Best movies like Downtown: A Street Tale
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A group of street kids find that the only way to make it through the day is to hold onto their dreams while their reality is eating out of dumpsters, turning tricks and squatting in abandoned buildings.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 113
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Downtown: A Street Tale (2004):
Similar in 86%
Landing Up (2018)
Plot Summary:
When a young woman finds herself living life on the streets she learns the art of picking up men to put a roof over her head. But when she meets the guy of her dreams her secret threatens to ruin their perfect relationship.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 255
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
Tweek City (2005)
Plot Summary:
Tweek City is a week in the life of Bill, a potentially closeted, half-Latino, small-time speed dealer in San Francisco's Mission District. Bill is stuck on an endless walk from one empty experience to the next. Only Bill's friend Jerm has the ability to connect and ground him in reality. When Jerm makes an ill-advised stage dive, Bill plunges into a downward spiral that takes him on a nocturnal journey through the streets of San Francisco and ultimately down to Los Angeles where he crashes his high school sweetheart's wedding. From his sleep-deprived, hallucinogenic state, Bill fails miserably in a desperate attempt to reconnect with his first and only love. With nowhere else to go, Bill jacks a car and ends up at the deserted drive-in theater of his childhood where he is forced to confront the ghosts that he had tried to leave behind.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 188
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: independent film, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 83%
On the Nickel (1980)
Plot Summary:
feature film written, produced by, and starring Ralph Waite (best known as John Walton, Sr., on the long-running CBS television series, "The Waltons"). The film tells the story of Sam (Donald Moffat), a recovering alcoholic who feels dissatisfied with his life of sobriety and goes back in search of the good times he enjoyed with his old friends living on Los Angeles' skid row (Fifth Street - hence the film's title). Eventually finding his best friend, "C.G." (Waite), still living on the nickel, the two men reminisce, and Sam gets a fresh look at the lifestyle he had once vigorously abandoned. The film is a multi-level odyssey through the slums of L.A., as well Sam's personal ruminations as he re-evaluates the nostalgia he had felt for the free and bohemian lifestyle of a street person.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 60
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 90%
Fleshpot on 42nd Street (1972)
Plot Summary:
A street whore desperately seeks love and acceptance against the backdrop of the criminal element of early 1970s Times Square.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 601
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: sensual, social, underground film, psychotronic, tragic ending, independent film, gay cinema, queer cinema, sexploitation film
Similar in 81%
Trouble in the Heights (2011)
Plot Summary:
Near the shadow of the George Washington Bridge, a young Dominican teenager is hunted by a drug kingpin as his older brother must fight for both their survival over the course of a day in their Washington Heights neighborhood of New York.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 110
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 84%
The Price of Love (1995)
Plot Summary:
16 year old Bret lives with his indifferent father and a stepmother who abhors him. After yet another fight he leaves home. He meets two guys and a girl who are drifting around. He feels attracted to Roxanne and they decide to continue together to LA. Unfortunately Roxanne gets busted by the police, so Bret is on his own again. In LA he meets some nice guys who offer him lodging. However they are involved with (male) prostitution.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 164
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
Berkeley (2005)
Plot Summary:
Berkeley is the story of Ben Sweet, an eighteen year old boy who comes to UC Berkeley in 1968 to study accounting and avoid the draft. There begins an odyssey through sex, drugs, rock and roll, and political activism which turns his world upside down and leaves him on a path of exploration and self-discovery, far from the life of his father, Sy Sweet.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 266
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
8:46 (2011)
Plot Summary:
A glimpse into the lives of an ensemble of characters leading up to the moment the world changed forever - 8:46 a.m. Tuesday September 11, 2001.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 380
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
To Leslie (2022)
Plot Summary:
A West Texas single mother wins the lottery and squanders it just as fast, leaving behind a world of heartbreak. Years later, with her charm running out and nowhere to go, she fights to rebuild her life and find redemption.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: cerebral, crying, beautiful
Similar in 87%
The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970)
Plot Summary:
Based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Robert T. Westbrook, the movie is about 23 year old Columbia University dropout (Stanley Sweetheart) who seeks his identity during the sexual revolution.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 186
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: underground film, cult film
Similar in 81%
White Hot (1988)
Plot Summary:
A young man, short of money, is persuaided into looking after the business of a local drug dealer for a week or two. Up until then, the guy had been an honest and clean of drugs, but when he spends his days surrounded by riches and drugs, he cannot resist... and neither can his addict wife. Written by Rob Hartill.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 171
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 87%
5000 Blankets (2022)
Plot Summary:
When her husband has a mental breakdown and goes missing, a determined woman and her young son set out to find him on the streets, sparking a movement of compassion towards those in need and inspiring a city.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 339
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
The Moneytree (1992)
Plot Summary:
The trials and tribulations of a marijuana grower in Marin County, California.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 32
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 81%
Gutter Trash (1969)
Plot Summary:
An imprisoned model recalls the debached times with her degenerate boss, her drug dealer, and a clean-cut young man whom wants her to quit her nude modeling profession to make a life for herself elsewhere.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 28
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, psychotronic, independent film, gay cinema
Similar in 87%
Redlight Greenlight (2010)
Plot Summary:
After 10 years of toil, a moral, determined and penniless agent trainee is given his only and last opportunity to make agent. Standing in his way; a 24 hour time frame, Hollywood's most amoral, hyper ambitious and successful agent deciding his fate, and his conscience.
