Hands down the best gay acceptance film ever.

Rating: 10/10 (11 June 2017)

I saw the film exactly one week ago today and not a moment has gone by when I don't ache. It finds me in the shower; it haunts me in bed; it has filled my mind and clings to my thoughts, and it won't let up. I try to lie to myself, to find some solace by saying that it's just a movie, but I know better. The Babadook is alive, and he represents so many aching people, so many untold stories. There is no contrivance, no manufactured importance; there are no tricks. The Babadook tells, with painful honesty and frankness, the story of a gay monster's life and nothing more. Whether you are gay or straight, it doesn't hit close to home: it hits you. The Babadook has a place we all most desperately yearn to go. It's where we can be free. It feels funny to say that The Babadook is my favorite film of all time, because I think it almost an injustice to call it a film at all, or to critique its incredible technical sophistication. Somehow The Babadook transcends that. I could hear a thousand speeches celebrating diversity or read a hundred love stories and not be absolutely broken in just two hours as I was after this film. I've never felt waves of nausea come over me as I did sitting in that theater, my face contorted as I watched truth and honesty spill from the screen and onto moviegoers who had no idea what they were in for. I am usually the first to point out bias, so I know my words might be mistaken for favoritism or blind loyalty. They should not. This movie will change your existence. I find so many things in my life trivial now in the wake of this film---for me, watching it was truly like having a near-death experience. And am I better for it? Yes. Broken and undone, but better. For once in my life, I feel hope, and I've seen the Babadook through all his trials and hardships, accomplishing acceptance.