Best movies like Friends
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Three female friends, in the end of the eighties, share a house in Johannesburg, South Africa. Each of them has her own way to live the apartheid. Thoko is a black teacher, she practices non-violent passive resistance. The afrikaner Aninka takes refuge in archaeology not to see the reality. Sophie is a white militant, putting bombs in public places... Each of them respect the other two's ideas, but one of Sophie's bombs will change everything.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 134
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France, South Africa
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: crying, independent film
Best tv shows and movies like Friends (1993):
Similar in 87%
The Outsiders (1986)
Plot Summary:
Based on the book written by author Pai Hsien-yung and first published in 1983 in Taiwan. A-Qing, a young student is discovered during sex by a night watchman, young A-Qing is beaten and expelled from home by his violent abusive father. In a public park in Taipei he is found by Yang (a middle-aged photographer), who introduces him to three other teenage boys--all abandoned by their families because they were gay. They form a kind of surrogate family. When A-Qing meets Wang Kei-Lung, he falls madly in love.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 76
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: queer cinema
Similar in 81%
Women in Prison (1985)
Plot Summary:
After graduation, a young woman gets his first job in the women's prison in the province. The story follows her struggle to survive in a small town with her small child, alcohol addiction, and the battle with the prisoners and prison brutality and other schemers who wanted to remove her from working spot.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 80
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Yugoslavia
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
The Wild McCullochs (1975)
Plot Summary:
A story about the rich McCulloch Family, their overbearing father and the children's misguided blaming him for everything that doesn't go right.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 111
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: saga, independent film
Similar in 87%
More Time (1993)
Plot Summary:
Thandi finds out the complexities of love, when David, the schoolboy Mister Charming, coolly sweeps her off her feet.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 19
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Zimbabwe
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
The Inmate (2007)
Plot Summary:
Set in two contrasting enivronments that undeline the same premise of imprisonment, Selda tells the story of Rommel (Sid Lucero), a young man who accidentally kills a boy, resulting in his incarceration. Inside the jail, he befriends another inmate, Esteban (Emilio), who becomes his rock and protector. Seven years later, Rommel is living in the province as a farmer together with Sita (Ara Mina) his wife. Esteban tracks down Rommel in hopes of renewing a brewing love affair. Rommel and Sita welcome Esteban into their lives, until their intimacy crosses borderlines and results in the undeniable scourge of self-discovery.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 207
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Philippines
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, psychological, rough, suspense, crying, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 82%
Such Is Life (2000)
Plot Summary:
Based on the Greek tragedy MEDEA, this is a present day Mexican version, set in the seediest possible milieu of Mexico City. A woman abandoned by her husband, is thrown out of her apartment by her landlord - who is also her husband's new father-in-law. She is also about to lose custody of her two children to her husband, a low-life, second-rate boxer and opportunist. With the help of her godmother, she plans to take revenge on her husband.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 352
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Mexico, France, Spain
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, melancholic, sentimental, romantic, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, crying
Similar in 84%
Frozen City (2006)
Plot Summary:
Looking to outrun the horrors of his past, a tormented cabbie flees Helsinki for an apartment complex in the suburbs, only to discover that new neighbors bring new problems. What ensues is a raw, realistic tragedy with an unwaveringly humane core.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 767
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Finland
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
Children of Nature (1991)
Plot Summary:
An elderly couple leave their retirement home to make one last journey back to their home in the Western Fjords.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Iceland, Norway, Germany
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic
Similar in 89%
Loving Couples (1964)
Plot Summary:
Three expectant mothers think back over their sex lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 758
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Sweden
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: social, crying
Similar in 77%
Dogtown (1997)
Plot Summary:
Philip Van Horn, who left his small town a long time ago to become a Hollywood actor and hasn't had any success at that, returns to the town for a visit. There he is uniformally met like some kind of celebrity and movie star. He uses it to impress his (and everybody's) school love Dorothy, her life now a grey boring experience.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 481
