Best movies like Samsara
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A love story situated in the Himalayas. A Buddhist monk can't choose between life and the way of the Buddha.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: India, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: philosophical, atmospheric, thought provoking, serious, captivating, spiritual, sentimental, sexy, sincere, realistic
Best tv shows and movies like Samsara (2001):
Similar in 76%
Meteora (2012)
Plot Summary:
In a monastery set on the top of sandstone pillars young monk Theodoros and nun Urania find themselves physically drawn to one and other after devoting their lives to the strict rituals and practises of the monasteries. Below them the eternal cycle of farm-life provides a strong contrast to their lives and they are forced to choose between human desire and spiritual devotion.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 705
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany, Greece, France
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, atmospheric, serious, captivating, mystical, light
Similar in 77%
Milarepa (2006)
Plot Summary:
Milarepa depicts the humble beginnings of the man who was to become Tibet's greatest saint. A true story based on centuries-old oral traditions, a youthful Milarepa is propelled into a world of sorrow and betrayal after his father's sudden death. Destitute and hopeless, he sets out to learn black magic - and exact revenge on his enemies - encountering magicians, demons, an enigmatic teacher and unexpected mystical power along the way. But it is in confrontation with the consequences of his anger that he learns the most. Photographed in the stunning Lahaul-Spiti region of Northern India, Milarepa offers a provocative parallel to the cycle of violence and retribution consuming today's world.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Biography, Drama
Country: Bhutan
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, stylized, spiritual, mystical, thought provoking, thinking, esoteric, banned
Similar in 86%
Siddhartha (1972)
Plot Summary:
Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin and his search for a meaningful way of life. His journey takes him through periods of harsh asceticism, sensual pleasures, material wealth, self-revulsion and eventually to the oneness and harmony that he had been seeking. The story is based on the best-selling novel by German Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: India, USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: spiritual, philosophical, road movie, dramatic, surreal, existential, independent film, psychological, atmospheric, serious
Similar in 79%
The Razor's Edge (1984)
Plot Summary:
He had everything and wanted nothing. He learned that he had nothing and wanted everything. He saved the world and then it shattered. The path to enlightenment is as sharp and narrow as a razor's edge.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: philosophical, touching, spiritual, epic, psychological, tense, thought provoking, clever, serious, realistic
Similar in 80%
Dreaming Lhasa (2005)
Plot Summary:
Karma, a Tibetan filmmaker from New York, goes to Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama's exile headquarters in northern India, to make a documentary about former political prisoners who have escaped from Tibet. She wants to reconnect with her roots but is also escaping a deteriorating relationship back home.One of Karma's interviewees is Dhondup, an enigmatic ex-monk who has just escaped from Tibet. He confides in her that his real reason for coming to India is to fulfill his dying mother's last wish, to deliver a charm box to a long-missing resistance fighter. Karma finds herself unwittingly falling in love with Dhondup even as she is sucked into the passion of his quest, which becomes a journey into Tibet's fractured past and a voyage of self-discovery.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 265
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK, India
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, enigmatic, captivating, spiritual, contemplative, banned
Similar in 83%
Perfumed Garden (2000)
Plot Summary:
Imagine a world of pleasure, where passion is the ultimate obsession. When Michael and Lisa travel to India to restore an erotic sculpture, they are immediately acquainted with the Kama Sutra and introduced to the skills of seduction. But when forbidden desires are revealed, vows can be broken. Now, sexual desires are about to be reawakened and fantasies are about to come true. What you desire you cannot resist. Experience it for yourself.
IMDB Rating: 3.5
IMDB Votes: 487
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, India
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, captivating, sexual, sensual, independent film
Similar in 82%
Silent Light (2007)
Plot Summary:
Johan and his family are Mennonites from the north of Mexico. Against the law of God and Man, Johan falls in love with another woman.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Mexico, France, Netherlands, Germany
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, slow cinema, serious, realistic, contemplative, erotic, spiritual, christian film, inspirational
Similar in 89%
Himalaya (1999)
Plot Summary:
As the denizens of a Tibetan village prepare for their arduous annual trek to exchange salt for grain, the community's allegiances are split between aging chieftain Tinle (Thilen Lhondup) and rebellious young Karma (Gurgon Kyap). Tinle tries to maintain his clout and preserve obedience to ancient customs when Karma challenges the old man's power.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Switzerland, UK, Nepal
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: road movie, independent film, atmospheric, spiritual, dramatic, tense, sincere, epic, serious, captivating
Similar in 79%
Women in Love (1969)
Plot Summary:
Close friends Rupert Birkin and Gerald Crich begin romances with siblings Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen. After the couples wed, they take a joint honeymoon to Switzerland, where things begin happily -- but they become increasingly complicated as the trip continues. Rupert and Ursula are determined to stay faithful to one another, while the aloof Gerald and the eccentric Gudrun turn to infidelity and sexual exploration.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: visual, erotic, sexy, sexual, scenic, retro, cult classic, historical drama, erotic drama, sincere
Similar in 89%
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac (2010)
Plot Summary:
Diving to save a camera from a fall down a flight of stairs, high school junior Naomi Sukuse wakes with no memory of the last four years. Naomi must remember who she was and figure out who she wants to be in this story of love and second chances.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 674
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, contemplative, captivating, sincere, psychological, romantic, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 77%
Beyond the Clouds (1995)
Plot Summary:
Made of four short tales, linked by a story filmed by Wim Wenders. Taking place in Ferrara, Portofino, Aix en Provence and Paris, each story, which always a woman as the crux of the story, invites to an inner travel, as Antonioni says "towards the true image of that absolute and mysterious reality that nobody will ever see".
