Best movies like My Life as a Dog
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies related to My Life as a Dog? Share your expertise to navigate others find tv series and movies you've already watched that might suit them too. Boost the circle of people putting forward videos to one another. We appreciate your contribution!
Plot Summary:
A boy, obsessed with comparing himself with those less fortunate, experiences a different life at the home of his aunt and uncle in 1959 Sweden.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama, Comedy
Country: Sweden
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, philosophical, existential, thought provoking, art house, cult classic, sincere, clever
Best tv shows and movies like My Life as a Dog (1985):
Similar in 84%
Tricks (2007)
Plot Summary:
Six-year-old Stefek challenges fate. He believes that setting a chain of events in motion will help him get closer to his father who left his mother. His sister helps him bribe fate with small sacrifices, but things go wrong and then Stefek tries a very risky trick.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, touching, realistic, semi serious, sentimental
Similar in 82%
It's Not Me, I Swear! (2008)
Plot Summary:
Léon is ten years old, has lots of problems and an overly fertile imagination. Of course, there is mom and dad who are always fighting, and those annoying neighbors who get to spend the summer at the beach. And then, there's Léa, the exasperating girl who's always right about everything. In the summer of '68, when mom decides to leave everything behind to start a new life in Greece, Léon is prepared to do anything to kill the pain. Destroy the neighbors' house, become a professional liar and even, why not, fall in love with Léa. Together, they will overcome the pain of growing up when you feel abandoned.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: Canada
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: semi serious, clever, humorous, realistic, offbeat, biting, dark comedy, suspense, period drama
Similar in 84%
The Art of Crying (2006)
Plot Summary:
Life is not easy for 11-year-old Allan living in South Jutland during the early 1970s. His mentally unstable father frequently threatens suicide and his mother has long since given up. It's up to Allan to keep the family together. When a rival family threatens his father's livelihood, Allan starts committing atrocious acts.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, psychological, captivating, black comedy, cult classic, crying, cult film
Similar in 79%
The Misfortunates (2009)
Plot Summary:
13-year-old Gunther Strobbe grows up surrounded by alcohol, trash and his completely useless father and uncles. Slowly but surely, he's being prepared for the same hapless life. Can he defy his destiny?.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Belgium, Netherlands
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, semi serious, sentimental, humorous, realistic, dark comedy, epic, disturbing, comedy drama
Similar in 82%
You'll Be a Man (2013)
Plot Summary:
Leo is 10 and wise beyond his years. A solitary dreamer who seeks refuge in books. When the carefree 20-year-old Theo steps into his life, it forces Leo out of his shell. Despite their age difference, the two becomes best friends, helping each other face up to their responsibilities.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 111
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: semi serious, sentimental, touching, realistic
Similar in 81%
Small Change (1976)
Plot Summary:
Various experiences of childhood are seen in several sequences that take place in the small town of Thiers, France. Vignettes include a boy's awakening interest in girls, couples double-dating at the movies, brothers giving their friend a haircut, a boy dealing with an abusive home life, a baby and a cat sitting by an open window, a child telling a dirty joke, and a boy who develops a crush on his friend's mother.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: existential, art house, aesthetic, sentimental, sincere, uplifting, touching, feel good, serious, realistic
Similar in 87%
Mumu (2010)
Plot Summary:
The story a rescue, the rescue of a bad brat's life in the post-WWII period. In 1947, Roger reaches 11 years old. He's a kid badly loved, mischievous and specializes in silly things to do. He is sent to a small boarding school in a small village. Mumu reigns over here. She's not the bitchest school teacher of the area. Roger has already been expelled from several schools and this is his last chance to avoid the reformatory his father has been promising him for a long time. But this is will change with the vigilance of Mumu, who, despite her strict aspects, proves herself to have a big heart.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 241
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, light, sincere, captivating, crying
Similar in 77%
Popular Music (2004)
Plot Summary:
Two boys grow up together in town of Pajala at 60's united by rock-n-roll music.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Sweden, Finland, Denmark
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: humorous, touching, sentimental, atmospheric, realistic, semi serious, funny, road movie, sexy, clever
Similar in 78%
Boy (2010)
Plot Summary:
It's 1984, and Michael Jackson is king - even in Waihau Bay, New Zealand. Here we meet Boy, an 11-year-old who lives on a farm with his gran, a goat, and his younger brother, Rocky (who thinks he has magic powers). Shortly after Gran leaves for a week, Boy's father, Alamein, appears out of the blue. Having imagined a heroic version of his father during his absence, Boy comes face to face with the real version-an incompetent hoodlum who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years before. This is where the goat enters.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, unusual plot structure, surreal, visually appealing, poignant, cult classic, emotional, atmospheric, fairy tale
Similar in 89%
The Butcher Boy (1997)
Plot Summary:
Francie and Joe live the usual playful, fantasy filled childhoods of normal boys. However, with a violent, alcoholic father and a manic depressive, suicidal mother the pressure on Francie to grow up are immense. When Francie's world turns to madness, he tries to counter it with further insanity, with dire consequences.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, disturbing, black comedy, depressing, psychological, serious, suspenseful, surreal, cult classic, controversial
Similar in 81%
The Amazing Catfish (2013)
Plot Summary:
Young Claudia works in a supermarket where she promotes various types of products. One night, she ends up in the emergency room with severe appendicitis and meets Martha, a patient, laying in the bed next to hers.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Mexico, France
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: touching, semi serious, sentimental, humorous, realistic, social, art house, road movie, beautiful
Similar in 76%
Hardboiled Egg (1997)
Plot Summary:
The story of Piero, from when he was a kid to fatherhood, over the background of the town of Livorno, Tuscany, where the director Virzì was born.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, humorous, captivating, realistic, gloomy, semi serious
Similar in 78%
The Mighty (1998)
Plot Summary:
This tells the story of a strong friendship between a young boy with Morquio's syndrome and an older boy who is always bullied because of his size. Adapted from the novel, Freak the Mighty, the film explores a building of trust and friendship. Kevin, an intelligent guy helps out Maxwell to improve his reading skills. In return, Kevin wants Maxwell to take him out places since he is not allowed out unauthorized. Being the social outcasts of the town, Kevin and Maxwell come to realize that they are similar to each other and accept that they are "freaks" and nothing will stop them.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, touching, serious, inspirational, tear jerker, independent film, spiritual, sad, epic
Similar in 90%
Bruno (2000)
Plot Summary:
The story of a unique young boy genius, Bruno, whose expression of his own individuality leads his family and community along an emotional journey.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, emotional, semi serious, sentimental, humorous, inspirational, motivational, independent film, flamboyance
Similar in 76%
The Best Things in the World (2010)
Plot Summary:
Everyday family life as perfectly normal madness. “As Melhores Coisas do Mundo“ follows a few days in the life of the 15-year-old Mano, who is fighting on two fronts: his parents have just got divorced and he is going through puberty. Mano tries to make his way through life, with its first sexual experiences, his depressed brother and his self-centered parents. It’s a humorous homage to the pitfalls of daily life and the diversity of life.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, semi serious, captivating, spectacular, realistic, queer cinema
Similar in 78%
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980's.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 89000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: depressing, sincere, talky, dark comedy, absurd, indie film, intellectual, realistic, witty, thought provoking
Similar in 81%
Igby Goes Down (2002)
Plot Summary:
A young man's peculiar upbringing renders him unable to competently cope with the struggle of growing up.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, depressing, cynical, humorous, clever, realistic, witty, talky, suspense, black comedy
Similar in 89%
Papa Was Not a Rolling Stone (2014)
Plot Summary:
The 1980s. Stéphanie grows up in La Courneuve, on the outskirts of Paris, in a home where her mother is rarely there and her step-father is brutal. She quickly decides to escape her morose everyday life. Thanks to her grandmother's love, reading, her passion for dance, and for French pop-star Jean-Jacques Goldman, Stéphanie copes in this colorful neighborhood where friendship is primordial. One day, she knows that she'll leave this place to lead the life she's always dreamed of.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 159
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: France
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, humorous, semi serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
The Be All and End All (2009)
Plot Summary:
At fifteen Robbie has only one thing on his mind - losing his virginity. The problem is that he's in hospital with a fatal heart condition. And who has to overcome the odds and help him fulfil his final wish? His best friend Ziggy.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 369
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, captivating, sex comedy, sentimental, offbeat, semi serious, sexual, sexy
Similar in 83%
Short Skin (2014)
Plot Summary:
Ever since he was a child, the seventeen-yearold Edoardo has suffered from a malformation of the foreskin that stops him from masturbating and makes him insecure and ill at ease with girls. Shut up in his sexless microcosm, Edoardo reacts with irritation to the pressures of the outside world, which do nothing but exacerbate his insecurity.Forced against his will to emerge from the shadows in which he has hidden for years, Edoardo will initially try to solve his problem by clumsy stratagems before finding, at last, the courage to face his own fears.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 722
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, captivating, psychological, touching, semi serious, sexual, sex comedy, sexy
Similar in 85%
You're My Hero (2003)
Plot Summary:
Thirteen-year-old Ramon is on the verge of many adolescent discoveries -- and the confusion that goes along with them. Shy and awkward, he's moved from town to town throughout his childhood and believes that life is about winning and losing. But he soon learns it's all about survival. Like Ramon, Spain is in transition (President Francisco Franco is about to die); it's a time of social upheaval marked by change, illusion and struggle.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 382
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, semi serious, captivating, humorous
Similar in 83%
Housekeeping (1987)
Plot Summary:
In the Pacific Northwest during the 1950s, two young sisters whose mother has abandoned them wind up living with their Aunt Sylvie, whose views of the world and its conventions don't quite live up to most people's expectations.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: sad, atmospheric, realistic, thought provoking, sentimental, touching, feel good, humorous, semi serious, light
Similar in 78%
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
Plot Summary:
An unattractive 7th grader struggles to cope with suburban life as the middle child with un-attentive parents and bullies at school.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, disturbing, realistic, depressing, black comedy, brutal, controversial, cult classic, teen, talky
Similar in 78%
Terri (2011)
Plot Summary:
Terri, a pajama-clad, disaffected high school student learns how to engage the world with the help of Mr. Fitzgerald, his assistant principal.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: melancholic, compassionate, mumblecore, clever, thought provoking, sweet, surreal, visually appealing, sex comedy, comedy drama
Similar in 75%
Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)
Plot Summary:
In 1976, a lower-middle-class teenager struggles to cope living with her neurotic family of nomads on the outskirts of Beverly Hills.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, humorous, disturbing, sincere, semi serious, teen, independent film, clever, black comedy, period piece
Similar in 81%
Stand by Me (1986)
Plot Summary:
After the death of a friend, a writer recounts a boyhood journey to find the body of a missing boy.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 432000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sad, emotional, feel good, atmospheric, cult classic, teen, road movie, inspirational, clever
Similar in 86%
The Way Way Back (2013)
Plot Summary:
Over the course of his summer break, a teenager comes into his own thanks in part to the friendship he strikes up with one of the park's managers.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 155000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, teen, independent film, sweet, indie film, semi serious, sentimental, witty
Similar in 84%
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Plot Summary:
A family loaded with quirky, colorful characters piles into an old van and road trips to California for little Olive to compete in a beauty pageant.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 508000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: road movie, feel good, funny, melancholic, independent film, emotional, black comedy, dark comedy, sweet, humorous
Similar in 84%
C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)
Plot Summary:
A story of two love affairs. A father's love for his five sons. And one son's love for his father, a love so strong it compels him to live a lie. That son is Zac Beaulieu, born on the 25th of December 1960, different from all his brothers, but desperate to fit in. During the next 20 years, life takes Zac on a surprising and unexpected journey that ultimately leads him to accept his true nature and, even more importantly, leads his father to love him for who he really is.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Canada, Morocco, France
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, humorous, sentimental, realistic, heartbreaking, talky, semi serious, independent film, inspirational
Similar in 78%
Juno (2007)
Plot Summary:
A young girl named Juno gets herself pregnant and tries to stand on her own, but soon learns a few lessons about being grown up.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 543000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: funny, touching, sweet, sentimental, feel good, teen, humorous, realistic, comedy drama, cute