Best movies like Once Upon a Time, Cinema
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
This film was made in Iran. The protagonist looks almost like Charlie Chaplain. He is given a chance to make films for the emperor. There are many scenes of people running on and off of movie screens, and in and out of old kinetiscope projectors. Some people might find this erratic, and tedious, but it helps project an idea of fantasy, or forgetting about ones problems, becoming engrossed in a film.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, History
Country: Iran
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, realistic, witty, cynical, clever, offbeat, biting, experimental, suspense
Best tv shows and movies like Once Upon a Time, Cinema (1992):
Similar in 78%
The Actor (1993)
Plot Summary:
An Iranian actor named Akbar is trying to become a serious actor instead of the clown everyone considers him to be. However financial problems force him to abandon his dream of being an artistic actor. He also has to deal with his family problems and his wife's inability to become pregnant.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 701
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Mr. Gullible (1970)
Plot Summary:
The story of a simple fellow from a small town who travels to Tehran to find a suitable girl for marriage.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 541
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: ambiguous ending, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 82%
Secret Ballot (2001)
Plot Summary:
A female election agent and a gun-toting soldier try to collect votes among the local islanders with mixed success.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Iran, Italy, Canada, Switzerland
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: surreal, humorous, stylized, realistic, witty, semi serious, psychological, philosophical, sexy, thought provoking
Similar in 85%
The Cycle (1977)
Plot Summary:
Ali and his father go from their poor neighborhood in the outskirts of the city to a hospital so that Ali's father can be treated for his sickness. However since they have no money, Ali starts to work for Dr. Sameri who deals in blood.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 779
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: banned
Similar in 76%
The Tenants (1987)
Plot Summary:
A satirical comedy about the oddball inhabitants of a Tehran apartment building and their landlord.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
A Moment of Innocence (1996)
Plot Summary:
A semi-autobiographical account of Makmahlbaf's experience as a teenager when, as a 17-year-old, he stabbed a policeman at a protest rally. Two decades later, he tracks down the policeman he injured in an attempt to make amends.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: poignant, independent film, islamic, psychological, serious, realistic, contemplative, absurd
Similar in 83%
Mother (1990)
Plot Summary:
The film progresses along two distinct but interwoven series of events. The first series involves young members of a family who have gathered round their old mother and revive their common childhood memories. the second line focuses on the old woman's preparations for her last journey and her joyous cooperation in arranging for the ceremonies that are to be observed after her death.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: spiritual, islamic, interesting
Similar in 81%
A Few Kilos of Dates for a Funeral (2006)
Plot Summary:
The film is set around three protagonists. Two run a gas station on the outskirts of town, on a road that gets next to no traffic anymore, and so they get next to no customers. They live and work out of a decrepit van on site, its windows covered in plastic. Sadry is a former strongman, now blind in one eye. He is the boss of the station. Yadi is his eager to please assistant, who usually annoys more than pleases. Finally there is the postman, Abbas, who longs to trade in his break-less bicycle for a motorcycle, while he must care for his mentally ill brother.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Country: Iran
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, islamic, talky, gloomy
Similar in 85%
Trust Me (2013)
Plot Summary:
Trust Me follows flailing Hollywood agent Howard, who seemingly strikes gold after signing the next big child star. What results is an unexpected ride through the nasty inner workings of Hollywood, as Howard desperately tries to make it in an industry that has no interest in recognizing his bumbling but ultimately genuine nature.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: humorous, cynical, semi serious, realistic, independent film, biting, surprise ending, suspense
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Bill Burr: Why Do I Do This? (2008)
Plot Summary:
One of America's fastest-rising comedians, Bill Burr wields his razor-sharp wit with rare skill. In this brand-new stand-up performance, Bill takes aim at the stuff that drives us crazy, political correctness gone haywire, and girlfriends, or as he calls them: relentless psycho robots. A keenly observant social commentator, Bill Burr is also one of the funniest voices in comedy today.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, not serious, offbeat, biting, suspense
