Best movies like Lies My Father Told Me
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A Jewish boy grows up in 1920s Montreal with a grandfather who tells stories and a father who won't work.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 573
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: independent film
Best tv shows and movies like Lies My Father Told Me (1975):
Similar in 84%
The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick (1988)
Plot Summary:
The early 1960s: In preparation for his Bar Mitzvah, a Jewish boy, Max Glick (Noam Zylberman) from a small Manitoba community with an overbearing family tries to navigate his coming-of-age with his family's condescension and bigotry using his sarcastic, Jewish humour. The town's rabbi dies, and a sub-plot develops in which Max's father (Aaron Schwartz) and grandfather (Jan Rubes)-both synagogue leaders-are saddled with a traditional Hassidic rabbi who sticks out like a sore thumb among the otherwise assimilated Jewish community. To make matters more difficult, Max likes a Catholic girl (14 year old Fairuza Baulk in just her third film), whom he later competes with in a piano competition. The quirky, fun-loving rabbi tries to help him with his problems, yet harbours a secret ambition of his own. Filmed in Winnipeg and rural Beausejour, Manitoba, Canada.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 258
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: Canada
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 89%
Who Has Seen the Wind (1977)
Plot Summary:
The coming-of-age of adolescent Brian O'Connal in small town Depression-era Saskatchewan is told. The son of the local pharmacist Gerald O'Connal, Brian is in many ways a typical boy, who dislikes school if only because of his run-ins with the nervous schoolteacher, Miss MacDonald, and who tries to catch gophers with his friends, Artie and Forbsie. His best friend and protector is slightly older Jonathan Ben, better known as The Young Ben (as his father is referred to as The Ben), who is highly regarded as a problem by those in town who see themselves as the moral authority if only because of The Young Ben's association to The Ben, the town still keeper and drunk. Brian's life takes a turn when his parents have to leave town temporarily, while Brian stays on his Uncle Sean's farm. That stint leads to a series of events which make Brian see life around him through slightly older and wiser eyes.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 160
Genere: Drama, Comedy
Country: Canada
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 78%
Seize the Day (1986)
Plot Summary:
Tommy Wilhelm (Robin Williams) is a salesman. An honest, hard-working guy who has lost his job, his girlfriend, and left part of his sanity behind as he heads to New York to pick up the pieces of his life. He's always been able to sell, but caught in a downward spiral, he must, in addition, face the father who never really understood him, while trying to balance his newly precarious existence.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: depressing, independent film, bleak, realistic, gloomy, semi serious, thinking, road movie, touching, feel good
Similar in 89%
Family Prayers (1993)
Plot Summary:
This coming of age story set in the 1960s takes a look at the effects of a couple's break-up on a sensitive, thirteen year old Jewish boy in the 1960s.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 184
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: crying, independent film
Similar in 89%
Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1991)
Plot Summary:
While newspaper writer Church struggles with the death of his wife, he receives a "special" assignment. He must answer a little girl's question about whether Santa Claus really exists.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 946
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Stacy's Knights (1983)
Plot Summary:
Everyone has a talent, and dreams do come true. Stacy Lancaster has an incredible knack for Blackjack. Once she joins up with daring Will Bonner the two young gamblers are on a non-stop roll. Soon the casino wants to even the odds. How long can their winning streak last?.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 490
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film, thinking
Similar in 80%
Why Shoot the Teacher? (1977)
Plot Summary:
It's the winter of 1935 and Max Brown is newly arrived in Willowgreen, Saskatchewan - a rural Canadian prairie town - on his first teaching job in a one room schoolhouse. He quickly realizes that this is not his dream situation: the winter is harsher than he's ever experienced, he's living in the basement of the school, the older of his students treat him poorly and his wages are paltry if and when he ever does get paid. He also feels physically and emotionally isolated. There, he bonds primarily with two townsfolk. Harris Montgomery sees Max as an obvious choice to espouse the politics of socialism. And Alice Field sees in Max a person like herself: being a British war bride, she is an alien in a harsh environment. Alice is in an unsatisfying marriage and turns to Max for emotional support. As Max goes through his first year in Willowgreen, he learns to understand life in a rural prairie town, both from the viewpoint of his students and for his own benefit.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 479
