Our Staff Picks column is a new addition that takes you back to a time when video stores reigned supreme and the "Staff Picks" section was the place to find out what films were worthy of one's time. Of course, our version has a decidedly nude angle, as we suss out which films from a certain genre with great nudity. This week: coming-of-age films!
Why do we all love coming-of-age stories so much? I think it's because they can be enjoyed at any age. When you're young, it's aspirational and directly relatable. When you're older, it reminds you of your youth. In that regard, coming-of-age movies are the most relatable genre out there!
I chose these films for how good they are and how sexy the men are in them. These particular coming-of-age stories feature male nudity and coming out tales of young gay men exploring themselves...and each other. Let's take a look.
Summer of '85
This sweet French film goes back in time to 1985 and transports us to Normandy where one young man's boat capsizes. The other, a stranger to him at the time, saves him. This begins a close relationship and an attraction that is undeniable over one sizzling hot summer. However, it is uncertain if their romance will survive past the summer. Sigh. The perils of summer love!
Nudecomers Benjamin Voisin and Félix Lefebvre are our young lovers who share a tender nude scene that shows Benjamin caressing Felix's ass:
The Hand of God
This brand new coming-of-age film comes to us from Italy and it is currently available on Netflix. We are brought back in time to the 1980s in Naples, a tumultuous time in Italian history. A young man's world is rocked when a famous football legend comes to town at the same time as the death of a loved one. He juggles joy and loss all at once, for the first time, while he tries to make it through his teenage years.
Filippo Scotti is our young Italian man who has a confusing scene in which he tries to learn how to have sex from a much older woman. I'm not sure that he's learning much here, but we learn a lot about his booty.
Kids
This 1995 classic from Larry Clark was very controversial when it was released. It introduced Harmony Korine to the world as well as a bevy of young talent like Chloe Sevigny and Justin Pierce.
The movie follows teens in New York City who are up to absolutely no good. The plot is one that wouldn't really work in the age of cellphones, but one of our film's leads has an important message to deliver and spends the entire movie scouring the city in search of the recipient. Nowadays, you'd make a few texts and it would be done. But in 1995 this was a thrilling film that had everyone wondering whether or not the kids were all right.
Harold Hunter ditched his clothes and gave us just a hint of his thick shaft in one scene and in another we see Jeff Pang piss, mooning the camera with his tush.
Moonlight
There is no explicit nudity in this Academy Award-winning film, but I would regret not including it on the list because it is so beautiful. Ashton Sanders and Jharrel Jerome kissing on the beach is also extremely satisfying, so you still get to see young gay men have at it.
The bulk of the movie follows the childhood of a young gay boy known as "Little". He is Black and his mother is in and out of his life, so he looks to other adults for guidance. Luckily, Mahershala Ali plays a kind drug dealer who teaches this shy young man that his sexuality is nothing to be ashamed of. We follow Little into high school and adulthood and see how the events in his life shape this young man, for better and worse.
Center of My World
This German film takes a look at young love and hot sex. Louis Hofmann plays Phil, a young man who comes back home after a summer away in France. He connects with Nicholas, played by Jannik Schümann and he shows Jannick's character some things that he might have learned in France.
Jannik Schumann shows his cock and we get to see even more when he and Louis Hofman hook up.
Beach Rats
This 2017 film from director Eliza Hittman hit the indie film scene in a big way when it was released. We meet Frankie, a young man played by Harris Dickinson, who likes to hang out at the beach to find drugs and hookups. He learns that strange babes on the beach don't do it for him. He only really gets excited by strange men that he meets on the internet!
Watch Frankie wrestle with his sexuality and wrestle with some super sexy older men. He also has a great nude scene in which he trims his pubes, giving us closeups of his shaft!
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Y Tu Mama Tambien definitely fits this category. This coming-of-age story meets road trip buddy film stars very young Mexican actors Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal in the roles that launched them into international stardom. They are best friends who recently graduated. They spend their summer boredom swimming naked and jerking off side-by-side on diving boards by the pool. You know, how friends do!
If you think that sounds pretty homoerotic, so do they. They take a road trip and pick up an older woman who teaches the two young men to let go and live a little. Their adventures culminate in the most memorable scene in the entire film: the threesome. During the threesome, the two young men lock lips passionately and finally let their curiosity get the better of them.
Call Me By Your Name
Oh, Elio! We love your coming-of-age story! Timothee Chalamet became THE Hollywood It boy after starring as a privileged young man living in Italy. His father is a professor whose new research assistant Oliver is the sexy Armie Hammer. Oliver and Elio are instantly attracted to one another.
The story is ultimately Elio's as he learns to love a man for the first time in his life. It's a really beautifully made movie that will have you wanting to book a trip to Italy - or book a trip to wherever Timothee lives and see if he wants to call you by your name.
