Best movies like A Children's Story
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The story focuses on the life of an 11-year old boy surrounded by criminality and poverty in the suburbs of Naples.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 457
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, bleak, serious, realistic
Best tv shows and movies like A Children's Story (2004):
Similar in 85%
A Wonderful Night in Split (2004)
Plot Summary:
The film is set over the course of a New Year's Eve night in the Croatian port city of Split, where it follows three parallel plots. The first plot line features a small-time drug dealer Nike (Marinko Prga) and a young widow Marija (Nives Ivankovic); the second plot line deals with a drug addict called Maja (Marija Skaricic) who decides to have sex with an US Navy sailor called Franky (Coolio) in exchange for some heroin; the third one shows a young couple, Luka and Andela (Vicko Bilandzic and Ivana Roscic) who spend the night desperately looking for a place to celebrate the New Year by having their first sexual experience. The plots are connected through Dino Dvornik's concert, where all of them pass through at some point, and through the omnipresent fireworks that dot the night sky over the course of the film.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: Croatia
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, neo noir, disturbing, rough, bleak, realistic, anthology
Similar in 77%
Timeless Bottomless Bad Movie (1997)
Plot Summary:
A compilation of episodes from the lives of several of the amateur actors' (who are 'bad teens' and the homeless of Seoul) own experiences, this film sheds light on the dark side of Korean society. Feeling alienated and persecuted, they wonder about and come into conflict with the 'good people' who persist in trying to reform them. They have their own reason for remaining as they are and resist attempts to reform them: they cannot change simply because they are bad.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 293
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: anthology, exciting, sincere, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, experimental, disturbing, controversial
Similar in 83%
Weapons (2007)
Plot Summary:
Weapons presents a series of brutal, seemingly random youth-related killings over the course of a weekend in a typical small town in America, and tragically reveals how they are all interrelated.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 648
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, hood, crime drama, bleak, realistic, non-linear
Similar in 79%
The Bridge to Nowhere (2009)
Plot Summary:
A group of 20-something blue-collar workers in Pittsburgh cook up a scheme to make extra money that involves prostitution. Their business takes off, then gets way out of hand.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspense, bleak, realistic
Similar in 79%
The Children of Times Square (1986)
Plot Summary:
An alienated teenage boy runs away from home and ventures to New York City where he falls in with a gang of juvenile delinquents working as drug dealers and pickpockets for a shady crime boss.(IMDB).
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 422
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 88%
Ginostra (2002)
Plot Summary:
An FBI Agent from America and his bride and young child travel to the Sicilian island of Ginostra to solve the murder of a key witness.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 790
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France, Italy, USA
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting, realistic, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 85%
Boulevard Nights (1979)
Plot Summary:
A focus on life in a gang, Boulevard Nights portrays the dangers of street violence. Richard Yniguez plays a young Chicano who tries to get out of the gang, but he keeps finding himself drawn back into it.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 740
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: hood, hispanic, crime drama, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing, biting, suspense
Similar in 85%
Made in Britain (1982)
Plot Summary:
Trevor sometimes-violent skinhead with no regard for authority, and would rather spend his time stealing cars than sitting in the detention centre to which he is sent. His social worker, Harry Parker, tries to do his best, but Trevor is only interested when there’s something that he can get out of it. The authorities within the centre try to make Trevor conform to the norms of society, but he takes no notice, and would rather speak in a torrent of four-letter words and racial abuse.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 76 min
Plot tags: disturbing, controversial, cult classic, powerful, terrifying, rough, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 81%
Awaydays (2009)
Plot Summary:
On the Wirral in the grim early years of Margaret Thatcher's premiership, the opportunities for thrill seeking young men looking to escape 9 to 5 drudgery are what they've always been: sex, drugs, rock n' roll, fashion, football and fighting.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, bleak, realistic, gloomy, cult film
Similar in 81%
Clash (2009)
Plot Summary:
"Engwkentro" follows two teenage brothers attempting to escape an unnamed city controlled by an iron-fisted mayor. They must first break away from the cycle of crime, while trying to run from rival gang leaders and the state's murderous vigilantes.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 108
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, disturbing, bleak, realistic
Similar in 76%
The Rose Seller (1998)
Plot Summary:
13-year-old Monica leads a street life, making her living by selling flowers to couples in local nightspots, she is joined by 10-year-old Andrea who runs out of her house after her mother beats her.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Colombia
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: social, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 76%
Like a Puppet Out of Strings (2006)
Plot Summary:
Two Brothers; Tom and Felipe, have moved up the ranks of the street gangs because they have no greater devotion than the protection of each other. Luis, former gang member, is now a cop, his life having been turned around by Angelica, a female cop. When Tom is blamed for the shooting death of Angelica, a crime his brother Felipe committed, Felipe is forced to agree to Luis' terms in order to save Tom. Luis decides to convert Felipe just like he had been converted 10 years earlier. Eventually the brothers must face each other on the opposite sides of the law and chose between right and wrong, thier past and their future.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 14
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
Five Star (2014)
Plot Summary:
After John’s absent father is struck by a stray bullet, Primo takes it upon himself to verse the young boy in the code of the streets—one founded on respect and upheld by fear. A member of the Bloods since the age of twelve—both in the film and in reality—the streets of Brooklyn are all Primo has ever known. While John questions whether or not to enter into this life, Primo must decide whether to leave it all behind as he vows to become a better husband and father. Set during those New York summer weeks where the stifling heat seems to encase everything, Five Star plunges into gang culture with searing intensity. Director Keith Miller observes the lives of these two men with a quiet yet pointed distance, carefully eschewing worn clichés through its unflinching focus. Distinctions between fiction and real life remain intentionally ambiguous, allowing the story of these two men to resonate beyond the streets, as they face the question of what it means to be a man.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 569
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, sexy, hood, tense, sincere, rough, bleak
Similar in 86%
Johnny (1999)
Plot Summary:
Johnny, the megalomaniac leader of a group of squeegee kids, finds a video camera and pushes his followers into "acting" out increasingly dangerous "scenes".
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 168
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: independent film, rough, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 75%
Lilet Never Happened (2012)
Plot Summary:
Lilet Never Happened is the rollercoaster story of how a young girl, struggling to survive in the streets of Manila, spirals down into child prostitution. She is a fighter. She is a dreamer. She is a rebel and she thinks she can handle the world with her wits. But she has to face up to reality when she runs out of innocent dreams.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 281
Genere: Drama
Country: Netherlands, UK, Philippines
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, disturbing, bleak, emotional
Similar in 86%
Asphalt Playground (2012)
Plot Summary:
Mitraillette is 12 years old and lives in Rose City, a housing estate he would not leave for anything. His whole world comprises his family, especially his 16 year-old cousin Isma, who has taken a fancy to Narcisse, the local crime boss. His older brother Djibril is 22, a student at the Sorbonne who dreams of becoming a lawyer. As for Mitraillette, he has his eye on Océane, the most beautiful girl in his school.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 337
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: captivating, humorous, tense, light, bleak, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious
Similar in 85%
Tough Enough (2006)
Plot Summary:
From the youth directed novel of the same name by Greogor Tressnow comes a film by Detlev Buck that is a realistic portrait of life in the section of Berlin called Neukölln. It’s about power and weakness, delinquents and victims, and the difficulties a 15-year-old faces in a poor and criminal environment.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, tense, rough, bleak, serious, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Spacked Out (2000)
Plot Summary:
Film following four teenage girls around Hong Kong. The story centers around a young girl who is dealing with a pregnancy.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 186
Genere: Crime, Drama, Family
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, disturbing, bleak, sexual, sexy
Similar in 88%
Monga (2010)
Plot Summary:
Set in the 1980s, “Monga” centers on five boys (Mosquito, Monk, Dragon, White Monkey and A-Lan) who join the "Gang of Princes" who are tired of being pushed around. As the "Gang of Princes" rise in stature, they come into conflict with other gangs jealous of their rising power.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, exciting, serious, captivating, heroic, hood, rough, bleak, suspenseful
Similar in 81%
Piranhas (2019)
Plot Summary:
Six boys race on their scooters through the narrow streets of their Sanità neighbourhood in Naples. They are fearless daredevils, desperate to make money like their role models, and wear designer clothes and the latest sneakers. These 15-year-olds use the city’s rooftops for assault rifle practice. They deal drugs and do not hesitate to use their weapons to take control of the neighbourhood. Their smart leader, Nicola, knows the rules: in order to get his gang into the game and quickly to the top, he challenges one of the old bosses. But whoever is in charge today may well be dead tomorrow. When his girlfriend causes Nicola to be caught between all fronts, he is forced to make a decision.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, hood, poliziottesco, controversial
