Best movies like Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
An AIDS-stricken woman becomes a leader in the struggle to educate people about the disease and its prevention.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 476
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: crying
Best tv shows and movies like Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story (1992):
Similar in 83%
Universal Signs (2008)
Plot Summary:
After the death of his fiancée's daughter while in his care, a deaf man shuts himself off from the world. Haunted by memories, it is only through new friendship that he can learn to forgive, love, and reconnect.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 152
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Kosumosu (1997)
Plot Summary:
Teen Akiko (Akane Oda) returns to her home village in Japan after seven years in South America, where she contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion. The town, thick with paranoia, is quick to ostracize the ailing Akiko. With only her best friend (Megumi Matsushita) and her mom (Mari Natsuki) in her corner, Akiko suffers awful discrimination at school and at home.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 43
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: crying
Similar in 86%
Jellyfish (2007)
Plot Summary:
Meduzot (the Hebrew word for Jellyfish) tells the story of three very different Israeli women living in Tel Aviv whose intersecting stories weave an unlikely portrait of modern Israeli life. Batya, a catering waitress, takes in a young child apparently abandoned at a local beach. Batya is one of the servers at the wedding reception of Keren, a young bride who breaks her leg in trying to escape from a locked toilet stall, which ruins her chance at a romantic honeymoon in the Caribbean. One of the guests is Joy, a Philippine chore woman attending the event with her employer, and who doesn't speak any Hebrew (she communicates mainly in English), and who is guilt-ridden after having left her young son behind in the Philippines.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, France
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, art house, existential, humorous, witty, stylized
Similar in 79%
A Mother's Prayer (1995)
Plot Summary:
Rosemary Holmstrom is struggling to bring up her son following the death of her husband. When she is diagnosed with AIDS, at first she refuses to believe it, but soon turns her attentions to the problem of what will happen to her son when she dies.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 358
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
River Made to Drown In (1997)
Plot Summary:
Allen, a struggling young artist who once survived by working in the streets, is now involved with Eva, a wealthy Los Angeles gallery owner. Quite by surprise Allen receives a visit from an old john, Thaddeus, who is dying from aids and has come to spend his last days somewhere humble ans spare. Allen reluctantly takes him in, straining his relationship with Eva, who slowly discovers the truth about their past. When Thaddeus implores Allen to find Jamie, a young hustler he had once tried to rescue, Allen returns to the streets where he must choose between what he left behind and the uncertainty that lies ahead. Written by Alie Heidema.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 383
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: crying, independent film, weeping, queer cinema
Similar in 85%
A Simple Life (2011)
Plot Summary:
The relationship between a middle-aged man (Andy Lau) and the elderly woman (Deanie Ip), who has been the family's helper for sixty years.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, serious, contemplative, realistic, captivating, crying
Similar in 85%
Ladybird Ladybird (1994)
Plot Summary:
Maggie has had four children, by four different fathers, removed by social services because of a previous violent relationship. When she meets Jorge, a gentle Latin American refugee, she gradually sees her chance for happiness, but her history still haunts her.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sad, disturbing, realistic, biting, independent film, social, detective, sincere, thought provoking, serious
Similar in 77%
Life Support (2007)
Plot Summary:
The true-life story of a mother who overcame an addiction to crack and became a positive role model and an AIDS activist in the black community.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, thought provoking, touching, psychological, captivating
Similar in 85%
Go Toward the Light (1988)
Plot Summary:
A young couple faces the realities of life with their child who is diagnosed with AIDS.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 572
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 89%
My Zoe (2019)
Plot Summary:
Isabelle, a geneticist recovering from a toxic marriage, is raising her only daughter, Zoe, with her contentious ex-husband. Zoe means everything to her mother and so when tragedy strikes the fractured family, Isabelle travels to Russia in seeking the help of a world-renowned fertility physician who Isabelle believes can help bring back her little girl.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Germany, France, USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: scary, sincere, touching, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Mrs. Harris (2005)
Plot Summary:
Based on the sensational 1980s media event, famed cardiologist Herman Tarnower meets a particularly brutal end at the hands of his jilted lover, Jean Harris.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: clever, serious, realistic, witty, biting, crying, detective, suspense
