HOT MILK is a psychological drama starring Emma Mackey. It’s not an easy watch, in many ways, but it is an important one. Also, it has a very strong ending that I personally loved. Despite the main character being an adult, this is very much a queer coming-of-age story. Read our full Hot Milk movie review here and find it on Hulu now!

HOT MILK is a movie I’ve wanted to watch ever since I first heard about it. Admittedly, this had to do with two things mainly. First, the short plot description. Second, the cast featuring three amazing women. I promise to get back to both these points later on.

For now, let me just say that this coming-of-age psychological drama is both heartbreaking and healing. Emma Mackey is amazing in the lead role, and I found myself rooting for her in ways I rarely experience. You just want to help her, while also wanting her to help herself. It’s a powerful experience with a runtime of just 93 minutes.

Continue reading our Hot Milk movie review below. The movie can be found on Hulu and VOD now.

Holding on and letting go

Hot Milk is the story of Sofia (Emma Mackey), who has devoted her entire life to her mother. Sofia is an adult woman, trying to get her degree, but is currently traveling with her mother for some sort of experimental procedure.

Her mother, Rose (Fiona Shaw), has a strange illness, which has resulted in her not being able to walk. There is nothing physically wrong with her, but she experiences pain and relies on her daughter for pretty much everything.

So, now they’re in a small town on the Spanish coast trying to find a cure for an illness that may not even exist. Of course, something is wrong with her mother, but it’s probably psychological more than physical. This also appears to be the belief of the doctor working with her.

Sofia needs to let go of her mother, which is very difficult, when she is holding on ever tighter.

Standing up for yourself

While the treatment begins, Sofia heads out on her own. This is when she meets Ingrid (Vicky Krieps). A woman who goes after what she wants, and when she sees Sofia, she wants her. This appears to open up a new world for Sofia, where she is allowed to be desired and have the spotlight on her for once.

Of course, it’s nowhere near as simple as that. Before long, it’s clear that her new romantic interest, Ingrid, and her controlling mother, Rose, have more in common than you’d assume. Mostly, they need Sofia in ways that do not benefit Sofia… in fact, they both take a toll on her.

Still, meeting Ingrid has shifted something for Sofia. She realizes there is a life to be led away from her controlling mother. In fact, it may even be what her mother needs to heal.

It’s certainly what Sofia needs if she’s to ever be happy. Watching Hot Milk is seeing someone discover the power of standing up for oneself. Something most LGBTQ+ people learn early on, when they realize they are different. Sure, there are many of us, but we are not the norm.

Should we forget, there will always be someone ready to remind us. As a result, we learn to stand up for ourselves (and each other). The alternative is not surviving. This cannot be acceptable to anyone, so we have to fight… just like Sofia!

Watch Hot Milk on Hulu or VOD now

Rebecca Lenkiewicz is the writer and director of Hot Milk. If her name sounds familiar, it’s for good reason. Rebecca Lenkiewicz also wrote the screenplays for Disobedience (2017), starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams, and Colette (2018), starring Keira Knightley.

Both movies feature queer women falling for other women, just like Hot Milk.

Also, both those movies are based on books, which this one also is. In the case of Hot Milk, it’s based on the book by Deborah Levy. This is also the first time Rebecca Lenkiewicz has directed the movie herself, which I hope she will continue to do. And yes, this is actually her directing debut, which is just astounding!

From the setting to the plot, pace, and the characters, generously portrayed by a wonderful cast, this movie just worked so wonderfully for me. Even better than I ever anticipated. Emma Mackey (Sex Education, Barbie), Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve, Echo Valley), and Vicky Krieps (Old, Phantom Thread) are all magnificent in their respective roles!

Womentainment recommendation: Watch Hot Milk as soon as you can!

This is a movie that surprised me in many ways, but didn’t let me down in any. Hot Milk is a movie with an ending that is bold and brave. Just like its main protagonist, Emma Mackey’s “Sofia”, ultimately is.

Director: Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Writer: Rebecca Lenkiewicz (based on a book by Deborah Levy)
Cast: Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw, Vicky Krieps, Yann Gael, Patsy Ferran, Vincent Perez

Official plot:

With a strange illness, a mother and her daughter embark on a journey to the Spanish coast to find a cure, and along the way the daughter discovers another reality far from her controlling mother.

SALLY on Disney+ and Hulu is a new National Geographic documentary about Sally Ride. She was the first American woman in space. However, there was much more to her story. Like the fact that she was in a relationship with a woman for most of her life. Read our Sally documentary review here!

