Movies like Burning Desire (1972)
The best movies like Burning Desire (1972) are Hounddog (2008), One Million Yen Girl (2008) and I Believe in Unicorns (2015). If Burning Desire hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAntiporno (2017)6.6/10 from 462 votes
- NewestKesong Puti (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseOne Million Yen Girl (2008)Also in Japanese
Hounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Million Yen Girl (2008)
A 21-year-old girl is released from prison, only to deal with the neighborhood gossip about her and family conflicts. She decides to save one million yen, move to where no one knows her and keep repeating the process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Believe in Unicorns (2015)
Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRitual (2000)
A disillusioned filmmaker has an encounter with a young woman who has a ritual of repeating "Tomorrow is my birthday" everyday. He tries to communicate with her through his video camera.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTokyo Decadence (1992)
A submissive hooker goes about her trade, suffering abuse at the hands of Japanese salarymen and Yakuza types. She's unhappy about her work, and is apparently trying to find some sort of appeasement for the fact that her lover has married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIron Jawed Angels (2004)
Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Short History of the Long Road (2019)
Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid (2023)
Finally, the day of Mai's high school graduation has arrived. While Sakuta eagerly waits for his girlfriend, an elementary schooler who looks exactly like her appears before him. Suspicious, and for all the wrong reasons... Meanwhile, Sakuta and Kaede's father suddenly calls, saying that their mother wants to see her daughter. She was hospitalized because Kaede's condition had been too much for her to bear, so what could she possibly want now?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMai Mai Miracle (2009)
Inspired by her grandfather's stories, young Shinko embarks on wild flights of fancy about the history of the little town she lives in. But dreams can't fend off the realities of growing up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Trials of Cate McCall (2013)
In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGracie (2007)
A teenager faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTeen Spirit (2019)
A shy teenager living on the Isle of Wight dreams of pop stardom. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a singing competition that will test her integrity, talent, and ambition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPastoral: To Die in the Country (1974)
A director faces creative block while working on his latest film – a reimagination of his adolescence growing up in a mountain village in rural Japan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisXiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKisses (2008)
Two kids, Dylan and Kylie, run away from home on Christmas Day and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAntiporno (2017)
Kyôko, a traumatized young Japanese girl, finds herself struggling with her self-confidence in her adult life. Growing up in a family without her mother and her sister, she constantly questions the rationale of sex and the notion of liberty in modern Japanese society.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuburbia (1984)
When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlind Partner (2020)
A boring and ordinary life. Jun-young and Sung-jun may have something unusual, but they are bored with their daily routines. Then one day, Sung-jun learned about an invitation-only blind party from a junior in the company. Is there any reason for any man not to go? The place was full of excitement. Jun-yeong opened the door and while the place looked so much different, he could still recognize it instantly. One day without any word, a woman, Na-young, disappeared like a smoke. Because of a rule that he cannot ask anything, he ended up having sex with Na-young, and just like that, she disappears. Jun-yeong couldn’t tell if he’s dreaming or not. When he met Sung-jun and talked about what happened, Sung-joon will give him the contact details of the blind party organizer. After much thought, he finally contacted the host to see Na-young again. Na-young waits for Jun-yeong in the hotel room. How will the night be for Na-young and Jun-yeong?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Yôen: Niku shibari (1987)
A woman accidentally kills her husband during S&M play.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Kandagawa Pervert Wars (1983)
Two sexually energized young women who live in a high-rise apartment building happen one day to spy from their window a mother and son making love in the apartment across from theirs. They decide to stage a rescue attempt to free him and in the process one of the young women ends up falling in love with the son despite having a boyfriend and enjoying sex with her female companion. Of course, the mother they are warring against has her own plans when she feels her privacy invaded.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Pink Narcissus (1971)
An outrageous erotic poem focusing on the daydreams of a beautiful boy prostitute who, from the seclusion of his ultra-kitsch apartment, conceives a series of interlinked narcissistic fantasies populated by matadors, dancing boys, slaves, and leather-clad bikers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNeighborhood Lady: Man Clam (1994)
Pinku distributed by Xces.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Kesong Puti (2026)
Have a taste of VMX Newest Temptation Apphle Celso. Lena, a Kesong Puti vendor, meets a charming dairy supplier Manny. Their chemistry sparks a daring secret that transforms her humble cheese into their town’s obsession.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Female Wars: The Man Who Moved In (2016)
Min-jeong lives a simple but happy life until it's in ruins because of the man that moves in next to her. The man is Deok-man, someone she wants to erase from her memories. She knows what he's up to next and she plans to take revenge on him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Kirot (2025)
A conservative woman, engaged to her high school sweetheart, receives a life-saving heart transplant. But as she recovers, unexpected passions and desires begin to surface, pulling her into a world that threatens the life and identity she thought she wanted.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Monochrome (1996)
A rape incident occurs at a famous park in Hattenba. The victims are Yoshio (Ken Masuda) and Kurita (Tatsuya Koizumi). A man approached them claiming to be a photographer, tied their arms and legs, robbed them of their freedom with a metal rod, raped them, and then took photos of them and scattered them around. Yoshio consults his lover, barman Satoshi (Tetsuo Uta), and decides to catch the rapist.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sex Zone (1968)
Inspired by the true story of a Geisha murdered in a city famous for its baths, Adachi forged here his favorite style, a kind of conceptual documentary recounting the incident in monotone. The same event that at the beginning of Violated Angels escaped every principle of causality, is portrayed here as a singular anti-spectacle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Burning Desire?
The closest matches to Burning Desire are Hounddog (2008), One Million Yen Girl (2008) and I Believe in Unicorns (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Burning Desire?
Start with Hounddog (2008), the closest match to Burning Desire.
What is the highest-rated movie like Burning Desire?
Antiporno (2017), rated 6.6/10 by 462 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Burning Desire?
Kesong Puti (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Burning Desire?
Yes: One Million Yen Girl (2008), Ritual (2000) and Tokyo Decadence (1992).
How are movies similar to Burning Desire chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Burning Desire, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.