Best movies like Brothers in Trouble
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Amir is an illegal Pakistani immigrant smuggled into England in the 1960's to work, to send money to his family and perhaps even bring them over with him. A skilled laborer, he is forced to do unskilled work like shoveling sheep dung and processing wool. He lives in a boarding house with nearly a dozen other men, under the supervision of Hussein Shah. He befriends a young student, Sakib, who dreams of being a writer. Their existence is punctuated by secret movies, a visiting prostitute, fear of detection and deportation, and the gangster-like smuggler who comes by for his take every week. The household is shaken up by the arrival of a white girl, Shah's girlfriend, and the sense of femininity and family she brings.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 144
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: independent film, dark comedy
Best tv shows and movies like Brothers in Trouble (1995):
Similar in 84%
Si-o-se Pol (2013)
Plot Summary:
Released from prison and terminally ill, Parvis Karimpour is determined to be reunited with his daughter, Nasrin, who fled Iran for Europe many years before. Crossing the Mediterranean only to be unceremoniously dumped on the Spanish coast, Karimpour makes for Madrid in search of his erstwhile only child. Along the way he meets failed Italian pianist Fabrizio and spoilt German dreamer Almut – fellow migrants struggling to make their way in a Europe beset by economic turmoil. The search for Nasrin lends Karimpour’s new friends a sense of purpose, and the unlikely threesome take up her trail.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 86
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: road movie
Similar in 90%
In the Thick of It (1995)
Plot Summary:
This optimistic Italian slice-of-life drama chronicles a typical day in the lives of teenagers living in the grim suburbs of Rome. The story is set in the suburb of Tuscolano which is located near the Cinecitta studios and concerns a group of friends in their mid-teens. In the beginning, Lorenzo, the imaginative leader of the group convinces the rest of them one of them is terminally ill. The rest then become determined that the dying group member should have at least one fling with the local whore, that is if they can convince her into performing the merciful act. Two years pass and the youths are seen engaging in various endeavors ranging from petty theft to manual labor, or both. The boys are also seen pursuing romance. Troubles ensue when Lorenzo's brother disappears, and when one of the thieves is captured.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 35
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 82%
Baby Comes Home (1980)
Plot Summary:
A family drama directed by Waris Hussein.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 46
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
All Neat in Black Stockings (1969)
Plot Summary:
A small comedy drama about the life and sex adventures of an amorous window cleaner, in the hip and swingin' London of the '60s.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 249
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sex comedy, independent film
Similar in 83%
The Oldest Profession (1967)
Plot Summary:
A collection of sketches on prostitution through the ages. 1) "The Prehistoric Era": A caveman discovers that a cavewoman is more attractive when cave paint is applied to her face. And she can earn more seashells that way. 2) "Roman Nights": The Emperor goes out seeking a little nocturnal amusement, only to find that the high-priced, Oriental courtesan he hires is his wife, the Empress. 3) "Mademoiselle Mimi": In revolutionary France, Mimi finds that her client, the nephew of a marquis, is more interested in watching the guillotinings out her window than he is in going to bed. 4) "The Gay Nineties": When Nini discovers by accident that her antiquated customer is a banker, she pretends to be an honest woman who has fallen in love with him. She even pays him, just like a gigolo! 5) "Paris Today": Two girls pick up clients by driving around in a car.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 604
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France, Italy, West Germany
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: anthology, sex comedy
Similar in 84%
The Teacher from Vigevano (1963)
Plot Summary:
Primary school teacher Mr. Mombelli, nevertheless satisfied with his life, is driven by his wife to resign and starting a new activity. He invest all his goodwill setting up a footwear little factory. But after some time, unexpectedly, a financial review by fiscal authorities drive the firm to ruin. Ada, his wife, starts to be unfaithful and this is another strong hit to his life. But it isn't still enough, a tragedy is waiting Mombelli behind the corner.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 517
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: surprise ending, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 89%
Sam & Me (1991)
Plot Summary:
23-year-old Nikhil comes to Canada from India to find his fortune and is convinced by his uncle to work as a companion and care-giver to Sam, an elderly Jewish man. An unlikely friendship ensues, which gives both men new insight into life.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 138
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, UK
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: independent film, intercultural, inter cultural
Similar in 79%
Ospiti (1998)
Plot Summary:
Italian drama.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 209
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 68 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 83%
The Spanish Woman (2001)
Plot Summary:
Lola, a hot-blooded Spaniard, is deserted by her husband for a cool and calculating Aussie blonde. Lola is pregnant again but she and their daughter Lucia are left to starve while Ricardo spends all their savings on a sleek new set of wheels for his mistress. When he dies unexpectedly the family fortune, one flash car, remains with the mistress. Despite all his betrayals, Lucia sides with her father. Desperate and destitute in a country she doesn't like or understand, Lola's quest for revenge begins. Caught in the tempests of begrudging love, revenge, sibling rivalry, jealousy and passion, fourteen year old Lucia must find the strength to survive on her own terms. Aided to break free of her mother by her eccentric Aunt Manolo she struggles to find her own identity and her own quest for justice puts her on a collision course with her mother.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 475
