Best movies like Normal
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A Midwestern husband and father announces his plan to have a sex change operation.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, emotional, serious, sexy, sincere, sentimental, thought provoking, touching, contemplative
Best tv shows and movies like Normal (2003):
Similar in 80%
Cinema Verite (2011)
Plot Summary:
In 1973, the Loud family became a television sensation of a new kind. It was long before a metal rock star showed his eccentric family on the small screen and decades before housewives had screaming matches with each other on camera in public. CINEMA VERITE tells the behind-the-scenes story of the groundbreaking documentary "An American Family," which chronicled the lives of the Louds in the early 1970s and catapulted the Santa Barbara family to notoriety while creating a new television genre: the reality TV series.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, thought provoking, realistic, mockumentary, sincere, serious, captivating, emotional, contemplative
Similar in 88%
In a Year with 13 Moons (1978)
Plot Summary:
This drama follows the last few days in the life of Elvira (formerly Erwin) Weisshaupt. Years before, Erwin told a co-worker, Anton, that he loved him. "Too bad, you aren't a woman," he replied. Erwin took Anton at his word. Trying to salvage something from the wreckage love has made of his life, he now hopes that Anton will not reject him again.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: West Germany
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: disturbing, philosophical, depressing, controversial, art house, psychological, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 89%
Sex My Life (2008)
Plot Summary:
Tells the story of seven Iranian transgender individuals living in Tehran who live pieces of their own lives on the screen.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 82
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 76 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, sincere, touching, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 90%
The Policeman's Wife (2013)
Plot Summary:
The story of a young couple who live in a small town with their four-year-old daughter. The husband is so caught up in his work as a policeman that he gradually becomes increasingly alienated from his wife and daughter who become ever closer to one another as they discover the new town. It is only a matter of time before the conflicts within the family manifest themselves.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 494
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 175 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, sexy, sincere, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Close-Knit (2017)
Plot Summary:
After being neglected by her mother, a little girl is taken in by her uncle and his transgender girlfriend, who create a loving home for her.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, educational, sexual, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 86%
Melting Away (2011)
Plot Summary:
Shlomo who discovers in his son's Assaf room, women's clothing and accessories, decides to 'teach the boy a lesson'. When Assaf returns to his parents' home on a rainy night from a party, his attempts to enter home fail. His father, with the silent consent of his mother, locked the door. At present, 4 years later, Gallia turns to an investigation agency to help her find her son Assaf and bring him to Shlomo, his father who is dying of cancer. One night, at a night club in Tel Aviv, Assaf is seen performing as a beautiful transgender lady singer who goes by the name of Anna. After a few days a private nurse turns up at Shlomo's room at the hospital, sent as she claims by the insurance agency to assist Shlomo. The nurse is Anna (his son Assaf) and she manages to conquer Shlomo's heart by her charming personality and her special attitude toward life.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 194
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, Canada
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, touching, realistic, captivating, psychological, sincere, serious
Similar in 84%
Gun Hill Road (2011)
Plot Summary:
An ex-con returns home to the Bronx after three year in prison to discover his wife estranged and his teenage son exploring a sexual transformation that will put the fragile bonds of their family to the test.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, independent film, queer cinema, bilingual
Similar in 76%
Hard Pill (2005)
Plot Summary:
A despondent gay man throws his life and relationships into turmoil when he volunteers for a controversial pharmaceutical study for a drug designed to make gay men straight.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 562
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: realistic, contemplative, psychological, sentimental, sexy, captivating, sincere, serious, independent film, sexual
Similar in 82%
Trade (2019)
Plot Summary:
Trade tells the story of two men, one a streetwise hustler, the other a straight-laced lawyer, who meet and form a relationship that brings to light who they really are. Inspired by the book "Boulevard Girls" by David Kaye.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 93
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, sexy, unusual plot structure, melancholic, contemplative
Similar in 80%
Quick Change (2013)
Plot Summary:
Dorina is a transsexual woman. She’s got herself a flourishing career, albeit in an illegal cosmetic surgery business. She is a mother figure to Hero, her eight year old nephew, and a devoted wife to Uno. Between her job and her family, Dorina feels that she is one lucky woman. Until Uno falls in love.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 57
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, bleak
Similar in 87%
The Sex of the Stars (1993)
Plot Summary:
Every child who has lost a parent early in life (whether due to death or the separations of divorce or for any other reason) longs to see that parent again. Many have kept up a running dialogue in their heads of things they would say to them if they ever see them again, and many of these things are bitter indeed. In this story, Camille (Marianne-Coquelicot Mercier is such a child. Her father (Denis Mercier) left years before, and now she is thirteen. Stargazing appeals to her as a hobby because "stars have no sex." Surprisingly, her father does reappear, but now he is a "she." This casts a pall over their reunion, and Camille is forced to come to terms with her new father, and cannot renew a relationship with the man who (in his view at least) never was. Her mother (Sylvie Drapeau), however, is not about to be easily reconciled to this transformation. This story is based on a novel by Monique Proulx, a relative to the better known Annie Proulx.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 238
