Best movies like Aftershock
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Based on the Tangshan Earthquake in 1976 that took the lives of 240,000 people.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: China
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, psychological, factual, touching, dark, sad, crying, devastating
Best tv shows and movies like Aftershock (2010):
Similar in 78%
Beverly Lewis' The Confession (2013)
Plot Summary:
Based on the novel by New York Times best-selling author Beverly Lewis, "The Confession" is the continuing story of Katie Lapp, a young Amish woman who goes on a journey in search of her identity - only to find herself embroiled in a mystery that must be solved before she can be reunited with the "Englisher" mother who gave her up to adoption 20 years earlier. Written by Brian Bird.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 807
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, sad, scenic
Similar in 82%
The Day I Was Not Born (2010)
Plot Summary:
During a stopover in Buenos Aires on her way to Chile, 31-year-old Maria recognizes a nursery rhyme. Maria doesn't speak a work of Spanish, but without understanding what she is singing, she remembers the Spanish lyrics. Disturbed and thrown off course, she decides to interrupt her journey and wander through the unfamiliar city.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 837
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, Argentina
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, captivating, contemplative, sentimental, sincere, serious
Similar in 77%
Lost and Love (2015)
Plot Summary:
After his young son goes missing, Lei (Andy Lau) begins a 14-year quest to find him.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 759
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Pudana: Last of the Line (2010)
Plot Summary:
A little Nenets girl Neko is taken against her will from her home to a boarding school in a remote Russian village. Forced to adapt to a foreign culture and new customs, Neko rebels and decides to flee, hoping to get back to her family and old habits.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 66
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Finland
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 79%
The Fatherless (2011)
Plot Summary:
They never expected Kyra to turn up again. The two brothers and their sister, brought together when their father dies, are stunned by the appearance of their sister.Kyra suddenly vanished over twenty years ago during the breakup of the hippie commune where they were all born. She is like a stranger to them now... but when she discovers that her very existence has been kept secret, she starts to uncover old mysteries. And soon all the brothers and sisters find themselves unearthing the roots of their childhood memories they had suppressed in order to survive. In her debut feature film Marie Kreutzer embarks upon an intriguing and disturbing journey into the past, a gripping study of belonging and solitude, bonds and freedom. Written by Novotny & Novotny Film.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 250
Genere: Drama
Country: Austria
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, serious, captivating, realistic, suspense, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Postmen in the Mountains (1999)
Plot Summary:
An old postman has spent his whole life delivering mail to the mountain of Hunan and is about to retire. His only son is due to take over his duties. As father and son journey through the mountains, the son begins to appreciate the toil and burden his father has to bear as postman for the villagers, and the old postman is also deeply moved as his son relates his mother's anxiety as she waits for him to return home from every trip.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 85%
King of the Hill (1993)
Plot Summary:
Based on the Depression-era bildungsroman memoir of writer A. E. Hotchner, the film follows the story of a boy struggling to survive on his own in a hotel in St. Louis after his mother is committed to a sanatorium with tuberculosis. His father, a German immigrant and traveling salesman working for the Hamilton Watch Company, is off on long trips from which the boy cannot be certain he will return.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, heartbreaking, serious, depressing, sentimental, atmospheric, sad, grim, mind twisting
Similar in 88%
The Blind Sunflowers (2008)
Plot Summary:
Ourense, Spain, 1940. Every time that Elena locks the door, she locks her secrets. Her husband Ricardo spend years hidden in his house with his children (Elenita and Lorenzo), trying to dodge persecution. Salvador, a priest confused after battling in the front, returns to seminary in Ourense.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Spain
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, disturbing, sincere, bleak, captivating, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 80%
Fly with the Crane (2012)
Plot Summary:
Serenely resigned to his impending death but deeply afraid at the prospect of being cremated, an elderly carpenter seeks to have his last wishes carried out in this gentle, beautifully realized drama from director Li Ruijin. (TIFF).
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 106
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 89%
Our Homeland (2012)
Plot Summary:
From the late 1950s through the '70s, more than 90,000 of the ethnic Koreans in Japan emigrated to North Korea, a country that promised them affluence, justice, and an end to discrimination. KAZOKU NO KUNI tells the story of one of their number, who returns for just a short period. For the first time in 25 years, Sonho is reunited with his family in Tokyo after being allowed to undergo an operation there. Sonho’s younger sister Rie is at the centre of the film, and is not hard to recognise as the director’s alter-ego. In her documentaries DEAR PYONGYANG and SONA, THE OTHER MYSELF, Yang Yonghi told the story of her own life, and how, at age six, she experienced the departure of her three older brothers, who left their family for Pyongyang.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 285
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 79%
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 83%
The Way We Are (2008)
Plot Summary:
The Way We Are is a respectful, unglamorous, and serenely charming portrait of regular people and a Hong Kong town that normally gets a bad rap. It may put you to sleep, but the visit and Ann Hui's quiet touch are exceptionally worthwhile.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, emotional, captivating, sincere, serious, realistic
Similar in 81%
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 83%
Coming Home (2014)
Plot Summary:
Lu and Feng are a devoted couple forced to separate when Lu is arrested and sent to a labor camp as a political prisoner during the Cultural Revolution. He finally returns home only to find that his beloved wife no longer remembers him.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, atmospheric, touching, realistic, social
Similar in 88%
A Brand New Life (2009)
Plot Summary:
Young Jinhee is taken by her father to an orphanage near Seoul. He leaves her there never to return, and she struggles to come to grips with her fate. Jinhee desperately believes her father will come back for her and take her on a trip. The film is based on the experiences of the director, an ethnic Korean who was adopted by a French couple in the 1970s.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, South Korea
