Best movies like California Solo
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Lachlan MacAldonich is a self-described “lazy Scotsman” and former guitar player for a once-popular 1990s rock band. No longer famous, he now lives a comfortably numb existence working on an organic farm outside Los Angeles. He drinks himself into a stupor every night and retires to his shabby apartment to record his podcast, recounting the tragic deaths of great musicians. After a particularly heavy night of drowning his sorrows at a local watering hole, he is arrested for driving under the influence. This snag, coupled with a long-ago conviction for a drug offense, means Lachlan faces possible deportation. His only hope of remaining stateside is proving that his absence would cause extreme hardship for a spouse or relative – forcing him to confront relationships he thought were buried forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, gloomy, independent film
Best tv shows and movies like California Solo (2012):
Similar in 78%
Blue Eyes (2009)
Plot Summary:
Before his compulsory retirement, on his last day of work, Marshall, JFK airport's chief Immigration officer, detains a group of Latin Americans and expose them to a series of humiliating situations. Blinded by prejudice, Marshall ends up by causing the death of a young Brazilian. After a period in prison, Marshall goes to Brazil, deadly ill and in a desperate search in order to purge his guilt. In his quest, he is guided by Bia, a young prostitute.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 551
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: realistic, thought provoking, touching, serious, psychological, sincere, contemplative, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 83%
Heart of Now (2010)
Plot Summary:
"Heart of Now" concerns a young woman with a profound longing for a sense of family. Amber is devastated after her boyfriend abandons her because she's pregnant. She is whisked across a contrast of urban, natural and emotional landscapes. She confronts the deeper issues at the very heart of her suffering, and finds transcendence in a brief moment at the very heart of now.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 91
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, contemplative, psychological, sentimental, captivating, independent film, sincere, touching, serious, gloomy
Similar in 88%
G.H.B. (2014)
Plot Summary:
A reflection on love and pleasure experienced by three women, set in France, New York, and Shanghai.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 25
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, captivating, psychological, gloomy
Similar in 79%
Caroline and Jackie (2012)
Plot Summary:
A woman turns her sister's belated birthday celebration into an intervention, but as events unfold, it becomes unclear which sibling needs the most help.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 764
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, serious, captivating, psychological, independent film
Similar in 78%
War Story (2014)
Plot Summary:
Lee is a world-weary American woman who arrives in an Italian city. Her tangles with hotel staff, incessant smoking and her disregard of the persistently ringing telephone hint at her volatility brewing beneath the surface. Between fitful naps, she wanders the streets, snapping pictures of refugees as if her camera were both weapon and olive branch. Struggling to confront her demons, Lee resolves to help a beautiful young woman in need.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 791
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, psychological, serious, bleak, contemplative, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Brahmin Bulls (2013)
Plot Summary:
When Ashok makes a surprise visit to Los Angeles to visit his estranged son, the two begin a journey to mend their relationship until Sid discovers that his father has actually come in search of an old flame. A heartfelt and humorous exploration of the ever-evolving relationship between a father and son, the women in their lives, and the powerful secrets they keep.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 112
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sincere, realistic, semi serious, tense, captivating
Similar in 79%
The Citizen (2012)
Plot Summary:
Yearning to leave behind his life of misfortune in the Middle East, Ibrahim Jarrah wins the U.S. Green Card Lottery for a chance to become an American citizen. Ibrahim lands in New York City the day before 9/11…and the events of the September terrorist attacks forever shape the struggles he faces on his journey to capture the American dream.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, uplifting, independent film
Similar in 77%
America So Beautiful (2001)
Plot Summary:
This film follows the odyssey of a group of Iranian immigrants in Los Angeles, trying to find their place in America amidst the unfolding of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 195
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, touching, sentimental, independent film, serious, realistic
Similar in 75%
About Sunny (2011)
Plot Summary:
As things unravel for a struggling single mother in Las Vegas, she must decide what she's willing to give up to get by.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 380
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, emotional, psychological, independent film, sincere, touching, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 78%
Horse Money (2014)
Plot Summary:
While the young captains lead the revolution in the streets, the people of Fontainhas search for Ventura, lost in the woods.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Portugal
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, touching, emotional, postmodern, contemplative, experimental, art house, independent film, visual
Similar in 84%
Black Limousine (2010)
Plot Summary:
A ghost story set in the city of dreams (IMDb.com).
