Best movies like East Palace West Palace
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
In China, homosexuality isn't illegal, but homosexuals are routinely persecuted by police and arrested for "hooliganism". The film focuses on a young gay writer A-Lan who, being attracted to a young policeman, manages to have himself interrogated for a whole night. His life-story which he tells during the interrogation reflects the general repression of the Chinese society. The policeman's attitude shifts from the initial revulsion to fascination and, finally, to attraction.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, bleak, serious, realistic, talky, gloomy, gay cinema, queer cinema
Best tv shows and movies like East Palace West Palace (1996):
Similar in 89%
Bugis Street (1995)
Plot Summary:
It’s monsoon season in Singapore. Bugis Street, the epicentre of multisexual nightlife and unchained libido, is where a band of hedonistic, transidentical poeple has taken root at wacky love hotel SinSin.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 151
Genere: Drama
Country: Singapore
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: erotic, serious, realistic, sexual, sexy, gay cinema
Similar in 88%
Spring Fever (2009)
Plot Summary:
Hired to spy on a philandering husband, Luo Haitao soon becomes entangled in a clandestine affair with the other man. Along with Luo's girlfriend, they succumb to the delirium of drunken nights, but how long can their tryst last?.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: China, France
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, sexual, independent film, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 75%
White Night (2012)
Plot Summary:
Flight attendant Won-Gyu (Won Tae-Hee) left Korea 2 years ago with painful memories and now comes back. Won-Gyu meets Tae-Joon (Lee Yi-Kyung), who is a quick service delivery man and has a special night with him.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 415
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, disturbing, bleak, contemplative, crying, queer cinema
Similar in 89%
The Angelic Conversation (1985)
Plot Summary:
The Angelic Conversation is a lyrical, haunting film about a young man’s search for love, in a dreamlike landscape. Offscreen, Dame Judi Dench recites a sequence of Shakespeare sonnets, that counterpoint the action. Jarman called it, “My most austere work, but also the closest to my heart.”.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 894
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: experimental, atmospheric, serious, surreal, contemplative, stylized, sexual, avant garde, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 90%
Sagwan (2009)
Plot Summary:
Sagwan is a story of an 18-year-old boy named Alfred, whose routinary life as a boatman becomes complicated as he discovers how much more life around him has to offer. His family's haunting dark past inhibits him from living his young life freely.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 165
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, queer cinema
Similar in 76%
The Stranger in Us (2010)
Plot Summary:
In this verité-style drama, Anthony, a newcomer to San Francisco, attempts to come to terms with his abusive ex-lover when he strikes up an unlikely friendship with a street hustler.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 530
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, emotional, captivating, independent film, touching, serious, crying, queer cinema
Similar in 81%
Love Forbidden (2002)
Plot Summary:
Rodolphe Marconi writes, directs, and stars in the coming-out drama Défense d'Aimer (Love Forbidden). Marconi plays Bruce, a young student from Paris who accepts a fellowship in Rome. He takes a flat at the Villa Medicis and writes full time. He eventually meets Italian native Matteo (Andrea Necci) and develops feelings for the man. However, Bruce is confused because Matteo also seems interested in the American student Irene (Irene D'Agostino). Love Forbidden premiered in the U.S. at the 2003 New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 273
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, sexy, serious, realistic, stylized, gloomy, sexual
Similar in 82%
Nobody's Watching (2017)
Plot Summary:
Nico is a young Argentine actor fighting to build a career in the US, without assistance, or connections, never too far from heart-breaking failure, but often blinded by the mirage of immediate success.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina, Spain, Colombia, Brazil, USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sexy, psychological, tense, sincere, captivating, soap opera, erotic, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 83%
My Fair Son (2005)
Plot Summary:
When young art student Ray moves in with his estranged businessman father after years of separation, the two tentatively begin to reconcile their many differences -- including Ray's revelation that he's gay, which his father struggles to accept.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 94
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, suspenseful, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 76%
Aya Arcos (2014)
Plot Summary:
When successful writer Edu falls in love with a young hustler, Fabio, his initial fear is about contracting HIV, but emotional matters soon loom large as well.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 165
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil, Germany
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 89%
Dry Cleaning (1997)
Plot Summary:
A bored couple takes in a young man who turns their lives inside out.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Spain
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: psychological, sexy, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, talky, sexual
Similar in 79%
Sebastian (1995)
Plot Summary:
In this thoughtful Scandinavian drama, a teenage boy wrestles with his sexuality and learns that most of his deepest fears were unfounded. Sebastian is almost 17 when he figures out that he is a homosexual. Though he lives with wonderful, stable parents and has a good-hearted sister, he finds himself wracked with turmoil and suddenly withdraws from them all. The more they try to understand why, the more distant Sebastian becomes. Things get worse when he falls in love with the handsome Ulf, who comes from an unstable, tempestuous home. Sebastian realizes he is lucky, but still can't help but become irritated when he brings Ulf home for dinner. His parents are too nice and this quietly infuriates their son. Eventually they leave the two boys alone in the house. Sebastian have great fun doing teenage guy stuff, but then they take a bath together and it is then that Sebastian tries to kiss Ulf.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 595
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway, Sweden
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sexual, sexy, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
Play the Devil (2016)
Plot Summary:
Set against the backdrop of Trinidad and Tobago’s mystical Carnival, a gifted and struggling young man becomes the object of intrigue for an older, well-meaning businessman until their worlds collide.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 347
Genere: Drama
Country: Trinidad and Tobago
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, romantic, sexy, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic, lgbt cinema, gay cinema
Similar in 88%
One Night Only (2014)
Plot Summary:
NIGHT BUG (dir. by Kim Tae-Yong) Han-Jae meets gay men at a bar in Jongno District, Seoul. He first meets them through an internet site. Once they get drunk, Han-Jae steals their money. He is accompanied by Hoon and pretends he is his boyfriend. Hoon is popular, but Han-Jae ignores Hoon's feelings for him. One day, Hoon suddenly kisses Han-Jae. ONE NIGHT (dir. by Kim Jho Gwang-Soo) Geun-Ho is almost hit by a car. At that time, Joon, who is visiting Jinju from Seoul, saves Geun-Ho. They happen to meet at a bar later that night. Geun-Ho and his friends goes to Seoul with Joon.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 101
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 67 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, sincere, romantic, unusual plot structure, melancholic, gay cinema
Similar in 88%
Paths (2017)
Plot Summary:
Andreas and Martin share all the ups and downs of everyday life, and their son is maturing. A cautious approach to the traces of a long relationship. The love story of two people. Not about how they come together, not a phase they go through, but all of their shared experiences: all the years between the first kiss and today.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 508
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, romantic, sexy, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic, queer cinema
Similar in 83%
What We Have (2014)
Plot Summary:
What We Have is is the tale of Maurice, a prisoner of his past who is unable to connect with the people in his new Northern Canadian small town, a community that is only too ready to welcome this European misfit into their arms.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 233
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, romantic, sexy, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 82%
The Sex Movie (2006)
Plot Summary:
Four friends spend an evening together after time apart. Differences in sex and sexuality reveal deep-rooted conflicts and long-hidden longings.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 921
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, captivating, sexual, sexy
Similar in 86%
Doubt (2003)
Plot Summary:
A gaggle of friends and observers ponder the fate of a relationship as they watch it collapse in this independent drama from the Philippines. Cris (Andoy Ranay) is a documentary filmmaker with a well-regarded body of work and a large community of friends and admirers. Cris is also gay, and possesses a voracious sexual appetite, claiming to have had sex with over 4,000 men during his years of frequent cruising. But Cris has fallen for Eric (Paolo Gabriel), and has sworn off meaningless sex for the pleasures of monogamy. However, while Cris wants Eric and Eric alone, Eric himself isn't so sure he feels exactly the same way, and is both puzzled and annoyed with Cris' rather ironic jealousy. The tensions between the two take a heavy toll on Cris, leading to a suicide attempt, and as his friends watch from a distance, any number of them speculate on what's going on between Cris and Eric. Duda was screened at part of the 2004 New York Asian-American Film Festival.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 113
