By Miruna Tiberiu & Sasha Brandt
It is rare for a single year to feel like a watershed moment for queer cinema, but 2024 has been just that. A handful of films have not only expanded the boundaries of representation but also dared to interrogate identity, love, and longing with the complexity these themes demand.
Image by GAY45. Copyright of the posters, the film companies.
Andrew Haigh’s gorgeous, shattering and deeply personal fifth feature film, All of Us Strangers can be a brave, unwaveringly grim watch – surprisingly so – but in confronting the less cosily compartmentalised parts of being gay, and being a person in general, Haigh’s study of loneliness does, in its own strange way, make us feel less alone. It may never get better in the ways we were told it would but if we can stop it from getting worse, then maybe that’ll be enough. This deeply personal portrait of newfound love and a traumatic past, starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, is an emotionally wrenching masterpiece. No wonder the devastating metaphysical drama is listed by The Guardian as the best film of 2024.
Luca Guadagnino’s Queer arrives as a quiet revolution, a slow-burning adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ brilliant novel. Set in the liminal spaces of 1950s Mexico City, the film follows a nameless protagonist as he confronts his obsession with a young American named Allerton. Guadagnino captures queer desire in its rawest form—messy, unreciprocated, and intoxicating. By resisting easy romanticisation, Queer achieves something extraordinary: it dares to linger in the spaces between connection, where vulnerability and power collide. Daniel Craig is very good, Omar Apollo‘s presence is amazing, but Drew Starkey steals every scene. We are very excited to see what his generation of actors will bring in the years to come.
Speaking of young creatives, Julio Torres’s Problemista is a stroke of surrealist chaos, a riotous exploration of immigration, artistry, and queer identity. The film follows Alejandro, an aspiring toy designer caught in a Kafkaesque maze of bureaucracy. Torres infuses the story with a dreamlike quality—at once absurd and achingly human—while layering Alejandro’s experiences as a queer immigrant navigating an unforgiving system. The film’s visual wit and tender poignancy make it a standout, a story that resonates long after the screen goes dark. Problemista stands as a testament to the immigrant queer experience, weaving a delicate narrative that explores artistic ambition, cultural displacement, and personal resilience.
In a groundbreaking documentary, Will & Harper offers an intimate portrait of friendship, transition, and mutual understanding. The film follows comedian Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, his transgender friend and a former Saturday Night Live writer, use a road trip to navigate their relationship now that she is out as a trans woman. They embark on a road trip that becomes a profound meditation on allyship, personal growth, and the transformative power of genuine companionship. Will & Harper had every opportunity to stay on the surface, drawing shallow conclusions about America, togetherness and friendship. But the trust between Steele and Ferrell, their willingness to be open and Josh Greenbaum’s skill at capturing their interactions really make the film sing.
Luca Guadagnino, again. Two films launched in the same year. And both excellent. If Challengers is a love triangle, it is one that obliterates the conventional boundaries of the form. Luca Guadagnino sets the stage in the high-stakes world of professional tennis, where Tashi (Zendaya), a retired champion, finds herself entangled with her husband and his best friend. The film thrums with Guadagnino’s signature sensuality, every glance and gesture laden with subtext. Yet Challengers is more than just an erotic drama; it is a searing commentary on ambition, rivalry, and the queer entanglements of power and desire.
Swedish-born Georgian filmmaker Levan Akin continues his ground-breaking work in bringing together stories of the Georgian LGBT+ community with his latest feature, Crossing. Following an unlikely pairing as they embark on a road trip in search for a missing trans woman. Whilst Levan Akin’s spaces are accompanied by the politicised realities of its communities on the margins, Crossing maintains a thoroughly warm atmosphere, becoming a film about unconventional families and reaching for small acts of kindness despite a lack of complete understanding of others’ perspectives. You can read an exclusive interview with Levan Akin and the review of Crossing in GAY45.
Three Kilometres to the End of the World deserves a special mention after being awarded the Queer Palm at the Cannes Film Festival. A drama of despair unfolds in a remote village as a debt-ridden father is mortified to discover his son is gay. This tough, sinewy drama explores a community that chooses to look away from both others’ differences and its own culpability. GAY45 interviewed Ciprian Chiujdea, the lead actor, and discussed the film on our podcast.
What unites these films is their refusal to simplify. Each offers a glimpse into the kaleidoscopic realities of queer existence, their narratives enriched by a sense of specificity and universality.
All of Us Strangers, Problemista, Queer, Will & Harper, Challengers, Three Kilometres to the End of the World and Crossing have emerged as the quintessence of this year’s cinematic achievements. Together, they form a collective narrative of queer experience, refracting it through lenses as diverse as the lives they portray.
As we look back on 2024, these films stand not merely as artistic triumphs but as cultural landmarks, each contributing to a richer, more nuanced understanding of what it means to live—and love—queerly. Together, they have reshaped the cinematic landscape, proving that queer stories are not just worthy of the screen but essential to it.
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