Best movies like Initiation
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
16-year old Axel and his clique are rioting in a residential home. There he meets the 80-year old Gustav who gains interest in the young boy, as he reminds him of his lost love.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 176
Genere: Drama
Country: Austria, Germany
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, contemplative, queer cinema
Best tv shows and movies like Initiation (2009):
Similar in 83%
Nothing in Return (2015)
Plot Summary:
One summer, Dario flees the hellish environment of his home. Luismi, unconditional friend, a poor devil with pretensions of winning, and Antonia, an old woman who collects abandoned his motorcar furniture, become his new family. Three generations living together in a city too big to be alone.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, tense, social, queer cinema
Similar in 75%
Atomic Age (2012)
Plot Summary:
Two young boys, Victor and Rainer, take the commuter train to spend the evening in Paris. In a nightclub on the banks of the Seine they go from one disappointment to another, from failed chat ups to street brawls. But as they get carried away by the night, they leave the city for the forest. In the silence of the moonlight nature, the desire between the two friends becomes increasingly vibrant. A new day is born from their friendship.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 484
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 67 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, exciting, melancholic, touching, captivating, suspense, teen, independent film
Similar in 78%
The We and the I (2012)
Plot Summary:
The We and the I is the heartfelt and comical story of the final bus ride home for a group of young high school students and graduates.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA, France
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, talky, serious, sad, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 87%
On the Downlow (2004)
Plot Summary:
Isaac and Angel are two young Latinos involved in a south side Chicago gang. They have a secret in a world where secrets are forbidden.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 187
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: rough, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sexual, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 87%
Summer (2008)
Plot Summary:
Shaun and Daz are vibrant kids, wasted by their experience of education. All they have is friendship and Shaun's first love Katy. From the moment Shaun steps into our world he is bound to lose. Labeled as a violent bully he destroys himself and Daz with him. Shaun has twelve years to reflect on an intense summer of love, sex and loyalty. But Daz's imminent death forces Shaun to confront his past.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Germany
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, atmospheric, realistic, independent film, crying
Similar in 84%
Handsome Harry (2009)
Plot Summary:
An ex-Navy man carrying out the last wish of a dying shipmate renews contact with old friends to break the code of silence around a mysterious, long-buried crime.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: realistic, sincere, serious, captivating, emotional, psychological, atmospheric, queer cinema
Similar in 77%
So Hard to Forget (2010)
Plot Summary:
Julia is a 35-year-old English Literature teacher struggling with depression as she tries to get her life back together again after her long, intense love affair with Antonia. Feeling totally abandoned after she and her enigmatic girlfriend broke up, Julia is thrown into a desperate, painful process. Her life and her values have been tinged with unbearable melancholy and her life's measure seems reduced to out-of-focus fragments of her memories. Her inner turmoil and conflicts hamper a process now made necessary - that of readapting to her new life. It is impossible for her to disguise her pain when she attempts to narrate emotions.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 519
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, emotional, captivating, deep, sincere, realistic, gloomy, queer cinema, gay cinema
Similar in 75%
A Few Days of Respite (2010)
Plot Summary:
Mohsen teaches French at the University of Tehran, and Hassan is a photographer. Mohsen and Hassan are also lovers, and in Iran they live in fear, as homosexuality is punishable by death. Tired of denying their love, Mohsen and Hassan flee Iran to head to Paris, where they'll be illegal aliens but can at least live openly as a couple. To avoid arousing suspicion until they arrive in Paris, Mohsen and Hassan keep their distance while traveling, and during a train stop, Mohsen helps a sixty-ish women, Yolande, with her luggage. The two strike up a conversation and she clearly enjoys his company; over dinner, she offers to help him find work in town and let him stay at her apartment. It's clear to Yolande that Mohsen is an illegal immigrant, but she doesn't realize that he's gay, and he finds himself wondering if he should stay with Hassan or live with Yolande, where he would not have love but would enjoy safety, security and could easily become a French citizen through marriage.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 43
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Algeria
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, queer cinema
Similar in 83%
Night Flight (2014)
Plot Summary:
