Film

Cured

Cured charts the activists who fought the American Psychiatric Association's classification of homosexuality as mental illness in the 1970s. It's a brisk, urgent documentary about institutional power, medical gaslighting, and the ordinary people who refused to accept a lie. Essential viewing for understanding how recent this fight is, and how hard it was won.

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The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson2017

A portrait of a trans activist and street queen at the heart of the Stonewall uprising. Like Cured, it's about people the powerful tried to erase, and their refusal to disappear.

But The documentary is fragmented and sometimes shapeless—more collage than narrative. Some viewers want clearer chronology.

The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson poster

Paris Is Burning1991

Jennie Livingston's masterpiece about the ballroom underground in 1980s Harlem. It captures queer joy and community-making with an intimacy that's heartbreaking and exhilarating in equal measure.

But Some of the interviews feel dated in their attitudes toward trans women. The film has aged unevenly in places, though not where it matters most.

Paris Is Burning poster

The Normal Heart2014

Ryan Murphy's HBO film about activists fighting AIDS denial in the early 1980s. It has the same rage at institutional callousness and the same portrait of people forced to become warriors.

But It can feel a bit theatrical and serviceable at moments. Not as subtle as it thinks it is, but it earns its anger.

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Allegiance2015

Both explore how systems declare groups of people sick or dangerous to justify erasing them—and how communities resist by asserting their own humanity.

A Broadway musical about Japanese Americans interned during World War II. It's told from inside the camps with wit and heartbreak, centering on resilience and self-determination against institutional violence.

But It's a musical, which means the register shifts. Some viewers find the genre choice at odds with the historical gravity.

Allegiance poster
More like this (7)

Milk2008

Gus Van Sant's film about Harvey Milk and the fight for visibility in 1970s San Francisco. Beautiful cinematography and a portrait of activism that's both intimate and political.

But The narrative arc is fairly conventional. Some scenes feel designed for maximum emotional impact rather than organic truth.

Milk poster

Disclosure2020

Sam Feder's documentary about how media has misrepresented trans people for decades. It has the same DNA as Cured—interrogating institutional lies and their human cost.

But Some interviews feel slightly repetitive. The catalogue of bad representation can become exhausting to watch.

Disclosure poster

The Half of It2020

Alice Wu's bittersweet comedy about a queer teen in rural Washington state. It's lighter in tone than Cured but shares its interest in identity, belonging, and the courage required to be honest.

But It's a coming-of-age story that sometimes leans into familiar beats. The romantic plot occasionally overshadows the smarter themes.

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Pose2018

A television series set in 1980s New York ballroom culture, with nuanced characters and a genuinely joyful vision of queer community. It shows what Cured fought for: the right to exist and thrive.

But The later seasons lose some of their edge. Some historical figures feel flattened in service of the ensemble narrative.

Pose poster

The Killing of Two Lovers2021

Robert Machoian's small, precise film about a man in Utah trying to hold his marriage together while confronting his attraction to men. It's tender and devastating without melodrama.

But The pacing is deliberate to the point of slowness. If you want propulsive narrative, this isn't it.

The Killing of Two Lovers poster

Everything Everywhere All at Once2022

A multiverse film that tumbles toward a meditation on accepting your queer child and choosing love over shame. Wildly entertaining and surprisingly moving in its emotional core.

But The simultaneous joy and chaos can feel exhausting rather than liberating. Some viewers find the formal experimentation distracting.

Everything Everywhere All at Once poster

The Act of Killing2012

Both investigate how institutions and societies construct false narratives to justify harm, and how that false history must be unmade before healing is possible.

Joshua Oppenheimer's extraordinary documentary asks Indonesian death-squad leaders to reenact their murders. It's about how societies rationalize atrocity, and it's devastating without ever being exploitative.

But It's genuinely difficult to watch. The reenactments are baroque and unsettling, and the film asks you to sit with complicity and moral ambiguity.

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