Best movies like Pao's Story
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Set in a breath-taking primitive landscape in the mountainous provinces of Vietnam, the film tells the story of a Hmong tribe girl named Pao. She was raised by her stepmother, for her real mother left her when she was little. One day, her stepmother dies in an accident, and she begins to track down her birth mother. But her journey turns out to disclose an unsealed sentimental drama of the family in the past.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 176
Genere: Drama
Country: Vietnam
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: surprise ending
Best tv shows and movies like Pao's Story (2006):
Similar in 79%
Bandits of Orgosolo (1961)
Plot Summary:
A Sardinian peasant is implicated in the murder of a policeman and, although innocent, he doesn’t give himself up, lacking faith in the judicial system and fearing that he may lose his sheep while awaiting trial. He leaves for the mountains with his brother but life is difficult and his flock dies. Returning to the town he discovers his family in abject poverty. He procures a gun and, forced by his social predicament, resorts to banditry.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 693
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: spiritual
Similar in 81%
L'arbre de les cireres (1998)
Plot Summary:
The story takes place between December 1994 and February 1995 in a small village near Valencia, Spain, where the lives of four people - a child, a thief and two doctors - intersect. At the same time, the great love of one woman's life suddenly crumbles and a young girl pays a high price for learning how to love.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 124
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Floating Lives (2010)
Plot Summary:
Set in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, the film tells a story of Mr. Vo and his children. Vo, enraged by his wife’s infidelity, burns down his house and all his memories of the past.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 382
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Vietnam
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 81%
The Three Madeleines (2000)
Plot Summary:
Three women who share a familial bond but little more come to know each other better in this beautifully-photographed drama. Marie-Madeleine (Sylvie Drapeau) is a photographer in her mid-30s who, for the first time, has come into contact with Mado (France Arbour), her biological mother, who put her up for adoption shortly after she was born. Marie-Madeleine is to take a long road trip for a magazine assignment, and she invites Mado along. Joining the two women is Marie-Madeleine's daughter (Isadora Galwey), who has yet to meet her German father. The three women share their thoughts and ideas as they travel through an idyllic setting to photograph birds. Les Fantomes des Trois Madeleine was shown at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival as part of the Directors Fortnight series.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 78
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Sisters Apart (2008)
Plot Summary:
Taru elää ratsutilalla harmonista elämää miehensä Harrin ja tytärpuolensa Ninnin kanssa. Kaikki muuttuu, kun Ninni loukkaantuu hevosonnettomuudessa. Kymmenen vuotta sitten Ruotsiin lähtenyt Ninnin biologinen äiti Eve kutsutaan paikalle Tarun pyynnöstä. Even pikaiseksi kuviteltu käynti muuttuu pidemmäksi vierailuksi, kun Eve tajuaa, että hän haluaa menetetyt kymmenen vuotta elämästään takaisin. Kauan kytenyt kaipaus Ninni-tytärtä kohtaan nousee pintaan. Vähä vähältä Eve alkaa vallata tilaa perheestä takaisin itselleen, jolloin Taru menettää elämänsä hallinnan. Esiin nousee syyllisyyttä ja muistoja - rakkaitakin, vihaa ja tarvitsevuutta. Kaikki minkä Taru luuli olevan ehjää ja hallinnassa, kyseenalaistuu. Kymmenen vuotta puhumattomana olleet asiat vaativat selvittämistä ja kaikki neljä joutuvat etsimään oman paikkansa uudessa tilanteessa.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 231
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Skierri: Land of the Dwarf Birches (1982)
Plot Summary:
A film about herder Niila and Sami environment in the time of change and plight. First partly Saami language fiction film in Finland.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 40
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland, Sweden
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
The Greatest House in the World (2015)
Plot Summary:
Rocio, a Maya Mam girl, lives in the mountains with her mother, who is pregnant and her granny. Due to an early delivery from her mother, Rocio is stuck with caring for a herd of sheep, the first time she has done it on her own. Playing in the mountains she loses one of the sheep. Looking for it, she will lose the rest of the herd. In the midst of this tragedy, Rocio will have to face her innocence, conquer her fear of fog and learn that freedom entails responsibility. Nature will teach her that you do not have to defeat your fears, you just have to experience them. The Greatest House in the World is a story of children -which we all are- when facing fears, the unknown, the uncertain... the fog.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 48
Genere: Drama
Country: Guatemala, Mexico
Duration: 76 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Worst Case, We Get Married (2017)
Plot Summary:
Aïcha is a troubled teenage girl who cannot forgive her mother for kicking out the stepfather she adored. Aïcha longs for him to come back and take her away. When she meets Baz, a man twice her age, it’s love at first sight for her; the real kind, the one that hurts. Baz wants to help this lost little girl, but she wants much more from him, and is ready to do anything to get it.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 231
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, Switzerland
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Secrets In The Snow (2012)
Plot Summary:
On this particular Friday morning the students of Eastbrook High are arriving at school to complete their final exams before the Christmas Holiday. But what began as a December snowfall quickly becomes a threatening winter storm, and school is dismissed for the day. The students who are unable to arrange transportation before the storm grows are forced to remain in the school gym. The six familiar strangers are the only students remaining as the outdoor conditions worsen and the doors are locked. Wills are tested, friendships are created, and secrets are revealed as they realize they must rely on each other to make it through the night.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 161
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
Comfort and Consolation in France (2017)
Plot Summary:
Pascal and Pauline are coming back to their parents’ estate. After years of travelling the world, they are no longer in a position to afford the property bills. They confront their childhood friends. Friends coming from less wealthy families and who never left their countryside.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 111
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: art house
Similar in 81%
Meant to Be (2012)
Plot Summary:
When 20-year old Nathan loses his career and his girlfriend, he questions his purpose in life. Compounding his struggle, Nathan grew up in a foster home and never met his birth mother. He sets out on a quest to find his mother and somehow come to terms with her rejection of him. His journey begins by flying to the city where he was born. Upon his arrival, Nathan checks into a hotel and meets Mave the hotel's housekeeper. Encouraged by Mave's wisdom and the help of hotel guest Shelly, Nathan finds the address of his mother, Linda. Linda is a social worker who agonizes over the decision she made with Nathan 20 years ago. In an effort to admonish the guilt of giving up her son, Linda is caught up in the life of a teenage mother-to-be, Tori, who is conflicted by the decision to abort her baby. When Nathan gathers the courage to meet his mother, he uncovers a terrible secret that totally redefines what was meant to be for his life.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 357
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, captivating, contemplative, christian film, surprise ending
Similar in 90%
Small Voices (2002)
Plot Summary:
Melinda is a new substitute teacher at the Malawig Elementary School, located in a poor remote barrio. A young university graduate, her family expects her to look for work abroad, but in her idealism she takes on a challenging job in the provincial public school, which lacks resources and has corrupt personnel. The heavy monsoon rains and the nearby NPAs also add to her difficulties. The children are indifferent to their studies, having been affected by the hopelessness around them. Melinda tries to motivate them by capitalizing on their interest and talent in singing. She takes advantage of a funding opportunity to enter them in a choral contest. She encounters some resistance, however, from the school administration and from the parents of her students. Furthermore, the death of one of the choral group’s members at the hands of the Armed Forces of the Philippines casts a pall on their once joyful preparations. Melinda, however, constantly tries to rise above these challenges.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 132
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
Marion (1997)
Plot Summary:
Marion is ten and befriends a couple so much that they want her to live with them.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 106
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
See You Tomorrow (1992)
Plot Summary:
No overview found.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 52
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
Daughter of Rage (2022)
Plot Summary:
Nicaragua, today. Eleven-year-old María lives with her mother Lilibeth on the edge of an immense rubbish dump. Their future depends on selling a litter of purebred puppies to a local gang member. When the deal falls through, Lilibeth has to move to the outskirts of the city and leave María to work at a recycling factory. The days go by with no sign of her mother's return. María feels abandoned, confused and angry. One night she meets Tadeo, a kind and romantic boy determined to help her find her mother.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 163
Genere: Drama
Country: Nicaragua, Mexico, Netherlands, Germany, France, Norway
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
In Her Place (2014)
Plot Summary:
A wealthy couple seeks to secretly adopt the unborn child of an impoverished and troubled rural teenager, in this slow-burning and ultimately shocking drama from writer-director Albert Shin.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 170
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, South Korea
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
Daughter of Mine (2018)
Plot Summary:
A daughter torn between two mothers, one who raised her with love and her biological mother, who instinctively claims her back.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, Germany, Switzerland
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, sentimental, sincere, captivating
Similar in 89%
The Migrants (1974)
Plot Summary:
A look at the lives of migratory farm workers, focusing on one family.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 112
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Away from Home (2001)
Plot Summary:
After several years of numbly mourning his parents death, 26 year old Selim takes a chance on the US lottery for passports and wins. He decides to sell the family olive grove to raise enough money to live in Manhattan and to break all roots to Turkey, leaving his girlfriend behind. When Selim's aged grand uncle, Nasuhi returns from Russia after 58 years he asks Selim to visit with him the olive grove of his youth. Before they depart, Nasuhi finds a beaten Russian girl, Olga who was robbed when she tried to sell herself to raise money to continue her own search for her sea faring father.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 283
Genere: Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
Arcadia Lost (2010)
Plot Summary:
Two teenagers wander rural Greece after being stranded by a car crash. They encounter an itinerant vagabond on their travels.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 209
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, touching
Similar in 77%
The Third Wife (2018)
Plot Summary:
Though only 14 years old, May is selected to be the third wife of a wealthy landowner. Her new home seems idyllic, her husband favours her, and she quickly becomes pregnant with what she is certain will be the desired male progeny. But trouble is quietly brewing: she witnesses a forbidden tryst that will spark a chain reaction of misfortunes — and stir in May urges that until now had been dormant.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Vietnam
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, rough, thought provoking, touching, unusual plot structure, independent film, visual, extraordinary
Similar in 80%
Aurora Borealis: Northern Light (2017)
Plot Summary:
The Aurora Borealis is a story of family that is rich in twists and turns. It breaks the depths of the relationship between mother and daughter. A successful lawyer in Vienna, Olga is called back to Hungary when her old mother, Mary suddenly falls into a coma. While Mary is floating between life and death, Olga finds a deeply silent secret. The increasingly passionate research leads back to the post-war Europe of the '50s.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, motivational, thought provoking
Similar in 86%
Little Forest: Summer/Autumn (2014)
Plot Summary:
Abandoned by her mother, young Ichiko leaves her life in the city to live off the land in Komori, a small town nestled among the mountains in rural Japan. Despite the void left by her mother’s disappearance, Ichiko comes to enjoy her independence and revels in her new-found connection with food and the elements. Visually luxuriant, this film follows Ichiko through one summer and autumn, as she learns to use and respect the time-honoured wisdom of rural folk and read the cycle of life and connectedness in the environment around her.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, captivating, melancholic, contemplative, visually appealing, epic, aesthetic
Similar in 77%
Little Forest: Winter/Spring (2015)
Plot Summary:
Ichiko (Ai Hashimoto) lived in a big city, but goes back to her small hometown Komori, located on a mountain in the Tohoku region. She is self-sufficient. Ichiko gains energy living among nature and eating foods she makes from seasonal ingredients.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, sincere, captivating, realistic, epic, poignant, aesthetic
Similar in 89%
Lost and Love (2015)
Plot Summary:
After his young son goes missing, Lei (Andy Lau) begins a 14-year quest to find him.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 759
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 78%
My Mom's Darkest Secrets (2019)
Plot Summary:
When 21-year-old Ashley Beck-Ford finds her biological mother, Sara Hillman, online, she is shocked and thrilled… But building a relationship with her long-lost mother proves to be more dangerous than Ashley could have ever imagined. Soon after meeting her, Sara’s husband is murdered. Ashley soon finds herself caught in a web of lies and deceit in which she isn’t sure if her mother is innocent or guilty of that murder.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 195
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense
Similar in 85%
Adrift (2009)
Plot Summary:
Adrift begins with the wedding of Duyen and Hai. Duyen is a beautiful tourist guide and translator who marries Hai, a taxi driver who is two years her junior. Duyen thinks the marriage will make her happy but it turns out more difficult, especially since her childlike husband is uninterested in her efforts of intimacy and the marriage remains unconsummated. Cam, secretly in love with Duyen, is bitter about the marriage. Cam has Duyen deliver a letter to Tho, a handsome lothario and tourist guide who physically hurls himself on Duyen when she visits his home to deliver the letter. After Tho reports back to Cam that Duyen is sexually inexperienced, Cam diabolically persuades Duyen to take a temporary job as a translator on one of Tho’s beach tours, knowing what will happen. Duyen's time at the beach with Tho results in an affair leading to Duyen's sexual awakening but continued uncertainty about herself, marriage, and life.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 320
Genere: Drama
Country: Vietnam, France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, realistic, psychological, sexy, captivating, sincere, serious, gloomy, sexual
Similar in 79%
Suzaku (1997)
Plot Summary:
Depicts the life of a family in a remote Japanese timber village. Family head Tahara Kozo lives with his mother Sachiko, wife Yasuyo, nephew Eisuke and young daughter Michiru. Economic recession and failed development plans cause tragedy in the family.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: slow cinema, independent film, aesthetic
Similar in 86%
Shiba (1993)
Plot Summary:
A multi-lingual tour guide who owns multiple passports one day drives his wife and daughter to a desolate seashore town and checks in a secluded, spacious, ruins-like hotel. From that moment on, he throws himself into gambling, tossing the dice with local residents all day. Sometimes he wins big, but sometimes he loses all. Feeling neglected and uncomfortable, his wife and daughter soon leave him and return home. He stays and wanders in this fishing village and gradually immerses himself in the surroundings—a place rife with immoral vagabonds, outlaws and weirdoes.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 21
Genere: Drama
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
The Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000)
Plot Summary:
Hanoi comes across almost picture-perfect in director Tran Anh Hung's beautiful, elegiac tale about the lives and loves of three Vietnamese sisters. A mood characteristic of Hung's films is set early on with the vivid sounds of birds, insects and water and the way the lighting enhances the subtle use of color. They all combine to gem-like effect here.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Vietnam, France, Germany
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: melancholic, sincere, psychological, sentimental, touching, serious, talky, emotional, uplifting, artsy