Best movies like Orphans
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Brothers Treat (Matthew Modine) and Philip (Kevin Anderson) have lived alone since they were kids, when a small time criminal enters their lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 929
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, serious, realistic
Best tv shows and movies like Orphans (1987):
Similar in 84%
Lola (2001)
Plot Summary:
The story follows a troubled woman and her search for identity. She is given a choice between a return to the dysfunction of the past, or a new life in self assumed identity.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 245
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, suspense, independent film
Similar in 76%
Walker Payne (2006)
Plot Summary:
A small-town father is forced to make difficult, heartbreaking decisions in order to save his two daughters.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 473
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, emotional, gloomy
Similar in 85%
If... Dog... Rabbit (1999)
Plot Summary:
Johnnie Cooper served time for an armed robbery that also his father and brother participated in. When he's released from jail he's determined to live a normal life and gets work at a gas station. But soon his brother pays a visit.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 602
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: independent film, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 80%
Stolen Child (2012)
Plot Summary:
Amanda and Jason are happy marriage now, after years of frustration have finally managed to take a beautiful girl from a country in Eastern Europe through an international adoption agency. But when the doctor will perform a DNA test to small, finds that there have been irregularities in the adoption process.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 311
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, tense
Similar in 87%
Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day (2012)
Plot Summary:
The Ames' seem to have built the perfect life until their six year old daughter is kidnapped; over the course of seven days they begin to uncover secrets about their past that could rip their marriage and lives apart.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 664
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, realistic, tense, captivating, psychological, suspense, christian film, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 82%
Ten Benny (1995)
Plot Summary:
The story of a young shoe salesman whose overestimation of his own sharpness leads to gambling debts, pissed-off loan sharks, and overall misery.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 408
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, clever, serious, realistic, contemplative, talky, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Into Thin Air (1985)
Plot Summary:
Ellen Burstyn stars as Joan Walker, a mother whose college student son vanishes while traveling from Canada to Colorado. When police fail to investigate, Walker takes matters into her own hands. She and her ex-husband begin a search, but when their son's van is found in Maine brandishing stolen plates, they fear the worst. Now, it's up to a private detective to uncover the chilling truth in this absorbing drama based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 461
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: mind bending, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, suspenseful, detective
Similar in 76%
Abel's Field (2012)
Plot Summary:
Seth McArdle (Samuel Davis) is a high school senior with an especially full plate. Not only must he navigate the usual social and academic pitfalls of high school, but he has to contend with his young twin sisters, serving as de facto parent in the absence of his deceased mother and deadbeat father. The pressure mounts when the bank calls with a foreclosure warning, and Seth's frustrations spill over into various altercations with the school football team. An exasperated coach exiles Seth to work after school with Abel the eccentric groundskeeper (Kevin Sorbo). Their relationship starts off cold and rocky, but as the two spend more time together, they realize they have more in common than either thought. The downside: it's pretty much pain and sadness that they share. The upside: God loves them.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 726
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, christian film
Similar in 78%
A Good Baby (1999)
Plot Summary:
A young loner wandering the back roads of North Carolina comes across an abandoned baby. He immediately starts seeking the baby's parents, but starts developing a bond with the child that explores his own isolated roots.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 342
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, serious, realistic, independent film, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Heat and Sunlight (1987)
Plot Summary:
A man confronts jealously and rage as a love affair falters.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 165
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, exciting, offbeat, serious, realistic, gloomy, sexual, fast, surreal
Similar in 82%
My Brother (2006)
Plot Summary:
"My Brother" is an inner city story of two impoverished boys, Isaiah and James. James is developmentally disabled. Their mother, L'Tisha, finds herself in a tragic situation. Dying of tuberculosis, she desperately tries to get her two boys, eight and eleven at the time, adopted together. Finding that only Isaiah can be adopted. L'Tisha makes the only choice she feels she can make; creating an unbreakable bond of love between the boys, and hoping that bond will get them through life. Her prayers are answered as the boys overcome impossible odds on their way to adulthood, staying as close as ever as young men dealing with life's obstacles.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 360
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, touching, heartfelt
Similar in 78%
Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills (1994)
Plot Summary:
About the 1989 murders of Carolco Entertainment chairman, Jose Menendez, and his wife, Kitty, who were killed by their sons, Lyle and Erik, in Beverly Hills, allegedly for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 394
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 80%
Lana's Rain (2002)
Plot Summary:
This powerful, hard-edged crime drama explores the dark side of the American immigrant experience and dares to ask, "How far would you go to survive?" Lana’s only chance to escape the war-torn Balkans is her long-lost brother, Darko, a street-smart gangster with enemies intent on revenge. Isolated at first by her inability to speak English, Lana desperately hopes that she and her brother can achieve the American dream that she can only glimpse. But her illusions are shattered as she is forced to survive by any means possible on the mean streets of Chicago. As she gets pulled deeper and deeper into her brother’s criminal world while a steely determination grows in her heart, Lana must risk her own life to overcome Darko and his pursuers if she hopes to finally realize her dream.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 189
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, bleak, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 83%
Boy Called Twist (2004)
Plot Summary:
The harrowing tale of a South African street-kid's search for love, based on Dickens' classic story. Growing up neglected in a rural orphanage, Twist escapes to the unpredictable freedom of Cape Town, where he falls in with Fagin's gang of street urchins. With a gritty honesty steeped in its vibrant characters, Boy called Twist superbly captures the contemporary equivalents of Dickens' seedy individuals as it shadows the timeless tale in its own inimitable style.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 165
Genere: Drama
Country: South Africa
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Children of Sarajevo (2012)
Plot Summary:
A microcosm of the fathomless suffering that remains more than 16 years since the siege of Sarajevo ended, writer-director Aida Begic’s follow-up to her 2008 Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize-winning debut Snow tells the story of two orphaned siblings struggling in a transitional society where only the fittest survive.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 685
Genere: Drama
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, France, Turkey
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, bleak, serious, gloomy
Similar in 87%
The Street King (2002)
Plot Summary:
In life, there's silver, and there's lead, says Rikki Ortega, as he moves to be king of the street in "Ánglio," L.A.'s east side. Older brothers and a brother-in-law are in his way. While they think they are driving out the Rojas, a local gang that runs the meth trade for bosses in Cabo San Lucas, Rikki is running an elaborate double-cross on his own family. He's not happy just to run this fratricidal con, he also wants to cash in as much as he can of one hundred kilos of crystal meth that he stole from the Rojas (and the Mexicans), seduce the girlfriend of one of his victims, and stay ahead of a cop who was a childhood friend. Will he end up with the silver?.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 219
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
The Browning Version (1994)
Plot Summary:
Andrew Crocker-Harris is an embittered and disliked teacher of Greek and Latin at a British prep school. After nearly 20 years of service, he is being forced to retire on the pretext of his health, and perhaps may not even be given a pension. The boys regard him as a Hitler, with some justification. His wife Laura is unfaithful, and lives to wound him any way she can. Andrew must come to terms with his failed life and regain at least his own self-respect.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, talky, grim, anamorphic, colorful, psychological, tense, sentimental, clever, serious
Similar in 75%
Shoot the Moon (1982)
Plot Summary:
After fifteen years of marriage, an affluent couple divorce and take up with new partners.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, offbeat, serious, psychological, tense, atmospheric, sexy, thought provoking, touching
Similar in 80%
Held Hostage (2009)
Plot Summary:
Michelle a single mother is kidnapped by three masked men and held hostage until she is forced to rob a bank which is the only option she has to saving her only child's life while they are both wired to explode.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 709
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic
Similar in 90%
The End of Innocence (1990)
Plot Summary:
Seemingly autobiographical story of a woman overwhelmed with trying to please everyone except herself, and not finding any answers until she's admitted to a rehab center by her parents. Eventually here is where she finds her answers.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 233
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, psychological, serious, emotional, contemplative, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 89%
Silver Tongues (2011)
Plot Summary:
Two lovers travel from town to town playing a dark game of deceit that soon spirals out of control, threatening their very relationship.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 751
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, realistic, captivating, mind bending, serious
Similar in 81%
The Stick Up Kids (2008)
Plot Summary:
People always told Santos he was something special. His Uncle told him to get a skill, so he became a hustler and with his three,they became "The Stick Up Kids" Harlem would never be the same. They thought they had it all... Money, cars, the lifestyle and the lingo. The only two words They didn't know were JURISDICTION AND GENTRIFICATION but in their world it was all for one and one for all until an unexpected, mysterious death, forced "The Stick Up Kids"to change their focus from doing crime to stopping the "North Manhattan Project". Now it was up to Santos to pull off one last sting before it destroyed them all. Watch out America. 'The Stick Up Kids" are coming to your town!.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 104
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, crime drama, independent film, rough, suspenseful
Similar in 81%
The New Year Parade (2008)
Plot Summary:
When Mike and Lisa separate, their children suffer quietly in the middle of the annual Mummer's Parade.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 126
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, psychological, contemplative, captivating, sincere, serious, emotional, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 79%
The Domino Effect (2012)
Plot Summary:
If global economy came to a sudden stop what would be the effect on families worldwide? People in different countries or continents might not seem to be interrelated but there is more than meets the eye and we might be more connected than we sometimes like to think.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 276
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Netherlands
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, emotional, gloomy
Similar in 82%
Mentor (2006)
Plot Summary:
A thought-provoking drama about the power that a famous university professor holds over his students and assistants.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 226
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, serious, captivating, touching, emotional, independent film, sexual, sexy
Similar in 81%
Belonging (2004)
Plot Summary:
Jess (Brenda Blethyn) and town handyman Jacob (Kevin Whately) have been happily married 20 years, recently taking in a trio of Jacob's elderly relatives, including his mother (Rosemary Harris). Though the relations are demanding, kindhearted Jess -- who selflessly quit her job -- enjoys looking after them. But when Jacob disappears one day, Jess' life falls apart, and she must learn to cope with things on her own in this touching drama.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 299
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, touching
Similar in 84%
Jumpin' at the Boneyard (1991)
Plot Summary:
Manny tries to get his crack addict brother, Danny, to clean up.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 553
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: cult classic, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 81%
The Beat (1988)
Plot Summary:
A new kid moves into a tough neighborhood controlled by gangs, and tries to teach them poetry.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 220
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, touching, realistic, independent film, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Jailbait (2004)
Plot Summary:
Randy commits a crime that would normally get him probation and a hefty fine, but in the "three-strikes" world of justice, he finds himself locked up for 25 years. His cellmate Jake is a congenial yet remorseless lifer who casually informs Randy that he slit his wife's throat because she slept with another man just three months after they exchanged vows. Jake recognizes Randy's fear and offers him advice on how to make it in prison. But it soon becomes clear that Jake has much more than mentoring in mind as he takes Randy under his wing. "Jailbait" sets a darkly cerebral tone, juxtaposing brutality with the unattainable ideal of intimacy in the harshest of psychological environments. For these two men so yearning to be anything but who they are and where they are, power is the goal, and it's never clear who truly holds it right up to the last unsettling moment.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 436
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic
Similar in 78%
Bas-fonds (2010)
Plot Summary:
On the outskirts of civilisation, three young women, Magalie, Marie-Steph and Barbara live a desperate life together. Drowning in alcohol, they both lust for and hate one another, coupling like animals. Yet gradually they become enmeshed in a complex game of love and domination. Magalie, the ringleader, subjugates through her male power, and bestial charisma. Simple Marie-Steph, her younger sister, remains in the background, and Barbara, unaware of her own prettiness, has joined the pack because she loves Magalie. One day, at Magalie’s instigation, and almost out of boredom, they hold up a bakery and kill the baker with a buckshot gun. Life gradually resumes, but nothing is the same.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 80
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 68 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, serious, disturbing, surreal, offbeat, captivating, realistic, contemplative