Best movies like Paul's Case
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies similar to Paul's Case? Share your insights to lead others find suitable films and tv shows you've viewed already. Assist in growing the community that suggests videos to each other. We appreciate your contribution!
Plot Summary:
Captures the essence of Willa Cather's haunting story of Pittsburgh circa 1900. Lost in a world of fantasy, young working-class Paul dreams of escaping his dreary existence in turn-of-the-century Pittsburgh. As fate would have it Paul gets his chance by stealing some money and subsequently running off to glamorous New York City.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 719
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 54 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Paul's Case (1980):
Similar in 88%
Mateo (2014)
Plot Summary:
At the impressionable age of 16, young Mateo faces a dilemma about the direction his life will take when his corrupt uncle asks him to infiltrate a local Barrancabermeja theatre group to uncover its members' political activities.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 175
Genere: Drama
Country: Colombia, France
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: educational
Similar in 84%
The Son of Joseph (2016)
Plot Summary:
A young man who lives with his mother and has never known his father, heads off to look for him. He finds a cynical and Machiavellian man who works as a publisher in Paris. After he attempts to kill him, he finds filial love thanks to his uncle.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 888
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: allegory, biblical
Similar in 78%
Listening to Rain (2012)
Plot Summary:
Listening to Rain is a coming of age story centered around two girls who are sexually assaulted during their senior year of high school. This unique films follows Haley and Emily as they attempt find themselves and recover from unimaginable trauma. Written by Stefanie Walesch and Joshua Good, this film is an insightful look into the adolescence experience of the late 2000's. Listening to Rain provides a window into the minds of scared young women as they try to mend the damage and live on. It is a film about coming of age, coping with trauma and tragedy seen through the lens of those whom are coming of age, overcoming tragedy, and dealing with trauma. Erica Gonzales, Samantha Rakell, and Katie Stewart star in this thought-provoking film directed by Joshua Good and photographed by William Davies Meldon.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 9
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 80%
Rough Winds (2009)
Plot Summary:
Three devastating teenage stories fuse beneath the calm of a quiet, average neighborhood.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 81
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: teen
Similar in 84%
Tagged! (2011)
Plot Summary:
A teenage girl, raised on her schizophrenic mother's tales of galactic wars, believes she is an alien princess in hiding and forms a Lazer Tag team to train bodyguards. When her estranged father, disfigured and crippled in the Iraqi war, returns to ask forgiveness for staying away, she suffers a mental crisis. Can the love of a troubled young man bring her into the real world or will her fantasies finally win out and drive her into total insanity?.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 9
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: cult film
Similar in 83%
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 81%
The Snow Goose (1971)
Plot Summary:
Based upon Paul Gallico's delicate novel, Patrick Garland's Golden Globe winning The Snow Goose is a stark and hauntingly beautiful drama set amongst the striking scenery of the Essex salt marshes during the early years of WWII. A bearded Richard Harris leads the modest cast with his sensitive portrayal of tormented soul Philip Rhayader, a lonely misshapen man shunned by society but with a great love of life; Harris isnt overly bitter of his treatment and expresses his compassion through his paintings and love of the waterfowl that surround him. Harris is ably supported by the waiflike Jenny Agutter as Frith, who radiates the requisite amount of youthful innocence and naivety, and won a best supporting actress Emmy Award for her performance.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 434
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tear jerker, period drama, tearjerker
Similar in 77%
The Truth Below (2011)
Plot Summary:
Four friends decide to spend their Spring Break at a ski resort. But, on their way back, they decide to take a short-cut. Off the road and now buried under over a ton of snow, they begin to realize they don't really know each other.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 308
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Arresting Gena (1997)
Plot Summary:
A directionless teenager (Aesha Waks) becomes involved with a headstrong runaway (Summer Phoenix) and her drug-dealing brother (Sam Rockwell).
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 137
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 79%
The Genesis Children (1972)
Plot Summary:
A charismatic leader and a high-spirited student group are on holiday in Italy. The surreal adventures of these friends are a free-flowing, four-part "multi-sensual symphony," bereft of traditional story line. One national critic described the boys' anarchic revelry as a "dream-like descent from civilization into the chaos reminiscent of Lord of the Flies.".