Similar in 88%
Cost of a Soul (2010)
Plot Summary:
Wounded in the war, Tommy Donahue and DD Davis return home from Iraq to the slum neighborhood they grew up in. Tommy returns to his wife, Faith, whom he abandoned while she was pregnant to escape a life of crime. Tommy meets his disabled six year-old daughter, Hope, for the first time, and she begins to melt his frozen heart. While DD struggles to make an honest living, his older brother, Darnell, has risen to become the neighborhood kingpin. DD faces the pressure to save his younger brother, James, from following in Darnell’s dangerous footsteps. Tommy and DD find themselves trapped in the same slum they joined the military to escape. As they struggle for redemption, their own families become entangled in a web of crime, corruption and violence.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 214
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, serious, psychological, captivating, rough, bleak, independent film
Similar in 88%
LUV (2012)
Plot Summary:
Over the course of one day, a shy 13-year-old forms a bond with his troubled uncle.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, rough, realistic, hood, crime drama, independent film
Similar in 82%
Blood Brothers (1993)
Plot Summary:
Blood Brothers- While coming of age in the inner city, Darryl Crawford, a young African-American man, witnesses a gang-related murder and is horrified to discover that his beloved older brother Sly is one of the perps. Darryl grapples with his conscience over informing on Sly -- but this fear becomes secondary when the remaining gang members close in on both brothers and threaten their lives.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 98
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: crime drama, independent film, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 80%
Adulthood (2008)
Plot Summary:
After serving six years for killing his schoolmate, a young man learns that someone is out for revenge.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: hood, rough, serious, realistic, cult classic, gloomy, bleak
Similar in 77%
Squeeze (1997)
Plot Summary:
Ty, Hector, and Bao are close friends in a tough section of Boston, where they're called "the PG-13 crew." They're 14, decent kids with few skills who've bailed out of school. A small gang of older tough guys, led by Marcus and Tommy, menace them, and when the PG-13s fight back and rob one of the gang, Marcus and Tommy vow to kill them. They seek protection from Derick, a drug dealer, who agrees to help if they'll sell drugs. Meanwhile, Ty is recruited to work at a community center by J.J., its quiet leader. Ty and his friends are in a squeeze: surrounded by violence, drugs, and no opportunities, is there any way out?.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 344
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: crime drama, independent film, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
Sket (2011)
Plot Summary:
When a young woman is cruelly and indiscriminately attacked by a notorious gang led by the violent Trey, her little 16 year old sister Kayla wants revenge and will stop at nothing to get it, even if it means joining a rival girl gang led by the volatile and damaged man-hating Danielle.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, realistic, bleak
Similar in 84%
Gang Tapes (2001)
Plot Summary:
When a brutal carjacking yields a videocamera, a teenage boy decides to document his life and the lives of his fellow gangbangers.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, hood, tense, suspense, crime drama, realistic
Similar in 79%
Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets (2000)
Plot Summary:
Ali, Kwita, Omar and Boubker are street kids. The daily dose of glue sniffing represents their only escape from reality. Since they left Dib and his gang, they have been living on the portside of Casablanca. They live in constant fear of Dib's revenge. Ali wants to become a sailor - when he was living with his mother, a prostitute, he used to listen to a fairy tale about the sailor who discovered the miracle island with two suns. Instead of finding his island in the dream, Ali and his friends are confronted with Dib's gang. Matters are getting serious.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Crime
Country: Morocco, Tunisia, France, Belgium, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, captivating, bleak, social, disturbing, crying, islamic, realistic, masterpiece
Similar in 84%
Stryker (2004)
Plot Summary:
The film follows a 14-year-old arsonist in Winnipeg who becomes involved in a turf war between the Indian Posse and the Asian Bomb Squad (a now defunct Filipino gang). He is known only as Stryker, a slang term for a prospective gang member.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 207
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, tense, bleak, independent film
Similar in 83%
Sucker Free City (2004)
Plot Summary:
The film follows three young men as they are drawn into lives of crime. Nick (Crowley) uses his entry-level corporate job to commit credit card fraud and deals drugs on the side. K-Luv (Mackie) is a member of the "V-Dubs", an African-American street gang. Lincoln (Leung) is a rising figure in the Chinese mafia. Gentrification forces Nick's family to move out of their home in the Mission District into Hunter's Point where they are harassed by the V-Dubs. K-Luv's side business of selling bootleg compact discs leads him to enlist Nick's help to bootleg CDs and to negotiate a truce with Lincoln. Lincoln conducts an affair with his boss' daughter Angela (Carpio), a Stanford student engaged to a medical student classmate.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, tense, bleak, crime drama