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, sexy, captivating, light, realistic, witty, sexual, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 79%
Twin Town (1997)
Plot Summary:
Jeremy and Julian Lewis, the "Lewis Twins", are two unruly brothers who terrorise the city of Swansea from the caravan park where they live with their family. When their father, Fatty, is injured while working on a roof for local kingpin Bryn Cartwright, they try in vain to claim compensation. Thus begins a campaign of terror, which local policemen Terry and Grayo are ill-equipped to prevent, involved as they are in a drugs deal with Cartwright.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, black comedy, independent film, tense, offbeat, humorous, realistic, semi serious, funny, road movie
Similar in 85%
Small Time (1996)
Plot Summary:
Follows a gang of small time crooks in an English town. Malc is in danger of losing his girlfriend Kate if he doesn't spend more time at home and the gang leader Jumbo looks like he is about to lose control.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 497
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: independent film, atmospheric, offbeat, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 79%
Flowers from Another World (1999)
Plot Summary:
Patricia, a woman from Dominican Republic, needs a home and an economic security that her illegal status in Madrid does not provide her. Milady, twenty, born in Havana and dying to travel the world. Marirosi has a job, a home, and the most complete solitude... just like Alfonso, Damián and Carmelo, men from the St. Eulalia, a village lacking both marrying women and future. A bachelors' party forces the encounter between them and the beginning of this bittersweet story of sharing a living.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 999
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: intercultural, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 90%
A Room for Romeo Brass (1999)
Plot Summary:
Two twelve-year-old boys, Romeo and Gavin, undergo an extraordinary test of character and friendship when Morell, a naive but eccentric and dangerous stranger, comes between them. Morell befriends with the two boys and later asks them to help him pursue Romeo's beautiful elder sister. He gradually becomes more violent after she rejects him.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, realistic, disturbing, independent film
Similar in 88%
Unmade Beds (2009)
Plot Summary:
Axl wants to find his long-lost father and rediscover his past. Vera just wants to forget hers as she tries to move on from heartbreak. Their stories come together in the melting-pot of 21st century London.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: humorous, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, erotic, sexy, clever, realistic, semi serious, avant garde
Similar in 82%
It's Your Turn, Laura (1998)
Plot Summary:
Une journée dans la vie d'un groupe de femmes qui se retrouvent chaque semaine depuis quinze ans dans la salle d'attente d'un médecin qui prétend arriver à les faire maigrir.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 322
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, captivating, realistic, talky, semi serious
Similar in 79%
Someone Else's America (1995)
Plot Summary:
This tale takes place in a bar. The Spanish Alonso and his blind mother run this place. Bay, who is Alonso's friend live here too. This story tells something about Alonso and Bay and the "American Dream".
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 715
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, UK, France, Germany, Greece
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 77%
A Merry War (1997)
Plot Summary:
Gordon Comstock is a copywriter at an ad agency, and his girlfriend Rosemary is a designer. Gordon believes he is a genius, a marvelous poet and quits the ad agency, trying to live on his poems, but poverty soon comes to him.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: cult classic, clever, humorous, witty, realistic, semi serious, independent film, sexy, thought provoking, intellectual
Similar in 80%
Metroland (1997)
Plot Summary:
After ten years absence Toni, Chris's best friend, suddenly reappears in London to bring chaos and doubt into Chris's calm, tranquil, slightly boring, predictable life. Chris starts to remember his carefree youth as a photographer in Paris when he lived with and enjoyed a torrid affair with Annick. It was also in Paris that he first met and fell in love with Marion. The temptations and pressure exerted on Chris by Toni to return to their former carefree life of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll soon starts to have an impact on Chris's marriage. He starts to question his values, his lifestyle choices and his relationship with Marion and even suspects her of starting an affair with Toni whom she dislikes! Eventually circumstances come to a head and Chris is forced to decide whether to follow Toni back to the hedonistic, irresponsible life of his youth or face the harsh realities of the present and stay with Marion.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Spain, France, UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: cult classic, sexual, comedy drama, sentimental, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, crying, weeping
Similar in 82%
In Custody (1994)
Plot Summary:
Ismail Merchant's feature directorial debut addresses a subject close to his heart: the expressive Urdu language of Northern India, in danger of extinction as political trends and modernization obscure its contributions to Indian culture. Merchant 's treatment is wry and good humored , as his characters - an aging Urdu poet (Shashi Kapoor) and a worshipful young college lecturer - clash despite their shared passion for the beauty of words. Anita Desai adapted her novel with Shahrukh Husain, incorporating poems by Urdu author Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The movie won the President of India Gold Medal for Best Picture in 1994.(http://www.merchantivory.com/custody.html).
