Best movies like Never Here

A fashionable contemporary art gallerist in Chelsea, New York falls for a brooding new music composer in this comic satire of the state of contemporary art.

Witch’s Cradle is an unfinished Maya Deren film made in the Guggenheim Gallery during a surrealist “Art of this Century” exhibit. It was assembled long after her death by staffers within the preservation department at Anthology Film Archives.

Now one of the world’s most celebrated artists, Yayoi Kusama broke free of the rigid society in which she was raised, and overcame sexism, racism, and mental illness to bring her artistic vision to the world stage. At 88 she lives in a mental hospital and continues to create art.

Wimpy young executive, Michael is about to get pulverised by a jealous boyfriend in a bar when a handsome, mysterious stranger steps in—and then disappears. Later that night, Michael runs into a stranger on a pier, who wheedles his way into Michael's life and turns it upside down.

Walter Paisley, a busboy at a cappuccino bar called the Jabberjaw, is praised as a genius after he kills his landlady's cat and covers it in plaster. Pressured to produce more work, he goes after bigger subjects.

The Challenge... A Tribute to Modern Art is a 1974 American documentary film directed by Herbert Kline. The film shows footage of great modern artists in their studios creating and commenting on their work, with narration and commentary by Orson Welles. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Banksy is a graffiti artist with a global reputation whose work can be seen on walls from post-hurricane New Orleans to the separation barrier on the Palestinian West Bank. Fiercely guarding his anonymity to avoid prosecution, Banksy has so far resisted all attempts to be captured on film. Exit Through the Gift Shop tells the incredible true story of how an eccentric French shop keeper turned documentary maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner.

At an institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance, a collective finds themselves embroiled in power struggles, artistic vendettas and gastrointestinal disorders.

Awkward, shy and delightfully funny, Polly Vandersma is an "organizationally impaired" temporary assistant who finally gets her first permanent job at the age of 31. While she works for the curator of an art gallery, Polly narrates her own story, sharing the comical and bittersweet pretensions of the art world. At the same time, she reveals a special part of her own private world, taking the viewer to enchanted places in this quiet assault on the notion of authority everywhere.

Nude men in rubber suits, close-ups of erections, objects shoved in the most intimate of places—these are photographs taken by Robert Mapplethorpe, known by many as the most controversial photographer of the twentieth century. Openly gay, Mapplethorpe took images of male sex, nudity, and fetish to extremes that resulted in his work still being labelled by some as pornography masquerading as art. But less talked about are the more serene, yet striking portraits of flowers, sculptures, and perfectly framed human forms that are equally pioneering and powerful.

When two of artist Barbora Kysilkova’s most valuable paintings are stolen from a gallery at Frogner in Oslo, the police are able to find the thief after a few days, but the paintings are nowhere to be found. Barbora goes to the trial in hopes of finding clues, but instead she ends up asking the thief if she can paint a portrait of him. This will be the start of a very unusual friendship. Over three years, the cinematic documentary follows the incredible story of the artist looking for her stolen paintings, while at the same time turning the thief into art.

An art dealer murders one of his artists in the hopes of increasing the market value of his work.

Art Dodge is a painter-turned-gallerist drowning in debt. He gets in over his head when a con job leads to an engagement with a rich divorcee. He gets in deeper when he falls for her sister, and invents a twin brother to be her beau; and deeper still when his fiancée's ex-husband comes looking for revenge.

An ex-con finds his plan to go straight foiled by a loan shark who manipulates his target into taking on one last heist.

A ramshackle underground SF satire set and shot in the self-absorbed art world of lower Manhattan, written, produced, and directed by Joe Gibbons, who also plays one of the lead parts. Gibbons plays a mad scientist who's developed a technique for transferring personalities from one person's body to another; he becomes obsessed with an outlaw artist (played by performance artist Karen Finley) who destroys paintings in various galleries as a form of anarchist, anticapitalist protest.

Each year, 60,000 people from around the globe gather in a dusty windswept Nevada desert to build a temporary city, collaborating on large-scale art and partying for a week before burning a giant effigy in a ritual frenzy. Spark takes a peek behind the curtain with Burning Man organizers and participants, revealing a year of unprecedented challenges and growth.

This candid New York love story explores the chaotic 40-year marriage of famed boxing painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko. Anxious to shed her role as her overbearing husband's assistant, Noriko finds an identity of her own.

An artist with a rather unusual art-style literally uses all the men she likes for her artworks. Bodies begin to pile up in abandoned alleyways and the case is handed out to a homicide detective to bring in the artistic serial killer.

Between surrealism, unusual characters, art and magic tricks, "Swim Little Fish Swim" is a dreamlike journey from childhood to adulthood.

A year after becoming the toast of New York City's art scene, photographer Max Martin has lost his ability to take a decent picture. On the night before his make-or-break gallery opening, surrounded by the trappings of success but devoid of inspiration, Max embarks on a bizarre trek through the city in search of ten mysterious photographs that could save his career. Shot in brilliant color and dramatic black and white, first-time director Jeremy Stein's industrial New York City is a wonderland, roamed by witches and magical creatures, where survival hinges on the completion of a simple quest. Accompanied by an unlikely crew of strangers he meets along the way, Max trips through a modern-day Oz and rediscovers the easily forgotten value of seeing magic reflected in everyday life.

