Best movies like It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A nameless young character travels to the country, meeting some acquaintances and strangers, having banal conversations, and dedicating his existence to daily mundane activities.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 922
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: independent film
Best tv shows and movies like It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (1988):
Similar in 78%
Split Second (1999)
Plot Summary:
A split-second decision made in a fit of rage drives attorney and family man Michael Anderson to desperate measures.The stressed-out lawyer hits his melting point one fateful day, when he runs away from the consequences of his actions.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 271
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, crying
Similar in 76%
Things That Hang from Trees (2006)
Plot Summary:
St. Augustine, Florida, 1969. An eight-year-old boy's wish to see the fireworks from atop the city's lighthouse is complicated by his odd neighbors, abusive peers, and hopeless parents. The young boy's seemingly simple goal develops into a struggle in which his life, both internal and corporeal, hangs in the balance.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 232
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, captivating, disturbing, southern gothic
Similar in 75%
Road Movie (1973)
Plot Summary:
Gil and Hank are two independent truckers who run into problems when they are forced to pay off traffic managers to get loads. They also have to pay off highway cops when their rigs are overweight and bank loans but consider themselves lucky just to be able to keep up the interest payments. Add to that a small, frizzy-wigged highway hooker named Janice, who tempts them with her lurid charms.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 177
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: road movie, crying, independent film
Similar in 90%
Stand Clear of the Closing Doors (2013)
Plot Summary:
When autistic teen Ricky is scolded for skipping class, he escapes into the subway for a days-long odyssey among the subway’s disparate denizens. Meanwhile, his mother wages an escalating search effort above ground. Based on a true story and set in Far Rockaway, Queens, in the days leading up to Hurricane Sandy, these parallel stories of mother and son take the viewer on a touching journey of community and connection in and below New York City.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 513
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, melancholic, disturbing, independent film, serious, realistic, detective
Similar in 81%
Off the Map (2003)
Plot Summary:
An 11-year-old girl watches her father come down with a crippling depression. Over one summer, she learns answers to several mysteries and comes to terms with love and loss.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: stylized, intense, sincere, touching, atmospheric, emotional, realistic, semi serious, crying, spiritual
Similar in 88%
Maladies (2012)
Plot Summary:
A talented and successful actor retires at a young age due to a perceived mental illness. Now living in a small town with his deranged sister and his best friend, we watch as their Maladies intertwine.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 787
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, emotional, realistic, captivating, tense, rough, serious, independent film
Similar in 78%
Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day (1996)
Plot Summary:
The Yosemite Valley Railroad, which runs through the breathtaking scenery and stunning vistas of Yosemite National Park, is on the brink of failure. The grandson of a Chinese railroad laborer embarks on a romantic, but ultimately doomed, quest to save this railroad from being sold for scrap. His love of trains finds him working as a railroad-man, instead of at his father's profitable business. He manages to locate a wealthy eccentric investor to help him acquire the railroad, but its financial inviability makes this a quixotic reprieve, at best. The film also portrays the anti-Asian racism present in America at the conclusion of World War II.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 178
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: black and white, independent film, sincere, atmospheric, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 77%
Museum Hours (2012)
Plot Summary:
At the Kunsthistorisches Art Museum in Vienna, a museum guard and a visiting out-of-towner find refuge in life, art, and each other, in Jem Cohen’s painterly rumination on how art influences and echoes contemporary society.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Austria, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: realistic, contemplative, sincere, thought provoking, serious, postmodern, captivating, minimal cast, clever, offbeat
Similar in 90%
Local Color (2006)
Plot Summary:
A successful artist looks back with loving memories on the summer of his defining year, 1974. A talented but troubled 18-year-old aspiring artist befriends a brilliant elderly alcoholic painter who has turned his back on not only art but life. The two form what appears to be at first a tenuous relationship. The kid wants to learn all the secrets the master has locked away inside his head and heart. Time has not been kind to the old master. His life appears pointless to him until the kid rekindles his interest in his work and ultimately gives him the will to live. Together, they give one another a priceless gift. The kid learns to see the world through the master's eyes. And the master learns to see life through the eyes of innocence again. This story is based on a real life experience.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, emotional, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 88%