SALLY is a new National Geographic documentary about Sally Ride. It’s very appropriately released during Pride Month as this is the full story about the first American woman in space, who was also queer. This is an LGBTQ story about how people used to (and sometimes still) feel forced to stay deep in the closet.

Sally Ride was in a committed and happy relationship for most of her adult life. Her life partner of 27 years, Tam O’Shaughnessy, gives us the story of Sally Ride. Also, we hear Sally Ride herself speak about her time becoming one of the first female astronauts at NASA.

Continue reading our Sally documentary review below. Find it on Hulu and Disney+ now.

Ride, Sally Ride

Sally Ride was the first American woman in space. When she went to space as the first American woman, she was also the third woman in the world – the USSR had already sent two women into space at this time. Also, Sally Ride was the youngest American astronaut ever in space.

As brilliant, fierce, and strong as Sally Ride was, she also had a weakness. A secret.

She had been in relationships with women before and would end up in a relationship with her life partner, Tam O’Shaugnessy, for 27 years. A relationship that made her happy and fulfilled, but which was also a romance full of sacrifices, as Sally Ride stayed deep in the closet. Forcing the otherwise out Tam to do the same.

In this amazing documentary, we hear about their 27 years together directly from Sally’s life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy. The two met at tennis camp (how gay can you get, really?!) around the time they became teenagers. A lifelong friendship was born and would evolve into a love that lasted the rest of Sally Ride’s too-short life.

The LGBTQ Story of Sally Ride

I don’t know that anyone who isn’t in the LGBTQ community (or a real ally) can truly relate to the importance of getting the full story of who Sally Ride was. As mentioned by her life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, everyone saw Sally as a straight woman and was fine with her holding hands with, hugging, or kissing a man.

And even fawning over it, like it was some great romance. Despite the obvious lack of romance. Sorry, but I mean, come on, it’s impossible not to notice the lack of chemistry there.

Yet, the idea that it needs to be noted that she was, in fact, a gay lady, is completely irrelevant and foreign to them. And unlike the other obvious NASA problem of racism – originally, all astronauts where white men – you can hide and/or ignore the queer aspect.

Well, no longer. And it was Sally Ride’s own wish to have to finally be known. As the National Geographic documentary tells, Sally did finally make her relationship with Tam official. When Sally Ride was sick, she recognized that they needed the legal protection that so many in the LGBTQ community have fought for over decades.

They became domestic partners and both “put a ring on it” before Sally Ride passed away. Far too young. Much too early.

Watch Sally on Hulu or Disney+ now

Sally comes from National Geographic Documentary Films and is directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Cristina Costantini. After having its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, it’s being released during Pride Month, and I think it should be mandatory for everyone to watch it.

Certainly, all Americans who just may need to be reminded of how change happens, and how easy it can be to lose progress. And also anyone LGBTQ+ (including allies) to understand the very real struggles. Both for some people today and for most LGBTQ+ people just a few decades ago.

WATCH THIS IF YOU ENJOYED…

Despite it being a feature film, I think fans of NYAD will love SALLY >

The release of this documentary was also timed to the anniversary of Sally Ride’s spaceflight, which took place on June 18, 1983. I knew of Sally Ride before watching this documentary, but now I feel I also understand her better. From her need to act and speak as she did to her concerns about telling the world everything.

Sally Ride was brilliant, fierce, remarkable and has left a huge mark on the world. With this documentary, it has expanded to encompass even more elements of who she was. Documentary filmmaker Cristina Costantini has managed to include it all without decreasing any one area of Sally Ride’s life.

Also, Tam O’Shaughnessy deserved to tell the story of their beautiful love!

Sally was released on National Geographic, Disney+, and Hulu on June 17, 2025.

THE ROYAL HOTEL is now on Hulu and it is definitely worth watching. It’s essentially a thriller about how we should always listen to our intuition to stay safe. Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick star. Read our full The Royal Hotel movie review here!

THE ROYAL HOTEL on Hulu is an Australian psychological thriller. I can imagine most women will watch this, and have the same experience, I did. The familiar predicament of being in a situation where you cannot leave a friend behind. However, you also can’t ignore your intuition telling you someone is “off”.

Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick star in this thriller and deliver amazing and realistic portrayals of two very different young women. Also, the movie has a brilliant supporting cast. Including Hugo Weaving (Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Dressmaker), Daniel Henshall (Defending Jacob), and Toby Wallace (Boys in the Trees).

Continue reading our The Royal Hotel movie review below. Find it on Hulu from March 14, 2024.

Welcome to the Australian Outback

The two young Americans Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) are best friends, who are backpacking in Australia. Hanna and Liv are claiming to be from Canada because “everyone loves Canadians”, which is probably true, while Americans are not the most popular with the current political climate.