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy, France, Germany
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: erotic, touching, emotional, colorful, atmospheric, psychological, serious, realistic, romantic, anthology
Similar in 87%
Alexander the Last (2009)
Plot Summary:
An ensemble drama about a married actress, her sister and their myriad sexual and creative temptations.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 902
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: mumblecore, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, heartfelt, contemplative, independent film, sexual, sexy
Similar in 84%
Travelers and Magicians (2003)
Plot Summary:
A young government official, named Dondup, who is smitten with America (he even has a denim gho) dreams of escaping there while stuck in a beautiful but isolated village. He hopes to connect in the U.S. with a visa out of the country. He misses the one bus out of town to Thimphu, however, and is forced to hitchhike and walk along the Lateral Road to the west, accompanied by an apple seller, a Buddhist monk with his ornate, dragon-headed dramyin, a drunk, a widowed rice paper maker, and his beautiful daughter, Sonam.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Bhutan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: road movie, atmospheric, serious, captivating, spiritual, independent film, inspirational, philosophical, poignant, anthropological
Similar in 77%
Little Buddha (1993)
Plot Summary:
Little Buddha is a movie about the life of Siddhartha starring Keanu Reeves and Bridget Fonda and directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Liechtenstein, UK
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: unusual plot structure, spiritual, fairy tale, retro, philosophical, existential, cult classic, independent film, sentimental, meditative
Similar in 84%
Zen (2009)
Plot Summary:
In the early 1200s, Dogen brought Chinese Zen philosophy to Japan, and established the Japanese Zen sect of Buddhism. He taught that a person was capable of realizing Buddhahood within himself, by way of Zazen. Zazen is extended hours of sitting and meditating to achieve a state of “Mu” (nothingness, or empty existence).
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: spiritual, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, contemplative, inspirational, independent film, thinking, esoteric
Similar in 89%
Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? (1989)
Plot Summary:
Three people live in a remote Buddhist monastery near Mount Chonan: Hyegok, the old master; Yong Nan, a young man who has left his extended family in the city to seek enlightenment - Hyegok calls him Kibong!; and, an orphan lad Haejin, whom Hyegok has brought to the monastery to raise as a monk. The story is mostly Yong Nan's, told in flashbacks: how he came to the monastery, his brief return to the city, his vacillation between the turbulence of the world and his hope to overcome passions and escape the idea of self. We also see Hyegok as a teacher, a protector, and a father figure, and we watch Haejin make his way as a curious and nearly self-sufficient child.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: spiritual, slow cinema, psychedelic, thinking, aesthetic, psychological, atmospheric, thought provoking, serious, captivating
Similar in 76%
The Yellow Handkerchief (2008)
Plot Summary:
A road trip through Louisiana transforms three strangers who were originally brought together by their respective feelings of loneliness.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: road movie, uplifting, emotional, realistic, sentimental, atmospheric, touching, serious, independent film, romantic
Similar in 80%
3-Iron (2004)
Plot Summary:
A young man, whose only possession is a motorcycle, spends his time riding around the city looking for empty apartments. After finding one, he hangs out for a while, fixing himself something to eat, washing laundry or making small repairs in return. He always tries to leave before the owners get back but in one ostensibly empty mansion he meets the abused wife of a rich man and she escapes with him.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 58000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea, Japan
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: lyrical, contemplative, surreal, romantic, philosophical, touching, melancholic, bleak, meditative, breathtaking
Similar in 89%
Eros (2004)
Plot Summary:
A three-part anthology film about love and sexuality: a menage-a-trois between a couple and a young woman on the coast of Tuscany; an advertising executive under enormous pressure at work, who, during visits to his psychiatrist, is pulled to delve into the possible reasons why his stress seems to manifest itself in a recurring erotic dream; and a story of unrequited love about a beautiful, 1960s high-end call girl in an impossible affair with her young tailor.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France, Italy, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sexy, erotic, anthology, atmospheric, stylized, sexual, poetic, erotic drama, realistic, serious
Similar in 82%
Don't Look Down (2008)
Plot Summary:
A sexy Spanish siren named Elvira schools a young man in tantric lovemaking.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Argentina, France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sexy, sensual, realistic, erotic, serious, humorous, sex comedy, art house, eros, explicit
Similar in 88%
The Slut (2011)
Plot Summary:
Tamar, an attractive single mother, lives alone in a small village with her two daughters. Unsatisfied, she attempts to fill her many voids through meaningless sexual rendezvous.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 912
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Israel, Germany, France
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, emotional, erotic, sexy, sad, art house, realistic, sexual
Similar in 81%
Indecent Proposal (1993)
Plot Summary:
Robert Redford stars as billionaire John Gage, who offers a down-on-his-luck yuppie husband (Woody Harrelson) $1 million for the opportunity to spend the night with the man's wife (Demi Moore).