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, captivating, emotional, inspirational, sad, poignant
Similar in 77%
Religion (2007)
Plot Summary:
The story is based in Banaras and is about a Hindu Priest Chaturvedi (Pankaj Kapoor) who follows the scriptures to practice Hindu religion. When a child is abandon by a woman and brought in his house by his daughter - after initial hesitation but due to requests from his wife (Supriya Pathak) - the family adapts the child; only to know after 4 years that the child is a Muslim. The family gives away the child and Chaturvedi engulfs himself in the purification process to cleanse his body, mind and soul due to contact with a Muslim soul. By the time, Chaturvedi thinks he is fully purified – the child reappears – seeking refuge, due to Hindu- Muslim riots. This is the time Chaturvedi finally realizes that the true religion is - religion where humans help humans – humanity.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: India
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, psychological, captivating, christian film, spiritual, art film, thinking, touching, serious
Similar in 84%
Groenten uit Balen (2011)
Plot Summary:
The story of the laborer family Debruycker during the turbulent strike by Vieille Montagne in 1971.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Belgium
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, gloomy
Similar in 81%
A City of Sadness (1989)
Plot Summary:
Soon after Japan relinquishes control of Taiwan in 1945, the Lin brothers face hardships from the changing culture. Bar owner Wen-heung (Chen Sown-yung), the eldest brother, falls foul of local gangsters, Wen-sun disappears, and Wen-leung, scarred by his experiences in the war, ends up in an insane asylum. Deaf-mute photographer Wen-ching (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), the youngest brother, decides to make a stand and fight the Kuomintang government from China that is assuming power.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 157 min
Plot tags: realistic, sad, saga, black and white, slow cinema, aesthetic, tense, rough, serious, captivating
Similar in 78%
Beginning of the Great Revival (2011)
Plot Summary:
A chronicle of the events that led to the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.
IMDB Rating: 3.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: China
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, factual, banned
Similar in 83%
Sacrifice (2010)
Plot Summary:
For generations the Zhao family has wielded power, until their mortal enemy TU’AN GU slaughters the entire clan, determined to wipe out their influence forever. But one Zhao baby survives hidden by CHENG YING the doctor who delivered him. When Tu’an Gu learns of the baby’s escape he seizes every infant in the city, vowing to kill them all unless the Zhao baby is surrendered. As the tyrant’s soldiers arrive at Cheng Ying’s home the frantic doctor hides his wife with their own baby whilst surrendering the Zhao child as his own. But his family is discovered; his baby is presumed to be the Zhao heir and murdered along with his wife for harboring the infant. Now set on revenge Cheng Ying enrolls the Zhao orphan into the service of the Tu’an Gu household, plotting to use him as an instrument of vengeance when he comes of age.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: China
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: exciting, atmospheric, serious, suspenseful, captivating, stylized, epic, realistic, costume drama
Similar in 76%
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 86%
Lula, the Son of Brazil (2009)
Plot Summary:
The true story of a working class boy who moves to the nation's financial capital at a young age and becomes one the most influential politician in Brazil's history.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Brazil, Argentina
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, sincere, touching, serious
Similar in 75%
I Travel Alone (2011)
Plot Summary:
Jarle Klepp is a 25-year-old student of literature with a passion for Adorno, Proust and grown-up women - and definitely not Tamagochi's, Lady Di and small kids. The news that he is the father of a seven year old girl - and that she will come visiting next week - enters his life like a nuclear bomb. Jarle Klepp has to become an adult.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, emotional, contemplative, captivating, psychological, sincere, touching, serious
Similar in 86%
Back to 1942 (2012)
Plot Summary:
In 1942, Henan Province was devastated by the most tragic famine in modern Chinese history, resulting in the deaths of at least three million men, women and children. Although the primary cause of the famine was a severe drought, it was exacerbated by locusts, windstorms, earthquakes, epidemic disease and the corruption of the ruling Kuomintang government.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, captivating, bleak, realistic, intense
Similar in 81%
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 89%
Fifteen and Pregnant (1998)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, 15 year old Tina Spangler discovers she is pregnant. Her choices are abortion, adoption, or a lonely, exhausting life as a single parent. Abandoned by her boyfriend, she turns to her mother. Tina discovers although it has torn her world apart, her pregnancy could re-unite her shattered family and help her find her true purpose in life.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, psychological, sincere, talky, ridiculous
Similar in 90%
The Son's Room (2001)
Plot Summary:
A psychoanalyst and his family go through profound emotional trauma when their son dies in a scuba diving accident.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, emotional, depressing, sad, meditative, lyrical, psychological, realistic, philosophical
Similar in 78%
The Keys to the House (2004)
Plot Summary:
Meeting his handicapped son for the first time, a young father attempts to forge a relationship with the teenager.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, Germany, France, USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, touching, emotional, sincere, bleak, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 90%
Oranges and Sunshine (2010)
Plot Summary:
The story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham, who uncovers one of the most significant social scandals in recent times – the forced migration of children from the United Kingdom. Almost singlehandedly, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities to account and worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK, Australia
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: realistic, sincere, serious, captivating, motivational, educational, sad, uplifting, touching, gloomy
Similar in 76%
The Impossible (2012)
Plot Summary:
In December 2004, close-knit family Maria, Henry and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand. But the day after Christmas, the idyllic holiday turns into an incomprehensible nightmare when a terrifying roar rises from the depths of the sea, followed by a wall of black water that devours everything in its path. Though Maria and her family face their darkest hour, unexpected displays of kindness and courage ameliorate their terror.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 238000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller
Country: Spain, Thailand, USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: suspense, emotional, heartbreaking, motivational, touching, inspirational, realistic, sad, sentimental, tense