Happy Together is right behind Tropical Malady as the two best cinematic representations of homosexuality that I have seen. Everything else doesn’t even come close, except, maybe, for Hedwig and the Angry Inch. What separates these two for me, is the way that the gay characters are treated with the same respect that straight characters are given, both by the filmmaker and the other characters in the film. Neither film features a single character who opposes homosexuality, or views it as bazaar. Granted, Happy Together has few characters other than the two leads, but the characters do often show affection in not-so-private locations. It is easy to make a film about what is wrong with the way the world views gay people; it will be touching, and important, and ignite heated conversation. But what is not easy to do, with either a gay or straight love story, is to make the viewer care about the characters’ emotions and simultaneously forget that the two lovers are minorities. The result is a film that is neither topical, nor didactic, nor schmaltzy. This is, I believe, what every “queer” film should aspire to be.