Riley

Benjamin Howard's 2025 American film follows a disciplined high school athlete whose life comes apart in the conflict between his queer identity and the person he was supposed to be. Riley sits at the centre of the order of masculinity built inside a football team, and the possibility of falling outside it frightens him more than failure. The film is honest in refusing to construct coming out as a moment of deliverance; Riley's fear is legitimate because his environment really is dangerous. Howard shoots the locker room almost as a space of surveillance. Its narrative weakness is that the supporting characters are not built enough and the final section resolves too quickly. Who it's for: viewers interested in queer coming-of-age drama and stories about masculinity in sport. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding content about homophobic violence and self-harm, or expecting an optimistic resolution.