Best movies like Joy

Two girlfriends on a summer holiday in Spain become enamored with the same painter, unaware that his ex-wife, with whom he has a tempestuous relationship, is about to re-enter the picture.

This melodrama investigates the life of a sex worker, in a pseudo-documentary style.

A lesbian college graduate, trying to bankroll her own photography business, works as a high-priced New York City escort.

When a young European woman assumes a false identity in 1920s Argentina, she gets more than she bargained for.

Travel across four continents, through 19 countries, and into dingy Cambodian karaoke bars, Amsterdam’s infamous red-light district, Moldovan orphanages, legal Nevada brothels, and the street corners and alleyways of metropolises worldwide for more than a glance at the fastest-growing organized crime industry in the world with the groundbreaking, tell-all Nefarious: Merchant of Souls.

Documentary about the pornography industry and the apparent violent anti-woman slant much of it takes.

Documentary depicting the lives of child prostitutes in the red light district of Songachi, Calcutta. Director Zana Briski went to photograph the prostitutes when she met and became friends with their children. Briski began giving photography lessons to the children and became aware that their photography might be a way for them to lead better lives.

A stark portrayal of life among a group of heroin addicts who hang out in Needle Park in New York City. Played against this setting is a low-key love story between Bobby, a young addict and small-time hustler, and Helen, a homeless girl who finds in her relationship with Bobby the stability she craves.

Longinotto's documentary is about Brenda Myers-Powell, who fights against sexual exploitation and supports prostitutes in Chicago. Brenda knows what she is talking about: her own story, involving teenage prostitution and a life of violence and abuse, is in stark contrast to her dauntless energy and optimism.

Girl Lost tackles the issue of underage prostitution as told through the eyes of a wayward teen. Groomed by her own mother to work in the underbelly of Los Angeles, the young girl struggles to survive in this dark world.

Three young boys pool their money and pay V, a kindhearted prostitute, to strip for them. Afterward, she drives them home to the suburbs -- but then her car breaks down. It's just as well, though, because a mobster named Waltzer is after her, and V realizes the suburbs are the perfect place to hide. But things get a lot more complicated when V falls in love with Tom, a single father who is unaware of her real profession.

A Catholic New Yorker falls in love with a girl and wants to marry her, but he struggles to accept her past and what it means for their future.

Bored with Bollywood movies but fascinated with their Hollywood counterparts from his youth, Ram dreams to become a singer and actor in America, the country where dreams are made. He is encouraged when his American-based close friend, Vijay Rao, comes for visit, and brags about driving a Mercedes and living in a penthouse.

Run is a dramatic thriller following Levi, a young businessman who marries the love of his life, Natalie Winters (Taylor Murphy), a passionate journalist who reports on human trafficking and fights to expose it. On their wedding night Natalie is kidnapped and in the process to be sold into sex slavery. Levi goes on the hunt for his wife, chasing clues wherever he can find them, leading him to Jeff Conners (Stephen Baldwin) a crime lord with no mercy. Will Levi be able to find his wife before she is sent to Florida and sold in Cuba? Only with the help of God can Levi find the strength to fight.

A first-ever look at the realities of the professional “amateur” porn world and the steady stream of 18-to-19-year old girls entering into it.

Comedian Harmonists tells the story of a famous, German male sextet, five vocals and piano, the "Comedian Harmonists", from the day they meet first in 1927 to the day in 1934, when they become banned by the upcoming Nazis, because three of them are Jewish.

Ronald, an eight year-old biracial boy, sees his life turning upside down after witnessing the brutal murder of his mother by his father. Often moved from one foster home to the next, Ronald is recruited by a street gang where he dwells in a life of crime and violence. As he waits for his father to be released to avenge his mother, he realizes that he doesn't have to follow his father's footsteps or the path chosen for him. Against all odds, he takes control of his own destiny. His awakening to new humane values enables him to change change course despite the obvious risk of losing the only family he has ever known.

A New York journalist lies when his fake story about a pimp describes a real pimp up for murder.

Documentary look at the 1996-97 effort of the dancers and support staff at a San Francisco peep show, The Lusty Lady, to unionize. Angered by arbitrary and race-based wage policies, customers' surreptitious video cameras, and no paid sick days or holidays, the dancers get help from the Service Employees International local and enter protracted bargaining with the union-busting law firm that management hires. We see the women work, sort out their demands, and go through the difficulties of bargaining. The narrator is Julia Query, a dancer and stand-up comedian who is reluctant to tell her mother, a physician who works with prostitutes, that she strips.

With the instant reach of social media and explosion in cyber porn, a child sex slave can be purchased online and delivered to a customer more quickly than a pizza. Stopping Traffic: The Movement to End Sex Trafficking starts the conversation on a taboo topic – with raw images of life on the streets, heart-pounding rescues and gut-wrenching, personal stories – ultimately offering a story of hope and empowerment, with the goal of engaging others in launching a movement to end modern-day slavery. With 27 million victims, human trafficking is the 2nd largest criminal enterprise in the world. Not just a back-alley enterprise in underdeveloped regions, it’s also prevalent in the U.S. and industrial nations. Stopping Traffic takes an unflinching, first-hand look at this shadowy underworld, telling the shocking story through the eyes of survivors, veteran activists, front-line rescue organizations and celebrities who support the cause, including Dolph Lundgren and Jeannie Mai.

Inspired by the transformation of the sex-trafficking survivors whose lives she follows, the filmmaker finds the courage to break the silence about sexual abuse in her own life.

They're called bar women, hostesses, or sex workers and "western princesses." They come from poor families, struggling to earn a decent wage, only to be forced into the world's oldest profession. They're the women who work in the camptowns that surround U.S. military bases in South Korea. In 40 years, over a million women have worked in Korea's military sex industry, but their existence has never been officially acknowledged by either government. In The Women Outside, a film by J.T. Orinne Takagi and Hye Jung Park, some of these women bravely speak out about their lives for the first time. The film raises provocative questions about military policy, economic survival, and the role of women in global geopolitics

A waitress agrees to accompany an exotic dancer, her put-upon boyfriend, and her mysterious and domineering roommate on a road trip to Florida to seek their fortune at a high-end strip club.

The story of Tim Ballard, a former US government agent, who quits his job in order to devote his life to rescuing children from global sex traffickers.

A high school coach, whose teenage daughter was murdered, takes matters into his own hands by going after the men who kidnap his students for their sex trafficking operation.

Aggie, A 67 year-old Black Cajun, has just stepped into her worst nightmare. Her two granddaughters have disappeared, and the only clue she possesses is a forgotten laptop. Aware she only has a short window of time, she feels helpless to save them as her money and influence are scarce. Desperate to get her girls back, Aggie risks everything to cross paths with Richard and Lottie DuMonde, two of the wealthiest and most connected people in New Orleans. Certainly, once they hear her story, they will help. But what Aggie doesn't foresee is the dark world she's about to step into, or the dangers accompanying the rescue needed to bring her girls home.

Cancer specialist Dr. Michael Durant forms an unlikely bond with seven year old Sam and becomes desperate, willing to risk anything to save the child’s life. A surreptitious Nigerian Nurse convinces him to seek the help of Dr. Bello, an uncertified Nigerian Doctor, known in the Brooklyn-African underground as a miracle worker.

Five years after taking the fall for his younger brother, a tormented ex-con flees parole to find his kidnapped baby niece. One step ahead of the police, and one behind an unraveling criminal syndicate, he must once again sacrifice everything in the name of family.

EKAJ is a love story between two drifters, a naive teenager and a hustler. Ekaj meets Mecca who takes him under his care. Mecca has AIDS and multiple problems of his own. He is high all day but still manages to be the only voice of reason in Ekaj’s hopeless world. They cruise the city together looking for money and places to stay. Although Ekaj makes some money as a prostitute, he finds himself discarded, and lacking what it takes to survive in the city. Their mutual loneliness leads to genuine friendship.

Billie JD Porter goes in search of the human face of the prostitution business, talking to the young men who pay for sex and to the young women who sell their bodies.

Interweaving stories of four different women involved in the sex industry offers a glimpse into the dark underbelly of Los Angeles and the taboo lifestyle of a sex worker. A teen runaway, single mother and two career escorts interconnect through their own personal journeys filled with loss, betrayal and the struggle to survive. Written by anonymous

Jason, an American lawyer, poses as a john to build a legal case against a pimp trafficking girls to Bangkok. Can he win the trust of a young prostitute known only as Number 18 and convince her to risk her life to testify against her pimp?

Carla is a transgender person living in NYC who aspires to be a fashion designer. Making a living as a on-line sex worker Carla must deal with a family who does not accept her while she struggles with the romance of a man who loves her for who she is.

Max, a 25-year-old aspiring writer living in London, begins a double life as a sex worker in order to research his debut novel.

Serviced explores touch based service businesses including cuddling, erotic massage, sex surrogacy and sex work. Meet the men who have foregone the 9-5 grind or are adding on a side-hustle service-based job. From cuddling to sex work we're looking at the world's oldest profession with eyes wide open.