Best movies like A Christmas Visitor
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A father struggles with the past. A daughter fights for the future. A mother searches for answers. The Boyajians have not celebrated Christmas in 11 years. They lost their faith when they lost their son to the Persian Gulf War. Now a stranger has joined them - around the same age the boy would have been.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Best tv shows and movies like A Christmas Visitor (2002):
Similar in 89%
The Christmas Choir (2008)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, The Christmas Choir is the inspiring account of how one man can make a remarkable difference simply by giving of himself. Workaholic accountant Peter Andrews (Jason Gedrick) has overlooked Christmas, friends and even his fiance for far too long. As a result, his life begins to fall apart. But a chance encounter with a homeless man named Bob (Tyrone Benskin) changes everything and inspires Peter to start a choir that eventually goes on to enormous success. With the help of the unconventional Sister Agatha (Rhea Perlman) and his new found friends at the shelter, Peter learns that Christmas is not a season but a state of mind and that everyone deserves a second chance at life and love.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 668
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 80%
Dear Santa (2011)
Plot Summary:
Crystal, a rich party girl, finds a little girl's letter to Santa asking for a new mother, and she vows to win over the father and daughter before the holidays.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: feel good, realistic, touching, serious, entertaining, romantic drama
Similar in 90%
Little Sparrows (2010)
Plot Summary:
In the midst of an Australian summer, we meet three sisters. Nina is widowed with two young children. Anna is an aspiring actress unhappily married to a filmmaker. Christine is a med student who is yet to fully come to terms with her sexuality. When their mother Susan's breast cancer returns, the family is faced with choices and the reality of their last Christmas together. Simple and sincere, Little Sparrows celebrates life and the unconditional love of a mother.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 206
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, touching, psychological, serious, emotional, talky
Similar in 86%
Christmas Child (2004)
Plot Summary:
A life-sized nativity leads a man to learn about his past and lost family.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 646
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, sincere, captivating, christian film, feel good
Similar in 90%
The Heart of Christmas (2011)
Plot Summary:
Dax Ryan Locke, born to Julie and Austin Locke on June 26, 2007, was diagnosed with AML M7, a rare form of leukemia, when he was 13 months old. The Heart of Christmas is set in Washington, Illinois and at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, one of the world's premier centers for the research and treatment of pediatric cancer and other deadly diseases in children. Told in flashback from the perspective of Megan (Candace Cameron Bure), a successful businesswoman, wife and mother of two, the storyline unfolds when her commitment to faith and family is renewed after reading the blog of Julie Locke, (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/daxlocke), the online journal that Julie kept after Dax was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) (http://theheartofchristmasmovie.com/story.php).
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: touching, uplifting, emotional, sad, serious, realistic
Similar in 88%
November Christmas (2010)
Plot Summary:
A young father asks for pumpkins at the local farm stand. "In August? No." the farmer replies. The farmer ruminates on the odd request and gets involved with strangers for the first time since his son's death long ago.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, serious, disturbing, sad, realistic
Similar in 79%
A Hobo's Christmas (1987)
Plot Summary:
A hobo played by Barnard Hughes decides it's time to go home. Drifting from place to place, Hughes finds himself in his hometown of Salt Lake City at Christmas time. Here he hopes to close old wounds and be reunited with his unforgiving son played by Gerald McRaney, and get to know the grandchildren he has never met. McRaney, still resenting the fact that Hughes ran out on his family 25 years earlier, gives his father only one day with his grandkids; after that, he's expected to leave and never come back. All the while Hughes' friends warn him that his son and the past are memories that are best left alone, and should leave, but he has to find out for himself.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 431
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, feel good, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 77%
One Christmas (1994)
Plot Summary:
TV film that was to be Katherine Hepburn's last performance. Based on Truman Capote's bittersweet tale of a young boy's adventures with the father he's never known in New Orleans in the 1930s.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 751
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 84%
Noel (2004)
Plot Summary:
