Love, Simon finally presents a queer film that delves into the inner struggle of coming out while portraying a few variations of queerness.
Rating: 3.5/5
This film follows Simon Spier (Nik Robinson) as he struggles with coming to terms with his sexuality. This high school student finds solace in another closeted student, Blue, whom he then starts chatting with anonymously and soon a budding romance is born.
Gay cinema has been receiving a lot of mainstream appeal with Moonlight taking Best Picture at the 2017 Oscars and Call Me By Your Name (CMBYN) receiving critical acclaim. Alex Strangelove, another coming of age gay film, also released on Netflix earlier this month. And it looks as if Hollywood is starting to show that love comes in many forms.
Love, Simon is a very sweet film with relatable characters that might be a good opener for more conservative parents or teenagers that are unsure about their sexuality to open the discussion about sexuality.
Simon goes through the various internal dialogue that most of us queer people go through with the process of coming out. Especially since he is a golden boy who seemingly has a perfect life.
Director Greg Berlanti does a great job of balancing the tone of the film with a coming-of-age film. This film is funny, heartbreaking, enduring and a really does move along at a great pace.
The screenwriters also do a great job after Simon comes out, in depicting the difference between struggles of coming out for white gay men versus that of gay men of colour in a very smart manner.
Hopefully, after this film and Alex Strangelove mainstream filmmakers and producers will start branching out from the white gay man narrative, and realise our community doesn’t just consist of the G, because there is a treasure trove of LGBT stories to be told.
Love, Simon compared to CMBYN is a step forward in queer cinema as it is squarely focused on the complexities that queer people go through with the coming out process. The biggest difference between this film and CMBYN is while both films are very much for the heterosexual gaze, it’s not as afraid to show off its queerness.
I’m hoping that there is a sequel to this film, but only if the rating jumps to 16 because one kiss will not be enough. I need at least two steamy make-out sessions.