Best movies like Achilles and the Tortoise
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Machisu is a painter. He never had the success he thinks he is entitled to. Regardless of this, he always remains trying to be successful. His wife Sachiko keeps supporting him, despite all setbacks. Machisu, the only son of a rich collector, has a childs love for painting. Praise from a famous artist friend of his father inspires the young boy to dream of becoming a painter himself. s a young man, poor loner Machisu manages to attend art school with money earned from working. He is introduced to an unconventional world of bold creativity but he also gets his first bitter taste of harsh criticism from a dealer. Encouragement comes in the form of attractive clerk Sachiko who is convinced that she alone understands him. Marriage is soon followed by a daughter, as love and hope drive Machisu to commit even more deeply to his art.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: philosophical, thought provoking, emotional, art house, sad, cult classic, tragicomedy, offbeat, humorous, realistic
Best tv shows and movies like Achilles and the Tortoise (2008):
Similar in 77%
Blood and Bones (2004)
Plot Summary:
In 1923, the young Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island (South Korea), to Osaka (Japan). Through the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko (processed seafood products) in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees. He makes a fortune, abuses and destroys the lives of his wife and family, has many mistresses and children and shows no respect to anyone. Later he closes the factory, lending out the money with high interest and becomes a loan shark. His hateful behavior remains unchanged to his last breath, alone in North Korea. The film is told from the perspective of Masao, his legitimate son by his abused and degraded wife, who knows nothing about his father other than to fear him.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, realistic, bleak
Similar in 86%
Glory to the Filmmaker! (2007)
Plot Summary:
Takeshi Kitano plays a version of himself in which he's a struggling director cycling through a number of different genres in an effort to complete his latest project.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, exciting, captivating, surreal, offbeat, weird
Similar in 76%
Downtown 81 (2000)
Plot Summary:
The film is a day in the life of a young artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, who needs to raise money to reclaim the apartment from which he has been evicted. He wanders the downtown streets carrying a painting he hopes to sell, encountering friends, whose lives (and performances) we peek into.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: humorous, witty, semi serious, sincere, atmospheric, clever, contemplative, grim, offbeat, gloomy
Similar in 78%
Don Peyote (2014)
Plot Summary:
An ordinary guy delves deep into counterculture, conspiracy theories and the like as he tries to discern the structure of society.
IMDB Rating: 3.5
IMDB Votes: 956
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: humorous, surreal, semi serious, captivating, psychological, dark comedy, offbeat, realistic, independent film
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Takeshis' (2005)
Plot Summary:
Beat Takeshi lives the busy and sometimes surreal life of a showbiz celebrity. One day he meets his blond lookalike named Kitano, a shy convenience store cashier, who, still an unknown actor, is waiting for his big break. After their paths cross, Kitano seems to begin hallucinating about becoming Beat.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: surreal, stylized, semi serious, mind bending, psychedelic, offbeat, non-linear, postmodern
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My Masterpiece (2018)
Plot Summary:
Arturo (Guillermo Francella), a successful and gallant owner of an art gallery, and Renzo (Luis Brandoni), a talented but decadent painter, are united by an old friendship. However, they do not coincide in many of their ideals and cause endless discussions between them. The only thing that seems to keep Renzo afloat is his only student Alex (Raúl Arévalo), a young man with aspirations to be an artist. One day Arturo will be associated with Dudú (Andrea Frigerio), in order to overcome the career of his friend. But the idea they plan is more crazy and risky than they expected.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Argentina, Spain
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: light, humorous, sincere, captivating, neo screwball comedy
Similar in 78%
Fireworks (1997)
Plot Summary:
A police officer leaves the force in the face of harrowing personal and professional difficulties. Spiraling into a depression, he makes questionable decisions.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: bleak, art house, bloody, emotional, lyrical, touching, disturbing, sentimental, serious, rough
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Boiling Point (1990)
Plot Summary:
Masaki, a baseball player and gas-station attendant, gets into trouble with the local Yakuza and goes to Okinawa to get a gun to defend himself. There he meets Uehara, a tough gangster, who is in serious debt to the yakuza and planning revenge.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: bloody, neo noir, art house, hood, crime drama, exciting, humorous, realistic, semi serious, crying
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Sonatine (1993)
Plot Summary:
Kitano plays Murakawa, a Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life. Along with a few of his henchmen, he is sent by his boss to Okinawa to help end a gang war, supposedly to mediate between two warring clans. He finds that the dispute between the clans is insignificant and whilst wondering why he was sent to Okinawa at all, Murakawa's headquarters are bombed and he and his gang are ambushed in a bar.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: bloody, neo noir, art house, stylized, sincere, dark, controversial, hood, crime drama, rough
Similar in 80%
I Am an S+M Writer (2000)
Plot Summary:
Kurosaki (Ren Osugi) is an erotic novelist who uses his editor and a hired model to act out scenarios in his living room he will use for inspiration in his writing. His wife Shizuko (Yôko Hoshi) calls him a pervert but we soon learn that what bothers her is that she feels her husband has intellectualized his carnal desires and she feels physically neglected. Shizuko tries to make him jealous, or simply goes after what she desires with someone else. At first she brings home a Caucasian English teacher but soon zeros in on her husband's editor after witnessing his accomplished S&M rope tying technique. Kurosaki's first response is anger, then forgiveness, then he decides to use the affair as inspiration for his current work in progress. He demands that his editor continue the affair and recount all the sordid details to him. He slaps his editor upside the head, then forgives him and offers him a drink each time before they get to work.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 271
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sexual, sexy
Similar in 85%
To Each His Own Cinema (2007)
Plot Summary:
A collective film of 33 shorts directed by different directors about their feeling about cinema.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: anthology, thought provoking, humorous, realistic, contemplative, stylized, semi serious, art house, cult classic, experimental
Similar in 88%
The Bohemian Life (1992)
Plot Summary:
Three penniless artists become friends in modern-day Paris: Rodolfo, an Albanian painter with no visa, Marcel, a playwright and magazine editor with no publisher, and Schaunard, a post-modernist composer of execrable noise.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Finland, France, Sweden, Germany
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: black and white, dark comedy, spiritual, art house, cerebral, sincere, atmospheric, touching, humorous, captivating
Similar in 87%
Rent-a-Cat (2012)
Plot Summary:
A single woman runs a rent-a-cat service to provide companions for lonely people.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, sincere, captivating, touching, humorous, light, independent film, sentimental, offbeat, realistic
Similar in 82%
Scabbard Samurai (2010)
Plot Summary:
Nomi Kanjuro (Takaaki Nomi) is a master less samurai on the run after throwing away his sword for good. He has with him his headstrong 9-year-old daughter Tae (Sea Kumada). A bounty is soon placed on Nomi Kanjuro and 3 assassins go after the score. When Nomi Kanjuro is eventually captured and placed in front of the local feudal lord (Jun Kunimura) he is given a choice. A boy prince has been grieving ever since the death of his mother. Nobody has been able to make the boy smile. Nomi can attempt to make the boy smile within 30 days or he must commit seppuku (suicide).
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, feel good, semi serious, jidai geki, fairy tale, sincere, offbeat, humorous, realistic
Similar in 83%
A Short History of Decay (2014)
Plot Summary:
A failed Brooklyn writer, Nathan Fisher, visits his ailing parents in Florida. His mother has Alzheimer's and his father has recently had a stroke and his girlfriend has recently broken up with him.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 616
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: humorous, emotional, realistic, semi serious, independent film
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Junebug (2005)
Plot Summary:
On the way to meet with an independent artist in the South, newlywed art dealer Madeleine is convinced by her husband, George, that they should stop to meet his family in North Carolina. Madeleine's affluent lifestyle clashes with the family, but she befriends George's wide-eyed and pregnant sister-in-law, Ashley, who is nearing her due date. Through the family, Madeleine gains greater insight into George's character.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: humorous, independent film, emotional, sentimental, semi serious, realistic, comedy drama, romantic, depressing, romantic comedy
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Conversations with My Gardener (2007)
Plot Summary:
A successful artist, weary of Parisian life and on the verge of divorce, returns to the country to live in his childhood house. He needs someone to make a real vegetable garden again out of the wilderness it has become. The gardener happens to be a former schoolfriend. A warm, fruitful conversation starts between the two men.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, talky, captivating, sincere, realistic, semi serious, beautiful
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Kikujiro (1999)
Plot Summary:
Brash, loudmouthed and opportunistic, Kikujiro is the unlikely companion for Masao who is determined to see the mother he has never met. The two begin a series of adventures which soon turns out to be a whimsical journey of laughter and tears with a wide array of surprises and unique characters along the way.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama, Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: road movie, sad, uplifting, touching, surreal, stylized, emotional, social, contemplative, art house
Similar in 78%
Scandal Makers (2008)
Plot Summary:
Former teen idol Nam Hyeon-soo is now in his thirties and working as a radio DJ. One day a young woman named Jeong-nam shows up and claims to be his own daughter. She also has a son whom she claims to be Hyeon-soo's grandson. Their relation is proven via DNA tests by Hyeon-soo's brother. This leads to Hyeon-soo attempting to avoid a scandal concerning him having children "unknown" to the media.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: South Korea
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: humorous, light, captivating, feel good, entertaining, sad, touching, offbeat, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 81%
Reality (2012)
Plot Summary:
A dark comedy centering on the lives of a Neapolitan based family whose father, a fish merchant, is so infatuated with the reality TV show "Grande Fratello" (the Italian version of "Big Brother") he starts living his life as if he were on it.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, humorous, cynical, semi serious, social, surreal, cult classic, clever, bleak, realistic
Similar in 78%
Marine Life (2000)
Plot Summary:
Marine Life revolves around the choatic family life of June, a middle-aged lounge singer and mother. Aging and twice divorced, lounge singer June Nordstrom tries to cope with her fading beauty, her troubled offspring, her waning career and her young lover, who begins seeing a woman his age behind June's back.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 159
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, humorous, emotional, semi serious, captivating, independent film
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God Said, 'Ha!' (1998)
Plot Summary:
Julia Sweeney tells the viewers the monologue about the hard time in her life when her brother fought with cancer and she was also diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, witty, talky, independent film, clever, realistic, gloomy, semi serious, minimal cast
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The 92 Minutes of Mr. Baum (1997)
Plot Summary:
Balding advertising executive Mr. Baum spends more time on a new ad campaign for purple sunglasses than he does with his own family. But suddenly he is forced to reexamine his life after a doctor tells him that he has an 'aggressive' brain tumor and will die in 90 minutes.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 183
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel, France
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, thought provoking, clever, humorous, tragicomedy, realistic, surreal, contemplative, cynical, semi serious
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All Around Us (2008)
Plot Summary:
Kanao, a courtroom portrait artist, observes crimes, scandals and the decline of Japanese values without passing judgement. As he and his wife endure the tragedy of their first child’s death, hope slowly unfolds and their love story flickers to life once again.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 890
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, touching, psychological, serious, gloomy
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New York Stories (1989)
Plot Summary:
Three stories happening in New York. The first, by Scorsese, is about a painter who creates his works helped by high volume music and an attractive assistant; second, by Coppola, is about a rich and bold 12 years old who helps her separated parents to reconciliate; third, by Allen, is a witty piece of comedy about the impossibility of getting rid of the son's role.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: anthology, talky, realistic, semi serious, touching, humorous, witty, clever, stylized, black comedy
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Manhood (2003)
Plot Summary:
A black comedy about a reformed womanizer who struggles to keep his family together.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 293
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, emotional, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 81%
Happily Ever After (2007)
Plot Summary:
Director Yukihiko Tsutsumi wrings laughs out of an unlikely topic -- domestic violence -- in this dark comedy about noodle-shop waitress Yukie Morita (Miki Nakatani), who puts up with the fiery temper, gambling and cruelty of her shiftless, ex-gangster boyfriend (Hiroshi Abe). But as flashbacks reveal, there's a reason behind Yukie's unconditional love for her man. Yûko Natori and Mayumi Sada also star.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 353
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: stylized, humorous, realistic, semi serious, offbeat
Similar in 79%
I Don't Have Many Friends (2014)
Plot Summary:
Second year high school student Kodaka Hasegawa has transferred to his new school about a month ago, but he still hasn't made any friends. Kodaka Hasegawa was born from a Japanese father and a British mother. Because of his appearance, people think Kodaka Hasegawa is a troubled kid. One day, Kodaka Hasegawa sees classmate Yozora Mikazuki pleasantly talking to herself. Kodaka Hasegawa talks with her about how to make friends. To make friends, Yozora Mikazuki decides to form the Neighbor's Club and forces Kodaka to enroll in the club.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 146
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, captivating, entertaining, touching, offbeat, realistic, stylized, manga
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Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)
Plot Summary:
The feature film debut by artist Miranda July about a various comic situations and plots that intertwine. One story line is about a father who is ending his marriage and the other story is of a video artist (possibly autobiographical of Miranda July, also played by her) who is desperately trying to get her work in a modern art museum. The film won Caméra d'Or at Cannes.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: touching, disturbing, humorous, realistic, surreal, philosophical, emotional, talky, sentimental, sincere
Similar in 84%
Lost in Translation (2003)
Plot Summary:
Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 480000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: melancholic, atmospheric, offbeat, psychological, artsy, emotional, art house, visual, contemplative, heartbreaking