Best movies like Viva
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies similar to Viva? Share your familiarity to navigate others to films and tv shows you've seen already that may also spellbind them. Help enlarge the network of people mentioning videos to each other. We welcome your involvement!
Plot Summary:
Jesús, a young hairdresser, works at a Havana nightclub for drag performers, and dreams of being a performer himself. Encouraged by his mentor, Mama, Jesús finally gets his chance to take the stage. But when Angel, his estranged father, abruptly reenters his life, his world is quickly turned upside down. The macho Angel, recently released from a 15-year stint in prison, tries to squelch his son’s ambition to perform in drag. Father and son clash over their opposing expectations of each other, struggling to understand one another and reconcile as a family. Shot in a gritty neighbourhood far from the Havana most tourists know, Viva is a heartrending story of music, performance and survival.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland, Cuba
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, disturbing, lgbt cinema, queer cinema
Best tv shows and movies like Viva (2015):
Similar in 88%
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 76%
Holiday Heart (2000)
Plot Summary:
A drag queen takes in a drug addict and her daughter and helps raise the daughter.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: captivating, entertaining, queer cinema, black cinema
Similar in 80%
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 89%
Waterberry Tears (2010)
Plot Summary:
This coming of age story is about a gay boy, Goyo, as he discovers himself. Living with his Mexican family in the Coachella Valley, Goyo has a hard time hiding his sexual preferences. Although Goyo seeks acceptance from his father Ramon, Ramon will not accept that his only son is gay. Adding to the situation is that his sister Rosa and Goyo both fall in love with the same guy.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 96
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, realistic
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 84%
Alaska Is a Drag (2017)
Plot Summary:
Tough, but diva fabulous, Leo, an aspiring drag superstar, is stuck working in a fish cannery in Alaska. He and his twin sister are trapped in the monotony of fist fights and fish guts. Out of necessity, Leo learned to fight back, which catches the attention of the local boxing coach. When a new boy moves to town and wants to be his sparring partner, Leo has to face the real reason he's stuck in Alaska.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 524
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspense, disturbing, queer cinema
Similar in 79%
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 89%
Die Beautiful (2016)
Plot Summary:
Trisha, a Filipino transgender woman, suddenly dies while being crowned in a beauty pageant. Her last wish was to be presented as a different celebrity on each night of her wake.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 934
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: lgbt cinema, psychological, light, sincere, unusual plot structure, humorous, queer cinema
Similar in 90%
Open Bodies (1998)
Plot Summary:
Born to a North African father and a French mother, 18-year-old Parisian high school senior Rémi works part-time in an Arab grocery store while studying management and commerce. He responds to a school ad seeking subjects for a film, and Marc, who placed the ad, auditions Rémi by filming an interview with him. Rémi and Marc wind up in bed, and Rémi soon has other sexual experiences – with a guy in a men's room and with a young woman who grabs him while she's dancing in the street.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 189
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 47 min
Plot tags: queer cinema
Similar in 80%
Little Gay Boy (2013)
Plot Summary:
A young gay boy, from his birth to his teenage years, in which he experiments his sexuality and his own boundaries, to the day he finally meets his father.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 164
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, experimental, avant garde, queer cinema
Similar in 87%
Holy Mess (2015)
Plot Summary:
A comedy about the new alternative family and how different family situations and relationships come to a head during the premier family weekend.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sincere, humorous, captivating, semi serious, lgbt cinema, gay cinema
Similar in 87%
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 81%
My Fair Son (2005)
Plot Summary:
When young art student Ray moves in with his estranged businessman father after years of separation, the two tentatively begin to reconcile their many differences -- including Ray's revelation that he's gay, which his father struggles to accept.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 94
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, suspenseful, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 78%
Like You Mean It (2015)
Plot Summary:
When Mark commits to falling back in love with Jonah, he is forced to look at himself with unprecedented courage and honesty.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 732
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sexy, psychological, tense, sentimental, unusual plot structure, contemplative, lgbt cinema, cute, queer cinema
Similar in 76%
Beyto (2020)
Plot Summary:
Talented swimmer, motivated apprentice, cool buddy: Beyto is in the midst of life. But when the only son of a Turkish migrant family falls in love with his coach Mike, an ideal world falls to pieces. His parents only see one way out: They lure him to their home village and plan his wedding with Seher, his childhood friend. Suddenly, Beyto finds himself in a disruptive love triangle.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Switzerland
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: romantic, touching, emotional, talky, lgbt cinema, queer cinema, gay cinema
Similar in 85%
An Unusual Affair (2002)
Plot Summary:
Jochen Wenzel, a young teacher, married with two kids, one day surprisingly falls in love with a young male colleague, Tom Leuthner and they begin an unusual affair (= "Eine aussergewöhnliche Affäre"). While Ina, Jochen's wife, worries about Jochen's distanced behavior without having a clue of her husband's affair, Jochen and Tom seriously fall for each other. Torn between his family and his new love, Jochen has to make a decision. Written by Smoothhoney.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 592
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, suspense, captivating, queer cinema
Similar in 79%
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 76%
One Kiss (2016)
Plot Summary:
Lorenzo, Blue and Antonio have a lot in common: they are sixteen, attending the same class in the same school in a small town in the northeast, each have a family that loves them. And all three, though for different reasons, have come to be isolated from other peers. Their new friendship helps them to resist, until the mechanical attraction and fear the judgment of others do not grasp them unprepared.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: rough, touching, suspense, suspenseful, sweet, queer cinema, flamboyance, campy
Similar in 76%
Label Me (2019)
Plot Summary:
Sex is power, and Waseem, a Syrian gay-for-pay hustler seeking asylum in Cologne, wields it like a shield. Keeping his johns at an emotional arm’s length while satisfying their most carnal desires in order to eke out a living, he meets his match in Lars: a kind, affluent professional with a growing personal interest in Waseem. This gripping tale of transactional identity explores the tactical exchange of trust and intimacy in a partnership, and the divisions between immigrants and their host countries in contemporary Europe.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, romantic, sexy, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic, contemplative, gay cinema
Similar in 78%
1985 (2018)
Plot Summary:
Having been gone for three years, closeted advertising executive Adrian returns to his Texas hometown and struggles to reveal his dire circumstances to his conservative family.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, sentimental, sincere, unusual plot structure, disturbing, sad, black and white, crying, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
Minyan (2020)
Plot Summary:
In rapidly changing New York of the 1980s, a Russian Jewish teenager wrestles with his identity, faith, and sexuality, all of which seem irreconcilable until he befriends two closeted men in his grandfather's senior housing complex.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, disturbing, erotic, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 87%
Raising Heroes (1996)
Plot Summary:
Josh and Paul want to adopt Nickie, the child of Paul's recently deceased friend Susan. Susan's mother opposes gays' adopting, and Monday is the final court date. On Friday, Josh stops by a market for milk and glimpses a Mob hit. Unknown to him, the hitmen are now on his trail. Josh hates confrontation and doesn't tell Paul about the murder or call the cops. Instead, he takes Paul for an idyllic weekend in the Poconos. But Sunday, when they return to the city, the murderers are waiting. The Mob boss orders that both be killed. What chance do Paul, who's in the dark, and Josh, who's basically passive, have against this firepower? What will happen to Nickie without them?.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 122
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 77%
FAQs (2005)
Plot Summary:
After living on the tough streets of LA for a while, India hopes that every gay basher will meet his destiny. In this case Destiny is a black, 6 foot, high heel wearing, gun toting, drag queen with an attitude and a soft place in her heart for homeless gay boys.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 528
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, talky, sexual, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 88%
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 76%
Salvation Army (2013)
Plot Summary:
Abdellah is a young gay man navigating the sexual, racial and political climate of Morocco. Growing up in a large family in a working-class neighborhood, Abdellah is caught between a distant father, an authoritarian mother, an older brother whom he adores and a handful of predatory older men, in a society that denies his homosexuality.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 667
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Morocco, Switzerland
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, social, bleak, queer cinema
Similar in 90%
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 82%
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 85%
Fair Haven (2016)
Plot Summary:
A young man returns to his family farm, after a long stay in ex-gay conversion therapy, and is torn between the expectations of his emotionally distant father, and the memories of a past, loving relationship he has tried to bury.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, disturbing, lgbt cinema, independent film, christian film, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
Hidden Kisses (2016)
Plot Summary:
Nathan, 16, lives alone with his father Stephane. A newcomer in high school, he is invited to a party and falls in love with Louis, a boy in his class. They find themselves out of sight and kiss each other, but someone takes a picture of them. Soon, the photo is published on Facebook and a storm overtakes their lives as they face bullying and rejection.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: lgbt cinema, realistic, captivating, disturbing, existential, cute, melancholic, atmospheric, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 83%
Naked As We Came (2012)
Plot Summary:
Love, loss and hope are tumultuously explored amidst a tranquil backdrop and asks us all the question: What is your dream?.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, semi serious, sentimental, sincere, independent film, erotic, queer cinema