Best movies like Only the Brave
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Alex is in love with her best friend, Vicki, her mother has dissapeared and she sets fire to things in her spare time. Vicki comes from an abusive home and wants Alex to run away with her. Alex is a bit of a nerd and a teachers pet, so takes advantage of this by trying to seduce her drippy school teacher. Alex watches as Vicki, unable to escape her terrible homelife and an psychological wreck, sets alight to herself and burns to death.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 120
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 59 min
Plot tags: sad, psychological, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing, gloomy, crying, independent film
Best tv shows and movies like Only the Brave (1994):
Similar in 75%
The Everlasting Secret Family (1988)
Plot Summary:
A beautiful, if ambitious and amoral, youth is tapped to become the lover of a powerful senator. The young man quickly realizes that he can hold this place, with all its perks, only as long as he is young. He has no other function than being young. With the help of an aged judge, the young man, referred to only as The Lover, contrives a plan to make a change in the way of the world, a plan that will take him years to realize. To succeed, he must manipulate, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, the senator, his wife, the family chauffeur (who was, when young, a lover), and, by implication, the entire well-planned and controlling everlasting secret family.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 369
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: satanic, psychological, serious, realistic, disturbing, gloomy, sexual, independent film, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 77%
Happy Birthday (2002)
Plot Summary:
As a common birthday approaches, five very different people are faced with very similar problems. Jim, a gay, overweight telemarketer (for a weight loss program) faces his self esteem issues. Ron, is a minister who preaches about conversion but practices watching gay porn whenever he can. Javed living in the US with a gay porn actor faces deportation as a Pakistani and condemnation from his Islamic family. Javed living in the US with a gay porn actor faces deportation as a Pakistani and damnation from his Islamic family. Kelly, a young lesbian weathers a breakup with her lover and considers an earlier unrequited love. Tracy, an asian lesbian, goes back in the closet when her mother visits.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 118
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy, sexual, crying, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 81%
Beloved/Friend (1999)
Plot Summary:
Based on a work of Josep Maria Benet i Jornet entitled "Testament", the film tells the story of an aging professor of medieval literature with the dilemma of deciding who will inherit his essay on "The Book of friend and loved" by Ramon Llull. Feeling near death as a result of illness, he discovers that the ideal person is a young and intelligent student he is in love with and who is dedicated to male prostitution.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 468
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Spain
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, contemplative, crying
Similar in 76%
Domain (2009)
Plot Summary:
Nadia (Béatrice Dalle) is in her 30s and begins a serious relationship with a teen named Pierre (Isaïe Sultan).
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 193
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Austria
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 83%
I Dreamt Under the Water (2008)
Plot Summary:
Antoine, a handsome boy in his 20s, falls for a straight best friend who does not reciprocate, and being a junkie exits the film quite early. Enter a girl, who seems to make him happy again, after he has tried living as a rent boy with men, having some familial, financial difficulties. But the girl is a junkie too.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 395
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sexy, touching, serious, realistic, sexual, crying, freeze frame, queer cinema, hot
Similar in 89%
Eban and Charley (2000)
Plot Summary:
29-year-old Eban has retreated home to his parent's house in Seaside Oregon after the dissolution of his teaching job in Seattle. There he courts 15-year-old Charlie and eventually the two start a sexual relationship. As the age of consent in Oregon is 18 years and given the age difference, the adults in this drama take a dim view of this development.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 792
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, sexy, serious, realistic, gloomy, sexual, crying
Similar in 81%
Blue Citrus Hearts (2003)
Plot Summary:
A first love could quite possibly be the last for Sam, a Memphis teenager coming to terms with the romantic feelings he harbors for his best friend, Julian. Will the love he feels for this boy guide him through his struggles with his abusive father, ignorant girlfriend, and suicidal thoughts -- or will the conflict that his love for Julian stirs throughout his life prove to be more than one boy can handle?.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 315
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, atmospheric, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying, independent film
Similar in 75%
Crutch (2004)
Plot Summary:
An autobiographical film taken from the experiences of writer-director Rob Moretti, CRUTCH is a coming-of-age tale about a young man's struggle with family problems and substance abuse. Behind a facade of suburban middle class perfection, David's home life is falling apart. As he tries to cope with the impossible situation, the troubled and impressionable teenager falls under the spell of Kenny, a georgous, thirty-something, has-been actor turned theatre coach. When Kenny's "support" escalates into seduction, David slowly decends into an abyss of drinking and drug addition from which he must escape if he is to survive. CRUTCH is a dramatic tale of the confusion of youth and the difficulties in finding oneself.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 712
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, emotional, realistic, bleak, contemplative, gloomy, crying, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
Lola and Billy the Kid (1999)
Plot Summary:
When young Turkish talent Kutlug Ataman wanted to make a film about transvestites, the first location he had in mind was Istanbul. As he developed the script, his thought was to place these marginal characters, who are subject to societal prejudices in an environment where there is already discrimination, would add dramatic effect. Supported by funding from German sources, Ataman set his story in Berlin, inside the community of "guest workers" where Turkish transvestites are shunned not only by Germans, but by their own kind as well. The result is a strong film with moments of tenderness, emotion and laughter juxtaposed with the harsh realities of life for those who dare to be different. 16 year old Murat (Baki Davrak) is a Turk who is curious about gay life and eventually submerges himself in the gay hustler and transvestite subculture.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany, Turkey
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, psychological, sexual, crying, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 85%
Moonlight Whispers (1999)
Plot Summary:
Satsuki (Tsugumi) and Takuya (Kenji Mizuhashi) are high school students who meet at kendo practice, where they bash one another with wooden swords. They begin an awkward romance, but Takuya soon reveals a masochistic side to his desires. He has been stealing Satsuki's soiled clothing and secretly surveilling her while imagining her subjugation of him. Disgusted, Satsuki rejects him -- but he persists, and she discovers her own pleasure in manipulating and humiliating him.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 963
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: disturbing, erotic, sensual, erotic drama, psychological, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, sexual
Similar in 79%
Ripe (1996)
Plot Summary:
When their abusive parents are killed in a car crash, twin sisters Rosie and Violet vow to run away to Kentucky in search of a better life. While on the road, the girls meet up with Pete, a drifter working as a grounds keeper on a derelict army base, who takes them in. While Violet falls for him, Rosie becomes increasingly angry and hostile, and the sisters' childhood bond is eventually destroyed forever.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: independent film, erotic, sexy, psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, disturbing, gloomy, sexual
Similar in 85%
The Year My Voice Broke (1987)
Plot Summary:
Coming-of age feature, set in a New South Wales country town in the 1960s, about a 15 year-old boy. It follows his loves and how he copes with life's problems such as death and departure.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sad, independent film, retro, social, sex comedy, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 75%
Till Human Voices Wake Us (2002)
Plot Summary:
Sam and Silvy are best friends. One night, as they are watching a falling star while floating on their backs in a lake, Sylvy disappears from his side. Despite his best efforts, he cannot find her under water. Many years later, Sam, now a psychologist, returns to bury his father. Back in his hometown, he meets a woman called Ruby who reminds him in so many ways of his lost love.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, realistic, sexy, gloomy, mystic, mindfuck, contemplative, crying
Similar in 76%
Flirting (1991)
Plot Summary:
The year is 1965 and Danny Embling, is an awkward, underdeveloped teen suffering from occasional bouts of stuttering, attends an all-male boarding school in New South Wales, Australia. it has been some time since Danny has had any romantic relationship with a girl. He slowly becomes interested in Thandiwe Adjewa, a Ugandan-Kenyan-British girl attending the all-girls school across the lake.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, romantic, disturbing, sentimental, sincere, serious, teen, atmospheric, independent film
Similar in 77%
Permanent Record (1988)
Plot Summary:
David Sinclair seems to have everything going for him: he's smart, musically talented, and very successful. To top off his senior year in high school, his band is trying to get a recording session. Therefore, David's suicide leaves everyone, especially his best friend and band-mate, Chris, with a lot of questions.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: cult classic, touching, emotional, realistic, retro, sincere, serious, gloomy, crying, sentimental
Similar in 85%
Love in Thoughts (2004)
Plot Summary:
A posthumous look at the last days of Guenther's life as he, his best friend, and his sister let loose on a four-day binge of alcohol, drugs, and sex.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, disturbing, stylized, rough, realistic, sexual, crying, sexy, vintage
Similar in 85%
Head On (1998)
Plot Summary:
Nineteen-year-old Ari confronts both his sexuality and his Greek family. Ari despises his once-beloved parents, former radical activists, for having entombed themselves in insular tradition. Ari is obsessed with gay sex, although he does make an unenthusiastic attempt to satisfy the sister of one of his best friends. While all of this is going on, he's facing problems with his traditional Greek parents, who have no clue about his sexual activities.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: independent film, lgbt cinema, terrifying, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, erotic, rough, sexy
Similar in 82%
Intentions (2003)
Plot Summary:
Renee leads a fulfilling life as a professor of theater, mother of two girls, and wife to a kind and successful husband. Her life of contentment is changed forever when she discovers an undeniable attraction between herself and a female graduate student. Now every element of her life is called into question -- a question only she can answer about what she wants and needs.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 224
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 81%
Full Speed (1996)
Plot Summary:
A brief extract of four kids' lives somewhere in France. Quentin, who won a writers contest and now pays more attention to his career as an author than to his friends, beautiful Julie, his girl-friend, much more mature than she looks, falling in love with Quentin's very best friend Jimmy, who is kind of stuck in his unability of self-expression and grown up under bad social circumstances. And there is the shy boy Samir, exiled from Algeria, who lost his "brother" and only friend some time ago. Samir heavily falls in love with Quentin, but he can't handle it.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 877
