What genre does “Call Me by Your Name”, a masterpiece that makes you forget that you are two men, transcend?

The history of gay movies that colored the times

Looking back into history, for better or worse, "gay films" have had a special status. There are many directors who have strongly incorporated their own gay identity into their works, starting with Luchino Visconti's " Death in Venice ," set in Italy like "Call Me by Your Name" and depicting an old composer at the mercy of a beautiful boy, as well as Derek Jarman, Rainer Werner Fassbender, Gus Van Sant, John Waters, François Ozon, and Pedro Almodóvar. Japan also has directors like Hashiguchi Ryosuke (" Twenty Year Old Fever ," " Sinbad of the Beach ," " Hush! ").

Gay movies created a boom in the mid-1980s, when works featuring beautiful young British men such as " Another Country " and " Maurice " were released. It was a world similar to what we would now call BL. "Maurice" was directed by James Ivory, the screenwriter of "Call Me by Your Name." Furthermore, in the early 1990s, when the global AIDS panic broke out, films such as " Longtime Companion " and " Philadelphia " were produced.

After that, masterpieces of love stories between men with realistic relationships, such as " Happy Together " and " Brokeback Mountain ", were born. Works depicting the real-life daily life of gay couples, such as " The Wedding Banquet ", also increased. There are countless works that can be categorized as gay films, from those that simply depict love between men, to those that hint at such relationships (such as " Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles " and " Velvet Goldmine "), and even the BL works that have been mass-produced in Japan in recent years.

“Call Me by Your Name” ©Frenesy, La Cinefacture

However, most gay and lesbian films to date have focused on the peculiarities of being a minority. There are some films like "Happy Together" and " In the Rain " where this aspect is weak, and there have also been a steady stream of comedic films like " The Birdcage " and " In and Out ," but the mainstream gay film trope has often been one that exudes a sense of twisted feelings, or one that depicts the struggles of characters coming to terms with their sexuality.