Best movies like Once Upon a Time in the North
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
19th century drama set on the plains of Ostrobothnia, western Finland, which are controlled by groups of knife-wielding thugs, the toughs. Traditionally, the first-born son inherits everything, so when Esko – a bum and a gang leader – learns that his father will leave the Välitalo estate to his younger and exemplary brother, all hell breaks loose.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Finland
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, suspense, suspenseful, contemplative
Best tv shows and movies like Once Upon a Time in the North (2012):
Similar in 79%
Seven Brothers (1989)
Plot Summary:
Seven brothers takes place during ten years of the seven deadbeat brothers living with their mother in Jukola, Finland. After their mother's death the brothers are forced to change their lifestyle and try to become socially accepted citizens.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 79
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland
Duration: 804 min
Plot tags: folk tale, avant garde
Similar in 83%
Last Cowboy Standing (2009)
Plot Summary:
In 1982 the guilt-ridden 18-year-old Rupert tries to remember and understand the events of the past amidst the chaos of the present.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 720
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland, Germany
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Chinese Wine (2016)
Plot Summary:
The relationship of two maotai liquor-producing families, between 1915, when the drink first won international fame, and the end of the Chinese civil war, after which it was named China's official national liquor.
IMDB Rating:
IMDB Votes:
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: unusual plot structure, suspense, suspenseful, contemplative
Similar in 78%
The Marshal of Finland (2012)
Plot Summary:
Long time ago, there lived a man whose name was Gustaf Mannerheim, better known as the Marshal of Finland. He was given this title following his courage as an army man; he fought for the freedom of his small country, struggling to keep its independency. As small nations always do, this nation needed a true hero, and Gustaf was the true hero of them: brave, ambitious, successful. But what are the things a hero must always sacrifice? How can you live normal life if you think your country needs you more than your family? Gustaf became the most beloved person in his country and the nation loved him, he had succeeded to become the greatest soldier there ever was, but he still had lost the most important thing in his life – love. This is the story about an extraordinary man captured inside the great legend, who was longing for ordinary life, love and peace. But as we know it, life is like a mountain – there are ups and there are downs.
IMDB Rating: 2.3
IMDB Votes: 401
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland, Estonia, Kenya
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, suspense, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
Kamouraska (1973)
Plot Summary:
A writer, Kamouraska is based on a real nineteenth-century love-triangle in rural Québec. It paints a poetic and terrifying tableau of the life of Elisabeth d'Aulnières: her marriage to Antoine Tassy, squire of Kamouraska; his violent murder; and her passion for George Nelson, an American doctor. Passionate and evocative, Kamouraska is the timeless story of one woman's destructive commitment to an ideal love.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 411
Genere: Drama, History
Country: France, Canada
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 89%
Deckname Holec (2016)
Plot Summary:
Young director Honza David (Krystof Hádek) films the Russian invasion in in Prague in August 1968. With Eva (Vica Kerekes) - the love of his life - he tries to get out of the country. He wants to bring the explosive material to Vienna, to the director of the Austrian Television Helmut Zilk (Johannes Zeiler). He knows Eva very well - but the Czech Secret Service even better.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 76
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Austria, Czech Republic
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 80%
My Friend Henry (2004)
Plot Summary:
When 12-year-old Elsi Björkman and her mother Paula return from a week's holiday abroad, Elsi immediately notices that someone has been in her room. She tells her mother about it, but she does not believe her. At the local supermarket Elsi meets Henry, who seems to spend his time returning shopping trolleys. Elsi does not know anything about the boy, who has an irritating habit of appearing from out of nowhere, only to disappear again, as if into thin air. Nevertheless, the children become friends.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 171
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 89%
The Good Son (2011)
Plot Summary:
When his mother takes a shine to a man at a party, a young man begins to lose his grip on reality. Initial release: March 25, 2011 (Finland) Director: Zaida Bergroth Editor: Jan Forsström Music composed by: Mi and L'au Awards: Jussi Award for Best Leading Actress.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 402
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, unusual plot structure, contemplative
Similar in 79%
All That Matters Is Past (2012)
Plot Summary:
Reunited after years apart, childhood sweethearts William and Janne are forced to confront the dark secrets of their past-and the menacing presence of William's pathologically jealous brother — in this haunting story from celebrated Norwegian director Sara Johnsen.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 804
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense
Similar in 79%
Brothers (2011)
Plot Summary:
The script of this film was very loose and most of the dialog was improvised by the cast.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 186
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating, suspense, contemplative
Similar in 82%
The Surrealist and His Naughty Hand (2013)
