Initiation (2016)

In My Octopus Teacher, documentary filmmaker Craig Foster models healthy masculinity by showing us a trusting, gentle, and emotionally fulfilling bond with an octopus.

The Forge is a moving story about a young man’s search for purpose. Through mentorship, discipline, and faith in God, his life is transformed from confusion into clarity, reminding us that true greatness is shaped in the fire of surrender and growth.

Adrian Chiarella’s Leviticus is a beautiful, poignant, enraging, gut-wrenching, and heartbreaking film about the trauma and harm conversion therapy inflicts on young queer people. Even though its classification as horror holds, the emotional bond between the two main characters, Naim and Ryan, elevates the story into a realistic romantic drama on par with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Even without the messaging, Mercy does not hold up as a movie. It's sloppily done and the mystery doesn’t tie together at the end.

Now that we're officially halfway through Hispanic Heritage Month, let's look ahead at movies featuring Hispanic & Latine representation through the rest of 2021.

Like most young people, Leviticus is imperfect.  But I love it anyways.