Best movies like Flight of the Red Balloon
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The first part in a new series of films produced by Musée d'Orsay, 'Flight of the Red Balloon' tells the story of a French family as seen through the eyes of a Chinese student. The film was shot in August and September 2006 on location in Paris. This is Hou Hsiao-Hsien's first Western film. It is based on the classic French short The Red Balloon directed by Albert Lamorisse.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: France, Taiwan
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: enigmatic, absurd, art house, melancholic, lyrical, sentimental, atmospheric, touching, contemplative, stylized
Best tv shows and movies like Flight of the Red Balloon (2007):
Similar in 88%
Song of my mother (2014)
Plot Summary:
Nigar (Zübeyde Ronahi) is not accustomed to living in the big city of Istanbul and longs to return to her village in Southeastern Turkey from where she was supposedly forced to leave after the incidents of ethnic clashes in 90s. Her son Ali (Feyyaz Duman), on the other hand, has pretty much settled in the city and works ironically as a teacher of Turkish language as a Kurd. Will Nigar be able to convince Ali to take her back to their village? - Written by bennikov.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 539
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Turkey, France, Germany
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: serious, atmospheric, realistic, captivating, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Marussia (2013)
Plot Summary:
In cities like Paris there are countless people from Eastern Europe who have forsaken their homelands because they can see no future there. Lucia and her little daughter Marussia are two such people. They have been thrown out by the Russian acquaintances they were staying with and must tramp the streets with their trolley suitcases searching for somewhere else to live. A Russian Orthodox priest offers them their first night's shelter. They spend the second night in a homeless hostel and party through the third with a chance acquaintance. On the fourth night they sleep clandestinely in a cinema and on the fifth with a Russian artist in a hotel … Lucia is good-looking, dresses elegantly and is certainly not shy of men. This serves the mother and her daughter well. In spite of all the uncertainties in their lives, the two frequently share tender moments.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 95
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: France, Russia
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, sincere, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 78%
Homecoming (1996)
Plot Summary:
When their mother disappears, a group of siblings are forced to fend for themselves, and make their way on their own. They eventually meet their grandmother, a loner who is reluctant to take them in. Based on the novel by Cynthia Voigt.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, feel good, serious, realistic, crying
Similar in 82%
Eli & Ben (2008)
Plot Summary:
The life of the Yassif family becomes almost impossible when the father who is the city architect, is charged with taking bribes.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 136
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Israel
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 82%
Yuki & Nina (2009)
Plot Summary:
When Yuki finds out that her parents are separating and she is moving to Japan with her mother, she and her best friend Nina devise ways to reunite the feuding adults.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 370
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Japan
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, stylized, slow cinema, aesthetic, realistic
Similar in 89%
An Open Heart (2012)
Plot Summary:
Mila and Javier, both renowned surgeons and both passionate about their work, have been madly in love for the past 10 years. They have always taken great care to preserve their extraordinary love for each other and refuse to succumb to the routine of everyday living. But Mila’s unexpected pregnancy, combined with increasing pressure from work at the hospital, drives Javier to drink more heavily and he ends up being suspended. Faced with his demons, Javier drifts further and further away from Mila. Yet, when their relationship is under serious threat, Javier is ready to do whatever it takes to win Mila back.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 740
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Argentina
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, emotional, captivating, gloomy, entertaining
Similar in 89%
Youth (2012)
Plot Summary:
Juliette, twenty, falls in love. At the same time her father is diagnosed with a fatal disease.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 40
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: France
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, crying
Similar in 84%
A Time to Remember (2003)
Plot Summary:
An artist and single mother returns to her childhood home to patch things up with her mother who has Alzheimers disease.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 274
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, touching, realistic, serious, contemplative
Similar in 90%
Viktoria (2014)
Plot Summary:
Dreaming of the West, Boryana is determined not to have a child in communist Bulgaria. Nonetheless, her daughter Viktoria enters the world in 1979, curiously missing a belly button, and is declared the country’s Baby of the Decade. Pampered by her mother state until the age of nine, Viktoria’s decade of notoriety comes crashing down with the rest of European communism. But can political collapse and the hardship of new times finally bring Viktoria and her reluctant mother closer together.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 473
