By Nermeen Nabil Khear 
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The people in them may be pretty, sure, but cinematic sex scenes of today are often downright sterile. Even in the conservative 1980s, mainstream movies were happy to explore adult sexuality, while the modern four-quadrant blockbuster world leaves us dry (so to speak) for fear of excluding any youngster who might be in the audience.
Even the superhero movie couples of ages past—Superman (Christopher Reeve) and Lois (Margot Kidder), or Batman (Michael Keaton) and Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer)—generated real heat compared to our modern, Disney-fied view of cinematic romance. While there have been some promising developments on this front over the past year (Challengers, Babygirl), on the whole, movies just don’t seem as horny as they used to.
So let’s celebrate all the films that are just aching for it. Movies in which every scene seems fueled by pent-up desire, roiling with need, drenched in straight-up horniness. Echoing real life, these movies are positively lousy with people who desperately want to fuck. None of the horniest movies qualify as porn—some don’t even have any traditional sex scenes—but every one of them is DTF from the first frame to the end credits.
Poor Things (2023)
What if Frankenstein, but sexy? Yorgos Lanthimos adapts the 1992 Alasdair Gray novel with Emma Stone in the lead role as a reanimated corpse with the mind of a child, gradually discovering the Victorian world around her. Simple-minded at first, she appears monstrous before discovering something like free will which leads, perhaps inevitably, to the joys of masturbation. She becomes hungry—ravenous, even—to experience the world, and lacks the inhibitions imposed on other women of her era. And, honestly: get it. You can stream Poor Things on Hulu or rent it from Prime Video.
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at Hulu
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Though it’s an element largely absent from the source material, cinema’s reigning prince of darkness has been depicted as one horny motherfucker since at least 1931, when Bela Lugosi brought an eastern European regality and seductiveness to the role. The Hammer Horror updates of the 1960s introduced an even more overtly charming Dracula, and the vampires-equal-sexy ethos has since spread out to encompass the entire vampire genre, from Interview With the Vampire to Twilight (two exceptionally horny films we’ll discuss later).
The lurid Francis Ford Coppola take, though, is something else entirely, particularly in the film’s first half: Dracula’s sumptuous (if rotting) castle is dressed for Roman-style orgies, full of bare-chested, man-hungry brides; Keanu Reeves wanders its halls in a psychedelic haze, and with an obvious, all-but-visible movie-length boner. Things don’t let up much once the actions shifts to London, and a now more-human-looking Gary Oldman begins his pursuit of Winona Ryder’s Mina, who is significantly younger than he is. Every frame drips red with desire. You can rent Bram Stoker’s Dracula from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
The Favorite (2018)
Sex, power, and insecurity are all knotted up together in this Oscar-winning dark comedy involving a love triangle between a mercurial Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) and two women (Emma Stone and Rechel Weisz) who are perfectly happy to make use of the queen’s need for emotional and sexual validation as a ladder as they move their way up in the court of the British monarchy. You can rent The Favourite from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Love and Basketball (2000)
Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps play next-door neighbors who, over the course of several years, struggle with their growing attraction to each other, even while their career goals (their each pursuing careers in professional basketball) pull them apart. Though the movie didn’t do great business on its initial release, it’s become a cult classic, and that’s largely down to the chemistry between these two. You can rent Love & Basketball from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Rear Window (1954)
All Hitchcock movies are horny, it’s really just a matter of degrees. What sets Rear Window apart is an especially glamorous Grace Kelly, playing Lisa Fremont, who commands every scene that she’s in, while also radiating a sexuality that her dumbass boyfriend (James Stewart) has no idea what to do with. You can stream Rear Window on The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
The Idea of You (2024)
After Prime adapted the bestselling gay romance Red, White, and Royal Blue (to which we’ll return), the streamer called up one of that movie’s stars, Nicholas Galitzine, for a take on Robinne Lee’s bestseller about a divorced art gallery owner (played by Anne Hathaway) turning 40 who begins an affair with the member of a boy band (he’s in his mid-twenties, so it’s not that icky). It’s essentially a rom-com, but the leads generate genuine horny tension, while the age gap adds enough scandal to make it all feel a bit naughty. You can stream The Idea of You on Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Disobedience (2017)
Given the title and the topic at hand, you might think this is a BDSM drama from—instead, it’s a poignant (but still hot) romantic drama following Ronit, a woman (Rachel Weisz) who returns to the heart of her Orthodox Jewish community in North London for the funeral of her father. She’d previously been banished in part due to her romantic relationship with Esti (Rachel McAdams) when she was younger. Esti is still there, and that the old passion between the two is quickly reignited, even in the face of a great deal of disapproval. You can stream Disobedience on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
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at Max
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Ostensibly it’s the story of an aspiring actress (Naomi Watts), new to Los Angeles, who finds her life entangled with that of a woman with amnesia (Laura Harring) recovering from a car accident. Though things ultimately take a dark and surrealist turn (we’re in a David Lynch movie, after all), the sexual and romantic chemistry between the two is searing, and even more impressive given the minimal mainstream representations of queerness circa 2001. You can stream Mulholland Drive on The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Saltburn (2023)
Barry Keoghan stars as Oliver Quick, a scholarship kid at Oxford who immediately sets out to ingratiate himself with rich golden boy Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). In fact, the clever Oliver will do just about anything to further his aims but, with shades of Tom Ripley, he wants to be inside Felix nearly as much as he wants to be in his world. Oliver goes quite a bit further than Ripley, though, including by getting up close and very personal with the remains of Felix’s bath water. You can stream Saltburn on Prime Video.
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at Prime Video
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Brad and Janet are just a gee whiz/aw shucks couple until the find their way to the home of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a sweet transvestite building his perfect man from spare parts in the basement. While initially horrified, the two slowly come to explore their own repressed sexual needs with a little help from the very willing creatures of the night. First Janet, then Brad, decide that they want nothing more than to be dirty. Join them, won’t you? You can rent The Rocky Horror Picture Show from Prime Video.
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at Prime Video
Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo (2016)
Théo & Hugo begins, as more films should, with an 20-minute (impressively explicit) orgy in a gay sex club. The two leads (Geoffrey Couët and François Nambot) circle each other, for a time, before their mutual attraction breaks through the tangle of sweaty bodies and they connect over more than just fucking (but also, fucking). The film follows them over the next hour or so, exploring how much, and how little, two men can connect over the course of a couple of hours. You can stream Paris 05:59 on Tubi.
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at Tubi
Def by Temptation (1990)
It’s bad news when K (Kadeem Hardison) meets a seductive woman (Cynthia Bond) at a bar—because she’s a literal succubus, luring in men who disrespect women and killing them, or at least maneuvering them into being killed. K begs off, but he’s visited by his friend Joel (the movie’s writer and director, James Bond III, no relation), a minister who’s become increasingly disenchanted with his faith and is very open to the idea of making time with Temptress. You can stream Def by Temptation on Prime Video, Tubi, Shudder, AMC+, Freevee, and Peacock.
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at Peacock
The Doom Generation (1995)
New Queer Cinema auteur Gregg Araki referred to this as his “heterosexual” movie, but that only works in the sense that it centers a cis male-female couple (James Duval and Rose McGowan) at the outset. Their dynamic is quickly upended by the arrival of a drifter the call X (Johnathon Schaech). Though jealousy and clashing personalities complicate matters, the three have sex in a variety of configurations as they travel a blasted Los Angeles, becoming involved in increasingly (and intentionally) absurd violent incidents. You can stream The Doom Generation on The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
In the Realm of the Senses (1976)
The stunningly sensuous and deeply disturbing film tells a fictionalized version of the story of Sada Abe, who murdered her lover in a scandalous case from the 1930s. Accounts paint her as either a monster, or a proto-feminist heroine (of sorts), depending on who is telling the story. She’s played here by Eiko Matsuda, a former sex worker now making a living as a maid in the hotel where she begins an intense affair with the married owner, Kichizō Ishida (Tatsuya Fuji). The passion between them grows in intensity until it becomes mutual obsession, and the sexually explicit film draws us in to their doomed affair. You can stream In the Realm of the Senses on The Criterion Channel.
at The Criterion Channel
at The Criterion Channel
Body Heat (1980)
Taking a page from Double Indemnity, Kathleen Turner makes her mark in this neo-noir as the femme fatale of the 1980s. William Hurt plays the lawyer who is eventually willing to throw it all away for her—and you can’t entirely blame him. You can rent Body Heat from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Atonement (2007)
A WWII-era love story gone rather horribly wrong, the film’s central relationship (between Keira Knightley and James McAvoy) is wildly passionate for a time, but becomes one of lifelong yearning. At least there’s that mega-hot library hook-up, during which hopefully no books were harmed. You can rent Atonement from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Secretary (2002)
A far more effective introduction to light-BDSM than those Fifty Shades movies, there’s genuine heat here between Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader—but also a sense of humor that makes the passionate intensity of their relationship that much more titilating. You can stream Secretary on Tubi and Freevee.