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 268
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, atmospheric, captivating, sincere, bleak
Similar in 86%
Last Winter (2011)
Plot Summary:
A young farmer in Central France tries to sustain his spiritual connection to the land amid the crushing pressures of modern agriculture in this brooding drama.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 187
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, captivating, gloomy
Similar in 79%
Five Star (2014)
Plot Summary:
After John’s absent father is struck by a stray bullet, Primo takes it upon himself to verse the young boy in the code of the streets—one founded on respect and upheld by fear. A member of the Bloods since the age of twelve—both in the film and in reality—the streets of Brooklyn are all Primo has ever known. While John questions whether or not to enter into this life, Primo must decide whether to leave it all behind as he vows to become a better husband and father. Set during those New York summer weeks where the stifling heat seems to encase everything, Five Star plunges into gang culture with searing intensity. Director Keith Miller observes the lives of these two men with a quiet yet pointed distance, carefully eschewing worn clichés through its unflinching focus. Distinctions between fiction and real life remain intentionally ambiguous, allowing the story of these two men to resonate beyond the streets, as they face the question of what it means to be a man.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 569
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, sexy, hood, tense, sincere, rough, bleak
Similar in 84%
Refuge (2017)
Plot Summary:
The lives of a Hollywood actress battling drug addiction, a teen with a violent past, a teacher fighting to keep a dream alive, and a cop caught in a love triangle are brought together by fate.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 30
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, tense, touching, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 82%
Cook County (2008)
Plot Summary:
After a stint in prison, Sonny returns to his home in East Texas, determined to repair his relationship with his son. Standing in his way is his brother, who has turned the home into a crumbling meth lab (IMDb.com).
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 559
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, atmospheric, disturbing, sentimental, sincere, touching, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
Offline (2012)
Plot Summary:
A man attempts to reclaim the life that prison took from him but his dark past threatens to ruin everything.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 876
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 79%
She Is Not Crying, She Is Singing (2011)
Plot Summary:
A tale of deliverance. Laura, 27 years old, lives alone in the outskirts of a large town. She learns that her father is in a coma, after a serious car accident. She decides to visit him at the hospital as a last opportunity to settle old scores, perhaps even to get revenge.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 130
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium, Luxembourg, France
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, disturbing, gloomy
Similar in 86%
A Beautiful Soul (2012)
Plot Summary:
An R&B singer snagged by the trappings of superstardom loses his way and turns his back on his church and faith-filled beginnings. Tragedy strikes, leaving a chance for redemption in its wake. But with rebirth, first comes death.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 126
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, psychological, captivating, sincere, serious
Similar in 76%
Not Waving But Drowning (2012)
Plot Summary:
Not Waving But Drowning is a chronological look at growing up, formed from two different stories. The two sets of friends represent the American dilemma between what you have known and what you hope to know; the tear between longing for the past and the desire to explore.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 431
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, touching, captivating, sincere, serious, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 86%
Crossroads (2006)
Plot Summary:
The life of a young Jesuit seminarian is turned upside down when he falls in love with a young woman while working as a volunteer at a soup kitchen.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 300
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, serious, sexual
Similar in 81%
The Preacher's Daughter (2012)
Plot Summary:
The estranged daughter of a small town minister is forced to return to the strict, religious home of her youth where she must confront the troubled relationships that caused her to leave four years before.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 448
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, psychological, captivating, serious
Similar in 79%
The Toy Soldiers (2014)
Plot Summary:
On one evening in a decade of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, the innocence of youth and family unravels. Five parallel coming-of-age stories dramatize the stages of grief. A youthful mother in a custody battle over her children, finds tranquility with the bottle. The abuse of her ex-husband still haunts the children; a nineteen year old drug addict, and his younger brother, a bullied closet homosexual.There's the story of the dog; a teen who offers sexual favors to gain acceptance, the challenged classmate who would do anything for her love, and the redhead beauty, haunted by a secret, tragic past. These lives and others will change forever on this final evening before their hangout, The Toy Soldiers Roller Rink, closes its doors for the final time.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, suspenseful, sexy, captivating, realistic, independent film
Similar in 79%
Beats (2019)
Plot Summary:
An agoraphobic hip-hop prodigy and a disgraced former music manager cross paths in Chicago’s South Side and help each other face demons of their pasts.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: inspirational, psychological, sincere, captivating, disturbing, hood
Similar in 90%
3 Backyards (2010)
Plot Summary:
An executive, a housewife and a youngster spend a day in their Long Island suburban town during the course of one curious autumn day afternoon.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 753
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, serious, tense, sincere, gloomy, independent film, psychological thriller, psycho film
Similar in 75%
3 Nights in the Desert (2014)
Plot Summary:
Three former band mates enter a cave after hearing it has the power to give them what they need. As unsettling desires rise to the surface, they all wonder if the cave has real power.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, talky, serious, realistic, minimal cast, independent film
Similar in 78%
Home Again (2012)
Plot Summary:
Returning to a "home" they hardly know after being deported from their adopted countries for minor criminal offenses, three people from very different backgrounds try to make a new life for themselves, in Jamaica in this gutsy drama from writer-director Sudz Sutherland. (TIFF).
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 428
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 85%
Particles of Truth (2003)
Plot Summary:
Life, love, and the fear of failing... Lilli Black, battling her painful memories and the secrets surrounding her dying father, collides into the complicated and obsessive life of Morrison Wiley on the streets of New York City. This peculiar love story exposes Lilli's internal bouts and her nightmarish "bad luck". We weave in and out of eight defective lives and go for a turbulent mental ride where Lilli's reality spirals out of control and we're lead to an unforgettable climax where some fall apart and some piece themselves together.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 587
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 86%
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%
Copperhead (2013)
Plot Summary:
A family is torn apart during the American Civil War.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, touching, serious, captivating
Similar in 81%
Long Road Home (1991)
Plot Summary:
A drama depicting the trials of a family of share croppers.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 219
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic