Best movies like Happy Days
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Happy Days is an adaptation of Samuel Beckett's challenging absurdist drama, a play most would deem unfilmable. Faithfully adhering to Beckett's minimalist original, a black parody of love, marriage, and our search for meaning in an unfathomable universe, the piece consists of but two pathetic characters. One, wife Winnie, spends the duration of the drama half-buried in a pile of dirt; in true Beckett fashion, her predicament is never explained. The other character, husband Willie, is almost never seen. Dublin stage and screen veteran Rosaleen Linehan, in the lead, is exceptional as the trapped woman clinging to the empty, arbitrary routines and rituals of life, ever hopeful that 'this is going to be a happy day.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 134
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Happy Days (2000):
Similar in 84%
Son of India (1962)
Plot Summary:
Film starring Kamaljit Singh, Simi Garewal and Jayant.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 66
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Krapp's Last Tape (2000)
Plot Summary:
In Krapp's Last Tape, which was written in English in 1958, an old man reviews his life and assesses his predicament. We learn about him not from the 69-year-old man on stage, but from his 39-year-old self on the tape he chooses to listen to. On the 'awful occasion' of his birthday, Krapp was then and is now in the habit of reviewing the past year and 'separating the grain from the husks'. He isolates memories of value, fertility and nourishment to set against creeping death 'when all my dust has settled'.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 421
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 58 min
Plot tags: crying, minimal cast
Similar in 85%
Endgame (2000)
Plot Summary:
Hamm is blind and unable to stand; Clov, his servant, is unable to sit; Nagg and Nell are his father and mother, who are legless and live in dustbins. Together they live in a room with two windows, but there may be nothing at all outside.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 342
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: surreal, tragicomedy, dark comedy
Similar in 84%
Blues (2012)
Plot Summary:
A modern adaptation of Cocteau's classic play "The Human Voice": A woman is waiting for her ex-boyfriend's last call.
IMDB Rating: 9.3
IMDB Votes: 30
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 82%
Cyrano de Bergerac (1985)
Plot Summary:
As incomparable in swordplay and wordplay as he is, the gallant soldier, philosopher, and poet Cyrano de Bergerac is as timid as a schoolboy before the fair Roxanne. Derek Jacobi delivers an electrifying award-winning portrayal of Rostand's legendary log-nosed swordsman in this highly acclaimed production from the world's premier theatre troupe, The Royal Shakespeare Company. The bold Cyrano boasts he can defeat a hundred men in a swordfight, but because of his grotesque nose lacks the confidence to court the woman he loves. Yet so entranced with Roxanne is Cyrano that he uses the eloquence of his poetry to woo her for a rival.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 116
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 176 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Gold In The Streets (1997)
Plot Summary:
An Irish illegal immigrant (Karl Geary) works for a bartender (James Belushi) while struggling to survive and adapt to life in the Bronx.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 114
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 86%
A Quiet Day in Belfast (1974)
Plot Summary:
Andrew Angus Dalrymple's realistic portrait of a British soldier, his Irish lover and her twin sister amidst the strife of Northern Ireland.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 76
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 83%
The Good Man (2013)
Plot Summary:
Michael is a young Irish banker, whose life begins to unravel after causing a stranger's death in an accident. Sifiso is a teenager living in a shack in a Cape Town township, dreaming of escape. When their stories unexpectedly collide, their impact on one another's lives is far greater, and more surprising, than either could have imagined.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 73
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, South Africa, Ireland
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Pilgrim Hill (2013)
Plot Summary:
A middle-aged bachelor farmer living in rural Ireland has to deal with isolation and loneliness.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 207
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: depressing, fake documentary
Similar in 81%
Nola and the Clones (2016)
Plot Summary:
A homeless Irish girl encounters a series of men who appear strikingly similar to each other.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 11
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
King of the Travellers (2012)
Plot Summary:
King of the Travellers is a contemporary drama grounded in the traditions of the Irish traveller community and driven by emotive Shakespearean themes of love, betrayal, friendship and revenge. The story follows John Paul Moorehouse on his destructive quest to uncover the truth about the killer of his father twelve years ago. John Paul's desire for revenge is swayed as he falls for Winnie Power, the daughter of the man he suspects killed his father. John Paul must now battle between his consuming passion for justice versus his desire to be with the woman he now loves.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 339
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: realistic, semi serious
Similar in 87%
Saltwater (2000)
Plot Summary:
An Irish-Italian café owner in a seaside town faces a life crisis, as his wife recently died and he's severely in debt. His oldest son tries to help, but has serious problems of his own, while his younger son and daughter are having troubles in school.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 341
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
The Subject Was Roses (1968)
Plot Summary:
When Timmy Cleary (Sheen), comes home from soldiering, he's greeted by the open but strained arms of his two parents, John and Nettie, (Neal and Albertson). Once considered sickly and weak, he has now distinguished himself in the service and is ready to begin a new life. His parents, however, are still trapped in the bygone days of early and unresolved marital strife and begin emotionally deteriorating through several drama packed encounters. Now mature, the young Tim Cleary finally understands the family dynamics that has played all throughout his boyhood. By the simple act of bringing his mother roses on behalf of his father, Tim realizes he may have destroyed his family, but is helpless to obtain resolution which must come from both his parents.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
The Nun and the Torture (1983)
Plot Summary:
Chief of Police Rui, a happily married man of principles, is in charge of investigating Joana, a teacher who's accused of political crimes. After some false starts, he manages to arrest her, but is startled to learn that she's also a nun. The revelation doesn't alter the natural course of events: he must torture her in order to obtain a confession, and gets increasingly attracted to her.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 92
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: detective
Similar in 83%
Waiting for Godot (2001)
Plot Summary:
Two tramps wait for a man named Godot, but instead meet a pompous man and his stooped-over slave.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: psychological, minimal cast, dark comedy, captivating, disturbing, philosophical, existential, cult classic, absurd
Similar in 81%
Tara Road (2005)
Plot Summary:
Two grieving women - Ria, a Dublin mom whose husband discloses he's in love with a woman already pregnant, and Marilyn, a Connecticut Yankee who's son has died - swap houses for a couple months. Marilyn finds solace in Ria's garden and becomes friends with Colm, a local with a restaurant and his own demons. Ria gets a job cooking, has a date or two, and gradually comes out of her shell. Meanwhile,.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, emotional, feel good, spiritual, independent film, realistic
Similar in 76%
Ulysses (1967)
Plot Summary:
Dublin; June 16, 1904. Stephen Dedalus, who fancies himself as a poet, embarks on a day of wandering about the city during which he finds friendship and a father figure in Leopold Bloom, a middle-aged Jew. Meanwhile, Bloom's day, illuminated by a funeral and an evening of drinking and revelry that stirs paternal feelings toward Stephen, ends with a rapprochement with Molly, his earthy wife.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 967
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: surreal, mythical, independent film, sincere, epic, serious, realistic, contemplative, talky, scatology
Similar in 78%
The Death of Empedocles (1987)
Plot Summary:
Film adaptation by Straub and Huillot of Hölderlin's 1798 tragedy on the symbolic death of Empedoclus, the legislator in Ancient Greece.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 232
Genere: Drama
Country: West Germany, France
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
Rosie (2018)
Plot Summary:
A mother strives to shield her young family from their new reality when their landlord sells the property and renders them homeless.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, thought provoking, touching, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
Silent Grace (2001)
Plot Summary:
In 1976 the British Government put an end to the special category status of prisoners from the Provisional Irish Republican Army, no longer treating them as prisoners of war, but as common criminals. Mairéad Farrell - on whose life much of the film seems to be loosely based - was the first woman Republican to be refused political status in 1976. By 1980, when the film is set, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and doggedly resolute: “There can be no question of political status for someone who is serving a sentence for crime. Crime is crime is crime.” Silent Grace seeks to capture the struggle for the restoration of political status that was at the heart of prison protests in Northern Ireland - not just by the more celebrated male prisoners - but by a smaller number of women prisoners, led by Farrell, at the Armagh Women’s Prison.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 73
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
James Joyce's Women (1985)
Plot Summary:
In this tribute to James Joyce, Fionnula Flanagan gives a tour-de-force performance as a half-dozen or so women in Joyce's real and fictional worlds. When she portrays his wife Nora remembering their time together, Flanagan captures the era and the author in lyrical detail. As Sylvia Beach, the woman who first published Ulysses, new dimensions concerning the importance of Nora in Joyce's literary visions of women emerge, and when Flanagan interprets Joyce characters like Molly Bloom or a washerwoman from Finnegan's Wake, the beauty of Joyce's language shines through the melodious words.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 174
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
Garage (2007)
Plot Summary:
A tragicomedy set in the world of gas stations in rural Ireland, where over-diligent employee of the garage searches for intimacy during the course of a life-changing summer.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, thought provoking, melancholic, bleak, humorous, depressing, semi serious, crying, gloomy
Similar in 89%
48 Angels (2007)
Plot Summary:
Seamus is a 9 year old boy who has been diagnosed with a serious illness. In search of a miracle, he sets off to find God before God comes for him. Inspired by Saint Columcille, Seamus sets out in a small boat without oars or sail.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 392
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 84%
Little White Lie (2008)
Plot Summary:
Little White Lie follows the story of a luckless actor named Barry who has recently split from his girlfriend. He is seen wallowing at home in his pyjamas, where he becomes fixated on a children's television presenter who he sees on daytime television. The two accidentally collide at an awards ceremony and Barry sets out to impress the presenter. However, he inadvertently lies about his profession, ignoring his actorial status for a career in psychiatry.[5][6].
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 131
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: serious, touching, humorous, realistic
Similar in 79%
St. John in Exile (1986)
Plot Summary:
Dean Jones is Saint John in this intimate, inspiring one-man presentation of John in exile on Patmos. Full of humor, strong in spirit, and resolutely committed to Christ, John shares his account of the events that changed the course of human history---and challenges us with his last words before his death: "Little children, love one another.".
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 244
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: one man show
Similar in 75%
Parked (2010)
Plot Summary:
Fred Daly returns to Ireland with nowhere to live but his car. Then dope-smoking 21-year-old Cathal parks beside him, and brightens up his lonely world. Encouraged by Cathal, Fred meets attractive music teacher Jules. Growing closer, these three outsiders are set on a course that will change their lives forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland, Finland
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, captivating, psychological, depressing, life affirming, twisted, offbeat, serious, gloomy
Similar in 75%
Nothing Personal (2009)
Plot Summary:
Alone in her empty flat, from her window Anne observes the people passing by who nervously snatch up the personal belongings and pieces of furniture she has put out on the pavement. Her final gesture of taking a ring off her finger signals she is leaving her previous life in Holland behind. She goes to Ireland, where she chooses to lead a solitary, wandering existence, striding through the austere landscapes of Connemara. During her travels, she discovers a house that is home to a hermit, Martin.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: Netherlands, Ireland
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, realistic, contemplative, captivating, sexy, offbeat, art house, intelligent, sincere
Similar in 86%
80,000 Suspects (1963)
Plot Summary:
A doctor's already-shaky marriage is tested to an even greater extent when he has to contend with a smallpox epidemic.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 314
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 84%
The Dead (1987)
Plot Summary:
An all-Irish cast (including Donal McCann, Rachael Dowling and Colm Meaney) lends authenticity and gravitas to director John Huston's final film, an elegiac take on a short story by James Joyce (from The Dubliners). After a convivial holiday dinner party (circa 1904), things begin to unravel when a husband and wife address some prickly issues concerning their marriage. The movie stars Huston's daughter, Anjelica, and was scripted by his son, Tony.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: romantic, social, historical drama, psychological, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 83%
Kings (2007)
Plot Summary:
In the mid 1970s a group of young men leave the Connemara Gaeltacht, bound for London and filled with ambition for a better life. After thirty years, they meet again at the funeral of their youngest friend, Jackie. The film intersperses flashbacks of a lost youth in Ireland with the harsh realities of modern life. For some the thirty years has been hard, working in building sites across Britain. Slowly the truth about Jackie's death become clear and the friends discover they need each other more than ever. However, by the end, the friends split up for good, going their separate ways.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 652
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland, UK
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy