Best movies like Flowers for Algernon
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies like Flowers for Algernon? Leverage your knowledge to help others toward tv series and movies you've seen before that they might like also. Help broaden the community of people suggesting videos to each other. We welcome your engagement!
Plot Summary:
No overview found.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Canada
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious, intellectual, contemplative, medical drama, crying, weeping, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like Flowers for Algernon (2000):
Similar in 90%
Threshold (1981)
Plot Summary:
The celebrated heart surgeon Dr. Thomas Vrain supports the research of the offbeat scientist Aldo Gehring, who is inventing an artificial heart. Dr. Vrain performs the first artificial human heart transplant against the advice of the Ethics Committee.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 524
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Canada
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: philosophical, sincere, thought provoking, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 80%
Son of the Sunshine (2009)
Plot Summary:
A socially disconnected young man with Tourette's Syndrome undergoes an experimental surgery to correct his disorder, but as his symptoms start to fade so does his ability to heal the sick and dying.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 291
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, independent film
Similar in 81%
Freak City (1999)
Plot Summary:
After being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a rebellious young woman is disease-stricken. Upon being admitted to a nursing home, she finds hope in the most unlikely of places.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 385
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 82%
Beautiful Dreamers (1990)
Plot Summary:
When the superintendent of the Canadian insane asylum, Dr. Maurice Bucke, meets poet Walt Whitman, his life and that of his wife and patients is radically changed. Like Dr. Bucke, Whitman has avant-garde ideas on the subject of mental illness. "Dreamers" is based on true events. Dr. Bucke became an important biographer of Walt Whitman.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 207
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, independent film
Similar in 79%
Able Edwards (2004)
Plot Summary:
The story of the clone of a famous entertainment mogul created to revive the glory days of his deceased predecessor's corporation. In the process of restoring reality entertainment to a synthetic, virtual world, the clone relizes he has yet to live as his own man.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 150
Genere: Sci-Fi, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, clever, bleak, serious, experimental, contemplative, stylized, retro, tech noir, black and white
Similar in 87%
Blueprint (2003)
Plot Summary:
The story of the first cloned human being - told in her own words: At the age of thirty the world-famous composer Iris Sellin learns that she has an incurable illness. She - a person who wanted to live for ever - does however not give in. In order to preserve her art and also herself, beyond death, for all posterity, she has herself cloned. Her daughter Siri, whom, in this way, she turns into her virtual twin, learns as a child that she is the world's first cloned human being. In fact a blueprint: a blueprint of her mother. From that moment on nothing is as it was before.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 893
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Germany
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, sincere
Similar in 84%
America Brown (2004)
Plot Summary:
A coming-of-age drama that centers on a young quarterback from West Texas, a priest in New York, and the two women in their lives.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 314
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, serious, realistic, sincere, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 87%
Iron Island (2005)
Plot Summary:
Squatters live on a mothballed oil tanker in the Persian Gulf. The children attend a school on board; men harvest scrap metal and old oil in the hull; women keep house and raise children and Captain Nemat runs it all with an iron hand. We follow a lad who rescues fish trapped in the hull, an old man who stares at the sun, the idealistic teacher, and Ahmad, the Captain's assistant who has fallen in love with a young woman whose father wants to marry her to someone of means. What future has this sinking city?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 980
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, atmospheric, offbeat, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Becoming Redwood (2012)
Plot Summary:
A quirky coming of age story about an 11-year-old boy named Redwood who dreams that if he can beat Jack Nicklaus at the 1975 Master's of golf he'll reunite his parents.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 184
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere, gloomy
Similar in 77%
The Caretakers (1963)
Plot Summary:
This movie chronicles the trials of the mentally ill and their care-givers in an over-crowded ward of a hospital.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 927
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, psychological, serious, realistic, disturbing, campy
Similar in 82%
Firelight (2012)
Plot Summary:
Incarcerated women join a band of volunteers who battle forest fires and assist during natural disasters.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 631
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, sincere, touching, serious, psychological, captivating
Similar in 75%
Profoundly Normal (2003)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story. Donna Lee Shelby (Kirstie Alley), a mentally retarded girl who lives in Forest Haven, an institution for the developmentally disabled, meets Ricardo Thornton (Delroy Lindo), a fellow resident. When Forest Haven is closed by a court order, Donna and Ricardo venture into the real world on their own. Their friendship and dependency on each other blossoms into love. They marry and have a child together, who does not suffer from mental retardation.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 360
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, sentimental, sincere, uplifting, touching, realistic
Similar in 88%
Wit (2001)
Plot Summary:
A renowned professor is forced to reassess her life when she is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: depressing, sincere, emotional, touching, sentimental, thought provoking, contemplative, sad, christian film, clever
Similar in 88%
The Fat Boy Chronicles (2010)
Plot Summary:
The Fat Boy Chronicles is a motion picture about Jimmy Winterpock, an obese high-school student who deals with bullying and trying to lose weight. The film is inspired by a true story and was released in 2010 as a major motion picture.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 889
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, touching, emotional, inspirational, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 84%
God's Ears (2008)
Plot Summary:
Noah Connelly is a boxer with a tireless opponent: Autism. But when he meets a dancer named Alexia, the two discover together that the toughest fight may be not be of the body, but of the heart.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 86
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sexy, humorous, sexual
Similar in 76%
Eden (1996)
Plot Summary:
Story of a New England boys' school and of one of the students who is infatuated with an instructor's wife who has Multiple Sclerosis. The woman struggles to show her strict husband how love rather than demands helps the student to blossom, but finally she falls into a coma. While she is able to have some 'looking down' awareness of what is happening, her coma is what brings her husband to an understanding of the needs of others.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 356
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: independent film, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Ward No. 6 (2009)
Plot Summary:
Simultaneously nihilistic and heartening, Ward No. 6 is based on a story by Chekov, in which a psychiatric doctor becomes a patient in his own asylum. Updated to contemporary Russia, the film is a cocktail of anxieties and riddles, showcasing how easy it is to become what we fear most.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 791
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, serious, philosophical, intellectual, smart, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 79%
Cries from the Heart (1994)
Plot Summary:
A drama directed by Michael Switzer.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 312
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 83%
More Than Meets the Eye: The Joan Brock Story (2003)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of a beloved teacher for the blind who discovers she herself is losing her eyesight.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 175
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, emotional, serious, realistic
Similar in 81%
A Cooler Climate (1999)
Plot Summary:
Iris is broke after her divorce and takes a job working as a housekeeper for a wealthy woman named Paula. When Paula and her husband separate, an unlikely friendship blossoms between the women.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 702
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, talky
Similar in 90%
Dawn Anna (2005)
Plot Summary:
The true story of a single mom who overcomes many of life's obstacles.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, realistic, touching, serious, emotional
Similar in 79%
My Louisiana Sky (2001)
Plot Summary:
A girl comes to terms with her mentally challenged parents.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 952
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, retro, melancholic, thought provoking, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 88%
Fly Away (2011)
Plot Summary:
The poignant yet humor filled story about a single mother of a teenager severely impacted by autism, forced to reckon with her daughter's future. As her child becomes an adult, what used to work, no longer does. What will sustain her daughter, and herself? A parent-child love story, when love means letting go.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 374
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, emotional, serious, captivating, realistic, independent film
Similar in 75%
The Tic Code (1998)
Plot Summary:
A 10 year old gifted boy wants to be a jazz pianist much to the chagrin of his more classical oriented piano instructor. With his mother's help, he is an underage regular at a local nightspot, where he is teamed up with a sax superstar. Both come to learn that each suffers from Tourette's Syndrome (thus the film title). The older man has developed mannerisms to cover up his own fallibilities and resents the boy and his mother's acceptance of the disease.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 484
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, independent film, offbeat, serious, contemplative, light, inspirational, feel good
Similar in 80%
Charly (1968)
Plot Summary:
An experiment on a simpleton turns him into a genius. When he discovers what has been done to him he struggles with whether or not what was done to his was right.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: intelligent, psychological, clever, touching, depressing, surprise ending, philosophical, mind bending, psychedelic, heartbreaking
Similar in 84%
A Child Is Waiting (1963)
Plot Summary:
Dr. Matthew Clark is the head of a state institution for mentally retarded children. Jean Hansen, a former music teacher anxious to give her life some meaning, joins the staff of the hospital. Jean, who tries to shelter the children with her love, suspiciously regards Clark's stern training methods. She becomes emotionally involved with 12-year-old Reuben Widdicombe, who has been abandoned by his divorced parents.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, intellectual, social, sad, sentimental
Similar in 86%
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007)
Plot Summary:
The film follows Mr. Shi, a retired widower from Beijing. When his only daughter, Yilan, who lives in Spokane, Washington and works as a librarian, gets divorced, he decides to visit her to help her heal. However, Yilan is not interested. She tries keeping an emotional distance but when this finally fails she begins physically avoiding her father. He confronts her about an affair with a married Russian man and she, in turn, lets loose about all the gossip she'd heard as a young girl about his alleged affair with a female colleague back in China.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: serious, thought provoking, touching, realistic, emotional, contemplative
Similar in 76%
Little Man Tate (1991)
Plot Summary:
Dede is a sole parent trying to bring up her son Fred. When it is discovered that Fred is a genius, she is determined to ensure that Fred has all the opportunities that he needs, and that he is not taken advantage of by people who forget that his extremely powerful intellect is harboured in the body and emotions of a child.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: inspirational, intellectual, psychological, touching, realistic, independent film, uplifting, sincere, thought provoking, serious
Similar in 85%
The Magic of Ordinary Days (2005)
Plot Summary:
Pregnant out of wedlock, an educated young woman is pressured by her father into an arranged marriage with a lonely farmer in this drama set during WWII.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, melancholic, contemplative, heartbreaking, sad
Similar in 80%
Awakenings (1990)
Plot Summary:
Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a shy research physician, uses an experimental drug to "awaken" the catatonic victims of a rare disease. Leonard is the first patient to receive the controversial treatment. His awakening, filled with awe and enthusiasm, proves a rebirth for Sayer too, as the exuberant patient reveals life's simple but unutterably sweet pleasures to the introverted doctor.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 155000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: inspirational, motivational, sentimental, sincere, uplifting, psychological, touching, serious, cerebral, emotional