Best movies like Gracie's Choice
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
For as long as she can remember, 16 year-old Gracie has been raising her four siblings, each of whom has a different, absent father and their mother is on the fast track to self-destruction. When these children's lives are about to be pulled apart, Gracie will have to do the impossible and make the ultimate sacrifices to keep her family together.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, emotional, touching, serious, realistic
Best tv shows and movies like Gracie's Choice (2004):
Similar in 88%
Deep in My Heart (1999)
Plot Summary:
In this made-for-tv movie, an adopted woman decides to find her birth mother. Her search leads her to a shocking discovery that she has to face and why her upbringing was not an easy one.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 457
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 77%
1 Out of 7 (2011)
Plot Summary:
Runaway teen Lexi find herself alone and pregnant on the streets. Seemingly beyond hope, she must turn to Devon, a woman with her own demons, to help her find a way back from her past mistakes.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 199
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, rough, serious, realistic, bleak, independent film
Similar in 82%
The Poker House (2008)
Plot Summary:
Agnes and her two sisters struggle through a day in a home overrun by gamblers, thieves, and johns.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: realistic, rough, serious, emotional, dark, teen, bleak, tear jerker, tearjerker
Similar in 77%
A Father's Choice (2000)
Plot Summary:
The fast-paced city life of two sisters is turned upside down when they are sent to live in the country with their father after their mother is killed.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 721
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating, sincere, entertaining
Similar in 81%
For the Love of a Child (2006)
Plot Summary:
1959, support from US troops based in Asia and later from the Sates enables two actresses to start a charity for mixed-race 'orphans' who are locally neglected as outcasts. Thus originates Childhelp, which later runs multi-disciplinary centers for abused and/or neglected children in the States. Among them is bright Jacob Fletcher, whose stepfather, a lawyer, terrorized him into utter trauma and reclaims him shortly after 10 months in jail. Jacob's peers have distressing stories of their own, but competent, devoted staff helps most of them decisively on the former farm, using animal therapy.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 431
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: touching, disturbing, rough, thought provoking, tense, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 89%
Gimme Shelter (2013)
Plot Summary:
After running away from her abusive mother, a streetwise teen seeks refuge with her father, but he rejects her when he learns that she's pregnant.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: emotional, psychological, rough, serious, sad, cult classic, teen, tear jerker, bleak, realistic
Similar in 88%
America (2009)
Plot Summary:
In "America," Dr. Maureen Brennan, a psychiatrist at a youth treatment center, encounters her newest patient, a bi-racial boy named America. Through their sessions, Dr. Brennan helps America come to terms with his roller-coaster life, which began when he was taken by authorities from his crack-addicted mother, and placed into foster care as an infant. The short time of stability in his life occurred when America lived with Mrs. Harper, the elderly nanny to one of his foster families. Later reunited with his mother, she soon abandons America and he is again placed into foster care. Lagging behind in school and full of anger, America retreats further away from society after years of sexual abuse. After attempting suicide, America is placed in a treatment center where Dr. Brennan helps him open up about his painful past and discover the support and courage he needs to get his life back on track.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 698
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, uplifting, serious, realistic
Similar in 85%
Lou (2010)
Plot Summary:
Living in rural New South Wales, working-class single mother Rhia is struggling to evade debt collectors and raise three young daughters. The eldest, and hardened beyond her years, Lou blames Rhia for the departure of her father, who walked out 10 months ago and hasn't been seen since. Mother-daughter relations hit bottom when Rhia takes in Doyle, her father in-law, who is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. Doyle turns Lou's initial hostility around with exciting tales of his South Seas adventures. But coursing deepest in his mind are fractured memories of Annie, his late wife. Before long, Doyle "sees" Annie in Lou and imagines he is courting her all over again.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 386
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, emotional, psychological, captivating, serious, gloomy
Similar in 83%
When Andrew Came Home (2000)
Plot Summary:
A mother searches for five years to find her kidnapped son in this fact-based drama. Unexpectedly the boy is found, but the reunion is not as she hoped. She now has to deal with five years of abuse that the boy suffered at the hands of his kidnappers.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 657
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sad
Similar in 81%
Too Young to Be a Dad (2002)
Plot Summary:
When 15-year-old, Matt Freeman, gets his girlfriend, Francesca, pregnant her family decides to put the unborn baby up for adoption. Matt agrees to the decision, but begins to rethink it. This movie is taken from the father's point of view.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 899
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sentimental, captivating
Similar in 84%
Empire of Dirt (2013)
Plot Summary:
Like many Native families, Lena Mahikan grew up in the cycle of abuse. Her father, a residential school survivor, was an alcoholic until he killed himself when Lena was 10. Her mother, only 14 years her senior, turned to the slots. By the time Lena was 15, she was pregnant and, before giving birth, was kicked to the curb by her mom. The cycle continues and Lena is now watching helplessly as her own daughter, Peeka, spirals out of control, landing herself in the hospital following a drug overdose. As a final attempt at survival, Lena decides to return home and face her own mother and a past she’s desperate to escape.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 259
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Angela (1995)
Plot Summary:
A ten year old girl named Angela leads her six year old sister, Ellie, through various regimens of 'purification' in an attempt to rid themselves of their evil, which she believes to be the cause of their mother's mental illness. Precocious, to say the least, Angela has visions of Lucifer coming to take her and her sister away, and one of her remedies for this is for them to remain within a circle of their dolls and toys until they see a vision of the virgin Mary come to them. But such thinking can only lead to an ending befitting of her own mental state.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, atmospheric, depressing, disturbing, controversial, offbeat, serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
She's Too Young (2004)
Plot Summary:
A mother/daughter relationship is thrown off balance when the mother (Marcia Gay Harden) discovers that her "good girl" daughter (Alexis Dziena) is part of a group who are engaging in sexual activities with multiple partners. Such activity results in an outbreak of sexually transmitted diseases.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing, teen, sexual, crying, sexy, ridiculous
Similar in 81%
A Brand New Life (2009)
Plot Summary:
Young Jinhee is taken by her father to an orphanage near Seoul. He leaves her there never to return, and she struggles to come to grips with her fate. Jinhee desperately believes her father will come back for her and take her on a trip. The film is based on the experiences of the director, an ethnic Korean who was adopted by a French couple in the 1970s.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, South Korea
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, captivating, emotional, inspirational, sad, poignant
Similar in 86%
The Pregnancy Project (2012)
Plot Summary:
The Pregnancy project tells the real story of Gaby Rodriguez, a seventeen-year-old who attended a Washington state high-school and made her senior school project the treatment of pregnant teenagers by pretending to be pregnant.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, thought provoking, independent film
Similar in 86%
Virgin (2003)
Plot Summary:
When a teenager finds herself pregnant, with no memory of having had sex, she determines that she is carrying the child of God.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 601
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, psychological, captivating, erotic, sincere, serious, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 89%
Death of a Superhero (2011)
Plot Summary:
A dying 15-year-old boy draws stories of an invincible superhero as he struggles with his mortality.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, Ireland
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, sincere, sad, cult classic, teen, realistic
Similar in 89%
...First Do No Harm (1997)
Plot Summary:
When Lori Reimuller learns that her young son Robbie has epilepsy, she first trusts the judgment of the hospital staff in how best to bring it under control. As Robbie's health slides radically downhill, however, she becomes frustrated and desperate, and so does her own research into the existing literature on treatments. When she decides to try an alternative treatment called the Ketogenic Diet, devised long ago by a doctor from Johns Hopkins, she is met with narrow-minded resistance from Robbie's doctor, who is prepared to take legal action to prevent Lori from removing him from the hospital.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: edutainment, sentimental, sincere, uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, controversial
Similar in 75%
The Pregnancy Pact (2010)
Plot Summary:
Inspired by the true story of teenagers at Gloucester (Mass.) High School who agreed to get pregnant at the same time.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, captivating, teen, sentimental, ridiculous
Similar in 87%
On the Outs (2004)
Plot Summary:
Follows the choices made by three young women - one a drug dealer, one an addict, one a pregnant teen - in Jersey City.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 692
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: rough, touching, serious, emotional, anthology, bleak, realistic, independent film
Similar in 81%
Sleepwalking (2008)
Plot Summary:
When her boyfriend is arrested for marijuana possession, Joleen Reedy and her 11-year-old daughter, Tara, take refuge with Joleen's aimless brother, James. Joleen soon runs off with a truck driver, and James is unable to meet his responsibilities. After Child Protective Services takes possession of Tara, James abducts her from a foster home, and the two travel from California to Utah, where his abusive father lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sentimental, serious, bleak, realistic, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 76%
Augusta, Gone (2006)
Plot Summary:
Martha is a businesswoman and divorced mother of two children - Augusta and Jack. However, when docile Augusta becomes a teenager, feelings of anger and self-hate cause her personality to undergo a scary transformation, and Martha realizes that this is not just typical teen angst. Augusta begins doing drugs, drinking, and ends up on the streets. Her concerned mother and father reach out to an educational consultant, who advises them to send Augusta to a strict wilderness camp for troubled teens. However, even the institution's experienced and tough administrators find Augusta a difficulty to keep under control. Martha comes to realize that there is no answer to her daughter's behavior.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological, rough, disturbing, depressing, dark, sad, teen, serious, realistic
Similar in 81%
Imaginary Crimes (1994)
Plot Summary:
A recently widowed, small-time hustler struggles to raise his two teenage daughters on his own and still make a dishonest living in 1950s Indiana.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sad, sentimental, sincere, realistic, depressing, contemplative, semi serious, sexy
Similar in 83%
What Girls Learn (2001)
Plot Summary:
Two teenage girls must come to terms with their stepfather when their mother is struck by illness.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 340
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sincere, emotional, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 90%
A Long Way Home (2003)
Plot Summary:
Family members struggle to heal their emotional wounds after an incident of sexual abuse.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 216
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, emotional, realistic, serious, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 85%
Fifteen and Pregnant (1998)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, 15 year old Tina Spangler discovers she is pregnant. Her choices are abortion, adoption, or a lonely, exhausting life as a single parent. Abandoned by her boyfriend, she turns to her mother. Tina discovers although it has torn her world apart, her pregnancy could re-unite her shattered family and help her find her true purpose in life.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, psychological, sincere, talky, ridiculous
Similar in 78%
Mockingbird Don't Sing (2001)
Plot Summary:
On November 4, 1970 on The CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite reported on a true, horrific story that was about to rock the country. A 13-year-old girl was discovered in the small Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia who was still in diapers, barely able to walk and unable to speak. Kept in severe isolation by her parents with virtually no human contact for more than 10 years, she was confined to her bedroom, tied to her potty-chair and left to fend for herself.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: psychological, uplifting, touching, realistic, sincere, thought provoking, depressing, dark drama, serious, emotional
Similar in 82%
Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story. Liz Murray is a young girl who is taken care of by her loving, but drug-addicted parents. Liz becomes homeless at 15 and after a tragedy comes upon her, she begins her work to finish high school.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, inspirational, sad, teen, crying
Similar in 90%
Mommy Is at the Hairdresser's (2008)
Plot Summary:
Summer 1966. It's time to enjoy the summer holiday, total freedom. Teenage Élise discovers that the sudden departure of her mother completely disrupts the family. Her brother Coco seeks solace in the garage, building a super racing car. Her youngest brother Benoît throws himself into his own inner world. The father seems absolutely knocked out by the situation. Élise decides to take control of her family, in an eloquent attempt to save them. With the assistance of flourishing nature around her, she stands on the threshold of an incomparable summer.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 922
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, disturbing, sexy, sincere, captivating, sexual
Similar in 83%
Face (2002)
Plot Summary:
Genie, a Chinese-American teenager, develops feelings for a charming African-American DJ, but her grandmother forbids their romance forcing Genie to choose between family and love.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 350
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, emotional, sentimental, serious, realistic, contemplative