Best movies like The Game of Juan's Life
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The Game of Juan’s Life explores two hours in the life of Juan Reyes, a live-sex performer at an underground gay bar, who has decided to leave Manila and go back to his home province. On the day of his departure, he will take us with him as he makes life decisions, big and small. The most important one of all is leaving the impoverished place he called home for the past year, capping it with emotional goodbyes to his lover, Noel. Then, he will lead us to the underground bar for his last performance, and an event that will cause him to question his resolve.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 27
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like The Game of Juan's Life (2009):
Similar in 90%
The Affair (2010)
Plot Summary:
An ex-seminarian slash communist runs a hotel in Baguio. He then meets a handsome upcoming lawyer. A once-a-year trip to Baguio by the lawyer and conversations with the hotel owner develop into an affair which encompasses decades of socio-political changes in the country.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 63
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, captivating, political
Similar in 84%
Kambyo (2008)
Plot Summary:
Great story and a really touching one. It talks about a group of 4 friends going on a road trip, in search for goals and inner-self To "Macky" he's going because he's searching for his long lost best friend from college, whom he had grown to care and loved. To others this was just a vacation or so they thought. Along the travel they realize the emotional and deep attachment to each other, that they are there for each other from best friends to lovers. The story shows some contentment when you finally found the one that you have been searching for. The feeling of doing what you always wanted, its the relief of having said the words that you have been hiding, yet been wanting to shout for a very long time. Its a story of coming clean with your feelings.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 57
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Little Boy Big Boy (2009)
Plot Summary:
"Little Boy Big Boy" tells the story of a carefree graphic artist named Raymund and how he is filled with doubt as he is suddenly faced with the responsibility of looking after his seven-year-old nephew Zach. But while taking care of Zach, Raymund finds himself in the middle of building a relationship with his new lover Tim where he teaches him the value of acceptance and self-respect.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 39
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: crying
Similar in 86%
No Way Out (2008)
Plot Summary:
Joaquin (Polo Ravales), an unassuming fisherman, is forced to confront his homosexuality when his sex-starved wife Cynthia (Althea Vega) returns from her overseas job eager to get pregnant. His young and impulsive lover, Waldo (Joseph Bitangcol), flees to Manila in disgust. After a month of hesitation, Joaquin leaves his wife to follow Waldo. His search takes him on a seamy yet colorful trip through Manila's gay underbelly. He discovers Waldo's dangerous flirtation with Rufo (Emilio Garcia), a bisexual rogue cop who holds the clue to Waldo's disappearance. Rufo lures Joaquin into his home and introduces him to his submissive wife, Beng (Jean Garcia). A sadist who beats up Beng regularly, Rufo turns Joaquin into a prisoner and sex slave - like he did to Waldo. When Joaquin is finally reunited with Waldo, he discovers that Rufo is about to sell them like fish to an international sex trafficking ring, along with his personal harem of male and female captives.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 198
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: queer cinema
Similar in 84%
The Wind in the Evening (2004)
Plot Summary:
Nightfall. Marco, a politician, is murdered while he is going home. Also Luca, a gay man, is going home, where his partner Paolo is waiting. But he is on the killer's way, and he is shot. Paolo dashes to the hospital but the doctor doesn't want to tell him anything because Paolo isn't a "real" relative. Luca dies. Paolo starts walking in the streets of the town, where his loneliness will be ever misunderstood. A barman tries to comfort him supposing he was discharged by his girlfriend. Luca's mother orders Paolo to leave the house. A guy takes Paolo to him's, looking for a partner in the night. Paolo runs away from everybody, also from his friend Francesca: she says she is understanding but she can't. While the dawn is coming, Paolo reads about the murders on the newspapers, and realizes that what happened was reality.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 96
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Boy Toys (2010)
Plot Summary:
Laruang Lalake is a realist film that portrays the workers within the Filipino gay film industry and their personal stories - from the naughty to the gritty, from the horny to the hopeful. The film weaves the journey of ambitious probinsyano actor Samuel, Marc the idealistic film crew member who is secretly in love with Samuel and Wilredo a filmmaker on the brink of bankruptcy. And then there is also Peejay who is determined to steal a name for himeslf. As the camera grinds between naked bodies in homerotic play, its all in a day's work for eveyone living in a society that is yet to acept the Filipino gay man.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 47
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 83%
The Man in the Lighthouse (2007)
Plot Summary:
Mateo is a lighthouse caretaker dating a teacher Suzette. The small town they are in is trying to increase tourism. Jerome stumbles across Mateo and Suzette having sex, whilst he is on holiday from Manila. A local a gay man, who pays local teenage boys for sex, talks to Mateo about the negative aspects of being gay in the Philippines. According to local legend, a lighthouse fairy seduces desirable men who then never marry. Mateo's relationship with Jerome leads to self reevaluation.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 138
