Best movies like Footnote
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The story of a great rivalry between a father and son, both eccentric professors in the Talmud department of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The son has an addictive dependency on the embrace and accolades that the establishment provides, while his father is a stubborn purist with a fear and profound revulsion for what the establishment stands for, yet beneath his contempt lies a desperate thirst for some kind of recognition. The Israel Prize, Israel's most prestigious national award, is the jewel that brings these two to a final, bitter confrontation.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: melancholic, meditative, surreal, captivating, tragicomedy, clever, stylized, thought provoking, independent film, existential
Best tv shows and movies like Footnote (2011):
Similar in 76%
The Farewell Party (2014)
Plot Summary:
A group of friends at a Jerusalem retirement home build a machine for self-euthanasia in order to help their terminally ill friend. When rumors of the machine begin to spread, more and more people ask for their help, and the friends are faced with an emotional dilemma.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Israel, Germany
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, tragicomedy, semi serious, existential, dark comedy, humorous, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 80%
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 76%
Noodle (2007)
Plot Summary:
At thirty-seven, Miri is a twice-widowed, El Al flight attendant. Her well-regulated existence is suddenly turned upside down by an abandoned Chinese boy whose migrant-worker mother has been summarily deported from Israel. The film is a touching comic-drama in which two human beings -- as different from each other as Tel Aviv is from Beijing -- accompany each other on a remarkable journey, one that takes them both back to a meaningful life.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 925
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, captivating, humorous, sweet, sentimental, touching, serious, uplifting
Similar in 79%
Zero Motivation (2014)
Plot Summary:
Filmmaker Talya Lavie steps into the spotlight with a dark comedy about everyday life for a unit of young female Israeli soldiers. The human resources office at a remote desert base serves as the setting for this cast of characters, who bide their time pushing paper, battling for the top score in Minesweeper, and counting down the minutes until they can return to civilian life. Amidst their boredom and clashing personalities, issues of commitment—from friendship to love and country—are handled with humor and sharp-edged wit. In Hebrew with subtitles.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: funny, satirical, absurd, witty, talky, humorous, tragicomedy, realistic, cynical, semi serious
Similar in 85%
The Syrian Bride (2004)
Plot Summary:
In Majdal Shams, the largest Druze village in Golan Heights on the Israeli-Syrian border, the Druze bride Mona is engaged to get married with Tallel, a television comedian that works in the Revolution Studios in Damascus, Syria. They have never met each other because of the occupation of the area by Israel since 1967; when Mona moves to Syria, she will lose her undefined nationality and will never be allowed to return home. Mona's father Hammed is a political activist pro-Syria that is on probation by the Israeli government. His older son Hatten married a Russian woman eight years ago and was banished from Majdal Shams by the religious leaders and his father. His brother Marwan is a wolf trader that lives in Italy. His sister Amal has two teenager daughters and has the intention to join the university, but her marriage with Amin is in crisis. When the family gathers for Mona's wedding, an insane bureaucracy jeopardizes the ceremony.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France, Germany, Israel
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sincere, emotional, islamic, uplifting, thought provoking, clever, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 88%
Sallah (1964)
Plot Summary:
Sallah Shabati, the patriarch of the big family recently arrived to Israel from Yemen, tries to make money and get better housing, in a country that can barely provide for its own and is in the midst of absorbing hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: black comedy, black and white, humorous, realistic, semi serious, biting, intercultural, suspense, inter cultural
Similar in 81%
Campfire (2004)
Plot Summary:
The story of one woman's personal battle for acceptance, but also a portrait of a political movement that has forever affected millions of lives in the Middle East.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 684
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, crying
Similar in 84%
The Dune (2013)
Plot Summary:
An Israeli man searches for his father in France.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 268
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Israel
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, psychological, sincere, serious, gloomy, detective
Similar in 82%
Sacred (1999)
Plot Summary:
The year 2000 approaches in Jerusalem's Orthodox Mea Shearim quarter, where the women work, keep house, and have children so the men can study the Torah and the Talmud. Rivka is happily and passionately married to Meir, but they remain childless. The yeshiva's rabbi, who is Meir's father, wants Meir to divorce Rivka: "a barren woman is no woman." Rivka's sister, Malka, is in love with Yakov, a Jew shunned by the yeshiva as too secular. The rabbi arranges Malka's marriage to Yossef, whose agitation when fulfilling religious duties approaches the grotesque. Can the sisters sort out their hearts' desires within this patriarchal world? If not, have they any other options?.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel, France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: philosophical, thinking, sincere, clever, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, controversial, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Magic Men (2014)
Plot Summary:
An elderly Israeli Jew of Greek origins was sent to Greece to represent his town in a town twinning ceremony, however he went instead to search for his friend from the childhood, who saved him from the Holocaust. In meantime he formed a special relationship with young Greek woman, and dealt with the broken relationship with his devout Hasidic son.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 226