Gauguin’s vivid artworks sell for millions. He was an inspired and committed multi-media artist who worked with the Impressionists and had a tempestuous relationship with Vincent van Gogh. But he was also a competitive and rapacious man who left his wife to bring up five children and used his colonial privilege to travel to Polynesia, where in his 40s he took ‘wives’ between 13 and 15 years old, creating images of them and their world that promoted a fantasy paradise of an unspoilt Eden in the Pacific. Later, he challenged the colonial authorities and the Catholic Church in defence of the indigenous people, dying in the Marquesas Islands in 1903, sick, impoverished and alone.

Harper Higgins is determined to land a tenured position at Boston Art College, and she’s counting on curating a big art gallery at the university to do so. But when she loses her showcase artist and can find no one else, she turns to her recently-hired dog walker who, unbeknownst to anyone, is a skilled painter.

A dramatic comedy following a Korean American performance artist who struggles to be authentically heard and seen through her multiple identities in modern Los Angeles.

Max Burns and his friends Dean and Tom make a bet who can kiss the better looking girl on Saturday night. Max seeks a stereotype trophy blonde and along the way befriends a barista, Allison a plain-jane artist. Max and Allison's budding friendship shows promise, but, peer pressure, hijinxs and a bet winning mystery woman put Max in a compromising position.

Alex despises Modern Art but when he falls in love with an adorable French artist, he understands that the only way to conquer her heart is to pretend he is an artist. He now must win a Modern Art contest in order to win her heart.

A look at the feud between graffiti artists King Robbo and Banksy.

Dr James Fox takes a journey through six different landscapes across Britain, meeting artists whose work explores our relationship to the natural world. From Andy Goldsworthy's beautiful stone sculptures to James Turrell's extraordinary sky spaces, this is a film about art made out of nature itself. Featuring spectacular images of landscape and art, James travels from the furthest reaches of the Scottish coast and the farmlands of Cumbria to woods of north Wales. In each location he marvels at how artists' interactions with the landscape have created a very different kind of modern art - and make us look again at the world around us.

In October 2006, 25 artists came together to paint Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The result was a collection of vastly different images of this iconic figure. This film chronicles the process from the initial setting (where Justice O'Connor entertained the room) to the evening when the paintings were unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery.

On the way home from an art gallery featuring her work, a talented artist, Ali, her husband and their young child get into a car accident. The woman's husband and child die on impact, while the woman survives, but loses her eyesight. At her doctor's suggestion, Ali hires a caretaker named Jeff to help her adjust to life as a blind woman, and upon returning home, Jeff's aid proves to be indispensable in helping her acclimate; Ali even meets and quickly befriends her new neighbor, Linda. It is soon apparent, however, that Jeff is becoming increasingly possessive and jealous of Ali, and his obsession rapidly turns violent when Ali decides she needs less of his assistance because she is ready to resume living independently. Unsurprisingly, Jeff does not take the request well, and Ali is soon forced to use her remaining senses to fight for her life.

A loner artist with a history of abuse meets a beautiful woman who takes an interest in his life and work; leading to a chilling path of tragedy.

A contract killer sees a chance to free himself from a tragic past.

Blood on the Carpet is an arthouse musical film written and produced by Bladde. The film follows a lonely character braving a steep mountain attempting to reach its peak. As he journeys the mountain, he is forced to confront a plethora of internal demons. Blood on the Carpet is the debut film work of Bladde, blending together performance art drag elements with arthouse horror qualities. The film features music from a variety of artists and genres including a recurring score borrowed from the work of composer Jacob Abrams.

A young art gallery owner, Tess Reardon, is looking for new talent to spark life into her failing business. Haunted by nightmares, she discovers that an artist she dreamt about, Aubrey Scott, actually exists, and she seeks him out. The eccentric painter agrees to a showing of his art, but only if Tess will model for his new work. She grudgingly agrees and begins to regress into a past life from a parallel world, and that everything is not at all as it seems.

Anne, an art historian, takes a job in a prestigious big-city gallery. Soon Grant, a former lover, turns up and tries to win her back. But Anne still harbors a strong distrust of him and decides to devote herself totally to her work. At the gallery, she manages to uncover the mystery behind a murder and a smuggling plot by her boss. Grant appears in the nick of time to save her from harm's way. He also becomes her latest find and a celebrated new artist. At a showing of his work at the gallery, Grant surprises Anne with his latest work...a neon sculpture of Grouch Marx saying "I Love You". Anne gets the love she lost so many years ago and a new career as gallery manager. Stars Greg Evigan and Patty Talbot. Directed by Caryl J. Wickman.

A documentary on New York City’s biggest public art project ever, an installation called “The Gates” by Christo and Jeanne Claude.