Movies × LGBT
Learn about LGBT through movies part.01

Since autumn is the season for culture and film, I would like to introduce some films to you today.
The theme is "LGBT."
So far, Inui from the Quality Control Department has posted several articles to help people learn about LGBT , but this time, the five Monosasu members have each chosen one film to think about LGBT through film.
What is the boundary between minority and majority? What is femininity and masculinity? If I choose one, do I have to give up the other? What is identity? What is family?
The works we are introducing this time are a lineup that will raise many of these questions.

So here begins our impressive LGBT film special.

INDEX

• What if your partner confesses to you that they want to change their gender?
  "I am Laurence" (introduced by Aya Wada)
• Kinky Boots (reviewed by Natsumi Tanaka) A girl with a man's body but a heart longing for bright red high heels
• Overturning prejudices surrounding AIDS and homosexuality in the courtroom: "Philadelphia" (reviewer: Yoshinobu Tamaki)
• What if we all liked the same person?
  "The Uneasy Lover" (reviewed by Yako Inui)
• A new way of living as a family: "Hash!" (reviewed by Yoshiko Nakaniwa)

What if your partner confesses to you that they want to change their gender?
"I'm Laurence"

Directed by Xavier Dolan, "Laurence Anyways" (2013 release) Official website ( Amazon )

What if your partner confesses to you that they want to change their gender?
The film tells the 10-year story of Laurent, a man who wants to change into a woman, and his lover Fred.

As the original title (LAURENCE ANYWAYS) suggests, Laurence continues to live his life as Laurence, but Fred struggles with various conflicts and decisions.
Up until then, they had been a "normal" couple, but now they find themselves in a minority position, and Fred is conflicted about what to do: live with Laurence as a minority, or find happiness as what society calls a "normal" woman?

When Laurence said he wanted to change his gender, what had only been in Laurence's mind came to the surface, and Fred became a minority as the partner of an LGBT person. The film portrayed the emotional turmoil of the very "ordinary" people around the LGBT person when they were forced to become a minority, and it was very shocking. In the LGBT films I had seen up until now, the spotlight was focused only on people like Laurence, and they were portrayed as pitiful.
However, rather than focusing on those involved like Laurent, this film focuses on very "ordinary" people such as Fred, and uses a variety of images to portray their decisions, doubts, conflicts, etc.

I think the most important point of this film is Fred's emotional turmoil. It vividly shows the audience the conflict, guilt, and pain that a "normal" person feels when forced to live as a minority, and how they are viewed by those around them.
Laurence, the one involved, has been accepting himself for many years, but Fred is not yet ready to do so, and while he cares deeply for Laurence, he is troubled by his own worries about public opinion and the eyes of those around him, and is anxious about the future. I think the key to this film is that it depicts the perspective of Fred, a member of the majority.

After watching this film, I couldn't help but see myself and my partner in it.
I have no choice but to continue living as I am as an LGBT person, but I am worried that if my partner chooses to live with me, he or she will become a minority and end up feeling the same way as Fred.

However, just as I chose my own path in life, how you live your life is something you choose for yourself.
As I was immersed in the world of the film and wondered what paths Laurent and Fred would choose in life, it also made me reflect on my own life and think about how I want to live my life in the future.

Kinky Boots: A girl with a man's body but a heart longing for bright red high heels

Kinky Boots, directed by Julian Jarrold, released in 2006 ( Amazon )

"To gentlemen and ladies, and to everyone who is still deciding which one to choose!"
Kinky Boots is a 2006 British-American co-production.
This comedy film is based on a true story about Charlie, the heir to a failing men's shoe factory, who meets drag queen Lola and begins making "special boots for men" as a way to turn things around.
This work has been adapted into a musical on Broadway and recently in Japan. Although it received poor reviews when it was first released, it is gradually being recognized as a masterpiece.

The character worth mentioning is undoubtedly the drag queen Lola!
Her body is that of a muscular black man, but her mannerisms, emotions, and the way she speaks reveal the image of a sweet, brave, and strong girl.
Laura is a girl who dreams of wearing bright red high heels, but she has suffered a lot because she has a man's body. No matter how elegantly she behaves in the beautiful, slim high heels she desires, she is relentlessly attacked by ridicule, insults, and prejudice. Even so, her compassion for those who look upon her with disdain is touching.
However, although she is transgender, she does not seem to have any intention to clearly define her gender as either male or female. When many people ask her "Are you a man or a woman?", she has a complicated look on her face, and when Charlie tells her to "Choose one," she doesn't answer.
Neither male nor female, neither, it doesn't matter. Look at me as a drag queen, as a roller, as a person! That's what she wanted to say.
As the protagonist, Charlie, interacts with her, he naturally begins to let go of his prejudices.

