Movies like Requiem from Java

The Scent of Green Papaya (1993)

1950s Saigon through the eyes of Mui, a Vietnamese servant girl. At 10 years-old, Mui leaves her village to work for an affluent, troubled family. As she comes of age, Mui finds work in the household of a pianist she has admired since childhood, and finds their relationship growing in complexity.

Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

Tanna (2015)

In a traditional tribal society in the South Pacific, a young girl, Wawa, falls in love with her chief’s grandson, Dain. When an inter-tribal war escalates, Wawa is unknowingly betrothed as part of a peace deal. The young lovers run away, refusing her arranged fate. They must choose between their hearts and the future of the tribe, while the villagers must wrestle with preserving their traditional culture and adapting it to the increasing outside demands for individual freedom.

Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama

Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1997)

Tara and Maya are inseparable, with the same tastes, habits, and hobbies. Years later, the two have matured but have maintained their friendship. Tara marries local prince Raj Singh, who succeeds the throne as the sole heir. After the marriage, Raj seeks another female to satisfy his sexual desires, with his sights settling on Maya, putting a perhaps unforgivable strain on a longtime friendship.

Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

The Man Who Cried (2000)

A young refugee travels from Russia to America in search of her lost father and falls in love with a gypsy horseman.

Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama

Miss Saigon: 25th Anniversary Performance (2016)

The epic love story tells the tragic tale of young Vietnamese bar girl Kim, orphaned by war, who falls in love with American GI Chris — but their lives are torn apart by the fall of Saigon.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music

Carmen: A Hip Hopera (2001)

An engaged Philadelphia policeman falls in love with a beautiful woman while dealing with a corrupt superior.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music

The Thing Called Love (1993)

A group of newcomers to the country music business seek love and stardom.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (2011)

A disfigured musical genius, hidden away in the Paris Opera House, terrorises the opera company for the unwitting benefit of a young protégée whom he trains and loves. The 25th anniversary of the first public performance of Phantom of the Opera was celebrated with a grand performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama

Young at Heart (1954)

The lives and romances of three sisters in a musical family; the youngest daughter's life is complicated by the subsequent arrival of a charming composer and a cynical music arranger.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama

Maria's Lovers (1984)

A World War II prisoner returns home to his childhood sweetheart. However, back home, he discovers that he has to compete to win her love.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

Blind (2017)

A novelist is blinded in a car crash that killed his wife and several years later rediscovers his passion for life and writing when he embarks on an affair with the neglected wife of an indicted businessman.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

Newness (2017)

In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama

Love Me Love Me (2026)

After her brother's death, June moves to Milan for a fresh start, finding comfort in Will, the perfect honor student at her new international school. But when his troubled best friend James—hiding a dangerous life in clandestine MMA fights—sparks a rivalry that quickly turns into irresistible attraction, June must choose between safety and a love that upends everything she thought she wanted.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama

M. Butterfly (1993)

In 1960s China, French diplomat Rene Gallimard falls in love with opera singer Song Liling – but Song is not at all who Gallimard thinks.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama

An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)

Zack Mayo is an aloof, taciturn man who aspires to be a navy pilot. Once he arrives at training camp for his 13-week officer's course, Mayo runs afoul of abrasive, no-nonsense drill Sergeant Emil Foley. Mayo is an excellent cadet, but a little cold around the heart, so Foley rides him mercilessly, sensing that the young man would be prime officer material if he weren't so self-involved. Zack's affair with a working girl is likewise compromised by his unwillingness to give of himself.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

Marked Men: Rule + Shaw (2025)

Shaw Landon has loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule, a fiery-tempered rebel tattoo artist, doesn’t have time for a good girl pre-med student like Shaw — even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule must figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love…or each other.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama

Battle of the Year (2013)

A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama

Time Is Up (2021)

Vivien, an accomplished student with a passion for physics, and Roy, a troubled young man, are involved in an accident that forces them to reclaim their lives one minute at the time.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama

Honey: Rise Up and Dance (2018)

Street dancer Skyler comes out of the shadow of her trained dancer sister, Tosha, & joins a dance competition with the Honey dance studio; the prize is a college scholarship.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama

The Fugitive Kind (1960)

Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama

Supercross (2005)

Faced with the suspicious death of their father, two brothers must motivate one another to get back on their bikes and take the Las Vegas Motocross Championships by storm.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

The Program (1993)

Several players from different backgrounds try to cope with the pressures of playing football at a major university. Each deals with the pressure differently, some turn to drinking, others to drugs, and some to studying.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

Killer Heat (2024)

An expat PI is hired to investigate a suspicious death in Crete, Greece, where jealousies run deep amongst the victim's powerful family.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

Gabriel's Inferno: Part II (2020)

Professor Gabriel Emerson finally learns the truth about Julia Mitchell's identity, but his realization comes a moment too late. Julia is done waiting for the well-respected Dante specialist to remember her and wants nothing more to do with him. Can Gabriel win back her heart before she finds love in another's arms?

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama

Don Juan DeMarco (1994)

John Arnold DeMarco is a man who believes he is Don Juan, the greatest lover in the world. Clad in a cape and mask, DeMarco undergoes psychiatric treatment with Dr. Jack Mickler to cure him of his apparent delusion. But the psychiatric sessions have an unexpected effect on the psychiatric staff and, most profoundly, Dr Mickler, who rekindles the romance in his complacent marriage.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama

Free at Heart (2026)

Sebastian's (16) sheltered small-town life changes suddenly when his family takes in 15-year-old Kolja, supposedly the son of his father's recently deceased girlfriend. In addition to his little sister, another teenager now lives with them. Although the two boys are strangers to each other at first, they begin to open up to each other more and more and discover that they are biological brothers. The relationship of trust with his parents breaks down and when Sebastian and Kolja become closer than they expected, Sebastian's life is suddenly turned upside down, as he has found not only a soul mate in his new brother, but also a real, first love. Overwhelmed by their feelings, the two hide their relationship, but when the secret, incestuous relationship is discovered, the family breaks out of the social structure of the small town and comes into conflict with societal norms. Everything that follows is a rollercoaster of emotions.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance

Me Encontre Na Esquina (2025)

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama

Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio (2003)

Two years prior to the opening scene, the nobleman Florestan has exposed or attempted to expose certain crimes of the nobleman Pizarro. In revenge, Pizarro has secretly imprisoned Florestan in the prison over which Pizarro is governor. The jailer of the prison, Rocco, has a daughter, Marzelline, and a servant (or assistant), Jaquino. Florestan’s wife, Leonore, came to Rocco’s door dressed as a boy seeking employment, and Rocco hired her. On orders, Rocco has been giving Florestan diminishing rations until he is nearly starved to death. Place: A Spanish state prison, a few miles from Seville; Time: Late 18th century.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music

Sidestroke (1993)

Clara (Karin Viard) is a stripper with a high-strung, jealous boyfriend with the curious name of Loockeed (Antoine Chappey). The couple are friends with the even-temperred, almost saintly Max (Gerald Laroche), an auto mechanic. The three of them set out from their home in the north to journey to the Alpine mountains near Switzerland and Italy, where they will help a fourth friend take care of his pleasure boat business at Lake Annecy while he is in military service. As the trio attempt to establish some sort of equilibrium in their new lives, Max must constantly deal with Loockeed's testy, jealous barbs. Despite this, the three of them remain friends.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Munich (2005)

During the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, eleven Israeli athletes are taken hostage and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September. In retaliation, the Israeli government recruits a group of Mossad agents to track down and execute those responsible for the attack.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama