Get Your Reps In: Celebrate Pride With Classics of LGBTQ+ Cinema

What to see this week at Portland’s repertory theaters.

It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, but the Society in Which He Lives (1971) (Bavaria Film)
By Mia Vicino

It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, but the Society in Which He Lives (1971)

Told exclusively with voice-over narration and no diegetic sound, this 67-minute avant-garde German documentary-drama hybrid is a historic, underseen landmark in gay cinema. It’s the story of a gay man disillusioned by both straight and queer aspects of Berlin’s society. Clinton, June 1.

But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)

Featuring Natasha Lyonne as the titular cheerleader, deliciously candy-colored production design by Rachel Kamerman, and RuPaul in a supporting role, Jamie Babbit’s unapologetically lesbian rom-com staple tackles the traumatizing subject of conversion therapy with good-natured, campy humor rather than exploitative drama. Clinton, June 2.

The Godfather (1972)

“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.” Francis Ford Coppola’s definitive mobster masterpiece about an aging mafia don (Marlon Brando) and the intricate power dynamics within his New York-Sicilian family (James Caan, Al Pacino, John Cazale) has been newly restored for its 50th anniversary. Hollywood, June 3-4.

MURDER and murder (1996)

Another underseen landmark of gay cinema, this one centers on a middle-aged lesbian couple who set up house together, exploring the pleasures and uncertainties of later-life emotional attachment and lesbian identity in a culture that glorifies youth and heterosexual romance. Screens in 16 mm. 5th Avenue, June 3-5.

MURDER and murder (Kanopy)

Twilight (2008)

We all know the story: Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart, star of Cronenberg’s upcoming Crimes of the Future) moves to Forks, Wash., and falls for brooding vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). Shot in the Portland area, this supernatural melodrama is an indisputable PNW classic. All hail the Twilight renaissance! Screens in 35 mm as part of the Hollywood’s #OregonMade series. Hollywood, June 6.

ALSO PLAYING:

Clinton: Paris Is Burning (1990), June 6. Hollywood: Bronco Bullfrog (1969), June 1. Stone (1974), June 2. Cape Fear (1962), June 4-5. Mystery Train (1989), June 5. Silent Assassins (1988), June 7.

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