Cruising Cinema: Twinless, Y tu mamá también and a FREE gay movie
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Are you a hot, attractive, all-round amazing human being? If so, may I suggest you follow Cruising Cinema on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Letterboxd?
These guys did it, and look how hot they are!
Before we get into the gay shit, I just wanted to remind you guys that Cruising Cinema's "New Year Sale" is still running now until the end of January 🥳.
Sign up monthly here and you'll get 50% off for the first 3 months. That's £2 a month for all of the horny gay GIF's you could ever dream of.
Or pay annually and receive 25% off your subscription! Take advantage of this sale here and sign up for good gay karma 💃.
This week, the paid tier includes all the usual extras plus a free movie that features someone from this season of The Traitors UK. Yes, really! Sign up now and scroll down to the Out Takes section for 82 minutes of rugged man action.
And if you're paying already? Thank you. You're a diva. You're an icon. You are the moment.
Queer and Now
Everything new in the world of queer TV and film
— Star Trek is supposed to be set in a futuristic utopia, but there's nothing utopian about a world without Pedro Pascal in it. And as far as I can tell, Sir Pascal is nowhere to be found in these shows. Still, the new Starfleet Academy spinoff is near perfect to me anyhow, despite the daddy-shaped hole left by Pedro's absence.
The school-set spinoff is led by Holly "Mother" Hunter, more on her later, and also stars lesbian British comedian Gina Yashere as her Number One officer. Without spoiling too much, some gay shit also starts a few weeks in, which is exactly why you should be tuning in weekly every Thursday on Paramount+.
— I have a problem. The season 6 finale of Canada's Drag Race airs today and I want both Sami Landri and Eboni La'Belle to snatch the crown. Can we split it Mean Girls style?
Sophie's Choice was nothing compared to the decision Brooke Lynn Hytes and the judges faced this week. Find out who wins on Crave in Canada and WOW Presents Plus everywhere else.
— One of my favourite films of the year, Twinless, will be available to stream on Hulu and Disney+ in the US from January 16th, 2026. That means you no longer have to watch that GIF of Dylan O'Brien on an endless 4 hour loop.
Instead, you can enjoy the truly wild twists that gay filmmaker James Sweeney brings in this story of grief, horniness and unlikely friendship. That is, unless you're British, because Twinless isn't coming out in cinemas here until February 6th. As if we needed more proof that god hates gay people.
— Karamo Brown has offered his last piece of advice. Antoni Porowski has smashed his last avocado. Jonathan Van Ness has done his last hair flip.
Yep, Queer Eye is coming to an end in a "Fab Final Season" that's streaming on Netflix from January 21st. Pour one out for all the dogs that will no longer get to be bathed by Antoni shirtless.
— Ryan Murphy shows are more unhinged than Harriet on The Traitors at this point, but The Beauty might outdo them all when episodes 1-3 drop on Disney+ from January 21st.
The story revolves around a sexually transmitted virus that makes people hot, but also kills them. The scariest thing about this, however, is Meghan Trainor's involvement (alongside real actors like Evan Peters, Rebecca Hall and Jeremy Pope who all deserve better than Ryan Murphy at this point).
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Celluloid Closet
Must-see queer classics no one should be without
I wish I could say that the unbearably hot throuple from The Night Manager inspired me to revisit Y tu mamá también (2002), but that would be a lie. Alfonso Cuarón's bisexual masterpiece is always on my mind irrespective of how many unbearably hot throuples appear on my TV.
Long before he was freeing prisoners from Azkaban or defying Gravity with Sandra Bullock, director Alfonso Cuarón crafted a Mexican road movie about two horny teens who compete for the attention of an older woman named Luisa (Maribel Verdú).
Even before they set off, Julio (Gael García Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna) shower next to each other and wrestle and even masturbate in each other's company. Andor this ain't.
It's all just bantz though, right?
On their journey to Boca del Cielo ("Heaven's Mouth"), Luisa inevitably ends up banging them both to get back at her cheating husband. Never mind that Julio cums too quick or that Tenoch says "Mamma" when he finishes.
The unspoken intimacy between all three comes to a head, so to speak, upon finally reaching their destination. A few shots in, a sensual three-way dance becomes an actual threesome as Julio and Tenoch kiss Luisa together.
I won't say anymore, except that watching my future husbands contend with all this did wonders for sixteen year old me back in 2001. And without Y Tu Mamá También, I doubt Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist would have ever been able to share a churro in Challengers.
Queer Awakenings
This week, Gabriella Geisinger is sharing her queer awakening all the way from Middle-Earth! Gabriella is a freelance film & culture critic specialising in Japanese content and production. She was previously locations editor at Screen International and Deputy Movies Editor at Digital Spy.
It took me a long time to figure out where to start this. I was unsure where my own 'awakening' began (If I had one at all). And then, while expressing this very concern to your favourite newsletter author, David Opie, I casually said, "I’ve been thinking a lot about Legolas in Lord of the Rings, which obviously isn’t queer, but he’s very femme."
David, being David, was instantly excited by my 'confession'. Or perhaps epiphany is the right word (awakening, maybe? Or is that too on the nose). Because now that I think critically about my childhood crushes, they were, for a long time, 'femme' men (and almost always fictional, but that’s something for another essay entirely).
I gravitated towards Legolas because he was beautiful, not ruggedly handsome like Aragorn or Eomer. Towards fictional characters like Kurama in Yu Yu Hakusho, with his long hair and delicate mannerisms, qualities that are seen as traditionally feminine.
But these choices were 'safe'. They were still men, and there were plenty of other girls who were equally besotted with Legolas as I was. In subsequent years, my crushes shifted from fictional characters (though not entirely!) to people with whom I was interacting. It was this foundation of feelings for fictional femme-presenting men that had opened a door to acknowledging that I was also attracted to women.
I was 12 when The Fellowship of the Ring first came out in cinemas. I got my first job in journalism at 18, writing about music for my college paper. In the almost 20 years since, I found outlets where I could write about queer media, queer storytelling, and the very real impact it has on queer lives.
This essay is a full-circle moment; a chance to put into words the way in which movies, TV, novels and other works of art and culture help us — all of us — parse through our identities, find ways of expressing things that are hard to express.
I have to thank The Fellowship of the Ring casting director, Victoria Burrows, alongside Peter Jackson, for putting Orlando Bloom in a long blonde wig, and giving me the first step (though I didn't know it then) towards understanding myself.
Don't forget to follow Gabriella Geisinger on Letterboxd and Tiktok.
Please send in your own stories, those early examples of shows and films that shaped who you are today, and I'll share them right here in the free edition of this newsletter. Don't worry, your accounts can be anonymous if you wish (Previous examples here and here).
Send them to this email address: cruisingcinema7@gmail.com.
Mother of the Week
Where Mothers Come To Mother
Today's Mother of the Week was such an easy choice.
Holly Hunter was a Mother when she strutted out of the womb 67 years ago and she has been ever since. Yes. Sixty. Seven. Years. Old.