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 463
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: independent film, art film, gay cinema
Similar in 89%
Annalisa (2011)
Plot Summary:
The friendship between two Southern Italy kids is tested by their meeting with a young girl who's attempted suicide after failing to get married. Based on the novel "Il paese delle spose infelici" (literally, "Village of the Sad Brides", which is also the original title of this film) this elegantly photographed coming-of-age tale has sensitivity to spare but its stylish, yet understated, attitude doesn't easily win viewers over.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 197
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Waterberry Tears (2010)
Plot Summary:
This coming of age story is about a gay boy, Goyo, as he discovers himself. Living with his Mexican family in the Coachella Valley, Goyo has a hard time hiding his sexual preferences. Although Goyo seeks acceptance from his father Ramon, Ramon will not accept that his only son is gay. Adding to the situation is that his sister Rosa and Goyo both fall in love with the same guy.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 96
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 82%
Sublime (2022)
Plot Summary:
When 16-year-old Manu realises that he has fallen in love with his bandmate Felipe, turbulent emotions start brewing beneath the surface. How do you avoid losing a friendship once its very foundation has shifted?.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 908
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: art house
Similar in 78%
That Certain Summer (1972)
Plot Summary:
The first US teleplay to deal sympathetically with homosexuality. Divorced San Francisco contractor Doug Salter is looking forward to a summer visit from his fourteen-year-old son Nick, who lives in Los Angeles with his mother Janet. The boy does not know that his father is gay and committed to Gary McClain, his life partner of several years.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 479
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 73 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 81%
Open Bodies (1998)
Plot Summary:
Born to a North African father and a French mother, 18-year-old Parisian high school senior Rémi works part-time in an Arab grocery store while studying management and commerce. He responds to a school ad seeking subjects for a film, and Marc, who placed the ad, auditions Rémi by filming an interview with him. Rémi and Marc wind up in bed, and Rémi soon has other sexual experiences – with a guy in a men's room and with a young woman who grabs him while she's dancing in the street.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 189
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 47 min
Plot tags: queer cinema
Similar in 84%
Boys Briefs 5 (2008)
Plot Summary:
The successful short film compilation series continues with six outstanding films focused on school and college-age youth.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 177
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, independent film
Similar in 86%
No Letting Go (2015)
Plot Summary:
What would you do to save your child? A young teenager struggles with a debilitating mental illness as his mom risks everything to save him without losing the rest of her family.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 732
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, cult classic, independent film
Similar in 81%
Rip-Off (1971)
Plot Summary:
Best friends Michael, Steve, Cooly and Richie are seniors at a large Toronto high school. Foremost on their minds and that of many of their classmates are what they are going to do this upcoming summer and beyond. They don't want to waste away the summer much like they did this past summer. Mike is being pressured by his parents to go to university following graduation from high school, although Mike himself is unsure if that's what he wants to do. Other ideas they discuss are to tour with their band, Arctic Madness, or to start a commune on a five hundred acre parcel of wilderness property outside of Timmins that was deeded to Mike. As the end of the school year approaches and these successive ideas come and fall by the wayside, the four come to a realization of what their future together holds.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 64
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 90%
Welcome Home (2015)
Plot Summary:
This is the story of two childhood friends - Lucas (a 16-year-old high-schooler) and Bert (a mechanic’s apprentice) - who flee the suffocating fish bowl that their killjoy families’ lives have become. Lucas, still quite immature, finds a “big brother” in Bert, a guide who is going to take him straight to the brink of catastrophe. But very quickly, boredom resurfaces and the freewheeling sense of being on an adventure evades them. Should they return to the fold, or keep moving on? Their drifting logic compels them to blindly forge ahead.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 60
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: captivating, disturbing, homoerotic
Similar in 84%
In The Name of God (2013)
Plot Summary:
In a time of forgiving and giving thanks, a reverend and his family take in a troubled boy named Mason after having lost a son of their own. It's a bumpy ride for Mason, butting heads with his new step-brother and the church counselor he's sentenced to see on a weekly basis. However, with and a renewed faith and a deeper understanding of Thanksgiving traditions, Mason must not only learn to forgive himself, but to understand the true meaning of family.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 181
