Movies like Tabu (2012)
The best movies like Tabu (2012) are Arabian Nights: Volume 1, The Restless One (2015), Arabian Nights: Volume 2, The Desolate One (2015) and Reaching for the Moon (2013). If Tabu hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPurple Hearts (2022)8.0/10 from 2,976 votes
- NewestA Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025)Released 2025
Arabian Nights: Volume 1, The Restless One (2015)
Every night, in danger of being beheaded, Scheherazade tells King Shahryar unfinished tales to continue them the following night, hence defying his promise of murdering his new wives after their wedding night. Scheherazade tells King Shahryar her stories but these are not those in the book. As in the book, these stories are tragic and comical, with rich and poor, powerless and powerful people, filled with surprising and extraordinary events.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisArabian Nights: Volume 2, The Desolate One (2015)
Scheherazade narrates three more tales, supposedly selected from the 470th, 484th and 497th nights of her ordeal: “It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that a Judge will cry instead of giving out her sentence. A runaway murderer will wander through the land for over forty days and will teletransport himself to escape the Guard while dreaming of prostitutes and partridges. A wounded cow will reminisce about a thousand-year-old olive tree while saying what she must say, which will sound none less than sad!
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisReaching for the Moon (2013)
In 1951, New York poet Elizabeth Bishop travels to Rio de Janeiro to visit Mary, a college friend. The shy Elizabeth is overwhelmed by Brazilian sensuality. She is the antithesis to Mary’s dashing partner, architect Lota de Macedo Soares. Mary is jealous, but unconventional Lota is determined to have both women at all costs. This eternal triangle plays out against the backdrop of the military coup of 1964. Bishop’s moving poems are at the core of a film which lushly illustrates a crucial phase in the life of this influential Pulitzer prize-winning poet.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Orpheus (1959)
Young lovers Orfeu and Eurydice run through the favelas of Rio during Carnaval, on the lam from a hitman dressed like Death and Orfeu's vengeful fiancée Mira and passing between moments of fantasy and stark reality. This impressionistic retelling of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice introduced bossa nova to the world with its soundtrack by young Brazilian composers Luiz Bonfá and Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDry Wind (2020)
The area around Catalan in Brazil’s state of Goiás is dry, very dry. Sandro’s life here is somewhat monotonous. He works in a fertiliser factory, goes swimming and spends his evenings doing jigsaw puzzles of landscapes. When Maicon, a man straight out of a Tom of Finland illustration, shows up in their small town and flirts with Ricardo, Sandro’s burgeoning feelings of jealousy set a change in motion.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Rio, I Love You (2014)
The third episode of the Cities of Love franchise, Rio, I Love You is an anthology, created by 10 visionary directors from across the globe. The story line of each segment focuses on an encounter of love in a different neighborhood of the city, demonstrating the distinctive qualities and character of that location. The film serves to bridge gaps between cultures, educating and entertaining the audience, while celebrating unique and universal expressions of love.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisArabian Nights: Volume 3, The Enchanted One (2015)
In which Scheherazade doubts that she will still be able to tell stories to please the King, given that what she has to tell weighs three thousand tonnes. She therefore escapes from the palace and travels the Kingdom in search of pleasure and enchantment. Her father, the Grand-Vizier, arranges to meet her at the Ferris wheel, and Scheherazade resumes her narration: “Auspicious King, in old shanty towns of Lisbon there was a community of bewitched men who, in all rigour and passion, dedicated themselves to teaching birds to sing…”. And seeing the morning break, Scheherazade fell silent.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPorto (2017)
Jake and Mati are two outsiders in the northerly Portuguese city of Porto who once experienced a brief connection. A mystery remains about the moments they shared, and in searching through memories, they relive the depths of a night uninhibited by the consequences of time.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHorse Money (2014)
While the young captains lead the revolution in the streets, the people of Fontainhas search for Ventura, lost in the woods.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSeashore (2015)
A lonely beach on the southernmost coast of Brazil is the scene for two friends, on the brink of adulthood, to explore their understanding of themselves and one another. Martin has been sent by his father to retrieve what appears to be an inheritance-related document from the family of his recently deceased and estranged grandfather. Tomaz accompanies him, seemingly hoping to regain some of their former closeness. The two boys shelter themselves in a glass house, in front of a cold and stormy sea.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Love You Renato (2013)
"I love you Renato" is a film about freedom and love in the lost 90s. The story takes place within the state of Rio in the historic city of Valença. The year is 1996, the year that marks the end of the famous Coca-Cola generation, the death of the typewriter and handwritten letters. Beto, Adriana and André embark on a journey of discovery, music and desire, until their lives and an entire generation is changed forever!
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Certified Copy (2010)
In Tuscany to promote his latest book, a middle-aged English writer meets a French woman who leads him to the village of Lucignano.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFuturo Beach (2014)
Donato fails in his attempt to save a drowning man, and meets one of the man's friends. He decides to start his life over, but pieces of his past keep coming after him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSocrates (2018)
After his mother's sudden death, Socrates, a 15-year-old living on the margins of São Paulo's coast, must survive on his own while coming to terms with his grief.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOur Beloved Month of August (2008)
In the heart of Portugal, amid the mountains, the month of August is abuzz with people and activity...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMe, You, Them (2000)
A true story that comically depicts the relationship between an ordinary woman and her three husbands, who live in the same house in a poor and arid small village of the Brazilian northeast.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVitalina Varela (2019)
A Cape Verdean woman navigates her way through Lisbon, following the scanty physical traces her deceased husband left behind and discovering his secret, illicit life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Middle of the World (2003)
Romão, illiterate and unemployed, feels destiny drawing him on an odyssey to Rio de Janeiro in pursuit of a job and a decent life. A family of seven journeys 2,000 miles across the hinterlands of Brazil on bicycles. Along the way, the story explores the inner dynamics of a family facing a great challenge with the courage to pursue dreams.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHere (2024)
In Brussels, a construction worker crosses paths with a bryologist.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Aquarius (2016)
Clara, a vibrant former music critic and widow with flowing tresses is the only remaining apartment owner in a beautiful older building targeted for demolition by ruthless luxury high-rise developers. Clara proves to be a force to be reckoned with as she thwarts the builders plans to kick her out of the apartment.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lovers on the Bridge (1991)
Set against Paris' oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf, while it was closed for repairs, this film is a love story between two young vagrants: Alex, a would be circus performer addicted to alcohol and sedatives and Michele, a painter driven to a life on the streets because of a failed relationship and an affliction which is slowly turning her blind.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBaby (2025)
After being released from a juvenile detention center, Wellington finds himself alone and adrift on the streets of São Paulo, without any contact from his parents and lacking the resources to rebuild his life. During a visit to a porn theater, he encounters Ronaldo, a mature man, who teaches him new ways of surviving. Gradually, their relationship turns into a conflicting passion, oscillating between exploitation and protection, jealousy and complicity.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Beyond the Hills (2012)
Alina returns to Romania from Germany, hoping to bring Voichita—the only person in the world she loves and was loved by—back with her. But Voichita has found God, and God is the hardest lover of all to best.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMektoub, My Love: Canto Uno (2018)
Amin, an aspiring screenwriter living in Paris, returns home for the summer, in Sète, South of France. It is a time of reconnecting with his family and his childhood friends. Together with his cousin Tony and his best friend Ophélie, he spends his time between the Tunisian restaurant run by his parents, the local bars and the beaches frequented by girls on holiday.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDiamantino (2018)
A disgraced soccer star seeks redemption but is exploited by a variety of causes hoping to capitalize on his celebrity.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025)
Sarah and David are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present... and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sleeping Dictionary (2003)
In the 1930s, British officer John Truscott journeys to a remote village in colonial Malaysia to educate and Westernize the local Iban population. There, he's introduced to the lovely Selima. In keeping with tradition, Selima is assigned to sleep with Truscott and teach him the native language and customs. But when they fall in love, both colonists and natives object to their plans to marry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between (2022)
Clare and Aidan make a pact to break up before college — no regrets, no broken hearts. But will one epic goodbye date offer them a last chance at love?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPurple Hearts (2022)
An aspiring musician agrees to a marriage of convenience with a soon-to-deploy Marine, but a tragedy soon turns their fake relationship all too real.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Tabu?
The closest matches to Tabu are Arabian Nights: Volume 1, The Restless One (2015), Arabian Nights: Volume 2, The Desolate One (2015) and Reaching for the Moon (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Tabu?
People who watched Tabu most often go on to Arabian Nights: Volume 1, The Restless One (2015), Arabian Nights: Volume 2, The Desolate One (2015) and Reaching for the Moon (2013).
What is the highest-rated movie like Tabu?
Purple Hearts (2022), rated 8.0/10 by 2,976 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Tabu?
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Tabu chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Tabu, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.