Best movies like Past Lives
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Two childhood friends are separated after one’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one week as they confront notions of destiny, love and the choices that make a life.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 48000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, South Korea
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: semi autobiographical, independent film, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like Past Lives (2023):
Similar in 79%
Sleeping and Waking (2009)
Plot Summary:
If you had a second chance at life, would you take it? Sullivan Daniels (Jeff Allin), an artist known for his harsh religious paintings, chose a bizarre experimental surgery over his faith to save him from terminal cancer. Now his hands can't paint, his wife (Hope Lambert) won't touch him, his mother (Helen Hedman) believes he should be dead, and his best friend (Ray Ficca) keeps trying to get him to re-join the living. Only his beautiful student (Elizabeth Jernigan) can rescue him from his life-saving decision.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 20
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
A Husband, a Wife and a Lover (1996)
Plot Summary:
When her cheating husband has a debilitating stroke, a woman invites her lover to move in with them.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 283
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
The Heaven None Missed 3 (2021)
Plot Summary:
Meirose strives to create heaven in her family, with her husband and their two children. One day, Ray, a man from her past, returns and wants to build his lost paradise with Meirose and Akbar.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 95
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Indonesia
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 81%
Paso Doble (1985)
Plot Summary:
Drama directed by Dan Pita.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 266
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Romania
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Close Friends (1992)
Plot Summary:
Fifteen-year-old Sabrina has lived with her father since he split with her mother. As the film unfolds it gradually becomes clear that Sabrina is a victim of incest.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 123
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: erotic
Similar in 88%
How Not to Disappear Completely (2015)
Plot Summary:
'How Not To Disappear Completely' follows a week in the life of a young photographer Tom as he returns to London after spending two years traveling in India. Tom is at a crossroads in his life. A stranger in the cold hard city, he struggles to reconnect with his friends whilst searching for his half sister. Along the way Tom is forced to face up to his past and soon realises that it may not be his life he's been running away from but himself.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 14
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, melancholic
Similar in 77%
Sentimental Romance (1976)
Plot Summary:
Near the close of the Russian Civil War, in 1923, a young man begins studying journalism at a worker newspaper and has a series of romantic adventures which cause him to mature swiftly. He rescues a beautiful girl from an abusive family situation, only to lose her to a smooth-talking sharpster the first time he has to leave town on assignment. Another much nicer and more principled girl is really in love with him, but he doesn't know it. This bittersweet coming-of-age story was based on a novel by Vera Panova.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 62
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Off Shore (2011)
Plot Summary:
Andi has come to Fuerteventura to see his estranged father Chris, who left the family years ago to live on the island and hasn't been heard from since. The local surfer clique welcomes Andi with open arms and he quickly falls for surfing instructor Tina, forming at the same time a reluctant friendship with a mysterious surfer. But his relationship to his father, whom Andi has never met before, is strained. Soon old wounds start to rip open again and a long-kept family secret threatens to turn Andi's world upside down.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 208
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: touching, suspenseful
Similar in 88%
All the Good Ones Are Married (2007)
Plot Summary:
Ben Gold gets the break of his life as aspiring author, but must stay home with his kids, Luke and Madison, to make his 5 months deadline. His feminist wife, workaholic fashion executive Alex, selfishly decides to take in promising rebel designer Zoe Miller, who left her boyfriend Trey. The teenager soon wins the family's hearts. Written by KGF Vissers.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 294
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 86%
Over the Dark Water (1993)
Plot Summary:
Leningrad; 60th years; white nights. Walking on Neva Embankment, the charming provincial has met three friends: poet, artist and film director. And each of young people has suggested to marry him.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 96
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Russia
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, psychological, melancholic
Similar in 90%
Stealing Home (1988)
Plot Summary:
Billy Wyatt (Harmon), a former high school and minor-league baseball baseball player receives a telephone call from his mother revealing that his former child-sitter, and later in his teens, his first love, Katie Chandler (Foster), has died. Wyatt returns home to deal with this tragedy reminescing over his childhood growing up with his father, Katie and best friend Alan Appleby.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, sincere, serious, realistic, touching, fairy tale, light, inspirational, romantic
Similar in 78%
We Couldn't Become Adults (2021)
Plot Summary:
Prodded by a friend request, a feckless forty-something recalls his past relationships from the 90s onward, looking for his vanished hopes and dreams.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 997
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 81%
What's Up with Cinta? (2002)
Plot Summary:
A popular high school girl strains her relationship with her close-knit clique when she begins falling for a reclusive, lower-class schoolmate.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Indonesia
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: romantic, captivating, teen, entertaining
Similar in 78%
I Love You, I Love You Not (1996)
Plot Summary:
School student and her European-born grandmother share sad stories of their lives.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France, Germany, USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, serious, realistic, crying, scary, fairy tale, light, romantic, rough
Similar in 86%
20th Century Girl (2022)
Plot Summary:
Yeon-du asks her best friend Bora to collect all the information she can about Baek Hyun-jin while she is away in the U.S. for heart surgery. Bora decides to get close to Baek's best friend, Pung Woon-ho first. However, Bora's clumsy plan unfolds in an unexpected direction. In 1999, a year before the new century, Bora, who turns seventeen, falls into the fever of first love.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: dorama, nostalgic
Similar in 88%
Minari (2020)
Plot Summary:
A Korean-American family moves to Arkansas in search of their own American Dream. With the arrival of their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother, the stability of their relationships is challenged even more in this new life in the rugged Ozarks, testing the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 93000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sad, independent film, sincere, captivating, thought provoking, offbeat, breathtaking, social, period piece, deep
Similar in 84%
My Friend's Older Sister (2016)
Plot Summary:
Joon-soo learns that his friend Hee-gyu's sister Hee-jin has no where to go after being scammed, so he suggests living with him. The two start living together. They are close like brother and sister but they can never be that. The two start getting funny and Joon-soo can't go to sleep at the thought of Hee-jin sleeping just a wall away from him. Mi-na, Joon-soo's girlfriend notices Joon-soo changing and seduces Joon-soo at his house where Hee-jin is. Is it the girlfriend or the sister?.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 96
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: erotic, romantic, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 76%
That Night (1992)
Plot Summary:
A coming-of-age story about an eleven-year-old girl who idolizes her troubled sixteen-year-old neighbor.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sexy, sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, romantic drama
Similar in 78%
The Year My Voice Broke (1987)
Plot Summary:
Coming-of age feature, set in a New South Wales country town in the 1960s, about a 15 year-old boy. It follows his loves and how he copes with life's problems such as death and departure.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sad, independent film, retro, social, sex comedy, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 81%
Don't Let Me Drown (2009)
Plot Summary:
In a post-September 11th world overflowing with fear and hate, two Latino teens discover that sometimes the only thing that can keep them from drowning is love.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 428
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, sentimental, captivating, touching, serious, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 90%
The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1999)
Plot Summary:
An amnesiac youth tries to piece together his past, but what he discovers may jeopardize his future.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 77%
Christmas in August (1998)
Plot Summary:
In a quiet corner of Seoul, Jung-won runs a small photo studio. A humble shack passed down from his widower father, the studio is a space where Jung-won goes about his daily routine of dealing with fussy customers, enlarging photos of class heartthrobs for the neighborhood kids and photographing pictures to place on funeral altars. For Jung-won, life seems to be a series of peaceful events, but in reality his time on earth is too limited for comfort. Barely in his mid-30's, but perhaps too aware of the meaning of death, Jung-won accepts his fate despite the subtle gestures of concern he gets from his old father and younger sister. Life goes on as usual until one day he meets Darim, an employee at the Traffic Control Division of the local district office. She is a regular customer at the studio who comes everyday to develop snapshots of parking violations.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, realistic, serious, romantic comedy, crying, feel good
Similar in 86%
St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
Plot Summary:
Seven friends - Alec, Billy, Jules, Kevin, Kirby, Leslie and Wendy - are trying to navigate through life and their friendships following college graduation. Alec, who aspires to political life, has just shown his true colors by changing his allegiance from Democrat to Republican, which freaks out girlfriend Leslie, who he wants to marry. Budding architect Leslie, on the other hand, has an independent streak. She believes she has to make a name for herself to find out who she is before she can truly commit to another person in marriage. But Leslie and Alec have decided to live together. Because Leslie refuses to marry Alec, he believes that justifies certain behavior. Kirby, who wants to become a lawyer and who pays for his schooling by working as a waiter at their local hangout called St. Elmo's Bar, and struggling writer Kevin are currently roommates. They are on opposite extremes of the romance spectrum.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 45000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sentimental, intense, sincere, serious, realistic, talky, cult classic, teen, retro, sexy
Similar in 75%
The Classic (2003)
Plot Summary:
Shy Ji-hae's friend is having problems expressing her feelings to the boy she loves, so she asks Ji-hae to write e-mails to him in her name. As the boy falls in love with her letters, Ji-hae discovers the story of her mother's romance which is remarkably similar to her own circumstances.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sad, sexy, feel good, romantic comedy, non-linear, tear jerker
Similar in 79%
Evening (2007)
Plot Summary:
As Constance (Natasha Richardson) and Nina (Toni Collette) gather at the deathbed of their mother, Ann (Vanessa Redgrave), they learn for the first time that their mother lived an entire other lifetime during one evening 50 years ago. In vivid flashbacks, the young Ann (Claire Daines) spends one night with a man named Harris (Patrick Wilson), who was the love of her life.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sentimental, romantic, intense, realistic, heartbreaking, tear jerker, epic, cult classic
Similar in 85%
Now and Then (1995)
Plot Summary:
Waxing nostalgic about the bittersweet passage from childhood to puberty in this tender coming-of-age tale, four childhood girlfriends -- Teeny, Chrissy, Samantha and Roberta -- recall the magical summer of 1970. During their walk down memory lane, they reconcile experiences with boys, secrets, bullies and more.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: feel good, emotional, touching, teen, semi serious, humorous, cult classic, sentimental, retro, epic
Similar in 75%
Brooklyn (2015)
Plot Summary:
In 1950s Ireland and New York, young Ellis Lacey has to choose between two men and two countries.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 148000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Canada, Ireland
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, romantic, sweet, realistic, emotional, period piece, heartbreaking, light, semi serious
Similar in 82%
Little Women (2019)
Plot Summary:
Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 234000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: romantic, sentimental, inspirational, melancholic, sweet, costume drama, sad, period piece, tricky, visually appealing
Similar in 89%
The Cider House Rules (1999)
Plot Summary:
Homer is an orphan who was never adopted, becoming the favorite of orphanage director Dr. Larch. Dr. Larch imparts his full medical knowledge on Homer, who becomes a skilled, albeit unlicensed, physician. But Homer yearns for a self-chosen life outside the orphanage. What will Homer learn about life and love in the cider house? What of the destiny that Dr. Larch has planned for him?.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 104000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, heartbreaking, melancholic, serious, feel good, sad, visually stunning, philosophical, emotional
Similar in 88%
The Spectacular Now (2013)
Plot Summary:
A hard-partying high school senior's philosophy on life changes when he meets the not-so-typical "nice girl.".
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 160000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, teen, sincere, melancholic, emotional, independent film, romantic, feel good, sweet, heartbreaking