Pride Month: LGBTQ shows and movies releasing in June
It’s not just fast-food chains and furniture stores that go big on queer content in June.
It’s not just fast-food chains and furniture stores that go big on queer content in June. To celebrate Pride Month, streaming services have scheduled a slate of some of the summer’s biggest releases — from the highly anticipated destination rom-com “Fire Island” to a reboot of the cultural touchstone “Queer as Folk.” Apart from the commercial possibilities, there’s also a move to feature storytelling that’s more representative of the community, with transgender voices being brought front and center in series like “The Umbrella Academy,” and to take a closer look at the impact of queer figures throughout history.
In addition to these film and television releases, you can watch this month’s biggest Pride parades on Hulu. The service will air coverage of the Los Angeles Pride Parade on June 12 and the New York Pride March on June 26.
To mark Pride Month, Discovery+ is introducing a new hub for LGBTQ content, called Always Proud, which will launch with three series, released the first three days of June. On June 1, the service drops all six episodes of the Tyra Banks-produced “Generation Drag,” a documentary series centering on Dragutante, the first drag ball for minors. And on June 3, it premieres “Trixie Motel,” a reality series that follows “RuPaul’s Drag Race” alum Trixie Mattel and her partner, David Silver, as they renovate a Palm Springs motel. Sandwiched between the two is “The Book of Queer,” a docuseries-meets-variety show that spans centuries of queer characters and features a lineup of some of the biggest names in entertainment (queer or otherwise). In “The Book of Queer,” an ensemble cast of all-LGBTQ actors will portray 200 historical figures, from the ancient Greek poet Sappho to Joan of Arc, Alan Turing and Josephine Baker. Voices like Margaret Cho and Ross Matthews will narrate the special event series’ five episodes — each of which will end with an original song performance by, you guessed it, an iconic queer musician.
“The Book of Queer” premieres on Discovery+ June 2.
Jack Lowden in “Benediction.”Laurence Cendrowicz / Roadside AttractionsIn his first feature since “A Quiet Passion” — starring Cynthia Nixon in a critically acclaimed performance as Emily Dickinson — filmmaker Terrence Davies delivers existential suffering with a portrayal of the British war poet Siegfried Sassoon. Sassoon, played on two timelines by Jack Lowden (“Dunkirk”) and Peter Capaldi (“Doctor Who”), was famous for his poetry about serving in World War I, which he would later formally protest. The film begins with Sassoon being sent to a psychiatric hospital for his anti-war stance and unfolds through his various relationships with men and reels of archival images from the war, accompanied by readings of Sassoon’s poetry. Although “Benediction” is a biographical drama, Davies uses a combination of surrealism and realism to paint a picture of a life stunted by war and closeted love affairs.
Rating: 5