Christmas Eve in New York, and the lonely divorced publisher, Rose Collins, needs a miracle to improve the health of her mother, interned in a hospital with Alzheimers. She feels sorry for another patient and meets his visitor. Meanwhile, Nina Vasquez breaks her engagement with her beloved fiancé Mike due to his suffocating jealousy, but misses him. Mike is stalked by a stranger, bartender Artie Venzuela. The poor Jules arranges to spend Christmas Eve in the hospital, where he spent the best Christmas of his life when he was a teenager. The lives of some of these characters cross with others along the night.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, emotional, sentimental, sincere, realistic, semi serious, independent film, gloomy, iconic
Similar in 77%
Christmas Eve (1986)
Plot Summary:
Story of a well-to-do elderly woman, who befriends the homeless and volunteers her time with children, who learns she has an incurable illness and wants desperately to reunite her three grown grand children (who are scattered across the U.S. living their own lives), with their estranged father, her son. She hires a private detective to search for them so as to try to get everyone together on Christmas Eve.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 431
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, sentimental, uplifting, realistic
Similar in 83%
Emile (2003)
Plot Summary:
In a story weaving the past and present together, Emile seeks redemption from the family he abandoned.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 797
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, UK
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 90%
The Fitzgerald Family Christmas (2012)
Plot Summary:
The siblings of the Fitzgerald family must decide if the dad who abandoned them 20 years ago can come home for Christmas. Can the big Irish clan get past their grievances to be a family again?.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 77%
Christmas at Maxwell's (2006)
Plot Summary:
A successful American family retreat to their summer home on the banks of Lake Erie to find meaning in life, illness, loss, and change this Christmas. With a successful career in the wine business, and two amazing children, what more can a family ask for. But this Christmas will change the Austin family forever with Suzie falling ill. With Andrew struggling over his wife's ill health and the children trying to find peace and solace on their own, only a miracle can help them through this Christmas.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 124
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: uplifting, sentimental, sincere, touching, independent film, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 85%
The Gathering (1977)
Plot Summary:
When Adam Thornton learns that he only has a little time left, he decides that he wants to make peace with his family. Only problem is that most of his family are not exactly fond of him because he walked out on his wife and of his stubborn nature and he hasn't spoken to his youngest son after having an argument with him which he was in the wrong but only realize after his son left and has not been heard from since. But he goes to her to help him find him. But when his doctor says that it won't be good for him to travel, she suggests that they invite them all for Christmas. While most of them come, Adam's attempt at reconciliation won't be easy.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 790
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, vintage
Similar in 89%
Everything Put Together (2000)
Plot Summary:
Everything Put Together is a 2000 film directed by Marc Forster starring Radha Mitchell and Megan Mullally.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 804
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, touching, depressing, independent film, bleak, gloomy, neo noir
Similar in 89%
Putty Hill (2010)
Plot Summary:
Friends and family of Cory, a young man who has died of an overdose, gather at a Baltimore-area karaoke bar for his wake and compare stories about him. Gradually, as it becomes clear that there are many holes in their recollections about Cory, they fill in the blanks by talking about things that reveal aspects of their own lives. Among those mourning him and searching for meaning are his cousin Jenny, his sister Zoe and his brother James.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 762
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sincere, emotional, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, mumblecore, atmospheric, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 88%
In the Gloaming (1997)
Plot Summary:
Danny, dying of Aids, returns home for his last months. Always close to his mother, they share moments of openness that tend to shut out Danny's father and his sister.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 67 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, queer cinema
Similar in 87%
Constellation (2005)
Plot Summary:
Constellation chronicles the lives and loves of an African-American family in the deep South as they are forced to come to terms with a tumultuous past marked by an unrequited interracial affair. The film explores the way in which the family patriarch must confront his demons amidst the changing racial fabric of society and his own family.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 687
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, psychological, touching, captivating, uplifting, sincere, serious, independent film
Similar in 75%
The Wool Cap (2004)
Plot Summary:
This film, originally made for tv, stars William H. Macy as a mute superintendent of a apartment building that is falling apart who becomes the unwilling guardian to a young girl with a bit of an attitude. The film is an updated and Americanized version of the 1962 feature film Gigot starring Jackie Gleason, who also wrote the original story.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, serious, realistic, feel good, spiritual
