Best movies like A Speck in the Water
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Nunal sa Tubig is a story of a community living on an island where fishing is the main source of livelihood and how they are affected by progress.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 162
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like A Speck in the Water (1976):
Similar in 86%
Corazon: Ang Unang Aswang (2012)
Plot Summary:
Corazon revolves around the love story of a married couple during the times of Japanese rule in the Philippines who's having a hard time conceiving a child. After joining traditional fertility rites in honor of certain patron saints, their prayers are eventually answered but unexpected circumstances will lead to their baby's death. At which point the conflict of the story will begin.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 118
Genere: Drama, Horror
Country: Philippines
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, suspense, exciting
Similar in 82%
The Rapture of Fe (2009)
Plot Summary:
In this metaphoric story of violence and resilience from director Alvin Yapan, Fe (Irma Adlawan) returns home to the Philippines after several years of working overseas, her job a victim of global economic shifts. Fe is initially greeted with affection by her husband Dante (Nonie Buencamino), but he has a long history of domestic violence fueled by rage and long-term impotence, and Fe quickly discovers her time away has not changed him. Dante works in a factory making baskets, and Fe soon joins him there; she becomes the lover of Arturo (T.J. Trinidad), the man who manages the basket company, but while Arturo treats her well, he's still under the thumb of his father who owns the factory. Meanwhile, an unknown admirer sends her parcels of strange black fruit on a regular basis. Torn between two men who cannot give her what she needs and wants, Fe's frustration leads to take desperate steps to establish her independence.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 21
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Forever and a Day (2011)
Plot Summary:
Eugene arrives in Bukidnon with only one intention: to forget his problems at work. But when he meets Raffy and as they travel and go on ridiculous and death-defying activities together, they start to form a friendship that goes beyond Euge’s original plan. Raffy helps Euge appreciate himself more and to look at things in a positive way. With Raffy, Euge begins to believe in himself again. Soon, against his own expectations, he admits to himself that has fallen in love with this girl. But life is truly ironic. The moment Euge expresses his feelings for her, Raffy suddenly starts to push him away. She admits that he can never have her, and she doesn’t want Eugene to hope for a happy ending with her, because she cannot be loved.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 91
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, sincere, unusual plot structure, contemplative, vintage
Similar in 77%
Naked Under the Moon (1999)
Plot Summary:
A young woman recalls how her father (a fallen priest), her mother (a woman with a secret past) and her teenage sister returned with her to live in their ancestral home after the family business failed. She was plagued with mysterious problems of sleepwalking and began a romance with a young man who tried to cure her.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 117
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Philippines
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: slow cinema, aesthetic
Similar in 88%
Bona (1980)
Plot Summary:
A scorned teenager gets revenge on the aging gigolo who took advantage of her while pursuing other women.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 106
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 75%
Above All Things (2018)
Plot Summary:
Bobby just needs to deal with his wife’s death, so he retreats to an old family cottage. His grief is disrupted when she comes back to haunt him, forcing him to confront what it really means to live, love, and lose.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 109
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
Thy Womb (2012)
Plot Summary:
A Bajau midwife copes with the irony of her own infertility amid the deprivations of her gypsy community in Tawi-Tawi. A saga of island life stuck between the devil of passion and the deep blue sea of tradition.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 273
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching
Similar in 88%
Donsol (2006)
Plot Summary:
About two lonely people who met during the whaleshark watching season in Donsol, Sorsogon.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 39
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Mano Po (2002)
Plot Summary:
During the Chinese Revolution in 1949, young Chinese copra trader named Fong-Huan marries Elisa, a young and pretty Filipina. The couples children, Daniel and Linda, were raised in a mixture of Chinese and Filipino-Hispanic tradition. These richly cultured people are the ancestors of a dysfunctional third-generation family whose daughters tell their own stories of joy, struggle, and the complex realities in the life of Filipino Chinese families.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 134
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
The Flower of the Lake (1999)
Plot Summary:
Kastoria, a region in Western Macedonia at the turn of the century. Greeks, Turks, Jews and other nationalities live together under the rule of the Ottoman empire, amid the despair, the uncertainty and the confusion brought about by the 1897 war between Greece and Tyrkey. It is under these conditions that a family of fisherman in the Kastoria lakeside district tries to make a living. A fisherman, his wife, the grandfather, and their five children. The daughter works for a furrier, the youngest goes to Greek school, while the older son Christos, helps his father with the fishing. The flower that rises from the lake is personified by the film's main hero, Christos. Every morning when the sky and the waters of the lake become one in the mist, Christos casts his nets. These are the hours when birds, fish and men struggle to earn a living. Christos seemingly calm life is shattered when he meets a wounded guerilla who has been abandoned by his comrades. Despite the fact that the.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 43
Genere: Drama
Country: Greece
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Sister Stella L. (1984)
Plot Summary:
A nun who acts as a counselor in a home for unwed mother undergoes political awakening when her friend and namesake belonging to the same congregation as hers inspires her to get involved in the struggle for justice and freedom of striking workers in a cooking oil company.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 130
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: political
Similar in 79%
Way Back Home (2011)
Plot Summary:
Jessica Santiago & Ana Bartolome are two sisters who have lived in separate lives for 12 long years. Jessie, though an excellent student, has grown to feel sorrow of Ana’s lost while Ana, not knowing that she’s an orphan, grew up in a far-flung fishing village. When they meet in a swimming competition, the Santiagos exert effort to bring Ana back. But when Ana returns home, Jessie feels more abandoned & lovelorn. With their relationship turning sour, Jessie’s life is terribly put in danger. In the end, the two sisters find home where their hearts truly lie.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 100
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, suspense, psychological, disturbing
Similar in 87%
Soliloquy (2009)
Plot Summary:
A bus takes-off from urban Manila to the rural southeastern side of the country, carrying a group of mixed passengers from all walks of life, each one has a personal story to tell and they are telling it in their own voice. During the long journey, as the passengers mentally sort out their past & their future, things happen in the present, by choice or by providence, that make their journey memorable—the bus blows a tire, a song elicits tears, a butterfly causes commotion, a picture gets lost, someone's head is stoned, some hearts are broken, some mended. The bus ride poetizes the life journey and poses questions on issues of life and death and where exactly the line is drawn between free will and destiny.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 13
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Caregiver (2008)
Plot Summary:
A grade school English teacher Sarah Gonzales joins the 150,000 Pinoy OFWs working in the United Kingdom to support her Husband, Teddy Gonzales in making a better living for their family. More than just a chronicle of the Filipinos experience working as nurses and caregivers in the UK, this story also charts Sarah's journey to self-discovery from a submissive wife who makes sacrifices for her Husband; Teddy's aspirations to an empowered woman who finds dignity and pride in a humbling job as a Caregiver in London.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 194
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: inspirational, tagalog
Similar in 78%
Manila by Night (1980)
Plot Summary:
The hidden nightlife of ordinary people living in Manila unveils. Lovers and families conflict with each other as they live on the streets, which are rampant with drugs and prostitution.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 231
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: tagalog, queer cinema
Similar in 78%
The Pawnshop (2009)
Plot Summary:
Follows the lives of four different people, each linked to the other by the house of business. Olivia, owner of the establishment, yearns for her late husband and denies the onset of old age. She lives with her appraiser Amy, a romantic who is doing almost everything for love. Kanor serves as the pawnshop security guard. He holds Olivia in high esteem for letting him and his wife stay in the apartment above the shop. Kanor opens his house to boarder David, a seaman in transit.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 15
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
The Woman Who Left (2016)
Plot Summary:
After spending the last 30 years in prison, Horacia is immediately released when someone else confessed to the crime. Still overwhelmed by her new freedom, she comes to the painful realization that her aristocratic former lover had set her up. As kidnappings targeting the wealthy begin to proliferate, Horacia sees the opportunity to plot her revenge.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 226 min
Plot tags: psychological thriller, black and white
Similar in 90%
The Seventies (2002)
Plot Summary:
A middle-class Filipino family struggles to survive in the era of dictatorship.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 581
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: political, tagalog
Similar in 75%
Children Metal Divers (2009)
Plot Summary:
The heart-tugging story of children who scavenge for metal scraps in the murky waters of Manila Bay, often risking their lives in the process.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 22
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 88%
Grandmother (2009)
Plot Summary:
Lola Sepa's grandson has been killed by a cell phone snatcher. Despite being devastated by the sudden violence, she must bear the burden of making the funeral arrangements. She and her family are poor, and there is not enough money for the coffin nor the legal pursuit against the suspected murderer. But the elderly woman is ready to even seek a bank loan to assure both a proper burial and justice for her beloved grandson. Lola Puring is committed to getting her grandson Mateo out of jail, although he has been accused of senselessly murdering Lola Sepa's grandson. But the poor aged woman doesn't have the bail money. Each time she visits her grandson in prison to bring him proper meals, it breaks her heart to see him wasting away behind bars with countless others. At the first court hearing, the two grandmothers must face one another. Both frail and poor, each is determined to do everything necessary for her grandson. The future of the case is dependent on grandmotherly love.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 903
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Philippines
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, rough, serious, realistic, captivating, gloomy, entertaining
Similar in 79%
Deadweight (2016)
Plot Summary:
Ahti Ikonen is a reliable captain at the height of his career. He is in command of the 35,000-ton container vessel Brugge, which enters the port of Savannah/United States behind schedule. The loading of the ship commences in haste as the crew, led by the ambitious Romanian officer Katia, works by the piece so that they can sail in time. The Filipino seaman James has an accident during this semi- legal lashing procedure. Ahti has to face the consequences of his orders: In the port of Rotterdam/Netherlands unionized dockworkers exploit the incident and refuse to unload the ship. Standstill. The captain is caught between the frontlines. Ahti is keen to elucidate the accident, but the situation becomes more and more contradictory….