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Philippines
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: erotic
Similar in 81%
Booking (2009)
Plot Summary:
Feature film.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 13
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Ben & Sam (2010)
Plot Summary:
A college heartthrob meets a college newbie - a challenge, a tension, a discovery, and a love that will change everything between them.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 20
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Boylets (2009)
Plot Summary:
School friends who pass the time stealing copper electric wires and steel, betting cash in online computer games and doing sexual services to gay patrons. Krys’ best friend Joef is the leader of the pack and he is turning eighteen and is leaving the next day. Krys tries to control Joef’s last day and birthday celebration as he attempts to stop him from his plans. But will Krys be able to stop the guy he likes from leaving?.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 17
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 84%
One Summer Night (2016)
Plot Summary:
In the winter of 2013, Yong-jun and Jae-sung, a member of the Korean People’s Army, are caught having sex by a superior. After that, Yong-jun decides to defect from North Korea to the South leaving Jae-sung behind. Yong-jun risks his life to step on the land of freedom and meets Tae-kyu. Two years after, Jae-sung comes over to the South, and Yong-jun must decide between Jae-sung and Tae-kyu. This causes misunderstandings and puts them in pain.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 139
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Twilight Dancers (2006)
Plot Summary:
Current most popular performer at a gay club in the Philippines (though it’s patronized by an awful lot of ogling straight women), Dwight (Tyron Perez) has a crush on a collegiate girl and an eye on better prospects working abroad. But he unwisely gets involved with boytoy-hungry Madame Loca (Cherry Pie Pichache), a ruthless, corrupt businesswoman. Her disillusioned ex-dancer bodyguard Bert (Lauren Novero) tries in vain to warn Dwight. Meanwhile, past-prime-at-28 Alfred (Allen Dizon) struggles to find legit work to support his wife and child.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 90
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, queer cinema
Similar in 86%
Burlesque King (1999)
Plot Summary:
Harry leaves Olongapo, the former site of American bases, with his best friend James. They end up in Manila where they soon find work as macho dancers in a gay bar run by Mama Odette. Harry has a troubled past -- his American father used to pimp him and his mother, Betty. When his father accidentally killed his mother, Harry struck out on his own. He made a vow to kill his father.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 200
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: erotic
Similar in 89%
Manderley (1981)
Plot Summary:
This is the story of three homosexuals who decide to spend the summer together at the cottage that the parents of one of them have in Santander. The film shows naturally a series of attitudes then considered shocking and even unnatural.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 21
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
Er Moretto - Von Lieben leben (1984)
Plot Summary:
This is the story of a runaway desperate poor 14 years old boy, becoming a prostitute and suffering all kinds of tribulations in Rome in the 80s. And the gay scene is somewhat accurate of those days.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 85
Genere: Drama
Country: Switzerland, West Germany
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 81%
First Taste (2008)
Plot Summary:
The title "Binyag" translates to 'loss of innocence,' and this little-known film from the Philippenes shows, very effectively, the process in which one young person loses his own innocence. A boy living a quiet, picturesque life in the Filipino province, spending his days swimming in the sea, is offered a job as a "film star" when a shady "talent scout" visits his small village. He promises the naive Leo that he can "make him a star." Leo, excited at the idea of escaping his seemingly mundane life, accepts the offer, thus beginning his journey to the city of Manila, where he will learn some hard facts about the world he lives in.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 99
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 64 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 81%
Unspoken Passion (2008)
Plot Summary:
Sikil tells the story of two men and a woman who are involved in a bizarre love triangle. These three friends grew up in a small town south of Manila. Enzo is a young closet gay prostitute who's obsessed with his childhood friend who happens to be a call-boy and has a girlfriend. Other interesting characters are the bi-sexual pimp, a regular bathhouse customer, and a sampaguita vendor-pickpocket-shoplifter and caretaker of Adong's daughter.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 103
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, erotic, offbeat, sexual, sexy
Similar in 77%
The Man in Her Life (1997)
Plot Summary:
Selya is disappointed with Bobby who only wants sex but no real relationship nor marriage. So she leaves and decides to marry the gay Ramon who, she is convinced, is definitely different.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 383
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: queer cinema
Similar in 84%
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 78%
Pantasya (2007)
Plot Summary:
A digital feature has five episodes that all deal with wild gay fantasies involving men in uniform. It starts with "Biyahe," about a jilted taxi driver and his jealous passenger who find comfort in each other's lovesick arms. The second episode is "Linya," about a lonely homeowner whose phone conks out. Two handsome repairmen arrive and they end up engaging in a dizzying threesome. Next is "Laro," about four basketball players who are taking a shower in the locker room after an intense game, and a shy guy who takes a peek at them and later joins in the fun. "Bilis" is about a hunky delivery boy in a hurry who delivers pizza to a bored yuppie who is working overtime in his office. They get instantly attracted upon seeing each other. The last episode is "Bantay," about a horny security guard in the graveyard shift. He sees two lovers fighting. Rhyme dumps Jon and Jon finds solace in the arms of the easy going guard.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 104
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: captivating, disturbing
Similar in 85%
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 84%
The Story of the Stone (2018)
Plot Summary:
An adaptation of an 18th century Chinese classic remixed for an honest depiction of gay life in Taipei in the 21st century.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 179
Genere: Drama
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sexy, touching, unusual plot structure, contemplative
Similar in 89%
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 90%
Venus in the Garden (2011)
Plot Summary:
Mid-summer heatwave. Nikos and Alain, two male prostitutes and a female pimp, Monica, get tangled in a peculiar relationship after meeting in a dark street called POUTANA. They fall in love, play with guns and talk about card games, money and theatre castings. Is this a game of role playing the three of them have invented to pass their time in a remote, empty summer house? Have they been reading Jean Genet? Whether a mirror image of the characters’ reality or an elliptic depiction of their distorted, dream-like perception of it, I Afroditi Stin Avli, by juxtaposing disparate literary and art references, leads its isolated characters towards dissolution. And yet, in its strange language, it presents this dissolution as a triumph.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 63
Genere: Drama
Country: Greece, Germany
Duration: 63 min
Plot tags: avant garde, sentimental, romantic, sexy, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic, contemplative, homoerotic, gay cinema
Similar in 83%
Longing Nights (2013)
Plot Summary:
Aitana, Pierrick, Rita and Jorge are all in their twenties and all look for ways to make their nights in the city of Madrid a little less lonely. Aitana is a sweet girl trapped in a men’s body; Pierrick is a cute French gay; Rita doesn't much care about her partner, Carolina, and walks through life with no expectations; Jorge is trapped in a relationship with no future: the one he has with Maria. Set against a background of drugs, sex, multiple partners and differing sexualities, Longing Nights follows the individual stories of these young people. A candid portrait of four relationships highly loaded with eroticism from beginning to end. Four stories told without no borders between fiction and reality.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 167
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, Portugal
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: sexy, psychological, romantic, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic, contemplative, eros, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 88%
Where Horses Go to Die (2016)
Plot Summary:
Daniel is an artist who has lost his desire to paint. An unexpected meeting with three « working girls » one evening marks the beginning of a surreal adventure. Later that night, the wildest dreams and the worst nightmares of his three new muses unravel in his imagination.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 83
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 67 min
Plot tags: psychological, romantic, sexy, touching, melancholic, experimental, gay cinema
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Queen Antigone: Three Acts (2014)
Plot Summary:
Brother and sister live in Athens; then they start a road trip.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 18
Genere: Drama
Country: Greece, Germany
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: avant garde, psychological, sentimental, romantic, sexy, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic, experimental, queer cinema
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Euphoria (2018)
Plot Summary:
Matteo is a young successful businessman, audacious, charming and energetic. Ettore instead, is a calm, righteous, second grade teacher always living in the shadows, still in the small town from where both come from. They’re brothers but with two very different personalities. A dramatic event will force them to live together in Rome for a few months, bringing up the opportunity to face their differences with sympathy and tenderness, in a climax of fear and euphoria.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sexy, sentimental, romantic, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic
Similar in 76%
Santa Monica (2015)
Plot Summary:
A young man is warned by his boyfriend that he is leaving. Melancholia becomes part of his life until his friends take him to parties, amid these adventures, he can finally rediscover happiness.
IMDB Rating:
IMDB Votes:
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, romantic, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic, black and white, silent, crying, silent film
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Mandragora (1997)
Plot Summary:
Marek is a 15-year-old from a provincial village who runs away to Prague when he begins to fail at school. He is mugged shortly after arriving in the city and is rescued by Honza with the promise of work. Marek is taken to an apartment, drugged, and becomes a male prostitute. He is a bit smarter than his colleagues and teams up with a friend, David, in order to go after bigger scores – to cash in and get out. They manage to stash away a bit of money, but when it comes time to return home, Marek loses his nerve and is soon back in the city.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Czech Republic
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, gloomy, semi documentary, controversial, gay cinema, queer cinema