Best movies like Bonsai
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A young writer recounts an earlier romance in hopes of attracting his new love interest.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 884
Genere: Drama
Country: Chile, Argentina, Portugal, France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, atmospheric, serious, realistic, gloomy
Best tv shows and movies like Bonsai (2011):
Similar in 85%
Waiting for the Tenor (1998)
Plot Summary:
The author Thomas meets his childhood friend Hoffman on an autumn night in 1997. They decide to let a dream come true: to make a film of a play by Thomas, Veranda for a Tenor, with Hoffman in the lead role. The story takes us back to the summer of 1961, which changed their lives. The writing of the script awakens memories and forbidden questions are answered. Their friendship is put to the test a final time. Veranda for a tenor is a film about male friendship, but also about love. Their love for the same woman.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 171
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, meta
Similar in 90%
The Absent Season (2004)
Plot Summary:
When love has to compete with artistic inspiration and memories from a sheltering past come to take the artist to imaginary worlds that exist deep in his mind. This is the story of young Adrian, pianist and composer, in love with his sister and having a romantic relationship with her until she thinks it's time to stop. Adrian becomes overwhelmed by the memories of his grandfather and mentor now dead. Then he falls in love with a young neighbour but she is more real in her imagination than in ordinary daily life. Adrian discovers that is just having fantasies and wants to put an end to his life. But his talent comes in the figure on an ancestor to help him and move on to a meaningful life.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 37
Genere: Drama
Country: Chile
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, contemplative, sentimental, captivating, offbeat, serious, realistic, gloomy, sexual
Similar in 85%
Sleeping Sickness (2011)
Plot Summary:
Ebbo and Vera Velten have spent the better part of the past twenty years living in different African countries. Ebbo is the manager of a sleeping sickness programme. His work is fulfilling. Vera, however, feels increasingly lost in Yaounde’s ex-pat community. She can’t bear the separation from her 14-year-old daughter, Helen, who is attending boarding school in Germany. Ebbo must give up his life in Africa or he risks losing the woman he loves. But his fear of returning to a land now remote to him increases with each passing day. Years later. Alex Nzila, a young French doctor of Congolese origin, travels to Cameroon to evaluate a development project. It’s been a long time since he set foot on this continent, but, instead of finding new prospects, he encounters a destructive, lost man. Like a phantom, Ebbo slips away from his evaluator.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 695
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, France, Netherlands
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, emotional, psychological, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 79%
August Winds (2014)
Plot Summary:
Shirley has left the big city to live in a small seaside town and look after her elderly grandmother. She drives a tractor on a local coconut plantation, loves rock music and wants to be a tattoo artist. She feels trapped in the tiny coastal village. She is involved with Jeison, who also works on the coconut farm and who free dives for lobster and octopus in his spare time.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 609
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, realistic, sincere, touching, serious, erotic, contemplative
Similar in 90%
Above Us Only Sky (2011)
Plot Summary:
A woman discovers the man she has lived with for years is not who she thought he was.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 733
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, contemplative, sincere
Similar in 87%
Voice Over (2014)
Plot Summary:
A married woman — seeking to purify herself through a "disconnection vow" — leaves her husband and returns to her parents’ home, but finds a situation far from the peace and quiet she had imagined.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 132
Genere: Drama
Country: Chile, France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: semi serious, clever, humorous, realistic, witty
Similar in 79%
Sinbad (1971)
Plot Summary:
Based on the stories of Hungarian writer Gyula Krúdy, this iconic film is a lush and sensuous depiction of the life, loves and memories of serial seducer Szindbád.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Hungary
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, sexual, sexy
Similar in 88%
The Letter (1999)
Plot Summary:
A well-bred, lovely, spiritual, sad young woman marries an attentive physician who loves her. She feels affection but no love. Soon after, without design, she falls in love with Pedro Abrunhosa, a poet and performance artist. He also loves her. She keeps her distance from him, confessing her love to a friend who is a nun and, later, to her husband. Hunger for her love and jealousy consume him; she attends him as he wastes away. With his death, she can marry and express her passion, but what she does and how she explains herself, particularly to her cloistered friend, is at the heart of the film. Glimpses of convent life and of Abrunhosa on stage give contrast and mute comment.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 730
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Portugal, Spain
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 85%
You Can't Write a Letter (2013)
Plot Summary:
Julien and Nina sign a pact with the universe: they must enjoy life, whatever the cost. Will that decision lead them to happiness, or to their disappearance?.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 30
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, offbeat
Similar in 88%
Black Dog, Red Dog (2015)
Plot Summary:
Follows the life of Stephen Dobyns as he deals with life, women, and his move from journalism to poetry.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 95
Genere: Drama, Family, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, teen, offbeat, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 79%
Freddy Hotel (2014)
Plot Summary:
Freddy Angi, separate and homeless, stumbles into strange love affairs, including one with his wife Anna. The two meet now and then as lovers in a hotel room.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 17
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Italy, Romania
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, realistic, bleak
Similar in 85%
The Garden of Earthly Delights (2004)
Plot Summary:
When a terminally-ill art historian meets an engineer, it is love and lust at first sight. But their love is threatened by her looming illness. With her remaining days on earth numbered, she chooses to fan the flames of her obsession by taking her lover on a trip to Venice, where the artist's work becomes the background for their physical passion and emotional discovery.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 340
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Italy, Poland
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sexy, erotic, clever, contemplative, talky, sexual, avant garde
Similar in 84%
Chorus (2015)
Plot Summary:
A separated couple meet again after 10 years when the body of their missing son is found. Amid the guilt of losing a loved one, they hesitantly move toward affirmation of life, acceptance of death, and even the possibility of reconciliation.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 511
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, touching, realistic, bleak, serious, black and white, gloomy, crying
Similar in 84%
Scorn (2011)
Plot Summary:
Scorn takes a look into the trials and tribulations of a group of people dealing with relationships, love, pain and friendship during the course of one year.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 16
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, independent film, contemplative
Similar in 78%
Us (2013)
Plot Summary:
This is a story of Ida and Krister. It's about a relationship that goes to hell. They are both crazy in love but manage to strangle the supply of oxygen and adapt to each other in a way that will lead to catastrophic consequences.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspense, sexy, bleak
Similar in 89%
Bad Girl (2012)
Plot Summary:
Louise simultaneously discovers that she is pregnant and that her mother is seriously ill. Happiness and guilt, euphoria and sadness, filial love and love, period. She'll need a good nine months to cope with all this.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 182
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, psychological, captivating, sexy, sincere, serious, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Those Who Remain (2007)
Plot Summary:
Bertrand (Vincent Lindon) dutifully visits his terminally ill wife every day, braving the long train and bus ride to and from the hospital. Lorraine (Emmanuelle Devos) not so willingly visits her boyfriend who was diagnosed with colon cancer. They bump into each other during one of their visits and begin to meet for coffee. Coffee turns into Lorraine offering to drive Bertrand to the train station and the two turn to each other in their time of grief and confusion.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 623
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, atmospheric, psychological, captivating, sincere, serious, gloomy
Similar in 86%
This Is My Body (2001)
Plot Summary:
Gifted student Antoine goes against his family’s wishes and accepts the lead role in a controversial director’s film. He learns that the role had previously been offered to a young man who committed suicide after an on-set affair – and events conspire to draw Antoine towards the same lover.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 213
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Portugal
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 78%
The Policeman's Wife (2013)
Plot Summary:
The story of a young couple who live in a small town with their four-year-old daughter. The husband is so caught up in his work as a policeman that he gradually becomes increasingly alienated from his wife and daughter who become ever closer to one another as they discover the new town. It is only a matter of time before the conflicts within the family manifest themselves.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 494
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 175 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, sexy, sincere, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Sofie (1992)
Plot Summary:
From 1886 to 1907 in the life of Sofie, a Jew in Copenhagen who is nearly 29, with no marital prospects, living with her loving parents.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 240
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark, Norway, Sweden
Duration: 151 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, talky, masterpiece
Similar in 76%
The Three-Way Wedding (2010)
Plot Summary:
A play writer entertains the actors of his next play, including his ex-wife and her new lover. Everyone is finding his new place.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 242
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: realistic, semi serious, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, sincere, offbeat, humorous, witty, contemplative
Similar in 81%
Labour of Love (2014)
Plot Summary:
Set in the crumbling environs of Calcutta, Labour of Love is a lyrical unfolding of two ordinary lives suspended in the duress of a spiralling recession.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: realistic, sincere, atmospheric, touching, serious, contemplative, silent, art house, silent film
Similar in 77%
Candles on Bay Street (2006)
Plot Summary:
DeeDee returns to her hometown with her 11 year old son, Trooper, 13 years after she ran off with her boyfriend. Her childhood best friend, Sam, is now married and he and his wife, Lydia, are the town's veterinarians. Lydia is a little wary about DeeDee after Sam tells her that they were best friends growing up and DeeDee was his first crush. But DeeDee and Trooper find their way into many hearts of the townspeople with their sweet helpfulness and friendships. DeeDee sets up a candle making business in town square and invites many of the ladies of the town to weekly candle making parties, and through these parties she and Lydia become good friends. One evening after dinner with Lydia and Sam, DeeDee tells Sam she's very sick and she doesn't have much longer to live and she needs his help to find a good family in town to adopt Trooper. Sam later tells Lydia everything and they decide to adopt Trooper themselves if/when something happens to DeeDee.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 85%
The Truce (2003)
Plot Summary:
Martín Santomé has been woking in an office for the last 50 years, but his life will change when he starts falling in love with a woman named Laura Avellaneda.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 134
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: emotional, stylized, sentimental, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 86%
Personal Belongings (2006)
Plot Summary:
Young Doctor Ana lives alone because she couldn't bear to leave Cuba when her family sailed away on a raft to the US. Ernesto lives in his car with his belongings in a small case, traveling from embassy to embassy trying to fulfill his dream of leaving Cuba. These Star-crossed lovers long to be together, they are pulled apart by different dreams rooted in different countries. In his directorial debut, Alejandro Brugués offers his personal view on the insistently revisited theme in Cuban art and literature - emigration and the laceration that it implies.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 105
Genere: Drama
Country: Cuba
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 90%
Marathon (2010)
Plot Summary:
Drama by Biju Viswanath, Marathon was adapted from Harteis's memoir of the same name. Explores the relation ship between two poets Richard Harteis and William Meredith former US poet laureate and winner of every major American award for poetry including the 1988 Pulitzer prize.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 58
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, sentimental, gloomy, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 79%
2nd Take (2011)
Plot Summary:
Reclusive writer takes aspiring actress under his wing.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 183
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, touching, serious, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Cet amour-l? (2001)
Plot Summary:
Cet Amour-là is an intimate portrait of a legendary love affair. Set against the beauty of the Breton seaside, it is also a film that revels in the insights that Marguerite Duras' writing affords.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 367
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, sentimental, sincere, serious, captivating, clever, realistic, talky, gloomy
Similar in 81%
The Mighty Angel (2014)
Plot Summary:
A shocking story about addiction and attempts to overcome it. The script is based on Jerzy Plich’s excellent novel “The Mighty Angel” (alternative title: "The Strong Angel Inn"). Jerzy (Robert Więckiewicz) is a writer and a heavy drinker. We meet him at the point when he believes that he can beat his addiction. He falls in love with a young girl (Julia Kijowska) and finally feels that he has got the person and the reason to live for. But soon he yields to his addiction.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland, Hungary
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, cynical, psychological, captivating, thought provoking, touching, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Amnesty (2011)
Plot Summary:
Amnesty is a 2011 Albanian movie directed by Buyar Alimani. It’s a story about two people who meet up in jail when they come for monthly visits of their spouses. They fall in love after becoming witnesses to a wedding in jail but relationship has to end because both their spouses get amnesty from the government. What happens next is shown in usual east european movie style.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 223
Genere: Drama
Country: Albania, Greece, France
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, realistic, erotic, contemplative, gloomy