Movies like The Looking Ceremony (2018)
The best movies like The Looking Ceremony (2018) are A Burlesque on Carmen (1915), Carmen & Lola (2018) and Bad Education (2004). If The Looking Ceremony hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAll About My Mother (1999)7.6/10 from 2,145 votes
- NewestMy Dearest Señorita (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishCarmen & Lola (2018)Also in Spanish
A Burlesque on Carmen (1915)
A gypsy seductress is sent to sway a goofy officer to allow a smuggling run.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisCarmen & Lola (2018)
Carmen is a gypsy teenager, destined to live a life that is repeated every generation: getting married and raising as many children as possible. But one day she meets Lola, an uncommon gypsy who dreams about going to university, does graffiti and is very different. Carmen quickly develops a complicity with Lola and discovers a world that, inevitably, leads them to be rejected by their families.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBad Education (2004)
When an old friend brings filmmaker Enrique Goded a semi-autobiographical script chronicling their adolescence, Enrique is forced to relive his youth spent at a Catholic boarding school. Weaving through past and present, the script follows a transvestite performer who reconnects with a grade school sweetheart. Spurred on by this chance encounter, the character reflects on her childhood sexual victimization and the trauma of closeting her sexual orientation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKiki: Love to Love (2016)
Through five stories, the movie addresses sex and love: Paco and Ana are a marriage looking for reactivate the passion of their sexual relations, long time unsatisfied; Jose Luis tries to recover the affections of his wife Paloma, sit down on a wheelchair after an accident which has limited her mobility; Mª Candelaria and Antonio are a marriage trying by all way to be parents, but she has the trouble that no get an orgasm when make love with him; Álex try to satisfy Natalia's fantasies, while she starts to doubt if he finally will ask her in marriage; and finally, Sandra is a single woman in a permanent searching for a man to fall in love. All them love, fear, live and explore their diverse sexual paraphilias and the different sides of sexuality, trying to find the road to happiness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Dearest Señorita (2026)
A young woman from a traditional family learns she's intersex, sparking a journey of self-discovery, gender identity and love found in unexpected places.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTell Me What You Want (2024)
After his father's death, Eric Zimmerman travels to Spain to oversee his company's branches. In Madrid, he falls for Judith and engage in an intense, erotic relationship full of exploration. However, Eric fears his secret may end their affair.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLiving Is Easy with Eyes Closed (2013)
Spain, 1966. An English teacher who travels to Almería when he hears that John Lennon is making a film there befriends with a 16-year-old boy who has run away from home and a young girl who also seems to be running away from something.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll About My Mother (1999)
Following the tragic death of her teenage son, Manuela travels from Madrid to Barcelona in an attempt to contact the long-estranged father the boy never knew. She reunites with an old friend, an outspoken transgender sex worker, and befriends a troubled actress and a pregnant, HIV-positive nun.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMadrid, 1987 (2012)
In 1987 Madrid, the unexpected encounter between a seasoned journalist and a young student leads to a profound exploration of love, desire, politics, power, and discovery of each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLaw of Desire (1987)
Pablo, a successful film director, disappointed in his relationship with his young lover, Juan, concentrates in a new project, a monologue starring his transgender sister, Tina. Antonio, an uptight young man, falls possessively in love with the director and in his passion would stop at nothing to obtain the object of his desire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHot Milk (2025)
Rose and her daughter Sofia travel to the Spanish seaside town of Almería to consult with the shamanic Dr. Gomez, a physician who could possibly hold the cure to Rose’s mystery illness, which has left her bound to a wheelchair. But in the sultry atmosphere of this sun-bleached town Sofia, who has been trapped by her mother’s illness all her life, finally starts to shed her inhibitions, enticed by the persuasive charms of enigmatic traveller Ingrid.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisPhenomena (2023)
Madrid, Spain, 1998. The many resources and skills of Gloria, Paz and Sagrario, three middle-aged women investigating paranormal events, are put to the test when their leader, Father Pilón, has an unpleasant encounter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisLabyrinth of Passion (1982)
An array of outrageous people, including a desperate nymphomaniac and a terrorist with an acute sense of smell, seek love and happiness in Madrid.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRise of the Footsoldier 3 (2017)
In the late 1980s, Pat Tate journeys from peddling pills in Marbella to his time in prison, where he solidifies his power before his release to reclaim his turf.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeing John Malkovich (1999)
One day at work, unsuccessful puppeteer Craig finds a portal into the head of actor John Malkovich. The portal soon becomes a passion for anybody who enters its mad and controlling world of overtaking another human body.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove & Revolution (2023)
Seville, 1977. At a time when homosexuality is a crime, Reme, a traditional mother moved by the love of her son, an adolescent aspiring artist, will become involved in the Andalusian LGBTQ+ movement, paradoxically born in the bosom of the Church.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlex 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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLand Without Bread (1933)
An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Cheetah Girls 2 (2006)
Best friends Galleria, Chanel, Dorinda, and Aqua, A.K.A. the girl band "The Cheetahs," get the opportunity of a lifetime when they strut their way to Barcelona, Spain, to perform in an international music festival. Along the way, the "amigas Cheetahs" learn that, although their paths are not the same, they are lucky to have one another for the journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Looking Ceremony?
The closest matches to The Looking Ceremony are A Burlesque on Carmen (1915), Carmen & Lola (2018) and Bad Education (2004). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Looking Ceremony?
Start with A Burlesque on Carmen (1915), the closest match to The Looking Ceremony.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Looking Ceremony?
All About My Mother (1999), rated 7.6/10 by 2,145 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Looking Ceremony?
My Dearest Señorita (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like The Looking Ceremony?
Yes: Carmen & Lola (2018), Bad Education (2004) and Kiki: Love to Love (2016).
How are movies similar to The Looking Ceremony chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Looking Ceremony, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.