Big Gay Movie Roundup: 13 Notable Films from 2024

National Anthem

Not that there's anything wrong with coming-of-age dramas. They may be a dime a dozen in the queer cinema niche, but Luke Gilford's "National Anthem" is something special. Set in the world of queer rodeos – that's a real thing! – the film (inspired by Gilford's monograph) features bucking broncs and big belt buckles, but it also introduces its young lead character, Dylan (Charlie Plummer), to life on a ranch that's populated by a rainbow of people, including Sky (Eve Lindley), a trans woman who catches his eye from the first. Complicating matters, Sky is already in a relationship with the ranch's owner, the charismatic Pepe (Rene Rosado), who is clearly attracted to Dylan.

By and large, the characters in "National Anthem" don't fit neatly into narrow boxes; Dylan is mocked as gay by fellow workers at a gravel pit, but it's Sky's effortless ability to live as the woman she truly is that captures him. Pepe, meantime, is as smitten with Sky as he is taken with Dylan, and the film dips into threesome territory before flirting with the idea of a throuple, or maybe a polyamorous (and possibly pansexual) long-term arrangement between the trio.

We don't quite know everything about these characters by the end, and they may not know everything about themselves. What emerges from "National Anthem" is the message that people need the space to figure such things out for themselves. (And if they can do it on a joyfully queer ranch in a remote corner of New Mexico, so much the better!)

"National Anthem" is streaming on VOD platforms. Read the EDGE interview with Luke Gilford.