Best movies like Day Break
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Since the Islamic Revolution in Iran, capital punishment is carried out according to Islamic law, which gives the family of the victim ownership of the offender's life. Day Break - based on a compilation of true stories and shot inside Tehran's century-old prison - revolves around the imminent execution of Mansour, a man found guilty of murder. When the family of the victim repeatedly fails to show up on the appointed day, Mansour's execution is postponed again and again. Stuck inside the purgatory of his own mind, he waits as time passes on without him, caught between life and death, retribution and forgiveness.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 327
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, serious, suspenseful, thought provoking, bleak, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, surprise ending
Best tv shows and movies like Day Break (2005):
Similar in 85%
Manslaughter (2005)
Plot Summary:
A college professor abandons his family and his career in order to champion his mistress, a student radical accused of killing a policeman.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, bleak, captivating, realistic
Similar in 81%
7 Suns (2008)
Plot Summary:
A man called "The Black" is hired to smuggle a group of undocumented migrants into the United States. He wants to quit the smuggling business and claims this is his last trip. His superiors, now suspicious, send Gavilan, a younger smuggler, to keep an eye on him. During the troubled crossing, the smugglers fight and eventually lose part of their human cargo. "The Black" escapes from his former associates but also needs to ecape from the Border Patrol.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 102
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 84%
Beautiful City (2004)
Plot Summary:
Akbar has just turned eighteen. He has been held in a rehabilitation centre for committing murder at the age of sixteen when he was condemned to death. Legally speaking, he had to reach the age of eighteen so that the conviction could be carried out. Now, Akbar is transferred to prison to await the day of his execution. A'la, a friend of Akbar, who himself has undergone imprisonment for burglary, soon after his release tries desperately to gain the consent of Akbar's plaintiff so as to stop the execution.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Iran
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: emotional, psychological, thought provoking, serious, realistic, sad, islamic, contemplative
Similar in 75%
The Ceremony (1963)
Plot Summary:
A man (Robert Walker) has an affair with his condemned brother's (Laurence Harvey) girlfriend (Sarah Miles) while plotting his escape in Tangier.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 241
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Spain, USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: noir, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Shot in the Heart (2001)
Plot Summary:
AND YOU'RE TO BLAME! Honey, you give love a bad name. (The story of a man coming to terms with the sins and secrets of his notorious brother and, in the process, exploring the legacy of violence in his own family.).
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 654
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, realistic, suspenseful, bleak, serious, talky, gloomy
Similar in 84%
The Hidden Half (2001)
Plot Summary:
An official is sent from his home in Tehran to hear the final appeal of a woman sentenced to death, a political prisoner. The official's wife of nearly 20 years, Fereshteh Samimi, writes him a letter to read when he reaches the hotel - the story of her student days during the revolution of 1978. We see the story in flashbacks as he reads: she leaves her province on scholarship, joins a Communist youth group, avoids arrest, and comes under the sway of a suave older man, Roozbeh Javid, a literary-magazine editor. As she tells her husband about the hidden half of her life, Fereshteh asks that he listen to the woman facing execution, a woman and therefore one of Iran's hidden half.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 866
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, serious, captivating, islamic, realistic, contemplative, intellectual
Similar in 79%
Life Love Death (1969)
Plot Summary:
François Toledo, married businessman and father, falls head-over-heels in love with Janine, a work colleague. However, he is soon found out: after three dates, he strangles some prostitutes, when, the victim of blackmail, he becomes dishonored. He is taken to court, and sentenced to be killed by a guillotine.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 151
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: neo noir, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 75%
Boxed (2002)
Plot Summary:
The thriller Boxed addresses the little-known fact that the Irish Republican Army would bring in sympathetic priests to administer last rites to those they were about to execute. The film analyzes the fallout that occurs when one of these priests ha a change of heart, deciding to fight for the life of the captive. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 52
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, thought provoking, suspenseful, serious, realistic
Similar in 90%
Like a Puppet Out of Strings (2006)
Plot Summary:
Two Brothers; Tom and Felipe, have moved up the ranks of the street gangs because they have no greater devotion than the protection of each other. Luis, former gang member, is now a cop, his life having been turned around by Angelica, a female cop. When Tom is blamed for the shooting death of Angelica, a crime his brother Felipe committed, Felipe is forced to agree to Luis' terms in order to save Tom. Luis decides to convert Felipe just like he had been converted 10 years earlier. Eventually the brothers must face each other on the opposite sides of the law and chose between right and wrong, thier past and their future.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 14
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 75%
Short Eyes (1977)
Plot Summary:
A young man who is charged with child molestation is placed in New York City’s infamous Tombs prison. When the other inmates in his cell block find out what he is charged with, life becomes extremely difficult for him.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: crime drama, grim, cult classic, independent film, tense, rough, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 87%
