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Movies Like A Budding Heart

After experiencing A Budding Heart, are likely to find resonance in stories that questions the purpose and weight of our choices all while offering targets the intellect with complex, multi-layered ideas. Carefully balances character depth with narrative flow makes this definitely worth a watch.

Mood Breakdown
Runtime Cluster

Standard feature-length experiences.

Viewer Fit

Best for fans of who appreciate concise storytelling.

Top Picks

Benjamin
6.1

Benjamin

2019

Benjamin, a rising star filmmaker, is on the brink of premiering his difficult second film No Self at the London Film Festival when Billie, his hard drinking publicist, introduces him to a mesmeric French musician called Noah.

Heartbeats
7.1

Heartbeats

2010

Francis is a young gay man, Marie is a young straight woman and the two of them are best friends -- until the day the gorgeous Nicolas walks into a Montreal coffee shop. The two friends, instantly and equally infatuated, compete for Nicolas' indeterminate affections, a conflict that climaxes when the trio visit the vacation home of Nicolas' mother. The frothy comedy unfolds through narrative, fantasy sequences and confessional monologues.

Going Places
6.7

Going Places

1974

Two whimsical, aimless thugs harass and assault women, steal, murder, and alternately charm, fight, or sprint their way out of trouble. They take whatever the bourgeoisie holds dear, whether it’s cars, peace of mind, or daughters. Marie-Ange, a jaded, passive hairdresser, joins them as lover, cook, and mother confessor. She’s on her own search for seemingly unattainable sexual pleasure.

Matthias & Maxime
7.1

Matthias & Maxime

2019

Two childhood best friends are asked to share a kiss for the purposes of a student short film. Soon, a lingering doubt sets in, confronting both men with their preferences, threatening the brotherhood of their social circle, and, eventually, changing their lives.

Double Lover
6.1

Double Lover

2017

Chloé, a fragile young woman, falls in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul. A few months later she moves in with him, but soon discovers that her lover is concealing a part of his identity.

Lilies
8.1

Lilies

1997

1952: Bishop Bilodeau visits a prison to hear the confession of Simon, a boyhood friend jailed for murder 40 years ago. However, once there, Bilodeau finds himself forced to watch a play put on by Simon and the other inmates depicting the two men's youths. As the play progresses, the tragic truth of Simon's crime comes to light.

My Policeman
7.6

My Policeman

2022

In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.

Pillion
6.3

Pillion

2025

Colin, a timid gay man, is swept off his feet when Ray, an enigmatic and impossibly handsome biker, takes him on as his submissive in a crazy and erotic BDSM-focused relationship.

More Movies Like A Budding Heart

I Kissed a Girl
5.8

I Kissed a Girl

2015

Jérémie, 34, wakes up in an apartment he doesn't know, next to a woman he doesn't know. She is Adna, a stunning Swedish woman who is as funny as she is sweet. Is this the beginning of a fairy tale? Not quite, since Jérémie is about to get married—to Antoine.

Alex Strangelove
6.6

Alex Strangelove

2018

Alex Truelove is on a quest to lose his virginity, an event eagerly awaited by his patient girlfriend and cheered on with welcome advice by his rowdy friends. But Alex, a super gregarious dude, is oddly unmotivated. A magical house party throws Alex into the presence of Elliot, a hunky college guy, who pegs Alex as gay and flirts hard. Alex is taken aback but after a series of setbacks on the girlfriend front he takes the plunge and learns some interesting new facts about himself.

Author! Author!
5.9

Author! Author!

1982

A broadway playwright is burning the candle at both ends. He is dealing with pressure from a production nearing premiere, a wife who is leaving him, and 5 children 4 of which belong to her.

The Boys in the Band
6.8

The Boys in the Band

2020

At a birthday party in 1968 New York, a surprise guest and a drunken game leave seven gay friends reckoning with unspoken feelings and buried truths.

Marry Me, Dude
6.2

Marry Me, Dude

2017

Yassine asks his best friend Fred to marry him in order to avoid deportation...

Bros
6.7

Bros

2022

Two gay men are possibly, probably, stumbling towards love. Maybe. They're both very busy.

What a Drag
5.8

What a Drag

1996

A closeted gay man's attempt to "act straight" for the sake of his job has unexpected consequences.

The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy
6.2

The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy

2000

A close-knit group of gay friends share the emotional roller coster of life, relationships, the death of friends, new beginnings, jealousy, fatherhood and professional success. At various stages of life's disarray, these young men share humorous and tragic relationships and always have each other to rely on.

Twelfth Night
6.9

Twelfth Night

1996

Shakespeare's comedy of gender confusion, in which a girl disguises herself as a man to be near the count she adores, only to be pursued by the woman he loves.

The Sum of Us
6.7

The Sum of Us

1994

A widowed father has to deal with two complex issues: while he is searching for "Miss Right," his son, who is in his 20s and gay, is searching for "Mr. Right."

My Fake Boyfriend
5.9

My Fake Boyfriend

2022

A young man in a tricky situation follows the advice of his unconventional best friend and uses social media to create a fake boyfriend to keep his awful ex-lover out of his life. But everything backfires when he meets the real love of his life, and breaking up with his fake boyfriend proves hard to do.

(Untitled)
6.4

(Untitled)

2009

A fashionable contemporary art gallerist in Chelsea, New York falls for a brooding new music composer in this comic satire of the state of contemporary art.

Why These Movies Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with A Budding Heart (2012): Comedy and Drama themes, similar narrative structure, and comparable emotional depth. NoBadPicks uses a combination of TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface films most likely to resonate with fans of A Budding Heart.

See full details for A Budding Heart (2012)

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