Asian LGBTQ+ movies

It's 1980s in Saigon. Linh Phung is a star of a traveling Cai-luong (traditional folk opera) troupe deep in debt to a local loan shark. Dung "thunderbolt" is the enforcer come to collect. After an unlikely bond forms between the two, Linh Phung learns how a lived life is necessary for art and Dung follows art back to a life worth living.

Sumin is an orphan trying to balance work in a factory with study at an art college and an evening job. One night, a rich young businessman makes an advance on him during one of his driving jobs. They meet again the next day: it is during a round of redundancy cuts at the factory where Sumin refuses an attempt by a man (who is in fact the boss' son Jaemin) to save his job. Eventually, Sumin is seduced into working as a prostitute in an up-market boy-brothel as Jaemin's obsession with him grows, leaving Jaemin helpless in the face of his overwhelming desire. This is a film of bold sexuality, where unexpected passion, desire and misunderstandings wreak havoc of an operatic intensity.

Ricky leaves Hong Kong for Switzerland to look for the lost soul and the past of his deceased Swiss lover, Pascal. Ricky struggles with the confusion of memories, reality and illusion.

They live in an old house on the fringe of Taipei City: Rat and his elder gay brother Shanghe. Two brothers look for jobs to survive while search for themselves and long for a foothold in life. The younger works at market where he meets a mute woman who gets up to all sorts of craziness. The elder is attracted to a nightclub dancer and finds himself drawn into shifty business. With the rhythm of their wanderings, the film observes its protagonists: lives in limbo, without fixed coordinates, and evolves into panorama of a society that does not appear to welcome its next generation.

Quiet and introspective Kayako routinely has lunch on a rooftop with three of her friends that attend an all girls high school with her in a seaside town. One day she invites Masami Endo to join the group. As her friendship with Masami grows, she loses contact more and more with the others. She is impressed with Endo's greater knowledge of music and art, and although Endo proclaims that she is insignificant with no aim in life, Kayako says that she wishes that she could be like her new friend. Their feelings deepen beyond friendship and she proclaims her love for Endo on a lonely beach. The two become physically intimate but when summer comes Masami disappears and Kayako learns that she has gone to Tokyo to meet a married man with whom she had an affair the year before. An abortion had led to her being suspended from school. Feeling betrayed when Masami returns and lies about where she has been, Kayako keeps to herself and starts painting a still life, emulating Cezanne paintings in one of Masami's books. Although they reconcile and Kayako speaks of them going way to study together, her love of painting leads to her leaving for Tokyo alone to study art, while Masami remains behind. Masami sends a videotape showing a shot of the beach, and then the blue sea, proclaiming that unlike Kayako, this is all that she can do in an artistic sense.

Lorenzo is a quiet teenager who lives with his parents and his younger brother in small city in the Argentinean Patagonia. One day, a family friend's son named Caíto moves south and settles in at Lorenzo's home. His family is going through difficult times and can't give much care to him. Caíto is very shy and hardly speaks. Lorenzo is supposed to help him feel at home. They become friends. They spend great amounts of time together. Although Lorenzo doesn't like sports, he puts up with Caíto's fascination for mountain biking. They share deep conversations too. They can be very different but they come to understand each other. It won't be long until everybody at home realizes Caíto is a difficult case. After a couple of days, Lorenzo's parents feel they've had enough. But then, Caíto makes a big confession to Lorenzo. He tells him the true reason why he was forced to leave his house. After that, Lorenzo takes charge of him so that his parents let him stay. He now has a secret to hold, a responsibility to take and a troublesome partner that will take him through new life experiences.

An is-she-or-isn't-she gay comedy focused on a Taiwanese teen, the boy she might like, and the girl she may love.

Two childhood best friends are asked to share a kiss for the purposes of a student short film. Soon, a lingering doubt sets in, confronting both men with their preferences, threatening the brotherhood of their social circle, and, eventually, changing their lives.

With a promising police career and a baby on the way, Marc's life seems to be right on track - then he meets fellow policeman Kay. During their regular jogs, Marc experiences a never-before-felt sense of ease and effortlessness - and what it means to fall in love with another man. Torn between his family and his new feelings for Kay, Marc sees his world careening more and more out of control. Suddenly, his life is in free fall and Marc realizes that, try as he may, he can't make everyone happy - least of all himself.

