Best movies like American Heart
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Jack is now out of jail and he meets Nick, his adolescent son. Their relationship will be complicated, because Jack has a problem with alcohol. But his love for Nick will help him to get over the past and reach his dreams.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, sincere, rough, touching, emotional, independent film, teen, gloomy, road movie
Best tv shows and movies like American Heart (1992):
Similar in 87%
CrissCross (1992)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1969, a twelve-year-old grows up in Key West with his mother, who is paying the bills by stripping at the local topless bar. The boy finds out about her activities and tries to convince her to stop, to no avail. A local restaurant owner hires him to collect fish from a boat out in the bay, and the boy discovers that the restaurant owner is using the fish to bring drugs in to shore. He steals one load and goes about selling it so his mother can afford to quit her job.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, bleak, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 82%
Lookin' Italian (1994)
Plot Summary:
After an unfortunate incident causes him to leave the "family business" and move to Los Angeles, Vinny Pallazzo is living a quiet life. When his nephew, Anthony, moves in with him, Vinny slowly learns to live life to the fullest again. However, Anthony is young, and is living life in the fast lane. He brings out the demons from Vinny's past. Now Vinny must try to stop Anthony from making the same mistakes that changed his life forever.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 285
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: independent film, tense, serious, realistic
Similar in 86%
Breaking and Entering (2006)
Plot Summary:
Set in a blighted, inner-city neighbourhood of London, Breaking and Entering examines an affair which unfolds between a successful British landscape architect and Amira, a Bosnian woman – the mother of a troubled teen son – who was widowed by the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sincere, emotional, heartbreaking, psychological, stylized, compassionate, thought provoking, realistic, anime, crime thriller
Similar in 89%
The Architect (2006)
Plot Summary:
An architect engages in conflict with an activist who lives in a dangerous complex the architect designed.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, melancholic, absurd, sincere, realistic, crying, independent film
Similar in 83%
Generation Now (2008)
Plot Summary:
A multi-cultural celebration of young people triumphing in the face of adversity, societal pressures and difficult familial situations.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 13
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, realistic, independent film, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Five Thirteen (2013)
Plot Summary:
In this tension-packed thriller, brothers Mike and Tre set out in search of better lives, trying to leave their demons behind for good. After being released from prison for a crime he didn't commit, Mike's only care in the world is to protect his young daughter from an unforgiving ex. But the justice that awaits him on the streets is far worse than anything Mike had experienced in prison. His older brother Tre begrudgingly agrees to one last "delivery", attempting to free Mike and his new girlfriend from the grips of the criminal underworld. What transpires is a wild misadventure where multiple lives unknowingly intersect, and where decisions are made that will haunt everyone forever.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 723
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, tense, independent film
Similar in 86%
Hidden in America (1996)
Plot Summary:
Story of a man Bill Januson whose pride in being the head of his family won't let him accept help from his sick daughters doctor. He has to prove to his kids that even with the death of his wife and the loss of his job that they can and will survive. After hitting brick wall after brick wall comes a glimmer of hope.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 538
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: crying, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, disturbing, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Hurricane Streets (1997)
Plot Summary:
Marcus is a kid on Manhattan's mean streets. He's turning 15, his father is dead, his mother is in prison for smuggling undocumented aliens. His grandmother is raising him. He has four close buddies who have a basement clubhouse; they shoplift and sell the wares to kids. One is moving toward selling drugs. Marcus wants to take a breather from the city and visit family in New Mexico. He also meets Melena, 14, a sweet kid who dreams of going to Alaska; her father is not just protective but angry and uncommunicative. The gang pressures Marcus to move up to burglary and car theft. He just wants to breathe open air. Can anything go right?.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: independent film, realistic, rough, bleak, serious, disturbing, clever, bad ending, sad, harsh
Similar in 84%
Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)
Plot Summary:
A group of over-achieving Asian-American high school seniors enjoy a power trip when they dip into extra-curricular criminal activities.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: tense, disturbing, intense, depressing, rough, intellectual, suspenseful, serious, independent film, clever
Similar in 82%
Running on Empty (1988)
Plot Summary:
The Popes are a family who haven't been able to use their real identity for years. In the late sixties, the parents set a weapons lab afire in an effort to hinder the government's Vietnam war campaign. Ever since then, the Popes have been on the run with the authorities never far behind.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, thought provoking, serious, political, retro, feel good, entertaining, stylized, independent film
Similar in 85%
The Doe Boy (2001)
Plot Summary:
A Cherokee boy is a haemophiliac in a culture obsessed with blood identity.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 293
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, emotional, independent film, sincere, realistic, contemplative, crying, cult film
Similar in 89%
Four Sheets to the Wind (2007)
Plot Summary:
After his father's untimely suicide, Cufe leaves his home in a Native American reservation in search of a more fulfilling life.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 633
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, romantic, romantic comedy, gloomy, crying
Similar in 77%
A Better Life (2011)
Plot Summary:
A gardener in East L.A. struggles to keep his son away from gangs and immigration agents while traveling across town to perform landscaping work for the city's wealthy landowners.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, sincere, thought provoking, inspirational, hood, independent film, romantic, captivating
Similar in 88%
Don't Let Me Drown (2009)
Plot Summary:
In a post-September 11th world overflowing with fear and hate, two Latino teens discover that sometimes the only thing that can keep them from drowning is love.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 428