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: christian film, melancholic, sincere, unusual plot structure, contemplative, entertaining
Similar in 76%
Hold Me Tight (2010)
Plot Summary:
I skoletimerne sender Mikkel prøvende blikke til klassens stille og indelukkede pige, Sara, der er smigret over opmærksomheden. Da Mikkel og hans ven Hassan leger flirtende med hende i et frikvarter, bliver Hassans kæreste, Louise, jaloux og begynder at sprede ondsindede rygter om Sara. Louises hævn udvikler sig hurtigt til mobning og det, der er værre.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 573
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: crying
Similar in 88%
Cross My Heart and Hope to Die (1994)
Plot Summary:
The young teenager Otto is entering the summer holidays in 60'ies Oslo, without getting a real holiday, and he is not accepted in the gang or the football team. But then he meets exciting mysterious Frank, which changes everything.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 687
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 75%
West Coast (2016)
Plot Summary:
Four inseparable teenagers in a small town in Brittany (France). As lifelong fans of the West Coast, they think are real gangstas. Together as a "gang", they are invincible, respected, fearless and nothing can reach them, certainly not the teasing and contempt of their fellow classmates. So when Fle-O, the leader of this merry gang, learns that he has to leave his town and his friends at the end of the year, his whole world falls apart leaving him vulnerable when the most popular kid in school decides to make fun of them in front of everyone. Humiliated, our protagonists decide to take their revenge through one last expedition together that will lead them further than they would have imagined. Through incongruous situations and successive meetings, they will grow and learn.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 792
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 76%
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2022)
Plot Summary:
Based on the coming-of-age young adult novel by American author Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Set in El Paso, Texas in 1987, the film follows two Mexican-American teenagers, Aristotle "Ari" Mendoza and Dante Quintana, their friendship, and their struggles with racial and ethnic identity, sexuality, and family relationships.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 841
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: queer cinema
Similar in 84%
All These Small Moments (2018)
Plot Summary:
A teenage boy's infatuation with a woman he sees on the bus further complicates his already tumultuous adolescence.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 767
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, captivating, realistic
Similar in 87%
All the Wilderness (2014)
Plot Summary:
Keeping to himself in the wake his father's death, James Charm finds refuge in solitary walks and creating morbid sketches — until a charismatic new friend and a quirky young woman begin to draw him out of his shell.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, independent film, teen, stylized, interesting
Similar in 84%
Old Enough (1984)
Plot Summary:
The 12 years old well-bred Lonnie meets the impudent Karen on the street. They spend some time together and Karen teaches Lonnie some of her favorite occupancies, like make-up, shoplifting, skipping school and lying to the parent about it, but confessing to the priest later. But Karen also learns some honesty from Lonnie. A film about social differences and growing up.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 895
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: independent film, sentimental, touching, humorous, emotional, realistic, semi serious, slasher
Similar in 77%
Matted (2010)
Plot Summary:
Rose Lee is just a typical high school student trying to figure things out. Her dream is to join the boy's wrestling team, but no one is making it easy for her. Along the way, she'll discover that her most difficult opponent may be herself.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 15
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 40 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, unusual plot structure, captivating, disturbing, contemplative, independent film, student film
Similar in 77%
Places in the Heart (1984)
Plot Summary:
In 1930s Southern US, a widow and her family try to run their cotton farm with the help of a disparate group of friends.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: uplifting, christian film, sentimental, touching, emotional, inspirational, gothic, social, atmospheric, serious
Similar in 89%
Grandview, U.S.A. (1984)
Plot Summary:
Life in the small town of Grandview, Illinois is one that is just like any other city or town. Tim Pearson, soon to be graduating high school wants to go to Florida to study oceanography. He meets Michelle "Mike" Cody and is attracted to her. She runs the local Demolition Derby place. Ernie "Slam" Webster is on of the drivers in the derby who's wife is cheating on him and wants to later on be with Mike. Tim falls for Mike and a big love triangle is about to happen.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, captivating, independent film, retro, offbeat, realistic, semi serious, feel good