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 87%
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1984)
Plot Summary:
Brick, an alcoholic ex-football player, drinks his days away and resists the affections of his wife, Maggie. His reunion with his father, Big Daddy, who is dying of cancer, jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 588
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, talky, gloomy, sexual, southern gothic
Similar in 76%
Cowboys (2020)
Plot Summary:
Troy and his young transgender son Joe are on the run from his conservative mother in the Montana wilderness, with a detective in hot pursuit.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, social, queer cinema
Similar in 89%
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 84%
Constellation (2005)
Plot Summary:
Constellation chronicles the lives and loves of an African-American family in the deep South as they are forced to come to terms with a tumultuous past marked by an unrequited interracial affair. The film explores the way in which the family patriarch must confront his demons amidst the changing racial fabric of society and his own family.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 687
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, psychological, touching, captivating, uplifting, sincere, serious, independent film
Similar in 78%
A Quiet Little Marriage (2008)
Plot Summary:
A Quiet Little Marriage is the love story of Dax and Olive, who manage to find harmony even as they juggle family, romance and intimacy, but that all changes the night she asks him for a baby. Writer/director Mo Perkins’ intense and profound, raw feature debut is laced with sly humor, exquisitely rendered characters, and a pitch-perfect emotional honesty.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 361
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, realistic, captivating, sincere, serious, talky, independent film
Similar in 77%
The Event (2003)
Plot Summary:
An intense relationship drama that takes the form of a mystery, The Event centers around a series of unexplained deaths that occur among the gay community in New York's fashionable Chelsea district. Nick, a district attorney investigating the most recent case, a suspicious apparent suicide, and her interviews with friends and family of the deceased trigger extensive and intricately interwoven flashbacks that reveal surprising facts about the man's life and death.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, sentimental, sincere, touching, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 82%
Twelve Thirty (2010)
Plot Summary:
TWELVE THIRTY is drama about a family with adult children that is broken, and a self-centered young man who, in the span of a week, becomes entangled in each of their lives, wreaking havoc in the process.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 267
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, erotic, realistic, independent film, sexual, sexy
Similar in 89%
The New Year Parade (2008)
Plot Summary:
When Mike and Lisa separate, their children suffer quietly in the middle of the annual Mummer's Parade.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 126
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, psychological, contemplative, captivating, sincere, serious, emotional, gloomy, independent film
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 88%
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 89%
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 78%
Hysterical Blindness (2002)
Plot Summary:
Set in the 1980's, Debby Miller (Uma Thurman) goes out in New Jersey looking for a man after she is diagnosed with "hysterical blindness".
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, stylized, touching, serious, sincere, emotional, realistic, talky, scary, dark
Similar in 83%
Charms for the Easy Life (2002)
Plot Summary:
The story of three women who live in a North Carolina town and defy the traditional roles set forth for them by society.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 481
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, thought provoking, captivating, atmospheric, realistic, sexual
Similar in 79%
Losing Chase (1996)
Plot Summary:
An intimate and turbulent relationship develops between Chase, a woman recovering from a nervous breakdown and Elizabeth, the caretaker employed to look after her.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 909
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: independent film, emotional, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, sentimental, sexy, feel good
Similar in 78%
Tully (2000)
Plot Summary:
Tully Jr. and Earl live on their father's Nebraska ranch, proud and independent to a fault. While the shy, reclusive Earl spends his free time watching movies, the cockier Tully works his way through a succession of short-term affairs and an off-again, on-again relationship with April, a stripper in town. When their childhood friend Ella returns to town to start a veterinary practice, however, Tully falls for her -- although the townsfolk have their doubts that he could ever commit to one woman.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, touching, serious, independent film, realistic, romantic, social, sincere, thought provoking
Similar in 89%
Red Doors (2005)
Plot Summary:
The Wongs struggle to cope with life, love, and family dysfunction in the suburbs of New York.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 78%
Open (2010)
Plot Summary:
OPEN is a hallucinogenic journey through gender, identity, the body, love and how those can be shared by two people. The film consists of interlocking stories lines- the first about two transwomen in a pandrogynous relationship in which they simultaneously receive plastic surgery treatments to mirror each other's features to ideally form into a single person. The second story follows a transman and his new (cisgender) boyfriend as they run away from home and push against their own personal boundaries while dealing with his unexpected pregnancy.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 138
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, psychological, captivating, sincere, atmospheric, touching, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 82%
Alpha Male (2006)
Plot Summary:
Drama about a family torn apart after the death of its patriarch. Haunted by their father's death, Jack and Elyssa have a fraught relationship with their remarried mother even now they have come of age.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 345
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, realistic, contemplative, psychological, sentimental, sincere, serious
Similar in 85%
Canvas (2006)
Plot Summary:
A woman's schizophrenia affects her relationships with her husband and son.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sentimental, sincere, rough, melancholic, psychological