Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story (2004)

Set in the fictional working-class town of Inniston, Canada, this film is about Marc Hall (Aaron Ashmore), a popular student who manages to avoid harassment as a gay teen in a small town. However, when Marc decides to take his boyfriend Jason (Mac Fyfe) to the prom, he finds he has stepped over the line at the Catholic school he attends . Suddenly, with the spotlight of the nation's media on his struggle, he discovers he is battling not just for his right to date, but for the rights of gay people everywhere. The battle reaches all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court. We hear of Mark and Jason's breakup, but we never really see it, and the eventual court ruling comes via fax. The soundtrack often doesn't suit the dialogue, and the dance music sometimes is too loud and annoying. Based on a true story, this made for TV movie with a limited budget explores the clash between religion and sex, and shows gay teenagers are coming out at earlier ages, becoming increasingly politically active, and are more accepted by their peers. Gary Koftinoff composed the incidental music, Kent Staines wrote the teleplay from a story he wrote with Michael MacLennan, and John L'Ecuyer directed.

Morte a Venezia (1971)

In director Luchino Visconti's adaptation of the Thomas Mann novella, composer Gustave von Aschenbach (loosely based on Gustav Mahler) travels from Munich for a rest cure in Venice in 1911. He is suffering from a heart condition. In the lounge of the Lido hotel he spots a Polish family, headed by Mrs. Moore (Silvana Mangano) and finds himself attracted to her beautiful 14-year-old son Tadzio (Bjorn Andresen). Gradually his obsession increases while a cholera epidemic threatens the city. The pestilence represents the corruption that compromises and threatens his ideals. There are long periods without dialogue, and much of the story is told visually, with Gustave's lingering looks at Tadzio, crowds at the beach, and hotel dining rooms.

The film is elegant, sumptuous, lush, moody, and slow-paced, with little emotional center. Mahler's music is used in this film, although he was not homosexual as far as we know. Thomas Mann is alleged to have been gay or bi, and much of the storyline is supposedly based on Mann's own experiences. Dirk Bogarde portrays Gustave as an aging homosexual voyeur rather than Mann's disturbed artist struggling with an attraction to a boy that he does not understand. Not all of the dialogue is in English. Tadzio's family speak in Polish, and some of the minor characters speak in Italian. Subtitles are provided in ten languages. Luchino Visconti and Nicola Badalucco wrote the screenplay derived from the novella by Thomas Mann. Luchino Visconti directed. The English title is "Death in Venice".