Best movies like Shiner
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Raising the subtext of "Fight Club" into text, "Shiner" depicts a pair of amateur boxers gratified by punching each others' lights out. Theirs is among a trio of twisted love stories in the narrative feature by 29-year-old Los Angeles director Christian Calson. There's also a woman literally fighting her male lover's affections and another boxer who stalks his own shy male stalker. "Shiner" transcends sadomasochism in that no one seems aware of what he or she is doing. "I'm trying to look at desire head on," the soft-spoken Calson said by telephone. "('Shiner') is about the politics of wanting and being wanted and how people respond differently." Rife with ugly behavior, "Shiner" rejects the trend of queer filmmakers seeking straight understanding. "In L.A., we have this kind of sadness we carry around, that the only way we can make gay stories is by making more like 'Will and Grace,' " Calson said. Like the activist-filmmakers tackling the marriage issue, Calson went into ".
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 397
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: independent film, queer cinema
Best tv shows and movies like Shiner (2004):
Similar in 77%
Phoenix (2006)
Plot Summary:
Inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni's 1961 classic L'Avventura, Michael Akers' "PHOENIX" is infused with symbolism and a sexy spark. Dylan Wells (Chad Edward Bartley) has a good job, a great apartment and an exciting relationship with Ken Sparks (Gaetano Jones, Boystown), his sexy well traveled boyfriend who just might be "the one." A great life, or so he believes, until Ken's visit for Dylan's 23rd birthday party is unexpectedly cut short when Ken is suddenly called away to tend to a failing real estate deal, and then disappears.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 426
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
God Made Man (2020)
Plot Summary:
Leading double lives and seeking redemption, a transgender man, a drag queen and a corrupt lawyer collide in this urban purgatory.
IMDB Rating:
IMDB Votes:
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: neo noir, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 82%
My Hustler (1965)
Plot Summary:
Filmed on Fire Island, this two reel, 70 minute Warhol film covers the activities of the "Dial A Hustler" service, as an older man seeks a young hustler for a companion.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 335
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: independent film, gay cinema, queer cinema, bizarre
Similar in 82%
The Meatrack (1970)
Plot Summary:
A hybrid of Warholian midnight movie and Doris Wishman-esque sexploitation picture, Michael Thomas's softcore rarity Meatrack was originally produced and released by Sherpix, the company that brought underground films like Lonesome Cowboys, Pink Narcissus, and Invocation of My Demon Brother to a nationwide circuit of art house theatres. The film concerns an ostensibly straight married man who starts turning tricks on the sleazy streets of San Francisco, and it was shot almost entirely on location in the city’s by-the-hour hotels, adult theatres, gay bars, and bathhouses. With real-life go-go boys, female impersonators, and leathermen as its supporting cast, it serves as a rich subcultural document.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 112
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 65 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
The Books of John (2007)
Plot Summary:
"The Books Of John" is a movie that follows the lives of three different people, Frank McLean, Will and Caryn. Frank finds himself alone after losing his longtime partner suddenly and without warning. Months later he finds that his partner had been keeping secret diaries. With the information in the diaries, Frank delves into his lover's past in an attempt to get to know more about the man that he never really knew. Will is a party boy who is a friend of Frank and Frank's late lover John.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 121
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 83%
The Road To Love (2001)
Plot Summary:
Slow-burning and smart, French director Rémi Lange's The Road to Love is a romantic tale of self-discovery that also offers a fascinating historical take on homosexuality in northern Africa. French-Algerian sociology student Karim is having trouble finding interviewees for his term project, a video documentary on homosexual relationships in Islamic cultures. As his research progresses, he meets Farid, a handsome flight attendant. In Farid, Karim believes he has found an ideal subject for his film...but he soon begins to admire more than just Farid's insight. When Karim learns that some cultures have accepted and encouraged same-sex unions, he finally begins to face his own sexuality. Set in scenic locales from Paris to Marseilles to Amsterdam (with a brief detour to Jean Genet's grave in Larache, Morocco), The Road to Love is a shrewd and sensual tale of enchantment and desire.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 389
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: captivating, lgbt cinema
Similar in 82%
Radiant Sea (2015)
Plot Summary:
Marek starts as a trainee on a container ship. It's 197 meters long, 30 meters wide, and bound for Martinique. Full of anticipation, he leaves his parents' farm in Western Pomerania and goes on board at Saint-Nazaire. Marek wants to find freedom and falls in love with the enigmatic sailor Jean. Will it just be a fling or will it last forever? Does Jean actually have a lover in every port? On his trip across the Atlantic, Marek may not actually become a sailor, but he does grow up. A romantic coming-of-age trip over the Atlantic and a maritime boy's dream about love under the conditions of modern cargo shipping.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 367
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: psychological, sexy, touching, contemplative, meditative, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 84%
Amazing Grace (1992)
Plot Summary:
A drama about two families, each with a gay son. Jonathan is splitting from Miki because the more experienced Miki is playing around. Then Jonathan sees Thomas, the son and grandson of his neighbors, who is back in Israel after failing to make it as a musician in New York: Thomas is ill, detached, in search of hard drugs. Jonathan tries to connect with him. Meanwhile, Thomas's grandmother, facing old age, has become bitter, particularly toward her hard-working daughter. They worry about Thomas. A few blocks away, Jonathan's mother, brother and sister maintain their sometimes bickering relationships, watching Jonathan brave adulthood.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 169
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: queer cinema
Similar in 84%
Noah's Arc (2004)
Plot Summary:
Four gay friends live in L.A. and deal with today's issues, boyfriends, aids, your boyfriend's children, making it in the movie biz, etc.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 460
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: queer cinema
Similar in 85%
Praxis (2008)
Plot Summary:
Praxis peels away the layers of narrative even as Brian, the film's axis, struggles to create his true self. Brian, a writer on the verge of a breakdown, is aided by Joe and an Elusive Woman as he sifts through the fragments of his persona to discover his true core. Fighting against fear and the indifference of society - aptly symbolized by the medical establishment - his quest reflects the classical mythos of Proteus and the human search for meaning in the universe.