Landscape in the Mist (1988)
Plot Summary:
Road movie about two children searching for their father who is supposed to live in Germany. Their obsession for this father figure will take them to the boundaries between childhood and adolescence.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: Greece, France, Italy
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: road movie, touching, serious, rough, realistic, poetic, slow cinema, contemplative, sad, art house
Similar in 80%
Mrs. Harris (2005)
Plot Summary:
Based on the sensational 1980s media event, famed cardiologist Herman Tarnower meets a particularly brutal end at the hands of his jilted lover, Jean Harris.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: clever, serious, realistic, witty, biting, crying, detective, suspense
Similar in 89%
Certain Women (2016)
Plot Summary:
The lives of four women intersect in small-town America, where each is imperfectly blazing a trail.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, captivating, ironic, disturbing, poetic, indie film, heartfelt, profound, weird, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
The Exploding Girl (2009)
Plot Summary:
On a summer break from college, Ivy, a young epileptic woman, struggles to balance her feelings for her fledgling boyfriend while her friend Al crashes with her for the season.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: mumblecore, touching, serious, sincere, realistic, independent film, crying, avant garde, whimsical
Similar in 77%
C'mon C'mon (2021)
Plot Summary:
Johnny and his young nephew forge a tenuous but transformational relationship when they embark on a cross-country trip to see life away from Los Angeles.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: black and white, psychological, sincere, captivating, funny, inspirational, philosophical, thought provoking, serious, art house
Similar in 77%
Along the Way (2007)
Plot Summary:
A funny, gripping and powerful drama about the post graduation summer of four lifelong friends and one night that changed the course of their lives... forever. Like Crash , Saint Elmo s Fire and it s inspiration Stand By Me, Along the WAY is a haunting portrait of American Youth. A profound and poignant story about friendship, the moments that shape us and an unforgettable story that deserves it place among the best and brightest that the independent film world has to offer.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 298
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: touching, offbeat, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, crying
Similar in 78%
Down to the Bone (2004)
Plot Summary:
A woman stuck in a stale marriage struggles to raise her children and manage her secret drug habit. But when winter comes to her small town, her balancing act begins to come crashing down.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, scary, bleak, realistic, gloomy, crying
Similar in 88%
Steal Me (2005)
Plot Summary:
Chasing his wayward mother to Montana, fifteen year old Jake finds the picture perfect Tucker family instead who photoshop him into their lives, despite his questionable past. Too bad Jake can not stop himself from stealing, being seduced by the sexy next door neighbor, courting the mother of the house, encouraging the son in his first love affair, and leading the neighborhood boys in an ever escalating series of pranks. A drama about stealing radios, cars, and hearts.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 294
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, independent film, crying
Similar in 80%
Around the Bend (2004)
Plot Summary:
A tale of four generations of men, all of whom have had their offspring at a young age: a great-grandfather, a grandfather, a father in his twenties and a son who is about 7 years old. When the oldest member passes away, the trio heads out on the road together in the Southwest to search out an old family secret that connects to their past.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, road movie, emotional, semi serious, humorous, family saga, realistic, crying, funny
Similar in 85%
Jerome (1998)
Plot Summary:
Jerome is a day in the life of a dreamer. Wade Hampton has found himself trapped by responsibility and lack of understanding by those closest to him. As a result, Wade simply leaves his old life with the idea of fulfilling a repressed dream of becoming an artist in Jerome, Arizona, a town he knows only through a postcard given to him years earlier by a co-worker. Naturally, an action as extreme as this is not without consequences. On his way, Wade meets Jane, a road hard, enigmatic drifter who lives the life of total freedom he has longed for. As the two speed farther and farther across the scorching Arizona desert, events snowball into an unforeseen crisis forcing Wade to confront realities he never could have imagined only hours earlier.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 143
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Redwood Highway (2013)
Plot Summary:
Marie, a reluctant resident of a retirement community in Southern Oregon, decides to walk 80 miles down the Redwood Highway to see the ocean for the first time in 45 years.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 585
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, feel good, serious, realistic, independent film, detective
Similar in 89%
The Dynamiter (2011)
Plot Summary:
All fourteen-year-old Robbie Hendrick ever wanted was a family. Yet as another Mississippi summer begins, his wayward mother has run off again fearing a breakdown and he's left to burn the days caring for his half brother, Fess. As the deep days and nights pass without her return and with older brother Lucas dangerously in their lives again, Robbie must face the fact that his dream of a family may only be a dream and he might just lose the only family he's ever had: Fess.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 609
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 73 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, realistic, sentimental, sincere, feel good, gothic, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 84%
The Dream Catcher (1999)
Plot Summary:
An abandoned teen jumps a freight train in Philadelphia intent on reaching his uncle in Indiana, whom he believes will help him with financial difficulties including a pregnant girlfriend. In Ohio, he meets another homeless teen, who escorts him to his uncle. Finding his uncle equally broke, the duo head on to Oklahoma City to try to find the first teen's long-gone ex-con father. A confrontation between father and son send the duo on into exploits in the west including getting beaten up, busting into an Indian reservation church, and hitch-hiking with a beautiful nurse.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 606
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, road movie
Similar in 89%
Winter Solstice (2004)
Plot Summary:
A widower confronts his older son's decision to leave home and his younger son's self-destructive behavior.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, contemplative
Similar in 89%
Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993)
Plot Summary:
Rebelling against his dreary life in a small Arizona town, salesman Nick abandons his girlfriend, Beth, and strikes out onto the highway in search of... something else. Encouraged by her best friend, Carol, Beth reluctantly accepts the romantic attentions of Sid, a local housepainter.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, independent film, clever, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, philosophical, thought provoking, intellectual
Similar in 89%
American Gun (2005)
Plot Summary:
Seemingly disparate portraits of people -- among them a single mother, a high school principal, and an ace student -- Distinctly American -- all affected by the proliferation of guns in American society.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, emotional, sincere, bleak, serious, realistic, contemplative, inspirational, independent film, gloomy
Similar in 82%
Joe Gould's Secret (2000)
Plot Summary:
Around 1940, New Yorker staff writer Joe Mitchell meets Joe Gould, a Greenwich Village character who cadges meals, drinks, and contributions to the Joe Gould Fund and who is writing a voluminous Oral History of the World, a record of 20,000 conversations he's overheard. Mitchell is fascinated with this Harvard grad and writes a 1942 piece about him, "Professor Seagull," bringing Gould some celebrity and an invitation to join the Greenwich Village Ravens, a poetry club he's often crashed. Gould's touchy, querulous personality and his frequent dropping in on Mitchell for hours of chat lead to a breakup, but the two Joes stay in touch until Gould's death and Mitchell's unveiling of the secret.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: melancholic, sentimental, independent film, realistic, enigmatic, stylized, intellectual, serious, witty, contemplative
Similar in 88%
Wendy and Lucy (2008)
Plot Summary:
Wendy, a near-penniless drifter, is traveling to Alaska in search of work, and her only companion is her dog, Lucy. Already perilously close to losing everything, Wendy hits a bigger bump in the road when her old car breaks down and she is arrested for shoplifting dog food. When she posts bail and returns to retrieve Lucy, she finds that the dog is gone, prompting a frantic search for her pet.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: touching, sad, road movie, psychological, realistic, emotional, meditative, talky, stylized, sincere
Similar in 82%
Boyhood (2014)
Plot Summary:
The film tells a story of a divorced couple trying to raise their young son. The story follows the boy for twelve years, from first grade at age 6 through 12th grade at age 17-18, and examines his relationship with his parents as he grows.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 364000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags: melancholic, emotional, independent film, depressing, serious, realistic, philosophical, touching, sincere, inspirational
Similar in 86%
Slacker (1990)
Plot Summary:
Presents a day in the life in Austin, Texas among its social outcasts and misfits, predominantly the twenty-something set, using a series of linear vignettes. These characters, who in some manner just don't fit into the establishment norms, move seamlessly from one scene to the next, randomly coming and going into one another's lives.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: independent film, philosophical, surreal, satirical, absurd, art house, cerebral, cult classic, entirely dialogue, experimental
Similar in 78%
The Spitfire Grill (1996)
Plot Summary:
Percy, upon being released from prison, goes to the small town of Gillead, to find a place where she can start over again. She is taken in by Hannah, to help out at her place, the Spitfire Grill. Percy brings change to the small town, stirring resentment and fear in some, and growth in others.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: christian film, sentimental, touching, emotional, serious, realistic, gloomy, crying, tear jerker, inspirational