Best movies like A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The film follows Mr. Shi, a retired widower from Beijing. When his only daughter, Yilan, who lives in Spokane, Washington and works as a librarian, gets divorced, he decides to visit her to help her heal. However, Yilan is not interested. She tries keeping an emotional distance but when this finally fails she begins physically avoiding her father. He confronts her about an affair with a married Russian man and she, in turn, lets loose about all the gossip she'd heard as a young girl about his alleged affair with a female colleague back in China.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: serious, thought provoking, touching, realistic, emotional, contemplative
Best tv shows and movies like A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007):
Similar in 88%
Moving On (2009)
Plot Summary:
Moving On is a British television series set in contemporary Britain consisting of standalone dramas all sharing the theme of someone going through some kind of change in their life and moving on.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 497
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 79%
Mother of George (2013)
Plot Summary:
A story about a woman willing to do anything and risk everything for her marriage.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Nigeria, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, serious, psychological, captivating, visually stunning, sincere, independent film
Similar in 83%
Like Dandelion Dust (2009)
Plot Summary:
A compelling drama that explores the different meanings of being a parent through the gritty, realistic lives of a struggling family, and a privileged family. Their lives intersect, intertwine and collide, all for the love of a little boy. This film bravely exposes the humanity in each character reminding us that we each have the potential to be the best and worst versions of ourselves at any time.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, serious, captivating, emotional, sexy, therapeutic, realistic, independent film, gloomy
Similar in 88%
All God's Children Can Dance (2008)
Plot Summary:
In Korea Town Los Angeles, a young man, Kengo, believes he's the son of God - that's what his mother told him since he was a young boy. He spends his days working his dead-end job and figuring out his complex feelings for his girlfriend until, one day, he sees a one-eared man who could be his father and decides to follow him around Los Angeles.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 309
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, atmospheric, realistic, stylized, contemplative, independent film, art house
Similar in 78%
Letter to the King (2014)
Plot Summary:
In Letter to the King we meet a group of refugees, all with their own agendas, on an excursion to Oslo. A young man about to be deported visits his former employers to collect his off-the-books salary, a martial arts expert is looking for work, a young woman is haunted by the past and out for vengeance and an old man named Mirza is busy writing a letter to the king to get his final wish granted. An altogether urgent and nuanced portrait of a motley group of individuals, too often regarded as a homogeneous group.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 255
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway, United Arab Emirates
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere, anthology, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Dance Town (2010)
Plot Summary:
A North Korean refugee, Jung-Nim, is trying to find a new life in South Korea, with people suspecting that she is a spy.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 83
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, touching, sincere, thought provoking, bleak, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 86%
On the Edge (2009)
Plot Summary:
Alfredo and Susanna are two well-off fifty-year-olds who lead a stimulating cultural life. He is an architect and she is a psychologist; they live in Rome but spend their weekends at their country home in Umbria, where they love to spend their days walking in the forests or relaxing poolside with a good book. One day, as she goes into town, Susanna sees a girl prostituting herself in the bushes on the side of the road and decides to save her from her unhappy existence, despite the enormous differences that separate their ways of life.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 580
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, emotional, realistic, erotic
Similar in 89%
Offline (2012)
Plot Summary:
A man attempts to reclaim the life that prison took from him but his dark past threatens to ruin everything.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 876
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Red Leaves (2014)
Plot Summary:
An Ethiopian immigrant, sets out on a journey through his children's homes after losing his wife. Coming to know some of life's harsh new realities, he tries to survive in his own way.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 47
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, tense
Similar in 77%
World Traveler (2001)
Plot Summary:
After hitting the road a man encounters characters that make him realize the importance of family.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, captivating, road movie, humorous, contemplative, talky, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 85%
30 Degrees in February (2012)
Plot Summary:
​From International Emmy Award-winning writer Anders Weidemann, compelling ten-part drama 30 Degrees in February follows a group of Swedes who've left the snow and cold of Scandinavia for the warm, sandy beaches of Thailand in the dead of winter. Why? To embark on a life-changing adventure, a fresh start and a new life, of course.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, captivating, psychological, serious, sincere, gloomy
Similar in 85%
Riding the Bus with My Sister (2005)
Plot Summary:
A woman spends time with her developmental disabled sister after the death of their father.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, serious, cult film
Similar in 89%
Paper Covers Rock (2008)
Plot Summary:
Samantha is recovering from a suicide attempt and ready for a fresh start in life. She has to fight for the custody of her daughter.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 167
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, psychological, touching, emotional, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 81%
Ocean of Pearls (2008)
Plot Summary:
As a Sikh man with a full beard and turban, AMRIT SINGH is often the target of racial profiling. But when he sees his dreams of becoming Chief of Surgery at a state-of-the-art transplant center dwindle because of his appearance, Amrit goes against a tradition he's maintained his whole life and cuts his hair. Hiding this decision from his girlfriend and family in Toronto is only the start of a series of compromises Amrit finds himself making as he deals with hospital politics and health care injustices. When his compromises result in the death of a patient, Amrit begins to reexamine the value of the religious traditions he'd turned his back on.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 313
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: realistic, contemplative, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, spiritual, independent film, sentimental, sincere, uplifting
Similar in 90%
Phantom Pain (2009)
Plot Summary:
Marc is a passionate cyclist and urban slacker who avoids work and responsibility. Marc's life changes from one moment to the next when he suffers a life-changing accident. He can either wallow in self-pity or tackle the beast called life with the help of love and willpower.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 930
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, psychological, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 81%
Islander (2006)
Plot Summary:
After a tragic accident at sea, Eben Cole loses his family, friends and stature in his island fishing community. He returns to the island an outcast but determined to win back the way of life he fought so hard to protect. Set against the stunning backdrop of the Maine coast, Islander captures the grit and integrity of this hard working community and celebrates man's unerring need for redemption.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 298
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 79%
A Touch of Fate (2003)
Plot Summary:
One night in a small town in North Carolina, fate brings together three lives: an entertainment lawyer returning home to his dying mother after years in escape of his past, a woman trying to reclaim her supposed love, and a boy with a penchant for the sixth sense who struggles with the death of his father and overbearing love of his single mother. When the past and future suddenly bind these people together on a journey of need, forgiveness and discovery, they realize they've gained something when they least expected it.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 216
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 84%
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 83%
The New Year Parade (2008)
Plot Summary:
When Mike and Lisa separate, their children suffer quietly in the middle of the annual Mummer's Parade.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 126
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, psychological, contemplative, captivating, sincere, serious, emotional, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 79%
Game of Life (2007)
Plot Summary:
In Game of LIfe, a children's soccer team is the common link for a multi-layered story giving a candid look into the intersecting lives of five families living in Los Angeles. Game of LIfe examines the complexities of racial and class divisions, and reveals that despite the fragile volatility of human relationships, family is what holds us together and unites us all.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 223
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 80%
God's Army (2000)
Plot Summary:
Life as a Mormon missionary isn't what 19-year-old Brandon Allen expected: so many rules and so few successes. Los Angeles is as unrepentant as Sodom and Gomorrah. He's forced to share a small apartment with five young prank-loving missionaries and, to top it off, his first companion, 29-year-old Marcus Dalton, proves to be a harsh mentor. After only one day as a missionary, Allen is ready to hang up his necktie and go home. Allen becomes a part of the drama occurring under the everyday surface of missionary life. After only a few intense days, Allen finds faith he didn't know he had, and courage he didn't know he lacked. He learns that the time has come to put away childish things, and to become more than just a man--to become a man of God.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, realistic, psychological, uplifting, serious, emotional, independent film, contemplative, christian film
Similar in 89%
Waterproof (2000)
Plot Summary:
Single mother Tyree Battle struggles to keep her young son Thaniel away from the gang-plagued city streets that he is mixed up in. Under severe gang pressure, Thaniel accidentally shoots Jewish shopkeeper Eli Zeal in a botched robbery attempt. Tyree, protecting her son from the law, kidnaps Eli and flees to her hometown of Waterproof.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 447
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, serious, emotional, christian film, independent film, contemplative
Similar in 77%
The Dust of Time (2008)
Plot Summary:
A, an American film director of Greek ancestry, is making a film that tells his story and the story of his parents. It is a tale that unfolds in Italy, Germany, Russia, Kazakhstan, Canada and the USA. The main character is Eleni, who is claimed and claims the absoluteness of love. At the same time the film is a long journey into the vast history and the events of the last fifty years that left their mark on the 20th century. The characters in the film move as though in a dream. The dust of time confuses memories. A searches for them and experiences them in the present.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Greece, Italy, Germany, Russia, France
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, atmospheric, touching, serious, postmodern, slow cinema, aesthetic, epic, realistic
Similar in 85%
Under the Starry Sky (2013)
Plot Summary:
The debut feature from Franco-Senegalese filmmaker Dyana Gaye charts the interconnected destinies of three far-flung sojourners across three continents. A quiet drama, about the anxieties of negotiating journeying to foreign countries and making a place for oneself in the world.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 92
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium, Senegal
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 82%
Common Ground (2002)
Plot Summary:
In Buenos Aires, a few days before traveling to Spain with his beloved wife Liliana Rovira to visit their son Pedro, the leftist Literature professor Fernando Robles is compulsory retired in the University, and he concludes that it is impossible to live with his pension. The crisis in Argentina does not allow Fernando to get a new job, and his wife decides to sell her family's apartment and move to a small farm near Villa Dolores to reduce their expenses. Fernando comes up with the idea to grow lavender and sell the oil to the perfume industry.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, Argentina
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, clever, touching, realistic, contemplative, semi serious
Similar in 81%
My Louisiana Sky (2001)
Plot Summary:
A girl comes to terms with her mentally challenged parents.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 952
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, retro, melancholic, thought provoking, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 84%
Soda Springs (2012)
Plot Summary:
The story of a man's struggle to claim his future by confronting his past. The road is not an easy one as old demons resurface to threaten everything Eden has fought to overcome.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 470
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 82%
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 90%
A Day Late and a Dollar Short (2014)
Plot Summary:
When irascible matriarch Viola Price learns that her next asthma attack will likely kill her, she is determined to fix her fractured family before she leaves this world.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 732
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, sentimental, captivating, uplifting, touching, serious
Similar in 87%
Face (2002)
Plot Summary:
Genie, a Chinese-American teenager, develops feelings for a charming African-American DJ, but her grandmother forbids their romance forcing Genie to choose between family and love.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 350
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, emotional, sentimental, serious, realistic, contemplative