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Movies like Tropical Malady

Key Features:
LGBTQ+, Gay romance, Jungle setting, Supernatural elements, Transformation, Symbolism, Spiritual journey, Unconventional narrative, Cultural differences, Mythical creature
Tone:
poetic, stylized, serious
Target Audience:
Art house enthusiasts, LGBTQ+ viewers, Fans of unconventional cinema
Emotional Arc:
Attraction → Confusion → Fear

Tropical Malady

2004-06-24
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The passionate relationship between two men with unusual consequences. The film is divided in two parts. The first half charts the modest attraction between two men in the sunny, relaxing countryside and the second half charts the confusion and terror of an unknown menace lurking deep within the jungle shadows.

Genres
Drama, Romance, Fantasy
Cast
Banlop Lomnoi, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Siriwej Jareornchon, Udom Promma, Huey Deesom, Saritpong Boonyadison, Arna Rattapan, Donruedee Chana, Mantana Wannaros
Crew
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Rating
6.728(136 votes)
Tropical MaladyTropical Malady
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Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Suffering from acute kidney failure, Boonmee has chosen to spend his final days surrounded by his loved ones in the countryside. Surprisingly, the ghost of his deceased wife appears to care for him, and his long lost son returns home in a non-human form. Contemplating the reasons for his illness, Boonmee treks through the jungle with his family to a mysterious hilltop cave—the birthplace of his first life.



Blissfully Yours
6.5

Min is an illegal Burmese immigrant living in Thailand who has contracted a mysterious painful rash covering his upper body. His girlfriend, Roong, and a middle-aged woman, Orn, take him to see a doctor. Min pretends that he cannot speak because he is not fluent in Thai and speaking would reveal him to be an illegal immigrant.



Syndromes and a Century

A story about director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s parents who were both doctors, and his memories of growing up in a hospital environment.



15+ Coming of Age
4.8

With their teen hormones raging, three high school boys help one another explore their curiosity about the opposite sex and love in this raunchy comedy.



Love of Siam
7.3

Best friends as children, Mew and Tong run into each other years later as young men and find they have unexpected feelings for each other.



Inhuman Kiss
6.4

An innocent young woman is the unwitting host to a krasue, a demon who causes havoc in her village as it searches for vengeance at night.



Cemetery of Splendor
5.936

In a hospital, ten soldiers are being treated for a mysterious sleeping sickness. In a story in which dreams can be experienced by others, and in which goddesses can sit casually with mortals, a nurse learns the reason why the patients will never be cured, and forms a telepathic bond with one of them.



Pee Mak
Pee Mak(2013)
7.2

Mak's friends just want to protect him, but his wife Nak won't let a small thing like her own death get in the way of true love.



Anaconda
Anaconda(2024)
7.15

A struggling circus crew gets deceived by its former partner, as it embarks on a tour in Thailand. During the journey through a Southeast Asian rainforest, they encounter attacks by a giant python. They meet a mysterious man named Jeff who offers to help, but they soon realize he's a poacher. As they search for Jeff's boat, they face life-and-death struggles with the python and Jeff himself.



Koko-di Koko-da
5.8

As a couple goes on a trip to find their way back to each other, a sideshow artist and his shady entourage emerge from the woods, terrorizing them, luring them deeper into a maelstrom of psychological terror and humiliating slapstick.



Ghost House
5.546

A young couple go on an adventurous vacation to Thailand only to find themselves haunted by a malevolent spirit after naively disrespecting a Ghost House.



Death Whisperer
7.5

When a remote village is plagued by a deadly curse, one brother must fight to save his family from a terrifying supernatural threat.



Teddy Bear
6.777

After failing to find love in Denmark, a painfully shy bodybuilder sets off for Thailand to escape from his overbearing mother and search for a bride.



Coming Soon
6.3

Two projectionists discover a disturbing film featuring the lynching of a woman. Not only are they troubled by the content of the movie, but strange events befall them following the viewing.



