Best movies like Hawaii, Oslo
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Hawaii, Oslo is the story of a handful of people who cross each other's path without necessarily knowing each other, during the hottest day of the year, in Oslo. We follow Frode and Milla. They are having their first child, who they are told will not live long. We follow Bobbie-Pop, a faded singer who tries to commit suicide. We follow Leon, an institutionalized kleptomaniac who is loking for Åsa, to whom he has a ten year old deal to get married. We meet Leon's brother, Trygve, who fetches Leon at the institution to celebrate his birthday, but who himself has plans to use his leave from prison to run away. And most of all we meet the angel Vidar, Leon's best buddy at the institution, who sees things no one else can see, and who may be able to save everyone - except himself?.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway, Denmark, Sweden
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, disturbing, anthology, art house, cult classic, bleak, cult film
Best tv shows and movies like Hawaii, Oslo (2004):
Similar in 80%
Eighteen (2005)
Plot Summary:
Pip, a street kid just turning 18, receives his grandfather's World War II-era memoirs and discovers parallels to his own life.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 659
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, serious, realistic, queer cinema
Similar in 76%
The Way We Laughed (1998)
Plot Summary:
Studying to become a teacher in Turin, Italy, Pietro is joined by his older brother, Giovanni, who has moved up from Sicily. While Giovanni is a worker with no schooling, Pietro shows considerable promise in academics, prompting the elder sibling to seek employment to support his brother's academic pursuits. Unfortunately, things don't go well for Giovanni and Pietro, and they face significant hardships as they try to improve their lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 825
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, juvenile
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Day and Night (2004)
Plot Summary:
DAY AND NIGHT is about people that love and want to be loved. It's the story of a father, his young son, his unfaithful wife, her secret lover, his young mistress, his lonely sister, his forgetful mother, a fanatic football coach, a pregnant whore and an angel disguised as an old man. They are all looking for the answer to the same question: "If love is the answer - what is the question?".
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden, Denmark
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: realistic, captivating, psychological, sentimental, touching, serious, gloomy
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A Cross to Bear (2012)
Plot Summary:
Mother of a 15-month old daughter and would-be dancer, fighting alcoholism and the hardships of living on the streets gets help from a home for women and tries to find the will to live and get her life back on track.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 146
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, touching, humorous
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Edi (2002)
Plot Summary:
No overview found.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
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I Saw the Sun (2009)
Plot Summary:
In the southeast region of Turkey, the Altun family lives in a small mountainside village plagued by a 25-year war, making their daily life a hellish struggle. As the war continues to intensify, the family is forced to migrate west to the city of Istanbul. While Haydar and Isa Altun decide to stay in Turkey with their young children, Davut Altun and his family migrate north to Norway, enlisting the help of smugglers. They eventually reach their destination and find work in a supermarket, but life as refugees proves relentless. Back in Istanbul, Haydar watches over the family as his wife undergoes an operation due to pregnancy complications. Their son makes friends with a group of transvestites, helping him to understand why he has felt different all of his life. While liberating, his newfound identity is seen as a disgrace to the rest of his family, leading him to flee from the abuse it produces.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, sentimental, captivating, clever, touching, serious, gloomy, crying
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In Your Wake (2007)
Plot Summary:
An estranged father returns with plans to open a bar with the son who still harbors resentment towards him.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 105
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, disturbing, bleak
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Letter to the King (2014)
Plot Summary:
In Letter to the King we meet a group of refugees, all with their own agendas, on an excursion to Oslo. A young man about to be deported visits his former employers to collect his off-the-books salary, a martial arts expert is looking for work, a young woman is haunted by the past and out for vengeance and an old man named Mirza is busy writing a letter to the king to get his final wish granted. An altogether urgent and nuanced portrait of a motley group of individuals, too often regarded as a homogeneous group.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 255
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway, United Arab Emirates
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere, anthology, bleak, gloomy
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The Town Is Quiet (2000)
Plot Summary:
A dark tale of working-class life in Marseilles, a city in crisis. Interesting characters include a hard-bitten but compassionate fish market worker with a drug addicted daughter and a moody bartender with a shocking secret life.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: serious, contemplative, touching, bleak, captivating, realistic, disturbing, neo noir, anthology, psychological
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Lost Persons Area (2009)
Plot Summary:
A man trying to keep himself afloat and marry the woman he loves sees all that's dear to him threatened in this drama. Marcus (Sam Louwyck) works as a maintenance man for a Belgian power company, keeping lines and electrical towers in repair along a thinly populated area with a few low-income neighborhoods scattered across the plains. Marcus has been living with his pretty girlfriend Bettina (Lisbeth Gruwez) for quite some time; she runs a diner, and they have a nine-year-old daughter Tessa (Kimke Desart) who seems to live in a world of her own. Marcus's boss is Hungarian émigré Szabolcs (Zoltan Miklos Hajdu), and when Marcus is seriously injured on the job, Szabolcs steps in to do his work. However, after meeting Bettina, Szabolcs decides to move into Marcus's personal life as well as his professional life.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 194
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium, Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, France
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, touching, captivating, bleak, serious, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 82%
Love Belongs to Everyone (2006)
Plot Summary:
Shy, gentle half-wit Dennis, whose only obsession is train-spotting, is released early on account of good behavior after a rape sentence. His parents who run a modest barbershop, skeptic André and Rita, desperately try to keep him out of girl trouble, but his victim's sister Barbara starts a hate campaign. After another girl reports abuse, Dennis is jailed and beaten black and blue daily. Barbara's boyfriend, lawyer Thomas Verelst, accepts to help 'pro deo' (no cost) and pleads that Dennis belongs in a mental institution.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 405
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, contemplative
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The Gospel of the Flesh (2013)
Plot Summary:
Three lives in search of redemption intersect in the streets of Lima: undercover cop Gamarra’s desperate attempts to save his wife from a terminal illness gets him into trouble; bus driver Felix wants to be accepted into a religious sect after his involvement in a tragic traffic accident; and imperiled soccer club leader Narciso tries to secure his younger brother’s release from prison.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 156
Genere: Drama
Country: Peru
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, rough, bleak, gloomy
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It’s Only Make Believe (2013)
Plot Summary:
After serving 10 years in prison for murder, Jenny returns to society. She wants to live a quiet life and resume her responsibilities as a mother, but soon shadows from the past start to appear.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 627
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, touching, suspense
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Ombline (2012)
Plot Summary:
Ombline, a 20-year-old woman, is sent to prison for three years after committing a violent assault on a police officer. Just when she has lost all hope for the future, she discovers that she is pregnant. The law allows her to rear her newborn for the first 18 months of its life, after which time the child must be given up and placed into state care. Ombline has no intention of surrendering her beloved little boy and is prepared to do anything to convince the authorities that she is capable of rearing the child after she has left prison. As her maternal instincts assert themselves, the young woman finds she has a cause worth fighting for, and an opportunity to rebuild her shattered life….
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 304
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, bleak, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 78%
We Were the Mulvaneys (2002)
Plot Summary:
Based on the novel by the same name, We Were the Mulvaneys is a sensitive portrayal of one family's journey as they face conflict, fear, tragedy and ultimately, themselves.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 599
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, touching, bleak, gloomy
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Manpower (2014)
Plot Summary:
An intelligent social issues drama, Manpower sketches a portrait of four men in crisis. Moving between scathing realism and subtle irony, the film raises questions of belonging and uprooting, exile and emigration, home and family. Meir Cohen is a decorated police officer yet he barely earns a living. His new assignment to deport African migrant workers teaches him that foreigners aren’t the only ones with no future in his country. Other plotlines intertwine with Meir’s story: an Israeli-Filipino boy fighting for recognition; a taxi driver whose children are migrating to a distant country; and a veteran migrant worker who’s forced to decide whether to leave or to hide until trouble passes.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 66
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, touching, realistic, serious, gloomy, biting, suspense
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The Devil in the Skin (2011)
Plot Summary:
Coming-of-Age drama telling the story of the strong bond between Xavier and his little brother Jacques and their struggle to remain together despite all odds.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 71
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, serious, realistic
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Living (2012)
Plot Summary:
In the second feature film by Russian director Vasily Sigarev, fate brings ordeals to characters that find themselves immersed in deep crisis; they must seek the strength to cope with adversity. In a remote and cold region of Russia, Galya, a middle-aged woman with a drinking problem, has been separated from her twin daughters and she wants them back. On the other hand, Grishka and Anton are a young couple who decide to get married, but right after the wedding their relationship is put to the test in a brutal way. While Artyom longs to see his missing father, but his mother objects. There is only one element that brings all of these characters together: misfortune.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, melancholic, realistic, disturbing, bleak, cynical, art house
Similar in 76%
Daybreak (2003)
Plot Summary:
Sweden, shortly before Christmas. Surgeon Rickard is told the job he expected goes to a Dane, because of his substance abuse. It's too late to cancel dinner with his in-laws. The guest couple announces their in-vitro is a success. Then Richard's wife learns he cheated her with Sofie. Meanwhile ugly hag Anita trades drugs to afford a taser to use on her ex Olof and his former physiotherapist. Workaholic builder Anders is disgusted by his grieve-deranged client Knut's plan and decides to spend time on his family, not just money.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, bleak, realistic, serious, emotional, gloomy
Similar in 79%
Two Gates of Sleep (2010)
Plot Summary:
After preparing for their mother's imminent death, two brothers go on an arduous upriver journey to honor her final request.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 266
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, gloomy, independent film
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Max & Lenny (2014)
Plot Summary:
Max and Lenny is the story of a friendship between two girls fighting for survival in a northern area of Marseille.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 51
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic
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Phantom Pain (2009)
Plot Summary:
Marc is a passionate cyclist and urban slacker who avoids work and responsibility. Marc's life changes from one moment to the next when he suffers a life-changing accident. He can either wallow in self-pity or tackle the beast called life with the help of love and willpower.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 930
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, psychological, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 90%
A Touch of Fate (2003)
Plot Summary:
One night in a small town in North Carolina, fate brings together three lives: an entertainment lawyer returning home to his dying mother after years in escape of his past, a woman trying to reclaim her supposed love, and a boy with a penchant for the sixth sense who struggles with the death of his father and overbearing love of his single mother. When the past and future suddenly bind these people together on a journey of need, forgiveness and discovery, they realize they've gained something when they least expected it.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 216
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 81%
Everyday (2012)
Plot Summary:
This film charts the relationship between a man imprisoned for drug smuggling and his wife and is being shot over the course of five years, a few weeks at a time.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 834
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, independent film, sincere, touching
Similar in 81%
Frailer (2014)
Plot Summary:
A woman diagnosed with terminal lung cancer gathers her three dearest friends together to make the most of the time she has left.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 104
Genere: Drama
Country: Netherlands, Norway
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, serious, contemplative, gloomy
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Automatic (2005)
Plot Summary:
Everyone falls into self destructive habits. Automatic lets us view a small cross-section of the lives of six characters as they struggle to break free from the automatic behavior that drives their lives.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 125
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: sincere, bleak, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, independent film, crying
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Of Two Minds (2012)
Plot Summary:
Follows the story of the challenging relationship between Billie and her younger schizophrenic sister, Elizabeth Baby. After their mother dies, Billie takes responsibility by moving Baby in with her family, including her husband, their teenage son and young daughter. At first, Baby and the family work to adjust to their new living arrangement. However, after a disturbing incident involving her son and Baby, it becomes clear to Billie that she and her family are not equipped to handle Baby's illness, ultimately forcing her to make the difficult decision to do what's best for her sister and her family.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 484
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, serious, psychological, captivating
Similar in 76%
Dry Summer (1963)
Plot Summary:
A scheming tobacco farmer sets out to ruin his competition by diverting the local water to his own property.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: educational, art house, black and white, tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic
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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
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Oslo, August 31st (2011)
Plot Summary:
Anders is a recovering drug addict in an Oslo rehab clinic. On the 30th August, he is given a day’s leave to attend a job interview in the city centre.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway, Denmark, Sweden
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: depressing, touching, gloomy, melancholic, bleak, heartbreaking, emotional, disturbing, stylized, independent film