Since becoming a meme in the 2010s, the phrase “Be Gay Do Crime” has become a mainstay of queer spaces. First introduced into the consciousness of cyberspace through graffiti that went viral on both Instagram and Tumblr, the four word directive has become a shorthand with meanings ranging from activist mantra to being a sly way of shrugging off assimilation into the mainstream.
It’s ironic then, that the phrase should be receiving the embrace of a storied institution like the BFI — which recently announced a new season celebrating queer characters on the margins of society, titled “Be Gay Do Crime.” In the playful, anarchist mood of the programme, here are seven films about queer criminals, dissidents and outsiders to give you a much-needed bolt of edge and energy post-Pride.
Rope (1948)
Hitchcock’s potboiler — presented as one long, uninterrupted take — is a deliciously pulpy look at the fallout that ensues when Brandon and Phillip (John Dall and Farley Granger), host a dinner party together. As two queer-coded young men, historians might call them “close friends”. The hook is simple: at the centerpiece of this party, hiding in plain sight, is the body of a classmate that the two have strangled to death.
While it might be tempting to dismiss a film like this as being a poor act of representation, or a vilification of queerness, that does a disservice to the masterful craft and performances that define Rope. Hitchcock fires on all cylinders as the tension ratchets up throughout as superiority, booze and guilt simmering below the surface threaten to derail the perfect murder.
Female Trouble (1974)
In this, the best of his outrageous, early films, John Waters put it best: “the world of heterosexuals is a sick and boring life!” This iconic line, delivered by frequent collaborator Edith Massey, captures the MO of every film that the Pope of Trash has ever made: that queers, queens and outsiders, are just so much more fun and interesting than straight people.
In Female Trouble, we follow the descent into crime and madness of one Dawn Davenport (the legendary Divine); from the moment she doesn’t get cha-cha heels for Christmas, she’s on the path to crime and punishment. The runaway is recruited into a seedy scheme that tries to prove that crime and beauty are one and the same. As she becomes increasingly violent and infamous, Dawn becomes more convinced of her twisted beauty, and barrels towards an electrifying climax.
Bound (1996)
The slick, sexy neo-noir by the Wachowskis feels like the poster child for the “be gay do crime” mantra. Like Waters, the sisters are firmly on the side of their outlaw queers, as Corky (Gina Gershon) plots to steal millions from the mobster boyfriend of her lover Violet (Jennifer Tilly).
Freed from the restrictive queer representation of earlier cinema, Bound is able to show not only a visceral, tense story of deception and violence, but also a powerful love story. It’s the latter that makes Bound so groundbreaking: the tenderness with which it shows the romance between Corky and Violet; the liberation that the two women are able to find in each other’s arms.
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Tom Ripley — played by Matt Damon in one of his best performances, using his everyman persona and easy charisma to great effect — is a poster child for what Ben Miller and Huw Lemmey call in their book Bad Gays, the “evil Twink” archetype. A little white lie – wearing a borrowed Princeton College jacket – sends Tom to Italy in order track down playboy Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law at his sexiest).
Tom is a man who is familiar with deception; the ease with which he adapts to the persona of one of Dickie’s Princeton contemporaries, but also the queerness that he constantly tries to hide, even as something seems to simmer between the two young men. Trapped not so much by his identity (there’s the brief promise of a happy ending for Tom), but by his mounting tally of deceptions and cons, Ripley is a fascinating contradiction of a character, and this film is the perfect summer cocktail of sun, sex and murder.
By Hook or By Crook (2001)
With a punk, lo-fi aesthetic that wouldn’t feel out of place in the films of John Waters, By Hook or By Crook is an excellent addition to the BFI’s season of queer crime films, the kind of underground movie that can so easily fall through the cracks.
Written and directed by the film’s stars, Silas Howard and Harry Dodge, the movie captures the intimacy that forms between two people living outside of both the law and the gender binary: Shy and Valentine (Howard and Dodge, respectively). As they commit petty crimes together, the two men form an unlikely friendship. By Hook or By Crook is the kind of film that exemplifies the unique art that comes from queer filmmakers being able to tell their own stories.
The Handmaiden (2016)
A sumptuous, sensual period epic, Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden is an endlessly gripping puzzle-box of a film. Adapting the Sarah Waters novel Fingersmith, but transposing it to Korea when it was under the rule of the Empire of Japan, Park (director of cult classic Vengeance Trilogy) creates a film that’s epic and intimate all at once.
To talk about the plot of The Handmaiden too much would rob it of the twists and turns that make it so enjoyable. Full of seduction, violence and an undercurrent of romance, this film is a maximalist masterpiece, an erotic thriller unlike any other.
Kajillionaire (2020)
A love story as only Miranda July could tell it. Old Dolio Dyne (Evan Rachel Wood) is trapped in a strained, manipulative relationship with her parents as the trio commit petty crimes and small acts of fraud. Robert and Theresa (Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger) never treat Old Dolio like their daughter, but instead as an accomplice.
On a flight back home, Robert and Theresa begin chatting with Melanie (Gina Rodriguez), even going so far as to have her pretend to be their daughter as part of their latest scam. The arrival of Melanie into this small, tightly-controlled world, leads to a strange, fascinating relationship blooming between her and Old Dolio, as the latter tries to find a way to express her feelings after too long under the thumb of her manipulative family.