Best movies like Circles
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Circles (Serbian: Krugovi) is a Serbian movie based on the true story of a Serbian soldier who risked his life to protect a Muslim civilian during the war in Bosnia. During the war in Bosnia in 1993, a Serbian soldier pays for his life after protecting a Muslim civilian from being attacked by three other soldiers. 12 years later, the consequences of this act of heroism are still having their repercussions.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: Serbia, Germany, France, Slovenia, Croatia
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: serious, sincere, thought provoking, captivating, twisted, tense, atmospheric, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Best tv shows and movies like Circles (2013):
Similar in 78%
Vegetarian Cannibal (2012)
Plot Summary:
Danko Babic is an ambitious and amoral gynaecologist at Croatia's leading fertility clinic. When his colleague Bantic is appointed as head of the clinic, Babic starts a secret war to overthrow his rival. Distracted by his ruthless campaign he makes series of fatal mistakes that result in the death of a patient. A crooked coroner and a corrupt police officer cover up his misdeeds, while Babic grows increasingly dependant on drugs and alcohol. He begins performing illegal abortions on prostitutes who work for Jedinko, a gangster who controls the local drug and sex trade.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Croatia
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, bleak, rough, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 81%
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 86%
Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams (2006)
Plot Summary:
A woman and her daughter struggle to make their way through the aftermath of the Balkan war.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Austria, Germany
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, realistic, psychological, serious, emotional, islamic, captivating, social, masterpiece
Similar in 76%
An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker (2013)
Plot Summary:
Senada is 31 and she lives in Poljice neighborhood in Lukavac municipality with her partner and two daughters. She is pregnant with her third child for approximately five months. Since she didn’t have health insurance, she does not go to the doctor’s. When she started bleeding, she goes to the hospital. The doctor told Senada that she needs an emergency surgery and she needs to pay 500 EUR. Without a health insurance card and without money, Senada returns home.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Slovenia, Italy
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, captivating, gloomy, cinema verite
Similar in 77%
Distant Lights (2003)
Plot Summary:
Lichter is an episodic tale from Hans-Christian Schmid about the life on the boarder between Germany and Poland. The film sheds light on the everyday stories of escape and desperateness.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: contemplative, serious, captivating, sincere, atmospheric, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 86%
The Karamazov Brothers (2008)
Plot Summary:
Dostoevsky’s latter-day opus about the siblings and their father is among the masterpieces of world literature. It asks profound questions about ethics and religion. Is there a God? Does the devil exist? Is everything allowed because we live in a world without morality? And if so, does patricide even constitute a crime? One of the most interesting adaptations of the material is The Karamazovs by Czech director Petr Zelenka. We witness a group of thesps from Prague on a trip to Krakow in Poland to stage the novel as a play in a derelict steelworks as part of the Closer to Life Festival. The project, however, is born under the bad sign, apparently doomed from the start. When they arrive, the roof is about to cave in, so that the actors are told to wear safety helmets. Their sole consistent audience is a laborer (Andrzej Mastalerz) who rather follows each dress rehearsal than watching over his seven-year-old son who has suffered a tragic accident in the factory.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Czech Republic, Poland, France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, captivating, serious, realistic, emotional, existential, contemplative, gloomy, metafiction
Similar in 87%
The Day I Was Not Born (2010)
Plot Summary:
During a stopover in Buenos Aires on her way to Chile, 31-year-old Maria recognizes a nursery rhyme. Maria doesn't speak a work of Spanish, but without understanding what she is singing, she remembers the Spanish lyrics. Disturbed and thrown off course, she decides to interrupt her journey and wander through the unfamiliar city.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 837
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, Argentina
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, captivating, contemplative, sentimental, sincere, serious
Similar in 88%
Sinner (2007)
Plot Summary:
A Catholic priest, Father Anthony Romano (Nick Chinlund), intervenes with the police when his colleague attacks a drifter named Lil (Georgina Cates). When Anthony reluctantly provides her asylum in his rectory, the brash hustler soon discovers a secret he has hidden from his diocese and parish. Through this unlikely muse, Anthony finds a path to regain his honor and calling in a post-scandal world where priests are guilty until proven innocent.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 122
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, tense, contemplative, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 89%
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 86%
Capturing Mary (2007)
Plot Summary:
A young man ushers an older woman into a dark exploration of her past - back to the time when, as a young girl, she met a stranger who affected her life forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, stylized, captivating, surreal, period piece, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Witnesses (2003)
