Best movies like California
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies related to California? Offer your insights to navigate others to tv series and movies you've previously watched that may also fascinate them. Help widen the community of people alluding videos to one another. We welcome your input!
Plot Summary:
The year is 1984. Estela is going through the turbulent phase of adolescence. Sex, lovers, friendships; everything seems very complicated. Her uncle Carlos is her hero, and visiting him in California is her biggest dream. But everything collapses when he returns thin, weak and ill. Between crises and discoveries, Estela will face a reality that will forever change her way of seeing the world..
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 822
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Brazil
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, vintage
Best tv shows and movies like California (2015):
Similar in 87%
Demon Covered in Scars (2017)
Plot Summary:
Mai (Rika Adachi) is a high school student. She attends a new school and there she meets her classmate Shino (Manami Enosawa). Shino was bullied by Mai's friends back in their middle school days. Table have now turned.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 67
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating
Similar in 76%
Adolescence (2018)
Plot Summary:
A teenager from an abusive household falls in love with a free-spirited runaway that leads him into the fast-lane lifestyle of drugs and addiction which threatens to destroy him.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 972
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
The Good Son (2001)
Plot Summary:
Bonjour tristesse: Teenager Luc lives with his mother Liliane and his little brother Paul in Paris, has to cope with the fact that his mother is a prostitute and practically raise his brother alone. Luc is disillusioned. One day, little Paul wants to phone his grandmother in Nord-pas-de-Calais, one thing leads to another and suddenly the whole family finds themselves in a holiday in northern France. For Liliane it means a reunion with her mother, for Luc and Paul the reunion with their grandmother. And then someday on the beach Luc gets to know Manu(el) who teaches him lessons in love, life, fun, teenagerhood and friendship.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 59
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 80%
Prayers for the Stolen (2021)
Plot Summary:
In a mountain town, where corn and poppies grow, the girls wear boyish haircuts and have hiding places underground to escape the threat of being stolen. Ana and her two best friends grow up together, affirming the bonds of their friendship and discovering what it means to be women in a rural town marked by violence. Their mothers train them to flee death, to escape those who turn them into slaves or ghosts. They create their own impenetrable universe, but one day one of the girls doesn’t make it to her hiding place in time.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico, Germany, Brazil, Qatar, Argentina, Switzerland, USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, cult film
Similar in 89%
Querô: A Damned Report (2007)
Plot Summary:
Querô is an orphan teenager, living alone near the docks in Santos, Brazil. Her mother, a prostitute, died when he was a baby, and he was raised in the bordello where she worked. He also doesn't know who his father is. Believing he rules his own destiny, he refuses to compromise with anyone else, the corrupt policemen always chasing him, the oppressive discipline in the juvenile institution Febem, or the drug dealers who try to lure him. But this independence has a price.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 367
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 88%
Soulmate (2016)
Plot Summary:
30 year-old working woman Li Ansheng’s life in Shanghai is suddenly disrupted by the publication of a novel, entitled “Qiyue and Ansheng”, a chronicle of her friendship with Qi Yue during her youth. Coupled with an accidental encounter with Su Jia Ming, a past love, her long repressed memories are unleashed with the force of a tsunami. The two girls seemed destined to become friends from the moment they entered high school. Though they were inseparable and believed that their bond would last for the rest of their lives, the cruelty of youth eventually led them to separate paths. Even more shocking is the discovery of a long buried secret shared by the women – a secret that serves as an emblem of their youth and the proof of their friendship.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, sad
Similar in 76%
Good Luck (2014)
Plot Summary:
After several behavior problems, teenager John is admitted to a psychiatric clinic by his family. There he meets Judith, for who he soon falls in love. The problem is that she does not have long to live is and they know it. This shall not prevent the emergence of a great romance in the clinic.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 730
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, romantic drama, weird
Similar in 75%
Girls' Generation 1979 (2017)
Plot Summary:
