Best movies like The King and the Clown
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Set in the late 15th century during the reign of King Yeonsan, two male street clowns and tightrope walkers, Jangsaeng (Gam Wu-seong) and Gong-gil (Lee Joon-gi), are part of an entertainer troupe. Their manager prostitutes the beautiful Gong-gil to rich customers, and Jangsaeng is sickened by this practice. After Gong-gil kills the manager in defense of Jangsaeng, the pair flee to Seoul, where they form a new group with three other street performers.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: South Korea
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: serious, atmospheric, touching, sincere, bleak, political, sageuk, realistic, controversial, cynical
Best tv shows and movies like The King and the Clown (2005):
Similar in 89%
The Sea Is Behind (2014)
Plot Summary:
Tarik lives in a land without colour, a land where water is contaminated by a strange phenomenon of “water bugs”. Tarik wears make-up and dresses up as a woman. He dances on a cart that is drawn by a dying horse and his father has practically abandoned him. One day, Tarik’s horse Larbi stops in the middle of a procession and refuses to take another step forward. Tarik will have to learn to live again and surrender to the colours of his life, which is the only way to escape the dullness of the world around him.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 45
Genere: Drama
Country: Morocco, France, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, disturbing, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Sand Dollars (2014)
Plot Summary:
Every afternoon Noelí, a young Dominican woman, hangs out on the beach at Las Terrenas. With her boyfriend, Yeremi, they look for ways to make a living at the expense of one of the hundreds of tourists there. However Noelí also has a steady client, Anne, a much older French woman, who, like many other Europeans, has found an idyllic refuge on the island to spend her last years. For Noelí, the relationship is one of convenience, but the feelings become more intense as they plan to leave together for Paris.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 547
Genere: Drama
Country: Dominican Republic, Mexico, Argentina
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, realistic, queer cinema
Similar in 83%
East Palace West Palace (1996)
Plot Summary:
In China, homosexuality isn't illegal, but homosexuals are routinely persecuted by police and arrested for "hooliganism". The film focuses on a young gay writer A-Lan who, being attracted to a young policeman, manages to have himself interrogated for a whole night. His life-story which he tells during the interrogation reflects the general repression of the Chinese society. The policeman's attitude shifts from the initial revulsion to fascination and, finally, to attraction.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, bleak, serious, realistic, talky, gloomy, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 82%
White Night (2012)
Plot Summary:
Flight attendant Won-Gyu (Won Tae-Hee) left Korea 2 years ago with painful memories and now comes back. Won-Gyu meets Tae-Joon (Lee Yi-Kyung), who is a quick service delivery man and has a special night with him.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 415
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, disturbing, bleak, contemplative, crying, queer cinema
Similar in 77%
Love Forbidden (2002)
Plot Summary:
Rodolphe Marconi writes, directs, and stars in the coming-out drama Défense d'Aimer (Love Forbidden). Marconi plays Bruce, a young student from Paris who accepts a fellowship in Rome. He takes a flat at the Villa Medicis and writes full time. He eventually meets Italian native Matteo (Andrea Necci) and develops feelings for the man. However, Bruce is confused because Matteo also seems interested in the American student Irene (Irene D'Agostino). Love Forbidden premiered in the U.S. at the 2003 New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 273
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, sexy, serious, realistic, stylized, gloomy, sexual
Similar in 84%
Shadows in the Palace (2007)
Plot Summary:
The film is set amongst a group of gungnyeo, or palace women in Korea during the time of the Joseon dynasty, and is primarily about the hidden dynamics that unfold between them. Sworn into secrecy, submission, and celibacy, the women of the palace officially devote their lives to the well-being of the royal family. Currently, the kingdom has no heir to the throne, and at such a time, the royal concubine Hee-bin (Yun Se-ah) has given birth to a son. The queen mother wishes for the queen to adopt the child as her own, but Hee-bin hesitates proceeding with this, fearing she will be disposed off once the adoption is official.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 583
Genere: Crime, Drama, History, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, rough, suspenseful, suspense, twisted, serious, realistic, gloomy, political thriller, tension
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Taboo (1999)
Plot Summary:
Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller
Country: Japan, France, UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, stylized, tense, realistic, disturbing, serious, captivating, avant garde, independent film, jidai geki
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Falling Star (2014)
Plot Summary:
This colourful feature debut from experienced producer Luis Miñarro offers an almost hallucinatory look at the world of Amadeo of Savoy, who was king of an ungovernable Spain for two years around 1870. This intriguing episode is transformed into a plea for beauty, creativity and joy. The film functions as a metaphor for contemporary Spain and its ongoing state of crisis.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 435
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Spain
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, stylized, captivating
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The First King (2019)
Plot Summary:
Two brothers, Romulus and Remus, will have to rely on each other to survive in a hostile world. The city of Rome, one of the greatest empires in history, will be born from their deeds and bloody battles.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History