IMDB Rating: 3.4
IMDB Votes: 151
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Body Electric (2017)
Plot Summary:
Elias is a handsome young deputy manager in a garment factory in São Paulo. When he’s not working, he enjoys casual encounters in the big city. The arrival of a young African, Fernando, on the production line piques his interest and Elias finds himself increasingly drawn into socialising with his work colleagues.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 896
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: queer cinema
Similar in 78%
B-Boy Blues (2021)
Plot Summary:
Follows the relationship of 27-year-old journalist Mitchell Crawford and 21-year-old bicycle messenger Raheim Rivers, who meet at a gay bar in Greenwich Village during the summer of 1993.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 638
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: queer cinema
Similar in 81%
Luna Park (2013)
Plot Summary:
Alexia Bissett, ex actress turned producer, lives in New York where she now produces gay cinema. After being called to take care of a situation which involves her young mute brother Christi, she decides to send her right hand man Maxwell to deal with it instead. Alexia owns an apartment complex in California called Luna Park, where her young actors stay while on location. Christi is the apartment caretaker and has been caught hiding in the closet of one of her actors he has a crush on. Maxwell feels indebted to Alexia for taking him off the streets and accepts the task with little protest. When Maxwell and Christi fall in love, Alexia is suddenly forced to deal with the secrets of her past, one of which threatens the boys young love in a way they can't even imagine.
IMDB Rating: 3.3
IMDB Votes: 195
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: erotic, queer cinema
Similar in 83%
The Mattachine Family (2023)
Plot Summary:
While Thomas and Oscar are very much in love, after their first foster child returns to his birth mother, they find that they have different ideas about what making a family actually means.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 179
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: queer cinema
Similar in 85%
Fixing Frank (2002)
Plot Summary:
Frank (Miller) is a gay journalist who goes undercover at the urging of his therapist boyfriend Jonathan (Provenza) to write an exposé of Dr. Apsey (Butler). Apsey performs conversion therapy on gay male clients, a practice which Jonathan finds reprehensible. Frank quickly comes clean with Apsey but continues to meet with him under the pretense of interviewing him, but finds himself questioning himself, Jonathan and their six-year relationship.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 490
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: queer cinema, cult film
Similar in 90%
The Dark Side of Love (2012)
Plot Summary:
Two brothers on different life paths, a gay waiter with a crush on an eligible bachelor and a drug addict in a twisted dependent relationships with his girlfriend, reunite to mourn the death of their mother.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 178
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, sentimental, serious, captivating, touching, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 82%
So Pretty (2019)
Plot Summary:
Four young queers in New York City struggle to maintain their proto-utopian community against the outside world as their lives curiously merge with the 1980s German novel "So schön" by Ronald M. Schernikau.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 376
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, France
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, sexy, unusual plot structure, captivating, disturbing, contemplative, queer cinema
Similar in 89%
Jesus (2016)
Plot Summary:
18-year-old Jesús lives with his stern, somewhat unaffectionate father in Santiago, Chile. When not doing drugs, having casual sex or simply slouching in front of the TV, Jesús and his friends perform in a K-pop boyband. But his routine is thrown into chaos one evening when he and his drunken posse viciously assault a young gay man and leave him for dead. It’s an act that propels Jesús into a profound moral crisis which have severe consequences.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 462
Genere: Drama
Country: Chile, France, Germany, Greece, Colombia
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sexy, homoerotic, psychological, unusual plot structure, contemplative, lgbt cinema, gay cinema
Similar in 77%
José (2018)
Plot Summary:
José (19 years old) lives with his mother (50s) in Guatemala: a tough life in one of the world's most dangerous, religious, and impoverished countries. José is her youngest and favorite child, and her life is going to church and selling sandwiches. Jose spends his days on crowded buses and in the streets delivering food. Resigned and aloof, in free moments he plays with his phone and looks for random sex. When he meets Luis, Jose is thrust into a dimension of passion and pain and self-reflection that was previously unimaginable.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 820
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Guatemala
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, queer cinema
Similar in 83%
Wild Awakening (2016)
