Best movies like A Bad Son
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Bruno is released from prison. He looks for a job and tries to start a new life. His first stop is at his father's apartment.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic
Best tv shows and movies like A Bad Son (1980):
Similar in 75%
Silent Voice (2009)
Plot Summary:
An elderly woman wants to meet her son’s murderer. A sixteen-year-old girl who has crossed paths with a young hoodlum needs an adult to accompany her to the prison visiting room. A young medical supplies delivery man is offered a deal to take the place of a gangster inmate so that the latter may escape. Two women, one man, three destinies that come together in the visiting room of a prison….
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 314
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 81%
Don't Forget You're Going to Die (1995)
Plot Summary:
Benoit has planned out his life. Unfortunately he has forgotten the military duty. After he is called to duty he tries everything to get around. He goes to a psychiatrist who gives him medicine against depression. As this doesn't work out he tries suicide. The story gets even worse as he is told by a military doctor that he is HIV positive. Benoit tumbles down into the drug scene. Then he goes to Italy and meets Claudia. Things seem to improve, but only for a short time.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 577
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Marius (2013)
Plot Summary:
"Marius" takes place in Marseilles' Old Port, at the La Marine Bar, owned by César and his son Marius. Marius' biggest dream is to embark on one of the boats passing by his dad's bar and to set off to a faraway land. Fanny, a young and pretty seafood peddler, has secretly been in love with Marius since her childhood; Marius, never admitting it, has always loved Fanny. One day, a sailor drops by La Marine and offers him a job on an exploratory ship. Trying to hold him off and to make him jealous, Fanny confesses his love to him and provokes a fight between Marius and one of César's old friends, Panisse, a boat merchant, who despite his old age, has been courting Fanny for a while. Torn between the call of the sea and his love for her, Marius abandons his dream to be with Fanny who gives herself to him. As César and Honorine, Fanny's mother, are getting ready for the wedding, Marius changes his mind, drawn back to the call of the sea.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, touching, realistic, captivating, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Goodbye Gary Cooper (2009)
Plot Summary:
Au milieu de nulle part, une cité ouvrière vidée de sa population depuis quelques années déjà. Pourtant, certains habitants ont décidé d'y rester, plus par choix que par nécessité, parce que c'est là qu'ils sont nés et qu'ils ont grandi. Parmi eux il y a Francis, l'ouvrier consciencieux qui continue d'entretenir la machine sur laquelle il a travaillé toute sa vie ; Samir, son fils.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 271
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, realistic, emotional
Similar in 82%
You Can't Write a Letter (2013)
Plot Summary:
Julien and Nina sign a pact with the universe: they must enjoy life, whatever the cost. Will that decision lead them to happiness, or to their disappearance?.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 30
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, offbeat
Similar in 84%
Like a Star Shining in the Night (2008)
Plot Summary:
A young couple finds out what love truly means when one of them has a brush with death. When Anne and Marc met, it was love at first sight, and the longer they were together, the more they realized they never wanted to be apart. But not long after they married, Marc's doctor discoveres some unexpected symptoms.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 92
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, emotional, realistic
Similar in 85%
Sous X (2015)
Plot Summary:
Jean-Jacques spent 9 years in prison for robbery. When he comes out, he finds the neighborhood where he grew up but things have changed ... The country is in crisis, the young people are holding the business and his old friends are urging him to resume his activities ... It may be for Jean-Jacques the time to ask the right questions.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 45
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 84%
Hussy (1980)
Plot Summary:
Beaty, a prostitute, and Emory, a lighting/sound technician, fall in love while working at the same London cabaret, but their relationship isn't easy.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 617
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: anime, independent film, rough, serious, neo noir, realistic, sexual, sexy
Similar in 80%
Within These Walls (2001)
Plot Summary:
Female prisoners train dogs to aid people with disabilities in a program started by a nun (Laura Dern).
