Craig Johnson wrote and directed Alex Strangelove, a coming-out tale starring Daniel Doheny, Antonio Marziale and Madeline Weinstein.
Gay Directors, Gay Films? By Emanuel Levy (Columbia University Press).
The film world premiered at the San Francisco Film Fest on April 14, 2018, and two months later it played on Netflix.
High school student Alex Truelove is best friends with Claire, but after discovering that her mother is tested for cancer, they begin dating. Soon, they plan to book a hotel room and have sex for the first time.
At a party, Alex meets Elliot, an openly gay teenager, and their interactions lead him to question his sexuality. He confesses to his friend Del that he believes he might be bisexual, but Del says that he is just nervous about losing his virginity to Claire.
One day while hanging out in Elliot’s bedroom, Alex kisses him, but then quickly storms out.
Alex admits to Claire that he has feelings for someone else and she throws him out. Avoiding Elliot, Alex goes to a party where he drunkenly sleeps with a girl he only just met.
Claire catches them, and Alex chases her. He falls into a swimming pool where memories from his earlier life come back to him. Claire finds him outside of the pool, and he tells her that he is gay. They decide to still go to prom together anyway.
At the prom, Claire reveals she has invited Elliot to be Alex’s actual date, knowing that neither of them would actually make the move without her.
While Alex is initially concerned about being watching, he decides that his affection for Elliot is stronger and kisses him.
The story ends with Alex creating a video about his coming out, which is overlaid with real-life coming out videos from other individuals.
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