until a new boy arrives at his school - awakening feelings and a world of possibilities he'd never before dared to dream of.
- DirectorJohn KrokidasStarsDaniel RadcliffeDane DeHaanMichael C. HallA murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs.
- DirectorMischa KampStarsGijs BlomKo ZandvlietJonas SmuldersA sexually awakening gay teen athlete finds himself in a budding relationship with his mutually attracted relay race teammate.
- DirectorDaniel RibeiroStarsGhilherme LoboFabio AudiTess AmorimLeonardo is a blind teenager searching for independence. His everyday life, the relationship with his best friend Giovana, and the way he sees the world change completely with the arrival of Gabriel.
- DirectorMatthew WarchusStarsBill NighyImelda StauntonDominic WestU.K. gay activists work to help miners during their lengthy strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984.
- DirectorStephen DunnStarsAaron AbramsJack FultonJoanne KellyA creative and driven teenager is desperate to escape his hometown and the haunting memories of his turbulent childhood.
- DirectorStephen ConeStarsCole DomanJoe KeeryElizabeth LaidlawPreacher's kid Henry Gamble is turning 17 today. Bring your swimsuit.
- DirectorClay LifordStarsTishuan ScottLucas NeffCourtney BandekoFreshman Neil's Vanguard stories are all he cares about...until he meets the older Julia, who pushes him to put his own fan fic online. When the website's moderator takes a special interest in Neil's work, it opens up a whole new universe.