Best movies like Island Etude
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
First-time actor Tung Ming-Hsiang plays Ming, a young college student whose lifelong hearing problem causes him to communicate via slurred speech. Carrying a guitar on his back and lacking few concrete reasons, he decides to bike around the island of Taiwan by himself months before his college graduation.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 641
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, exciting, tense, rough, touching
Best tv shows and movies like Island Etude (2006):
Similar in 84%
The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner (2008)
Plot Summary:
The story of Alex, who, with the help of his charismatic grandfather, embarks on a journey in search of his real self.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Bulgaria, Germany, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, road movie, serious, realistic, feel good, political, social, beautiful
Similar in 78%
The Forgotten Kingdom (2013)
Plot Summary:
A young man reluctantly embarks on a journey to his ancestral land of Lesotho to bury his estranged father, and finds himself drawn to the mystical beauty and hardships of the people and the land he had forgotten.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 248
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, South Africa, Lesotho
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, realistic, stylized
Similar in 88%
Hear Me (2009)
Plot Summary:
A delivery Boy falls for a young girl who is hearing impaired. Comparing themselves with "water birds" and trees, together they are going to break the barrier and pursuit their dreams and take their relationship to the next level.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: romantic, touching, humorous, realistic, inspirational, sexy, scenic, serious
Similar in 87%
170 Hz (2011)
Plot Summary:
Nick and Evy are in love. Knowing that Nick is deaf, Evy’s parents do not consent to their relationship. They run away and move into an abandoned submarine, hidden from judgmental eyes. Their runaway love brings them new opportunities and new hardships.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 664
Genere: Drama
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, atmospheric, realistic, stylized
Similar in 76%
Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures (2005)
Plot Summary:
1942, in the middle of Northeastern Brazil, two very different men meet along the road: Johan, an aspirin salesman avoiding the German draft, and Ranulpho, a rural Brazilian seeking escape from the drought.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, road movie, realistic, neo noir
Similar in 81%
The High Pressures (2014)
Plot Summary:
Miguel travels to Pontevedra, his hometown, with the request of serching for some locations for a movie. His trip takes him back to the place where he grew up, meeting up with some old friends, but also leads him to the possibility of a new relationship: Alicia, a young nurse who will get to calm him down. Miguel will try to finish his work even though he mostly prefers to film the natives he meets, the movements and faces of his friends, the trains coming or the sea. A journey around the uprooting (the cinema) and love.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 91
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 79%
Mall Girls (2009)
Plot Summary:
Shopping malls - today's place of creating desires. Best jewelry, clothes, shoes. Unaffordable by young girls, but they "work" to get themselves sponsors for new items.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, tense, captivating, sexual, sexy
Similar in 78%
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 88%
Postmen in the Mountains (1999)
Plot Summary:
An old postman has spent his whole life delivering mail to the mountain of Hunan and is about to retire. His only son is due to take over his duties. As father and son journey through the mountains, the son begins to appreciate the toil and burden his father has to bear as postman for the villagers, and the old postman is also deeply moved as his son relates his mother's anxiety as she waits for him to return home from every trip.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 77%
Far (2001)
Plot Summary:
Serge is a long distance lorry driver between Morocco andEurope. In Tangier, he tries to reconcile with his former girlfriend, Sarah. She has refused to have anything to do with him since her mother’s death and intends to join her brother in Canada. Serge appeals to Sarah’s protector, a young Arab named Saïd, to allow him to meet up with Sarah, promising in return to smuggle Saïd into Europe.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 568
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Spain
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, tense, rough, captivating, suspenseful, sexy, multicultural, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 83%
Transylvania (2006)
Plot Summary:
Zingarina arrives in Transylavania, accompanied by her close friend Marie and her guide and interpreter Luminitsa. She is not there only to visit this region of Romania but to trace her lover Milan, a musician who has made her pregnant and who left her without a word of explanation. When she finds him back, he brutally rejects her and Zingarina is terribly upset. She leaves her two companions and having become a wreck she hardly survives by following a wandering little girl. Her destiny changes for the best when she meets Tchangalo, a traveling trader.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, touching, captivating, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 84%
I Forgot to Tell You (2009)
Plot Summary:
Marie is a young woman with a troubled past. Her passion is painting, but she never had any formal training. Living in the South of France, she takes whatever work she can get to make ends meet. Then she befriends the elderly painter Jaume and he becomes her mentor. But their relationship is not an easy one: Jaume has Alzheimer's disease.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 190
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium, Spain
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 76%
One Mile Above (2011)
Plot Summary:
Shuhao is a 24 year old Taiwanese university graduate. His older brother Shuwei, whom he has idolized since childhood, dies on a bicycle ride to Lhasa. He decides to complete Shuwei's journey, hoping to prove himself through this challenging trip. Shuhao's inexperience almost sees him headed over a cliff one dark night. Food poisoning nearly costs him his life just after surviving an attack by a pack of menacing Tibetan Mastiffs. In the end, Shuhao arrives in Lhasa to see the Potola Palace. His lonely journey, filled with laughter and tears, brings him to the discovery of a new purpose in life.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 280
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: China, Taiwan
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, realistic, captivating, road movie
Similar in 82%
The Giants (2011)
Plot Summary:
Brothers Danny and Zak, 15 and 13 & 3/4 are spending the summer in their deceased grandfather's house, waiting in vain for their mother, who is otherwise busy, and running low on cash. To make some money they decide to rent out the house to a local drug dealer, but things don't go exactly as planned.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Belgium, France, Luxembourg
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, feel good, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 81%
Tomorrow Will Be Better (2010)
Plot Summary:
Three Russian street kids, who live on their wits in a train station, take off to the countryside hoping to make it across the border to a better life in Poland. They are alternately looking for tenderness and pushing it away because they sense that it is a sign of vulnerability they can ill-afford. Kędzierzawska has the rare ability to take the world of children on its own terms. There is not a false note in this dazzlingly beautiful and emotionally involving story of three kids trying to find their path to a new life. - Adelaide Film Festival.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 275
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, atmospheric, realistic, sentimental, touching
Similar in 90%
A Thousand Times Stronger (2010)
Plot Summary:
The arrival of a new girl causes a stir in classroom social structure.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, disturbing, humorous, serious, sexual, sexy
Similar in 79%
Smile (2005)
Plot Summary:
Introduced to a volunteer opportunity with the Doctor's Gift Program, Katie (Mika Boorem) signs up for a trip to China, where she meets Lin (Yi Ding), a girl with whom she shares a birthday. Lin has a facial deformity that discourages her from ever showing her face, but her friendship with Katie helps her start to see life in a new way.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA, China
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sincere, sentimental, uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, intercultural, inter cultural
Similar in 78%
The Stone Angel (2007)
Plot Summary:
The feisty aging Hagar Shipley has lived an unconventional life. Her rebellious heart has always ruled and her choices have put her at odds with family and friends. Faced with her own mortality, and desperate to find solace, she goes on the run. In both the past and the present, she is forced to come to terms with the pain and pleasure, the disappointments and the exhilarations of her life.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, UK
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sexual, sexy
Similar in 82%
Strangers in Good Company (1990)
Plot Summary:
A busload of women become stranded in an isolated part of the Canadian countryside. As they await rescue, they reflect on their lives through a mostly ad-libbed script.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, realistic, talky, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 87%
Ricochet River (2001)
Plot Summary:
hree teenagers looking for adventure find more than they expected in this coming-of-age drama. High school seniors Wade (Jason James Richter) and Lorna (Kate Hudson) have spent all their lives in the small logging town of Calamus Grove, a conservative place where change comes slowly. Jesse Howl (Douglas Spain), a teenager of Native American ancestry, has just moved to Calamus Grove, and soon finds he doesn't fit in this close-knit community. Wade and Lorna go out of their way to befriend Jesse, and soon find that they're also regarded as outcasts among their peers. Eager to get away from the narrow minds which are stifling them, the three friends grab a car and take off for a summer road trip that turns out to be full of lessons in life and love. Ricochet River was based on the novel by Robin Cody.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 326
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, independent film, talky
Similar in 78%
Ana and the Others (2003)
Plot Summary:
Twenty-something Ana, now living in Buenos Aires, returns to her native city of Paraná. She meets old school mates, old friends, makes new ones, and starts to rethink her life, and perhaps change her future.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 358
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, realistic, offbeat, humorous, semi serious, sexual, sexy
Similar in 86%
Different Drummers (2013)
Plot Summary:
When David accurately foretells the death of their teacher and says God told him, Lyle devises a plan to find out if God really exists.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 320
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, serious, realistic
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 82%
Patagonia (2010)
Plot Summary:
Patagonia narrates the journeys of two women - one looking for her past, the other for her future. The film inter-cuts between their stories, in which one of them travels south to north through the Welsh springtime and the other east to west through the Argentine autumn.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 628
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Argentina, UK
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: road movie, atmospheric, touching, sincere, uplifting, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 81%
White Hunter Black Heart (1990)
Plot Summary:
A thinly fictionalized account of a legendary movie director, whose desire to hunt down an animal turns into a grim situation with his movie crew in Africa.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: enigmatic, melancholic, talky, exciting, serious, touching, realistic, meta, thought provoking, bleak
Similar in 87%
Travelers and Magicians (2003)
Plot Summary:
A young government official, named Dondup, who is smitten with America (he even has a denim gho) dreams of escaping there while stuck in a beautiful but isolated village. He hopes to connect in the U.S. with a visa out of the country. He misses the one bus out of town to Thimphu, however, and is forced to hitchhike and walk along the Lateral Road to the west, accompanied by an apple seller, a Buddhist monk with his ornate, dragon-headed dramyin, a drunk, a widowed rice paper maker, and his beautiful daughter, Sonam.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Bhutan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: road movie, atmospheric, serious, captivating, spiritual, independent film, inspirational, philosophical, poignant, anthropological
Similar in 85%
The Outlander (2005)
Plot Summary:
It is the early 20th century. A stranger arrives in the small, rural community and disrupts the lives of its inhabitants. The man, who refuses to give his name, is dubbed The Outlander. A traveller who disdains conventional behaviour and parochialism, The Outlander disturbs the villagers' complacency and scandalizes the community; he also elicits admiration and gains a woman's love. He ultimately leaves in the same manner he had arrived, but not before he has helped the villagers open their eyes to the larger world beyond their village.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 406
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, sentimental, touching, realistic, serious
Similar in 80%
Touch the Top of the World (2006)
Plot Summary:
The story of the first blind man ever to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 334
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, realistic, serious
Similar in 82%
One Week (2008)
Plot Summary:
Ben Tyler (Joshua Jackson) has been diagnosed with cancer. With a grim chance of survival in the best case scenario even if he immediately begins treatment, he instead decides to take a motorcycle trip from Toronto through the Canadian prairies to British Columbia.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: road movie, realistic, philosophical, bad ending, emotional, meditative, serious, sexy, feel good, children's story
Similar in 75%
A Time in Quchi (2013)
Plot Summary:
Bao stays with his grandfather for the summer and is shocked to see there are no modern appliances.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 130
Genere: Drama
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, atmospheric, captivating, serious