Best movies like And the Band Played On
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The story of the discovery of the AIDS epidemic and the political infighting of the scientific community hampering the early fight with it.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: touching, disturbing, uplifting, political, talky, compassionate, thought provoking, multicultural, powerful, serious
Best tv shows and movies like And the Band Played On (1993):
Similar in 76%
Yesterday (2004)
Plot Summary:
After falling ill, Yesterday learns that she is HIV positive. With her husband in denial and young daughter to tend to, Yesterday's one goal is to live long enough to see her child go to school.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: South Africa
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, touching, emotional, serious, realistic, gloomy, masterpiece
Similar in 83%
Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves (2012)
Plot Summary:
When Rasmus gets of the train at the Central Station in Stockholm in September 1982 he leaves the little city of Koppom behind, to never go back. Young and beautiful he throws himself out in the gay Stockholm. Benjamin is a Jehova'’s Witness. Eagerly he walks from door to door to tell about God. And nothing can disturb his faith. Not until he knocks on Paul’s door, one of the warmest, most funny and most bitchy gay person that God has ever created. And on Christmas Eve, Rasmus meets Benjamin at Paul’s and nothing ever becomes the same again. What is told in this series has happened. It’s happening in this city, in these quarters, amongst the people that live here. In a city where most people go on living as if nothing has happened when young men start to get sick, fade away and die.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden, Finland, Norway
Duration: 174 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, thought provoking, realistic, retro, depressing, gloomy, queer cinema
Similar in 90%
Plague City: SARS in Toronto (2005)
Plot Summary:
The once clean and healthy city of Toronto becomes the pariah of the western world when a deadly chain of infection lands in the city. Panic spreads as the number of SARS cases increases as there are no effective treatments.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 160
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Canada
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic
Similar in 77%
Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story (1997)
Plot Summary:
Breaking the Surface is about the tough times Greg Louganis had on his way to becoming one of the world's top Olympic divers. Some topics discussed were Greg's childhood problems, his homosexuality, and him contracting the HIV virus.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 712
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, queer cinema
Similar in 81%
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 83%
A Perfect Son (2000)
Plot Summary:
A man's terminal illness reunites him with his estranged brother.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 361
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, independent film, sincere, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 76%
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 75%
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%
In the Gloaming (1997)
Plot Summary:
Danny, dying of Aids, returns home for his last months. Always close to his mother, they share moments of openness that tend to shut out Danny's father and his sister.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 67 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, queer cinema
Similar in 75%
1985 (2018)
Plot Summary:
Having been gone for three years, closeted advertising executive Adrian returns to his Texas hometown and struggles to reveal his dire circumstances to his conservative family.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, sentimental, sincere, unusual plot structure, disturbing, sad, black and white, crying, queer cinema
Similar in 85%
Anatomy of a Hate Crime (2001)
Plot Summary:
This MTV film dramatizes the horrific hate-crime killing of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard (Cy Carter) in Wyoming. In 1998, Shepard, a gay college student, was savagely beaten by Russell Henderson (Ian Somerhalder) and Aaron McKinney (Brendan Fletcher), who left their victim to die. Flashbacks paint a picture of Shepard's life and provide insight into why the killers, who initially set out to rob the young man, would commit such a brutal murder.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 316
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: disturbing, thought provoking, emotional, bleak, serious, realistic, controversial, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
The Matthew Shepard Story (2002)
Plot Summary:
In a senseless act of hatred, openly gay college student Matthew Shepard was murdered in 1998. This critically-acclaimed, moving film recounts the final days of Matthew's killers' trial—and the weeks leading to Matthew's death—with unnerving detail. Stockard Channing delivers an unforgettable, Emmy® Award-winning performance as Matthew's grieving mother, Judy, in a story of a murder that moved a nation to action. Also starring Law & Order's Sam Waterston.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, disturbing, serious, detective, weeping, bleak, crying, queer cinema
Similar in 77%
Test (2013)
Plot Summary:
San Francisco, 1985. Two opposites attract at a modern dance company. Together, their courage and resilience are tested as they navigate a world full of risks and promise, against the backdrop of a disease no one seems to know anything about.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, touching, serious, lgbt cinema, realistic, gloomy, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 75%
Buddies (1985)
Plot Summary:
Buddies is a 1985 American drama film. It is the first film to deal with the AIDS pandemic, preceding the television movie An Early Frost (also released in 1985). Directed by Arthur J. Bressan Jr., who would die of complications from AIDS two years after the film was released, the film follows a New York City gay man in a monogamous relationship becoming a "buddy" or a volunteer friend to another gay man dying of AIDS and the friendship that develops.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 784
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: independent film, social, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, crying, queer cinema
Similar in 84%
And Then There Was One (1994)
Plot Summary:
And Then There Was One - The tragic and true story of a family dealing with AIDS is re-told in this heart-wrenching drama. Amy Madigan and Dennis Boutsikaris star as Roxy and Vinnie Ventola, a successful television writing couple. After struggling and finally conceiving a child, the couple learns that their newborn has AIDS. Soon afterward, the two parents are also diagnosed with the fatal virus.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 262
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 85%
Extraordinary Measures (2010)
Plot Summary:
Working-class father John Crowley is finally on the fast track to corporate success when his two young children, Megan and Patrick, are diagnosed with Pompe disease - a condition that prevents the body from breaking down sugar. With the support of his wife, Aileen, John ditches his career and teams with unconventional specialist Dr. Robert Stonehill to found a bio-tech company and develop a cure in time to save the lives of Megan and Patrick. As Dr. Stonehill works tirelessly to prove the theories that made him the black sheep of the medical community, a powerful bond is forged between the two unlikely allies.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, inspirational, touching, serious, entertaining, intense, cult classic, captivating, realistic
Similar in 76%
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 87%
The Einstein of Sex (1999)
Plot Summary:
The life story of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, a German Jew, who as a physician established the field of sexology, and fought militantly against German anti-sodomy laws in the late 19th century. The script reveals main characters in Hirschfeld's life including impossible love interest Baron von Teschenberg, and Hirschfeld's aids- young Karl Giese and guardian angel, the transvestite Dorchen, as they establish the First Institute of Sexual Sciences in Berlin in 1920, and follows their struggles to keep it open, up to the rise of the Third Reich in the mid 1930s.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 723
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Germany, Netherlands
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: offbeat, serious, realistic, witty, biting, sexual, sexy, sex comedy, suspense, hot
Similar in 77%
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 86%
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 82%
Boycott (2001)
Plot Summary:
This made-for-TV movie dramatizes the historic boycott of public buses in the 1950s, led by civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, political, talky
Similar in 84%
It's My Party (1996)
Plot Summary:
A gathering of friends. A gift of love. A celebration of life.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, emotional, independent film, philosophical, depressing, sincere, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 83%
Longtime Companion (1989)
Plot Summary:
Longtime Companion follows the lives of a small circle of friends from the first mention of the disease in the New York Times in 1981. First referred to as "Gay-Related-Immune-Disorder," we watch the effect of the disease as it devastates the lives of our protagonists. Jumping between Manhattan and Fire Island, vignettes carry us from the it-couldn't-happen-to-me mentality of the early days of the disease to the invasive effect it has had on all of our lives, today. The title of the film comes from the New York Times' refusal to acknowledge homosexual relationships in their obituary section during this period. Instead, survivors were referred to as "Longtime Companions" of the deceased.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sad, independent film, touching, emotional, realistic, art house, lgbt cinema, weeping, eros, romantic drama
Similar in 81%
The Doctor (1991)
Plot Summary:
Jack McKee is a doctor with it all: he's successful, he's rich, and he has no problems.... until he is diagnosed with throat cancer. Now that he has seen medicine, hospitals, and doctors from a patient's perspective, he realises that there is more to being a doctor than surgery and prescriptions.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, touching, emotional, uplifting, scary, depressing, sincere, serious, realistic
Similar in 82%
Stonewall (2015)
Plot Summary:
"Stonewall" is a drama about a young man in New York caught up during the 1969 Stonewall Riots, a pivotal event widely considered the starting point for the modern gay civil rights movement.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, political, lgbt cinema, social, controversial, queer cinema
Similar in 84%
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
Similar in 78%
Ghosts of Mississippi (1996)
Plot Summary:
Ghosts of Mississippi is a drama covering the final trial of the assassin, Bryon De La Beckwith, of the 60s civil rights leader Medgar Evers. It begins with the murder and the events surrounding the two initial trials which both ended in a hung jury. The movie then covers District Attorney, Bobby DeLaughters transformation and alliance with Myrlie Evers, wife of Medgar Evers, of the, as he becomes more involved with bringing Beckwith to trial for the third time 30 years later. Some of the characters are played by the actual participants in this story.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: inspirational, talky, factual, intense, compassionate, sincere, thought provoking, serious, political, political thriller
Similar in 76%
Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
Plot Summary:
Loosely based on the true-life tale of Ron Woodroof, a drug-taking, women-loving, homophobic man who in 1986 was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and given thirty days to live.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 511000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: psychological, heartbreaking, compassionate, depressing, motivational, inspirational, clever, emotional, dramatic, cerebral
Similar in 81%
Milk (2008)
Plot Summary:
The story of California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk, who became an outspoken agent for change, seeking equal rights and opportunities for all. His great love for the city and its people brought him backing from young and old, straight and gay, alike – at a time when prejudice and violence against gays was openly accepted as the norm.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 178000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, political, realistic, sincere, touching, sad, inspirational, serious, contemplative, emotional
Similar in 90%
Nixon (1995)
Plot Summary:
An all-star cast powers this epic look at American President Richard M. Nixon, a man carrying the fate of the world on his shoulders while battling the self-destructive demands within. Spanning his troubled boyhood in California to the shocking Watergate scandal that would end his presidency.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 192 min
Plot tags: political, factual, talky, compassionate, intense, thought provoking, realistic, sincere, touching, serious