Best movies like Once in a Lifetime
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Based on a true story. In Léon Blum high school in Créteil (France), a history teacher decides to have her weakest 10th grade class take a national history competition. This will change them.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, sincere, realistic, semi serious, captivating, touching, weird
Best tv shows and movies like Once in a Lifetime (2014):
Similar in 76%
Monsieur Lazhar (2011)
Plot Summary:
During a harsh Montréal winter, an elementary-school class is left reeling after its teacher commits suicide. Bachir Lazhar, a charismatic Algerian immigrant, steps in as the substitute teacher for the classroom of traumatized children. All the while, he must keep his personal life tucked away: the fact that he is seeking political refuge in Québec – and that he, like the children, has suffered an appalling loss.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, inspirational, compassionate, realistic, thought provoking, visually appealing, art house, serious, contemplative
Similar in 90%
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (2011)
Plot Summary:
A union pensioner and his wife are robbed, but find that merely getting the assailants brought to justice is not enough for their consciences.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, captivating, psychological, social, sincere, touching, serious
Similar in 77%
Great Minds (2017)
Plot Summary:
Teacher in the most prestigious highschool in the country, François enjoys the life he’s always known, in the intellectual and bourgeois society of Paris. Trapped in a situation where he’s forced to accept a job in a school of a tough underprivileged suburb, he finds himself confronted to his own limits and to the upheaval of his values and certainties.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sincere, humorous, captivating, touching, social
Similar in 84%
Hunky Dory (2011)
Plot Summary:
Musical film about the trials and tribulations of an idealistic drama teacher as she tries to put on the end of year show.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, sentimental, touching, period piece, comedy drama, realistic, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 75%
My Life on Ice (2002)
Plot Summary:
Etienne is crazy about ice skating and videoing his daily life with a digital camera. He records his mother, friends, and geography teacher. Initially his intention is to setup a date between his mother and his teacher, however, he starts to realize that he is infatuated with the teacher himself.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 854
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Sport
Country: France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, sexy, touching, realistic, psychological, art house, sexual, queer cinema, fake documentary
Similar in 87%
Peppermint Soda (1977)
Plot Summary:
In the fall of 1963, Anne is becoming a teenager. She lives in Paris with her mother and her older sister, Frédérique. They're just back from summer at the beach with their father. School starts. A turbulent year awaits them both.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: cult classic, sentimental, sincere, touching, humorous, realistic, contemplative, semi serious, teen comedy, period drama
Similar in 87%
Pieces of Me (2012)
Plot Summary:
A crazy father old before his time, a tyrannical, sick mother, a sister who disappeared four years ago and me, Erell, who films everything, all the time... A fine family portrait. I live in the same town I've always lived in. You're born here, you die here. And between the two, there's nothing to do except hang out with my buddies, Gabin, Javier and The Major. One night, my sister Sarah reappears. The pieces of me are put together again.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 512
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, psychological, humorous, captivating, sincere, semi serious
Similar in 82%
The Summer of Flying Fish (2013)
Plot Summary:
Manena is the headstrong adolescent daughter of Pancho, a rich Chilean landowner who devotes his vacation to one thing : the invasion of his artificial lagoon by carps. While he employs increasingly radical methods, Manena has her first romantic experiences and hearbreak - and discovers a silent world in the shadow of her own : that of the Mapuche Indians who demand access to the land and clash with her father.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 285
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Chile, France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, semi serious, realistic, sincere, captivating, light, suspenseful, exciting
Similar in 87%
Mumu (2010)
Plot Summary:
The story a rescue, the rescue of a bad brat's life in the post-WWII period. In 1947, Roger reaches 11 years old. He's a kid badly loved, mischievous and specializes in silly things to do. He is sent to a small boarding school in a small village. Mumu reigns over here. She's not the bitchest school teacher of the area. Roger has already been expelled from several schools and this is his last chance to avoid the reformatory his father has been promising him for a long time. But this is will change with the vigilance of Mumu, who, despite her strict aspects, proves herself to have a big heart.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 241