Similar in 90%
Reconciliation (2009)
Plot Summary:
RECONCILIATION is a groundbreaking, provocative story about an estranged father and son struggling to overcome the heartbreaking consequences of their past. Grant Taylor (Eric Nenninger) has been troubled by intense childhood memories ever since his wife, Sara (Chelsey Crisp), gave him the exciting news..."You are going to be a dad!" As fatherhood nears, Grant privately wrestles with his embarrassment and anger toward his own father. His memories come to a head when Sara receives a call informing them that Grant's dad, Jeff (Jack Maxwell), is terminally ill and his last wish is to see his son. With Sara's encouragement, Grant reluctantly goes to see the man he disowned at his 10th birthday party, when he found out his father was gay. At the hospice, father and son confront the past as they come face to face for the first time in 16 years. Will Grant forgive his father for abandoning their family.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 152
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, independent film
Similar in 88%
Morning (2010)
Plot Summary:
Five days in the life of an American couple immediately following the accidental death of their child. An every day story of tragedy, loss, acceptance, hope and renewal. 'Morning' follows the divergent paths of Mark (Leland Orser) and Alice Munroe (Jeanne Tripplehorn) as they circle each other in a heart-breaking pas-de-deux of grief before finally coming to grips with their shared loss.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 207
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, independent film, psychological thriller, gloomy, psycho film
Similar in 88%
All You Need (2001)
Plot Summary:
Beth's life was going backwards. Her husband suddenly walks out on her, she has an alcoholic mother, an ambivalent father and so she decides to begin making a change by going back to school in order to take charge of her life.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 146
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, semi serious, talky
Similar in 83%
Two Against Time (2002)
Plot Summary:
This film finds a mother and her teen daughter both being diagnosed with cancer. This discovery helps to overcome the longtime antagonistic relationship that the two have developed.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 210
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, touching, captivating, humorous
Similar in 83%
Be Sure to Share (2009)
Plot Summary:
Shiro’s struggle with his father’s cancer and impending death leads to a realization that he must communicate his love and admiration for him before it’s too late. A series of flashbacks reveals their relationship over time, and the trouble Shiro faced connecting to his strict father who was also his teacher and soccer coach. With a consuming secret of his own, Shiro, now in his late twenties and about to get engaged, must eventually learn how to share the pain of it with his loved ones.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 463
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, emotional, contemplative, psychological, sentimental, sincere, serious, gloomy
Similar in 79%
Bereft (2004)
Plot Summary:
A young Vermont widow is haunted by the memory of her dead husband, while trying to date again.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 409
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, serious, emotional, independent film, realistic
Similar in 83%
Surrender, Dorothy (2005)
Plot Summary:
When her daughter Sara unexpectedly passes away, Natalie retreats to the summer home where she and Sara used to visit. Time with her best friends and some of Sara's friends help her deal with her loss.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 897
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 85%
A Long Way Home (2003)
Plot Summary:
Family members struggle to heal their emotional wounds after an incident of sexual abuse.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 216
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, emotional, realistic, serious, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 77%
One True Thing (1998)
Plot Summary:
A career woman reassesses her parents' lives after she is forced to care for her cancer-stricken mother.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: touching, melancholic, emotional, realistic, depressing, clever, serious, contemplative, gloomy, tear jerker
Similar in 90%
I'm Losing You (1998)
Plot Summary:
A wealthy businessman Perry Krohn attempts to juggle the needs of his dedicated wife, demanding mistress and grown children while facing his own certain death from lung cancer.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 501
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: realistic, talky, serious, emotional, independent film, clever, gloomy, biting, suspense
Similar in 90%
Alpha Male (2006)
Plot Summary:
Drama about a family torn apart after the death of its patriarch. Haunted by their father's death, Jack and Elyssa have a fraught relationship with their remarried mother even now they have come of age.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 345
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, realistic, contemplative, psychological, sentimental, sincere, serious