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 391
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, India
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: insightful, parallel cinema, clever, humorous, realistic, contemplative, semi serious, biting, surprise ending, suspense
Similar in 80%
Le Havre (2011)
Plot Summary:
Marcel Marx, a former bohemian and struggling author, has given up his literary ambitions and relocated to the port city Le Havre. He leads a simple life based around his wife Arletty, his favourite bar and his not too profitable profession as a shoeshiner. As Arletty suddenly becomes seriously ill, Marcel's path crosses with an underage illegal immigrant from Africa, who needs Marcel's help to hide from the police.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Finland, France, Germany
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sentimental, romantic, atmospheric, surreal, uplifting, touching, dark comedy, thought provoking, inspirational, philosophical
Similar in 80%
The Sale of Paradise (2012)
Plot Summary:
Many immigrants, when they arrived in Spain, thought they had found paradise, soon thwarted all their dreams of prosperity. Many of them then decided to return to their land, but not so simple. In a pension match various immigrants end up discovering that deportation is the only way to return to his country.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 76
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, realistic, surreal, light, offbeat
Similar in 76%
Expecting (2013)
Plot Summary:
Lizzie's best friend, Andie, becomes pregnant and offers to give the baby to her. Lizzie's husband, Peter, reluctantly goes along with being the child's father, and Andie moves into the guest room for the remainder of the pregnancy.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, humorous, semi serious, indie film, independent film
Similar in 84%
Beautiful People (1999)
Plot Summary:
In London, during October 1993, England is playing Holland in the preliminaries of the World Cup. The Bosnian War is at its height, and refugees from the ex-Yugoslavia are arriving. Football rivals, and political adversaries from the Balkans all precipitate conflict and amusing situations. Meanwhile, the lives of four English families are affected in different ways by encounter with the refugees.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, talky, semi serious, sad, independent film, black comedy, offbeat, crying, light
Similar in 88%
Gone Too Far! (2013)
Plot Summary:
GONE TOO FAR follows two estranged teenage brothers over the course of a single day as they meet for the first time, and struggle to accept each other for who they are. Yemi can't wait for his big brother to join him on the estate in Peckham - but when Ikudayisi arrives from Nigeria wearing socks and sandals Yemi questions both his judgement and his African heritage. A day on the estate filled with danger and excitement teaches both of them the values of family and self respect.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 422
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, Nigeria
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: uplifting, humorous, semi serious, captivating, psychological, sentimental, touching, realistic
Similar in 82%
Crossing Borders (2006)
Plot Summary:
Spain 1960, the dawn of the country's economic development. Industrial "reorganization" means that many workers have lost their jobs and are forced to emigrate. Martin is one of them. Martin, his wife Pilar and their son Pablito live with Martin's parents in a basement apartment that comes with their job as superintendents of the building. Encouraged by Marcos, his friend and co-worker, Martin decides to emigrate to Switzerland. The whole family has to admit that for the time being this is the most promising plan. Unable to obtain a work contract from the Swiss Consulate, Martin and Marcos decide to go anyway, pretending they are tourists to get past the border police. Pablito will experience drastic changes in a short period of time: his father's departure, a new way of life in a different country with a different environment and learning another language. But afterwards, in Switzerland, they will face new experiences which will allow them to live with renewed happiness.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, semi serious, humorous, feel good, intercultural
Similar in 90%
My Son the Fanatic (1997)
Plot Summary:
Pakistani taxi-driver Parvez and prostitute Bettina find themselves trapped in the middle when Islamic fundamentalists decide to clean up their local town.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: talky, multicultural, independent film, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, light, thought provoking, enigmatic
Similar in 77%
My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
Plot Summary:
A British-Pakistani man renovates a rundown laundrette with his male lover while dealing with drama within his family, the local Pakistani community, and a persistent mob of skinheads.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: independent film, sexy, romantic, cult classic, lgbt cinema, art house, eros, sincere, clever, touching
Similar in 87%
West Is West (2010)
Plot Summary:
Comedy sequel to "East is East". Manchester, North of England, 1975. The now much diminished, but still claustrophobic and dysfunctional, Khan family continues to struggle for survival. Sajid, the youngest Khan, the runt of the litter, is deep in pubescent crisis under heavy assault both from his father's tyrannical insistence on Pakistani tradition, and from the fierce bullies in the schoolyard. So, in a last, desperate attempt to 'sort him out', his father decides to pack him off to Mrs Khan No 1 and family in the Punjab, the wife and daughters he had abandoned 35 years earlier. It is not long before Ella Khan (Mrs Khan No2) with a small entourage from Salford, England, swiftly follows to sort out the mess, past and present.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, humorous, witty, sentimental, semi serious, realistic
Similar in 82%
Samba (2014)
Plot Summary:
Samba migrated to France 10 years ago from Senegal, and has since been plugging away at various lowly jobs. Alice is a senior executive who has recently undergone a burnout. Both struggle to get out of their dead-end lives. Samba's willing to do whatever it takes to get working papers, while Alice tries to get her life back on track until fate draws them together.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, romantic, captivating, sincere, semi serious, realistic, sexy, humorous, funny
Similar in 81%
East Is East (1999)
Plot Summary:
In 1971 Salford fish-and-chip shop owner George Khan expects his family to follow his strict Pakistani Muslim ways. But his children, with an English mother and having been born and brought up in Britain, increasingly see themselves as British and start to reject their father's rules on dress, food, religion, and living in general.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: hilarious, humorous, witty, realistic, sentimental, touching, feel good, semi serious, independent film, funny