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Bulgaria, Romania
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, touching, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Solitary Fragments (2007)
Plot Summary:
Life for Adela, a single mom trying to raise her infant son, and Antonia, a widow with three daughters, are forever altered by the terrorist bombing in Madrid.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, stylized, slow cinema, aesthetic, contemplative, no music
Similar in 80%
Café Lumière (2003)
Plot Summary:
Making her way through life by forming superficial relationships, Yoko (Japanese pop idol Yo Hitoto) keeps everyone at arm's length, whether it's her father (Nanji Kobayashi) and stepmother (Kimiko Yo) or Hajime (Tadanobu Asano), the owner of a small bookstore who could be the father of her unborn child. Yoko seems most at home when she's riding the train, speeding around the city with only her thoughts to entertain her.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, Taiwan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative, uplifting, art house, slow cinema, aesthetic
Similar in 77%
35 Shots of Rum (2008)
Plot Summary:
A widowed metro conductor, approaching retirement, lives with his beautiful grown daughter – the object of a neighbor’s romantic interest. The man’s former girlfriend also lives in their building and plays a role in their closely-knit lives. 35 Shots of Rum considers the mysterious complexities that surround evolving relationships, whether romantic or parental.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Germany
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, sincere, touching, serious, brutal, sexual, slow cinema, aesthetic, contemplative
Similar in 87%
Dream and Silence (2012)
Plot Summary:
Oriol and Yolanda live in Paris with their two daughters. During a vacation they suffer a car accident that will change their lives.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 216
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, France
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, psychological, captivating, slow cinema, aesthetic, sincere, serious, gloomy
Similar in 78%
Alice and Martin (1998)
Plot Summary:
At the age of 20, Martin leaves his home town and comes to Paris, where he fortunately becomes a model by chance. He meets Alice, his brother's friend, and falls in love with her. They start a passionate relationship, although Martin remains very mysterious about his past and the reasons why he left his family. But when Alice tells him she's pregnant, he is suddenly almost driven to madness, as his past comes back to his mind. Alice will now do anything she can to help him.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Spain
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: melancholic, enigmatic, emotional, psychological, romantic, erotic, sentimental, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 90%
A Dog of Flanders (1999)
Plot Summary:
Poor but happy, young Nello and his grandfather live alone, delivering milk as a livelihood, in the outskirts of Antwerp, a city in Flanders (the Flemish or Dutch-speaking part of modern-day Belgium). They discover a beaten dog (a Bouvier, a large sturdy dog native to Flanders) and adopt it and nurse it back to health, naming it Patrasche, the middle name of Nello's mother Mary, who died when Nello was very young. Nello's mother was a talented artist, and like his mother, he delights in drawing, and his friend Aloise is his model and greatest fan and supporter.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Family, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, inspirational, entertaining, tear jerker, melancholic, touching, sad, serious, realistic, sexy
Similar in 90%
Mommo (2009)
Plot Summary:
A brother and sister are split up after their mother dies, their father remarries, and their new stepmother rejects them.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Turkey
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, atmospheric, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Summer Hours (2008)
Plot Summary:
Two brothers and a sister witness the disappearance of their childhood memories when they must relinquish the family belongings to ensure their deceased mother's succession.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: France
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, enigmatic, lyrical, stylized, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, crying
Similar in 76%
Timboektoe (2007)
Plot Summary:
De ouders van Isa en haar oudere broer Kars gooien het roer om en beginnen een camping in Frankrijk. Isa en Kars hebben het gevoel naar Timboektoe te verhuizen en alles te verliezen. Lang klagen ze gelukkig niet, want al snel maken ze nieuwe vrienden. Maar terwijl nieuwe vriendschappen opbloeien, komt camping Timboektoe in de problemen. Niet ver bij hen vandaan is een andere camping geopend en de onsympathieke eigenaar probeert camping Timboektoe aan alle kanten te beschadigen. Het ziet er zelfs naar uit dat de camping moet sluiten…. Zal het Isa en Kars lukken om Timboektoe open te houden?.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family, Romance
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, realistic, touching, humorous, melancholic
Similar in 85%
We Can Be Heroes! (2002)
Plot Summary:
Two kids - about 11 years old - Marcello and Fatima, meet and like each other very much. Both have dreams and problems. Marcello wants to fly but feels like an absolutely useless human being, Fatima wants to play soccer - which is not acceptable for her Muslim family. But then they start to support each other in a very delicate and subtle manner.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 999
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Sweden
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, serious, captivating, contemplative