Similar in 85%
Four Good Days (2020)
Plot Summary:
A mother helps her daughter work through four crucial days of recovery from substance abuse.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, touching
Similar in 89%
120 Beats Per Minute (2017)
Plot Summary:
Paris, in the early 1990s: a group of young activists is desperately tied to finding the cure against an unknown lethal disease. They target the pharmaceutical labs that are retaining potential cures, and multiply direct actions, with the hope of saving their lives as well as the ones of future generations.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, art house, psychological, sentimental, captivating, disturbing, political, lgbt cinema, social, gay cinema
Similar in 84%
An Early Frost (1985)
Plot Summary:
Set in the mid-eighties Michael Pierson, a young gay man, is struck with AIDS in the prime of his life. He's forced to be open about the disease and his homosexuality for the first time with his co-workers (he's a successful lawyer) and family. He, and the people around him, must face up to the inevitablity of his death and the disease that's killing him. "An Early Frost" was many people's first look at an AIDS victim as a human being instead of a statistic.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy, tear jerker, queer cinema, tearjerker
Similar in 81%
Magnifico (2003)
Plot Summary:
With a daughter who suffers from cerebral palsy and a son who's lost his much-needed scholarship, an impoverished married couple begins to abandon their faith and courage in the face of such misfortune. But when a gifted young boy called Magnifico uses his goodness to magically transform their lives for the better, the family's belief in miracles is restored. Suddenly, living with adversity doesn't seem like such a burden.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 930
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, uplifting, serious, realistic, surprise ending, sad, tagalog, contemplative
Similar in 75%
A Map of the World (1999)
Plot Summary:
School nurse Alice Goodwin lives with her husband and two daughters on a dairy farm in a small Wisconsin community. After an accident on her property involving a friend's child, the town turns against her and Alice finds herself fighting charges of child abuse.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: black comedy, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, disturbing, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 87%
The Safety of Objects (2001)
Plot Summary:
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA, Canada
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: philosophical, psychological, depressing, confusing, disturbing, compassionate, suspense, touching, serious, emotional
Similar in 78%
Wit (2001)
Plot Summary:
A renowned professor is forced to reassess her life when she is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: depressing, sincere, emotional, touching, sentimental, thought provoking, contemplative, sad, christian film, clever
Similar in 90%
My Own Country (1998)
Plot Summary:
After obtaining his medical degree from Madras Medical College, Dr. Abraham Verghese decides to re-locate to Johnson City, Tennessee. He eventually gets married to Rajani, who is an accomplished dancer, and has a boy, Steven. Since Abraham specializes in infectious diseases, he takes special interest in patients suffering from Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome(AIDS), and presents his work at the local gay/lesbian hang-outs and clubs, creating a public awareness of AIDS. Soon he has as many as 82 patients in his care at the local hospital. He gets engrossed in his work to the extent that he starts neglecting his very heavily pregnant wife Rajani, who eventually gives birth to Jacob. She threatens him with marriage counseling, while fearing that her husband may acquire AIDS through contact with his patients, while he himself has to deal with hospital administration who are concerned about funds and resources being utilized on patients who may never recover.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 359
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, factual
Similar in 75%
Alone (1999)
Plot Summary:
Maria, whose parents live in the country, cannot stand her father's authoritarian ways and moves to the city. She finds a job as a cleaner and tries to survive in a wretched apartment in the shabby part of a big city. She is pregnant, and the fact that her boyfriend has abandoned her does not help matters. When her father goes to the hospital for an operation, her mother comes to stay with her. Her neighbor, an old recluse whose only friend is his dog, begins to come out of his shell and these three lost souls try to give each other the strength to start over.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, Canada
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, serious, erotic, uplifting, feel good, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 84%
Loggerheads (2005)
Plot Summary:
A troubled woman seeks out the child she gave up for adoption; a gay motel owner takes in a handsome drifter; and the wife of a preacher frets that a gay couple has moved in across the street. All of their lives will intersect as Loggerheads subtly draws out their secret losses and desires.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, touching, serious, sincere, realistic, contemplative, queer cinema
