Best movies like Brain on Fire
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Susannah Cahalan, an up-and-coming journalist at the New York Post becomes plagued by voices in her head and seizures, causing a rapid descent into insanity.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Canada, Ireland
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: medical drama, thought provoking, realistic, suspenseful, neurotic, inspirational, touching, sad, cult classic
Best tv shows and movies like Brain on Fire (2016):
Similar in 80%
Stronger (2017)
Plot Summary:
A victim of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 helps the police track down the killers while struggling to recover from devastating trauma.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 49000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, emotional, suspenseful, disturbing, suspense, compassionate, feel good, sad, patriotic
Similar in 79%
The Pirates of Somalia (2017)
Plot Summary:
After an inspiring chance encounter with his idol, rookie journalist Jay Bahadur uproots his life and moves to Somalia looking for the story of a lifetime. Hooking up with a local fixer, he attempts to get embedded with the local Somali pirates, only to quickly find himself in over his head.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: South Africa, USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, exciting, suspense, factual, art house, cult classic, lovecraft, interesting
Similar in 82%
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)
Plot Summary:
An award-winning cynical journalist, Lloyd Vogel, begrudgingly accepts an assignment to write an Esquire profile piece on the beloved television icon Fred Rogers. After his encounter with Rogers, Vogel's perspective on life is transformed.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 87000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, China
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: motivational, inspirational, thought provoking, sad, psychological, sincere, enigmatic, captivating, disturbing, uplifting
Similar in 86%
Breakthrough (2019)
Plot Summary:
When he was 14, Smith drowned in Lake St. Louis and was dead for nearly an hour. According to reports at the time, CPR was performed 27 minutes to no avail. Then the youth's mother, Joyce Smith, entered the room, praying loudly. Suddenly, there was a pulse, and Smith came around.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: touching, christian film, sincere, biblical, sentimental, thought provoking, captivating, inspirational, sad, independent film
Similar in 75%
An Angel at My Table (1990)
Plot Summary:
Janet Frame grows up in a poor family. She is different than the other kids. She is considered abnormal and locked away in a mental institution for eight years. Everything changes when she starts writing books.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA
Duration: 158 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, erotic, depressing, spiritual, ironic, neurotic, cult classic, spooky, sincere
Similar in 89%
Genius (2016)
Plot Summary:
New York in the 1920s. Max Perkins, literary editor at Scribner’s Sons is the first to sign such subsequent literary greats as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. When a sprawling, chaotic 1,000-page manuscript by an unknown writer named Thomas Wolfe falls into his hands, Perkins is convinced he has discovered a literary genius. Together the two men set out to work on a version for publication and a seemingly endless struggle over every single phrase ensues. During this process, Perkins the gentle family man and Wolfe the eccentric author become close – a relationship eyed with suspicion by their wives. When ‘Look Homeward, Angel’ becomes a resounding success, the writer grows increasingly paranoid.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: period piece, talky, touching, intellectual, informative, inspirational, melancholic, sexy, thought provoking, enigmatic
Similar in 75%
Gorillas in the Mist (1988)
Plot Summary:
The story of Dian Fossey, a scientist who came to Africa to study the vanishing mountain gorillas, and later fought to protect them.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: inspirational, sincere, touching, captivating, bleak, bad ending, twist ending, intelligent, sensitive, sad
Similar in 81%
Breathe (2017)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Robin, a handsome, brilliant and adventurous man whose life takes a dramatic turn when polio leaves him paralyzed.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: sad, touching, compassionate, inspirational, factual, sentimental, rough, realistic, romantic, cult classic
Similar in 75%
My Left Foot (1989)
Plot Summary:
In this true story told through flashbacks, Christy Brown is born with crippling cerebral palsy into a poor, working-class Irish family. Able only to control movement in his left foot and to speak in guttural sounds, he is mistakenly believed to be retarded for the first ten years of his life.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 79000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Ireland, UK
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, sincere, unusual plot structure, dramatic, sentimental, motivational, sad, captivating, biting
Similar in 86%
The Miracle Worker (1962)
Plot Summary:
The true story of the frightening, lonely world of silence and darkness of 7-year-old Helen Keller who, since infancy, has never seen the sky, heard her mother's voice or expressed her innermost feelings. Then Annie Sullivan, a 20-year-old teacher from Boston, arrives. Having just recently regained her own sight, the no-nonsense Annie reaches out to Helen through the power of touch, the only tool they have in common, and leads her bold pupil on a miraculous journey from fear and isolation to happiness and light.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: inspirational, emotional, period piece, black and white, sentimental, touching, retro, thought provoking, social, sad