Three teenage boys who were once close friends grow apart when they reach high school: Yong-ju lives hiding his true gender identity, Gi-woong becomes the leader of the school gang, and Gi-taek an obsessive manga fan. Tired of the constant malicious bullying by Gi-woong’s gang, Gi-taek betrays them by disclosing that Yong-ju has loved Gi-woong for years. Surrounded by an insecure boundary of the school and wounded by betrayals, the boys are driven into catastrophe.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, realistic, romantic, lgbt cinema, tense, bleak, queer cinema
Similar in 78%
In Bloom (2013)
Plot Summary:
Eka and Natia leave their childhood behind and ignore societal customs to escape from their turbulent family lives.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Georgia, Germany, France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, serious, captivating, social, art house, transgressive, sincere, queer cinema
Similar in 79%
Eastern Plays (2009)
Plot Summary:
Two estranged brothers are brought together when they have opposite roles in a racist beating: while Georgi who's recently joined a neo-nazi group participates in the violence, Hristo witnesses and rescues a Turkish family. Georgi, now being asked to participate in larger events, starts to question his implication in the movement and Hristo wonders if the beautiful Turkish girl he saved could be his ticket out of his sad life in Sofia. Only by reuniting will the two brothers be able to assess what they really want from life.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Bulgaria, Sweden
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sentimental, sincere, psychological, philosophical, melancholic, existential, tense, serious
Similar in 77%
Family Tree (2010)
Plot Summary:
When Frédérick, the patriarch of the Alsatian Muller family, is conspicuously absent from his son Charles' funeral, Frédérick's surviving son and his granddaughter, raw from their loss, await an explanation. Once revealed, Frédérick's reasons and the painful secret Charles harbored for years threaten the foundations of the entire family.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 205
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 75%
Faith (2010)
Plot Summary:
The fates of three German-born Muslims in Berlin collide as they struggle to find their place between faith and modern life in contemporary western society, caught at a crossroads where alluring liberated lifestyles conflict with deeply-rooted traditions.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 413
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, touching, serious, thinking, realistic
Similar in 78%
Master Harold ... and the Boys (2010)
Plot Summary:
This movie is of Hally, an adolescent white South African. He is stuck between his intolerant father's outlook of him and those of his caretaker, Sam. Sam is a black waiter and Hally's friend and teacher. Hally is required to laugh at his father's racist jokes, by contrast, Sam exposes Hally to uplifting experiences. One day Hally was terribly humiliated by his father and Sam shows Hally how to be proud of something he can achieve.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 580
Genere: Drama
Country: South Africa
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Firelight (2012)
Plot Summary:
Incarcerated women join a band of volunteers who battle forest fires and assist during natural disasters.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 631
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, sincere, touching, serious, psychological, captivating
Similar in 78%
Reconciliation (2009)
Plot Summary:
RECONCILIATION is a groundbreaking, provocative story about an estranged father and son struggling to overcome the heartbreaking consequences of their past. Grant Taylor (Eric Nenninger) has been troubled by intense childhood memories ever since his wife, Sara (Chelsey Crisp), gave him the exciting news..."You are going to be a dad!" As fatherhood nears, Grant privately wrestles with his embarrassment and anger toward his own father. His memories come to a head when Sara receives a call informing them that Grant's dad, Jeff (Jack Maxwell), is terminally ill and his last wish is to see his son. With Sara's encouragement, Grant reluctantly goes to see the man he disowned at his 10th birthday party, when he found out his father was gay. At the hospice, father and son confront the past as they come face to face for the first time in 16 years. Will Grant forgive his father for abandoning their family.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 152
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, independent film
Similar in 82%
The Nail: The Story of Joey Nardone (2009)
Plot Summary:
Tony Luke, Jr. stars as Joey Nardone, an out-of-shape boxer, who after 8 years in prison for an unfortunate accident leaves prison and gets a shot at redemption by fighting for one young boy's future - 14 year old Jesus.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 486
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating
Similar in 77%
Darker Than Midnight (2014)
Plot Summary:
Davide is different from the other teenagers. Something makes him look like a girl. Davide is fourteen when he runs away from home. His intuition leads him to choose Villa Bellini, a park in Catania, as a refuge. The park is a world in itself, a world of the marginalized, to which the rest of the city turns a blind eye. But one day the past catches up and Davide has to face the most difficult choice, this time alone.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 355
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, realistic, queer cinema
Similar in 78%
The Wise Kids (2011)
Plot Summary:
A vivid, dynamic Southern coming-of-age drama, takes place in the transitional space between high school and college, when life seems to be all questions and no answers, and the future is scarily wide open. Set in and around a Charleston, SC Baptist church, weaving through this ensemble piece are three main characters - Brea, an introspective pastor's daughter experiencing debilitating doubt, the hyperactive Laura, Brea's best friend and a devout believer, and Tim, the open-hearted son of a single father, confronting his homosexuality for the first time. Tensions and buried feelings abound, as colleges are chosen and adults behave badly, as Brea, Laura and Tim attempt to hang onto what they have, all the while yearning to break free.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, sexual, christian film, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 77%
Boys Life 2 (1997)
Plot Summary:
Compilation of four short films about homoerotic situations involving young men. In "Trevor", by Peggy Rajski, a teenager faces homophobia and falls in love for the first time. Tom DeCerchio directed "Nunzio's Second Cousin", telling the story of a gay cop who forces a gay-basher to come to his house and have dinner with his family. In "Alkali, Iowa", by Mark Christopher, a young gay man finds out some of his father's past secrets. And "Must Be the Music", by Nickolas Perry, follows four teenagers looking for love in nightclubs.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 487
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: independent film, anthology, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, sketch comedy, sexy, unusual plot structure, sweet
Similar in 80%
The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie (2003)
Plot Summary:
A troubled teen is given the chance to redeem his criminal debt to society.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 594
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, UK, USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 86%
Just Like the Son (2006)
Plot Summary:
A petty thief's mentoring of an apparent orphan takes a profound turn when he kidnaps the boy from a foster home and drives him cross-country to his sister's house in Texas.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, touching, captivating, independent film, serious
Similar in 85%
In Between Days (2006)
Plot Summary:
A Korean immigrant falls in love with her best friend while navigating her way through the challenges of living in a new country.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 609
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, South Korea, USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, sentimental, contemplative, captivating, depressing, mumblecore, sincere, touching, serious
Similar in 85%
A Trip (2011)
Plot Summary:
Three friends embark on a road trip like in high school, but things have changed - Gregor is going to war mission, Ziva is going to study abroad, while Andrej is still the same. There are secrets left unsaid. Can their friendship survive?.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 905
Genere: Drama
Country: Slovenia
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, road movie, captivating, psychological, atmospheric, touching, serious
Similar in 75%
I Travel Alone (2011)
Plot Summary:
Jarle Klepp is a 25-year-old student of literature with a passion for Adorno, Proust and grown-up women - and definitely not Tamagochi's, Lady Di and small kids. The news that he is the father of a seven year old girl - and that she will come visiting next week - enters his life like a nuclear bomb. Jarle Klepp has to become an adult.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, emotional, contemplative, captivating, psychological, sincere, touching, serious
Similar in 89%
A Beautiful Secret (2002)
Plot Summary:
The beloved screen legend Katy Jurado, the lights one last time in the history of a special friendship that develops between a lonely old woman and Jorge, a rebellious teenager in Mexico City in 1984. Through the use flashbacks, Jorge, now an adult, remembers the unforgettable lessons and conversations about human nature and society in general. This fascinating film provides a beautiful tribute to the legendary actress in a history of heart that will make you laugh and think.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 219
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 88%
Snow in August (2001)
Plot Summary:
In a world filled with hatred, their only hope was magic. Believe and anything can happen.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 326
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, atmospheric, emotional, psychological, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 88%
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
Similar in 80%
Pandora's Box (2008)
Plot Summary:
When an aging matriarch starts showing signs of dementia, her dysfunctional family in Istanbul must navigate a minefield of unresolved issues to care for her.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Turkey, France, Germany, Belgium
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, psychological, sincere, atmospheric, captivating, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 78%
Hide Away (2011)
Plot Summary:
A successful businessman attempting to resurrect his life buys and boards a dilapidated sailboat.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, emotional, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, serious, independent film