Best tv shows like Angels in America
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Playwright Tony Kushner adapts his political epic about the AIDS crisis during the mid-eighties, around a group of separate but connected individuals.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: USA, Italy
Duration: 352 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, emotional, thought provoking, surreal, contemplative, cerebral, talky, serious, philosophical
Best tv shows and movies like Angels in America (2003):
Similar in 79%
The Line of Beauty (2006)
Plot Summary:
Nick Guest comes to London to live with his college friend's family, the Feddens. A short stay becomes permanent, and Nick positions himself in the family's plentiful lives of parties and politics during the Thatcher years. Over the course of three episodes spanning four years in the mid-eighties, we follow Nick's two homosexual love affairs in a time of promiscuity and carelessness, until the AIDS crisis and a bout of scandal threaten life as he has come to know it.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 177 min
Plot tags: retro, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, saga, queer cinema
Similar in 86%
Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves (2012)
Plot Summary:
When Rasmus gets of the train at the Central Station in Stockholm in September 1982 he leaves the little city of Koppom behind, to never go back. Young and beautiful he throws himself out in the gay Stockholm. Benjamin is a Jehova'’s Witness. Eagerly he walks from door to door to tell about God. And nothing can disturb his faith. Not until he knocks on Paul’s door, one of the warmest, most funny and most bitchy gay person that God has ever created. And on Christmas Eve, Rasmus meets Benjamin at Paul’s and nothing ever becomes the same again. What is told in this series has happened. It’s happening in this city, in these quarters, amongst the people that live here. In a city where most people go on living as if nothing has happened when young men start to get sick, fade away and die.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden, Finland, Norway
Duration: 174 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, thought provoking, realistic, retro, depressing, gloomy, queer cinema
Similar in 76%
Looking (2014)
Plot Summary:
Three friends in San Francisco who explore the fun and sometimes overwhelming options available to a new generation of gay men.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sincere, humorous, semi serious, realistic, clever, funny, emotional, saga, mumblecore, sitcom
Similar in 79%
Eyes Wide Open (2009)
Plot Summary:
A beautifully affecting love story that has rightly earned comparisons to Brokeback Mountain, Haim Tabakman's potent yet impeccably restrained tale has won awards and accolades at film festivals the world over. Aaron, a pillar in Jerusalem's Orthodox community is respected by friends and family. However, when he hires handsome runaway student Ezri to assist with his business, sexual tensions bristle and the pair cautiously embark on a love affair. Meanwhile, a neighbouring shopkeeper persists in seeing a man of her own choosing, even though she's been promised by her father to another. As forbidden truths come to the fore, these lovers are forced to either confront or relent in the face of a centuries-old religious community, with startling results.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Israel, Germany, France
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: bleak, realistic, captivating, lgbt cinema, tense, erotic, homoerotic, powerful, independent film, serious
Similar in 83%
Undertow (2009)
Plot Summary:
A married fisherman struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male lover within his town's rigid traditions.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: Peru, Colombia, France, Germany
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, touching, serious, lgbt cinema, romantic, melancholic, scenic, sad, surreal
Similar in 78%
The Falls: Testament of Love (2013)
Plot Summary:
The Falls: Testament of Love is a continuation of the story of RJ Smith and Chris Merrill, two Mormon missionaries that fell in love during their mission in a small town in Oregon. The boys haven't spoken in five years, but when an unexpected tragedy compells them back to the Oregon town where they served, they find themselves, once again, thrust into one another's lives. As old feelings begin to surface they find themselves again facing difficult choices. If they pursue their desire to be together, RJ and Chris risk hurting the ones they care about as they embark on a spiritual journey to discover love, freedom, and happiness.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, spiritual, heartbreaking, lgbt cinema, sexual, crying, independent film
Similar in 79%
Pit Stop (2013)
Plot Summary:
Recovering from an ill-fated affair with a married man, Gabe finds solace in the relationship he maintains with his ex-wife and daughter. On the other side of town, Ernesto evades life at home with his current live-in ex-boyfriend by spending much of his spare time in the hospital with an ailing past love. Impervious to the monotony of their blue-collar world, they maintain an unwavering yearning for romance. The emotional isolation the two men have grown accustomed to is captured in a subtle, optimistic, poetic fashion while avoiding melodrama.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, serious, contemplative, psychological, mumblecore, independent film, sincere, gloomy, crying
Similar in 82%
Man in an Orange Shirt (2017)
Plot Summary:
Two love stories, sixty years apart, charting the challenges and huge change to gay lives with Michael and Thomas from WW2 to Adam and Steve to the present day.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, psychological, touching, erotic, retro, lgbt cinema, queer cinema, period drama
