Best movies like Mano Po
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
During the Chinese Revolution in 1949, young Chinese copra trader named Fong-Huan marries Elisa, a young and pretty Filipina. The couples children, Daniel and Linda, were raised in a mixture of Chinese and Filipino-Hispanic tradition. These richly cultured people are the ancestors of a dysfunctional third-generation family whose daughters tell their own stories of joy, struggle, and the complex realities in the life of Filipino Chinese families.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 134
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Mano Po (2002):
Similar in 81%
A Speck in the Water (1976)
Plot Summary:
Nunal sa Tubig is a story of a community living on an island where fishing is the main source of livelihood and how they are affected by progress.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 162
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Whisper to God (1988)
Plot Summary:
When her boyfriend leaves for Japan on a singing contract, a dancer is so distraught she does not see the car that hits her. The driver pretends to be a helpful passer-by; they fall in love and gets married. Only bringing her to a more complicated life.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 30
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Mara Clara The Movie (1996)
Plot Summary:
Almira and Susan give birth at the same time in the same hospital. Gary steals the Almira’s newborn child and switches the infant to one of his newborn twins; in revenge to Almira’s decision of rejecting his love for Amanthe’s Gary concocts the wicked plan with his friend, Kardo, a hospital staff in switching the babies. However, one of the twins dies in the process of switching and the Del Valle’s are made to believe that the stillborn child is theirs. Gary then persuades Amanthe to adopt one of his twins to spare Almira from despair and sorrow. Amanthe agrees and for a fee and Gary hands one of his twins to Amanthe. Kardo, feeling remorseful documents every detail of the event on his diary. Susan names her daughter Mara while the Del Valle’s name their child, Clara.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 45
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Philippines
Duration:
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Bona (1980)
Plot Summary:
A scorned teenager gets revenge on the aging gigolo who took advantage of her while pursuing other women.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 106
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 82%
Escape (1995)
Plot Summary:
Set during the terrifying reign of Filipino despot, Marcos, two upper caste but very different strangers team up to try and survive the physical and mental torture they undergo after they are suddenly jailed. Geny is the conservative businessman while Serge is more sensitive and outgoing. Both of the young men's parents give all of their money, but the government refuses to free them. Even a mutual hunger strike fails to move their jailers. In desperation, Geny and Serge begin plotting their escape.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 51
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Philippines
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: political drama
Similar in 80%
Thy Womb (2012)
Plot Summary:
A Bajau midwife copes with the irony of her own infertility amid the deprivations of her gypsy community in Tawi-Tawi. A saga of island life stuck between the devil of passion and the deep blue sea of tradition.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 273
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching
Similar in 80%
Sister Stella L. (1984)
Plot Summary:
A nun who acts as a counselor in a home for unwed mother undergoes political awakening when her friend and namesake belonging to the same congregation as hers inspires her to get involved in the struggle for justice and freedom of striking workers in a cooking oil company.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 130
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: political
Similar in 75%
Way Back Home (2011)
Plot Summary:
Jessica Santiago & Ana Bartolome are two sisters who have lived in separate lives for 12 long years. Jessie, though an excellent student, has grown to feel sorrow of Ana’s lost while Ana, not knowing that she’s an orphan, grew up in a far-flung fishing village. When they meet in a swimming competition, the Santiagos exert effort to bring Ana back. But when Ana returns home, Jessie feels more abandoned & lovelorn. With their relationship turning sour, Jessie’s life is terribly put in danger. In the end, the two sisters find home where their hearts truly lie.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 100
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, suspense, psychological, disturbing
Similar in 75%
Soliloquy (2009)
Plot Summary:
A bus takes-off from urban Manila to the rural southeastern side of the country, carrying a group of mixed passengers from all walks of life, each one has a personal story to tell and they are telling it in their own voice. During the long journey, as the passengers mentally sort out their past & their future, things happen in the present, by choice or by providence, that make their journey memorable—the bus blows a tire, a song elicits tears, a butterfly causes commotion, a picture gets lost, someone's head is stoned, some hearts are broken, some mended. The bus ride poetizes the life journey and poses questions on issues of life and death and where exactly the line is drawn between free will and destiny.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 13