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, light, sincere, captivating, crying
Similar in 86%
The English Teacher (2013)
Plot Summary:
Teacher Linda Sinclair (Julianne Moore) balances her staid home life with an incredible passion for her subject, but her routine is forever altered when a former star pupil and his unsupportive father reenter her life. Go-to television director Craig Zisk, whose credits include Scrubs, Weeds and United States of Tara, takes a turn on the big screen with this insightful comedy about self-discovery co-starring Greg Kinnear, Nathan Lane, Michael Angarano and Lily Collins.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: realistic, semi serious, suspense, sentimental, sincere, sweet, independent film, hilarious, happy, clever
Similar in 84%
Race the Sun (1996)
Plot Summary:
A bunch of high school misfits in Hawaii, introduced by their new teacher, attend a science fair in which they draw up inspiration to build their own solar car and win a trip to compete in the 1990 World Solar Challenge in Australia.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: light, entertaining, feel good, exciting, serious, realistic, parody, inspirational, romantic, sexy
Similar in 90%
Unexpected (2015)
Plot Summary:
An inner-city high school teacher discovers she is pregnant at the same time as one of her most promising students and the two develop an unlikely friendship while struggling to navigate their unexpected pregnancies.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, realistic, semi serious, feel good, independent film, humorous, captivating
Similar in 76%
The Bélier Family (2014)
Plot Summary:
The whole Bélier family is deaf, except for sixteen year old Paula who is the important translator in her parents' day to day life especially when it comes to matters concerning the family farm. When her music teacher discovers she has a fantastic singing voice and she gets an opportunity to enter a big Radio France contest the whole family's future is set up for big changes.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: touching, suspenseful, emotional, semi serious, humorous, sincere, sexy, feel good, sad, tear jerker
Similar in 87%
Schools Out (2008)
Plot Summary:
June 1990, a large provincial town. It's the last day of class before the baccalaureate: a small group of graduates happily leaves high school - In the ambient euphoria, Lucas empties his bag: without mince words, he says out loud to his philosophy teacher what he thinks of him. Short-lived relief since the odious Mr. Martineau will finally pass the oral exams - Lucas had better get it right. That same evening, at a party, Lucas meets Clémence, a lovely young girl. Love at first sight seems mutual, but Lucas lets her go without knowing her name. Between lively revisions and summer trips with his friends, he sets out in search of his beautiful stranger. For Lucas, this is only the beginning of the hassle, especially since he accepts private lessons philosophy at Monsieur Martineau's - and that the latter turns out to be the father of a very pretty young girl.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 809
Genere: Comedy, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, semi serious, humorous, offbeat
Similar in 90%
The Beautiful Person (2008)
Plot Summary:
In the wake of her mother's tragic death, French teenager Junie (Léa Seydoux) transfers to a different high school. Though Junie lives mostly inside her own head, her beauty and stoicism win her the attention of the entire male student population. Junie begins dating the gentle Otto Cleves (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet), but finds herself intensely drawn to her youthful Italian language teacher, Nemours (Louis Garrel). When Nemours begins to reciprocate, serious complications ensue.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sexual, psychological, touching, serious, emotional, melancholic, captivating, disturbing, sexy, art house
Similar in 89%
Shackles (2005)
Plot Summary:
An aspiring teacher (Hughley) takes the one job he's offered, a position at a school inside a prison.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, captivating, suspense, semi serious
Similar in 78%
Life of a King (2013)
Plot Summary:
Life of a King is the true story of one man's mission to give inner city kids of Washington DC something he never had - a future. After being incarcerated for eighteen years, Eugene Brown established the Big Chair Chess Club to get kids off the streets and working towards lives they never believed they were capable of. This is his inspirational story.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, rough, touching, psychological, thought provoking, captivating, spiritual, serious, realistic
Similar in 78%
The Class (2008)
Plot Summary:
Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: sincere, melancholic, psychological, realistic, talky, independent film, political, art house, mesmerizing, intellectual
Similar in 81%
Cheaters (2000)
Plot Summary:
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sincere, clever, serious, realistic, offbeat
Similar in 90%
Struck by Lightning (2012)
Plot Summary:
After being struck and killed by lightning, a young man recounts the way he blackmailed his fellow classmates into contributing to his literary magazine.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: witty, humorous, semi serious, teen, funny, touching, indie film, offbeat, realistic, independent film
Similar in 90%
Little Red Flowers (2006)
Plot Summary:
Liang is a four-year-old little rebel, possessed of a pair of luminous eyes and a precociously indomitable will. His father deposits him at a well-appointed residential kindergarten in post-1949 Beijing, since his parents are often away. Life at the kindergarten appears rich and colourful, made up of a variety of cheerfully sunny rituals and games meant to train these children to be good members of society.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: China, Italy
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: humorous, serious, realistic, touching
Similar in 83%
Cheeky Girls (2008)
Plot Summary:
Three teen-aged girlfriends navigate multiple love triangles.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 595
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Germany
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, humorous, semi serious, sexual, sexy
Similar in 88%
Out of It (1969)
Plot Summary:
An introverted nerd and a dumb, violent jock vie for the attentions of a cheerleader.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 174
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: independent film, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, sexual, sexy
Similar in 78%
Time Stands Still (1982)
Plot Summary:
A Budapest high school in the beginning of the 1960s. Dinis suffers the torments of adolescence. His father had to leave Hungary after the uprise in 1956, and since then Dini's mother has had to take care of her two sons on her own. A friend of Dinis' father, Bodor, is released from prison and moves in with them. Dinis and his brother Bodor are far from happy over this intrusion of their family life.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: rough, touching, emotional, realistic, serious
Similar in 90%
You're My Hero (2003)
Plot Summary:
Thirteen-year-old Ramon is on the verge of many adolescent discoveries -- and the confusion that goes along with them. Shy and awkward, he's moved from town to town throughout his childhood and believes that life is about winning and losing. But he soon learns it's all about survival. Like Ramon, Spain is in transition (President Francisco Franco is about to die); it's a time of social upheaval marked by change, illusion and struggle.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 382
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, semi serious, captivating, humorous
Similar in 75%
Chalk (2006)
Plot Summary:
Life in the trenches of that most honorable and frustrating profession...teaching. It's the start of a memorable new year at Harrison High. The self-conscious Mr. Stroope is convinced that his time has come - this year he will be furnished with the golden title of "Teacher of the Year," if only his smarter students would stop using words that he can't understand.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: mockumentary, humorous, semi documentary, psychological, captivating, clever, realistic, witty, semi serious, biting
Similar in 75%
Terri (2011)
Plot Summary:
Terri, a pajama-clad, disaffected high school student learns how to engage the world with the help of Mr. Fitzgerald, his assistant principal.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: melancholic, compassionate, mumblecore, clever, thought provoking, sweet, surreal, visually appealing, sex comedy, comedy drama
Similar in 87%
Everybody's Doing It (2002)
Plot Summary:
Angela and Travis consider having sex for the first time just as their high school starts up an abstinence education program. Making matters worse, a "good girl" collects abstinence pledges from students and blows the whistle on Angela and Travis.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 293
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, captivating
Similar in 90%
Smart Ass (2014)
Plot Summary:
Kelly, Dan and Louis are students at a prestigious business school, destined to become tomorrow's elite. The industrious trio are determined to start putting their education into practise from the off in an attempt to make as much money as they can from their fellow students. Working on the theory that relationships between the sexes can be regulated by market principles, they begin to inflate the popularity of certain individuals artificially, by hiring beautiful and sexy off-campus women as their dates for exclusive and riotous college parties. However their perfect business model soon spirals out of control as their moneymaking scheme takes off in a big way across campus.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: humorous, sexy, semi serious, touching, art house, realistic, erotic, fake documentary
Similar in 82%
Gippi (2013)
Plot Summary:
Gippi is a coming-of-age story of an ordinary, overweight girl, who, through the course of the film, learns to love herself for exactly who she is. It is also a tale of an underdog, who picks herself up from nothing and finds herself at the top of her own little world.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 887
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: India
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: humorous, captivating, light, inspirational, sentimental, feel good, realistic, semi serious