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film, thinking
Similar in 80%
Unfinished Business (1984)
Plot Summary:
Seventeen year old Izzy Marks lives in Toronto with her divorced mother and finds her life boring and directionless. Meant to be a sequel to Don Owen's acclaimed 1964 film "Nobody Waved Good-bye", "Unfinished Business" looks at life two decades later for Peter and Julie's (Peter Kastner and Julie Biggs) daughter Isabelle "Izzy" Marks (Isabelle Mejias). Curious, funny and intelligent, 17 year old Izzy feels the frustrations of her limiting environment and the pull of a more exciting, larger world. She meets passionate anarchist wannabe Jessie 'Fixit' (Peter Spence) and is quickly drawn into his free living alternative lifestyle. Much to the displeasure of her once free-thinking parents and friends.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 43
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 83%
Nobody Waved Goodbye (1964)
Plot Summary:
18 year-old Peter lives with his parents in a middle-class Toronto suburb and rebels constantly against their imposed middle-class goals and conventions and the materialist values they represent. He constantly mocks and belittles his family with his only real ally being his girlfriend Julie. Peter's relationship with his parents reaches its boiling point when he borrows his father's new car without permission and is left by him to spend the night in jail after Peter is arrested for reckless driving. Peter runs away from home and moves into a rooming house, and eventually gets a shady job as a parking attendant. His relationship with Julie becomes exponentially more complicated and he finally realizes that being alone in the real world is much harder than he ever imagined.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 326
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Fast Talking (1984)
Plot Summary:
A bright young teenager from a broken home uses his quick wits and glib tongue to get out of trouble - but they also get him into it.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 146
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: independent film, detective
Similar in 86%
Ticket to Heaven (1981)
Plot Summary:
David is a young man seduced by a religious cult that uses starvation, exhaustion, and brainwashing to mold recruits into money hustling disciples of a messiah-like leader. Chronicles David's chilling transformation into a gaunt, mindless shadow of his former self...and his ultimate salvation when friends and family launch a plan to kidnap and deprogram him.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 862
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, thought provoking, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, independent film
Similar in 89%
The FJ Holden (1977)
Plot Summary:
Suburban Australia in the late 70s. It was the era of the drive-in movie, the Chico Roll girl and the beloved FJ Holden. Boasting drunken fist fights, back seat sex, illegal drag racing, a classic Oz rock soundtrack (featuring Ol'55, Skyhooks and Renee Geyer) and the screen debut of future star Sigrid Thornton. THE FJ HOLDEN forged a strong connection with 70s mainstream youth audiences and today.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 257
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: road movie, independent film, cult film
Similar in 89%
The Fourth Wish (1976)
Plot Summary:
The poignant struggle of a man to grant his terminally ill son three wishes - and the obstacles cast in his way of achieving this goal.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 106
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: crying, independent film, juvenile
Similar in 89%
Annie's Coming Out (1984)
Plot Summary:
It tells the story of a young female social worker who begins work at a hospital for retarded children, and discovers that some of the psychological problems attributed to these children are incorrectly diagnosed. Proving this to be the case is difficult, however, as it is generally accepted that as those who are 'profoundly retarded' cannot communicate, therefore they cannot think. In the case of Annie O'Farrell (Tina Arhondis), finding a way for her to 'talk', other than speaking or writing, finally shows that she is not only able to think, but is highly intelligent. The battle against the hospital to acknowledge this in a legal sense goes to court, as the psychiatrists try to hide their misdiagnosis.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 181
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: independent film, learning
Similar in 81%
The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (2006)
Plot Summary:
A boy is left alone in a Jewish neighborhood in the year of 1970, where both world cup and dictatorship happen in Brazil.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, emotional, touching, realistic, sincere, spectacular, period piece, masterpiece
Similar in 79%
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)
Plot Summary:
The younger son of a working-class Jewish family in Montreal, Duddy Kravitz yearns to make a name for himself in society. This film chronicles his short and dubious rise to power, as well as his changing relationships with family and friends. Along the way the film explores the themes of anti-semitism and the responsibilities which come with adulthood.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sad, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, semi serious, biting, semi autobiographical, suspense