What can happen if Mishima Yukio meets Socrates? Hins, a dreamy boy who indulges in literature and thirsts for philosophy, is overwhelmed by a charismatic teacher Antonio, dragging his religious girlfriend Joey together into uncharted territories. The intriguing appearance of Swan, an elegant and intellectual lady, only adds to their entanglement of spirit and lust. Seemingly their love for art and wisdom would lead them to a surreal poetic life in an unrestrained Utopia amid the earthen world, yet what stands in the way is a lifetime secret and a lie of heart.

Following his son Gabriel's death, Jorge (Oscar Martínez of Wild Tales) travels from conservative Bolivia to New York City to confront Gabriel's boyfriend Sebastian (Barbosa). While the two battle over Jorge's inability to accept his son, Sebastian channels his grief into a bold new play in honor of his lost love, in which Gabriel's inner turmoil is transformed into an eye-popping gay fantasia.

For the past five years, Lin has been looking after the son (Yo-yu) and the elderly mother (Mrs. Chou) of his deceased boyfriend (Li-wei). They live together like a family, and it is Lin's way of remembering Li-wei: by continuing to be in the life he once had and loving the people he once loved. But when Mrs. Chou passes away, her other son (Li-gang) returns from overseas and discovers that Mrs. Chou's property has been passed down to Yo-yu, whom Lin has legally adopted. Li-gang contacts the police, accusing Lin of killing his mother for attempting to own the property. As the ensuing investigation continues, more and more evidence mounts against Lin.

The movie is built around the very complex relationships between Yoshida, leaving Shimizu for Aihara (or at least he tries to), and his friend Ito, whose love for Yoshida seems to have little chance for success. In the end we have a coalition of Ito and Aihara - who may or may not be in love with Ito - teaching Yoshida a lesson.

Yoon-Hee lives with her teenage daughter Sae-Bom. On a winter day, Yoon-Hee receives a letter from Otaru, Japan. Sae-Bom accidentally reads the letter and learns about her mother's first love, which she never spoke about before.

Khoi, a naive twenty-year-old, travels to Ho Chi Minh City from the countryside to begin a new life. It's his first time in the big city and he's looking for a place to live. He befriends Dong, a handsome extrovert who offers to share his apartment. When Khoi goes to check the place out, he meets Lam, who also appears to be living there. Khoi decides to stay, but while he showers, Dong and Lam - who turn out to be boyfriends - run off with all his cash and belongings. It's not long before Lam is himself abandoned by Dong, and winds up back on the street as a prostitute. Meanwhile the penniless and disillusioned Khoi takes on menial jobs to survive. Lam and Khoi are eventually reunited, and despite Lam's past actions, the two become closer and closer - even though Khoi becomes more and more troubled by Lam's dangerous source of income. At the same time, Cuoi, a mentally handicapped man abandoned by his family, attempts to befriend a female prostitute. Her pimps do not take kindly to his hanging around and scaring away customers, but she takes pity on him and ultimately becomes his protector.

Fei works illegally as a hustler in order to support his family, yet when he realizes they are willing to accept his money but not his way of life, there is a major breakdown in their relations. Through his relationship to the headstrong Long, Fei seems able to find a new lease on life, but then he encounters Xiaolai, the love of his youth, who confronts him with the guilt of his repressed past.

Flavia is a thirty-something married teacher. She has suppressed the memory of her adolescent lesbian fling with Jin and is stuck in a stifling marriage to Ming. A chance encounter in a supermarket with the playful and seductive singer Yip reawakens dormant feelings and she begins to think back on her teenage affair with Jin.

Openly gay banker Daniel debates whether to return to Australia or stay in Hong Kong when he meets Kafka, a straight swimming instructor. The young men fall in love, believing that their love can bridge anything, despite their difference in sexuality and Kafka's increasing drug use. Daniel does not regret his love for Kafka, who tries to love him back against his nature. But a flashback memory from Kafka's past makes it difficult for their relationship to work.