Best movies like Prick Up Your Ears
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Stephen Frears directs this biographical drama focusing on controversial British playwright Joe Orton, revealed in flashback after his murder by lover Kenneth Halliwell. Born in 1933 in Leicester, in the English Midlands, John 'Joe' Orton moves to London in 1951, to study at RADA, and enjoys an openly gay relationship with Halliwell in their famous Islington flat in the 1960s. However, when Orton achieves spectacular success with such plays as 'What the Butler Saw' and 'Loot', Halliwell begins to feel alienated and the pair's future looks increasingly uncertain.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: independent film, witty, dark comedy, black comedy, period piece, tense, clever, serious, realistic, gloomy
Best tv shows and movies like Prick Up Your Ears (1987):
Similar in 84%
Tom of Finland (2017)
Plot Summary:
Touko Laaksonen, a decorated officer, returns home after a harrowing and heroic experience serving his country in World War II, but life in Finland during peacetime proves equally distressing. He finds peace-time Helsinki rampant with persecution of the homosexual and men around him even being pressured to marry women and have children. Touko finds refuge in his liberating art, specialising in homoerotic drawings of muscular men, free of inhibitions. His work – made famous by his signature ‘Tom of Finland’ – became the emblem of a generation of men and fanned the flames of a gay revolution.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: homoerotic, romantic, serious, realistic, compassionate, social, surreal, novela, queer cinema, banned
Similar in 78%
Chattahoochee (1989)
Plot Summary:
In 1955 Florida, a Korean vet has a breakdown and is incarcerated in a "maximum security" mental health prison, where patients are abused.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: serious, disturbing, sincere, thought provoking, realistic, independent film, bleak
Similar in 75%
Valentino (1977)
Plot Summary:
In 1926 the tragic and untimely death of a silent screen actor caused female moviegoers to riot in the streets and in some cases to commit suicide.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: independent film, offbeat, serious, realistic, stylized, crying, period drama, campy
Similar in 85%
Saint Laurent (2014)
Plot Summary:
1967-1976. As one of history's greatest fashion designers entered a decade of freedom, neither came out of it in one piece.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: captivating, stylized, serious, realistic, sex comedy, eros, visual, crying, homoerotic, queer cinema
Similar in 87%
Burton and Taylor (2013)
Plot Summary:
TV drama based on Richard Burton's diaries, about his last performance in 1983 with ex-wife Elizabeth Taylor. They meet after several years and he agrees to her suggestion that they star in a stage revival on Broadway of Noel Coward's comedy 'Private Lives', although Elizabeth Taylor has never before performed on stage. Burton soon regrets his agreement, however, when her pill-popping and lack of discipline causes problems already during the rehearsals. The play opens to a critical trashing, but is popular with audiences because they just want to see Taylor. After a two month troubled run, the curtain comes down and Taylor tells Burton she has always loved him and still does. A year later he is dead.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, stylized, cult classic, historical drama, crying
Similar in 76%
Christopher and His Kind (2011)
Plot Summary:
In 1931 budding author Christopher Isherwood goes to Berlin at the invitation of his friend W. H. Auden for the gay sex that abounds in the city. Whilst working as an English teacher his housemates include bewigged old queen Gerald Hamilton and would-be actress Jean Ross, who sings tunelessly in a seedy cabaret club. They and others he meets get put into his stories. After a fling with sexy rent boy Caspar he falls for street sweeper Heinz, paying medical bills for the boy's sickly mother, to the disapproval of her other son, Nazi Gerhardt. With Fascism rapidly rising Christopher returns to London with Heinz but is unable to prevent his return to Germany when his visa expires. Years later Christopher, now a successful writer, returns to Berlin for a final meeting with Heinz, now married with children.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, sexual, crying, sexy, queer cinema, gay cinema, pre war
Similar in 86%
Isadora (1968)
Plot Summary:
A biography of the dancer Isadora Duncan, the 1920s dancer who forever changed people's ideas of ballet. Her nude, semi-nude, and pro-Soviet dance projects as well as her attitudes on free love, debt, dress, and lifestyle shocked the public of her time.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: UK, France
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: sad, historical drama, serious, captivating, realistic, sexual, crying, sexy, period drama, beautiful
Similar in 81%
Sid and Nancy (1986)
Plot Summary:
Following their breakout success in England, flagship punk rock band the Sex Pistols venture out on their first U.S. tour. Temperamental bassist Sid Vicious takes his troubled girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, along for the ride. Along the way, the couple's turbulent relationship strains the patience of bandmate Johnny Rotten and manager Malcolm McLaren, while plunging Sid and Nancy into the depths of drug addiction and co-dependency.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: bloody, cult classic, disturbing, independent film, psychedelic, serious, captivating, gloomy, offbeat, intellectual
Similar in 78%
The Happy Prince (2018)
Plot Summary:
THE HAPPY PRINCE tells the story of the last days of Oscar Wilde. This great man of letters, once one of the most famous authors in England, is now a superstar on the skids. As Oscar lies on his death bed, the past comes flooding back to him, transporting him to other times and places.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, Belgium, Italy, Germany
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, suspenseful, depressing, captivating, suspense, melancholic, sad, art film, costume drama, fairy tale
Similar in 90%
When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007)
Plot Summary:
The story of a son's conflicting memories of his dying father.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, sincere, realistic, touching, captivating, independent film, serious, crying, light
Similar in 84%
Howl (2010)
Plot Summary:
It's San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial. Howl, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the tumultuous life events that led a young Allen Ginsberg to find his true voice as an artist, society's reaction (the obscenity trial), and mind-expanding animation that echoes the startling originality of the poem itself. All three coalesce in a genre-bending hybrid that brilliantly captures a pivotal moment-the birth of a counterculture.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, surreal, thought provoking, sincere, realistic, intellectual, sexual, art house, stylized, sexy
Similar in 86%
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
Plot Summary:
A fictional account of the life of Japanese author Yukio Mishima told in four parts. The first three parts relate events in three of his novels: The temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kyoko's House, and Runaway Horses. The last part depicts the events of 25th November 1970.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: surreal, atmospheric, serious, philosophical, mind bending, psychedelic, spiritual, disturbing, anthology, avant garde
Similar in 75%
Kill Your Darlings (2013)
Plot Summary:
A murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: captivating, bleak, serious, intellectual, psychological, talky, sexual, aesthetic, independent film, indie film
Similar in 77%
Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (1998)
Plot Summary:
Biography of the British painter Francis Bacon. The movie focuses on his relationship with George Dyer, his lover. Dyer was a former small time crook.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France, Japan, USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: cult classic, controversial, heartbreaking, art film, serious, realistic, contemplative, biting, independent film, transgressive
Similar in 90%
Vincent & Theo (1990)
Plot Summary:
The tragic story of Vincent van Gogh broadened by focusing as well on his brother Theodore, who helped support Vincent. Based on the letters written between the two.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: France, Netherlands, UK, Germany, Italy, USA
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, scenic, sexy, cult classic, independent film, atmospheric, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Saint-Ex (1996)
Plot Summary:
Poetic biography of author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 221
Genere: Biography, Drama, Fantasy
Country: UK
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags:
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Similar in 83%
Carrington (1995)
Plot Summary:
The story of the relationship between painter Dora Carrington and author Lytton Strachey in a World War One England of cottages and countryside. Although platonic due to Strachey's homosexuality, the relationship was nevertheless a deep and complicated one. When Carrington did develop a more physical relationship with soldier Ralph Partridge, Strachey was able to welcome him as a friend, although Partridge remained somewhat uneasy, not so much with Strachey's lifestyle and sexual orientation as with the fact that he was a conscientious objector.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: costume drama, touching, emotional, talky, sexual, historical drama, independent film, sentimental, sincere, atmospheric
Similar in 75%
Sylvia (2003)
Plot Summary:
Story of the relationship between the poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: depressing, emotional, realistic, psychological, serious, heartbreaking, romantic, neurotic, art house, period piece
Similar in 80%
My Left Foot (1989)
Plot Summary:
In this true story told through flashbacks, Christy Brown is born with crippling cerebral palsy into a poor, working-class Irish family. Able only to control movement in his left foot and to speak in guttural sounds, he is mistakenly believed to be retarded for the first ten years of his life.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 79000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Ireland, UK