Similar in 84%
Goin' Down the Road (1970)
Plot Summary:
Story of desolation as two friends travel from Nova Scotia to Toronto in hope of finding a better life. Drifting from job to job: bottling plant, car wash, bowling alley, newspaper delivery, and in between enjoying the night life of the big city. Their previous life is looking better all the time. This movie is a time capsule of Toronto's Yonge Street - record stores (defunct A&A's), bars, and old neighbourhood side streets.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 967
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: disturbing, independent film, sentimental, sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 87%
Liar, Liar: Between Father and Daughter (1993)
Plot Summary:
An 11 year old girl accuses her father of incest.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 465
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: historical drama, crying, independent film
Similar in 83%
Go Toward the Light (1988)
Plot Summary:
A young couple faces the realities of life with their child who is diagnosed with AIDS.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 572
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 80%
So B. It (2016)
Plot Summary:
A young girl named Heidi who lives with her mentally disabled mother, travels across the country to find out about her and her mothers past.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 630
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: sad
Similar in 76%
The Wife (2017)
Plot Summary:
A wife questions her life choices as she travels to Stockholm with her husband, where he is slated to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Sweden, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, lyrical, intellectual, serious, emotional, sad, art house, novela, independent film
Similar in 83%
What They Had (2018)
Plot Summary:
A woman must fly back to her hometown when her Alzheimer's-stricken mother, wanders into a blizzard. The return home forces her to confront her past.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, captivating, melancholic, sad, cult classic, crying
Similar in 75%
Pieces of a Woman (2020)
Plot Summary:
A grieving woman embarks on an emotional journey after the Ioss of her baby.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 55000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, Hungary, USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, suspense, suspenseful, rough, disturbing, deep, existential, weird, beautiful
Similar in 79%
Careful, He Might Hear You (1983)
Plot Summary:
Abandoned by his father after his mother dies, young PS lives in suburban Sydney with his aunt Lila and her husband George. While they lead a modest existence, PS is happy with them. However, his contentment is derailed when Lila's wealthy sister, Vanessa, returns from England and takes an interest in PS.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 854
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: anamorphic, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, crying
Similar in 90%
Ushpizin (2004)
Plot Summary:
In Jerusalem's orthodox neighborhoods, it's Succoth, seven days celebrating life's essentials in a sukkah, a temporary shack of both deprivation and hospitality. A devout couple, Moshe and Mali, married nearly five years and childless, are broke and praying for a miracle.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, sincere, serious, independent film, thinking, emotional, realistic, contemplative, surprise ending
Similar in 78%
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Plot Summary:
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer (Joanne Woodward) and her daughters Ruth (Roberta Wallach) and Matilda (Nell Potts) are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, sentimental, realistic, emotional, talky, surreal, art house, sincere, clever
Similar in 75%
Wedding in White (1972)
Plot Summary:
A young girl's brother comes home from the army, and brings an army buddy with him. The three of them go out that night to celebrate, and after much drinking has been done, the brother's friend rapes the sister. After the two men have gone back, the girl finds that she's pregnant--and discovers that her parents don't blame the soldier, but blame her.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 371
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: crying, independent film
Similar in 79%
Heatwave (1982)
Plot Summary:
A woman attempts to stop a redevelopment plot which she thought was the cover-up for fraud and other criminal activity.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 410
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: neo noir, retro, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, independent film, detective
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 77%
The Town (1997)
Plot Summary:
The story of a family living in a small godforsaken town in Turkey seen through the eyes of children and dealing with the growing complexity when one becomes an adult.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: aesthetic, art house, black and white, slow cinema, independent film