Best movies like Kicks
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
When his hard-earned kicks get snatched by a local hood, fifteen-year old Brandon and his two best friends go on an ill-advised mission across the Bay Area to retrieve the stolen sneakers.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, psychological, captivating, hood, action adventure, suspense, social, mind blowing, aesthetic
Best tv shows and movies like Kicks (2016):
Similar in 86%
The Land (2016)
Plot Summary:
Four teenage boys devote their summer to escaping the streets of Cleveland, Ohio, by pursuing a dream life of professional skateboarding. But when they get caught in the web of the local queenpin, their motley brotherhood is tested, threatening to make this summer their last.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: hood
Similar in 87%
Jinn (2018)
Plot Summary:
Summer is a carefree teenage girl whose world is turned upside down when her mother abruptly converts to Islam and becomes a different person. At first resistant to the faith, she begins to reevaluate her identity after becoming attracted to a Muslim classmate, crossing the thin line between physical desire and piety.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 442
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, unusual plot structure, captivating, contemplative, indie film
Similar in 82%
Ballast (2008)
Plot Summary:
A single mother and her embattled son struggle to subsist in a small Mississippi Delta township. An act of violence thrusts them into the world of an emotionally devastated highway store owner, awakening the fury of a bitter and longstanding conflict.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, emotional, captivating, suspense, southern gothic, sentimental, sincere, bleak
Similar in 87%
Monos (2019)
Plot Summary:
On a faraway mountaintop, eight kids with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Country: Colombia, Argentina, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Uruguay, USA, Switzerland, Denmark, France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: suspense, ambiguous ending, avant garde, captivating, suspenseful, inspirational, philosophical, political, dark, social
Similar in 82%
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 86%
Burning Sands (2017)
Plot Summary:
Deep into Hell Week, a favored pledgee is torn between honoring his code of silence or standing up against the intensifying violence of underground hazing.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, hood, black cinema
Similar in 83%
Beautiful Wave (2011)
Plot Summary:
In Santa Cruz for the summer, a young woman discovers the sport of surfing -- and a family secret as well.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 613
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sentimental, contemplative, psychological, sincere, captivating, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 87%
Mercury Plains (2016)
Plot Summary:
A troubled man runs away to Mexico and is recruited to join a paramilitary group of teens fighting the drug cartels. He proves himself to the group, but questions their motive.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspense, suspenseful, action adventure, exciting
Similar in 83%
I'm No Longer Here (2019)
Plot Summary:
In Monterrey, Mexico, a young street gang spends their days dancing to slowed-down cumbia and attending parties. After a mix-up with a local cartel, their leader is forced to migrate to the U.S. but quickly longs to return home.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico, USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, tense, captivating, political, realistic, hispanic, hood, inspirational, weird
Similar in 76%
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)
Plot Summary:
Jimmie Fails dreams of reclaiming the Victorian home his grandfather built in the heart of San Francisco. Joined on his quest by his best friend Mont, Jimmie searches for belonging in a rapidly changing city that seems to have left them behind.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, unusual plot structure, captivating, disturbing, thought provoking, political, poignant, cult classic, independent film
Similar in 78%
All Day and a Night (2020)
Plot Summary:
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: hood, tense, serious, realistic, rough
Similar in 84%
Five Star (2014)
Plot Summary:
After John’s absent father is struck by a stray bullet, Primo takes it upon himself to verse the young boy in the code of the streets—one founded on respect and upheld by fear. A member of the Bloods since the age of twelve—both in the film and in reality—the streets of Brooklyn are all Primo has ever known. While John questions whether or not to enter into this life, Primo must decide whether to leave it all behind as he vows to become a better husband and father. Set during those New York summer weeks where the stifling heat seems to encase everything, Five Star plunges into gang culture with searing intensity. Director Keith Miller observes the lives of these two men with a quiet yet pointed distance, carefully eschewing worn clichés through its unflinching focus. Distinctions between fiction and real life remain intentionally ambiguous, allowing the story of these two men to resonate beyond the streets, as they face the question of what it means to be a man.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 569
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, sexy, hood, tense, sincere, rough, bleak
Similar in 88%
Slam (1998)
Plot Summary:
Slam tells the story of Ray Joshua, an original, gifted young MC trapped in a war-zone housing project known as Dodge City. Unable to find a job, Ray copes with the despair and poverty of his neighborhood by using his wits and verbal talent. Written by Offline Publicist Young Ray Joshua lives in the Washington, DC, district known as Dodge City, which is dominated by gang wars. One day he is arrested when his drug dealer is gunned down while talking to him. He is put to prison where two rival gangs, Thug Life and the Union, want to recruit him as a member.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film, hood, psychological, talky, uplifting, tense, sincere, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 88%
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 75%
Killer of Sheep (1978)
Plot Summary:
Stan works in drudgery at a slaughterhouse. His personal life is drab. Dissatisfaction and ennui keep him unresponsive to the needs of his adoring wife, and he must struggle against influences which would dishonor and endanger him and his family.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, realistic, serious, emotional, black and white, political, social, contemplative, art house
Similar in 90%
Dope (2015)
Plot Summary:
Malcolm is carefully surviving life in a tough neighborhood in Los Angeles while juggling college applications, academic interviews, and the SAT. A chance invitation to an underground party leads him into an adventure that could allow him to go from being a geek, to being dope, to ultimately being himself.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 89000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: funny, independent film, realistic, suspense, hood, teen, feel good, entertaining, intense, humorous
Similar in 87%
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete (2013)
Plot Summary:
Coming of age story about two inner city youths, who are left to fend for themselves over the summer after their mothers are taken away by the authorities.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, hood, clever, sad, therapeutic
Similar in 79%
Jess + Moss (2011)
Plot Summary:
Jess, age 18, and Moss, age 12 are second cousins in the dark-fire tobacco fields of rural Western Kentucky. Without immediate families that they can relate to, and lacking friends their own age, they only have each other. Over the course of a summer they venture on a journey exploring deep secrets and hopes of a future while being confronted with fears of isolation, abandonment and an unknown tomorrow.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 980
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, realistic, contemplative, stylized, psychological, captivating, teen, aesthetic, sincere, touching
Similar in 82%
Mud (2012)
Plot Summary:
Two teenage boys encounter a fugitive and make a pact to help him escape from an island in the Mississippi.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 187000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: emotional, suspense, atmospheric, touching, suspenseful, realistic, southern gothic, independent film, tense, enigmatic
Similar in 75%
Strapped (1993)
Plot Summary:
Ex-con attempting to go straight runs across serious problems. His girlfriend gets arrested for dealing crack to an undercover police officer. In a desperate attempt to get the charges dropped against his woman, he strikes deal with weapons cop to turn in local gun dealers. How ever, the D.A. is not satisfied with the results, resulting in some serious game playing and double crossing.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: hood, crime drama, grim, rough, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
Imperial Dreams (2014)
Plot Summary:
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, rough, serious, hood, inspirational, feel good, social, crime drama, realistic
Similar in 83%
Thicker Than Water (1999)
Plot Summary:
In Los Angeles, two rival gang leaders are also trying to be music producers. When DJ's equipment shorts out and Lonzo is cut out of the action by a record producer, the two join forces, which also requires a tentative peace between gangs. With backing from Gator, a smooth New Orleans drug king, DJ and Lonzo start dealing, organizing their gangs into pushers. Just as their finances are looking up, one of Gator's team pulls a double cross and two of DJ and Lonzo's gang bangers start a shooting war. Can the erstwhile music producers salvage anything of their bond or their plans?.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 689
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: hood, crime drama, independent film, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, cynical, surprise ending
Similar in 89%
First Time Felon (1997)
Plot Summary:
Inspired by the true story of Greg Yance. In the film, Yance (Epps) is a hood who goes to jail for possession of drugs. He is given a choice: 5 years in jail or a couple of months in boot camp. He chooses boot camp and finds out it is tougher than he thought it would be. He braves it through and comes home a better man. He then has to deal with the real world, and never gives up no matter what the odds.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: hood, inspirational, tense, rough, serious, realistic, black cinema
Similar in 83%
The Cure (1995)
Plot Summary:
Dexter, age 11, who has AIDS, and his next door neighbor Eric, a little older and much bigger, become best friends. Eric also becomes closer to Dexter's mother than to his own, who is neglectful and bigoted and violently forbids their friendship upon learning of it. Dexter and Erik start the journey to find "The Cure" they had read about in the local newspaper.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sad, touching, tear jerker, inspirational, sincere, realistic, depressing, spiritual, epic, crying
Similar in 89%
Bullet Boy (2004)
Plot Summary:
Ricky is just out of a young offenders institute, heading home to Hackney and determined to go straight. Instead, he heads straight for trouble when he becomes involved in a street confrontation, siding with his best friend Wisdom against a local rude boy. The trouble escalates into a series of tit-for-tat incidents that threaten to spiral out of control. Ricky's 12-year-old brother Curtis, hero-worships Ricky, though he appears smart enough to know he doesn't want to follow his example. Yet, despite the stern warnings from his mother and support from her friends in the community, might Ricky's bad boy allure be too attractive for Curtis to resist?.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, realistic, hood, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 79%
Moonlight (2016)
Plot Summary:
The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 326000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: serious, lgbt cinema, art house, hood, inspirational, social, sexy, touching, emotional, visually stunning
Similar in 77%
Boyz n the Hood (1991)
Plot Summary:
Boyz n the Hood is the popular and successful film and social criticism from John Singleton about the conditions in South Central Los Angeles where teenagers are involved in gun fights and drug dealing on a daily basis.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 151000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, thought provoking, hood, cult classic, brutal, bleak, independent film, rough, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
South Central (1992)
Plot Summary:
A man is put to prison for 10 years. Coming out of prison he wants to live a normal life and stop with crime but his son has yet followed the criminal path of his father.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: hood, captivating, social, sexual, crime drama, tense, rough, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 81%
Friday (1995)
Plot Summary:
Craig and Smokey are two guys in Los Angeles hanging out on their porch on a Friday afternoon, smoking and drinking, looking for something to do.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 122000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: funny, feel good, hood, cult classic, light, semi serious, hilarious, independent film, black comedy, realistic
Similar in 84%
The Retrieval (2013)
Plot Summary:
On the outskirts of the Civil War, a boy is sent north by a bounty hunter gang to retrieve a wanted man.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, suspense, road movie, realistic, gloomy, independent film