Teddy
Teddy(2020)
6.169

In a rural French town, twenty-something Teddy is scratched by an unknown beast and slowly undergoes frightening changes.



Vinyan
Vinyan(2008)
5.1

Six months after losing her only child in the Southeast Asia tsunami, Jeanne is convinced she sees him in a film about orphans living in the jungles.



Spermageddon
6.4

Two narrative threads: one is an emerging love story between awkward teens Jens and Lisa, who are having sex for the first time; the other, an eventful quest of Simon the Semen and his friends to reach the golden goal, the Egg.



Death Whisperer 2

Three years after his sister's death, Yak relentlessly searches for the dark spirit that killed her in hopes of seeking revenge.



Phobia 2
Phobia 2(2009)
6.196

An anthology of five macabre short stories about hungry ghosts, comatose brain dead, a group of bright-eyed actors, an unscrupulous car salesman, and careless backpack tourists.



Medicine Man
5.967

An eccentric scientist in the Amazon jungle rejects his research assistant for being a woman, but as bulldozers threaten their work on a potential cancer cure, they learn to collaborate and begin to fall in love.



Wild Men
Wild Men(2022)
6.06

Armed only with a bow and an ensemble of animal skins, Martin sets off into the forest in a misguided attempt to overcome his midlife crisis. A chance meeting with a fugitive named Musa leads to a twisted trip through the fjords with police, drug runners, and Martin's family not far behind. As an unlikely friendship develops and wildly original set-pieces unfold, Martin's quest for manhood leads to deep and hilariously uncomfortable realizations about the presumed masculine ideal.



The Pool
The Pool(2018)
5.924

Left alone to clean up a 6-meter-deep deserted pool, Day falls asleep on an inflatable raft. When he wakes, the water level has sunk so low that he can't climb out on his own. Stuck in the pool, Day screams for help, but the only thing that hears him is a creature from a nearby crocodile farm.



A Man Amidst Bees
6.807

Bruno is a young film editor who has just broke up his marriage with Regina, and returned living in his mother's house. Drowned in deep sorrow, something very weird happens in his life: people around him are gradually disappearing. But only for him. Some kind of blindness.



The Obscure Spring
6.86

Igor is a plumber; Pina serves coffee. It is winter and they both deeply desire each other, but they are not free. In trying to figure out how to realize their love, she decides to make a lion costume for her little son and he decides to buy a photocopying machine for his wife. Spring will come at last and with it the consummation of love, filling their lives with hope and sex.



Two Lovers and a Bear
6.487

Set in a small town near the North Pole where roads lead to nowhere, the story follows Roman and Lucy, two burning souls who come together to make a leap for life and inner peace.



Quicksand
Quicksand(2023)
6.286

A married couple on the brink of divorce becomes trapped in quicksand while hiking through a Colombian rainforest. It’s a struggle for survival as they battle the elements of the jungle and must work together in order to escape.



Jaguar
Jaguar(1996)
5.686

A shaman from the South American rain forest visits France for a public relations campaign. In a hotel's elevator in Paris he meets a French good-for-nothing named Perrin he's fascinated with. He follows Perrin to his flat and although Perrin is not very enthusiastic about so much interest in his person, he lets the shaman spend the night in his flat. After an official meeting on the next day being part of the PR campaign the shaman suffers from a heart attack. Hardly being able to speak and laying in a hospital bed he demands to see Perrin. The latter is not very interested in meeting the shaman again. However it looks like it is to late for animosities as the shaman and Perrin seem to be tied mentally somehow since they've met in the elevator.



Yes or No
Yes or No(2010)
6.897

Traditional girl Pie is initially uncomfortable with her tomboyish new roommate. But as time goes on, she finds herself increasingly attracted to her.



Shutter
Shutter(2004)
7.296

When Jane and Tun run over a girl in a car accident, they speed away immediately from the crime scene. However, Tun, a photographer, soon discovers strange shadows in his photos, which unsettles them.



Night of the Killer Bears

After not seeing each other for a long time, 5 teenage friends living in the city of Bangkok go on a vacation together, staying at a quiet resort isolated from the city. Things take a dark turn, when it’s revealed each of them have hidden secrets and unbeknownst to the group, there is someone observing them.



Two Brothers
7.1

Two tigers are separated as cubs and taken into captivity, only to be reunited years later as enemies by an explorer (Pearce) who inadvertently forces them to fight each other.



Suntan
Suntan(2016)
6.286

Kostis is a 40-year-old doctor that finds himself in the small island of Antiparos, in order to take over the local clinic. His whole life and routine will turn upside down when he meets an international group of young and beautiful tourists and he falls in love with Anna, a 19-year-old goddess.



Josee, the Tiger and the Fish

With dreams of diving abroad, Tsuneo gets a job assisting Josee, an artist whose imagination takes her far beyond her wheelchair. But when the tide turns against them, they push each other to places they never thought possible, and inspire a love fit for a storybook.



Laddaland
Laddaland(2011)
6.4

A family moves into a neighborhood where they encounter a series of terrifying paranormal events that lead them to the edge of sanity.



O Fantasma
6.2

Sergio is a brooding, alienated man who works as a trash collector in Lisbon by day and roams the city streets by night seeking rough, anonymous sex with men. One night he meets a man who seems to be the embodiment of his tormented fantasies, and he becomes obsessed with the stranger until loneliness and unfulfilled desire propel him finally into a dark and dangerous animalistic state.



Zoo
Zoo(2018)
6.1

A couple trying to save their marriage during a zombie apocalypse.



From Beginning to End
6.622

Two brothers develop a very close relationship as they are growing up in an idyllic and happy family. When they are young adults their relationship becomes very intimate, romantic, and sexual.



Chaw
Chaw(2009)
5.759

A black comedy about the events that are set into motion in a town after a man-eating boar goes on a rampage.



Lost in Thailand
6.3

The story of two rival business managers, Xu and Bo, who are fighting over a revolutionary new in-house technology for control of their company. If Xu wins, his future will be secured.



A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box

When the Goddess of Happiness tosses the Longevity Monk and his disciples out of heaven (because the Monkey King tried to attain immortality), the Monkey King is reincarnated as the Joker. He now spends his time chasing two jealous women. When one of them is dying, the Joker goes back in time in an attempt to save her.



Creature
Creature(2011)
5.19

An ex-Navy seal, his girlfriend and their friends head out on a road trip to New Orleans. The group decides to stop at a roadside convenience store owned by Chopper, who tells them the tale of Lockjaw, a fabled god-like creature who is half-man, half-alligator.



Death of Me
4.97

A couple on holiday on a remote South Pacific island awaken one morning with a hang over and no recollection of what transpired. When playing back a video of the previous night, they see they participated in a local ritual that somehow ends with him murdering her.



Prey
Prey(2024)
6.022

A young couple is compelled to leave their Christian missionary station in the Kalahari Desert after being threatened with death by an extremist militant gang. After crashing their aircraft they must battle man and beast for their lives.



Man from Deep River
5.587

A photographer in the rain forest is captured by wild natives, and after months of living with them, he marries the chief's daughter and helps protect the village from a vicious cannibal tribe.



Scarlet Innocence
6.09

A university professor gradually succumbing to blindness is entranced by an obsessive love, in this modern-day adaptation of a classic Korean fairy tale.



Adoration
Adoration(2020)
5.8

Paul lives with his mother in the private clinic of doctor Loisel, deeply hidden in the woods. Paul likes to roam the forest and observe nature. One day Gloria, a schizophrenic teenager of around fifteen years old, arrives, and Paul falls in love immediately.