In any case, they run out of money in the middle of their trip, so Liv – who is definitely the more carefree of the two –convinces Hanna to take a temporary live-in job. After all, their trip is all about adventure and that would be a very different kind of adventure.

Especially as the job is tending the bar of a pub called “The Royal Hotel”. This pub is located in a very remote Outback mining town. In other words, this is a place mostly visited by men and only very few women, so their presence will be welcomed but also noticed in unwanted ways.

Always listen to your intuition

The bar owner, Billy (Hugo Weaving), warns the girls and gives them a rude awakening to the vibe and “lingo” of the Aussie Outback. They are called the C-word upon first meeting him, and it sounds both derogatory and strangely like a nickname of sorts.

Billy and the locals give the American girls one wild introduction to Down Under drinking culture on their first day. Other days are slow, but as Hanna and Liv know from the two British girls who also worked at The Royal Hotel, it can easily become a way of life for them as well. After all, there isn’t much else to do but drink!

Fortunately, Hanna (Julia Garner) is very good at listening to her intuition and she follows her gut. If there is a lesson learned from The Royal Hotel – and there is – it is to always listen to your intuition. Worst case, you miss out on something fun and interesting. The alternative of not listening to your gut could result in it being the last thing you do!

There is one man in particular, she is very weary of. Seeing all the other men at the bar also moving out of his way, tells her that her gut feeling is right. Liv (Jessica Henwick) on the other hand, is still escaping something that happened back home.

She drinks heavily and they both find themselves trapped in a bad situation. One that grows rapidly out of their control, but they refuse to back down or give up despite being very much on their own in the Outback.

Watch The Royal Hotel on Hulu now!

The Royal Hotel is directed by Kitty Green. She has directed episodes of the Apple TV+ hit series Servant and the 2019 movie The Assistant, which also starred Julia Garner in the title role. Kitty Green co-wrote the screenplay with Oscar Redding.

This 2023 Australian psychological thriller is one of the stronger movies I’ve watched in quite some time. It is extremely scary to watch as I suspect many women (and some men) will recognize the situations Hanna and Liv are caught up in.

Also, Julia Garner (Ozark, Inventing Anna, Dirty John) is brilliant, yet again, as Hanna. And so is Jessica Henwick (The Gray Man, Love and Monsters) as Liv. She drove me crazy at times – the character, I mean – when she got too drunk and didn’t listen to her friend.

However, there was also clearly something in the past troubling Liv, which Hanna recognized.

A strong duo with Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick in the lead roles. And the strong friendship between Hanna and Liv, who never gave up on each other. No matter how terrible or dangerous, the situation got!

Womentainment recommendation: Watch it to be reminded of your own strength!

In The Royal Hotel, Julia Garner’s “Hanna” is listening to her intuition and does not back down. Sure, she might try to be soft-spoken and kind when she believes this to be the best option. However, she is always ready to deliver a more stern tone or pick up an axe, when she needs to command respect.

For me, The Royal Hotel is a great reminder for women that while the world is a dangerous place, Mother Nature has equipped us with intuition and we need to pay more attention to that. Forget that someone might feel back that you’re weary of them. Your safety should always be more important than their comfort. Always!

The Royal Hotel is out on VOD and you can stream it on Hulu from March 14, 2024.

Director: Kitty Green
Writers: Kitty Green, Oscar Redding
Cast: Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick, Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Toby Wallace, Daniel Henshall, Ursula Yovich, Herbert Nordrum

Official plot:

After running out of money while backpacking in a tiny, male-dominated town in the Australian outback, two friends resort to a working holiday at the Royal Hotel. When the locals behavior starts crossing the line, the girls find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.

HAPPIEST SEASON is a new gay Christmas movie on Hulu. Yes, it’s a Christmas movie where the love story is between two women. Directed by Clea DuVall and starring Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis. Christmas has indeed come early in 2020. Read our full Happiest Season movie review here!

HAPPIEST SEASON is a new Christmas movie on Hulu. And yes, it’s gay. Or rather, it’s lesbian to be precise. But it also has a gay man in the cast. Actually, we can’t be sure exactly what sexuality various characters have, but it does feature the traditional Christmas love story with a twist; This time, two women are in love!

The movie stars Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis, which means it had already won before I started watching it. Just kidding, I know it could still suck… except Clea DuVall directed this, so I knew it wouldn’t. And it really didn’t.

In fact, it made me think that this is indeed a wonderful life and that Christmas had come early. Not something you would ever dare to expect from the year 2020. Continue reading our Happiest Season movie review below.

Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis

The two women starring in Happiest Season are of course Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis. Fortunately, these two work really well as a couple. Their chemistry is extremely natural and they seem so comfortable around one another. Just as you would expect from a couple in love.

