Best movies like Ballad of a White Cow
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Mina's life is turned upside down when she learns that her husband was innocent of the crime for which he was executed, so she starts a silent battle against a cynical system for her own and her daughter's sake.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: independent film
Best tv shows and movies like Ballad of a White Cow (2020):
Similar in 80%
Centaur (2017)
Plot Summary:
Centaur lives a modest life with his family in rural Kyrgyzstan until he abruptly becomes the center of attention when he is caught stealing a racehorse at night. A story inspired by the myth when horses became the wings of men.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 462
Genere: Drama
Country: Kyrgyzstan, Netherlands, Germany, France, Japan
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
Incident Light (2015)
Plot Summary:
In this poignant period drama set in 1960s Argentina, a young woman, struggling to raise her twin daughters alone after the tragic death of her husband, accepts the courtship of a charming but mysterious older suitor.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 379
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina, France, Uruguay
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: black and white, period drama
Similar in 76%
Noura's Dream (2019)
Plot Summary:
With her abusive husband in jail and a coveted divorce pending, hardworking Noura can almost grasp a happy, new life with lover Lassaad — but when the best-laid plans are upended, Noura must tap her unshakable will to fulfill her dream.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 445
Genere: Drama
Country: Tunisia, Belgium, France, Qatar, Netherlands
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
Women in the Mirror (2002)
Plot Summary:
Three women who share memories of the Hiroshima disaster try to uncover the hidden family ties that may or may not bind them together.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 246
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, France
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Facing Mirrors (2011)
Plot Summary:
Rana has chosen a path in order to support her family, while Adineh (Eddie) has fled his home and city to escape his complicated situation as a transsexual man prevented from living as his true self by his family. They find themselves on the same journey and caused to know each other in a better way.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 629
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 90%
Margarita Happy Hour (2001)
Plot Summary:
Five young women, each with children, meet once a week for $2 margaritas and discuss life, love and change.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 172
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 76%
Nargess (1992)
Plot Summary:
A sharp-edged look at people who live outside the constraints of Islamic law.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 347
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
All the Way Home (1981)
Plot Summary:
A wife and mother in 1915 Tennessee copes with the loss of her husband and the necessity of raising their children alone.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 105
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Sand Storm (2016)
Plot Summary:
A Bedouin village in Northern Israel. When Jalila's husband marries a second woman, Jalila and her daughter's world is shattered, and the women are torn between their commitment to the patriarchal rules and being true to themselves.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, Germany, France
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, social
Similar in 79%
Custody (2016)
Plot Summary:
When a hard-working single mother, Sara Diaz, has her children taken from her after she is suspected of injuring her son, Ally Fisher, a recent law school graduate, is assigned to represent her case before Judge Martha Schulman, a veteran of the Family Court System.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological, captivating, disturbing, dark
Similar in 84%
Adam (2019)
Plot Summary:
Abla, a widow and mother to a 10-year-old girl, struggles to survive and give her child the best possible future. After the death of her husband, she starts a home-based business from her kitchen, which opens up on the street through a metal shutter. Every day, she makes and sells homemade bread and all types of traditional Moroccan pastries. Closed-off from life, leading an existence devoid of happiness and taking refuge in her work, Abla has become old before her time. Unable to manifest love towards her child, she has replaced tenderness with pragmatism. When Samia, a young woman who is heavily pregnant knocks on her door, seeking shelter and overwhelmed by the weight of her burden of giving birth to a child without a father, Alba is unaware that this chance encounter will change her forever.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Morocco, France, Belgium, Qatar
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: cult film
Similar in 75%
A Hero (2021)
Plot Summary:
Rahim is in prison because of a debt he was unable to repay. During a two-day leave, he tries to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint against the payment of part of the sum. But things don't go as planned. Is he truly a hero?.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: suspense, thrilling, beautiful, cult film
Similar in 89%
The Justice of Bunny King (2021)
Plot Summary:
Bunny King is a mother of two, a rough cut diamond with a sketchy past. While battling the system to reunite with her children, a confrontation leads her to take her niece Tonyah under her wing. With the world against her and Tonyah, Bunny’s battle has just begun.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 671
Genere: Drama
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 86%
Hive (2021)
Plot Summary:
Fahrije’s husband has been missing since the war in Kosovo so she sets up her own small business to provide for her kids, but as she fights against a patriarchal society that does not support her, she faces a crucial decision: to wait for his return, or to continue to persevere.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Kosovo, Switzerland, Albania
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, political, social
Similar in 86%
Care (2018)
Plot Summary:
Jenny, a single mother raising two daughters after her husband leaves, is aided by her widowed mother, Mary. But Jenny struggles to stay afloat after Mary suffers a devastating stroke and develops dementia.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 414
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspenseful, thrilling
Similar in 81%
Boycott (1986)
Plot Summary:
Valeh, a member of a leftist organization, is arrested by the SAVAK and sentenced to death. In prison, he reconsiders his relationships with members of his political cell, and begins to doubt the validity of the ideas for which he is condemned. At the same time, his comrades pressure him to make a sacrifice for their cause, and his beloved wife experiences personal problems and economic hardships.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 378
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
Closed Curtain (2013)
Plot Summary:
A man, his dog, a young woman and a filmmaker in a house by the Caspian Sea. All three are wanted, but they are also in search of each other. Thus begins an absurd game in which reality and fiction merge.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, surreal, disturbing, islamic, mind bending, offbeat, postmodern
Similar in 87%
Stray Dogs (2004)
Plot Summary:
Two children are orphaned in post-Taliban Afghanistan.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 695
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Mourning (2011)
Plot Summary:
A violent quarrel breaks out between a couple at midnight. Being at a relative's house in the north of Iran, they depart for Tehran in the middle of the night, but they do not bring along their son. Something terrible happens on their way.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 397
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: serious, touching, realistic, islamic, sincere, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Travellers (1992)
Plot Summary:
A young woman's wedding becomes a ritual of mourning when her sister and family die in an auto accident on the way to the wedding. The sisters' mother refuses to accept her daughter's death, and in the midst of wedding guests and mourners, including the drivers of the truck that caused the accident, she orders the wedding to take place. But how can the daughter marry in the midst of a wake and without the family's traditional mirror, which the sister was bringing to the service?.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, beautiful
Similar in 80%
The Cyclist (1989)
Plot Summary:
The wife of Nasim, an Afghan immigrant in Iran, is gravely ill. He needs money to pay for her care, but his day labor digging wells does not pay enough. A friend connects Nasim to a two-bit promoter who sells tickets to watch Nasim ride a bicycle continuously for a week. The promoter brings in sick and aged spectators, haranguing them to find hope in Nasim's strength. Aided by his son, who feeds him as he rides, Nasim grinds out the days and shivering nights. Local officials believe this may be a plot and Nasim may be a spy; they try to sabotage him as do those who bet he won't finish the week. Will desperation alone get Nasim the money? Is any triumph an illusion?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: islamic, psychological, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Listen (2020)
Plot Summary:
In the outskirts of London, Portuguese couple and parents of three, Bela and Jota, struggle to make ends meet. When a misunderstanding arises at school with their deaf daughter, the British social services grow concerned for the safety of their children. The film portrays the tireless battle of these immigrant parents against the law to keep their family together.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Portugal, UK
Duration: 73 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, social
Similar in 89%
Day Break (2005)
Plot Summary:
Since the Islamic Revolution in Iran, capital punishment is carried out according to Islamic law, which gives the family of the victim ownership of the offender's life. Day Break - based on a compilation of true stories and shot inside Tehran's century-old prison - revolves around the imminent execution of Mansour, a man found guilty of murder. When the family of the victim repeatedly fails to show up on the appointed day, Mansour's execution is postponed again and again. Stuck inside the purgatory of his own mind, he waits as time passes on without him, caught between life and death, retribution and forgiveness.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 327
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, serious, suspenseful, thought provoking, bleak, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, surprise ending
Similar in 76%
The Circle (2000)
Plot Summary:
Various women struggle to function in the oppressively sexist society of contemporary Iran.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, Italy, Switzerland
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: bleak, disturbing, harsh, atmospheric, sincere, contemplative, thought provoking, spiritual, avant garde, art house
Similar in 81%
Ten (2002)
Plot Summary:
A visual social examination in the form of ten conversations between a driving woman and her various pick-ups and hitchhikers.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France, USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: talky, melancholic, light, intense, sincere, thought provoking, touching, realistic, art house, contemplative
Similar in 81%
The Willow Tree (2005)
Plot Summary:
Youssef, a blind university professor, is suddenly diagnosed with a fatal disease and must undergo treatment in France. Back home, will he find the life he had before?.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, touching, captivating, inspirational, emotional, islamic, thought provoking, serious, beautiful
Similar in 79%
My World (2013)
Plot Summary:
At 2 Ela lost her ability of seeing and hearing because of a severe illness. And then she became a total disappointment of her family due to her untamed behaviors. But everything changed after an unorthodox teacher stepped into their lives to educate Ela while healing himself.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: uplifting, realistic, emotional, sincere, captivating, touching, educational, sad, serious
Similar in 83%
The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008)
Plot Summary:
A drama set in 1986 Iran and centered on a man, Sahebjam, whose car breaks down in a remote village and enters into a conversation with Zahra, who relays to him the story about her niece, Soraya, whose arranged marriage to an abusive tyrant had a tragic ending.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: realistic, disturbing, emotional, sexy, touching, serious, political, sad, suspense, intense
Similar in 83%
At Five in the Afternoon (2003)
Plot Summary:
Nogreh is a young Afghani woman living with her father and her sister-in-law, Leylomah, whose husband, Akhtar, is missing. Beyond the issue of Akhtar, Leylomah is most concerned with how to feed her baby. She cannot provide milk for her baby as her own hunger is preventing her from lactating. Nogreh, however, aspires toward a life in a western styled democracy. Although the Taliban are no longer in power in Afghanistan, traditional forces are still active in the country. Nogreh often displays signs of rebellion, such as wearing a pair of white pumps instead of the traditional slipper beneath her burqa. But mostly, Nogreh wants to be educated. Without her father's knowledge, Nogreh is attending a secular girls school. Ultimately, she wants to become President of Afghanistan. With the help of a Pakistani refugee who likes her as a woman, Nogreh tries to understand exactly what forces led to current world leaders being elected, those forces which she wants to emulate.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, bleak, serious, sincere, touching, realistic, art house, emotional, masterpiece
Similar in 83%
A Separation (2011)
Plot Summary:
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 255000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France, Australia
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: heartbreaking, emotional, realistic, tense, talky, bleak, suspense, compassionate, sad, contemplative