What's important is how cool, beautiful, and sexy you are! Does it matter what gender you are? No, it doesn't matter at all. What's important is to be yourself.
This movie makes you think so.

I want to be a strong, caring, cool person like Laura... Also, I want to be a cute girl like her. And I want to wear sexy high heels with confidence! Right now, my feet hurt when I wear heels of about 5 cm, so it's a long way off.

The film has a good pace throughout, but with the attention to detail that is so typical of British films, and you naturally get emotionally involved while watching it. I think it's an easy film to watch.
The shoemaker is so cool that he can take one look at the design of the impossibly high-heeled shoes that Laura showed him and answer how to make them. The more difficult the problem, the more skill you can show.
Manufacturing has no barriers, which is really great...

"Philadelphia": Overturning prejudices about AIDS and homosexuality in court

Philadelphia, directed by Jonathan Demme, released in 1993 ( Amazon )

This film is based on a true story of how prejudice surrounding AIDS and homosexuality was overturned in court in the 1990s, when such prejudice was much stronger than it is today.

The protagonist, Beckett, is a homosexual who is unfairly fired from his job at a law firm because he has AIDS. As the disease progresses, he is deprived of his social rights due to being fired because of his illness, and he fights bravely against the company that fired him.
Miller, who defended him, was initially prejudiced against him and avoided even touching him.
However, as she gets to know him, she is drawn to his human charm and the beauty of his heart, rather than his gender. As she accepts and understands Beckett, she becomes angry at the discriminatory attitude of society towards AIDS and homosexuality, and the ridiculous attitude of those who are discriminated against.

I believe that everyone wants to be healthy, doesn't want to change their current lifestyle, and wants to protect not only themselves, but also their families and the things that are important to them.
Nowadays, we are entering an age where there is no need to hide being LGBT, and there are people like actor Wentworth Miller who have come out as gay to those around them. ^*1 According to a 2015 report by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's AIDS Trend Committee, the number of AIDS cases is increasing year by year. ^*2 However, AIDS is still by no means the majority, and as a result, even if people like lawyer Miller are not aware of it in their daily lives, when it comes close to them, they have a strong rejection reaction due to the fact that it is out of the ordinary and preconceived notions.
LGBT people have a strong desire to live a normal life, a fear of having their human rights taken away, and a pursuit of their own individuality, while non-LGBT people have rejection of unknown ideas, feelings of physiological unacceptance, and a desire to be healthy and survive. Both groups have rights and feelings that should be protected equally.

What I felt was important after watching this film was not simple emotions such as pitying them or that discrimination is wrong, nor was it that LGBT people are weak.
Whether you are male or female, your gender or your body is not important. First and foremost, you are a human being. Just like non-LGBT people, we laugh, cry, get angry, sometimes joke around, feel pain, sometimes think about someone, and we are individuals and lives that live with a variety of emotions. I think it is important to remember this fundamental thing.
Because apart from that (LGBT), they are no different from us.
Although it was a courtroom and the parties were in opposing positions, I felt that it was important to get to know the other person and deepen our understanding by steadily discussing the matter, as in this film.

In that sense, I believe that this film made a great contribution to eradicating prejudice and lack of understanding about homosexuality and illness, which are the foundations of LGBT, more than 20 years ago, when the term LGBT probably didn't even exist yet. It also gave me a good opportunity to reflect on my own views on men and women.

*1 From an article in GLAAD on August 21, 2013 : https://www.glaad.org/blog/wentworth-miller-rejects-russian-film-festival-invitation-gay-man-i-must-decline

*2 From an article on "API-Net AIDS Prevention Network" dated May 25, 2016 http://api-net.jfap.or.jp/status/2015/15nenpo/15nenpo_menu.html

What if we all liked the same person?
"The Heart-Wrenching Lover"

"Les Amours imaginaires" directed by Xavier Dolan, released in 2010 ( Amazon )

The director is 28-year-old Canadian Xavier Dolan, one of the most notable young film directors today.
He has come out as gay himself, and many of his other works feature LGBT characters. This is Dolan's second film, released in 2010 (released in Japan in 2014).

This movie is about the development of human relationships that are "unusual, but not impossible."
I thought this would be a theme that would make LGBT feel more familiar to people, so I decided to introduce it today.

Marie (heterosexual) and Francis (gay), best friends, fall in love with the same boy, Nicola (heterosexual). A relationship unfolds that most people have never experienced, so please watch the movie while thinking about how you would act and say things if you were in that situation.
It's also fun to watch while thinking about who you would like to fall in love with. All three are beautiful, but I like Nicola.

When you hear about a movie with an LGBT theme, you might be reluctant to watch it, thinking it will be a serious story or have an educational feel to it, and be difficult to understand, but this movie doesn't have that feeling at all.
Some people may be a little hesitant, wondering if it's OK to ask about LGBT romance, but in the story, the story unfolds in a completely natural way.
Even in the LGBT club I belonged to in college, there were times when we would say things like, "What if we all fall in love with the same person?" or, "Even if I like A-san, A-san likes B-san, right?"
Surprisingly, there were many times when people would say, "Oh, it's okay to ask," and the conversation was fun and relaxed without becoming serious.

However, it is a complicated relationship,
How can everyone be happy? It's heartbreaking, and the two characters are so cute as they get excited and upset over Nicolas's words and actions. This is my favorite of all of Dolan's films.

Dolan is also famously fashionable, and the costumes and art are of course stylish as well.
The movie poster is also very cool, so be sure to check it out.
It will be interesting to see how the relationship between the three develops!

A new type of family: "Hush!"

"Hush!" directed by Ryosuke Hashiguchi, released in 2001 ( Amazon )

I wanted to include a Japanese film in the lineup of our LGBT film special, so after a lot of deliberation, I ended up choosing this one. It was made in 2001, so it's already 16 years old, but even now, its impact is vivid.

The story is about a gay couple, Naoya (Takahashi Kazuya) and Katsuhiro (Tanabe Seiichi), and a woman named Asako (Kataoka Reiko), who wants to have children but not get married, and the confusion and conflict they feel as they question whether they can start a family together.

Naoya and Katsuhiro are a close couple, but they each have different ways of dealing with sexual minorities.
For example, Naoya has come out as gay to his parents and to his workplace, and wants to make his relationship with Katsuhiro public, but Katsuhiro keeps his relationship with Naoya and the fact that he is gay a secret.

Asako, who met the couple, is a woman who had two abortions due to unwanted pregnancies. When she saw Katsuhiro's eyes, she had an intuition that "this man can be a father," and the next time she saw him, she told him, "I want to have your child." She didn't want to become his lover or marry him, but asked him to just donate his sperm.

From there, a strange relationship between the three begins. Although Naoya and Katsuhiro are confused by Asako's proposal, they gradually begin to explore the possibility of the three having children and becoming a family. However, they also suffer from the backlash from those around them who cannot understand their relationship.

One day, Katsuhiro receives news of his brother's death. In the scene where Katsuhiro, deeply depressed by his brother's sudden death, stands by the riverside with Naoya and Asako at his side, the sudden disintegration of Katsuhiro's family is vividly contrasted with the construction of a new relationship between the three.

The film ends with an intimate and warm scene of the three of them laughing around a hotpot after Asako says that she will have a second child with Naoya.

The main characters of this work are people who rebel against prejudice against sexual minorities and societal expectations regarding women's marriage and childbirth.
Set in a time when there was less understanding of LGBT than there is today and little social acceptance of gay couples, the story depicts how Naoya and Katsuhiro are torn between whether or not to make public the fact that they are gay and that they have same-sex partners. It also depicts the conflict of Asako, who is not understood by society as she tries to start a family outside of romance and marriage.

The way these three people live their lives, deviating from the traditional image of a family (one made up of a heterosexual couple and their children) and becoming a pseudo-family, seems to suggest that LGBT people and women who have suffered social oppression can make choices that go beyond existing frameworks, and that it's okay for families to be diverse.

When I watched this, I was reminded of the fears about the future and discomfort with society that sexual minorities and those who do not wish to marry have. It vividly brings to light the difficulties people face in life who deviate from a society that is supported by heterosexual love and marriage.
Not just LGBT people, but all the people around us are diverse and each has their own way of life. I think this film will give you an opportunity to think about what kind of society is easy for everyone to live in.

The works introduced this time include not only those written from the perspective of LGBT people themselves, but also those from the perspective of their families and lovers.
I also think that the fact that the film includes stories set in a variety of historical backgrounds allows me to realize once again that society's acceptance and awareness of sexual minorities varies depending on the era.
By the way, two films by director Xavier Dolan were picked this time, but despite being a young director he is prolific and has made many other films that can help you learn about LGBT, so if you're interested, be sure to check them out.

I hope this article will inspire you to enjoy watching movies and learn about LGBT.
See you later!