Love Affair(s)
6.3

Vacations in the French countryside. Daphne, three months pregnant, finds herself alone to welcome Maxime, her boyfriend François’ cousin. François had to leave in a hurry for Paris to cover for a sick colleague. For four days, while waiting for his return, Daphne and Maxime get to know each other and share very intimate stories that bring them closer...



Ong-Bak
Ong-Bak(2003)
7.1

When the head of a statue sacred to a village is stolen, a young martial artist goes to the big city and finds himself taking on the underworld to retrieve it.



Fando and Lis
6.782

Fando and his partially paralysed lover Lis search for the mythical city of Tar.



Significant Other
6.027

Ruth and Harry decide to take a romantic backpacking trip through the Pacific Northwest, but amongst the beautiful scenery, Ruth makes an unexpected discovery that sets her off on a strange, frightening new path. The couple aren't alone in the woods, and they might not be the same when they come out...if they come out.



Millennium Mambo
6.998

Vicky recalls her romances with her exes Hao Hao and Jack in the neon-lit clubs of Taipei.



Dorm
Dorm(2006)
6.5

When 12-year-old Ton transfers to an all-boys boarding school, he's taunted by his peers and terrified by their tales about the ghosts that inhabit the school. Ton is utterly miserable until he befriends a mysterious fellow pupil.



P
P(2005)
5.745

An orphan girl taught magic by her sick grandma must find work in seedy Bangkok, where she encounters a number of unsavory characters. She uses the magical skills her grandmother taught her to her advantage and to increasingly horrific consequences.



Junkyard Dog
6.9

Childhood pals Dog and Mirales live in a little village in the south of France and spend their days just hanging out. To kill time, Mirales has got into the habit of teasing Dog mercilessly. But this summer is different: Dog meets Elsa and romance blossoms.



To Paint or Make Love

An affluent, middle-aged couple's uneventful lives are forever changed when they move into an isolated house in the country and befriend an odd, younger couple.



Dev.D
Dev.D(2009)
6.96

The son of a wealthy businessman finds solace in drugs and alcohol when he breaks up with his childhood love.



Tired of Kissing Frogs

A romantic comedy about a young interior decorator who, as a result of a romantic disappointment, becomes the female counterpart of Don Juan. The misadventures of the manizer make her rediscover the value of love.



Private Desert
6.8

40-year-old Daniel has been suspended from active police work and is under internal investigation for violence. When Sara, his internet love affair, stops answering his texts he decides to drive north in search of her, starting on what is apparently a fool's errand. He shows Sara's picture around, but nobody seems to recognize the woman. Until eventually one guy pops up, saying he can put the two in touch under very specific conditions.



Cosmos
Cosmos(2015)
6.6

Two young men seek the solitude of the country; their peace is disturbed when a set of random occurrences suggest to their susceptible minds a pattern with sinister meanings.



An Unexpected Love
6.3

It tells the story of Marcos and Ana, who have been married for more than 25 years, but enter into an existential crisis that leads them to separate. The life of singles seems fascinating and exciting at first, but soon it also becomes monotonous for her and nightmarish for him.



The Animal Kingdom
6.989

In a world hit by a wave of mutations transforming humans into animals, François does everything he can to save his wife. As some of the creatures disappear into a nearby forest, he and their son Émile embark on a quest that will change their lives forever.



Taipei Story
7.457

A young woman urgently seeks to navigate the maze of contemporary Taipei and find a future. She hopes that her boyfriend Lung is the key to the future, but Lung is stuck in a past that combines baseball and traditional loyalty that leads him to squander his nest egg bailing her father out of financial trouble.



A Werewolf Boy
7.647

An unexpected phone call brings an elderly woman to her childhood country cottage, and memories of an orphan boy she knew 47 years ago come flooding back to her.



Sad Movie
Sad Movie(2005)
6.5

These intertwining stories about romance and separation follow a firefighter who can't find the right time to propose, a shy theme park worker who falls for an artist, an estranged mother and son, and a man seeking to regain his lost love.



Gwendoline
4.824

A beautiful woman hires an intrepid adventurer to help find her father, who has disappeared in the jungle while searching for a rare and priceless butterfly. Along the way they run into cannibals, a race of Amazon warriors and all the usual attractions one would expect to find in a lost jungle.



Floating Skyscrapers
5.888

Kuba attends an art opening with his girlfriend of two years and bumps into Mikal. The connection between these two young men is instantaneous and intoxicating, and despite opposition from all sides, he allows Mikal into his life. The results go beyond anything he could have imagined. This intimate and bold second feature from Polish director Tomasz Wasilewski captures the often-complicated consequences of finding love where others do not want it.



The Bodin’s in Thailand

Christian Bodin and his mother Maria Bodin are set on an adventure for the Land of Smiles. They meet many zany characters and face several obstacles along their journey in Thailand.



The River
The River(1997)
6.7

A young man develops severe neck pain after swimming in a polluted river for a movie shoot, but nobody can provide him any relief.



Man Facing Southeast

A new patient mysteriously appears in a psychiatric ward. He claims to come from another planet to study humans and their behavior. The alien is gentle but criticizes humans for their harsh treatment of each other. The assigned psychiatrist is himself unhappy, and affected by the patient's insight. But he is ordered to treat the patient according to institutional procedure.



Garden Party
7.122

In a deserted rich house, a couple of amphibians explore their surroundings and follow their primal instincts.



The Sadness
6.8

A young couple is pushed to the limits of sanity as they attempt to be reunited amid the chaos of a pandemic outbreak. The streets erupt into violence and depravity, as those infected are driven to enact the most cruel and ghastly things imaginable.



Ong Bak 3
Ong Bak 3(2010)
6.035

Tien is captured and almost beaten to death before he is saved and brought back to the Kana Khone villagers. There he is taught meditation and how to deal with his Karma, but very soon his arch rival returns challenging Tien for a final duel.



Borderless Fog
6.3

A big-city detective investigates a series of gruesome murders along the Indonesia-Malaysia border — forcing her to confront ghosts from her past.



Simon
Simon(2004)
7.2

A mild-mannered gay dentist and a womanizing bar owner rekindle their unlikely friendship when, upon meeting by chance after a decade apart, the latter turns out to be severely ill.



Mood Indigo
6.1

A woman suffers from an unusual illness caused by a flower growing in her lungs.



Ong Bak 2
Ong Bak 2(2008)
6.4

Tien, the son of Lord Sihadecho — a murdered nobleman — is taken under the wing of Chernang, a renowned warrior and leader of the Pha Beek Krut.



Celal and Ceren
4.2

Celal, who dreams of achieving happiness as a ladies' man and charmer, soon gets into difficulties and suffers misfortune. Back when Celal was in a relationship, he was jealous of the life of a bachelor.



Mammoth
Mammoth(2009)
6.1

While on a trip to Thailand, a successful American businessman tries to radically change his life. Back in New York, his wife and daughter find their relationship with their live-in Filipino maid changing around them. At the same time, in the Philippines, the maid's family struggles to deal with her absence.



Father Son Therapy
5.3

A cop and his son have to put away their differences while undercover on a therapeutic trip.



Just Friends
7.027

Joris is trying to come to terms with his broken family relationships on the 10th anniversary of his father’s death when he meets the free-spirited, Yad. Also dealing with family issues, Yad has returned home to The Netherlands after living on his own. Joris and Yad spark an instant connection and decide they want to be more than “just friends,” but fear their families could threaten their relationship.



Testosteron
5.39

The wedding of Kornel, a young, well known TV scientist, to the famous singer, Alicja, is to be the social event of the year. In the suburban reception hall, the final preperations are being made. The waiter, Tytus, who is somewhat touchy having just found out he is to become a father, lays out the cutlery on the tables.



4bia
4bia(2008)
6.2

Four horror tales revolve around an accident victim, a bullied youth, ghost stories and a deceased princess.