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, realistic, sentimental, captivating, serious, sexual, independent film, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 83%
Clayton & Claudia (2015)
Plot Summary:
Claudia Noon is a struggling booker for a local talent agency in Dallas. While working hard to find her actors work, an old crush from her high school years, Kent Bergman, shows-up at the agency looking for representation. It is obvious that Kent doesn't remember Claudia and for good reason. The two instantly fall in love with one another. After weeks of dating, Claudia fears the worst... she fears Kent might leave once he discovers who she really is.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 23
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, romantic, sexy, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic, gay cinema
Similar in 78%
Boys On Film 7: Bad Romance (2011)
Plot Summary:
Experience an alternative take on attraction with Boys On Film. Bad Romance explores the darker side with a collection of edgy and sexy short films, including: Alain Hain's "Curious Thing" starring Danny Bernardy and Matthew Wilkas; Christoph Scheermann's "Cake and Sand" starring Bartholomew Sammut and Jan Andreesen; Michael Rozanov's "Watch Over Me" starring Guy Kapulnik and Davidi Hoffman; Joachim Back's "The New Tenants" starring David Rakoff and Jamie Harrold; Kim Jho Gwang-soo's "Just Friends?" starring Lee Je-hoon and Yeon Woo-jin; Étienne Desrosiers's "Mirrors" starring Xavier Dolan, Stéphane Demers, and Julie Beauchemin; Christopher Banks's "Communication" starring Rudi Vodanovich and Alexander Campbell; Tomer Velkoff's "The Traitor" co-starring Shmulik Goldstein; Christopher Radcliff and Lauren Wolkstein's "The Strange Ones" starring David Call, Tobias Campbell, and Merritt Wever; and Tamer Ruggli's "Cappuccino" starring Benjamin Décosterd and Manuela Biedermann.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 101
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, light, sexy, unusual plot structure, contemplative, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 78%
Boys Life 2 (1997)
Plot Summary:
Compilation of four short films about homoerotic situations involving young men. In "Trevor", by Peggy Rajski, a teenager faces homophobia and falls in love for the first time. Tom DeCerchio directed "Nunzio's Second Cousin", telling the story of a gay cop who forces a gay-basher to come to his house and have dinner with his family. In "Alkali, Iowa", by Mark Christopher, a young gay man finds out some of his father's past secrets. And "Must Be the Music", by Nickolas Perry, follows four teenagers looking for love in nightclubs.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 487
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: independent film, anthology, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, sketch comedy, sexy, unusual plot structure, sweet
Similar in 90%
Boys Life: Three Stories of Love, Lust, and Liberation (1994)
Plot Summary:
Each of the three short films in this collection presents a young gay man at the threshold of adulthood. In "Pool Days," Justin is a 17-year old Bethesda lad, hired as the evening life guard at a fitness center. In the course of the summer, he realizes and embraces that he's gay. In "A Friend of Dorothy," Winston arrives from upstate for his freshman year at NYU. He has to figure out, with some help from Anne, a hometown friend, how to build a social life as a young gay man in the city. In "The Disco Years," Tom looks back on 1978, the year in high school that he came out of the closet after one joyful and several painful encounters.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 531
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: anthology, independent film, sentimental, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, sexy, feel good, sweet
Similar in 81%
Do You Take This Man (2016)
Plot Summary:
When a gay couple's impending wedding hits a snag, the grooms must rely on their friends and family to see them through.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 698
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, touching, unusual plot structure, disturbing, contemplative, queer cinema
Similar in 82%
Driving Not Knowing (2015)
Plot Summary:
An estranged poet attempts to rekindle a complex relationship with a strung-out musician during a weekend in rural nowhere; their toxic past, however, won't be so easily forgotten.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 55
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, sentimental, romantic, sexy, unusual plot structure, melancholic, independent film, gay cinema
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Nighthawks (1978)
Plot Summary:
A gay man is forced to hide his sexuality by day while living his secret life by night. A respectable geography teacher by day; by night, hanging out in London's gay bars, looking for a long-term relationship, but usually encountering only one-night stands. Ron Peck later talks about his experiences of growing up as a gay man, the attitudes to homosexuality in Britain, and his journey towards making this film in the 1991 movie "Strip Jack Naked: Nighthawks II".
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 681
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, West Germany
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, sexual, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 82%
Blackbird (2014)
Plot Summary:
Seventeen-year-old Randy tries very hard to be a good person. Since his father left, Randy takes care of his emotionally disturbed mother, and he's the kind of friend all of his classmates can depend on. As strong as he seems on the outside, Randy is hiding a secret inner struggle and denial of his true self. It's not until he opens himself up to love that he discovers that becoming a man means accepting who you really are.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, romantic, sexy, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic, queer cinema, gay cinema
Similar in 82%
Tattoo (2013)
Plot Summary:
Brazil, 1978. The military dictatorship that resulted from a coup in 1964 begins to stumble. In a cabaret-like theater located on the periphery between two cities in the northeast of Brazil, a group of artists challenges power and conventional morality with theater plays and public interferences. Led by Clécio Wanderley, the troupe Chão de Estrelas, strongly supported by its homosexual audience, along with intellectuals and other artists, practices political resistance through anarchy and mockery.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, disturbing, captivating, realistic, period piece, queer cinema, gay cinema
Similar in 78%
Cal (2013)
Plot Summary:
Twenty-year-old Cal returns from France to Britain after receiving news that his mother is ill. His finds his home city of Bristol facing hard economic times brought on by the global economic crisis, with poverty and crime on the rise and rioting and looting almost a nightly occurrence. It is not a warm homecoming as his sick mother remains stubbornly homophobic and wants nothing to do with the now openingly gay Cal while his battered Auntie Jane, now living in a run down council house, dulls her stagnation with welfare funded booze and disturbing attempts to sexually seduce her nephew. Navigating his way across this new landscape he meets a young student who needs his help. However his act of kindness brings him into contact with a lawless drug dealing pimp and a race against time to make peace with his mother and get out of town as quickly as possible. An intense tale of a family mired in poverty, angry and lost but still searching for love, respect and acceptance.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 474
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, erotic, tense, gloomy, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 76%
Boys On Film X (2013)
Plot Summary:
Boys On Film presents the tenth volume in the world's most successful short film series. All boundaries will be broken as Boys On Film X promises to take it further than ever before, showcasing eight of the most sexy, unique and brilliant new short films, including: Jacob Brown's "Blinders" starring Nathaniel Brown, Byrdie Bell, and Luke Worrall; Fabio Youniss's "A Stable For Disabled Horses" starring Daniel Swan and Daniel Simonsen; Antony Hickling and Amaury Grisel's "Little Gay Boy, ChrisT Is Dead" starring Gaëtan Vettier; Till Kleinert's "Boys Village" starring Benjamin Thorne and Andrew McQueen; Lukas Dhont's "Headlong" starring Jelle Florizoone and Thomas Coumans; Evan Roberts's "Yeah Kowalski!" starring Cameron Wofford and Conor Donnelly; William Feroldi's "Inflatable Swamp" starring Francis Beraud and Paul Huntley-Thomas; and Dominic Haxton's "Teens Like Phil" starring Adam Donovan and Jake Robbins.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 87
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, sentimental, romantic, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 88%
Lan Yu (2001)
Plot Summary:
A love story between a country boy in Beijing to study and a wealthy businessman set against the backdrop of the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, captivating, depressing, heartbreaking, lgbt cinema, poignant, crying, serious