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, sincere, unusual plot structure, dramatic, sentimental, motivational, sad, captivating, biting
Similar in 80%
I Shot Andy Warhol (1996)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Valerie Solanas who was a 1960s radical preaching hatred toward men in her "Scum" manifesto. She wrote a screenplay for a film that she wanted Andy Warhol to produce, but he continued to ignore her. So she shot him. This is Valerie's story.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: independent film, clever, disturbing, philosophical, surreal, art film, grim, edutainment, tense, offbeat
Similar in 75%
Capote (2005)
Plot Summary:
A biopic of the writer, Truman Capote and his assignment for The New Yorker to write the non-fiction book, 'In Cold Blood'.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 139000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: intellectual, captivating, dark, dramatic, talky, psychological, historical drama, atmospheric, inspirational, retro
Similar in 80%
Gods and Monsters (1998)
Plot Summary:
It's 1957, and Whale's heyday as the director of "Frankenstein," "Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Invisible Man" is long behind him. Retired and a semi-recluse, he lives his days accompanied only by images from his past. When his dour housekeeper, Hannah, hires a handsome young gardener, the flamboyant director and simple yard man develop an unlikely friendship, which will change them forever.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: enigmatic, melancholic, captivating, sentimental, cult classic, independent film, touching, witty, entertaining, costume drama
Similar in 87%
Pinero (2001)
Plot Summary:
"Piñero" tells the story of the explosive life of a Latino icon, the poet-playwright-actor Miguel Piñero, whose urban poetry is recognized as a pre-cursor to rap and hip-hop. After doing time in hard-core Sing-Sing for petty thefts and drug dealing, Piñero's prison experiences developed into the 1974 Tony-nominated play Short Eyes. The resulting notoriety and fame was too much for the Latino bad-boy genius who retreated to the darker corners of New York City.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: disturbing, stylized, intense, factual, sincere, touching, serious, independent film, sentimental, realistic
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Similar in 83%
Infamous (2006)
Plot Summary:
While researching his book In Cold Blood, writer Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: emotional, tense, sincere, serious, psychological, captivating, witty, talky, retro, clever
Similar in 78%
Before Night Falls (2000)
Plot Summary:
Spanning several decades, this powerful biopic offers a glimpse into the life of famed Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas, an artist who was vilified for his homosexuality in Fidel Castro's Cuba.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: Mexico, USA
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, bleak, lyrical, serious, emotional, realistic, independent film, sincere, sad, factual
Similar in 87%
Boy Erased (2018)
Plot Summary:
The son of a Baptist preacher is forced to participate in a church supported gay conversion program.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Australia, USA, China
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, psychological, sentimental, captivating, intellectual, depressing, serious, lgbt cinema, sad, cult classic
Similar in 88%
Wilde (1997)
Plot Summary:
The story of Oscar Wilde, genius, poet, playwright and the First Modern Man. The self-realisation of his homosexuality caused Wilde enormous torment as he juggled marriage, fatherhood and responsibility with his obsessive love for Lord Alfred Douglas.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Japan, Germany
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: homoerotic, costume drama, touching, period piece, witty, historical drama, sentimental, sincere, serious, captivating
Similar in 80%
Lovelace (2013)
Plot Summary:
Story of Linda Lovelace, who is used and abused by the porn industry at the behest of her coercive husband, before taking control of her life.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sexual, stylized, erotic, sexy, emotional, entertaining, intense, sincere, captivating, teen
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Little Ashes (2008)
Plot Summary:
About the young life and loves of artist Salvador Dalí, filmmaker Luis Buñuel and writer Federico García Lorca.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK, Spain
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, tense, factual, art film, sincere, suspenseful, intellectual, erotic, romantic
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The End of the Tour (2015)
Plot Summary:
The story of the five-day interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky and acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace, which took place right after the 1996 publication of Wallace's groundbreaking epic novel, 'Infinite Jest.'.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: philosophical, meditative, psychological, sincere, serious, talky, depressing, novela, aesthetic, twisted