Days of Being Wild
7.2

Yuddy, a Hong Kong playboy known for breaking girls' hearts, tries to find solace and truth after discovering the woman who raised him isn't his mother.



In the Family
6.704

The neurotic Fikret and tavern singer Solmaz, whose 21 year long relationships end on the same day, meet through a funny coincidence. When Solmaz's daughter Zeynep decides to marry her lover from Adana, the ever-fearful Fikret ends up having to play the role of his life. Intended at first to be kept in the family, the wedding becomes a much bigger event upon the insistence of the groom's relatives. Can our heroes come to terms with the traditional Adana family who carry guns and own a kebab restaurant chain, and see the wedding through without mishaps?



Painted Skin: The Resurrection

According to demon lore, it takes hundreds of years to attain human form. Even then, lacking a human heart, a demon cannot experience the true pains and passions of existence. However, there is a legend that if a pure human heart is freely offered to a demon, it can become a mortal and experience true life. Sequel of Painted Skin (2008).



The Opposite of Love

An on-again/off-again couple lays out their ideas on how their relationship should work.



Sitcom
Sitcom(1998)
6.38

The adventures of an upper-class suburban family abruptly confronted with the younger brother's discovery of his homosexuality, the elder sister's suicide attempt and sadomasochist tendencies, and the intrusion of a very free-spirited maid and her husband. And it all started with the arrival in the family of an innocent looking rat.



Japanese Story
6.309

Sandy, a geologist, finds herself stuck on a field trip to the Pilbara desert with a Japanese man she finds inscrutable, annoying and decidedly arrogant. Hiromitsu's view of her is not much better. Things go from bad to worse when they become stranded in one of the most remote regions on Earth.



Matango
Matango(1963)
6.8

Five vacationers and two crewmen become stranded on a tropical island near the equator. The island has little edible food for them to use as they try to live in a fungus covered hulk while repairing Kessei's yacht. Eventually they struggle over the food rations which were left behind by the former crew. Soon they discover something unfriendly there...



Uranus 2324
7.424

Bonded in their youth and separated by tragedy, an astronaut and a free diver bend the laws of space and time in their efforts to be together again.



The Forest of Love
6.339

A con man and a would-be filmmaking crew force themselves into the lives of two grief-scarred young women. But nothing is as it seems.



Non c'è 2 senza te

Gay couple is jeopardized when one of them falls for a sexy woman.



Meat Love
Meat Love(1989)
6.685

Two pieces of meat fall in love.



On Body and Soul
7.236

Two introverted people find out by pure chance that they share the same dream every night. They are puzzled, incredulous, a bit frightened. As they hesitantly accept this strange coincidence, they try to recreate in broad daylight what happens in their dream.



The Animal
5.1

When loser Marvin Mange is involved in a horrible car accident, he's brought back to life by a deranged scientist as half man and half animal. His newfound powers are awesome -- but their adverse side effects could take over his life. Now, Marvin must fight to control his crazy primal urges around his new squeeze, Rianna, and his rival, Sgt. Sisk, who both think he's one cool cat.



Dheepan
Dheepan(2015)
6.8

Three war-torn strangers posing as a family flee Sri Lanka’s civil war to start over in a troubled Paris suburb, but their past traumas resurface as they struggle to survive in their new environment.



Mother
Mother(2016)
6.5

A pregnant woman, who is taking care of her son with development problems, is at her breaking point when a caregiver from the Philippines steps into her life. Diana suspects that she’s using voodoo against her after the quick improvements of her son.



Bottom of the World

On their road trip through the southwestern desert, Alex and his girlfriend Scarlett arrive in a town in the middle of nowhere and take a room in a mysterious hotel so that Scarlett, who is feeling increasingly ill, can get some rest.



Breakup Buddies
6.132

Recently cuckolded and reeling from a messy divorce, a hapless former singer hits the road - and the bar - with his all-too-helpful best bud, in this hilarious romantic comedy.

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