Best movies like Night Shapes
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The Pope is in town and the night of his stay is anything but heavenly for some of Berlin′s inhabitants. Rich and poor, down-and-outs and policemen, street kids and taxi drivers - in their search for a little bit of happiness, they all end up on an amusing and at times harrowing odyssey through the labyrinth of the big city.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 717
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Best tv shows and movies like Night Shapes (1999):
Similar in 75%
Buenos Aires Vice Versa (1996)
Plot Summary:
This is Buenos Aires, its characters, its history, its reality. A complex movie for a complex city, depicted in the character's language, and in their relationship with the present and the past.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 498
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Argentina, Netherlands
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 88%
Hour of the Star (1985)
Plot Summary:
Macabea has just moved to the big city after her aunt, who raised her, died. She gets a job as a typist and moves into a boarding house with three other women. In her spare time she listens to time Radio Station; on Sundays she likes to ride the subways. She describes herself saying, "I am a typist and a virgin, and I like Coca-Cola." Then she meets Olimpico, a north-easterner like herself, who has dreams of becoming a Congressman.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: existential, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, masterpiece
Similar in 88%
Made in Ash (2012)
Plot Summary:
A grittily realistic tale of prostitution at an Eastern European border town.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 85
Genere: Drama
Country: Slovakia, Czech Republic
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sexy, gloomy, sexual
Similar in 85%
Everything's Jake (2000)
Plot Summary:
No overview found.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 146
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, psychological, independent film
Similar in 86%
Bliss (2012)
Plot Summary:
Two young people in Berlin, a refugee and a homeless punk, form a relationship.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 679
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, offbeat, affectionate
Similar in 82%
Something in the Way (2013)
Plot Summary:
Ahmad, a porn obsessed taxi driver from Jakarta, falls for the beautiful young prostitute Kinar and struggles with sexual frustration and misguided piety.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 712
Genere: Drama
Country: Indonesia
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, bleak, sincere, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Five (2011)
Plot Summary:
An anthology of five short films exploring the impact of breast cancer on people's lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, emotional
Similar in 84%
Nordrand (1999)
Plot Summary:
Vienna, 1995. Jasmin, Tamara, Valentin, Senad and Roman live near the northern border of Austria. Their lives repeatedly intersect and drift apart. The characters involved are young migrants from the former Yugoslavia, Romania, Poland and Austria itself. Strangers in a strange land, they feel a sense of loss in their new, temporary environment. The five-some meet and get close to each other, hopelessly clinging to friendships and relationships with no future. They frequent cafés and train stations dreaming of a better tomorrow. Often, they just fall back on the prospect of short-term affection in yet another doomed romantic or sexual encounter. Trying hard to suppress the memories of war and alienation, they try to find moral strength and warmth through one another.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 591
Genere: Drama
Country: Austria, Germany, Switzerland
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 75%
Good Day, Ramon (2013)
Plot Summary:
After five failed attempts to go to the United States, 18-year-old Ramón decides to look for a friend’s aunt in Germany, but never finds her. With no papers or money, and without knowing the language, he barely survives living on the street until he meets Ruth, an old retired nurse who doesn’t speak Spanish. Beyond language barriers and prejudices, they discover that solidarity and humanity make life bearable.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico, Germany
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, emotional, captivating, motivational, feel good, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 80%
Special Treatment (2010)
Plot Summary:
Drawing some intriguing parallels between the work of the prostitute and that of the psychiatrist-both have clients, both charge for sessions, both take on roles that serve the needs, psychological or otherwise, of those they serve, Jeanne Labrune's drama stars Isabelle Huppert and Bouli Lanners as, respectively, Alice, a disaffected call girl and Xavier, a shrink with a crumbling domestic situation.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 630
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France, Luxembourg, Belgium
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, captivating, realistic, atmospheric, emotional, contemplative, semi serious, erotic, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Little Saints (1999)
