Movies Like Keep the Lights On (2012)

Keep the Lights On is a 2012 drama, romance film from Ira Sachs with a MovieMagicScore of 5.7/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with The Living End and Happy Together.

Drama Romance

The Living End

1992

Two HIV-positive young men — a semi-employed film critic and a hot hustler — tear off on a cross-country crime spree.

6.7

MagicScore

Happy Together

1997

A gay couple from Hong Kong takes a trip to Argentina in search of a new beginning but instead begins drifting even further apart.

7.6

MagicScore

Inner Demons

2014

INNER DEMONS follows an 'Intervention'-style reality show crew that films an episode about a sixteen-year old girl, a former A-student, who is fighting addiction but may in fact be suffering from something even more destructive: demonic possession. The movie is an inquiry into the truth about her - with symptoms that straddle the disturbing and scary intersection between insanity, addiction and true possession.

5.2

MagicScore

Double Mints

2017

Mitsuo Ichikawa reconnects with his former schoolmate and mentor, only to discover he's a thug and a murderer. Instead of distancing themselves, they forge a new alliance.

5.9

MagicScore

Rent

2005

This rock opera tells the story of one year in the life of a group of bohemians struggling in late 1980s East Village, New York, USA. The film centers around Mark and Roger, two roommates. While a tragedy has made Roger numb to new experiences, Mark begins capturing their world through his attempts to make a personal movie. In the year that follows, they and their friends deal with love, loss, and working together.

6.9

MagicScore

Longtime Companion

1989

During the summer of 1981, a group of friends in New York are completely unprepared for the onslaught of AIDS. What starts as a rumor about a mysterious "gay cancer" soon turns into a major crisis as, one by one, some of the friends begin to fall ill, leaving the others to panic about who will be next. As death takes its toll, the lives of these friends are forever redefined by an unconditional display of love, hope and courage.

6.7

MagicScore

The Trip

2002

When 19-year-old gay-rights activist Tommy and 24-year-old Alan first meet in 1973, they find themselves on the opposite sides of the political coin...

6.1

MagicScore

Relax... It's Just Sex

1998

A tight-knit group of thirty-somethings -- gay, lesbian and straight -- struggle to live, love and stay friends in modern-day Los Angeles as circumstances conspire to tear them apart.

5.7

MagicScore

Sebastian

2024

Max is a 25-year-old freelance writer and aspiring novelist who seems well on his way to success in London’s cultural spheres. Yet by night, he finds a different kind of exhilaration as a sex worker with the pseudonym Sebastian, meeting men via an escorting platform. Max uses his experiences as Sebastian to fuel his stories and the worthy debut novel that he has been longing to write, finally seems within reach.

6.4

MagicScore

#10

The Souvenir

2019

A shy but ambitious film student falls into an intense, emotionally fraught relationship with a charismatic but untrustworthy older man.

6.1

MagicScore

#11

Buddies

1985

David, a naive graduate student, has volunteered to work as a 'buddy' for people dying of AIDS. Assigned to the intensely political Robert, a lifelong activist whose friends and family have abandoned him following his diagnosis, the two men, each with notably different world views, soon discover common bonds, as David's inner activist awakens and Robert's need for emotional release is fulfilled.

8.2

MagicScore

#12

Bohemian Rhapsody

2018

Singer Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and bass guitarist John Deacon take the music world by storm when they form the rock 'n' roll band Queen in 1970. Hit songs become instant classics. When Mercury's increasingly wild lifestyle starts to spiral out of control, Queen soon faces its greatest challenge yet – finding a way to keep the band together amid the success and excess.

8.0

MagicScore

#13

Philadelphia

1993

Two competing lawyers join forces to sue a prestigious law firm for AIDS discrimination. As their unlikely friendship develops their courage overcomes the prejudice and corruption of their powerful adversaries.

7.7

MagicScore

#14

The Normal Heart

2014

The story of the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 1980s, taking an unflinching look at the nation's sexual politics as gay activists and their allies in the medical community fight to expose the truth about the burgeoning epidemic to a city and nation in denial.

7.7

MagicScore

#15

Holding the Man

2015

Tim and John fell in love while teenagers at their all-boys high school. John was captain of the football team, Tim an aspiring actor playing a minor part in Romeo and Juliet. Their romance endured for 15 years in the face of everything life threw at it – the separations, the discrimination, the temptations, the jealousies and the losses – until the only problem that love can't solve tried to destroy them.

7.7

MagicScore

#16

Three Months

2022

Caleb, a South Florida teen, loves his camera, his weed and his grandmother. On the eve of his high school graduation, everything changes when he's exposed to HIV. While he waits three months for his results, Caleb finds love in the most unlikely of places.

7.0

MagicScore

#17

Parting Glances

1986

Michael and Robert, two gay men living in Brooklyn, spend their last day together before Robert leaves for Africa on work assignment. Michael still has feelings for his friend Nick, who has AIDS.

6.8

MagicScore

#18

The 24th Day

2004

Tom and Dan's one-night stand turns into an intense power-play between captor and captive.

6.4

MagicScore

#19

The Man I Love

1997

This is a combination coming out and first love story. The swimmer and diver Lucard is interested in attractive Martin. The film follows the characters' coming out with all its difficulties, the bitter-sweet pleasures of first love and the dreadful moment when one comes down to reality and realizes that one's beloved friend has a hard way to go yet. The positive message the film tries to transmit is the somewhat common motto "Live each day of your life as if it were your last."

6.3

MagicScore

#20

1985

2018

Having been gone for three years, closeted advertising executive Adrian returns to his Texas hometown and struggles to reveal his dire circumstances to his conservative family.

6.2

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Keep the Lights On?

The top films similar to Keep the Lights On by MovieMagicScore are The Living End (6.7), Happy Together (7.6), Inner Demons (5.2). Each shares drama/romance themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Keep the Lights On worth watching?

Keep the Lights On holds a MovieMagicScore of 5.7/10 from 102 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Keep the Lights On?

Keep the Lights On (2012) is a drama, romance film directed by Ira Sachs, starring Thure Lindhardt, Zachary Booth, Julianne Nicholson.

Where can I find more recommendations like Keep the Lights On?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more drama recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like The Living End Movies like Happy Together Movies like Inner Demons Movies like Double Mints Movies like Rent Movies like Longtime Companion

About movies like Keep the Lights On

This ranked list pairs Keep the Lights On (2012), a drama and romance film from Ira Sachs, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Thure Lindhardt take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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