Similar in 85%
Love! Valour! Compassion! (1997)
Plot Summary:
Gregory invites seven friends to spend the summer at his large, secluded 19th-century home in upstate New York. The seven are: Bobby, Gregory's "significant other," who is blind but who loves to explore the home's garden using his sense of touch; Art and Perry, two "yuppies" who drive a Volvo and who celebrate their 14th anniversary together that summer; John, a dour expatriate Briton who loathes his twin brother James; Ramon, John's "companion," who is physically attracted to Bobby and immediately tries to seduce the blind man; James, a cheerful soul who is in the advanced stages of AIDS; and Buzz, a fan of traditional Broadway musicals who is dealing with his own HIV-positive status.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: independent film, sentimental, touching, realistic, witty, clever, feel good, humorous, semi serious, hispanic
Similar in 80%
Parting Glances (1986)
Plot Summary:
Michael and Robert, two gay men living in Brooklyn, spend their last day together before Robert leaves for Africa on work assignment. Michael still has feelings for his friend Nick, who has AIDS.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, sad, sentimental, sincere, clever, touching, humorous, realistic, gloomy, semi serious
Similar in 90%
The Man I Love (1997)
Plot Summary:
This is a combination coming out and first love story. The swimmer and diver Lucard is interested in attractive Martin. The film follows the characters' coming out with all its difficulties, the bitter-sweet pleasures of first love and the dreadful moment when one comes down to reality and realizes that one's beloved friend has a hard way to go yet. The positive message the film tries to transmit is the somewhat common motto "Live each day of your life as if it were your last.".
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: France
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: captivating, touching, serious, sentimental, realistic, sexual, allegory, emotional, sexy, gay cinema
Similar in 82%
Nine Lives (2004)
Plot Summary:
Lust and dysfuntion come full circle in this collection of nine steamy scenes exploring gay life, sex, addition, drugs and HIV/AIDS as revealed by a latino pool boy, a television writer, a meth dealer and others. As one affair leads into another, the connections betwen the characters reveal the secrets each one holds.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 407
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, captivating, sexual, crying, hispanic, sexy, cult film
Similar in 75%
The Trip (2002)
Plot Summary:
When 19-year-old gay-rights activist Tommy and 24-year-old Alan first meet in 1973, they find themselves on the opposite sides of the political coin.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, political, feel good, humorous, witty, semi serious, road movie, crying
Similar in 82%
Priest (1994)
Plot Summary:
Father Greg Pilkington is torn between his call as a conservative Catholic priest and his secret life as a homosexual with a gay lover, frowned upon by the Church. Upon hearing the confession of a young girl of her incestuous father, Greg enters an intensely emotional spiritual struggle deciding between choosing morals over religion and one life over another.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: independent film, touching, spiritual, lgbt cinema, powerful, tense, sincere, thought provoking, serious, realistic
Similar in 89%
The Falls (2012)
Plot Summary:
The Falls is a feature film about two missionaries that fall in love while on their mission. RJ travels to a small town in Oregon with Elder Merrill to serve their mission and teach the words of Joseph Smith. Living together and sharing the challenge of leaving home, the two men help each other discover their strengths. They share a passion for their faith and learn to express their feelings, risking the only community they have for a forbidden intimacy.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, captivating, lgbt cinema, psychological, heartbreaking, independent film, humorous, serious, realistic
Similar in 88%
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 78%
Queer as Folk (2000)
Plot Summary:
Brash humor and genuine emotion make up this original series revolving around the lives, loves, ambitions, careers and friendships of a group of gay men and women living on Liberty Avenue in contemporary Pittsburgh, PA. The show offers an unapologetic look at modern, urban gay and lesbian lives while addressing the most critical health and political issues affecting the community. Sometimes racy, sometimes sensitive and always straight to the heart.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 47 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sincere, realistic, sexual, sexy, erotic, dramatic, controversial, sensual
Similar in 88%
August (2011)
Plot Summary:
August tells the story of two former lovers, Troy and Jonathan, who reunite after a long ago painful breakup. After spending several years in Spain, Troy returns to Los Angeles and decides to phone Jonathan and meet for coffee. A seemingly innocent rendezvous turns into an attempt to revive passions past. Only this time it's not that simple as Jonathan has a new beau, Raul, and is trying to make the right decision a second time around.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, psychological, captivating, emotional, homoerotic, sexy, touching, serious, non-linear
Similar in 75%
Keep the Lights On (2012)
Plot Summary:
An emotionally and sexually charged journey through the love, addiction, and friendship of two men. Documentary filmmaker Erik and closeted lawyer Paul meet through a casual encounter, but they find a deeper connection and become a couple. Individually and together, they are risk takers—compulsive, and fueled by drugs and sex. In an almost decade-long relationship defined by highs, lows, and dysfunctional patterns, Erik struggles to negotiate his own boundaries and dignity and to be true to himself.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: serious, touching, emotional, lgbt cinema, sad, sexual, realistic, independent film, sincere, sexy
Similar in 78%
I Want Your Love (2012)
Plot Summary:
After a decade of living in San Francisco, Jesse is forced to move back to his Midwestern roots because he can no longer afford the city. On his final night in the city, friends and ex-lovers gather for a going away party that promises to heighten Jesse's already bittersweet feelings about leaving.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 71 min
Plot tags: mumblecore, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, controversial, sexual, erotic, independent film, sexy
Similar in 85%
It's My Party (1996)
Plot Summary:
A gathering of friends. A gift of love. A celebration of life.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, emotional, independent film, philosophical, depressing, sincere, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 75%
Longtime Companion (1989)
Plot Summary:
Longtime Companion follows the lives of a small circle of friends from the first mention of the disease in the New York Times in 1981. First referred to as "Gay-Related-Immune-Disorder," we watch the effect of the disease as it devastates the lives of our protagonists. Jumping between Manhattan and Fire Island, vignettes carry us from the it-couldn't-happen-to-me mentality of the early days of the disease to the invasive effect it has had on all of our lives, today. The title of the film comes from the New York Times' refusal to acknowledge homosexual relationships in their obituary section during this period. Instead, survivors were referred to as "Longtime Companions" of the deceased.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sad, independent film, touching, emotional, realistic, art house, lgbt cinema, weeping, eros, romantic drama
Similar in 75%
Holding Trevor (2007)
Plot Summary:
Everybody's looking for something... Moving forward doesn't always mean leaving something behind.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, touching, lgbt cinema, cult classic, independent film, crying, dark comedy, queer cinema
Similar in 81%
Latter Days (2003)
Plot Summary:
Aaron Davis (Steve Sandvoss) and Christian Markelli (Wes Ramsey) are the two most opposite people in the world. Aaron is a young Elder (or a Mormon missionary) who wants to do his family proud and is quite passionate about his religion and film. Christian is a shallow WeHo waiter/party boy who only looks forward to bedding a new guy every night.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: romantic, sentimental, touching, controversial, sexy, erotic, independent film, realistic, lgbt cinema, humorous
Similar in 79%
Free Fall (2013)
Plot Summary:
A promising career with the police, a baby on the way... Marc's life seems to be right on track. Then he meets fellow policeman Kay and during their regular jogs Marc experiences a never-before-felt sense of ease and effortlessness -- and what it means to fall in love with another man. Torn between his family and his new feelings for Kay, Marc sees his world careening more and more out of control. Suddenly, his life is in free fall and Marc realizes that try as he may, he can't make everyone happy. Least of all, himself.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: emotional, sexual, disturbing, atmospheric, touching, sincere, lgbt cinema, serious, erotic, sexy
Similar in 83%
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Plot Summary:
Two modern-day cowboys meet on a shepherding job in the summer of '63, the two share a raw and powerful summer together that turns into a lifelong relationship conflicting with the lives they are supposed to live.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 376000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, sexy, sad, melancholic, crying, sexual, neo western, controversial, heartbreaking
Similar in 90%
His Secret Life (2001)
Plot Summary:
When Antonia's husband Massimo is killed in a car accident, she accidentally discovers that he has been having a same-sex affair with a produce wholesaler named Michele.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, sincere, serious, psychological, romantic, captivating, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 80%
The Normal Heart (2014)
Plot Summary:
The story of the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 1980s, taking an unflinching look at the nation's sexual politics as gay activists and their allies in the medical community fight to expose the truth about the burgeoning epidemic to a city and nation in denial.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: sad, touching, emotional, sincere, compassionate, depressing, serious, thought provoking, realistic, talky
Similar in 76%
The L Word (2004)
Plot Summary:
A group of lesbian friends struggle with romance and careers in Los Angeles.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: realistic, semi serious, sincere, erotic, lgbt cinema, dark, dramatic, grindhouse, sentimental, touching
Similar in 81%
A Home at the End of the World (2004)
Plot Summary:
Three friends form a bond over the year, Johnathan is gay, Clare is straight and Bobby is neither, instead he loves the people he loves. As their lives go on there is tension and tears which culminate in a strong yet fragile friendship between the three.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, intense, sincere, erotic, sexual, depressing, romantic, cult classic, art house