IMDB Rating:
IMDB Votes:
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
Dublin Oldschool (2018)
Plot Summary:
Join Jason on a chemically enhanced trip through the streets of Dublin as he stumbles from one misguided adventure to another. Somewhere between the DJs, decks, drug busts and hilltop raves, he stumbles across a familiar face from the past, his brother Daniel. Daniel is an educated homeless heroin addict living on the streets of Dublin. The brothers haven’t seen or spoken to each other in years but over a lost weekend they reconnect and reminisce over tunes, trips, their history and their city. Two brothers living on the edge but perhaps they have more in common than they think.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 731
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 76%
The Connection (1961)
Plot Summary:
Eight drug addicts are waiting for their connection in a New York apartment belonging to Leach. Jim Dunn, a budding filmmaker, has agreed to pay for the fix if the addicts will allow him to film the connection scene. After the men get their shots, they talk Dunn into trying heroin in order to understand the subject "first hand." He becomes ill and while sleeping, Leach takes an overdose that puts him into a coma. Dunn recovers, with the aid of the connection, and writes off the film as a failure.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 986
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: mockumentary, underground film, social, independent film, avant garde, experimental, fake documentary
Similar in 86%
The Day the Ponies Come Back (2000)
Plot Summary:
Daniel Moulin goes to New York on a business trip and decides to take advantage of his time in the Big Apple to try and locate the father he never knew. The only thing he has to go on however is an address in the Bronx that is 25 years old.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 105
Genere: Drama
Country: France, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Revoloution (2006)
Plot Summary:
A violent, street-fighter becomes a communicator.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 93
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 81%
My Pink Shirt (2007)
Plot Summary:
Drama - Regency is a fatherless fifteen year old. Having to face her mother succumbing to the AIDS virus, she must survive on her own. She is forced to prostitute herself to feed her addictions, attend to her mother’s needs, and pay the rent. - Peter Bloch-Hansen, Badih Bou Chakra, Milly Crnogorac.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 83
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: sexy, hot
Similar in 79%
Shelter (2014)
Plot Summary:
Hannah and Tahir fall in love while homeless on the streets of New York. Shelter explores how they got there, and as we learn about their pasts we realize they need each other to build a future.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, depressing, captivating, realistic, psychological, rough, serious, social
Similar in 78%
Life After You (2022)
Plot Summary:
A suburban family struggles with the death of their 19 year-old son, following an overdose of heroin that was laced with fentanyl. The film explores the question of who and what is responsible for this tragedy.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 101
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 80%
Time Out of Mind (2014)
Plot Summary:
Evicted from his squat and suddenly alone on the streets, George is a man without a home. Struggling with his demons and desperately trying to connect with the daughter he abandoned, he navigates the system, hustling for change and somewhere safe and quiet to gather his thoughts. But the streets are relentless and soon, George finds himself teetering on the edge, alone and abandoned.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sincere, emotional, realistic, serious, atmospheric, independent film
Similar in 79%
Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God... Be Back by Five (1998)
Plot Summary:
No overview found.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 388
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, sentimental, touching, humorous, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Good Time Max (2007)
Plot Summary:
Two genius brothers grow up and grow apart as one becomes a successful surgeon and the other pursues a drug-fueled high life.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, captivating, realistic, gloomy, independent film, inspirational
Similar in 86%
Sugar (2013)
Plot Summary:
A 20-year-old homeless girl is suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome on the streets of Hollywood and Venice beach.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 399
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic
Similar in 76%
The Saint of Fort Washington (1993)
Plot Summary:
Matthew, a young schizophrenic, finds himself out on the street when a slumlord tears down his apartment building. Soon, he finds himself in even more dire straits, when he is threatened by Little Leroy, a thug who is one of the tough denizens of the Fort Washington Shelter for Men. He reaches out to Jerry, a streetwise combat veteran, who takes Matthew under his wing as a son. The relationship between these two men grows as they attempt to conquer the numbing isolation of homelessness.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: bleak, independent film, inspirational, political, psychological, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, sentimental
Similar in 86%
The Panic in Needle Park (1971)
Plot Summary:
This movie is a stark portrayal of life among a group of heroin addicts who hang out in Needle Park in New York City. Played against this setting is a low-key love story between Bobby, a young addict and small-time hustler, and Helen, a homeless girl who finds in her relationship with Bobby the stability she craves.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: depressing, disturbing, bleak, rough, serious, controversial, grim, cult classic, realistic, dark
Similar in 78%
Acts of Worship (2001)
Plot Summary:
Alix is taken in by a photographer, Digna, who despite her friends' protests, tries to help Alix piece her life back together and overcome her addictions.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 316
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, disturbing, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Ironweed (1987)
Plot Summary:
Albany, New York, Halloween, 1938. Francis Phelan and Helen Archer are bums, back in their birth city. She was a singer on the radio, he a major league pitcher. Death surrounds them: she's sick, a pal has cancer, he digs graves at the cemetery and visits the grave of his infant son whom he dropped; visions of his past haunt him, including ghosts of two men he killed. That night, out drinking, Helen tries to sing at a bar. Next day, Fran visits his wife and children and meets a grandson. He could stay, but decides it's not for him. Helen gets their things out of storage and finds a hotel. Amidst their mistakes and dereliction, the film explores their code of fairness and loyalty.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, intense, sincere, serious, realistic, depressing, compassionate, cult classic, gloomy