Country: Italy, Belgium
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological, exciting, tense, captivating, inspirational, epic, political, odd
Similar in 77%
Dance Town (2010)
Plot Summary:
A North Korean refugee, Jung-Nim, is trying to find a new life in South Korea, with people suspecting that she is a spy.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 83
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, touching, sincere, thought provoking, bleak, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Night Flight (2014)
Plot Summary:
Three teenage boys who were once close friends grow apart when they reach high school: Yong-ju lives hiding his true gender identity, Gi-woong becomes the leader of the school gang, and Gi-taek an obsessive manga fan. Tired of the constant malicious bullying by Gi-woong’s gang, Gi-taek betrays them by disclosing that Yong-ju has loved Gi-woong for years. Surrounded by an insecure boundary of the school and wounded by betrayals, the boys are driven into catastrophe.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, realistic, romantic, lgbt cinema, tense, bleak, queer cinema
Similar in 84%
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 88%
Kingdom of War: Part 1 (2007)
Plot Summary:
The film concerns the life of King Naresuan, who liberated the Siamese from the control of Burma. Born in 1555, he was taken to Burma as a child hostage; there he became acquainted with sword fighting and became a threat to the Burmese empire.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 689
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Thailand
Duration: 163 min
Plot tags: epic, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, period drama
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One Night Only (2014)
Plot Summary:
NIGHT BUG (dir. by Kim Tae-Yong) Han-Jae meets gay men at a bar in Jongno District, Seoul. He first meets them through an internet site. Once they get drunk, Han-Jae steals their money. He is accompanied by Hoon and pretends he is his boyfriend. Hoon is popular, but Han-Jae ignores Hoon's feelings for him. One day, Hoon suddenly kisses Han-Jae. ONE NIGHT (dir. by Kim Jho Gwang-Soo) Geun-Ho is almost hit by a car. At that time, Joon, who is visiting Jinju from Seoul, saves Geun-Ho. They happen to meet at a bar later that night. Geun-Ho and his friends goes to Seoul with Joon.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 101
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 67 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, sincere, romantic, unusual plot structure, melancholic, gay cinema
Similar in 81%
Boys Love (2006)
Plot Summary:
Magazine editor Taishin Mamiya interviews high school model Noeru Kisaragi. Despite Noeru's bad attitude, his painting of an ocean intrigues Mamiya and leads to a dinner, during which Noeru solicits Mamiya sexually. Soon Mamiya sees Noeru with another man, and he is shocked to discover at that moment that his interest in Noeru goes beyond article research—he truly wants to know more about him.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 581
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, emotional, touching, serious, realistic, queer cinema
Similar in 79%
Five Senses of Eros (2009)
Plot Summary:
In this anthology film centered around the theme of "Eros," five seperate stories are presented by five top Korean directors. The main characters from each segment are connected with each other in one way or another.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 469
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, atmospheric, realistic, stylized, anthology, sexy, erotic, sexual
Similar in 77%
Tattoo (2013)
Plot Summary:
Brazil, 1978. The military dictatorship that resulted from a coup in 1964 begins to stumble. In a cabaret-like theater located on the periphery between two cities in the northeast of Brazil, a group of artists challenges power and conventional morality with theater plays and public interferences. Led by Clécio Wanderley, the troupe Chão de Estrelas, strongly supported by its homosexual audience, along with intellectuals and other artists, practices political resistance through anarchy and mockery.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, disturbing, captivating, realistic, period piece, queer cinema, gay cinema
Similar in 86%
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 86%
Brother to Brother (2004)
Plot Summary:
A drama that looks back on the Harlem Renaissance from the perspective of an elderly, black writer who meets a gay teenager in a New York homeless shelter.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, thought provoking, touching, realistic, captivating, social, contemplative, queer cinema
Similar in 79%
Children of God (2010)
Plot Summary:
Johnny (Johnny Ferro) is an art student in Nassau whose technique is perfect, but he’s creatively blocked. His teacher sends him off to the rural island of Eleuthera where he meets Romeo (Stephen Tyrone Williams), a hot musician. They begin a clumsy dance of attraction and romance. Romeo has a fiancé and is identified as straight, but he’s been known to play with the boys on the side secretly. The Bahamas are bound by religious traditions that discourage homosexuality and end up forcing gay men into the closet. Lena is a pastor’s wife. Her husband demonizes homosexuality to further his career, yet he’s on the DL as well. When Lena discovers that her husband has infected her with VD, he accuses her of infidelities. These characters are all bound together in this intense drama of love, family and secrets.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Bahamas
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, stylized, lgbt cinema, gloomy, crying, queer cinema, gay cinema
Similar in 82%
Tsar (2009)
Plot Summary:
In 16th-century Russia in the grip of chaos, Ivan the Terrible strongly believes he is vested with a holy mission. Believing he can understand and interpret the signs, he sees the Last Judgment approaching. He establishes absolute power, cruelly destroying anyone who gets in his way. During this reign of terror, Philip, the superior of the monastery on the Solovetsky Islands, a great scholar and Ivan's close friend, dares to oppose the sovereign's mystical tyranny. What follows is a clash between two completely opposite visions of the world, smashing morality and justice, God and men. A grand-scale film with excellent leading roles by Mamonov and Yankovsky. An allegory of Stalinist Russia.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Russia