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Hi, Mom! (1970)
Plot Summary:
Vietnam vet John Rubin returns to New York and rents a rundown flat in Greenwhich Village. It is in this flat that he begins to film, 'Peeping Tom' style, the people in the apartment across the street. His obsession with making films leads him to fall in with a radical 'Black Power' group, which in turn leads him to carry out a bizarre act of urban terrorism.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, funny, social, surreal, cult classic, offbeat, humorous, realistic, witty, cynical
Similar in 77%
Next Door (1994)
Plot Summary:
Matt and Karen have inconsiderate neighbours whose lawn sprinkler drowns their flowers. A feud errupts and a series of tit-for-tat actions develop and escalate.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 771
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: clever, offbeat, humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, semi serious, slapstick, biting, suspense
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The Cyclist (1989)
Plot Summary:
The wife of Nasim, an Afghan immigrant in Iran, is gravely ill. He needs money to pay for her care, but his day labor digging wells does not pay enough. A friend connects Nasim to a two-bit promoter who sells tickets to watch Nasim ride a bicycle continuously for a week. The promoter brings in sick and aged spectators, haranguing them to find hope in Nasim's strength. Aided by his son, who feeds him as he rides, Nasim grinds out the days and shivering nights. Local officials believe this may be a plot and Nasim may be a spy; they try to sabotage him as do those who bet he won't finish the week. Will desperation alone get Nasim the money? Is any triumph an illusion?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: islamic, psychological, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 84%
The Day I Became a Woman (2000)
Plot Summary:
A girl reaches the age of nine and is supposed to act as a grown woman according to her family. A girl participates in a bike race against the will of her husband. An elderly woman decides she wants to buy all the things she always wanted but could never get.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: touching, talky, stylized, thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, entertaining, allegory
Similar in 78%
To Each His Own Cinema (2007)
Plot Summary:
A collective film of 33 shorts directed by different directors about their feeling about cinema.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: anthology, thought provoking, humorous, realistic, contemplative, stylized, semi serious, art house, cult classic, experimental
Similar in 77%
The Cow (1969)
Plot Summary:
An old villager deeply in love with his cow goes to the capital for a while. While he's there, the cow dies and now the villagers are afraid of his possible reaction to it when he returns.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: depressing, art house, islamic, psychological, atmospheric, touching, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 75%
Hamoun (1990)
Plot Summary:
Hamoon's wife is leaving him. He is also unsuccessfully trying to finish his Ph.D. thesis. He is forced to reexamine his life. In a series of flashbacks and dreams, Hamoon tries to figure out what he did wrong.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: existential, spiritual, islamic, cult classic, psychological, sentimental, sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative
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Tambourine (2008)
Plot Summary:
Mohammad is sent to an apartment situated in uptown Tehran to install their satellite dishes, while having satellite TV is illegal in Iran. He arrives there with a girl named Shirin who seems to be his girlfriend and is in need of some money to repair her father's car with which she has had an accident the day before. Each of the house's residents have their own fish to fry and they also want their satellites installed as soon as possible.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, sincere, islamic, crying
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Childstar (2004)
Plot Summary:
Childstar is about an egotistical 12-year-old named Taylor Brandon Burns who has skyrocketed to fame at that young age. His relationship with his driver, Rick, takes a turn when Taylor confides in him about the problems of celebrity and the fears of his impending teenage years. When Taylor disappears with his new girlfriend, Rick attempts to find the boy and help him through this troubling period.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, light, captivating, thought provoking, clever, offbeat, realistic, witty, independent film
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Personal Tailor (2013)
Plot Summary:
From the director of Back to 1942, Feng Xiaogang, comes PERSONAL TAILOR, one of the most unique films you'll see in this upcoming holiday season. Imagine a team that will sacrifice themselves for your dream at any cost -- but only if that dream makes you a better person. And only if that dream lasts a single day... What would your dream be? Where would you go? What would you do? And after that single day, what would happen to you?.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: China
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: humorous, cynical, stylized, semi serious, realistic, biting, suspense
Similar in 82%
The Last Producer (2000)
Plot Summary:
An old-time mogul struggles to reenter the club where power and money make the rules.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 356
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 85%
Through the Olive Trees (1994)
Plot Summary:
The movie focuses on one of the events in Zendegi Edame Darad (1992), and explores the relationship between the movie director, and the actors. The local actors play a couple who got married right after the earthquake. In reality, the actor is trying to persuade the actress that they should get married.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: contemplative, social, avant garde, art house, independent film, islamic, psychological, mind bending, touching, serious
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The Man Who Came to Dinner (2000)
Plot Summary:
Broadcast of a live performance of the Roundabout Theater Company's 2000 New York revival of the classic Kaufman-Hart comedy, about a famous (and famously acid-tongued) theater critic who is forced to stay in a Midwestern couple's home and the havoc that ensues.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 349
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 176 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, offbeat
Similar in 87%
Mistress (1992)
Plot Summary:
A comedy about a screenwriter (Wuhl) whose old movie script is read by a producer (Landau) and the search for financial backers begins. But it seems that each money source (Aiello, DeNiro, Wallach) has his own mistress that he wants put into the film. Gradually, the screenwriter is forced to make changes to his script to accommodate these backers until he finally sees no semblance of his original ideas in the writing.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: humorous, cynical, light, captivating, cult classic, exciting, independent film, realistic, witty, talky
Similar in 89%
The New Age (1994)
Plot Summary:
Peter and Katherine Witner are Southern California super-yuppies with great jobs but no center to their lives. When they both lose their jobs and begin marital infidelities, their solution is to start their own business together. In order to find meaning to their empty lives, they follow various New Age gurus and other such groups. Eventually, they hit rock bottom and have to make some hard decisions.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: satirical, melancholic, meditative, disturbing, humorous, cynical, realistic, witty, semi serious, cult classic
Similar in 82%
Holy Flying Circus (2011)
Plot Summary:
A fantastical re-imagining of the events of 1979, when Monty Python made Life of Brian and the debate about what is an acceptable subject for comedy was blown wide open.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: clever, humorous, surreal, witty, semi serious, parody, offbeat, biting, suspense, banned
Similar in 90%
Lisa Picard Is Famous (2000)
Plot Summary:
A documentarian decides to follow the career of New York actress Lisa Picard, believing she is on the brink of fame. Instead, he bears witness to Lisa's continued, humorous, struggles as an actress, as well as the conflict that arises when Lisa's best friend Tate hits it big with an off-Broadway one-man show.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 620
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, semi serious, mockumentary, independent film, clever, offbeat, talky
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An Earthy Paradise for the Eyes (2009)
Plot Summary:
Adolescence is always a difficult time; it is doubly so for Gábina. For one thing, she is growing up in the normalization years of the 1970s, and then she also has to face the reality that her father is a well-known actor disavowed by the regime. Although he abandoned the family years before, his existence casts an ominous shadow over the lives of not only Gábina, but also her older sister and mother, who are trying to find a civilized way through the social mire of the times.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 152
Genere: Comedy, Drama, History
Country: Czech Republic
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, semi serious, humorous, talky, biting, suspense
Similar in 85%
State and Main (2000)
Plot Summary:
A Hollywood Film unit invades a small Vermont town leading to wholesale abandonment of values and virtue. A smart, warm and funny movie - and not just for movie buffs. Tagline: When a film crew came to Waterford, Vermont - They Shot First And Asked Questions Later.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, talky, funny, melancholic, cynical, stylized, realistic, clever, witty
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Living in Oblivion (1995)
Plot Summary:
Nick is the director of a low-budget indie film. He tries to keep everything together as his production is plagued with an insecure actress, a megalomaniac star, a pretentious, beret-wearing director of photography and lousy catering. Divided in three acts, each representing a different scene to shoot, this film is an essential for amateur filmmakers.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: surreal, independent film, humorous, funny, atmospheric, talky, light, art house, semi serious, cult classic