A Date with Darkness: The Trial and Capture of Andrew Luster (2003)
Plot Summary:
Andrew Luster, the heir to the Max factor fortune, is convicted of rape on 86 counts. This Lifetime original movie recounts the rapes committed by the infamous Andrew Luster and the women who brought him to justice.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 492
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, bleak, captivating, realistic, sexual, detective, sexy
Similar in 76%
Goodbye (2011)
Plot Summary:
Without her husband and without her lawyer’s licence, which has been withdrawn, Noora is left pregnant and alone in her apartment. Her attempt to leave Iran turns into a fight with male chauvinism. A personal, nerve-wracking and infuriating film by Rasoulof, who was himself convicted for his films in Iran. Goodbye is a sober, frightening portrait of a society that is stooping under the continual control and threats of its religious regime. Noora, a young, pregnant lawyer in Tehran whose husband has been sent to work in the desert because of his critical journalistic activities, continually faces opposition from the regime and decides to leave the country. That turns out to be very difficult. Because Rasoulof was already banned from making films, Goodbye was shot partly in secret in the winter of 2010/2011. The result is a disquieting film that makes impotence and the desire for freedom painfully tangible in all its simplicity.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 814
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, thought provoking, contemplative, islamic, bleak, interesting
Similar in 87%
Through the Valley (2008)
Plot Summary:
An innocent man framed for murder, and the system that just wants another minority conviction.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 74
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, crime drama, independent film
Similar in 82%
Ramchand: The Untouchable Pakistani (2008)
Plot Summary:
Based on a actual events, the story is about a Pakistani Hindu boy and his father who accidentally cross the border into India from their village in Pakistan at a time of extreme war like tension between the 2 countries and end up spending 5 years in an Indian prison while the mother left behind wonders what has happened to them.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Pakistan
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: disturbing, serious, emotional, realistic, inspirational, islamic, informative, bleak
Similar in 87%
The Exonerated (2005)
Plot Summary:
Six people tell their stories on a single subject - how they got wrongfully convicted to death penalty, but later got exonerated.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 463
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, disturbing, suspenseful, mockumentary
Similar in 76%
Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story (2002)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Clarence Brandley, a black man wrongly accused in 1980 of the murder of a 16-year-old white high school girl named Cheryl Ferguson. Brandley worked at Conroe High School, where Ferguson was visiting as a member of the Belleville High School volleyball team. Three days after her body was discovered, Brandley was arrested as the murderer. Jew Don Boney, a popular activist and Houston city council member, leads the fight to uncover the truth about the Ferguson murder. Mike DeGeurin, a Texas attorney, is brought in to act as the head defense attorney for Brandley, and is joined by a former minister, Jim McCloskey. The lawyers discover that not only is there a complete lack of evidence against Brandley, but the District Attorney, James Keeshan, has been strategizing with the presiding judge. After nine years in prison, three trials and a stay of execution that saved Brandley's life, justice finally prevails as Brandley is granted his freedom.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 165
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: disturbing, emotional, realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious
Similar in 88%
Black and White (2002)
Plot Summary:
Australia, 1958. When a nine year old white girl is found murdered, police are quick to arrest illiterate Aborigine, Max Stuart. Under interrogation Max admits to the killing and signs a statement that will send him to the gallows. With no Court of Appeal established in the country, and with a legal system compromised by intimidation tactics and the stain of institutional racism, the skills of his two gifted but naive defense lawyers are put to the test. Based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 861
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia, UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic
Similar in 86%
Three Walls (2003)
Plot Summary:
Three men are on death row. Jaggu (Jackie Shroff), a lawyer and a poet, is serving a sentence for murdering his wife because she was cheating on him with another man. Nagya (Nagesh Kukunoor), a man angry with the whole world, is arrested for murdering his wife too, but he claims that it was an accident where she falls off the sidewalk while they were talking. Ishaan (Naseeruddin Shah), a happy-go-lucky man, is also arrested for murder that he commits while in the act of robbery. The prison's custodian is Mohan (Gulshan Grover), who attempts several methods to reform the prison's inmates. A documentary filmmaker, Chandrika (Juhi Chawla) comes to the jail to set a film about these three men. In the process, she finds redemption to her troubled marriage.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: India
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, touching, bleak, contemplative, rough, realistic, suspenseful, offbeat, twist ending
Similar in 79%
The Andersonville Trial (1970)
Plot Summary:
A dramatization of the 1865 war-crimes trial of Henry Wirz, commandant of the notorious Confederate POW camp at Andersonville, Georgia.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 485
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: sincere, rough, thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing, contemplative
Similar in 89%
The Rose Garden (1989)
Plot Summary:
In Germany, an old man attacks another old man and is arrested. The attacker refuses to speak. A female lawyer is appointed to him. She discovers that the attacker has numbers tattooed on his arm and the attacked man was a German officer.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 447
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, West Germany, Austria
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, psychological, tense, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, contemplative
Similar in 77%
Citizen Verdict (2003)
Plot Summary:
Marty Rockman, the notorious producer of the hit reality-TV show "So Sue Me", has a brand new concept: "Citizen Verdict". Each week a real criminal case will be tried before the American people, but this time they're also the jury. If the defendant is voted guilty in a death penalty case, Rockman will televise the execution. When an escalation in violent crime and terrorism hits the state of Florida, Governor Tyler, desperate to be seen as a tough-on-crime Republican leader in the upcoming Presidential race, decides to give Rockman his chance and "Citizen Verdict" goes into production in Tampa. Selected by phone-in vote, the show's first contestant is Ricky Carr -- a man accused of the rape and murder of popular celebrity-chef Dolly Hamilton. The case is a surefire ratings winner. But when an investigation begins, it becomes apparent that Ricky may be innocent of murder.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 491
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Germany
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: serious, disturbing, thought provoking, bleak, realistic, clever, cynical, biting, suspense
Similar in 84%
The Executioner's Song (1982)
Plot Summary:
In this fact-based film, Gary Gilmore, an Indiana man who just finished serving a lengthy stay in prison, tries to start anew by moving to Utah. Before long, Gary begins an ill-advised romance with the troubled Nicole Baker, a teenage single mother. As their relationship quickly deteriorates, Gary goes on a murderous rampage, leaving two dead. During his trial, he demands capital punishment; a media circus ensues and outsiders look to profit from his story.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: rough, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, tense
Similar in 77%
Color of Justice (1997)
Plot Summary:
Four young black men kill a white woman, the D.A. is very cautious in how to proceed.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 228
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, rough, thought provoking, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 84%
The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008)
Plot Summary:
A drama set in 1986 Iran and centered on a man, Sahebjam, whose car breaks down in a remote village and enters into a conversation with Zahra, who relays to him the story about her niece, Soraya, whose arranged marriage to an abusive tyrant had a tragic ending.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: realistic, disturbing, emotional, sexy, touching, serious, political, sad, suspense, intense
Similar in 86%
Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami (1988)
Plot Summary:
There is no question that the Arab terrorist portrayed by Robert Davi is guilty of killing five US citizens in Barcelona. Even his lawyers have zero respect for the rabidly sociopathic Davi. But Jewish defence attorney Ron Leibman is obsessed with the concept of Due Process, and has vowed that Davi will receive a scrupulously fair trial when the terrorist is extradited to America. The defence mounted by Leibman confounds and aggravates government prosecutor Sam Waterston--but he, like Leibman, remains a man of judiciary integrity.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 156
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: independent film, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
A Lesson Before Dying (1999)
Plot Summary:
In the 1940's South, an African-American man is wrongly accused of the killing a a white store owner. In his defense, his white attorney equates him with a lowly hog, to indicate that he didn't have the sense to know what he was doing. Nevertheless convicted, he is sentenced to die, but his godmother and the aunt of the local schoolteacher convince school teacher go to the convicted man's cell each day to try to reaffirm to him that he is not an animal but a man with dignity.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: powerful, sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 75%
I Want to Live (1983)
Plot Summary:
The movie tells the story of a woman who struggles and fights to escape the gas chamber being condemned with capital punishment because of her participation in a hold up in which a person was killed.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 196
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: rough, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 80%
Attica (1980)
Plot Summary:
A behind the scenes look of the 1971 prisoners revolt at the Attica prison.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 526
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: political, rough, thought provoking, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, tension, suspense
Similar in 83%
Tangier (2006)
Plot Summary:
In August 1996, bus drivers Marcel Van Loock and Wim Moreels are apprehended by the Moroccan Customs for drug trafficking. Inside their bus, hidden behind a false compartment, they have discovered 700 pounds of hashish. Although the owner of the bus company is arrested as well and makes a full confession clearly indicating that both drivers were unaware of the hidden drugs, the Moroccan judge sentences both men to 5 years in the Moroccan prison of Tangiers. Nothing could have prepared the two men for life inside a Moroccan prison. Without food, clothes or medical care, they must learn how to take care of themselves to survive their stay in prison. Corrupt guards, corrupt lawyers and judges, a consul who doesn't care and frequent beatings are only part of the terrible prison. Meanwhile their families at home are left without any information, any help or any hope - finding out that their own government doesn't care for Belgian people in prisons abroad.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, tense, bleak, realistic
Similar in 89%
Black August (2007)
Plot Summary:
The last 14 months of George Jackson's life was an existence under subjective and objective conditions in California's industrial prison complex. George Jackson would spend 11 years in jail (7 of which were in solitary confinement) for a $70 gas station robbery crime in 1960. He was 18 years of age when the sentence of one year-to-life was handed down to him.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 302
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: rough, thought provoking, serious, realistic, political