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at Freevee
The Phantom Thread (2017)
The two are never in bed together, but the slow-burn passion between Daniel Day-Lewis’ fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock (cough) and Vicky Krieps as his muse makes this Paul Thomas Anderson’s sexiest movie, even more so than his porno epic Boogie Nights. Woodcock’s fastidious and obsessive attention to detail in his interactions with Keieps’ Alma build an atmosphere of tamped-down lust that only grows as the film progresses. You can stream The Phantom Thread on Netflix or rent it from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Y tu mamá también (2001)
There’s some actual sex in Alfonso Cuarón’s coming-of-age masterpiece, but it’s really a movie about adolescent yearning: between two teenage boys, and between them and the slightly older (and married) woman with whom they set out on an impromptu road trip. Their more typical teenage horniness (and repressed longing) is complicated by the presence of a more mature sexuality, and a medical condition that might make this her last fling. You can stream Y tu mamá también on Netflix and Hulu.
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at Hulu
How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)
The always great Angela Bassett sets out to break up her middle-aged routine with a trip to Jamaica, where she meets much younger (then-newcomer) Taye Diggs. Their (very hot) relationship cools considerably when she returns to her own life, at least until she decides that she can bring some of that new passion into her day-to-day. You can rent How Stella Got Her Groove Back from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Brown Sugar (2002)
Catching up with Taye Diggs just a few years later after Stella, and Sanaa Lathan after Love & Basketball, Brown Sugar sees the two as personal and professional friends, and sometimes rivals, in the music industry who gradually come to recognize their mutual attraction. It’s all a slow build to that moment when friends become lovers. You can rent Brown Sugar from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Roger Ebert astutely described The Last Picture Show as being about “…a town with no reason to exist, and people with no reason to live there.” Aside from the pool hall and the titular movie theater, there’s nothing to do there but have sex (which also happens in the pool hall and the movie theater). The teenagers are horny, naturally, but so are the adults—particularly Cloris Leachman’s bored and neglected housewife, Ruth Popper, who begins an affair with high school senior Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) that’s partly torrid, and partly rote. You can rent The Last Picture Show from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Purple Noon (1960)
The first of many cinematic adaptations of Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley novels, and one of the best. Alain Delon brings Ripley to life in all his sociopathic glory. Though the love triangle between the three main characters doesn’t play out quite as explicitly here as it does in later adaptations, the film deals with mutual obsession in the glistening Mediterranean. You can stream Purple Noon on The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Speaking of, the 1999 adaptation of the eponymous Highsmith novel comes a hair closer than Purple Noon to capturing Tom Ripley’s guiltless amorality (he’s more fun in the books than in any of the films, honestly), but goes much further in bringing the subtext of Tom’s obsession with Dickie Greenleaf to the surface, capturing the extreme and conflicted feeling of wanting to sleep with someone and wanting to be them at the same time. You can stream The Talented Mr. Ripley on Paramount+ or rent it from Prime Video.
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at Paramount+
Crimson Peak (2015)
Guillermo del Toro’s stylized, under-appreciated gothic romance stars Mia Wasikowska as a young woman in a highly ill-conceived marriage to Tom Hiddleston who finds herself drawn to Charlie Hunnam (sure), even as Hiddleston’s character seemed too distracted by his sister (Jessica Chastain) to notice. The upper-crust Edwardian costumes and settings all contribute to the air of repressed longing. Plus, there’s the incest. You can rent Crimson Peak from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Orlando (1992)
Tilda Swinton fucks across centuries in this gorgeous, crackling adaptation of the Virginia Woolf novel, so horny she even swaps genders halfway through so she can bang as the opposite sex. You can rent Orlando from Prime Video.
The Shape of Water (2017)
Guillermo del Toro’s film was only the second fantasy to take home the top prize at the Oscars, but certainly the first (for now!) to involve a surprisingly hot, and impressively romantic, interspecies romance.