Story is set in Daegu, South Korea during the 1970's. Lee Jung-Hee is in the 2nd grade of high school. She has a bright personality and is the second daughter of a family who runs a toy factory. She and her friends go through adolescence.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 103
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 76%
Welcome Home (2015)
Plot Summary:
This is the story of two childhood friends - Lucas (a 16-year-old high-schooler) and Bert (a mechanic’s apprentice) - who flee the suffocating fish bowl that their killjoy families’ lives have become. Lucas, still quite immature, finds a “big brother” in Bert, a guide who is going to take him straight to the brink of catastrophe. But very quickly, boredom resurfaces and the freewheeling sense of being on an adventure evades them. Should they return to the fold, or keep moving on? Their drifting logic compels them to blindly forge ahead.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 60
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: captivating, disturbing, homoerotic
Similar in 79%
Nudes (2019)
Plot Summary:
Three teenagers are plunged into a nightmare when their sex lives are shared online. What do you do when private content goes public?.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 187
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 85%
Silent Tears (2006)
Plot Summary:
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IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 22
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 87%
Before the Rooster Crows (2016)
Plot Summary:
Teenager Carmín lives in a mountainous village in the center of Puerto Rico with her tough and conservative grandmother. Her mother left for the US without her. The arrival of her father, after long years in prison, eases Carmín’s profound sadness. The relationship with him, however, brings its own ambiguousness and complexities and as Carmín moves into womanhood this causes great confusion, mostly for her.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 214
Genere: Drama
Country: Puerto Rico
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 89%
Young Adult Matters (2020)
Plot Summary:
Wandering around the streets, Sejin, a pregnant teen, gets to know Juyeong and reunites with Jaepil and Sinji. The four musketeers go through a series of misfortunes, bumping into masochistic/sadistic characters and experiencing the brutality and cruelty of the world. Nevertheless, their naivety and pureness to endure through the hardships of life will stir complex emotions that will question your judgment.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 529
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 78%
Dusk (2010)
Plot Summary:
After a group of teenagers discover one of their friends lying dead on a river bank on one of the hottest days of summer, a story of jealousy, insecurity and peer pressure gradually unfolds. Group leader Caesar is able to magnify - out of all proportion - the small grievances that each of Jessie's friends bear towards her and transforms them into a general and pervasive hatred that leads ultimately to her horrible, senseless killing.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: serious, disturbing, psychological, captivating, sincere, bleak, realistic, non-linear
Similar in 83%
Seeds (2017)
Plot Summary:
The coming of age story of a boy that after a traumatic event is taken to beautiful Cuernavaca, where he has to find his father while trying to adapt to life with his grandmother, who has problems of her own.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 369
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, queer cinema
Similar in 82%
Dark Was the Night (2018)
Plot Summary:
In the aftermath of tragedy, a woman and her teenage son must forge into uncharted territory in order to move on with their lives.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 685
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 79%
100% Coco (2017)
Plot Summary:
13 year old Coco loves fashion and has her own unique style. She dreams of becoming a famous fashion icon. But on her first day of school she is made fun of and everyone calls her 'Coco the Clown'. Devastated, she decides to leave her vintage dresses, panther boots and striped socks at home and to dress herself more unnoticeable. Her anonymously kept fashion vlog as Style Tiger is a huge hit however. Is there still a chance that she will become a style icon? And does Bruno, that quirky boy she knows from school and secretly likes, finally notice her? Slowly Coco learns that she just has to be 100% herself!.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 81%
Three Times Manon (2014)
Plot Summary:
After going before the judge for the third time, 15-year old Manon is placed in a reform centre for six months. Challenged by her own uncontrollable temper, and the bureaucracy of the institution, will this be Manon’s last chance at redemption?.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 254
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 174 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 82%
West Coast (2016)
Plot Summary:
Four inseparable teenagers in a small town in Brittany (France). As lifelong fans of the West Coast, they think are real gangstas. Together as a "gang", they are invincible, respected, fearless and nothing can reach them, certainly not the teasing and contempt of their fellow classmates. So when Fle-O, the leader of this merry gang, learns that he has to leave his town and his friends at the end of the year, his whole world falls apart leaving him vulnerable when the most popular kid in school decides to make fun of them in front of everyone. Humiliated, our protagonists decide to take their revenge through one last expedition together that will lead them further than they would have imagined. Through incongruous situations and successive meetings, they will grow and learn.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 792
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 89%
A Common Thread (2004)
Plot Summary:
French drama, the debut film from writer-director Eléonore Faucher. Teenager Claire (Lola Naymark) discovers she is pregnant and decides to keep it a secret. Abandoning her dead-end supermarket job, she is taken on as an apprentice by couturiere Madame Mélikian (Ariane Ascaride), who is grieving over the death of her own child. As the two women work together, they soon develop a supportive and fam.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 85%
Memories of Summer (2016)
Plot Summary:
The late 1970s. It's summer in a small provincial town. Twelve-year-old Piotrek has a very strong bond with his mother. While his father is away, his mother starts going out almost every night. Their simple and clear relationship starts to get complicated.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 173
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 89%
Young Royals (2021)
Plot Summary:
Prince Wilhelm adjusts to life at his prestigious new boarding school, Hillerska, but following his heart proves more challenging than anticipated.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Sweden
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: disturbing, romantic, captivating, psychological, feel good, emotional, saga, queer cinema
Similar in 84%
A Stray Goat (2017)
Plot Summary:
High school student Min-sik moves to a rural village with his family. There he meets Ye-joo, a classmate who became a social outcast after her father was accused of murder.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 148
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: psychological, romantic, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 81%
Virgin 2: Not a Porn Movie (2009)
Plot Summary:
A friendship of two young girls, Tina and Nadya, who have fallen into dark professions. Friendships often come at a heavy price and end in tragic death, just when they want to change the course of their lives.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 77
Genere: Drama
Country: Indonesia
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 75%
Love & Suicide (2006)
Plot Summary:
When pretty but troubled Kaye moves to New Orleans from Atlanta with her mother and little brother, she forges a special friendship with Emily, a rebellious high school senior with troubles of her own. They become instant best friends, and begin spending all their free time together. Emily even helps Kaye run away from home. The girls' mothers do not approve of their relationship, and Emily's mother accuses her of associating to closely with a corrupted and confused young girl.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 423
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, disturbing, independent film
Similar in 86%
SKAM Austin (2018)
Plot Summary:
SKAM Austin follows the lives of students at Bouldin High.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 745
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 78%
The Fallout (2021)
Plot Summary:
In the wake of a school tragedy, Vada, Mia and Quinton form a unique and dynamic bond as they navigate the never linear, often confusing journey to heal in a world that feels forever changed.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: suspense, emotional, disturbing, psychological, deep, teen, captivating, intellectual, queer cinema, weird
Similar in 84%
The Class (2016)
Plot Summary:
What is happening in the class? Who are friends, who are enemies - and who has had a mishap? The pupils have yet another day ahead of them.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 128
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Denmark
Duration: 10 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, entertaining, disturbing
Similar in 90%
Along for the Ride (2022)
Plot Summary:
The summer before college, Auden meets the mysterious Eli, a fellow insomniac. While the seaside town of Colby sleeps, the two embark on nightly quests to help Auden experience the fun, carefree teen life she never knew she wanted.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: romantic, captivating, disturbing, psychological, romantic comedy, teen
Similar in 88%
The Way He Looks (2014)
Plot Summary:
Leonardo is a blind teenager dealing with an overprotective mother while trying to live a more independent life. To the disappointment of his best friend, Giovana, he plans to go on an exchange program abroad. When Gabriel, a new student in town, arrives at their classroom, new feelings blossom in Leonardo making him question his plans.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Brazil
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, cute, romantic, sweet, sexual, serious, realistic, lgbt cinema, romantic drama, spectacular