Plot Summary:
A film about Finnish artist Kalervo Palsa who was completely neglected by his peers and time.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 173
Genere: Biography, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Finland
Duration: 73 min
Plot tags: surreal, sincere, unusual plot structure, humorous, contemplative, dark comedy
Similar in 78%
Run the Tide (2016)
Plot Summary:
When their drug abusing mother is released from prison determined to rebuild their family, Rey kidnaps his younger brother Oliver and escapes their desert home for the California coast.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, captivating, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 77%
Bad Family (2010)
Plot Summary:
Bad Family (Finnish: Paha perhe) is a 2010 Finnish drama/black comedy film written and directed by Aleksi Salmenperä and produced by Aki Kaurismäki. The film tells the story of an overly protective and controlling father who suspects incest is taking place between his own son and daughter. These growing suspicions and concerns cause the father to become delusional and unrelenting in his quest to end the love affair between his children. Distributed domestically by Sandrew Metronome, Bad Family was theatrically released in Finland on January 29, 2010. From February 14 to February 21, 2010, it was screened at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 934
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, witty, disturbing, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 81%
The Eternal Road (2017)
Plot Summary:
Based on true events an epic story of one man's struggle for survival. Jussi Ketola, returns to Finland from the great depression struck America only to face growing political unrest. One summer night of 1930, nationalist thugs violently abduct Ketola from his home. Beaten and forced to walk the Eternal Road towards a foreign Soviet Russia, where cruelty seems to know no end, his only dream is to return to his family cost it what it may. Hope dies last.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Finland, Estonia, Sweden
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, tense, rough, thought provoking, suspenseful, touching
Similar in 79%
The Endless Trench (2019)
Plot Summary:
Higinio and Rosa have only been married for a few months when the Civil War breaks out, representing a serious threat to his life. Helped by his wife, they decide to use a hole dug into their own home as a provisional hiding place. The fear of potential reprisals and the love they feel for one another will condemn them to an imprisonment that will last for more than 30 years.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Spain, France, Canada
Duration: 147 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, touching, sad, hispanic
Similar in 83%
Ceasefire (2016)
Plot Summary:
In the early 1920s, Georges Laffont, traumatized by the horrific trench warfare, decides to leave his life behind and travel to West Africa. In the vast territories of Upper Volta he - with the help of Diofo, artist and also survivor of the Great War - try to recruit the villagers as labor for plantations in Ghana. But his adventure leads him to a dead-end, and he comes back to Paris desperate to find his place in the world.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 537
Genere: Drama, History
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sincere, rough, disturbing, melancholic
Similar in 77%
Beau Brummell: This Charming Man (2006)
Plot Summary:
This BBC historical drama stars James Purefoy as Beau Brummell, the original sharp-dressed dandy of 18th-century London. A socialite responsible for inventing the modern suit, Brummell befriends and restyles Prince Regent of Wales.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 692
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: realistic, exciting, tense, sincere, touching, serious, period piece, costume drama, period drama
Similar in 76%
Home from Home: Chronicle of a Vision (2013)
Plot Summary:
Follow-up to the TV trilogy "Heimat", this time for cinemas, set again in the fictional village Schabbach in the Hunsrück region of Rhineland-Palatinate.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Germany, France
Duration: 231 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, epic, serious, contemplative, stylized, family saga, saga, sentimental, bleak
Similar in 85%
Twisted Roots (2009)
Plot Summary:
In this stylish Finnish drama, the secrets and desires of a family can no longer be suppressed. Mikko turns out to have a hereditary illness. Since then he has been worried. How long can he continue to run the family business that he and inherited from his father, just like his illness? And how does he tell his teenage daughter and adult son that they might have the wrong genes? The imaginative eight-year-old Lumi, adopted from China, also cannot get away from her roots.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 216
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, touching
Similar in 90%
A Man's Job (2007)
Plot Summary:
Juha is 38 years old and has three small children and a depressed wife. He sees himself as strong and believes a man should provide for his family. But one day Juha is fired from his job. Ashamed, he weaves a web of lies to hide the fact from his family. With the help of his friend Olli, Juha begins prostituting himself to support his wife and children. With this he makes in two hours what it took him two days to earn before. The shame and deception mushroom, but the pay from the new profession seems to offset the downside.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, realistic, psychological, serious, sexual, crying, sexy
Similar in 82%
Private Property (2006)
Plot Summary:
Since Luc granted a divorce to Pascale ten years ago, he paid generous alimony and left a fine country house as long as their twin sons remain at home. Pascale always acted as if she was the provider and head of the household, even now the inseparable brothers are twenty. But she started a secret affair with Flemish neighbor, cook Jan, whose ambition is to start a restaurant and B&B with her. As the boys learn she wants to cancel her job and sell the house for the project, college-man Thierry, who has a steady girl Anne, naturally refuses to let her spend dad's money meant for them. Gentler François, content to remain a handyman, would consider letting her and maybe working in the 'family business'. This causes trouble, even after Pascale moves out to Gerda's indefinitely, leading to tragedy.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium, France, Luxembourg
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sexy, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Schwabenkinder (2003)
Plot Summary:
A man returning to his parents years after having been sent away as a child-laborer tells his lifetime story to his dying father.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 258
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Germany
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, captivating, psychological
Similar in 83%
Frozen Land (2005)
Plot Summary:
When a schoolteacher is sacked, he projects his bad mood at his troubled teenage son. The son, in turn, buys a CD player from a pawnshop with counterfeit money. This starts a chain reaction of misery as every victim projects his problems on to another person.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: bleak, emotional, realistic, intense, sincere, captivating, touching, harsh, atmospheric, serious
Similar in 88%
The Foster Boy (2011)
Plot Summary:
Switzerland, 1955. The young orphan Max is sent as a foster child and contracted to work for the Bösiger family who lives on a farm. His foster parents treat him like a workhorse while their son seizes every opportunity to humiliate him. Playing the accordion is the one thing that is entirely his. But when the new teacher stands up for Max, it only makes a bad situation much worse. The only thing preserving his will to survive is his friendship with Berteli, who was also taken on to work at the farm. Max dreams of Argentina with her: a fantasy world, where allegedly even hayforks are made of silver.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Switzerland, Germany
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere
Similar in 80%
A Year in My Life (2006)
Plot Summary:
In 1950s France, a young boy is taken in by a couple after spending a few months in the care of social service.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 224
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, sincere, captivating, feel good, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 77%
The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)
Plot Summary:
The life inside a farm in Italy at the beginning of the century. Many poor country families live there, and the owner pays them by their productivity. One of the families has a very clever child. They decide to send him to school instead of make him help them, although this represents a great sacrifice. The boy has to wake up very early and walk several miles to get to the school. One day the boy's shoes break when returning home, but they do not have money to buy other. What can they do?.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Italy
Duration: 186 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, touching, serious, contemplative, spiritual, family saga, saga, slow cinema, period drama
Similar in 84%
Sacrifice (2010)
Plot Summary:
For generations the Zhao family has wielded power, until their mortal enemy TU’AN GU slaughters the entire clan, determined to wipe out their influence forever. But one Zhao baby survives hidden by CHENG YING the doctor who delivered him. When Tu’an Gu learns of the baby’s escape he seizes every infant in the city, vowing to kill them all unless the Zhao baby is surrendered. As the tyrant’s soldiers arrive at Cheng Ying’s home the frantic doctor hides his wife with their own baby whilst surrendering the Zhao child as his own. But his family is discovered; his baby is presumed to be the Zhao heir and murdered along with his wife for harboring the infant. Now set on revenge Cheng Ying enrolls the Zhao orphan into the service of the Tu’an Gu household, plotting to use him as an instrument of vengeance when he comes of age.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: China
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: exciting, atmospheric, serious, suspenseful, captivating, stylized, epic, realistic, costume drama
Similar in 81%
The Giant (2017)
Plot Summary:
Having fought in the First Carlist War, Martin returns to his family farm in Gipuzkoa only to find that his younger brother, Joaquín, towers over him in height. Convinced that everyone will want to pay to see the tallest man on Earth, the siblings set out on a long trip all over Europe, during which ambition, money and fame will forever change the family’s fate. A story based on true events.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Spain
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, sentimental, captivating, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 88%
Carol's Journey (2002)
Plot Summary:
Carol, a 12 year old Spanish-American girl from New York, travels with her mother to Spain in the spring of 1938, at the height of the Civil War. Separated from her beloved father, Carol arrives in her mother's home village and transforms the secretive family environment. Her innocence and rebellious nature drive her at first to reject a world that is at once new and foreign. But she soon journeys into adulthood through a friendship with Maruja, the village teacher, and a young local boy, Tomiche.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Spain, Portugal
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 87%
1900 (1976)
Plot Summary:
Set in Bertolucci's ancestral region of Emilia, the film chronicles the lives of two men during the political turmoils that took place in Italy in the first half on the 20th century.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Italy, France, West Germany
Duration: 317 min
Plot tags: epic, disturbing, controversial, compassionate, thought provoking, serious, realistic, captivating, political, stylized