Well, OK, Return of the King technically also had an interspecies romance, but that one was significantly less horny, elves and humans have all the same basic parts, and that one didn’t require a visual description of a fish-person’s cloaca. You can rent The Shape of Water from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
The Lighthouse (2019)
There’s an unnerving sexual chemistry between Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe on display in this nightmarish throwback to silent-era filmmaking, but, in fairness, they’re cold and very lonely. It only becomes a problem when the hot mermaid swims by. You can stream The Lighthouse on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
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at Max
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
In opulent 18th-century France, Marianne is assigned to paint a portrait of aristocrat Héloïse. The resulting image will be used to advertise Héloïse to a potential suitor in far-off Milan. The forbidden (for several reasons) romance that develops between them is as steamy as it is necessarily short-lived. You can stream Portrait of a Lady on Fire on Hulu.
at Hulu
at Hulu
Moonstruck (1987)
It’s as unlikely as cinematic chemistry gets (I would never have signed off on the casting of Nicholas Cage and Cher as romantic leads), but what’s here is very real—Loretta Castorini is a middle-aged widow who’d given up on passion, while Ronny Cammareri is the sweaty, manic baker who reminds her that she’s not really ready to give up on good sex. You can stream Moonstruck on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Booty Call (1997)
A better-than-decent sex farce and buddy comedy, Booty Call sees Jamie Foxx and Tommy Davidson on a particularly promising double-date with Vivica A. Fox, and Tamala Jones…only to discover that they can’t find condoms anywhere. The two men go on a hunt for those essentials before their dates get bored and give up. You can stream Booty Call on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Beau Travail (1999)
Claire Denis’ sweaty story of the French Foreign Legion in Djibouti, Beau Travailis full of sumptuous imagery and camerawork. On one level, it’s a deconstruction of cinematic masculinity; on another, it’s a story of closeted sexual obsession. You can stream Beau Travail on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
at Max
at Max
L’Atalante (1934)
Jealousy and passion are all over Jean Vigo’s story of newlyweds on a boat. Husband Jean quickly becomes jealous of his new wife Juliette, who understandably has interests that go beyond hanging out on a canal barge all the time. Everything she does triggers his jealousy, pushing her away until he becomes so desperate that he, rather memorably, dives into the canal hoping for just a look at her face. You can stream L’Atalante on The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
The Addams Family (1991)
If there’s a hotter, healthier take on adult married sexuality in cinema, I’ve yet to see it. Even with two kids and a houseful of relatives, Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia (Angelica Huston) remain unreasonably hot for one another. You can stream The Addams Family on Paramount+ or rent it from Prime Video.
Batman Returns (1992)
The chemistry here between Michael Keaton and Michelle Pfeiffer is intense (particularly in the ballroom scene), and all the more so for being the last gasp in superhero-movie sexuality (good luck finding anything even remotely horny about the MCU). But Pfeiffer’s Catwoman is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here, so much so that the character represented a sexual awakening for both straight and queer kids of the ‘90s. You can rent Batman Returns from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)
The only movie in the series with a male lead, the Nightmare sequel plays out as Freddy’s seduction of Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton), all while Jesse is dodging his girlfriend in favor of his best friend, Ron. It’s a teenage slasher movie, so of course everyone’s horny, but most films in the genre don’t make quite so many pitstops at leather bars and gym showers. You can rent Freddy’s Revenge from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Stud Life (2012)
JJ (T’Nia Miller), a butch lesbian and her twink best friend, Seb (Kyle Treslove) are each both on the hunt for sex and romance, but their comfort with each other has become a crutch. They each enter into passionate relationships that force them to choose between friendship and love. You can stream Stud Life on Fandor.
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at Fandor
The Twilight franchise (2008–2012)
Basically four movies’ worth of weirdly moralistic teenage foreplay, raising big questions like: Ought we be hornier for werewolves? Or vampires? You can stream the Twilight movies on Hulu and Tubi or rent them from Prime Video.
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at Hulu
Ghost (1990)
Ghost may not be particularly horny for most of its runtime, but earns extra points for its pottery-wheel love scene, which set many a middle-American heart aflutter. It’s more memorably constructed and titillating than the vast majority of actual sex scenes in movies, selling the core relationship in a way that makes the entire film work. You can stream Ghost on Paramount+ or rent it from Prime Video.
at Paramount+
at Paramount+
Un Chant D’Amour (1950)
Long banned for its homosexual content, the two men at the heart of Jean Genet’s A Song of Love never share a room, except in a brief, chaste, fantasy sequence. Two prisoners in adjacent cells share a palpable passion for each other, violently discouraged by a guard. The short film’s key moment involves a bit of cigarette smoke shared through a straw, one of cinema’s most surprisingly erotic sequences. You can stream Un Chant D’Amour (aka Song of Love) on Kanopy.