Similar in 90%
Our Sons (1991)
Plot Summary:
Our Sons is a 1991 made-for-TV movie starring Julie Andrews and Ann-Margret as two mothers of gay sons, one of whom is dying of AIDS. As a small town waitress, Ann-Margret's character must overcome her own homophobia and learn to love her son unconditionally. In the process, she cements a lasting friendship with Andrews's character. The movie was inspired by the 1987 documentary Too Little, Too Late. Andrews' character is secretly homophobic, and Ann-Margret's character is openly homophobic. The dying son is played by Željko Ivanek; Hugh Grant plays his partner.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 739
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, emotional, sentimental, touching, realistic, sincere, contemplative, gloomy, tear jerker
Similar in 85%
Pedro (2008)
Plot Summary:
An intimate biopic of Pedro Zamora, an HIV-positive Cuban-American, who was cast for the MTV reality show, The Real World: San Francisco, in 1994. Due to his experience on the Real World, Pedro became a celebrity and a sympathetic face of the AIDS epidemic for millions of Americans who had never met anyone with HIV/AIDS.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 535
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, touching, serious, realistic, sincere, contemplative, non-linear, queer cinema
Similar in 89%
Behind the Red Door (2003)
Plot Summary:
Set in New York and New England (but filmed in Newfoundland), Behind the Red Door stars Kyra Sedgwick as Manhattan-based photographer Natalie Haddad, who enjoys success with her strangely gloomy and foreboding camerawork. When her agent and best friend Julia (Stockard Channing) arranges for her to accept a lucrative contract with a Boston ad agency, Natalie discovers that she will be working for her own gay brother Roy (Kiefer Sutherland), whom she hasn't seen in a decade. Although Roy is insufferably snobbish and manipulative, he manages to exert a curious control over Natalie, forcing her to confront several disturbing, long-suppressed memories of her past (shown in black-and-white flashbacks). Before the film is over, Natalie is made to realize why Roy's behavior is so overbearing -- and also, the viewer learns just how intimately Julia is involved in the lives of both siblings.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 75%
Joe Gould's Secret (2000)
Plot Summary:
Around 1940, New Yorker staff writer Joe Mitchell meets Joe Gould, a Greenwich Village character who cadges meals, drinks, and contributions to the Joe Gould Fund and who is writing a voluminous Oral History of the World, a record of 20,000 conversations he's overheard. Mitchell is fascinated with this Harvard grad and writes a 1942 piece about him, "Professor Seagull," bringing Gould some celebrity and an invitation to join the Greenwich Village Ravens, a poetry club he's often crashed. Gould's touchy, querulous personality and his frequent dropping in on Mitchell for hours of chat lead to a breakup, but the two Joes stay in touch until Gould's death and Mitchell's unveiling of the secret.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: melancholic, sentimental, independent film, realistic, enigmatic, stylized, intellectual, serious, witty, contemplative
Similar in 83%
You're Not You (2014)
Plot Summary:
A drama centered on a classical pianist who has been diagnosed with ALS and the brash college student who becomes her caregiver.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sweet, lyrical, heartbreaking, dramatic, sad, emotional, depressing, serious
Similar in 83%
The Keys to the House (2004)
Plot Summary:
Meeting his handicapped son for the first time, a young father attempts to forge a relationship with the teenager.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, Germany, France, USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, touching, emotional, sincere, bleak, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 87%
Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001)
Plot Summary:
The lives of a lawyer, an actuary, a housecleaner, a professor, and the people around them intersect as they ponder order and happiness in the face of life's cold unpredictability.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: philosophical, psychological, bleak, meditative, depressing, touching, serious, contemplative, existential, cerebral
Similar in 83%
Body Shots (1999)
Plot Summary:
The Los Angeles club scene is a place of booze-fueled decadence and debauchery. In a night full of possibilities, eight 20-somethings take to the clubs seeking good times, companionship and maybe a little sex. But in the harsh light of the morning after, their worlds are thrown into a spin of confusion when hungover Sara accuses hard-partying Mike of date rape. Loyalties are tested as each among them is forced to take sides.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sexy, suspense, entertaining, melancholic, intense, psychological, serious, realistic, erotic, sexual
Similar in 81%
Philadelphia (1993)
Plot Summary:
No one would take his case until one man was willing to take on the system. Two competing lawyers join forces to sue a prestigious law firm for AIDS discrimination. As their unlikely friendship develops their courage overcomes the prejudice and corruption of their powerful adversaries.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 254000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: touching, sad, tear jerker, sincere, emotional, thought provoking, compassionate, inspirational, lgbt cinema, crying