Plot Summary:
Toni and Emma are brother and sister who owns a stable farm. Ramon and his son, Aaron works for them. Toni is openly gay and loves to party, Emma has a crush on Aaron who is a closeted gay who is afraid that his father might find out, but his father also has a secret.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 274
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, disturbing, homoerotic, queer cinema, gay cinema
Similar in 78%
Sexual Tension: Volatile (2012)
Plot Summary:
Have you ever met someone who made your body heat up, get a little nervous and sweaty, and made your crotch stir a bit? Sexual Tension: Volatile will reignite those lustful feelings as it weaves six scintillating experiences of men in various stages of nudity and many forms of erotic male bonding. A pulsating, sexually-charged thrill ride.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina, USA, France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: homoerotic, erotic, anthology, touching, captivating, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 81%
Dry Wind (2020)
Plot Summary:
The area around Catalan in Brazil’s state of Goiás is dry, very dry. Sandro’s life here is somewhat monotonous. He works in a fertiliser factory, goes swimming and spends his evenings doing jigsaw puzzles of landscapes. When Maicon, a man straight out of a Tom of Finland illustration, shows up in their small town and flirts with Ricardo, Sandro’s burgeoning feelings of jealousy set a change in motion.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sexy, psychological, unusual plot structure, lgbt cinema, erotic, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 82%
To Play or To Die (1990)
Plot Summary:
In this short motion picture, schoolboy Kees is intelligent, introvert and sensitive, but gets ridiculed verbally and physically at an all-boys school by mindlessly cocky class mates and even insensitive teachers, especially in gym, where his physical weakness is mercilessly abused to make him a defenceless laughing stock in front of his smirking peers. His awakening sexual interest goes to boys, and in particular to Charel, a beautiful athletic classmate who probably feels an undetermined interest but would never risk admitting (possibly not even to himself) having any gay or bi appreciation, least of all for a 'sissy', and thus remains unresponsive to shy Kees' overtures. When the hunk finally comes over to Kees' place while his parents are away, a desperate disappointment with a tragical twist is in the making….
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 367
Genere: Drama
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, serious, realistic, sexual, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 79%
Shank (2009)
Plot Summary:
Teenage gang member Cal, hides his sexuality from his fellow gang members despite their often violent dislike of anyone that isn't the same as them, be they unsuspecting shoppers, foreign students, gays, etc. When his world collides with Olivier, a student he rescues from a pointless beating, he encounters a lifestyle that presents as many new experiences as it does obstacles.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, erotic, captivating, talky, compassionate, lgbt cinema, sexual, crying, romantic
Similar in 85%
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 83%
Happy Endings Sleepover (2019)
Plot Summary:
American CIA Field Operative, Johnnie Allen, is assigned to Denmark for his first mission. An American spy highly placed in the Kremlin is to be spirited out of Russia, and it is Johnnie's job to get him safely to Antwerp where the agent will board a freighter. Johnnie, who is a young gay man, meets and falls in love with a Danish lad named Sander, who is apparently straight. Wanting to keep his friend close to him, he makes the mistake of bringing him on the mission. What will become of their friendship if Johnnie confesses his love to Sander? And is the Russian agent all he seems to be? Set against a backdrop of European espionage, Happy Endings Sleepover is a celebration of gay youth in a world where love should never be Top-Secret.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 424
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, sexy, touching, unusual plot structure, contemplative
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 87%
Tiger Orange (2014)
Plot Summary:
In the small Central California town where they grew up, two estranged gay brothers struggle to reconnect after the recent death of their father.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, captivating, realistic, lgbt cinema, homoerotic, queer cinema
Similar in 79%
Spa Night (2016)
Plot Summary:
A young Korean-American man works to reconcile his obligations to his struggling immigrant family with his burgeoning sexual desires in the underground world of gay hookups at Korean spas in Los Angeles.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, captivating, suspenseful, sexy, sensual, queer cinema
Similar in 84%
Interior. Leather Bar. (2013)
Plot Summary:
Filmmakers James Franco and Travis Mathews re-imagine the lost 40 minutes from "Cruising" as a starting point to a broader exploration of sexual and creative freedom.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, sexual, offbeat, serious, realistic, independent film, sexy, queer cinema