Abby (Kristen Stewart) is completely out and proud while Harper (Mackenzie Davis) still isn’t out to her parents. Or anyone from her life before Abby, it would appear. I don’t need to go into the plot here since you’ll know it from the trailer – or by reading the official plot in the end of this review. However, I will say that it all felt very realistic and portrayed in a very organic way.

Kristen Stewart is already known for being out in real life, while Mackenzie Davis has played gay on-screen before. She was in the iconic Black Mirror episode “San Junipero” with Gugu Mbatha-Raw. That episode earned several awards and sparked a huge LGBT fanbase for both actors. Also, Mackenzie Davis as “Grace” in Terminator: Dark Fate was full of gay subtext (to put it mildly).

Happiest Season has the best supporting cast

Other than Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis kissing one another quite a lot in Happiest Season (as Abby and Harper, obviously), you have so many supporting characters to look forward to.

Lesbians (and other WLW) are already going crazy for Aubrey Plaza as Riley. And I can’t say that I blame them since Aubrey Plaza is one huge sapphic energy-boost in this movie. Also, Dan Levy plays Abby’s awesome – and very easily distracted – friend John, who is so wonderfully politically correct. Yes, I said wonderfully, since he can get away with it! Dan Levy rocks my world. There, I said it!

Portraying the sisters of Harper (Mackenzie Davis), we have Alison Brie and Mary Holland. While I have always liked Alison Brie, Mary Holland turned out to be the surprise scene-stealer for me. I just wanted to scoop up Mary Holland’s “Jane” and get her away from her crazy family.

Harper’s parents are portrayed by Mary Steenburgen and Victor Garber. In other words, a classic fabulous and somewhat on-edge mother and a very conservative-looking and serious father. Of course, in real life, Victor Garber is an out and proud gay man with a husband while Mary Steenburgen has always been an outspoken LGBTQ ally.

A new standard for gay Christmas movies

While we did recently review the LGBT Christmas movie, A New York Christmas Wedding, which is out on Netflix now, Happiest Season is more than “just” a Christmas movie. No offense meant to any of the many, many, Holiday themed romance movies out there, but this is so much more. 

As I was watching this with my wife, we immediately remembered what it was like when we weren’t entirely out to the world at large. It was almost like a super intense therapy session and I credit Clea DuVall (and co-screenwriter Mary Holland) with having created the most beautiful LGBT Christmas movie. And obviously, this is an LGBTQ Christmas movie which is a fact I absolutely adore. 

To put it very simply: This is like the Imagine Me and You of Christmas for me. And there is no higher credit, I could possibly give any movie!

Having said that, I do want to recommend that you also check out A New York Christmas Wedding on Netflix – it also features people of color in starring roles. The better all these LGBT+ Christmas movies fare, the better chances we have of getting many more in the future. And there is plenty of room for many LGBTQ focused Christmas movies as well.

You might like: Our review of A New York Christmas Wedding on Netflix here >​

Watch Happiest Season on Hulu now!

Clea DuVall is the director of Happiest Season which is based on a story by her as well. The screenplay was also written by her along with Mary Holland (who also plays Harper’s sister, Jane, in the movie). Back in 2016, Clea DuVall also wrote and directed the movie The Intervention which also featured a gay couple as part of an amazing ensemble cast. You should really check it out!

This is only the second feature film for Clea DuVall as a writer and director, but she is quickly carving out a niche of her own. One where we (LGBT+ people) get to be at the center and tell our stories. I am ready for so many more movies from her and hopefully, we won’t have to wait another four years for her next movie. And if we do, then I’m sure it will be worth the wait.

While Happiest Season is definitely a new kind of Christmas movie, it is also exactly like the best of the Christmas movies I grew up watching.

The difference is that now I finally get to see myself on screen as well. Not as a token gay sidekick or for comic relief. Instead, this is my story. In fact, I get to see myself and my wife. And we get a happy ending.  Thank you, Clea DuVall. Just, thank you!

Happiest Season is out on Hulu from November 25, 2020.

Director: Clea DuVall
Screenplay: Clea DuVall & Mary Holland
Stars: Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Daniel Levy, Mary Holland, Burl Moseley, Victor Garber, and Mary Steenburgen.

Official plot:

Meeting your girlfriend’s family for the first time can be tough. Planning to propose at her family’s annual Christmas dinner — until you realize that they don’t even know she’s gay — is even harder. When Abby (Kristen Stewart) learns that Harper (Mackenzie Davis) has kept their relationship a secret from her family, she begins to question the girlfriend she thought she knew.