Best movies like Manuel
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
An eighteen-year-old boy is released from an institute for minors with no family support, and for the first time tastes the bittersweet flavor of freedom; an imprisoned mother longs to go back and start all over again. These are the characters taken from the real world and transferred into a film that is first of all a shadowing of human beings, of their hopes and little acts of cowardice. But it is also the story of a time of waiting, of a soul going around in circles, a coming of age in a desolate and oppressive, marginal context that becomes a character in its own right.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 291
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Manuel (2017):
Similar in 76%
The Lovemakers (1961)
Plot Summary:
The death of a wealthy patriarch in 1885 sets off an interfamily power struggle.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 742
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
Traffic Jam (1979)
Plot Summary:
A large international cast takes part in this comedy in which the stories of numerous individuals whose cars are stalled in a massive Roman traffic jam are told.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France, West Germany, Spain
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: road movie, deep, weird, italian comedy
Similar in 79%
To Love the Damned (1980)
Plot Summary:
What happened to Italy during the absence of one young rebel. Svitol (Flavio Bucci) has been hiding out in South America. Then one day he gives up on his life in exile and decides to head back home. Everything has changed. The radical left is now in business or shooting up drugs, and Svitol finds he has no "home" left. Terrorists seem to set the stage for near anarchy and nothing is as he had imagined.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 90
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
The Thursday (1964)
Plot Summary:
It's the story of a day spent by Dino, separated by his wife, who sees his son Robertino after five years. Dino has not contributed anything in life and to win the affection of his son, invents a story about his past. At the end of the day however, he will succeed in establishing a positive relationship with his son and telling the truth about himself.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 383
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: italian comedy
Similar in 86%
The Vice of Hope (2018)
Plot Summary:
To support her family, Maria works as a trafficker of surrogate mothers, transporting them from place to place along a river — but when one disappears, Maria is left with the task of finding her and must enter deeper into a world she wishes to escape.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 657
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Land in Between (1996)
Plot Summary:
SILHOUETTE: Nigerian prostitutes dealing with miscellaneous customers EUGLEN & GERTIAN: Daily recruitment of Albanian immigrants seeking work but without working residency permit. SELF SERVICE: a night with Ahmed, egyptian illegal gas station attender, who has been living in italy for many years.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 208
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: semi documentary, independent film
Similar in 76%
Signorina Effe (2007)
Plot Summary:
Emma was born and raised in a working-class family, but she's long had bourgeois ambitions and has risen through the ranks to become a white-collar employee with the Fiat automobile company.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 169
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Lady Caliph (1970)
Plot Summary:
La Califfa's husband was killed during the strikes so she takes the side of the strikers. Her conflict with the plant owner Doverdo gradually turns into a love relationship.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 399
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Fontamara (1980)
Plot Summary:
Fontamara is a village in the Marsica, forgotten by all but God and its inhabitants are called 'cafoni' (boors). Berardo Viola wants to marry Elvira but only after gaining enough money to buy some land and in order to reach his aim he has the idea of going to a great city. When Maria Grazia is raped by the fascists, Berardo and Antonio decide to leave Fontamara and go to Rome. Here they are swindled by a lawyer and afterwards they are invited by an antifascist to a restaurant where they are arrested by the police because of some subversive papers they had.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 69
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
Gli Invisibili (1988)
Plot Summary:
At the beginning of the eighties, Sirio, a young worker at the steelworks in Terni with a past in the student struggles, decided to abandon his job as a soldier in an extreme left-wing group.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 28
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
His Days Are Numbered (1962)
Plot Summary:
A middle-aged plumber quits his job and questions his life after seeing somebody his own age suddenly die from a heart attack on his way to work.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 577
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: existential
Similar in 88%
Family Portrait (1962)
Plot Summary:
Marcello Mastroianni gives a sensitive, finely judged performance as Enrico, a struggling journalist in the Rome of 1945. He receives a phone call informing him that his younger brother Lorenzo (Jacques Perrin) has died. Enrico recalls their long and difficult relationship; he was brought up by their poor but warm-hearted grandmother (Sylvie), Lorenzo was raised as a gentleman by a wealthy local aristocrat. Reunited in the Florence of the 1930s, Enrico becomes his spoilt brother's keeper, forever haunted by a sense of guilty responsibility towards a man he both hates and loves. Beautifully photographed by Giuseppe Rotunno, this austere, deeply-felt masterwork has been acclaimed as one of Zurlini's greatest achievements.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, realistic, non-linear
Similar in 77%
The Fiances (1963)
Plot Summary:
A young man has a renewed interest in his girlfriend when he takes a job that separates the two.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: contemplative, neorealism, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 79%
Gloria Mundi (2019)
Plot Summary:
Daniel leaves prison. He returns to Marseilles where Mathilda, his daughter, has just given birth. Nicolas, his spouse, a self-employed driver, is exhausted while Mathilda is a sales assistant on a trial basis. But, one night, Nicolas is assaulted by taxi drivers determined to reduce unfair competition.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 925
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, suspense, melancholic, suspenseful, talky
Similar in 90%
Terraferma (2011)
Plot Summary:
A Sicilian family deals with the arrival of a group of immigrants on their island.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, tense, sincere, touching
Similar in 77%
The Cricket (1980)
Plot Summary:
An impressionable young woman's relationship with an aging prostitute leads to a job as a maid at a brothel.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 216
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: erotic
Similar in 89%
My Mother's Smile (2002)
Plot Summary:
A celebrated painter receives a visit from a cardinal's assistant, who informs him that his mother could become a saint.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, surreal, spiritual, entertaining
Similar in 87%
The Inheritance (1976)
Plot Summary:
Rome, 1880. Gregorio Ferramonti (Anthony Quinn) has decided to close his bakery, the family business. Then he tells his sons Pippo (Gigi Proietti), Mario (Fabio Testi) and Teta that they will have to fend for themselves. But Irene (Dominique Sanda), the wife of Pippo, a beautiful, calculating and ambitious young woman, wants to take over the inheritance. Acting on intelligence, weighing every step and its consequences, she manages to convince the brothers that they must prevent at all costs that his father falls in love again to avoid the risk of losing their inheritance.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 993
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, stylized, sexual, sexy, period drama
Similar in 78%
The Intruder (2017)
Plot Summary:
Naples. Present day. Giovanna, a combative 60-year-old social worker on the frontline of the daily war against pervasive criminality, is confronted, like a modern Antigone, with a moral dilemma that threatens to destroy her work and her life. Giovanna runs an after-school centre that takes care of underprivileged children; a grassroots alternative to the mafia dominance of the city. But one day, young Maria, wife of a ruthless Camorra criminal on the run, and her two children take refuge at the centre, and ask Giovanna for protection.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 432
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, Switzerland, France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
The Belly of an Architect (1987)
Plot Summary:
The American architect Kracklite arrives in Italy, supervising an exhibiton for a French architect, Boullée, famous for his oval structures. Tirelessly dedicated to the project, Kracklite's marriage quickly dissolves along with his health.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Italy
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: art house, talky, sexual, aesthetic, psychological, mind bending, clever, offbeat, experimental, witty
Similar in 87%
Boys Cry (2018)
Plot Summary:
Mirko and Manolo are best friends and live in the suburbs of Rome. They both live in poor conditions with their single parents, are still in school and struggle with occasional odd jobs to make ends meet. Together they share dreams of women, of sex and money, of a better life to come. Then, after killing a man in a hit-and-run one night, they get involved with the local mafia and their lives change dramatically.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, realistic
Similar in 84%
Candido erotico (1978)
Plot Summary:
A teenage girl falls in love with a man who works in live sex shows, and who just happens to be having an affair with the girl's stepmother--with her father's knowledge.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 318
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, sexual, sensual, erotic drama, sexploitation film
Similar in 84%
The Way We Laughed (1998)
Plot Summary:
Studying to become a teacher in Turin, Italy, Pietro is joined by his older brother, Giovanni, who has moved up from Sicily. While Giovanni is a worker with no schooling, Pietro shows considerable promise in academics, prompting the elder sibling to seek employment to support his brother's academic pursuits. Unfortunately, things don't go well for Giovanni and Pietro, and they face significant hardships as they try to improve their lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 825
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, juvenile
Similar in 83%
Lulu the Tool (1971)
Plot Summary:
A conscientious factory worker gets his finger cut off by a machine. The accident causes him to become more involved in political and revolutionary groups.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: sincere, emotional, realistic, serious, political, philosophical, surreal, grindhouse, contemplative
Similar in 89%
Honey (2013)
Plot Summary:
Irene, nicknamed 'Miele', has devote herself to people looking for help, and tries to alleviate their suffering even when they make extreme decisions. One day she has to cope with Grimaldi and his invisible malaise.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, art house, gloomy
Similar in 90%
The Dinner (2014)
Plot Summary:
Story about two brothers and their wives, and the interactions between them and their two high school age children. When the kids get into serious trouble together, how will the parents relationships change with and among each other? Will the parents protect the kids or force them to face the consequences of their actions?.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, tense, talky, biting, suspense
Similar in 83%
A Burning Hot Summer (2011)
Plot Summary:
Paul reflects on the summer he met Angèle and Frédéric as he watches his friend being laid to rest.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Italy, Switzerland
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, tense, gloomy, sexual, crying, sexy
Similar in 79%
The Time of Indifference (2020)
Plot Summary:
A screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by Alberto Moravia. Rome, our days. Mariagration Ardengo and her children Michele and Carla are left without a livelihood. Mariagration's money-hungry lover Leo develops a plan to take the last property from the family - the attic in which they live. Michele tries to thwart Leo's plans, but when his attempts fail, young Carla takes over.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 323
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 84%
Our Life (2010)
Plot Summary:
Claudio works on a site in the suburbs of Rome. He is madly in love with his wife who is pregnant with their third child. However, a dramatic event comes to upset this simple and happy life. In a rage for life, Claudio energetically fights against the injustice that fell upon him. Love and support from his friends and family as well as the laughter of his children will help him to triumph against the odds.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, serious, realistic, captivating, touching, gloomy
Similar in 83%
The Great Beauty (2013)
Plot Summary:
Jep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 96000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: philosophical, art house, visually stunning, stylized, breathtaking, visually appealing, visual, absurd, cerebral, talky