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 278
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, feel good, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 84%
Honour of the Knights (Quixotic) (2006)
Plot Summary:
Trusting in fate, Don Quixote and Sancho pursue their travels in search of adventure day and night. They ride through fields, talking about subjects as varied as spirituality, chivalry and daily life. A growing bond of friendship unites them.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 731
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: realistic, experimental, semi serious, contemplative, slow cinema, aesthetic, sexual, offbeat, sexy
Similar in 88%
Freaking Beautiful World (1997)
Plot Summary:
Ippe and Papu are two teenagers spending the summer, when they get into trouble with their drug-dealer. They are forced to act as drug-mules. Along the way they meet a new girl, Mia.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 855
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing, slang
Similar in 89%
Wasted (2002)
Plot Summary:
A high-school track star (Nick Stahl) watches without judgment as his two best friends (Summer Phoenix, Aaron Paul) abuse heroin.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 652
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, rough, serious, gloomy, biting, suspense
Similar in 88%
All Is Forgiven (2007)
Plot Summary:
Victor lives in Vienna with Annette, his beautiful Austrian wife and their daughter Pamela. It’s spring. Fleeing his work, Victor spends his days outside: he plays with Pamela, pays a visit to Annette’s parents, loiters in the park with the drug dealers. Very much in love, Annette is confident that he’ll get a hold of himself as soon as they return to Paris. But back in France, Victor relapses into his bad habits. After a violent dispute, Victor moves into the room of a junkie he has fallen in love with. Annette leaves Victor and disappears with Pamela. 11 years later: Pamela is 17. She lives in Paris with her mother. One day, she learns that her father lives in the same city. She decides to see him again. –Quinzaine des Réalisateurs.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 956
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, psychological, sentimental, captivating, sincere, serious, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Life Support (2007)
Plot Summary:
The true-life story of a mother who overcame an addiction to crack and became a positive role model and an AIDS activist in the black community.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, thought provoking, touching, psychological, captivating
Similar in 78%
A Brother's Kiss (1997)
Plot Summary:
Two brothers, Lex and younger Mick, are living in Harlem. Mick is a policeman, and Lex, who spent youth years in reformatory because of injustice after he confronted the cop who tried to sodomize Mick on the street, is living with his wife Debbie trying to make ends meet and failing. One day Lex calls Mick - he has a problem.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 412
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, serious, rough, bleak, erotic, independent film, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 87%
7 Years (2006)
Plot Summary:
A devoted young woman becomes ensnared in a web of sexuality and betrayal in Jean-Pascal Hattu’s consistently unpredictable and finely wrought character study. A vividly realistic psychosexual drama, the film’s sharp emotional honesty heralds a distinct new voice from a promising young director. Hattu soon reveals that Maite’s husband Vincent is in prison for an unspecified crime, and that she has promised to wait for him and attend to his laundry (if not his conjugal needs) during his incarceration. On one of her weekly visits, Maite meets Jean, an oddly inquisitive and boldly flirtatious prison warden, and soon the two commence a joyless affair. Seemingly smitten with Maite, Jean, in a gesture of kindness to his lover, eases up on her husband behind bars; the two become pals and even engage in some homoerotic shower talk. —Robert O’Shaughnessy.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 297
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: tense, sincere, realistic, serious, emotional, gloomy
Similar in 89%
The Town Is Quiet (2000)
Plot Summary:
A dark tale of working-class life in Marseilles, a city in crisis. Interesting characters include a hard-bitten but compassionate fish market worker with a drug addicted daughter and a moody bartender with a shocking secret life.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: serious, contemplative, touching, bleak, captivating, realistic, disturbing, neo noir, anthology, psychological
Similar in 86%
Here Below (2012)
Plot Summary:
The true story of a nun who betrayed a network of Resistance fighters after having a passionate but doomed love affair with a priest during the Second World War.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 118
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 80%
The Mouth Agape (1974)
Plot Summary:
The portrait of a woman going through a terminal illness and the tumorous lives of her husband and son.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 87%
Cocaine Angel (2006)
Plot Summary:
A week in the life of a young drug addict.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 323
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, mumblecore, independent film, sincere, witty, gloomy
Similar in 89%
May Allah Bless France (2014)
Plot Summary:
French rapper, author, and spoken word artist Abd Al Malik makes his directorial debut with this adaptation of his 2004 autobiography, chronicling his upbringing in the crime- and drug-ridden streets of Strasbourg and his life-changing encounters with hip hop and religion.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 291
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: captivating, inspirational, psychological, atmospheric, rough, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 79%
Hours of Light (2004)
Plot Summary:
September 1987. In a shootout with police, Juan Jose Garfia makes a triple murder. Sentenced to more than one hundred years, is a rebel prisoner, clever and elusive that it has nothing to lose and nobody to worry about. In 1991, manages to escape from a police van jumping up. Stopped after two months of robberies and shootings, Garfia leads several prison riots, against which the authorities takes as a measure subjecting prisoners to a more contentious special isolation regime. Garfia, the prisoner with the highest IQ, avoiding drugs, which seems immune to punishment, and lives two years without seeing anyone, held in a tiny cell and subjected to continuous harassment. There he meets Marimar, a nurse I can barely speak, but between both of a current of mutual understanding.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 256
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, captivating
Similar in 83%
White Irish Drinkers (2010)
Plot Summary:
A coming of age story set in 1975 working-class Brooklyn, in which two teenage brothers living with their abusive father and their well-meaning but ineffective mother are caught up in a life of petty crime. Older brother Danny concocts a daring scheme to steal enough money for the two to escape, timed around the chaos of an upcoming Rolling Stones concert. The sensitive younger brother, Brian, ultimately has a choice: remain loyal to the brother with whom he shares a powerful love-hate bond, or use his hidden talent as an artist as his own ticket out of their dead-end existence.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: sincere, emotional, sentimental, bleak, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 80%
Without Destination (2002)
Plot Summary:
Sin Destino follows the life of a 15 year old Mexican boy, Francisco, as he struggles to survive on the streets. His primary source of income is money raised by prostituting himself to men for sex, and the film implies that this learned behaviour has arisen as a result of a contact with a single man when Francisco was 9 years old. This man, Sebastien, is an "artist" who initially claimed to want to photograph the boy, but it is clear that their relationship at one time extended far beyond that of photographer/model.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 220
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, atmospheric, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, surreal, gloomy, sexual
Similar in 90%
Everyday (2012)
Plot Summary:
This film charts the relationship between a man imprisoned for drug smuggling and his wife and is being shot over the course of five years, a few weeks at a time.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 834
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, independent film, sincere, touching
Similar in 80%
The Night and the Moment (1994)
Plot Summary:
The Night and the Moment is a 1995 erotic drama. A writer (Dafoe) is invited to the house of a noblewoman (Olin) who adores free-thinkers. He attempts to seduce her but she insists that he tell her of his past love exploits. While doing so, he takes her through his time in prison where he was unknowingly incarcerated in the cell beside hers.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 333
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, France, Italy
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sexy, tense, atmospheric, serious, realistic, talky, sexual, erotic
Similar in 78%
Sweet Nothing (1995)
Plot Summary:
Angel celebrates the birth of his daughter by taking his first hit of crack cocaine. With the hesitant support of his wife, Monika, he joins a friend of his to deal drugs for a short time--enough time to get out of debt and buy some nice things for the family. Three years later, Angel is still dealing, and has not saved any money, instead spending it on crack. His addiction grows, straining his friendship and his family life, and he gradually loses control.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 580
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: melancholic, realistic, serious, independent film, crying, bleak, gloomy, weeping, light, road movie
Similar in 76%
Acts of Worship (2001)
Plot Summary:
Alix is taken in by a photographer, Digna, who despite her friends' protests, tries to help Alix piece her life back together and overcome her addictions.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 316
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, disturbing, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Zooey (2006)
Plot Summary:
Angel and Zooey are not your typical newlyweds. Zooey is a professional prostitute and Angel is a drug dealer. Yet they are not without hopes and dreams, of escaping their life in the streets and starting a new in a fresh painted cottage with picked fence, kid and a dog, in Manitoba, Canada, Life gets in the way however when their best friend gets in trouble with her pimp. They sacrifice everything to save her, including their own dreams.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 70
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Shackles (2005)
Plot Summary:
An aspiring teacher (Hughley) takes the one job he's offered, a position at a school inside a prison.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, captivating, suspense, semi serious