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, epic, serious, realistic, contemplative, stylized, gloomy, bleak
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The Old Garden (2006)
Plot Summary:
Activist Hyun-woo is released from prison after a 17-year stint. Journeying back to the village where he spent some time as a fugitive he recalls the time spent with Yoon-hee, a woman who gave him shelter and companionship.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 432
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, touching
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A Frozen Flower (2008)
Plot Summary:
A historical drama set in the Koryo dynasty and focused on the relationship between a king and his bodyguard. Under the dominance of Yuan Dynasty China, the king of Goryeo Dynasty Korea is pressured to produce a successor to the throne. Unable to make love to his queen because he is in love with his bodyguard, Hong Lim, the king asks the two of them to sleep together instead. This sexual contact formulates a forbidden love between Hong Lim and the Queen.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: sexy, touching, atmospheric, captivating, realistic, erotic, serious, sexual, romantic, sad
Similar in 87%
Edward II (1991)
Plot Summary:
In this Derek Jarman version of Christopher Marlowe's Elizabethan drama, in modern costumes and settings, Plantagenet king Edward II hands the power-craving nobility the perfect excuse by taking as lover besides his diplomatic wife, the French princess Isabel, not an acceptable lady at court but the ambitious Piers Gaveston, who uses his favor in bed even to wield political influence - the stage is set for a palace revolt which sends the gay pair from the throne to a terminal torture dungeon.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK, Japan
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, stylized, factual, offbeat, artsy, homoerotic, costume drama, cult classic, sincere
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Masquerade (2012)
Plot Summary:
During the confusing and conspiratorial Joseon Dynasty King Gwang-hae orders his councilor, HEO Kyun, to find him a double in order to avoid the constant threat of assassination. HEO Kyun finds Ha-sun, a jester who looks remarkably like the king, and just as feared, Gwang-hae is poisoned. HEO Kyun proposes Ha-sun fill the role as the king until Gwang-hae recovers fully and grooms Ha-sun to look and act every bit the king. While assuming the role of the king at his first official appearance, Ha-sun begins to ponder the intricacies of the problems debated in his court. Being fundamentally more humanitarian than Gwang-hae, Ha-sun’s affection and appreciation of even the most minor servants slowly changes morale in the castle for the better. However, his chief opposition, PARK, notices the sudden shift in the king’s behavior and starts to ask questions.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: South Korea
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, captivating, realistic, stylized, inspirational, serious, period drama, mad
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Painted Fire (2002)
Plot Summary:
The struggles of an artist. Jang Seung-up (1843-1897), also called Owon, focusing on the years 1882 to 1897, when Korea was in political upheaval, caught between China and Japan, the conservative dynasty dying, and peasant revolt at hand. Jang, born poor, has genius; a merchant, Kim, becomes his patron, finding him a teacher. Jang must convince others that a commoner can have talent, then move beyond his ability to copy old masters and find his own style. He's bedeviled by a temper and alcohol, arguments with patrons as he seeks commissions, and relationships with kisaeng, particularly Mae-hyang, that start and stop. It's the life of a restless spirit producing great art.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: South Korea
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, sentimental, melancholic, sincere, art film, period drama
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May 18 (2007)
Plot Summary:
The citizens of Gwangju lead a relatively peaceful life, until one day the military takes over the city, accusing the residents of conspiracy and claiming that they are communist sympathisers preparing a revolution against the current government. Seeing as the soldiers beat defenceless people, mainly students, to death, the citizens are in for retaliation and form a militia.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: South Korea
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, touching, disturbing
Similar in 83%
The Throne (2015)
Plot Summary:
Ancient Korea, July 4, 1762. The Crown Prince Hyojang, posthumously named Sado, son of King Yeongjo of Joseon, is accused of treason. Thus, the king asks him to commit suicide, but his closest vassals prevent it, so the king orders the prince to get inside a wooden rice chest, where he suffers deprivation of food and water.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: South Korea
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, captivating, psychological, serious, political, historical romance, period drama
Similar in 78%
Pedro (2008)
Plot Summary:
An intimate biopic of Pedro Zamora, an HIV-positive Cuban-American, who was cast for the MTV reality show, The Real World: San Francisco, in 1994. Due to his experience on the Real World, Pedro became a celebrity and a sympathetic face of the AIDS epidemic for millions of Americans who had never met anyone with HIV/AIDS.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 535
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, touching, serious, realistic, sincere, contemplative, non-linear, queer cinema
Similar in 88%
Stonewall (2015)
Plot Summary:
"Stonewall" is a drama about a young man in New York caught up during the 1969 Stonewall Riots, a pivotal event widely considered the starting point for the modern gay civil rights movement.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, political, lgbt cinema, social, controversial, queer cinema