Best movies like Island
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Based on 'Jane Rogers' acclaimed novel, "Island" is a tale of yearning and retribution. Abandoned at birth, Nikki Black has spent most of her life in care sustained only by fairy-stories. Incapable of love, fearful and desperate for revenge, she decides to find her birth mother, confront her, and bitter enough to consider murder. She travels incognito to a remote Hebridean island where Phyllis now lives as a recluse with Calum, her son.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 553
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, tense, atmospheric, realistic, gloomy, art house
Best tv shows and movies like Island (2011):
Similar in 75%
Caroline? (1990)
Plot Summary:
Hallmark Hall of Fame presents the story of a mysterious woman claiming to be the deceased daughter of a rich man tries to solve the problems of his untrusting son and supposedly physically and mentally handicaped daughter. But one question stands in her way: is she really Caroline?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 508
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, atmospheric, mind bending, serious, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy, surprise ending
Similar in 82%
The Scapegoat (2012)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1952, as England prepares for the coronation, The Scapegoat tells the story of two very different men who have one thing in common - a face.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, suspenseful, period piece, realistic, hot
Similar in 87%
Helen (2008)
Plot Summary:
An 18 year old girl called Joy has gone missing. Another girl called Helen is a few weeks away from leaving her care home. Helen is asked to 'play' Joy in a police reconstruction that will retrace Joy's last known movements. Joy had everything. A loving family, a boyfriend, a bright future. Helen, parent-less, has lived in institutions all her life and has never been close to anyone. Gradually Helen begins to immerse herself into the role, visiting the people and places that Joy knew; quietly and carefully insinuating her way into the lost girl's life. But is Helen trying to find out what happened to Joy that day, or is she searching for her own identity?.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 456
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, atmospheric, touching, bleak, serious
Similar in 83%
The Whisperers (1967)
Plot Summary:
The Whisperers tells the story of an impoverished old woman living alone in a seedy apartment who enjoys a rich fantasy life as an heiress. When she discovers stolen money hidden by her son, she believes her fantasy has come true.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: depressing, psychological, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, independent film
Similar in 79%
Wolfy (2009)
Plot Summary:
There are two of them: a mother and a girl. They have no names. And they are in a constant run. The mother runs away from the daughter in an attempt to start new life, and the girl runs after her mother as she has no idea how to live without her. This endless run is full with repeated mistakes and resembles a barrel-organ sorrowful song or a spinning-top rotation. This small ridiculous toy "volchok" was the first toy in the girl's life, the only thing that tied her with the mother.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, serious, tense, disturbing, neorealism, gloomy, bleak, art house, weird
Similar in 84%
The Fold (2013)
Plot Summary:
Struggling with her grief, Anglican priest Rebecca Ashton tries to replace her deceased daughter with another girl.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 203
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, realistic, atmospheric, serious, emotional, gloomy
Similar in 78%
Hamlet (2015)
Plot Summary:
From its sell-out run at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre comes a film version of this unique and critically acclaimed production of Hamlet with BAFTA-nominee Maxine Peake in the title role. This ground-breaking stage production, directed by Sarah Frankcom, was the Royal Exchange's fastest-selling show in a decade.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 129
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 184 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, serious, captivating, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 78%
Sheep's Clothing (2013)
Plot Summary:
A group of literature-loving friends bury letters to be opened 10 years later when they will confront the dreams of their youth with what the future has held in store for them.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, sincere, tense, gloomy
Similar in 86%
The Mark (1961)
Plot Summary:
A man who served prison time for intent to molest a child tries to build a new life with the help of a sympathetic psychiatrist.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 976
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: noir, offbeat, psychological, tense, sincere, serious, realistic, disturbing, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Looks and Smiles (1981)
Plot Summary:
Thatcherism and the Irish troubles provide the backdrop for this study of Mick, a well-meaning youth in Sheffield, who has, unlike Dickens' Pip, no expectations. Mick lives with his parents, works on his motorbike, looks for work, and every two weeks gets his check from the dole. There are no jobs. His best mate Alan joins the army to fix tanks and is sent to Belfast to quell Catholics. At a disco, Mick meets Karen, who works at a shoe shop and lives with her recently-separated mom. Karen misses her dad. She offers Mick emotional stability and a route to adulthood; Alan pitches the army. Does Mick have a future?.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 482
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: independent film, black and white, psychological, serious, realistic, gloomy, biting, suspense
Similar in 83%
G.H.B. (2014)
Plot Summary:
A reflection on love and pleasure experienced by three women, set in France, New York, and Shanghai.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 25
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, captivating, psychological, gloomy
Similar in 80%
War Story (2014)
Plot Summary:
Lee is a world-weary American woman who arrives in an Italian city. Her tangles with hotel staff, incessant smoking and her disregard of the persistently ringing telephone hint at her volatility brewing beneath the surface. Between fitful naps, she wanders the streets, snapping pictures of refugees as if her camera were both weapon and olive branch. Struggling to confront her demons, Lee resolves to help a beautiful young woman in need.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 791
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, psychological, serious, bleak, contemplative, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Junkhearts (2011)
Plot Summary:
Frank is an ex-soldier, haunted by a violent past. He lives alone, drowning his nightmares with alcohol. Christine - smart and successful... on the surface, tackles life as a single working mother by immersing herself in drugs, parties and sex. Lynette, a young rough sleeper watches Christine stumble out of a club whilst she sits in the cold waiting for loose change to fall on her lap; her luck seems to change when she meets Frank who despite his misgivings, offers her a place to stay.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 787
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, rough, serious, gloomy
Similar in 79%
The Ice Cream Girls (2013)
Plot Summary:
The Ice Creams is based on the bestselling book by Dorothy Koomson about two girls who, one brief summer, find themselves involved with an abusive, controlling man. The situation spirals out of control and they are trial for his murder; ultimately Poppy gets sent to prison. Flash forward 17 years; Serena is married with a daughter in a seemingly comfortable life, returns to Brighton to take care of her dying mother. Poppy has been released and she wants answers. She claims not to have killed Marcus, but if she didn't and Serena didn't....then who did?.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 699
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 76%
The Mayor of Casterbridge (2003)
Plot Summary:
Adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel. At a country fair, young hay-trusser Michael Henchard quarrels with his wife Susan, and in a drunken fit decides to auction off his wife and baby to a sailor for five guineas. The next day, realising his loss, he swears not to touch liquor again for as many years as he has lived so far. Eighteen years later, Henchard has become Mayor of Casterbridge, a man well respected but not well liked. The unexpected return of his wife and daughter Elizabeth Jane sets off a turn of events that force him to face the consequences of his selfish impulses and violent temper.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 196 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, costume drama, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 76%
The Outcast (2015)
Plot Summary:
Set in post-war Britain, ten year-old Lewis Aldridge is grief-stricken as he struggles to cope with the death of his beloved mother. Left under the care of his emotionally distant father Gilbert, whom he barely knows and who quickly remarries, Lewis is forced to bury his feelings.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 179 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, atmospheric, psychological, serious, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 84%
Sworn Virgin (2015)
Plot Summary:
Years after declaring her eternal virginity and opting to live life as a man in the mountains of Albania, Hana looks to return to living as a woman as she settles into a new existence in modern-day Milan.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Albania, Kosovo, France
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, psychological, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, lgbt cinema, queer cinema, moody
Similar in 84%
Cold Light (2004)
Plot Summary:
What could be better than knowing your future? And what could be worse? A love-filled childhood abruptly ends when catastrophe descends. A catastrophe that the child had foreseen yet failed to act upon.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 611
Genere: Drama
Country: Iceland, Norway, UK, Germany
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, atmospheric, serious, offbeat, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 81%
Look Back in Anger (1989)
Plot Summary:
Look Back in Anger is a love triangle involving the brilliant-but-disaffected young Jimmy Porter (Branagh), his upper-middle-class, impassive wife Alison Porter (Thompson), and her aristocratic best friend Helena Charles (Redmond). Cliff (Horan), an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 370
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, sincere, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, disturbing, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Gideon's Daughter (2005)
Plot Summary:
Bill Nighy and Miranda Richardson star in a story of grief and celebrity, set in the intense spring and summer of New Labour's election victory and Diana's death. Nighy is a PR guru who has to stop and re-evaluate his world when his daughter threatens to leave his life, perhaps as revenge for his serial infidelities. Richardson plays a mother trying to bury her grief in an unconventional way after the loss of her young son.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, captivating, political, tense, gloomy
Similar in 80%
David Copperfield (1970)
Plot Summary:
A made for TV movie of the Charles Dickens' classic novel, turns Dickens' picaresque tale into an extended flashback, with David Copperfield Robin Phillips as a young man, brooding on a deserted beach, recalling his youth. The characters are all trotted out in choppy flashbacks as David remembers his life as a young orphan, brought to London and passed around from relatives, to guardians, to boarding school.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 585
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 78%
Angel's Fall (2004)
Plot Summary:
Zeynep, Tülin Özen works in a hotel as a housekeeper. But she suffers hell on earth because of her father's behavior. She only talks to Mustafa, 'Engin Dogan' who works in the same hotel and he is interested in Zeynep. She is not interested in Mustafa who is younger than Zeynep, but she is not indifferent to him. While Zeynep is trying to make a bonfire of bad situation, Selçuk, Budak Akalin who lives on the other side of city is a voice technician. He feels guilty after his wife's death. The suitcase which has his wife's dresses changes the Zeynep's destiny.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Greece, Turkey
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, atmospheric, touching, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Me and You (2012)
Plot Summary:
An introverted teenager tells his parents he is going on a ski trip, but instead spends his time alone in a basement.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, stylized, psychological, existential, freeze frame, realistic, extraordinary
Similar in 90%
The Cruel Embrace (1987)
Plot Summary:
Nicole (Marianne Basler) gives birth to a mentally challenged boy after she is gang-raped by American soldiers at the close of World War II in this grim dramatic tragedy. Young Ludo is hidden in the attic of the family home and continues to yearn for his mother's affection. Nicole enters into a loveless marriage with an older man who agrees to adopt Ludo, but her deteriorating mental health leads her to sloth and alcoholism. Ludo is sent off to an asylum, but escapes and takes up residence on a deserted beach in an old tanker that has run aground. This feature won the grand prize at the 1987 Barcelona Film Festival.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 181
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium, France
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 76%
The Serpent's Way (1986)
Plot Summary:
A salesman and his son sexually abuse the generations of women of a poor family as payment for debt. Janni must see his mother, sister, niece and wife all being exploited, and the family grow bigger with the abuser's kids.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 614
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing, gloomy
Similar in 81%
The Sea (2013)
Plot Summary:
A man returns to the sea where he spent his childhood summers in search of peace following the death of his wife.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 449
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland, UK
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, realistic, contemplative, non-linear, psychological, captivating, teen, serious, gloomy
Similar in 81%
Stockholm, Pennsylvania (2015)
Plot Summary:
A young woman is returned home to her biological parents after living with her abductor for 17 years.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, tense, serious, independent film, dark, suspenseful, teen, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Small World (2010)
Plot Summary:
Conrad Lang, a handyman in a rich family - he has been raised like a brother with Thomas, who has the same age -, accidentally puts fire to the big holiday house he keeps. He returns to the town he grew up in, to the family home, where Philippe, Thomas's son, and Simone are getting married. Conrad's frequent memory loss and behavioural problems rapidly reveal a neurological disease (Alzheimer's is suggested by doctor Cohen when he examens Elvira) which leads Elvira, Thomas's stepmother, to install Conrad in a guesthouse on the property, with the help of a nurse. When Conrad looses more and more his landmarks in present and past, memories of his youth come back to surface. They intrigue Simone, since these memories do not entirely fit together with the official family history.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 636
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Germany
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, serious, captivating, suspenseful, gloomy
Similar in 81%
The Scarlet Letter (1973)
Plot Summary:
In 17th-century Salem, Hester Prynne must wear a scarlet A because she is an adulteress, with a child out of wedlock. For seven years, she has refused to name the father. A vigorous older stranger arrives, recognized by Hester but unknown to others as her missing husband. He poses as Chillingworth, a doctor, watching Hester and searching out the identity of her lover. His eye soon rests on Dimmesdale, a young overwrought pastor. Enmity grows between the two men; Chillingworth applies psychological pressure, and the pastor begins to crack. A ship stops in Salem, and Hester sees it as a providential refuge for her daughter, herself, and her lover. But will Dimmesdale flee with her?.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 866
Genere: Drama
Country: West Germany, Spain
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, atmospheric, serious, emotional, realistic, masterpiece
Similar in 85%
Belonging (2004)
Plot Summary:
Jess (Brenda Blethyn) and town handyman Jacob (Kevin Whately) have been happily married 20 years, recently taking in a trio of Jacob's elderly relatives, including his mother (Rosemary Harris). Though the relations are demanding, kindhearted Jess -- who selflessly quit her job -- enjoys looking after them. But when Jacob disappears one day, Jess' life falls apart, and she must learn to cope with things on her own in this touching drama.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 299
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, touching