Best movies like Lakeboat
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Coming-of-age tale set aboard a shipping freighter traveling America's Great Lakes. Dale is an Ivy League college student who briefly joins a world-weary crew. Exposed to a seafaring lifestyle which falls short of his literary visions, Dale instead finds the experience rich in unexpected ways. The men's bravado and comical posturing gives way as their lively story-telling reveals more about their mythologized view of life than about what actually may have happened.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 734
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: surreal, melancholic, satirical, stylized, humorous, realistic, clever, talky, witty, semi serious
Best tv shows and movies like Lakeboat (2000):
Similar in 78%
The Water Engine (1992)
Plot Summary:
In the 1930s, Charles Lang invents an engine that runs using water for fuel. But when he tries to get it patented, he is first offered a ridiculously low amount. When he refuses, he is suddenly several people are pressuring him to sell. The big oil companies don't want the competition. Now he has to try and keep them from getting his idea, and somehow get it published.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 298
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
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 76%
Pressure Point (1962)
Plot Summary:
An African-American prison psychiatrist (Sidney Poitier) finds the boundaries of his professionalism sorely tested when he must counsel a disturbed inmate (Bobby Darin) with bigoted Nazi tendencies.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: mind bending, psychedelic, political, surreal, independent film, psychological, sincere, thought provoking, serious, realistic
Similar in 90%
Claire Dolan (1998)
Plot Summary:
A high-priced call girl, shocked by her mother's death, decides to get out of the business and have a baby.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: independent film, erotic, cult classic, crying, psychological, rough, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 80%
American Buffalo (1996)
Plot Summary:
Three inner-city losers plan a robbery of a valuable coin in a seedy second-hand junk shop.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: bleak, talky, stylized, independent film, minimal cast, clever, realistic, semi serious, thought provoking, intellectual
Similar in 83%
Return of the Secaucus Seven (1980)
Plot Summary:
Seven former college friends, along with a few new friends, gather for a weekend reunion at a summer house in New Hampshire to reminisce about the good old days, when they got arrested on the way to a protest in Washington, DC.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: independent film, cult classic, realistic, talky, political, aesthetic, clever, humorous, semi serious, thought provoking
Similar in 77%
The Men's Club (1986)
Plot Summary:
Seven men have a group session and share their feelings on women, love, life and work.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sentimental, independent film, touching, realistic, talky, semi serious, crying
Similar in 83%
The Browning Version (1994)
Plot Summary:
Andrew Crocker-Harris is an embittered and disliked teacher of Greek and Latin at a British prep school. After nearly 20 years of service, he is being forced to retire on the pretext of his health, and perhaps may not even be given a pension. The boys regard him as a Hitler, with some justification. His wife Laura is unfaithful, and lives to wound him any way she can. Andrew must come to terms with his failed life and regain at least his own self-respect.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, talky, grim, anamorphic, colorful, psychological, tense, sentimental, clever, serious
Similar in 86%
Desolation Angels (1995)
Plot Summary:
Returning home from a trip to visit his mother, Nick discovers that a good friend of his, Sid, has apparently raped his girlfriend, Mary. More concerned with his own wounded pride than with Mary's lingering feelings of guilt, pain and betrayal, Nick vows revenge.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 113
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: independent film, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Imaginary Heroes (2004)
Plot Summary:
Matt Travis is good-looking, popular, and his school's best competitive swimmer, so everyone is shocked when he inexplicably commits suicide. As the following year unfolds, each member of his family struggles to recover from the tragedy with mixed results.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Germany, Belgium
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, emotional, stylized, sentimental, humorous, witty, black comedy, art house, aesthetic, clever
Similar in 79%
Chelsea Walls (2001)
Plot Summary:
This movie tells five stories set in a single day at the famed Chelsea Hotel in New York City, involving an ensemble cast of some 30-35 characters.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: meditative, intense, touching, serious, talky, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, entertaining, detective
Similar in 79%
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%
State and Main (2000)
Plot Summary:
A Hollywood Film unit invades a small Vermont town leading to wholesale abandonment of values and virtue. A smart, warm and funny movie - and not just for movie buffs. Tagline: When a film crew came to Waterford, Vermont - They Shot First And Asked Questions Later.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, talky, funny, melancholic, cynical, stylized, realistic, clever, witty
Similar in 83%
Alone (1999)
Plot Summary:
Maria, whose parents live in the country, cannot stand her father's authoritarian ways and moves to the city. She finds a job as a cleaner and tries to survive in a wretched apartment in the shabby part of a big city. She is pregnant, and the fact that her boyfriend has abandoned her does not help matters. When her father goes to the hospital for an operation, her mother comes to stay with her. Her neighbor, an old recluse whose only friend is his dog, begins to come out of his shell and these three lost souls try to give each other the strength to start over.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, Canada
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, serious, erotic, uplifting, feel good, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 90%
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 83%
Two Girls and a Guy (1997)
Plot Summary:
Two women confront their boyfriend, a two-timing actor who professed eternal love to each.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: talky, melancholic, light, humorous, realistic, semi serious, sexy, clever, witty, sexual
Similar in 83%