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, sentimental, captivating, touching, serious, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 90%
Joe the King (1999)
Plot Summary:
A destitute 14 year old struggles to keep his life together despite harsh abuse at his mother's hands, harsher abuse at his father's, and a growing separation from his slightly older brother. Petty thefts for food grow into more major takes until he steals a cash box from the diner where he works. Although Joe uses the money to pay off some of his father's debts and to replace his mother's records that his father smashed in a fit of temper, Joe gets no thanks.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: emotional, harsh, tense, rough, grim, realistic, art house, semi autobiographical, serious, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Rumble Fish (1983)
Plot Summary:
Rusty James, an absent-minded street thug struggles to live up to his legendary older brother's reputation, and longs for the days when gang warfare was going on.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, surreal, black and white, serious, cult classic, bleak, realistic, touching, captivating, cerebral
Similar in 87%
Little Odessa (1994)
Plot Summary:
The film follows the personal relationship between a father and his two sons, one of whom is a hit-man for the Russian mafia in Brooklyn.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: bleak, disturbing, neo noir, erotic, cult classic, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
The Wanderers (1979)
Plot Summary:
The streets of the Bronx are owned by 60’s youth gangs where the joy and pain of adolescence is lived. Philip Kaufman tells his take on the novel by Richard Price about the history of the Italian-American gang ‘The Wanderers.’.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, cult classic, hood, sentimental, rough, serious, realistic, crying, inspirational, unusual plot structure
Similar in 87%
The Child (2005)
Plot Summary:
Bruno and Sonia, a young couple living off her benefit and the thefts committed by his gang, have a new source of money: their newborn son.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: Belgium, France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, emotional, harsh, rough, depressing, art house, independent film, bleak, realistic, aesthetic
Similar in 75%
Explicit Ills (2008)
Plot Summary:
The film follows four inter-connecting stories revolving around love, drugs and poverty in Philadelphia.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 854
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, freeze frame, sincere, realistic
Similar in 87%
Kidulthood (2006)
Plot Summary:
A day in the life of a group of troubled 15-year-olds growing up in west London.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: hood, serious, tense, rough, teen, emotional, cult classic, bleak, captivating, realistic
Similar in 89%
Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (2004)
Plot Summary:
Redemption tells the story of Stan "Tookie" Williams, founder of the Crips L.A. street gang. Story follows his fall into gang-banging, his prison term, and his work writing children's novels encouraging peace and anti-violence resolutions which earned him multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations. After exhausting all forms of appeal, Tookie was executed by lethal injection.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, emotional, realistic, bleak, political, hood, crime drama, sincere, touching
Similar in 77%
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)
Plot Summary:
Dito Montiel, a successful author, receives a call from his long-suffering mother, asking him to return home and visit his ailing father. Dito recalls his childhood growing up in a violent neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., with friends Antonio, Giuseppe, Nerf and Mike.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: emotional, harsh, rough, thought provoking, intense, realistic, sentimental, epic, crying, hood
Similar in 77%
Imperial Dreams (2014)
Plot Summary:
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, rough, serious, hood, inspirational, feel good, social, crime drama, realistic
Similar in 85%
Jamesy Boy (2014)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of teenager James Burns who goes from a suburban street gang to a maximum-security prison cell surrounded by hardened criminals. He turns his life around in prison thanks to the unexpected friendship he forms with a convicted murderer who becomes his mentor.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: sincere, rough, serious, realistic, crime drama, crying
Similar in 86%
Boyz n the Hood (1991)
Plot Summary:
Boyz n the Hood is the popular and successful film and social criticism from John Singleton about the conditions in South Central Los Angeles where teenagers are involved in gun fights and drug dealing on a daily basis.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 151000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, thought provoking, hood, cult classic, brutal, bleak, independent film, rough, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
South Central (1992)
Plot Summary:
A man is put to prison for 10 years. Coming out of prison he wants to live a normal life and stop with crime but his son has yet followed the criminal path of his father.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: hood, captivating, social, sexual, crime drama, tense, rough, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 85%
The Mudge Boy (2003)
Plot Summary:
Duncan Mudge, mid-teens, lives apart from his rural world populated by his distant father and rough local kids. His main companionship is a chicken left after his mother's death until the neighbor's son befriends him.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: disturbing, touching, serious, emotional, controversial, lgbt cinema, sad, art house, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 85%
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Plot Summary:
The coming of age of a youth named Sonny in a small Texas town in the 1950s.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 51000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: black and white, sentimental, realistic, thought provoking, captivating, crying, controversial, bleak, cynical, cult classic
Similar in 84%
American History X (1998)
Plot Summary:
Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for killing two thugs who tried to break into/steal his truck. Through his brother, Danny Vineyard's narration, we learn that before going to prison, Derek was a skinhead and the leader of a violent white supremacist gang that committed acts of racial crime throughout L.A. and his actions greatly influenced Danny. Reformed and fresh out of prison, Derek severs contact with the gang and becomes determined to keep Danny from going down the same violent path as he did.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 12000000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: emotional, dramatic, serious, rough, cerebral, psychological, tense, disturbing, black and white, political