Best movies like Detachment
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of substitute teacher, Henry Barthes. Henry roams from school to school, imparting modes of knowledge, but never staying long enough to form any semblance of sentient attachment.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 96000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: depressing, psychological, bleak, thought provoking, touching, sad, independent film, serious, inspirational, emotional
Best tv shows and movies like Detachment (2011):
Similar in 83%
The Sunset Limited (2011)
Plot Summary:
Based on the play of the same name by Pulitzer Prize Winner Cormac McCarthy, this searing two-character drama mixes humor and pathos while examining the relationship between strangers who are brought together by desperate circumstances. Set in a New York tenement apartment, the story focuses on two very different men - a deeply religious black ex-con who thwarts the suicide attempt of an asocial white college professor who tried to throw himself in front of an oncoming subway train, 'The Sunset Limited.' As the one attempts to connect on a rational, spiritual and emotional level, the other remains steadfast in his hard-earned despair. Locked in a philosophical debate, both passionately defend their personal credos and try to convert the other.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: talky, philosophical, minimal cast, thought provoking, psychological, bleak, intellectual, intense, serious, cerebral
Similar in 82%
Cake (2014)
Plot Summary:
After having visions of a member of her support group who killed herself, a woman who also suffers with chronic pain seeks out the widower of the suicide.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 39000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: heartbreaking, depressing, psychological, touching, sentimental, bleak, compassionate, emotional, serious, sad
Similar in 86%
2:37 (2006)
Plot Summary:
A contemporary, ensemble drama telling the complex tale of six high school students whose lives are interwoven with situations that so many of today's youth are faced with. The story takes place during a normal school day. At precisely 2:37 a tragedy will occur, affecting the lives of a group of students and their teachers. As the story unfolds, the individual stories of the six teenagers are revealed, each with its own explosive significance. An unwanted pregnancy unravels a terrible, dark secret; all is not as it appears for the seemingly confident school football hero; an outcast must deal with everyday taunts from his peers; a beautiful young girl battles an eating disorder; a stellar student constantly struggles to win his parents' approval; while another uses drugs to escape from his own demons.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, sincere, serious, depressing, sad, contemplative, teen, realistic, thought provoking
Similar in 82%
Hesher (2010)
Plot Summary:
A young boy has lost his mother and is losing touch with his father and the world around him. Then he meets Hesher who manages to make his life even more chaotic.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 54000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: bleak, realistic, independent film, serious, touching, emotional, dark comedy, thought provoking, visually appealing, melancholic
Similar in 86%
American Gun (2005)
Plot Summary:
Seemingly disparate portraits of people -- among them a single mother, a high school principal, and an ace student -- Distinctly American -- all affected by the proliferation of guns in American society.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, emotional, sincere, bleak, serious, realistic, contemplative, inspirational, independent film, gloomy
Similar in 86%
The Wrestler (2008)
Plot Summary:
Aging wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson is long past his prime but still ready and rarin' to go on the pro-wrestling circuit. After a particularly brutal beating, however, Randy hangs up his tights, pursues a serious relationship with a long-in-the-tooth stripper, and tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter. But he can't resist the lure of the ring and readies himself for a comeback.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 317000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA, France
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: depressing, emotional, bleak, touching, serious, melancholic, sad, sincere, heartbreaking, gloomy
Similar in 86%
The Hunt (2012)
Plot Summary:
A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son’s custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 355000
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark, Sweden
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: bleak, thought provoking, psychological, depressing, sad, disturbing, controversial, emotional, intense, captivating
Similar in 90%
It All Starts Today (1999)
Plot Summary:
Set in a forlorn mining town near Valencienne in the north of France, the story is about one man's struggle to bring life to his once prosperous village and its inhabitants. Philippe Torreton, who won a CĂ©sar for Best Actor with his title role in Capitaine Conan, plays Daniel, the head teacher of a nursery school in a town demoralized by unemployment. Daniel is determined against all odds to bring life to the community. When a parent who has come to pick up her children collapses at the school grounds due to alcohol abuse, and social services turns a deaf ear to all pleas for help, Daniel decides to take the law into his own hands. Despite resistance from the townspeople, in the long run his efforts are not fruitless.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: social, sincere, thought provoking, touching, bleak, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Gran Torino (2008)