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 77000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: sexy, sexual, emotional, psychological, romantic, thought provoking, suspense, sensual, sentimental, serious
Similar in 84%
Two Moon Junction (1988)
Plot Summary:
A young Southern débutante temporarily abandons her posh lifestyle and upcoming, semi-arranged marriage to have a lustful and erotic fling with a rugged drifter who works at a local carnival.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, sexual, sensual, melancholic, emotional, psychological, steamy, erotic drama, eros
Similar in 80%
Bilitis (1977)
Plot Summary:
A coming of age story centering on the exploits of a young girl during summer vacation.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, sexual, manga, sensual, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 87%
Come Undone (2010)
Plot Summary:
Anna is an accountant for an important insurance firm and lives with her longterm lover Alessio - a man who longs for a stable longterm relationship with children, home, etc. Anna, feeling as though the fire has fizzled in that relationship takes up with co-worker Domenico and the two begin a passionate affair.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy, Switzerland, France
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: erotic, sensual, sincere, touching, sexy, serious, realistic, sexual, art house, explicit
Similar in 86%
White Palace (1990)
Plot Summary:
Max Baron is a Jewish advertising executive in his 20s who's still getting over the death of his wife. Nora Baker is a 40-something diner waitress who enjoys the wilder side of life. Mismatched or not, their attraction is instant and smoldering. With time, however, their class and age differences become an obstacle in their relationship, especially since Max can't keep Nora a secret from his Jewish friends and upper-crust associates forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, sexual, romantic, sensual, sentimental, touching, spiritual, romantic drama, steamy
Similar in 80%
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Plot Summary:
A melancholy story about the love between a woman and a man who live in the same building and one day find out that their husband and wife had an affair with each other. More and more the two meet during their daily lives as they determine that they both don’t want to be lonely in their marriage.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 163000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Hong Kong, France
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: art house, atmospheric, melancholic, visually stunning, artsy, contemplative, visually appealing, visual, sexy, psychological
Similar in 89%
Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
Plot Summary:
Austrian mountaineer, Heinrich Harrer journeys to the Himalayas without his family to head an expedition in 1939. But when World War II breaks out, the arrogant Harrer falls into Allied forces' hands as a prisoner of war. He escapes with a fellow detainee and makes his way to Llaso, Tibet, where he meets the 14-year-old Dalai Lama, whose friendship ultimately transforms his outlook on life.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 153000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: inspirational, captivating, epic, breathtaking, dramatic, scenic, uplifting, serious, philosophical, realistic
Similar in 76%
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)
Plot Summary:
This South Korean film takes place on an isolated lake, where an old monk lives in a small floating temple. The monk has a young boy living with him, learning to become a monk. We watch as seasons and years pass by.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 86000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea, Germany
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: philosophical, atmospheric, melancholic, meditative, spiritual, art house, touching, stylized, scenic, lyrical
Similar in 81%
My Name Is Khan (2010)
Plot Summary:
Rizwan Khan, a Muslim from the Borivali section of Mumbai, has Asperger's syndrome. He marries a Hindu single mother, Mandira, in San Francisco. After 9/11, Rizwan is detained by authorities at LAX who treat him as a terrorist because of his condition and his race.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 114000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: India, United Arab Emirates, USA, China
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, romantic, uplifting, sad, sentimental, thought provoking, intellectual, emotional, compassionate