Similar in 78%
Mermaid (2000)
Plot Summary:
Four year old Desi learns to accept the death of her father by sending him a letter on a balloon to which she receives a reply. Based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 651
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 86%
My Sweet Orange Tree (2012)
Plot Summary:
Zezé is an 8 year old boy who, although a naughty boy, has a good heart. He leads a very modest life, due to the fact that his father has been unemployed for a long time, and has the habit of having long conversations with a sweet orange tree which is in his backyard. Until one day he meets Portuga, a man who begins to help him and soon becomes his best friend.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Brazil
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, atmospheric, captivating, serious, realistic
Similar in 81%
Paper Planes (2014)
Plot Summary:
The film tells the story of 11-year-old Dylan (Ed Oxenbould), who is brought up by his father (Sam Worthington) in a remote town in the country of Australia. Dylan’s life is changed forever when he wins a place in the regional Paper Plane Championships in Sydney. The heart warming journey of a young boy and his father reconnecting after a family’s struggle will have us cheering them all the way to the world championships of paper plane flying in Japan.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Australia, Japan
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, feel good, serious, realistic
Similar in 76%
Booky & the Secret Santa (2007)
Plot Summary:
Booky does everything she can to make an enjoyable Christmas, for her family, during the depression as her father is out of work.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 311
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, sincere, captivating, feel good, serious
Similar in 88%
One Day You'll Understand (2008)
Plot Summary:
A man endeavors to collect memories of his grandparents who died in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 367
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Germany, Israel
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, bleak, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Nobody Knows (2004)
Plot Summary:
In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: depressing, touching, serious, atmospheric, bleak, gloomy, heartbreaking, contemplative, melancholic, meditative
Similar in 78%
Distant (2002)
Plot Summary:
Uzak/Distant chronicles the numbing loneliness, longing, and isolation in the lives of two men who are consumed by their own problems. Istanbul photographer Mahmut reluctantly receives his relative Yusuf, but the mingling of their lives does little to alleviate their detachment.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sincere, bleak, art house, stylized, lyrical, psychological, touching, slow cinema, atmospheric, contemplative
Similar in 78%
The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
Plot Summary:
When he first enters the Montpellier Opera House, Victor knows nothing about music. Nor does he know his father, Samuel Rovinski, who is there to conduct Mahler’s 6th symphony. To change the course of his suddenly uncertain future, for Nadia his mother, for Luna whom he has fallen in love with, Victor has decided to step out of the shadows. He’ll go as far as he needs to.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 520
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, touching, emotional, captivating, sincere, serious
Similar in 85%
Sisters (2009)
Plot Summary:
Lyon, France in 1970s, Sibylle, Corinne, and Georgette are sisters who share everything, as they live with their Italian mother. Sibylle is the only blonde in the family, except for their father who abandoned them, and she feels isolated. She dreams of meeting her French father one day.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 230
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, captivating, entertaining
Similar in 77%
Bee Season (2005)
Plot Summary:
11-year-old Eliza is the invisible element of her family unit: her parents are both consumed with work and her brother is wrapped up in his own adolescent life. Eliza ignites not only a spark that makes her visible but one that sets into motion a revolution in her family dynamic when she wins a spelling bee. Finding an emotional outlet in the power of words and in the spiritual mysticism that he sees at work in her unparalleled gift, Eliza's father pours all of his energy into helping his daughter become spelling bee champion. A religious studies professor, he sees the opportunity as not only a distraction from his life but as an answer to his own crisis of faith. His vicarious path to God, real or imagined, leads to an obsession with Eliza's success and he begins teaching her secrets of the Kabbalah. Now preparing for the National Spelling Bee, Eliza looks on as a new secret of her family's hidden turmoil seems to be revealed with each new word she spells.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, depressing, realistic, psychological, sincere, thought provoking, serious, spiritual, anamorphic
Similar in 81%
Finn (2013)
Plot Summary:
Nine year old Finn lives with his father in a small town. Together with his best friend Erik he plays football, but he prefers to play music. His dad wants him to play football, just like every other kid his age. Finn does not understand why, but his father doesn't want to talk about it. When Finn meets a mysterious old man, who plays the violin beautifully, he decides to learn how to play the violin as well. The old man teaches him, while Finn's dad thinks he is playing football... Is Finn the only one who sees the magic of music? What does his father hide?.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 356
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, twisted