Plot Summary:
Walt Kowalski is a widower who holds onto his prejudices despite the changes in his Michigan neighborhood and the world around him. Kowalski is a grumpy, tough-minded, unhappy old man who can't get along with either his kids or his neighbors. He is a Korean War veteran whose prize possession is a 1972 Gran Torino he keeps in mint condition. When his neighbor Thao, a young Hmong teenager under pressure from his gang member cousin, tries to steal his Gran Torino, Kowalski sets out to reform the youth. Drawn against his will into the life of Thao's family, Kowalski is soon taking steps to protect them from the gangs that infest their neighborhood.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 804000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, motivational, touching, suspense, thought provoking, harsh, clever, sad, compassionate
Similar in 85%
The Class (2007)
Plot Summary:
An average guy of an Estonian high-school decides to defend his bullied classmate. This starts war between him and the informal leader of the class. As teenagers' honour is a touchy thing, everything ends in bloodshed.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama
Country: Estonia
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: serious, disturbing, tense, emotional, realistic, sad, crying, thought provoking, touching, brutal
Similar in 90%
The Class (2008)
Plot Summary:
Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: sincere, melancholic, psychological, realistic, talky, independent film, political, art house, mesmerizing, intellectual
Similar in 86%
Precious (2009)
Plot Summary:
Set in Harlem in 1987, Claireece "Precious" Jones is a 16-year-old African American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother, an angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is chaotic and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and a secret--she can't read.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 115000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: bleak, depressing, emotional, rough, sad, inspirational, disturbing, touching, independent film, harsh
Similar in 75%
Up the Down Staircase (1967)
Plot Summary:
Sylvia Barrett is a rookie teacher at New York's inner-city Calvin Coolidge High: her lit classes are overcrowded, a window is broken, there's no chalk, books arrive late. The administration is concerned mainly with forms and rules (there's an up and and a down staircase); bells ring at the wrong time. Nevertheless, she tries. How she handles the chaos and her despair in her first semester makes up the film: a promising student drops out, another sleeps through class, a girl with a crush on a male teacher gets suicidal, and a bright but troublesome student misunderstands Sylvia's reaching out. A discussion of Dickens, parents' night, and a mock trial highlight the term. Can she make it?.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: esoteric, independent film, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Half Nelson (2006)
Plot Summary:
Despite his dedication to the junior-high students who fill his classroom, idealistic teacher Dan Dunne leads a secret life of addiction that the majority of his students will never know. But things change when a troubled student Drey makes a startling discovery of his secret life, causing a tenuous bond between the two that could either end disastrously or provide a catalyst of hope.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 91000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: depressing, independent film, talky, emotional, serious, inspirational, feel good, melancholic, intense, indie film
Similar in 89%
The Wave (2008)
Plot Summary:
A school teacher discusses types of government with his class. His students find it too boring to repeatedly go over national socialism and believe that dictatorship cannot be established in modern Germany. He starts an experiment to show how easily the masses can become manipulated.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 114000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Germany, France
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: psychological, philosophical, emotional, political, disturbing, thought provoking, intellectual, suspense, mind bending, educational
Similar in 76%
Everybody Dies But Me (2008)
Plot Summary:
One Monday morning Katya, Vika and Zhanna learn that there will be a school disco, their first disco, on the coming Saturday night. The girls feverishly start preparing for the event, which rapidly becomes the most important moment ever in their universe, and looks like the ideal way to escape their daily lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: serious, touching, realistic, suspense, psychological, rough, sincere, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Melancholia (2011)
Plot Summary:
Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 193000
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, atmospheric, surreal, art house, philosophical, apocalyptic, psychedelic, depressing, art film
Similar in 75%
Short Term 12 (2013)
Plot Summary:
Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, works with her boyfriend and colleague, Mason, to help at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 91000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: compassionate, emotional, sad, touching, realistic, independent film, depressing, sweet, thought provoking, spiritual
Similar in 76%
Speak (2004)
Plot Summary:
Freshman high-school student Melinda has refused to speak ever since she called the cops on a popular summer party. With her old friends snubbing her for being a rat, and her parents too busy to notice her troubles, she folds into herself, trying to hide her secret: that star senior Andy raped her at the party. But Melinda does manage to find solace in her art class headed by Mr. Freeman.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, sentimental, independent film, sincere, sad, depressing, teen, thought provoking, intellectual
Similar in 75%
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Plot Summary:
After his older brother passes away, Lee Chandler is forced to return home to care for his 16-year-old nephew. There he is compelled to deal with a tragic past that separated him from his family and the community where he was born and raised.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 305000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: sad, depressing, heartbreaking, psychological, emotional, touching, independent film, compassionate, realistic, cerebral
Similar in 87%
Palo Alto (2013)
Plot Summary:
Palo Alto weaves together three stories of teenage lust, boredom, and self-destruction: shy, sensitive April, torn between an illicit flirtation with her soccer coach and an unrequited crush on sweet stoner Teddy; Emily, who offers sexual favors to any boy to cross her path; and the increasingly dangerous exploits of Teddy and his best friend Fred, whose behavior may or may not be sociopathic.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: melancholic, atmospheric, serious, teen, realistic, indie film, aesthetic, erotic, mumblecore, artsy
Similar in 78%
Philadelphia (1993)
Plot Summary:
No one would take his case until one man was willing to take on the system. Two competing lawyers join forces to sue a prestigious law firm for AIDS discrimination. As their unlikely friendship develops their courage overcomes the prejudice and corruption of their powerful adversaries.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 254000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: touching, sad, tear jerker, sincere, emotional, thought provoking, compassionate, inspirational, lgbt cinema, crying
Similar in 78%
Whiplash (2014)
Plot Summary:
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 952000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: motivational, dramatic, psychological, realistic, intense, inspirational, independent film, melancholic, harsh, exciting
Similar in 76%
The End of the Tour (2015)
Plot Summary:
The story of the five-day interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky and acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace, which took place right after the 1996 publication of Wallace's groundbreaking epic novel, 'Infinite Jest.'.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: philosophical, meditative, psychological, sincere, serious, talky, depressing, novela, aesthetic, twisted
Similar in 82%
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Plot Summary:
The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiraling out of control. A look into addiction and how it overcomes the mind and body.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 883000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, bleak, depressing, emotional, atmospheric, surreal, heartbreaking, realistic, mind bending
Similar in 85%
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Plot Summary:
Will Hunting has a genius-level IQ but chooses to work as a janitor at MIT. When he solves a difficult graduate-level math problem, his talents are discovered by Professor Gerald Lambeau, who decides to help the misguided youth reach his potential. When Will is arrested for attacking a police officer, Professor Lambeau makes a deal to get leniency for him if he will get treatment from therapist Sean Maguire.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 10000000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, philosophical, sentimental, intellectual, uplifting, dramatic, motivational, realistic, inspirational
Similar in 78%
I Am Sam (2001)
Plot Summary:
Sam has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. He has a daughter with a homeless woman who abandons them when they leave the hospital, leaving Sam to raise Lucy on his own. But as Lucy grows up, Sam's limitations start to become a problem and the authorities take her away. Sam shames high-priced lawyer Rita into taking his case pro bono and in turn teaches her the value of love and family.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 154000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: inspirational, emotional, touching, tear jerker, sad, sentimental, sincere, serious, heartbreaking, sweet
Similar in 78%
Finding Forrester (2000)
Plot Summary:
Gus van Sant tells the story of a young African American man named Jamal who confronts his talents while living on the streets of the Bronx. He accidentally runs into an old writer named Forrester who discovers his passion for writing. With help from his new mentor Jamal receives a scholarship to a private school.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 89000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, feel good, uplifting, sincere, inspirational, psychological, philosophical, intense, motivational
Similar in 81%
Dead Poets Society (1989)
Plot Summary:
At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 530000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: philosophical, inspirational, sentimental, emotional, uplifting, intellectual, touching, motivational, sad, tear jerker
Similar in 79%
Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
Plot Summary:
The story of Katherine Ann Watson, a feminist teacher who studied at UCLA graduate school and in 1953 left her boyfriend behind in Los Angeles, California to teach at Wellesley College, a conservative women's private liberal arts college in Massachusetts, United States.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 89000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, romantic, sentimental, period piece, sweet, educational, thought provoking, independent film, deep