Plot Summary:
After St. Jude appears in Esperanza's oven, she sets out to find her daughter, who died under mysterious circumstances. The journey forces Esperanza to challenge her own beliefs and face her fears in order to be reunited with her beloved daughter.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 573
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: cult classic, sentimental, uplifting, touching, offbeat, humorous, serious, emotional, realistic, soap opera
Similar in 89%
Import Export (2007)
Plot Summary:
A nurse from the Ukraine searches for a better life in the West, while an unemployed security guard from Austria heads East for the same reason. Both are looking for work, a new beginning, an existence, struggling to believe in themselves, to find a meaning in life.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Austria, France, Germany
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, bleak, serious, sincere, realistic, contemplative, erotic, explicit, sexy, brutal
Similar in 77%
Between Us (2009)
Plot Summary:
Abruptly abandoned by her husband in a country completely foreign to her, Colombian native Mariana (Paola Mendoza) struggles to take care of herself and her two young children on the unforgiving streets of New York City. Sebastian Villada, Laura Montana and Anthony Chisholm also star in this gritty independent drama jointly written and directed by Mendoza and her collaborator Gloria La Morte.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, serious
Similar in 82%
Edi (2002)
Plot Summary:
No overview found.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Shun Li and the Poet (2011)
Plot Summary:
A study of the friendship between a Chinese woman and a fisherman who came to Italy from Yugoslavia many years ago, who live in a small city-island in the Veneto lagoon.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: serious, atmospheric, touching, emotional, realistic, light, gloomy
Similar in 84%
In Vanda's Room (2000)
Plot Summary:
With the intimate feel of a documentary and the texture of a Vermeer painting, In Vanda’s Room takes an unflinching, fragmentary look at a handful of self-destructive, marginalized people, but is centered around the heroin-addicted Vanda Duarte.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Portugal, Germany, Switzerland
Duration: 171 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, emotional, semi documentary, contemplative, bleak, art house, slow cinema, serious, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Letter to the King (2014)
Plot Summary:
In Letter to the King we meet a group of refugees, all with their own agendas, on an excursion to Oslo. A young man about to be deported visits his former employers to collect his off-the-books salary, a martial arts expert is looking for work, a young woman is haunted by the past and out for vengeance and an old man named Mirza is busy writing a letter to the king to get his final wish granted. An altogether urgent and nuanced portrait of a motley group of individuals, too often regarded as a homogeneous group.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 255
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway, United Arab Emirates
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere, anthology, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Grill Point (2002)
Plot Summary:
In the style of a documentary this tragic comedy tells the story of a relationship crisis between two married couples and their longing to break out of their miserable daily lives. In this East German post-wall movie Andreas Dresen introduces the sad everyday life of two couples from Frankfurt an der Oder in a honest and tolerable manner.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, realistic, clever, offbeat, mockumentary, fake documentary
Similar in 83%
Alila (2003)
Plot Summary:
Life in a flimsy Tel Aviv apartment complex is a sour urban mosaic whose seedy characters, try as they might, can't get out of one another's faces. The character's lives overlap and collide. Gabi, a bobbed haired sexpot, and her lover Hezi—who's older, balding and married—rent a room to have an affair, while Ezra, a pot bellied divorcee, supervises an illegal construction site next door. All this racket drives Schwartz, a Holocaust survivor, to a mental breakdown. Other characters include illegal immigrants, a teenage boy who's afraid to serve in the army, and a corrupt police officer. In each scene the camera moves through walls, over desks, and around rooms in order to keep focused on the character it's following, in moments of drama as well as in moments of mudane daily activity.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 634
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel, France
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy, avant garde
Similar in 85%
Riff-Raff (1991)
Plot Summary:
The story of Stevie, a construction worker, and his girlfriend, an unemployed pop singer, serves to show the living conditions of the British poor class.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: political, social, independent film, humorous, realistic, gloomy, semi serious
Similar in 76%
The Rose Seller (1998)
Plot Summary:
13-year-old Monica leads a street life, making her living by selling flowers to couples in local nightspots, she is joined by 10-year-old Andrea who runs out of her house after her mother beats her.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Colombia
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: social, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 84%
The Beat (2003)
Plot Summary:
In a split narrative, a young man follows two paths: his father's dream of him becoming a cop, and his own dream of becoming a rapper.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 167
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sincere, rough, serious, realistic, sentimental, offbeat, contemplative
Similar in 86%
Am I Beautiful? (1998)
Plot Summary:
No overview found.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: humorous, emotional, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 85%
Macondo (2014)
Plot Summary:
A drama centered on an 11-year-old Chechnyan refugee living in Vienna whose life is thrown into disarray when a friend of his deceased father materializes.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 310
Genere: Drama
Country: Austria
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 76%
A Coffee in Berlin (2012)
Plot Summary:
A fateful day pushes an aimless college dropout (Tom Schilling) to stop wasting his time and finally engage with life.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: melancholic, black and white, realistic, atmospheric, humorous, depressing, talky, independent film, black comedy, stylized
Similar in 77%
Le Havre (2011)
Plot Summary:
Marcel Marx, a former bohemian and struggling author, has given up his literary ambitions and relocated to the port city Le Havre. He leads a simple life based around his wife Arletty, his favourite bar and his not too profitable profession as a shoeshiner. As Arletty suddenly becomes seriously ill, Marcel's path crosses with an underage illegal immigrant from Africa, who needs Marcel's help to hide from the police.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Finland, France, Germany
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sentimental, romantic, atmospheric, surreal, uplifting, touching, dark comedy, thought provoking, inspirational, philosophical
Similar in 75%
Looking for Miguel (2007)
Plot Summary:
A wealthy Columbian politician blinded by his own privilege is forced to walk a mile in the shoes of the people he despises most after falling victim to a violent attack and subsequently losing his memory. Miguel was a man of fine stock, a politician who has led a charmed life since the day he was born. But Miguel has no appreciation for his lot in life, and scoffs at the everyday people who must struggle just to survive. One day, after being assaulted on the street and left for dead, Miguel awakens with no memory of the past. He has forgotten his distain for the dumpster divers, petty thieves, and wandering transients who crowd the city streets, and now their warmth and solidarity is the only thing keeping him alive. As Miguel forges a friendship with a pious but promiscuous drag queen, the fragments of the past gradually become illuminated in his mind, prompting him on a desperate quest to reclaim his identity and atone for the sins of his past.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 117
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Colombia
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, bleak, contemplative
Similar in 77%
Wonderful Times (1991)
Plot Summary:
Michel Berthier, cadre supérieur d'une entreprise de matelasserie, vient d'être licencié. Comme il n'ose pas avouer la vérité à Juliette, sa compagne, il s'endette pour maintenir le niveau de la famille qu'il couvre de cadeaux. Mais il ne peut bientôt plus mentir et il décide alors de quitter la maison. Après avoir perdu son argent, sa voiture et ses chaussures, il rencontre Toubib, Mimosa et Crayon, trois «Sans Domicile Fixe» qui font leur toilette dans les lavabos de la gare de l'Est. Ils le prennent sous leur aile et l'entraînent à aller cambrioler son ancienne entreprise afin de se munir de duvets et de lits.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: semi serious, touching, humorous, realistic, sexy, cult film
Similar in 82%
Almanya: Welcome to Germany (2011)
Plot Summary:
After living 45 years in Germany, the Turkish Hüseyin Yilmaz, seventy, announces to his family that he has bought a house in Turkey and they should return to make the necessary reforms. The idea is unwelcome and causes very heated discussions. In addition, Canan, a granddaughter of Hüseyin, announces she is pregnant and the father is her English boyfriend, and no one knew anything. To comfort his cousin Cenk, a child of six years, who was humiliated at school and labeled as "foreign", Canan tells a fantastic story about how they left Turkey and went to Germany.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, captivating, sincere, intercultural, sentimental, semi serious
Similar in 88%
Stopped on Track (2011)
Plot Summary:
Frank and Simone have fulfilled a dream and live with their two children in a row house in the suburbs. They are a happy couple, until the day Frank is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. The family is suddenly confronted with death.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, contemplative, sincere, gloomy