15 Movies Like Call Me By Your Name That You Really Need To See – /Film

So much of queer life tends to be taken up by the appreciation of art. Be it in the form of impassioned discussions, shared experiences as spectators, or mutually encouraged creation, existing in the world as people of forbidden aesthetic predilections has historically demanded of queer men an authoritative comprehension of the world’s beauty. In “Call Me by Your Name,” this is demonstrated by the manner of Elio and Oliver’s flirtation, which is mediated through Heraclitus passages, variations on a Bach caprice, fragments of ancient statues, and the frenzied beat of a Psychedelic Furs song. In “Looking for Langston,” art makes up the very substance of the film as well as the characters’ lives.

Part documentary, part fiction, “Looking for Langston” resurrects the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance’s queer luminaries by combining quotes from their works, archival footage straight from the 1920s, and surreal inklings of a mythological narrative, all structured loosely around the figure of poet and movement leader Langston Hughes. A free-flowing, gorgeously erotic, endlessly imaginative ode to Black gay desire and creation, it was the film that put Sir Isaac Julien on the map. It remains a must-see memorial to a crucial juncture in 20th-century queer history.