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at Kanopy
Before Sunset (2004)
It was the slowest of slow burns for Jesse and Céline (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy), but here the tension is off-the-charts: they haven’t seen each other in years, and neither was expecting their fierce attraction to reignite so quickly. He’s married and she’s in a relationship, but, by the end, none of it matters. You can rent Before Sunset from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
The new TV series adaptation makes what was necessarily subtext in 1994 into text, but viewers didn’t have to go too far in seeing the mutual attraction between Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in steamy New Orleans. You can rent Interview with the Vampire from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Mississippi Masala (1991)
Denzel Washington has played surprisingly few romantic lead roles in his long career, but brings some heat to this charming and sultry story of a romance between the his character and the child of Ugandan Indian immigrants (Sarita Choudhury) in the American deep south. The movie deals the issues that each of their communities has with the relationship, but what stands out is the near-forbidden passion between the lead characters. You can stream Mississippi Masala on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
at Max
at Max
Call Me By Your Name (2017)
A coming-of-age story involving young, mercurial Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and older Oliver (Armie Hammer), Call Me By Your Name takes place mostly during one sweaty, sun-baked summer in northern Italy. For Elio, it’s a time of increasing sexual frustration—to the point that he sneaks off to smell Oliver’s clothes. Sex with childhood friend Marzia doesn’t quite scratch the itch and, before long, Elio and Oliver are engaged in a clandestine affair—and partaking of the local produce. You can stream Call Me By Your Name on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
at Max
at Max
Cruel Intentions (1999)
This was a gateway movie for an entire generation of budding your hornballs for more than one sexual orientation. Reorienting the 18th century novel Dangerous Liaisons to a 1990s prep school, the film deals with sex, desirability, and power, while also serving as a reminder that the idle rich are never to be trusted. Everyone here is looking for sex, and almost everyone here is using their sexuality as a means to an end. One of the key scenes, and one of the film’s best, involves Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar) teaches Cecile (Selma Blair) how to french kiss. You can rent Cruel Intentions from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Red, White, and Royal Blue (2023)
From the Casey McQuiston bestseller, Red, White, and Royal Blue finds the spare heir (or is it heir spare?) to the British throne falling out with the son of the President of the United States—a minor diplomatic problem that the two are strongly encouraged to rectify. Of course, in the process of pretending not to hate each other, the two come to really not hate each other. So much so that they’re sneaking off whenever they get the chance. The premise is rom-com to the hilt, but the leads (Taylor Zakhar Perez, Nicholas Galitzine) generate real sparks. You can stream Red, White, and Royal Blue on Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
God’s Own Country (2017)
Josh O’Connor (The Crown’s Prince Charles) and Alec Secăreanu play Yorkshire farmer Johnny and Romanian migrant worker Gheorghe. Johnny’s largely content to bang any man who’ll give him the time of day in the remote village, at least until he’s joined by Gheorghe. Their initially very tempestuous relationship develops into something much more romantic, and not without a few literal rolls in the hay. You can rent God’s Own Country from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Stranger by the Lake (2013)
Thoroughly sexually explicit, and also an incredibly effective thriller (it made a bunch of top 10 lists in its year), writer/director Alain Guiraudie’s drama takes place in and around a gay cruising spot at a nude beach and the nearby woods. Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) falls in lust, and maybe love, with Michel (Christophe Paou)—who he later observes drowning another man in the lake. Franck isn’t sure he’s willing to let that stop him from getting what is clearlysome excellent, if dangerous, D. You can rent Stranger by the Lake from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
Monster’s Ball (2001)
Halle Berry won an Academy Award for her performance as Leticia Musgrove, wife of a convicted murderer whose death has been overseen by Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton), the deputy warden. They’re both deeply damaged and broken people, lashing out at everyone around them in ways that are frequently abusive. They also develop an intense, and passionate, connection that can’t fix either of them, but that can cut through all the people and things telling them to stay apart. You can rent Monster’s Ball from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
at Prime Video
She’s Gotta Have It (1986)
Spike Lee’s first feature film follows the instantly iconic Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns) juggling three very different men, and finding that only together do they have all the qualities she’s looking for. The movie’s legacy is complicated by a rape scene that’s handled pretty atrociously (Spike Lee agrees), but the movie nonetheless takes seriously the idea that (*gasp*) a woman might have sexual needs and wants that deserve to be taken seriously. You can stream She’s Gotta Have It on Netflix.
at Netflix
at Netflix
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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