Crashing (2007)
Plot Summary:
It sounds like a budding writer's dream: a bestselling first novel, a luxurious house in Malibu, and a trophy wife... But it all unravels when writer's block and a failed marriage send Richard McMurray (Campbell Scott, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) out into the streets.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 710
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: sexy, psychological, realistic, captivating, emotional, humorous, semi serious, sexual
Similar in 77%
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 76%
Half Nelson (2006)
Plot Summary:
Despite his dedication to the junior-high students who fill his classroom, idealistic teacher Dan Dunne leads a secret life of addiction that the majority of his students will never know. But things change when a troubled student Drey makes a startling discovery of his secret life, causing a tenuous bond between the two that could either end disastrously or provide a catalyst of hope.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 91000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: depressing, independent film, talky, emotional, serious, inspirational, feel good, melancholic, intense, indie film
Similar in 78%
Faces (1968)
Plot Summary:
An old married man leaves his wife for a younger woman. Shortly after, his ex-wife also begins a relationship with a younger partner.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: intense, art house, black and white, independent film, talky, biting, existential, visually stunning, aesthetic, psychological
Similar in 84%
The Substance of Fire (1996)
Plot Summary:
Isaac Geldhart is a Holocaust survivor who, overcome by grief at the recent death of his wife, seems determined to run his publishing firm into the ground by printing books that have no hope of financial success. His son Aaron, who also works at the company, grows frustrated with Isaac's emotional decline and attempts to take over the firm. The resulting crisis involves Isaac's other two children, his daughter Sarah and his dying son Martin.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 667
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: melancholic, talky, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, independent film, contemplative, gloomy, sexy
Similar in 80%
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%
Sexual Dependency (2003)
Plot Summary:
A poor girl, a rich stud, a university student and a model -- nothing in common, except the desire to experience true intimacy. Their stories unfold and overlap as each becomes victim to their own sexual dependencies, self-perceptions and illusions. Thematically structured around issues of femininity, masculinity, virginity, rape and sexuality, each teen struggles to make sense of their own identity, reaching for ideals that represent everything they feel they are supposed to be, but are not.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 810
Genere: Drama
Country: Bolivia, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: erotic, psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, sexual, crying, sexy
Similar in 85%
Echo Park LA (2006)
Plot Summary:
As Magdalena's 15th birthday approaches, her simple, blissful life is complicated by the discovery that she's pregnant. Kicked out of her house, she finds a new family with her great-granduncle and gay cousin.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, melancholic, sentimental, realistic, emotional, humorous, semi serious, crying, hispanic, novela
Similar in 76%
The United States of Leland (2003)
Plot Summary:
A withdrawn young man, Leland Fitzgerald is imprisoned for the murder of a mentally disabled boy, who also happened to be the brother of his girlfriend, Becky. As the community struggles to deal with the killing, Pearl Madison, a teacher at the prison, decides to write about Leland's case. Meanwhile, others affected by the murder, including Becky and her sister, Julie, must contend with their own problems.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: depressing, meditative, psychological, bleak, emotional, rough, serious, realistic, touching, melancholic
Similar in 79%
Kicking and Screaming (1995)
Plot Summary:
After college graduation, Grover's girlfriend Jane tells him she's moving to Prague to study writing. Grover declines to accompany her, deciding instead to move in with several friends, all of whom can't quite work up the inertia to escape their university's pull. Nobody wants to make any big decisions that would radically alter his life, yet none of them wants to end up like Chet, the professional student who tends bar and is in his tenth year of university studies.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: talky, humorous, independent film, depressing, melancholic, realistic, semi serious, clever, witty, mumblecore
Similar in 89%
The Secret Lives of Dentists (2002)
Plot Summary:
An introspective dentist's suspicions about his wife's infidelity stresses his mental well being and family life to the breaking point.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, talky, sincere, thought provoking, touching, semi serious, humorous, independent film, realistic
Similar in 81%
Jack (2004)
Plot Summary:
Jack, in full puberty, not only has to deal with his parents' divorce, but also feels his world is falling apart when his dad tells him he is living with a man. He slowly comes to terms with his own feelings when the girl he has a crush on turn out to have a gay dad as well and his best friend's parents end up not having the perfect marriage Jack thought they had.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 576
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sentimental, humorous, realistic, sincere, touching, emotional, semi serious, melancholic, clever, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
Body Shots (1999)
Plot Summary:
The Los Angeles club scene is a place of booze-fueled decadence and debauchery. In a night full of possibilities, eight 20-somethings take to the clubs seeking good times, companionship and maybe a little sex. But in the harsh light of the morning after, their worlds are thrown into a spin of confusion when hungover Sara accuses hard-partying Mike of date rape. Loyalties are tested as each among them is forced to take sides.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sexy, suspense, entertaining, melancholic, intense, psychological, serious, realistic, erotic, sexual
Similar in 87%
My Own Private Idaho (1991)
Plot Summary:
In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a gay hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 61000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: road movie, cult classic, surreal, art house, lgbt cinema, touching, serious, captivating, melancholic, independent film