Similar in 86%
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009)
Plot Summary:
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story is a movie based on the life story of world-renowned neurosurgeon Ben Carson from 1961 to 1987.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: uplifting, emotional, sincere, inspirational, realistic, christian film, factual, captivating, touching, spiritual
Similar in 79%
You Don't Know Jack (2010)
Plot Summary:
Angel of mercy… or murderous “Doctor Death”? Jack Kervorkian is one of the most polarizing figures in modern American history, a man whose passionate belief that people have the right to die has brought him both praise and vilification. Oscar®- and Emmy®-winning actor Al Pacino brings “Dr. Death” to life in an all-new HBO Films presentation: You Don’t Know Jack, directed by Oscar®-winner Barry Levinson.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, intense, compassionate, intellectual, unusual plot structure, witty, talky, realistic, depressing
Similar in 82%
The Sea Inside (2004)
Plot Summary:
The Sea Inside is about Spaniard Ramón Sampedro, who fought a 30-year campaign to win the right to end his life with dignity. It is the story of Ramón’s relationships with two women: Julia a lawyer who supports his cause, and Rosa, a local woman who wants to convince him that life is worth living.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 84000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Spain, France, Italy
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: sad, thought provoking, emotional, philosophical, touching, sentimental, breathtaking, serious, depressing, heartbreaking
Similar in 85%
Sully (2016)
Plot Summary:
On 15 January 2009, the world witnessed the 'Miracle on the Hudson' when Captain 'Sully' Sullenberger glided his disabled plane onto the frigid waters of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard. However, even as Sully was being heralded by the public and the media for his unprecedented feat of aviation skill, an investigation was unfolding that threatened to destroy his reputation and career.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 293000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: inspirational, factual, realistic, suspense, intense, touching, emotional, exciting, motivational, non fiction
Similar in 75%
The Good Lie (2014)
Plot Summary:
A young refugee of the Sudanese Civil War who wins a lottery for relocation to the United States with three other lost boys. Encountering the modern world for the first time, they develop an unlikely friendship with a brash American woman assigned to help them, but the young man struggles to adjust to this new life and his feelings of guilt about the brother he left behind.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Kenya, India, USA, Canada, South Africa
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, sentimental, captivating, rough, tear jerker, philosophical, spiritual, social, entertaining
Similar in 82%
Miracles from Heaven (2016)
Plot Summary:
When Christy discovers her 10-year-old daughter Anna has a rare, incurable disease, she becomes a ferocious advocate for her daughter’s healing as she searches for a solution. After Anna has a freak accident and falls three stories, a miracle unfolds in the wake of her dramatic rescue that leaves medical specialists mystified, her family restored and their community inspired.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: christian film, inspirational, thought provoking, sentimental, suspenseful, mystical, motivational, touching, sad, novela
Similar in 87%
The Elephant Man (1980)
Plot Summary:
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick (called John Merrick in the film), a severely deformed man in 19th century London.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 254000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: emotional, psychological, touching, surreal, poignant, black and white, sad, heartbreaking, cult classic, harsh
Similar in 85%
Bombshell (2019)
Plot Summary:
Based on the real scandal, BOMBSHELL is a revealing look inside the most powerful and controversial media empire of all time; and the explosive story of the women who brought down the infamous man who created it.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 124000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: political, uplifting, sad, motivational, social, deep, cult classic, historical drama, philosophical
Similar in 78%
Joy (2015)
Plot Summary:
A story based on the life of a struggling Long Island single mom who became one of the country's most successful entrepreneurs.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 143000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: inspirational, stylized, emotional, sentimental, intense, serious, realistic, feel good, motivational, clever
Similar in 76%
Denial (2016)
Plot Summary:
Acclaimed writer and historian Deborah E. Lipstadt must battle for historical truth to prove the Holocaust actually occurred when David Irving, a renowned denier, sues her for libel.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: factual, intellectual, costume drama, thought provoking, captivating, disturbing, inspirational, political, novela, anamorphic
Similar in 85%
Lorenzo's Oil (1992)
Plot Summary:
Lorenzo Odone was a normal child until the age of 7. After then, strange things began to happen to him: he would have blackouts, memory lapses, and other strange mental phemonenons. He is eventually diagnosed as suffering from ALD: an extremely rare incurable degenerative brain disorder. Frustrated at the failings of doctors and medicine in this area, the Odones begin to educate themselves.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, emotional, inspirational, melancholic, serious, heartbreaking, sad, depressing, crying
Similar in 75%
Living Proof (2008)
Plot Summary:
Living Proof is a 2008 Lifetime Television movie, directed by Dan Ireland, starring Harry Connick, Jr. The film is based on the true life story of Dr. Dennis Slamon and the book HER-2: The Making of Herceptin, a Revolutionary Treatment for Breast Cancer by Robert Bazell. Vivienne Radkoff wrote the film script, and is also one of the film's executive producers. Renée Zellweger is another executive producer, together with Neil Meron and Craig Zadan. Tammy Blanchard, Amanda Bynes, Jennifer Coolidge, Angie Harmon, John Benjamin Hickey, Regina King, Swoosie Kurtz, Paula Cale Lisbe, Amy Madigan, Bernadette Peters, and Trudie Styler are featured in the supporting cast. The film premiered on October 18, 2008, for Lifetime's "Stop Breast Cancer for Life" public service and advocacy campaign, during the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, touching, emotional, light, serious, realistic, experimental
Similar in 77%
On the Basis of Sex (2018)
Plot Summary:
Young lawyer Ruth Bader Ginsburg teams with her husband Marty to bring a groundbreaking case before the U.S. Court of Appeals and overturn a century of gender discrimination.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, China, Canada
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: clever, thought provoking, inspirational, captivating, motivational, political, retro, emotional, powerful, informative
Similar in 85%
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Plot Summary:
The true story of Elle France editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, in 1995 at the age of 43, suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body, except his left eye. Using that eye to blink out his memoir, Bauby eloquently described the aspects of his interior world, from the psychological torment of being trapped inside his body to his imagined stories from lands he'd only visited in his mind.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 110000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: France, USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, emotional, depressing, psychological, sincere, breathtaking, visual, motivational, sentimental
Similar in 86%
Something the Lord Made (2004)
Plot Summary:
A dramatization of the relationship between heart surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, uplifting, inspirational, serious, realistic, motivational, thought provoking, feel good, spiritual
Similar in 88%
Temple Grandin (2010)
Plot Summary:
A biopic of Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who has become one of top scientists in humane livestock handling.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, sincere, compassionate, emotional, feel good, thought provoking, intense, visually appealing, psychological
Similar in 86%
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Plot Summary:
Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, Susanna Kaysen's prescribed "short rest" from a psychiatrist she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice's Wonderland, where she struggles with the thin line between normal and crazy. Susanna soon realizes how hard it is to get out once she has been committed, and she ultimately has to choose between the world of people who belong inside or the difficult world of reality outside.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 206000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: psychological, depressing, serious, crying, captivating, heartbreaking, touching, teen, gothic, gloomy
Similar in 83%
The Theory of Everything (2014)
Plot Summary:
The Theory of Everything is the extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 474000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Japan
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: touching, uplifting, emotional, inspirational, compassionate, thought provoking, heartbreaking, dramatic, factual, sentimental
Similar in 86%
Patch Adams (1998)
Plot Summary:
Meet Patch Adams, a doctor who doesn't look, act or think like any doctor you've met before. For Patch, humor is the best medicine, and he's willing to do just anything to make his patients laugh - even if it means risking his own career.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 121000
Genere: Biography, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, emotional, uplifting, compassionate, sad, feel good, tragicomedy, dramatic, realistic
Similar in 85%
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Plot Summary:
At Princeton University, John Nash struggles to make a worthwhile contribution to serve as his legacy to the world of mathematics. He finally makes a revolutionary breakthrough that will eventually earn him the Nobel Prize. After graduate school he turns to teaching, becoming romantically involved with his student Alicia. Meanwhile the government asks his help with breaking Soviet codes, which soon gets him involved in a terrifying conspiracy plot. Nash grows more and more paranoid until a discovery that turns his entire world upside down. Now it is only with Alicia's help that he will be able to recover his mental strength and regain his status as the great mathematician we know him as today.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 972000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, cerebral, emotional, motivational, dramatic, intellectual, thought provoking, captivating, factual