Best movies like Moonlighting
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies like Moonlighting? Contribute your insights to guide others toward films and tv shows you've already seen that might similarly enthrall them. Aid in enlarging the circle of people referring videos amongst each other. We encourage your engagement!
Plot Summary:
A Polish contractor, Nowak, leads a group of workmen to London so they can provide cheap labor for a government official based there. Nowak (Irons) has to manage the project and the men as they encounter the tempations of the West and loneliness and separation from their families. Nowak is the only one of the group who speaks English, and he uses this as a tool over his team. When the unrest in Poland leads to a military takeover, Nowak is faced with a much more difficult situation than he expected.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: political, tense, bleak, realistic, dark comedy, allegory, independent film, sincere, thought provoking, serious
Best tv shows and movies like Moonlighting (1982):
Similar in 80%
The Scar (1976)
Plot Summary:
After discussions and dishonest negotiations, a decision is taken as to where a large new chemical factory is to be built and Bednarz, an honest Party man, is put in charge of the construction. He used to live in the small town where the factory is to be built, his wife used to be a Party activist there, and he has unpleasant memories of it. But he sets to the task in the belief that he will build a place where people will live and work well. His intentions and convictions, however, conflict with those of the townspeople who are primarily concerned with their short-term needs. Disillusioned, Bednarz gives up his post.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 86%
Bigga Than Ben (2008)
Plot Summary:
Spiker & Cobakka are two self-confessed 'pieces of Moscow scum' who come to London to rip it off. This is their guide.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, bleak, realistic, disturbing, gloomy
Similar in 81%
Letters from Alou (1990)
Plot Summary:
A group of Africans clandestinely reaches the coast of southern Spain. Among them is Alou, a 28 years old Senegalese. As all his belongings are stolen while in Almería, he has no choice but to engage in street vending. His only pleasure are the letters he writes to his family to tell the vicissitudes of his Spanish adventure.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 256
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: social, sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, multicultural, intercultural, inter cultural
Similar in 77%
They Don't Wear Black Tie (1981)
Plot Summary:
Otavio is an idealistic union leader trying to organize workers at a factory to resist the company's exploitative practices. His son, Tião, one of the employees, is more of a realist and doesn't want to risk losing his job by striking. This clash of perspectives puts the father and son at odds. Fortunately, Tião's mother, Romana, is on hand to act as a moderator between the two opinionated men.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: political, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 88%
Distant Lights (2003)
Plot Summary:
Lichter is an episodic tale from Hans-Christian Schmid about the life on the boarder between Germany and Poland. The film sheds light on the everyday stories of escape and desperateness.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: contemplative, serious, captivating, sincere, atmospheric, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Freefall (2009)
Plot Summary:
Freefall is the first drama to tackle the extraordinary financial crisis Britons are living through. Helmed by multiple BAFTA-winning director Dominic Savage, the film takes a startling and provocative look at the events that caused people's lives to spiral out of control. With pace, edge and real emotional punch, it gives a unique insight into how the country came so perilously close to the edge.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 434
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, sincere, thought provoking, touching, gloomy
Similar in 77%
War Book (2014)
Plot Summary:
In a contemporary Commons briefing room, a government minister and several aids enact the ‘war book’ exercise: a protocol written in the 1950s which is periodically played out to test post-nuclear scenarios. Low-budget but high-concept, War Book is a terse drama of interpersonal politics with rat-a-tat-tat dialogue and sharp performances. (12 Angry Men, Sleuth and The Deal all feel like reference points.) Created by some of the UK’s most promising talents in down time between other projects, director/producer Tom Harper (Scouting Book for Boys, Woman in Black 2), screenwriter Jack Thorne (Skins, Scouting Book) and producer Lauren Dark bring together a top notch cast (including Sophie Okonedo, Ben Chaplin and Kerry Fox). Cold war anxiety is given contemporary relevance in this exploration of government arrogance and lack of accountability, and the terrifying fragility of world order when faced with the abyss of mutual destruction.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 703
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, thought provoking, bleak, suspenseful, realistic, apocalyptic, minimal cast
Similar in 78%
Othello (2001)
Plot Summary:
With freshly rechristened characters and brand-new dialogue, this British TV production of Othello is a "rethinking" of Shakespeare's play, albeit still retaining the original's power and potency. The story is set in the London of the near future, a crime-ridden metropolis virtually torn apart by racial hostilities. By order of the Prime Minister, black police officer John Othello (Eamonn Walker) is promoted to Commissioner, a post dearly coveted by Othello's friend, mentor and fellow officer Ben Jago (Christopher Eccleston). Seething with jealousy, Jago contrives to discredit Othello in the eyes of the public, and to destroy John's interracial marriage to the lily-white Dessie (Keeley Hawes). Among those used as unwitting dupes to gain Jago's ends are Othello's trusted lieutenant, Michael Cass (Richard Coyle), scrupulously honest police constable Alan Roderick (Del Synnott), and Jago's own wife, Lulu (Rachael Stirling).
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 657
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA, Canada
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic, modern day adaptation
Similar in 87%
Burnt Out (2005)
Plot Summary:
François Durrieux, a man in his forties, married to Clémence and father of Benjamin, has been employed for years by the firm DSBO. In order not to lose his job, he always submits to his boss's demands whether it means working after office hours, canceling planned holidays or harming his family life. However, when one night, Simon Lacaze, his best friend and colleague, commits suicide just after being fired ignominiously, François rebels.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 403
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 77%
Blood from a Stone (2011)
Plot Summary:
The day his bank refuses to finance him, Georges will do everything he can to save his shipyard and his employees.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 258
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, serious, cynical, captivating, bleak, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
It's a Free World... (2007)
Plot Summary:
The film focuses on Angie (Kierston Wareing), a working class woman who, after being fired by the agency that she works for, decides to set up a recruitment agency of her own, running it from her kitchen with her friend Rose (Juliet Ellis). Taking advantage of the desperation of immigrants, Angie is able to build a successful business extremely quickly.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, disturbing, thought provoking, epic, political, social, bleak
Similar in 90%
Pinochet's Last Stand (2006)
Plot Summary:
In 1998 former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet visits Britain for medical treatment. On being tipped off, Amnesty International seize the chance to bring to justice a man they insist is guilty of multiple human rights violations. The newly-elected Labour government is initially amenable, and soon Pinochet is under house arrest (albeit in a detached house in leafy suburbia) and awaiting extradition to Spain. However, Amnesty are up against the complexities of British law, the vacillations of Home Secretary Jack Straw, Pinochet's former ally Margaret Thatcher - and the Senator's own vast reserves of cunning.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 249
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: disturbing, atmospheric, thought provoking, captivating, realistic, sincere, bleak, serious, dark comedy
Similar in 90%
Look Back in Anger (1989)
Plot Summary:
Look Back in Anger is a love triangle involving the brilliant-but-disaffected young Jimmy Porter (Branagh), his upper-middle-class, impassive wife Alison Porter (Thompson), and her aristocratic best friend Helena Charles (Redmond). Cliff (Horan), an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 370
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, sincere, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, disturbing, gloomy
Similar in 85%
Tar Angel (2001)
Plot Summary:
Newly-arrived Ahmed tries to integrate his family to the canadian society, while attempting to control his son's life orientation.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 276
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspenseful, disturbing, thought provoking, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, road movie
Similar in 81%
Dance Town (2010)
Plot Summary:
A North Korean refugee, Jung-Nim, is trying to find a new life in South Korea, with people suspecting that she is a spy.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 83
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, touching, sincere, thought provoking, bleak, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 80%
10,000 Black Men Named George (2002)
Plot Summary:
In the 1920s, the rights of American workers to join a labor union was still considered an open question, and African-Americans were routinely denied their civil and economic rights. 10,000 Black Men Named George, the title, refers to the fact Pullman porters were often called "George" by white passengers, which was considered a racial slur.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 349
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, captivating, disturbing, tense, sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative, entertaining
Similar in 85%
Goodbye (2011)
Plot Summary:
Without her husband and without her lawyer’s licence, which has been withdrawn, Noora is left pregnant and alone in her apartment. Her attempt to leave Iran turns into a fight with male chauvinism. A personal, nerve-wracking and infuriating film by Rasoulof, who was himself convicted for his films in Iran. Goodbye is a sober, frightening portrait of a society that is stooping under the continual control and threats of its religious regime. Noora, a young, pregnant lawyer in Tehran whose husband has been sent to work in the desert because of his critical journalistic activities, continually faces opposition from the regime and decides to leave the country. That turns out to be very difficult. Because Rasoulof was already banned from making films, Goodbye was shot partly in secret in the winter of 2010/2011. The result is a disquieting film that makes impotence and the desire for freedom painfully tangible in all its simplicity.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 814
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, thought provoking, contemplative, islamic, bleak, interesting
Similar in 83%
Sub terra (2003)
Plot Summary:
In 1897, in Lota, Chile, in the face of long days, low pay, debts to the company store, unsafe and deadly working conditions, and widespread child labor, men try to establish a miners' association at one of the largest coal mines in the world. They must face Davis, an iron-fisted and murderous supervisor; there's at least one turncoat, willing to inform on their fellow workers; and, there are passions on all sides, including one between Fernando, a leader of the miners, and Virginia, the godchild of the mine's owners. Can the miners win a victory, and at what cost? Baldomero Lillo, a grocery clerk, records it all.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 373
Genere: Drama
Country: Chile, Spain
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, captivating, epic, contemplative
Similar in 77%
The Invisible Eye (2010)
Plot Summary:
Spying on her students, a teacher finds an exciting hobby.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 841
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina, France, Spain
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, serious, psychological, captivating, sincere, bleak, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Friends & Crocodiles (2005)
Plot Summary:
Paul Reynolds is a Gatsby-like figure: owner of a magnificent house, the host of great parties, and a collector of interesting people. He persuades Lizzie Thomas, a secretary at a local estate agent's, to come and work for him as his assistant, to bring some order to his chaos. He inspires her with his enthusiasm and imagination, and frustrates her with his apparent carelessness and destructiveness, which culminates in her calling the police as one of his parties is attacked by local troublemakers, seemingly with his tacit approval. But their paths are destined to cross again and again as Lizzie, with the help of some of the people that she met at Paul's house, rises through the changing landscape of corporate Britain. This is the tale of a meaningful and powerful relationship that isn't a love story; it's about those rare people who profoundly influence and shape our lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 987
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, tense, sweet, sexual, period piece, sexy
Similar in 88%
Home Again (2012)
Plot Summary:
Returning to a "home" they hardly know after being deported from their adopted countries for minor criminal offenses, three people from very different backgrounds try to make a new life for themselves, in Jamaica in this gutsy drama from writer-director Sudz Sutherland. (TIFF).
