Best movies like House of Sand and Fog
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Behrani, an Iranian immigrant buys a California bungalow, thinking he can fix it up, sell it again, and make enough money to send his son to college. However, the house is the legal property of former drug addict Kathy. After losing the house in an unfair legal dispute with the county, she is left with nowhere to go. Wanting her house back, she hires a lawyer and befriends a police officer. Neither Kathy nor Behrani have broken the law, so they find themselves involved in a difficult moral dilemma.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 72000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: psychological, bad ending, depressing, emotional, bleak, tense, sad, atmospheric, gloomy, touching
Best tv shows and movies like House of Sand and Fog (2003):
Similar in 85%
Once Were Warriors (1994)
Plot Summary:
A drama about a Maori family lving in Auckland, New Zealand. Lee Tamahori tells the story of Beth Heke’s strong will to keep her family together during times of unemployment and abuse from her violent and alcoholic husband.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: disturbing, brutal, depressing, controversial, sincere, emotional, realistic, dark, existential, powerful
Similar in 75%
Normal Life (1996)
Plot Summary:
Chris Anderson and his wife Pam live a fairly normal life until Chris loses his job on the police force and secretly turns to robbing banks to make his wife's dreams come true. Upon discovering his secret, she joins his deadly crime wave and together they terrorize an unsuspecting suburban town.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film, erotic, exciting, sexy, enigmatic, unusual plot structure
Similar in 84%
Frozen River (2008)
Plot Summary:
Ray Eddy, an upstate New York trailer mom, is lured into the world of illegal immigrant smuggling. Broke after her husband takes off with the down payment for their new doublewide, Ray reluctantly teams up with Lila, a smuggler, and the two begin making runs across the frozen St. Lawrence River carrying illegal Chinese and Pakistani immigrants in the trunk of Ray's Dodge Spirit.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: melancholic, emotional, bleak, suspenseful, atmospheric, thought provoking, serious, road movie, suspense, tense
Similar in 82%
Reservation Road (2007)
Plot Summary:
Two fathers' lives intersect when one of them is involved in a terrible and sudden hit-and-run car accident that leaves the other's son dead. In response, the two men (Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Ruffalo) react in unexpected ways as a reckoning looms in the near future.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, intense, suspenseful, bleak, emotional, depressing, disturbing, independent film, twisted
Similar in 89%
In the Bedroom (2001)
Plot Summary:
Summertime on the coast of Maine, "In the Bedroom" centers on the inner dynamics of a family in transition. Matt Fowler is a doctor practicing in his native Maine and is married to New York born Ruth Fowler, a music teacher. He is involved in a love affair with a local single mother. As the beauty of Maine's brief and fleeting summer comes to an end, these characters find themselves in the midst of unimaginable tragedy.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: realistic, bleak, depressing, heartbreaking, suspense, emotional, suspenseful, independent film, sincere, serious
Similar in 77%
Clean and Sober (1988)
Plot Summary:
Hotshot real estate salesman Daryl has a bad cocaine habit. After embezzling his company's money, he wakes up next to a girl who overdosed. To hide from the police, he checks into a rehabilitation program guaranteeing anonymity. Under the mentorship of counselor Craig, Daryl accepts that he has a substance abuse problem. As he falls in love with fellow patient Charlie, Daryl begins committing to a newly sober life.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, emotional, compassionate, melancholic, sincere, serious, psychological, depressing, spiritual
Similar in 88%
99 Homes (2014)
Plot Summary:
After his family is evicted from their home, proud and desperate construction worker Dennis Nash tries to win his home back by striking a deal with the devil and working for Rick Carver, the corrupt real estate broker who evicted him.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, emotional, sincere, serious, captivating, independent film, realistic, bleak, psychological thriller
Similar in 80%
Maria Full of Grace (2004)
Plot Summary:
A pregnant Colombian teenager becomes a drug mule to make some desperately needed money for her family.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Colombia, Ecuador, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: realistic, disturbing, tense, sentimental, sincere, emotional, independent film, touching, depressing, heartbreaking
Similar in 88%
Leviathan (2014)
Plot Summary:
In a Russian coastal town, Kolya is forced to fight the corrupt mayor when he is told that his house will be demolished. He recruits a lawyer friend to help, but the man's arrival brings further misfortune for Kolya and his family.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 56000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: bleak, depressing, atmospheric, thought provoking, meditative, emotional, melancholic, independent film, sincere, contemplative
Similar in 89%
Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)
Plot Summary:
Difficult tale of poor, struggling South Carolinian mother & daughter, who each face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance. The film won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries or a Special" and was nominated for "Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries or a Special", "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special", and "Outstanding Made for Television Movie". It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: disturbing, emotional, realistic, touching, suspense, thought provoking, serious, heartbreaking, depressing, gothic
Similar in 79%
Cake (2014)
Plot Summary:
After having visions of a member of her support group who killed herself, a woman who also suffers with chronic pain seeks out the widower of the suicide.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 39000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: heartbreaking, depressing, psychological, touching, sentimental, bleak, compassionate, emotional, serious, sad
Similar in 86%
Babel (2006)
Plot Summary:
Tragedy strikes a married couple on vacation in the Moroccan desert, touching off an interlocking story involving four different families.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 314000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Mexico, France
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: emotional, atmospheric, non-linear, sincere, bleak, depressing, art house, touching, breathtaking, melancholic
Similar in 77%
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Plot Summary:
Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 132000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: depressing, melancholic, disturbing, sexual, sad, emotional, heartbreaking, touching, bleak, talky
Similar in 76%
Crash (2004)
Plot Summary:
Los Angeles citizens with vastly separate lives collide in interweaving stories of race, loss and redemption.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 446000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany, Australia
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: bleak, touching, thought provoking, sincere, emotional, gloomy, sad, political, intense, disturbing
Similar in 84%
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Plot Summary:
After his older brother passes away, Lee Chandler is forced to return home to care for his 16-year-old nephew. There he is compelled to deal with a tragic past that separated him from his family and the community where he was born and raised.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 305000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: sad, depressing, heartbreaking, psychological, emotional, touching, independent film, compassionate, realistic, cerebral
Similar in 78%
Ordinary People (1980)
Plot Summary:
Beth, Calvin, and their son Conrad are living in the aftermath of the death of the other son. Conrad is overcome by grief and misplaced guilt to the extent of a suicide attempt. He is in therapy. Beth had always preferred his brother and is having difficulty being supportive to Conrad. Calvin is trapped between the two trying to hold the family together.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 56000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, depressing, realistic, sentimental, compassionate, crying, serious, existential, inspirational
Similar in 77%
Monster (2003)
Plot Summary:
Aileen Wuornos is an emotionally scarred highway hooker who shoots a sadistic trick who rapes her and ultimately becomes America's first female serial killer.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 159000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: bleak, disturbing, psychological, depressing, emotional, harsh, heartbreaking, sad, rough, captivating
Similar in 77%
Little Children (2006)
Plot Summary:
The lives of two lovelorn spouses from separate marriages, a registered sex offender, and a disgraced ex-police officer intersect as they struggle to resist their vulnerabilities and temptations.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 116000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: sexual, disturbing, sexy, psychological, melancholic, emotional, serious, erotic, realistic, depressing
Similar in 89%
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Plot Summary:
After seven months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at Bill Willoughby, the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Jason Dixon, an immature mother's boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement is only exacerbated.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 543000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: black comedy, dark comedy, ambiguous ending, psychological, motivational, touching, depressing, neo noir, suspense, sad
Similar in 87%
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Plot Summary:
While serving time for insanity at a state mental hospital, implacable rabble-rouser, Randle Patrick McMurphy inspires his fellow patients to rebel against the authoritarian rule of head nurse, Mildred Ratched.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 11000000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, dramatic, serious, captivating, surprise ending, tragicomedy, bleak, emotional, inspirational
Similar in 84%
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Plot Summary:
Gilbert has to care for his brother Arnie and his obese mother, which gets in the way when love walks into his life.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 250000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: melancholic, emotional, touching, depressing, sad, independent film, crying, compassionate, bleak, heartbreaking
Similar in 83%
Mystic River (2003)
Plot Summary:
A story about friendship and loyalty, guilt and vengeance, and the fateful affect the past has on the present.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 477000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, emotional, twist ending, neo noir, depressing, tense, bleak, psychological thriller, disturbing
Similar in 79%
Dolores Claiborne (1995)
Plot Summary:
Dolores Claiborne was accused of killing her abusive husband twenty years ago, but the court's findings were inconclusive and she was allowed to walk free. Now she has been accused of killing her employer, Vera Donovan, and this time there is a witness who can place her at the scene of the crime. Things look bad for Dolores when her daughter Selena, a successful Manhattan magazine writer, returns to cover the story.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 47000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, scary, enigmatic, psychological thriller, dark, detective, atmospheric
Similar in 83%
Taxi Driver (1976)
Plot Summary:
A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feeds his urge for violent action, attempting to save a preadolescent prostitute in the process.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 898000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: psychological, neo noir, bleak, cult classic, disturbing, controversial, psychological thriller, depressing, rough, atmospheric
Similar in 90%
Dead Man Walking (1995)
Plot Summary:
A justice drama based on a true story about a man on death row who in his last days forms a strong relationship with a nun who teaches him forgiveness and gives him spirituality as she accompanies him to his execution.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 100000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, thought provoking, sad, emotional, atmospheric, suspense, depressing, serious, realistic
Similar in 79%
American History X (1998)
Plot Summary:
Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for killing two thugs who tried to break into/steal his truck. Through his brother, Danny Vineyard's narration, we learn that before going to prison, Derek was a skinhead and the leader of a violent white supremacist gang that committed acts of racial crime throughout L.A. and his actions greatly influenced Danny. Reformed and fresh out of prison, Derek severs contact with the gang and becomes determined to keep Danny from going down the same violent path as he did.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 12000000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: emotional, dramatic, serious, rough, cerebral, psychological, tense, disturbing, black and white, political
Similar in 88%
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Plot Summary:
The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiraling out of control. A look into addiction and how it overcomes the mind and body.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 883000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, bleak, depressing, emotional, atmospheric, surreal, heartbreaking, realistic, mind bending
Similar in 84%
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
Plot Summary:
After her son Kevin commits a horrific act, troubled mother Eva reflects on her complicated relationship with her disturbed son as he grew from a toddler into a teenager.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 165000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA, Spain
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, bleak, depressing, suspense, surreal, gloomy, independent film, thought provoking, tense
Similar in 87%
American Beauty (1999)
Plot Summary:
Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 12000000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: melancholic, thought provoking, dark comedy, sexual, cerebral, dramatic, sexy, black comedy, tragicomedy, cynical
Similar in 75%
Magnolia (1999)
Plot Summary:
An epic mosaic of many interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness, and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 325000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 188 min
Plot tags: philosophical, cerebral, sincere, depressing, mind bending, clever, non-linear, mindfuck, meditative, mind blowing