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Parklands (1996)
Plot Summary:
Rosie returns to her home city on the death of her father, a former policeman. His diaries hint at corruption, and she also receives hints and veiled threats which support her suspicions. Rosie puzzles about who he was, and about her early life and relationship to him.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 151
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 51 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
The Lives We Lead (2015)
Plot Summary:
Two sisters and their male counterparts struggle with the negative influences of their youths over a 50-year period.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 193
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, captivating, sincere, independent film
Similar in 79%
The Pawnshop (2009)
Plot Summary:
Follows the lives of four different people, each linked to the other by the house of business. Olivia, owner of the establishment, yearns for her late husband and denies the onset of old age. She lives with her appraiser Amy, a romantic who is doing almost everything for love. Kanor serves as the pawnshop security guard. He holds Olivia in high esteem for letting him and his wife stay in the apartment above the shop. Kanor opens his house to boarder David, a seaman in transit.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 15
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
The Seventies (2002)
Plot Summary:
A middle-class Filipino family struggles to survive in the era of dictatorship.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 581
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: political, tagalog
Similar in 82%
Elena's Redemption (1996)
Plot Summary:
The film is based on the true story of a maid who was either seduced or raped and made pregnant by her Chinese employer; the baby was either killed by the employer's wife or by her own hand, depending on who you talk to.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 33
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Model Minority (2012)
Plot Summary:
Kayla, an underprivileged Japanese American 16 year old, endangers her promising future as an aspiring artist when she becomes involved with a drug dealer.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, suspenseful, disturbing, sexy, independent film
Similar in 89%
Grandmother (2009)
Plot Summary:
Lola Sepa's grandson has been killed by a cell phone snatcher. Despite being devastated by the sudden violence, she must bear the burden of making the funeral arrangements. She and her family are poor, and there is not enough money for the coffin nor the legal pursuit against the suspected murderer. But the elderly woman is ready to even seek a bank loan to assure both a proper burial and justice for her beloved grandson. Lola Puring is committed to getting her grandson Mateo out of jail, although he has been accused of senselessly murdering Lola Sepa's grandson. But the poor aged woman doesn't have the bail money. Each time she visits her grandson in prison to bring him proper meals, it breaks her heart to see him wasting away behind bars with countless others. At the first court hearing, the two grandmothers must face one another. Both frail and poor, each is determined to do everything necessary for her grandson. The future of the case is dependent on grandmotherly love.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 903
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Philippines
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, rough, serious, realistic, captivating, gloomy, entertaining
Similar in 89%
No Way Out (2008)
Plot Summary:
Joaquin (Polo Ravales), an unassuming fisherman, is forced to confront his homosexuality when his sex-starved wife Cynthia (Althea Vega) returns from her overseas job eager to get pregnant. His young and impulsive lover, Waldo (Joseph Bitangcol), flees to Manila in disgust. After a month of hesitation, Joaquin leaves his wife to follow Waldo. His search takes him on a seamy yet colorful trip through Manila's gay underbelly. He discovers Waldo's dangerous flirtation with Rufo (Emilio Garcia), a bisexual rogue cop who holds the clue to Waldo's disappearance. Rufo lures Joaquin into his home and introduces him to his submissive wife, Beng (Jean Garcia). A sadist who beats up Beng regularly, Rufo turns Joaquin into a prisoner and sex slave - like he did to Waldo. When Joaquin is finally reunited with Waldo, he discovers that Rufo is about to sell them like fish to an international sex trafficking ring, along with his personal harem of male and female captives.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 198
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: queer cinema
Similar in 76%
Nympha (2003)
Plot Summary:
A re-imagination of the Celso Ad Castillo classic, "Nympha" tells the story of an orphan woman named Nympha living in a backward province with a narrow minded aunt who is a religious fanatic.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 35
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Vacation (2007)
Plot Summary:
All summer long, a group of people circumnavigate each other. A group of people who are so close and yet so alienated from one another. Their isolated holiday home is the site for a resurgence of smouldering conflicts and lifelong illusions that threaten to wreck the family’s fragile unity forever. (Berlinale).
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 345
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Ika-11 Utos Mahalin Mo Asawa Mo (1994)
Plot Summary:
This film is about domestic violence.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 10
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration:
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Summer Heat (2006)
Plot Summary:
The story is set in Guagua, Pampanga a decade after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo which ravaged the province with lahar. It follows the lives of Rodolfo "Mang Rudy" Manansala, a woodcarver, and his three daughters and their relationships with the people close to them in the span of seven summers.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 90
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 83%
Visit (2010)
Plot Summary:
For the sake of her son, Paolo, Stella is re-married to another man, Anton, in the hopes of a having a whole and peaceful family life. However, after the wedding, she experiences major haunting that endangers her life and the people around her. All the clues are pointing to her dead husband. Feeling guilty of her ex-husband’s death, Stella tries to save her family from the ghost’s wrath. Along the way, secrets start to unravel and Stella is now unsure of who is haunting her and why she is being haunted.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 115
Genere: Drama, Horror
Country: Philippines
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, scary, semi serious, suspense, rough, offbeat, humorous
Similar in 83%
Mano Po 2: My Home (2003)
Plot Summary:
Antonio Chan, a prominent Chinese businessman, has three women in his life v Sol, a Filipina; Lu Shui, a Chinese; and Belinda, a Filipino-Chinese. Antonio has children with all three women. A crisis shakes up the over-extended Tsinoy family prompting all the members to re-examine their values, their relationships, and confront issues that they have refused to face all these years. With Mano Po 2, My Home, Regal Entertainments continues the tradition established by the critical and box-office hit Mano Po. Features strong dramatic performances from a stellar ensemble cast, lush visuals, a reverberating musical score, an unforgettable theme song, and a heart-warming screenplay that eloquently captures the rich Tsinoy culture. Laugh, cry, and be touched by this family story about forgiveness, healing and undying love.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 78
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Larger Than Life (2001)
Plot Summary:
A mother and her daughter—who are both victims of incest-rape perpetrated by the same man now languishing in jail—are approached by a couple of filmmakers with an offer to produce a movie based on the two women’s true story. They hesitate on the idea at first but agree eventually for the sum of money they will be paid in exchange for selling the rights to the material. When the finished film is finally shown in theaters, they proceed to the city all the way from their hometown to catch the screening. They are elated at the prospect of seeing the larger-than-life versions of themselves. But as the motion picture gradually unfolds before their very eyes, they instead go through another harrowing experience of a lifetime.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 509
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: disturbing, serious, suspense, realistic
Similar in 89%
Mano po 6: A Mother's Love (2009)
Plot Summary:
Melinda Uy is a half-Filipino, half-Chinese struggling mother to four children married to a full-Chinese blood man. Her family was believed to bring curse to Olive's famiily. Because of this, Melinda was not accepted by Uy's family as one of their members. Melinda's struggling as a mother begand when she has nothing else to do but to strive and work more.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 41
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: captivating, entertaining
Similar in 76%
Tatlo... Magkasalo (1998)
Plot Summary:
Elsie has a mistress named Alice. Tito has a mistress named Susan. Tito and Elsie are married to each other and expecting a baby!.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 35
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Feng shui (2004)
Plot Summary:
Joy and her family have just moved into a new home, in a sparsely populated village. For them, it’s time for new beginnings- a new chance and a new hope. But what for fortune awaits them.. and woe the tragedies to follow. On what should be the most unfortunate day of her life, Joy picks up a package left by a stranger in a bus. It is called ‘ba-gua’, (feng shui mirror) an item that drives bad luck away. Joy could not refuse the luck that continues to come her way until everything appears too good to be true. Unexplained events disturb her family’s peace . People start to die as well. Having been advised by the geomancer to simply say no to the next form of luck, all Joy could do now is wait. But what painful decision awaits her? Will Joy prevail or be consumed by the curse of the bagua mirror?.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 996
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Philippines
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, scary, suspense, spooky, terrifying, realistic
Similar in 85%
Cities of the Plain (2000)
Plot Summary:
Directed by Robert Kramer.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 117
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: experimental, touching, serious, captivating
Similar in 83%
Falling Angels (2003)
Plot Summary:
The wickedly funny story of three sisters' coming of age in a wildly dysfunctional family, set against the backdrop of the 60's, free love, the Cold War, LSD and the dawn of feminism. Affectionately dubbed "Little Women on acid", this is a story about the destructive effects of secrecy and the bonds of duty between parents and their children.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, France
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: clever, touching, realistic, serious
Similar in 83%
The Masseur (2005)
Plot Summary:
Following the death of his father and a chance meeting with an abusive romance novelist, a masseur working in a gay massage parlor struggles to make sense of his unfulfilling relationships while simultaneously assisting his mother in preparing his father for burial. Twenty-year-old Iliac may not be the best masseur in the parlor, but when he catches the eye of a cold and calculating romance novelist looking for a cheap thrill, the icy indifference displayed by his paying lover does little more to warm the spirits than his sexually charged but emotionally distant girlfriend. Despite the resentment Iliac feels towards his late father for abandoning the family and embarking on a suicidal alcohol binge, the lovelorn youth nevertheless makes the journey home to be there for his grieving mother in her time of need.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 552
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 76 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sexual, sexy, queer cinema