Plot Summary:
Set amid the atrocities of war in the Balkans, Witnesses is retold, Rashomon-style, from various characters' viewpoints, adding new information about the complexity of war and humanity. Beginning inside a rustic house with a woman in black (Mirjana Karanovic) standing beside her husband's coffin, Witnesses interweaves the stories of a small town confronting ethnic hatred and deep moral ambiguities.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 828
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Croatia
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, bleak, serious, disturbing, realistic, non-linear
Similar in 76%
The Melon Route (2006)
Plot Summary:
The journey of a Chinese woman and her fellow countrymen as they travel in search of a better place to live, only to end up struggling for survival in the Balkans.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 507
Genere: Drama
Country: Croatia
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, bleak, serious
Similar in 87%
For Those Who Can Tell No Tales (2013)
Plot Summary:
Kym, an Australian tourist, decides to travel to Bosnia. Her guidebook leads her to Višegrad, a small town steeped in history, on the border of Bosnia and Serbia. After a night of insomnia in the 'romantic' Hotel Vilina Vlas, Kym discovers what happened there during the war. She can no longer be an ordinary tourist and her life will never be the same again.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 349
Genere: Drama
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar, Germany
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, bleak, serious, disturbing, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 89%
All Is Forgiven (2007)
Plot Summary:
Victor lives in Vienna with Annette, his beautiful Austrian wife and their daughter Pamela. It’s spring. Fleeing his work, Victor spends his days outside: he plays with Pamela, pays a visit to Annette’s parents, loiters in the park with the drug dealers. Very much in love, Annette is confident that he’ll get a hold of himself as soon as they return to Paris. But back in France, Victor relapses into his bad habits. After a violent dispute, Victor moves into the room of a junkie he has fallen in love with. Annette leaves Victor and disappears with Pamela. 11 years later: Pamela is 17. She lives in Paris with her mother. One day, she learns that her father lives in the same city. She decides to see him again. –Quinzaine des Réalisateurs.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 956
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, psychological, sentimental, captivating, sincere, serious, gloomy
Similar in 86%
On the Path (2010)
Plot Summary:
Loving young couple Luna and Amar try their best to overcome unexpected obstacles that threaten their relationship. After Amar's dramatic change in a fundamentalist community, Luna tears herself apart searching if love is truly enough to keep the couple together on the path to a lifetime of happiness.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Germany, Croatia
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, thought provoking, serious, realistic, contemplative, islamic, tense, gloomy
Similar in 88%
The Gospel of the Flesh (2013)
Plot Summary:
Three lives in search of redemption intersect in the streets of Lima: undercover cop Gamarra’s desperate attempts to save his wife from a terminal illness gets him into trouble; bus driver Felix wants to be accepted into a religious sect after his involvement in a tragic traffic accident; and imperiled soccer club leader Narciso tries to secure his younger brother’s release from prison.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 156
Genere: Drama
Country: Peru
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, rough, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Adelheid (1970)
Plot Summary:
In the aftermath of World War II, a former Czech soldier takes charge of a manor formerly owned by a German family. He falls in love with the daughter, who is now a maid, and is forced to confront the stress between his love and his conscience when he discovers her sheltering her German-soldier brother.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 912
Genere: Drama
Country: Czechoslovakia
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: surreal, atmospheric, touching, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 76%
Future Lasts Forever (2011)
Plot Summary:
A woman struggles with love and personal loss against the backdrop of a land torn by civil war in this drama from filmmaker Ozcan Alper. Sumru (Gaye Gursel) is a Turkish woman who studies ethnic music at a college in Istanbul and frequently makes field recordings of artists who practice rare and unusual forms. Sumru is struggling with loneliness after the disappearance of her Kurdish boyfriend, and for her latest project, she sets out on a lengthy road trip recording the stories of Kurdish women who have survived the murder of their Turkish husbands or lovers, hoping she might track down her man in her travels. After making her first stop in the city of Diyarbaki, Sumru meets Ahmet, who makes a living selling black market goods and shares her love of music and history. The two become fast friends, and as Ahmet joins Sumru on her travels, their relationship grows deeper, though she also becomes more aware of the tragedy that has gripped her country and the consequences of the civil war.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, France, Turkey
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, emotional, realistic, contemplative, captivating, art house, sincere, bleak, serious, gloomy
Similar in 78%
Children of Sarajevo (2012)
Plot Summary:
A microcosm of the fathomless suffering that remains more than 16 years since the siege of Sarajevo ended, writer-director Aida Begic’s follow-up to her 2008 Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize-winning debut Snow tells the story of two orphaned siblings struggling in a transitional society where only the fittest survive.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 685