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: independent film, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 88%
The Railway Station Man (1992)
Plot Summary:
An Irish artist, widowed by an IRA bombing, gradually learns that the American man she has become involved with is not who he seems.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 238
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Failan (2001)
Plot Summary:
After losing both her parents, Failan emmigrates to Korea to seek her only remaining relatives. Once she reaches Korea, she finds out that her relatives have moved to Canada well over a year ago. Desperate to stay and make a living in Korea, Failan is forced to have an arranged marriage through a match-making agency.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: romantic, touching, depressing, captivating, thought provoking, sad, romantic comedy, twisted, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 90%
Broken English (1996)
Plot Summary:
Ivan is the fierce patriarch of a family of Croatian refugees in Auckland. Nina is his daughter, ready to live on her own, despite his angry objections. Eddie is the Maori she takes as her lover. Nina works at a restaurant where Eddie cooks. For a price, she agrees to marry a Chinese, another restaurant employee, so that he (and his Chinese wife) can establish permanent residency. The money gives her the independence she needs to leave her parents' house and move in with Eddie. Complications arise when Eddie realizes the depth of her father's fury and the strength of Nina's family ties.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 734
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: sexy, sentimental, serious, realistic, sexual, crying, independent film, erotic, romantic, road movie
Similar in 75%
Besieged (1998)
Plot Summary:
When an African dictator jails her husband, Shandurai goes into exile in Italy, studying medicine and keeping house for Mr. Kinsky, an eccentric English pianist and composer. She lives in one room of his Roman palazzo. He besieges her with flowers, gifts, and music, declaring passionately that he loves her, would go to Africa with her, would do anything for her. "What do you know of Africa?," she asks, then, in anguish, shouts, "Get my husband out of jail!" The rest of the film plays out the implications of this scene and leaves Shandurai with a choice.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Italy
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: emotional, erotic, melancholic, meditative, serious, stylized, sensual, realistic, contemplative, romantic
Similar in 76%
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987)
Plot Summary:
A penniless middle-aged spinster scrapes by giving piano lessons in the Dublin of the 1950s. She makes a sad last bid for love with a fellow resident of her rundown boarding house, who imagines she has the money to bankroll the business he hopes to open.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, crying, independent film
Similar in 88%
Solomon & Gaenor (1999)
Plot Summary:
A young Jew in 1911 Wales tries to make his living by selling fabrics door to door, but to do so he must hide his nationality. On one of his sales he meets and falls in love with a demure young woman with a strong-willed father and a Jew-hating brother. The two fall in love and she becomes pregnant, but only then does she learn of his ethnic background. When anti-Jewish riots break out, the two are forced to flee and become separated.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sad, independent film, historical drama, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, period drama
Similar in 82%
Forbidden Relations (1983)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, a love affair develops between a half brother and half-sister. When pregnancy results and word gets out the public is outraged.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 172
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Hungary
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: crying
Similar in 80%
Free Radicals (2003)
Plot Summary:
Following the death of Manu (Resetarits) in a car accident, the film relates the interwoven stories of several people who become indirectly connected by the events and aftermath of the crash.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 553
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Austria, Germany, Switzerland
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, touching, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 78%
The Good Mother (1988)
Plot Summary:
After finding a sexually liberated boyfriend, a divorced woman gets sued over daughter's custody, by her ex, who claims that her lover has a bad influence on the kid.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sincere, thought provoking, serious, realistic, gloomy, erotic, sentimental, light
Similar in 84%
Late August, Early September (1998)
Plot Summary:
A story about the transition from late youth to early maturity, the film follows several friends and lovers as they come to make decisions on how to live their lives--getting a job more in harmony with ones ideals, committing to a lover, giving up a lover that no longer loves you: a film about grown-ups growing up.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: emotional, talky, melancholic, ironic, meditative, lyrical, psychological, serious, depressing, tense
Similar in 87%
Only the Brave (1994)
Plot Summary:
Alex is in love with her best friend, Vicki, her mother has dissapeared and she sets fire to things in her spare time. Vicki comes from an abusive home and wants Alex to run away with her. Alex is a bit of a nerd and a teachers pet, so takes advantage of this by trying to seduce her drippy school teacher. Alex watches as Vicki, unable to escape her terrible homelife and an psychological wreck, sets alight to herself and burns to death.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 120
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 59 min
Plot tags: sad, psychological, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing, gloomy, crying, independent film
Similar in 88%
The Hanging Garden (1997)
Plot Summary:
William, a once obese and troubled teen, goes back to his family's home after being gone, without word, for ten years and finds it (and his family) haunted with his past. He had moved to the city and become a fit, well-adjusted gay man, but during his visit home, he becomes unhinged as the newly remembered reasons for his miserable adolescence come to life in each of their presents.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Canada, UK
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: independent film, stylized, sincere, atmospheric, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 90%
The Crossing (1990)
Plot Summary:
A single day. To challenge the past. To accept the present. To decide the future. Sam arrives in his home town after 18 months away, hopeful that Meg, the girlfriend he abandoned, will go back with him to the city. His return brings the outside world into the parochial confines of the town, provoking mixed reactions which fuel conflict. Meg, heartbroken when Sam left her, has begun an affair with Sam's friend Johnny. On the eve of Sam's arrival, Johnny asks Meg to marry him. The marriage proposal, along with Sam's unexpected return, forces Meg to choose not only between the two men but also the type of life she wants. The conflicting loyalties and emotions generated by the triangle provide the focus for an array of inter-related characters enmeshed in the life of this country town. There is a feeling of impending tragedy as night falls and Johnny becomes increasingly desparate.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 642
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, crying, independent film
Similar in 83%
Guinevere (1999)
Plot Summary:
A young girl from an affluent family rebels and becomes involved with a much older photographer.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: disturbing, independent film, sentimental, touching, romantic, emotional, romantic drama, dark, arthurian, erotic
Similar in 80%
In My Country (2004)
Plot Summary:
An American reporter and an Afrikaans poet meet and fall in love while covering South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Ireland, South Africa
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, serious, emotional, political, realistic, political thriller, crying
Similar in 84%
After the Rain (1999)
Plot Summary:
Steph, an Afrikaner, struggles with his past and heritage in the new South Africa. When his girlfriend befriends a black South African man called Vusisizwe trouble brews.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 278
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Africa, USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, crying, tragic
Similar in 85%
Borstal Boy (2000)
Plot Summary:
Based on Irish poet Brendan Behan's experiences in a reform school in 1942. A 16 year-old Irish republican terrorist arrives on the ferry at Liverpool and is arrested for possession of explosives. He is imprisoned in a Borstal in East Anglia, where he is forced to live with his would-be enemies, an experience that profoundly changes his life.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, touching, disturbing, political, gloomy, independent film, queer cinema, gay cinema
Similar in 76%
Head On (1998)
Plot Summary:
Nineteen-year-old Ari confronts both his sexuality and his Greek family. Ari despises his once-beloved parents, former radical activists, for having entombed themselves in insular tradition. Ari is obsessed with gay sex, although he does make an unenthusiastic attempt to satisfy the sister of one of his best friends. While all of this is going on, he's facing problems with his traditional Greek parents, who have no clue about his sexual activities.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: independent film, lgbt cinema, terrifying, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, erotic, rough, sexy
Similar in 77%
Chinese Box (1997)
Plot Summary:
The story of Hong Kong, from New Year's Day to June 30th, 1997, when the British left their colony and turned it over to the People's Republic of China.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Japan, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, independent film, sentimental, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, philosophical, sexy, thought provoking
Similar in 79%
Devil in the Flesh (1986)
Plot Summary:
An Italian high school student becomes infatuated with a woman he sees outside his class window. Her fiancée is in jail for being involved in a radical movement, and she spends much time in court providing moral support. At first she resists the student's advances, but eventually begins an affair with him. Their situation is condemned by her family and his father, who is the woman's psychologist.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: erotic, weeping, serious, realistic, biting, sexual, controversial, crying, independent film, sexy