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: erotic, sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, sexual, sexy, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 87%
You & Me Forever (2012)
Plot Summary:
When Laura and Christine meet Maria, their friendship takes an intense turn to vulnerability, love and sex.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 619
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Denmark
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, touching, gloomy, sad, crying
Similar in 82%
First Girl I Loved (2016)
Plot Summary:
Seventeen-year-old Anne just fell in love with Sasha, the most popular girl at her L.A. public high school. But when Anne tells her best friend, Clifton—who has always harbored a secret crush on her—he does his best to get in the way.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: teen, psychological, sentimental, captivating, disturbing, lgbt cinema, independent film, cute, queer cinema
Similar in 83%
The Truth About Jane (2000)
Plot Summary:
Jane, a high school teenager, tries to deal with the discovery that she is a lesbian after developing an intense friendship with another girl who makes her discover her true sexuality, which is only the start of Jane's troubles when Jane's unaccepting mother, Janice, struggles with her surprising revelation of brought forth by her only daughter.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: sincere, sentimental, touching, serious, disturbing, crying, emotional, realistic, talky, queer cinema
Similar in 86%
2:37 (2006)
Plot Summary:
A contemporary, ensemble drama telling the complex tale of six high school students whose lives are interwoven with situations that so many of today's youth are faced with. The story takes place during a normal school day. At precisely 2:37 a tragedy will occur, affecting the lives of a group of students and their teachers. As the story unfolds, the individual stories of the six teenagers are revealed, each with its own explosive significance. An unwanted pregnancy unravels a terrible, dark secret; all is not as it appears for the seemingly confident school football hero; an outcast must deal with everyday taunts from his peers; a beautiful young girl battles an eating disorder; a stellar student constantly struggles to win his parents' approval; while another uses drugs to escape from his own demons.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, sincere, serious, depressing, sad, contemplative, teen, realistic, thought provoking
Similar in 87%
14+ (2015)
Plot Summary:
Alex glides his mouse tenderly over online images of Vika. He has been smitten ever since he saw her with her friends and cannot get her out of his head. Now he has found Vika’s profile online and has learned a lot about her. Vika has no idea about any of this. She is beyond Alex’s reach because her school and block of flats are enemy territory for him. Alex nonetheless sneaks into a disco at her school and plucks up the courage to ask her to dance. Incensed by the intruder, the other boys give Alex a beating.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Russia
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, serious, realistic, suspense, disturbing, slang, crying, tension
Similar in 80%
North Sea Texas (2011)
Plot Summary:
Pim lives in a run-down house in a dead-end street somewhere on the Flanders coast, together with his mother Yvette Bulteel. Life here smells of cold French fries, cheap cigarettes, vermouth and stale beer. Mother Yvette uses her friend Etienne, with his lousy grey Fiat, as a driver for the nights she has to “perform”. As a kid Pim dreams of a better life, imagining princesses and beauty queens. But when Pim turns 16 he dreams of Gino, the handsome boy next door, instead. Ever since they were children there has been this tension between them. Now Gino is Pim’s motorcycling hero. Cold mockery, little humiliations and tiny bits of hope make up Pim’s life. No wonder he sometimes flees to his dream world.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Belgium
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, sincere, lgbt cinema, romantic, suspenseful, erotic, art house, sexual, cute
Similar in 90%
Tan Lines (2005)
Plot Summary:
Cute teen Midget Hollow wanders through life riding big waves and partying with surfer boys. When Midget's best friend's gay brother Cass arrives on the scene, the two quickly dive head first into a clandestine sea of sexual awakening.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, offbeat, realistic, sexual, homoerotic, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 87%
Monster Pies (2013)
Plot Summary:
Mike has felt alienated and alone for as long as he can remember, until a new boy arrives at his school - awakening feelings and a world of possibilities he'd never before dared to dream of.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, serious, psychological, captivating, lgbt cinema, cute, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 83%
Somersault (2004)
Plot Summary:
Australian teenager Heidi is left with little choice but to leave home after she's caught red-handed with her mother's boyfriend. With few options, Heidi ends up in Jindabyne, a tourist community. Upon meeting Joe at a bar, she pursues a relationship with him and tries to find something resembling a normal home life. Heidi makes small strides by getting a job and finding a place to stay, but her relationship with Joe must overcome more than its share of hurdles.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, sexy, psychological, depressing, melancholic, lyrical, art house, erotic
Similar in 82%
My Summer of Love (2004)
Plot Summary:
In the Yorkshire countryside, working-class tomboy Mona meets the exotic, pampered Tasmin. Over the summer season, the two young women discover they have much to teach one another, and much to explore together.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, psychological, romantic, sexual, melancholic, sincere, teen, realistic, emotional
Similar in 82%
Foxfire (1996)
Plot Summary:
The story of five teenage girls who form an unlikely bond after beating up a teacher who has sexually harassed them. They build a solid friendship but their wild ways begin to get out of control.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: teen, touching, sincere, realistic, dark, poignant, spectacular, romantic, independent film, serious