Genere: Drama
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, France, Turkey
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, bleak, serious, gloomy
Similar in 88%
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 75%
Little Soldier (2008)
Plot Summary:
A soldier returning from war is hired by her own father to drive his prostitutes around town. She calls upon herself to help one of them.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 672
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, touching, serious, tense, realistic
Similar in 78%
Manpower (2014)
Plot Summary:
An intelligent social issues drama, Manpower sketches a portrait of four men in crisis. Moving between scathing realism and subtle irony, the film raises questions of belonging and uprooting, exile and emigration, home and family. Meir Cohen is a decorated police officer yet he barely earns a living. His new assignment to deport African migrant workers teaches him that foreigners aren’t the only ones with no future in his country. Other plotlines intertwine with Meir’s story: an Israeli-Filipino boy fighting for recognition; a taxi driver whose children are migrating to a distant country; and a veteran migrant worker who’s forced to decide whether to leave or to hide until trouble passes.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 66
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, touching, realistic, serious, gloomy, biting, suspense
Similar in 75%
A Screaming Man (2010)
Plot Summary:
Present-day Chad. Adam, sixty something, a former swimming champion, is pool attendant at a smart N'Djamena hotel. When the hotel gets taken over by new Chinese owners, he is forced to give up his job to his son Abdel. Terribly resentful, he feels socially humiliated. The country is in the throes of a civil war. Rebel forces are attacking the government. The authorities demand that the population contribute to the "war effort", giving money or volunteers old enough to fight off the assailants. The District Chief constantly harasses Adam for his contribution. But Adam is penniless; he only has his son.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium, Chad
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: realistic, thought provoking, serious, captivating, contemplative, psychological, atmospheric, tense, sincere, bleak
Similar in 80%
Erratum (2010)
Plot Summary:
Michał jedzie do miasta swojego urodzenia, aby załatwić sprawę o którą prosi go szef i od razu wracać. Sprawy przybierają jednak inny obrót. Michał musi pozostać tu parę dni dłużej. Chodząc po mieście spotyka bliskie mu niegdyś osoby, natrafia na znajome miejsca. Powoli odzywa się w nim coś, o czym dawno zapomniał.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 564
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, contemplative, realistic, psychological, captivating, sincere, serious, gloomy
Similar in 75%
Phantom Pain (2009)
Plot Summary:
Marc is a passionate cyclist and urban slacker who avoids work and responsibility. Marc's life changes from one moment to the next when he suffers a life-changing accident. He can either wallow in self-pity or tackle the beast called life with the help of love and willpower.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 930
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, psychological, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Same Same But Different (2009)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Benjamin Prufer and Sreykeo Solvan. The unexpected and uncertain love story of Sreykeo, a 21 year old bar girl in Phnom Penh and Ben, a young German student traveling to Cambodia on a post graduation summer trip. When Ben returns home to Germany he discovers that Sreyko is sick and he takes on the responsibility to save her. On the way he discovers a world where not everyone is dealt the same cards and where motivations are not always pure.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, atmospheric, touching, realistic, sincere, offbeat, serious, captivating, gloomy
Similar in 75%
The Bridges of Sarajevo (2014)
Plot Summary:
Thirteen European directors explore the theme of Sarajevo; what this city has represented in European history over the past hundred years, and what Sarajevo stands for today in Europe. These eminent filmmakers of different generations and origins offer exceptional singular styles and visions.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 387
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria, Germany
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, disturbing, anthology, bleak
Similar in 89%
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 79%
Stopped on Track (2011)
Plot Summary:
Frank and Simone have fulfilled a dream and live with their two children in a row house in the suburbs. They are a happy couple, until the day Frank is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. The family is suddenly confronted with death.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, contemplative, sincere, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Freedom Song (2000)
Plot Summary:
Freedom Song (2000) is a made-for-TV film based on true stories of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi in the 1960s. It tells the story of the struggle of African Americans to register to vote in the fictional town of Quinlan. In the midst of the Freedom Summer, a group of high school students in the small town are eager to make grassroots changes in their own community. The young activists meet resistance not only from white southerners, but from their parents, who have experienced firsthand the violence that can result from speaking out.[1] As high school students band together with the support of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, they make strides in registering African-American voters and gaining awareness for their cause.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 891
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, captivating, emotional, political, tense, serious, realistic