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 428
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 75%
Strike (2006)
Plot Summary:
In poverty, she found strength. In oppression, she found courage. In solidarity, she found a reason to believe again. Acclaimed German actress Katharina Thalbach (THE TIN DRUM, SOPHIES CHOICE) stars in this hard-hitting historical drama set during the rise of Polands Solidarity movement. An illiterate single mother, Agnieszka Kowalska is a Socialist "heroine of labor" for working long hours as a shipyard welder until her superiors deny compensation to the widows of 21 workers killed in an industrial disaster. Risking her job, her life, and the love of her son to defy the bureacracy, Agnieszka inspires the largest labor strike in world history and becomes a national hero. Volker Schlöndorff adapted this "ballad based on historical events" from the biography of Anna Walentynowicz, the free trade activist who mobilized a million Poles for Solidarity and helped hasten the fall of Communism. Filmed entirely on location at Polands Lenin Shipyard, where history was made.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 490
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, Poland
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sincere, captivating
Similar in 86%
Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain (2014)
Plot Summary:
Thirty years on from the 1984 Union Carbide plant malfunction, the consequences of which are tragically ongoing, A Prayer for Rain is the powerful and moving story of the Bhopal tragedy, one of the great corporate and environmental scandals of the last half-century. It dramatises the dependence of the local community on the chemical plant that will eventually cause catastrophe, and the series of oversights that led to an event that stands as a benchmark for corporate irresponsibility in the developing world.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, India, USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, disturbing, thought provoking, realistic, poignant, multicultural, touching, captivating
Similar in 90%
Red Dust (2004)
Plot Summary:
Sarah Barcant, a lawyer in New York City who grew up in South Africa, returns to her childhood dwelling place to intercede for Alex Mpondo, a Black South African politician who was tortured during apartheid.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, South Africa
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, captivating, sincere, political, cult classic
Similar in 85%
The Rose Garden (1989)
Plot Summary:
In Germany, an old man attacks another old man and is arrested. The attacker refuses to speak. A female lawyer is appointed to him. She discovers that the attacker has numbers tattooed on his arm and the attacked man was a German officer.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 447
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, West Germany, Austria
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, psychological, tense, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, contemplative
Similar in 81%
Once They Marched Through a Thousand Towns (1981)
Plot Summary:
A dramatization of the controversial trial concerning the right for Neo-Nazis to march in the predominately Jewish community of Skokie.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 409
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: political, sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 82%
The Minister (2011)
Plot Summary:
Transport Minister Bertrand Saint-Jean is awoken in the middle of the night by his head of staff. A bus has gone off the road into a gully. He has no choice but to go to the scene of the accident. Thus begins the odyssey of a politician in a world that is increasingly more complex and hostile.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, sincere, realistic, serious, captivating, contemplative, stylized, political, clever
Similar in 80%
Coalition (2015)
Plot Summary:
Political drama about the rise of Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats during the 2010 election. After the election failed to produce an outright winner, Clegg was catapulted into an unaccustomed position of influence and was the recipient of political courtship from both Labour's Gordon Brown and David Cameron of the Conservative Party.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 271
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, atmospheric, psychological, political, tense, sincere, thought provoking, clever, realistic
Similar in 89%
Brazuca (2009)
Plot Summary:
The tragic true story of Jean Charles de Menezes, the innocent Brazilian shot dead by British police in 2005 at the height of the London terrorist alerts.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, Brazil
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 81%
Brick Lane (2007)
Plot Summary:
The grind of daily life as a Brick Lane Bangladessi as seen through the eyes of Nazneen (Chatterjee), who at 17 enters an arranged marriage with Chanu (Kaushik). Years later, living in east London with her family, she meets a young man Karim (Simpson).
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, contemplative, sentimental, captivating, intercultural, sincere, touching, serious, independent film