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 148
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, Finland
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Burlesque King (1999)
Plot Summary:
Harry leaves Olongapo, the former site of American bases, with his best friend James. They end up in Manila where they soon find work as macho dancers in a gay bar run by Mama Odette. Harry has a troubled past -- his American father used to pimp him and his mother, Betty. When his father accidentally killed his mother, Harry struck out on his own. He made a vow to kill his father.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 200
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: erotic
Similar in 81%
From What Is Before (2014)
Plot Summary:
The Philippines, 1972. Mysterious things are happening in a remote barrio. Wails are heard from the forest, cows are hacked to death, a man is found bleeding to death at the crossroad and houses are burned. Ferdinand E. Marcos announces Proclamation No. 1081 putting the entire country under Martial Law.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 820
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 338 min
Plot tags: bleak, atmospheric, serious, realistic, stylized, captivating, intense, independent film, black and white, visual
Similar in 80%
Ordinary People (2016)
Plot Summary:
ORDINARY PEOPLE is a family portrait of Jane, 16, and her boyfriend, Aries, who live on their own in the chaotic streets of Manila. Surviving as pickpockets, the lives of the young couple change when they suddenly become teenage parents. But not even a month into parenthood, their child is stolen from them. In order to retrieve the child, the young couple is forced to take desperate measures.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 936
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, tragic ending, tagalog, crying, tragic
Similar in 86%
My Neighbor’s Wife (2011)
Plot Summary:
Aaron and Giselle are an ambitious couple, but their hard work isn’t enough to provide for the comfortable life they desire. The marriage of their well-to-do bosom buddies, Bullet and Jasmine, also goes from bliss to bleak. Their situation heads further south when Bullet ends up in bed with a distraught and inebriated Giselle! Many confrontations later, Jasmine is seen sharing late-night trysts with Aaron while their repentant spouses patiently wait for them at home! With friends like these, who needs enemies?.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 108
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, light, captivating
Similar in 87%
Scorpio Nights (1985)
Plot Summary:
In a crowded, multi-appartment house, a young student peeps on his neighbours making love and subsequently develops a steamy affair with the neighbour's wife. The affair slowly becomes an obsession and spins out of control.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 779
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
Adela (2008)
Plot Summary:
Adela, (Philippines' screen legend Anita Linda) a former radio personality, celebrates her 80th birthday. Alone, and without support, she longs for the family and stability of years gone by. Mundane events take on heightened meaning as Adela gauges her life against those of the sea of humanity. Adela is about the quiet moments in life that can fill us with either joy or sorrow.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 91
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, neorealism
Similar in 87%
Weighed But Found Wanting (1974)
Plot Summary:
The son of a wealthy man, Junior has everything he could possibly want. But the emptiness of his extravagant lifestyle and the hypocrisy of the town's so-called leading citizens weigh heavily on him, and he reaches out to the village outcasts.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 667
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: existential, serious, realistic, sexual, sexy
Similar in 84%
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 83%
Magnifico (2003)
Plot Summary:
With a daughter who suffers from cerebral palsy and a son who's lost his much-needed scholarship, an impoverished married couple begins to abandon their faith and courage in the face of such misfortune. But when a gifted young boy called Magnifico uses his goodness to magically transform their lives for the better, the family's belief in miracles is restored. Suddenly, living with adversity doesn't seem like such a burden.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 930
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, uplifting, serious, realistic, surprise ending, sad, tagalog, contemplative