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 87%
Alila (2003)
Plot Summary:
Life in a flimsy Tel Aviv apartment complex is a sour urban mosaic whose seedy characters, try as they might, can't get out of one another's faces. The character's lives overlap and collide. Gabi, a bobbed haired sexpot, and her lover Hezi—who's older, balding and married—rent a room to have an affair, while Ezra, a pot bellied divorcee, supervises an illegal construction site next door. All this racket drives Schwartz, a Holocaust survivor, to a mental breakdown. Other characters include illegal immigrants, a teenage boy who's afraid to serve in the army, and a corrupt police officer. In each scene the camera moves through walls, over desks, and around rooms in order to keep focused on the character it's following, in moments of drama as well as in moments of mudane daily activity.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 634
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel, France
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy, avant garde
Similar in 75%
The Human Resources Manager (2010)
Plot Summary:
A tragic comedy centered on the HR manager of Israel's largest industrial bakery, who sets out to save the reputation of his business and prevent the publication of a defamatory article.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel, Germany, France, Romania
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: tragicomedy, sincere, road movie, humorous, captivating, touching, serious, realistic, grotesque
Similar in 84%
The Other Son (2012)
Plot Summary:
Two men discover they were accidentally switched at birth.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 75%
Daughters, Daughters (1973)
Plot Summary:
In this Israeli comedy, a father is afraid that after having sired eight daughters, that he will never produce a son.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 80
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, captivating, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 80%
Late Marriage (2001)
Plot Summary:
Zaza is a 31-year old Israeli bachelor, handsome and intelligent, and his family wants to see him married. But tradition dictates that Zaza has to choose a young virgin. She must be beautiful and from a good family, preferably rich. Zaza's parents, Yasha and Lily drag Zaza to meet potential brides and their families. Zaza has no choice. He plays along with his family, advocates of the suffocating traditions of their Georgian Jewish heritage. But Zaza always manages to somehow get out of being engaged. What his parents don't know is that Zaza is already in love. Judith is sensuous, strong and intriguing. She's also a divorcée with a 6-year-old daughter. So Zaza has kept Judith a secret from his family. He will have to choose between respect of the strict confines of family and tradition, or the love of his life.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Israel, France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, touching, emotional, romantic, clever, offbeat, humorous, semi serious, crying
Similar in 90%
Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi (2003)
Plot Summary:
16 years old Shlomi lives with his restless mother, his soldier brother and their ill grandfather. Although not doing well in school, Shlomi is a gifted cook and takes care of most household chores. One day, the school's principal finds out Shlomi is actually a genius and tries to get him into a more suitable curriculum. However, Shlomi is more interested in taking care of his family and his new love interest, the beautiful girl next door.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Comedy
Country: Israel
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, feel good, humorous, sincere, uplifting, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 75%
Melting Away (2011)
Plot Summary:
Shlomo who discovers in his son's Assaf room, women's clothing and accessories, decides to 'teach the boy a lesson'. When Assaf returns to his parents' home on a rainy night from a party, his attempts to enter home fail. His father, with the silent consent of his mother, locked the door. At present, 4 years later, Gallia turns to an investigation agency to help her find her son Assaf and bring him to Shlomo, his father who is dying of cancer. One night, at a night club in Tel Aviv, Assaf is seen performing as a beautiful transgender lady singer who goes by the name of Anna. After a few days a private nurse turns up at Shlomo's room at the hospital, sent as she claims by the insurance agency to assist Shlomo. The nurse is Anna (his son Assaf) and she manages to conquer Shlomo's heart by her charming personality and her special attitude toward life.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 194
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, Canada
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, touching, realistic, captivating, psychological, sincere, serious
Similar in 87%
The Angriest Man in Brooklyn (2014)
Plot Summary:
After learning that a brain aneurysm will kill him in about 90 minutes, a perpetually unhappy man struggles to come to terms with his fate and make amends with everyone he has ever hurt.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: compassionate, sentimental, surreal, stylized, thought provoking, tragicomedy, dark comedy, humorous, teen, parody
Similar in 87%
Lost Islands (2008)
Plot Summary:
A family with five kids in the 80s get into a crisis when twin brothers fall in love with the same girl.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 664
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, captivating, emotional, sentimental, realistic, stylized
Similar in 87%
In Memory of My Father (2005)
Plot Summary:
The youngest son of a legendary Hollywood producer, a Robert Evans type, accepts a bribe from his father to document his death.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 650
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Austria
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, cynical, semi serious, captivating, entertaining, clever, offbeat, realistic, witty
Similar in 82%
Jo's Boy (2011)
Plot Summary:
Grandson of a legendary rugby player, son of a legendary rugby player, and he himself a legendary rugby player, Jo Canavero raises his only son, Tom, in a small village in the Tarn region. To the great displeasure of Jo, thirteen-year-old Tom is as good at math as he is useless on the rugby field. For a Canavero, the legend can't stop there, even if it means setting up a rugby team specifically for Tom, despite the wishes of the whole village and of Tom himself.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 608
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 90%
James' Journey to Jerusalem (2003)
Plot Summary:
During his journey to Jerusalem young James learns the meaning of being Israeli.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 593
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, humorous, realistic, semi serious, clever, contemplative, biting, suspense
Similar in 78%
Latin Lover (2015)
Plot Summary:
The five daughters of a famous actor, all from different mothers and different nationalities, get together on the 10th anniversary of his death for a celebration of his career.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 993
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, tragicomedy, sentimental, humorous, realistic, semi serious, witty, talky
Similar in 81%
Things Behind the Sun (2006)
Plot Summary:
Now that Itzhak's father is in a coma, and dying, Itzhak is finally willing to visit him, thus breaking a ten-year silence. During his visits to the hospital, Itzhak, a beaten and reserved man, is frustrated to find himself neglected by his own family: his wife, a long suppressed artist whose life's dream is fulfilled that same week; his twenty-seven-year-old son - a "philosopher" still living at home; and his twenty-five-year-old daughter - a tormented lesbian who has had no contact with her family for a long time. Itzhak doesn't realize, though, that his ten year old daughter, Didush, neglected and almost invisible to her family, is secretly visiting her grandfather whom she has never met previously and sets out to discover the old family secret.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 98
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, realistic, touching, sincere, serious
Similar in 79%
Divine Intervention (2002)
Plot Summary:
Santa Claus tries to outrun a gang of knife-wielding youth. It's one of several vignettes of Palestinian life in Israel - in a neighborhood in Nazareth and at Al-Ram checkpoint in East Jerusalem. Most of the stories are droll, some absurd, one is mythic and fanciful; few words are spoken. A man who goes through his mail methodically each morning has a heart attack. His son visits him in hospital. The son regularly meets a woman at Al-Ram; they sit in a car, hands caressing. Once, she defies Israeli guards at the checkpoint; later, Ninja-like, she takes on soldiers at a target range. A red balloon floats free overhead. Neighbors toss garbage over walls. Life goes on until it doesn't.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War, Comedy
Country: France, Morocco, Germany
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: surreal, meditative, stylized, thought provoking, touching, semi serious, clever, humorous, offbeat, realistic
Similar in 86%
Aviva, My Love (2006)
Plot Summary:
Aviva, a hard-working hotel cook in the small northern Israeli town of Tiberias, is on the brink of finally fulfilling her lifelong dream. For years she kept her remarkable writing abilities under wraps, until her sister, Anita, introduces her to Oded, an accomplished novelist. Immediately recognizing Aviva's talent, Oded takes her under his wing, promising to help her achieve greatness. But the journey to greatness effects her life and the lives of her family - her unemployed husband, her trouble children, her unstable mother, and primarily her sister, a funny and sensitive woman who have her own dreams. When Aviva discovered that Oded has other plans for her work, her world collapses.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 494
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, captivating, psychological, sentimental, semi serious
Similar in 77%
The 92 Minutes of Mr. Baum (1997)
Plot Summary:
Balding advertising executive Mr. Baum spends more time on a new ad campaign for purple sunglasses than he does with his own family. But suddenly he is forced to reexamine his life after a doctor tells him that he has an 'aggressive' brain tumor and will die in 90 minutes.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 183
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel, France
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, thought provoking, clever, humorous, tragicomedy, realistic, surreal, contemplative, cynical, semi serious
Similar in 79%
World's Greatest Dad (2009)
Plot Summary:
In the wake of a freak accident, Lance suffers the worst tragedy and the greatest opportunity of his life. He is suddenly faced with the possibility of fame, fortune and popularity, if he can only live with the knowledge of how he got there.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, black comedy, clever, melancholic, dark, disturbing, cult classic, hilarious, offbeat, philosophical
Similar in 80%
My Father My Lord (2007)
Plot Summary:
"My Father My Lord" is an intimate and deeply disturbing story of the conflict between a father's love and his deep devotion to religion. A respected Orthodox Rabbi dotes on his only son but his religious strictures leave an emotional gap between the impish child and the stern father. When the father's all-consuming obsession with observing religious ritual inadvertently leads to tragedy, his previously subservient wife rages against both her husband and God. A dramatic retelling of the story of Abraham.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 492
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, emotional, captivating, sad, thought provoking, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 79%
Dad (1989)
Plot Summary:
A busy executive (Ted Danson) learns during a meeting that his mother may be dying and rushes home to her side. He ends up being his father's caretaker and becomes closer to him (Jack Lemmon) than ever before. Estranged from his own son (Ethan Hawke), the executive comes to realize what has been missing in his own life.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, feel good, uplifting, inspirational, sincere, thought provoking, poignant, comedy drama