Best movies like Permanent Vacation
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
In downtown Manhattan, a twenty-something boy whose Father is not around and whose Mother is institutionalized, is a big Charlie Parker fan. He almost subconsciously searches for more meaning in his life and meets a few characters along the way.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: independent film, artsy, art house, atmospheric, surreal, contemplative, slow cinema, existential, indie film, aesthetic
Best tv shows and movies like Permanent Vacation (1980):
Similar in 88%
Downtown 81 (2000)
Plot Summary:
The film is a day in the life of a young artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, who needs to raise money to reclaim the apartment from which he has been evicted. He wanders the downtown streets carrying a painting he hopes to sell, encountering friends, whose lives (and performances) we peek into.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: humorous, witty, semi serious, sincere, atmospheric, clever, contemplative, grim, offbeat, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Multiple Sarcasms (2010)
Plot Summary:
Gabriel is a man who on the surface has it all-successful professional life as an architect, a beautiful wife, Annie, and a devoted young daughter, Elizabeth. But slowly it dawns on him that he is not really happy. Gabriel decides that he wants to write a play about the sorry state of his life. He quits his job, gets a pushy literary agent friend to represent him and starts writing. Although his marriage ends in a divorce, the play is success and although his life is different than it was, he is happier.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 716
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, contemplative, touching, offbeat, serious, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Mystery Train (1989)
Plot Summary:
Three stories are connected by a Memphis hotel and the spirit of Elvis Presley.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: independent film, anthology, humorous, stylized, atmospheric, realistic, meditative, cult classic, art house, dark comedy
Similar in 87%
Trust (1990)
Plot Summary:
After being thrown away from home, pregnant high school dropout Maria meets Matthew, a highly educated and extremely moody electronics repairman. The two begin an unusual romance built on their sense of mutual admiration and trust.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: independent film, dark comedy, surreal, cult classic, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, talky, retro
Similar in 90%
Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976)
Plot Summary:
An aspiring Jewish actor moves out of his parents' Brooklyn apartment to seek his fortune in the bohemian life of Greenwich Village in 1953.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: funny, romantic comedy, sentimental, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, semi autobiographical
Similar in 79%
Slaves of New York (1989)
Plot Summary:
Meet the denizens of New York City: artists, prostitutes, saints, and seers. All are aspiring toward either fame or oblivion, and hoping for love and acceptance. Instead they find high rents, faithless partners, and dead-end careers.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: ironic, sentimental, humorous, psychological, captivating, touching, offbeat, realistic, experimental, witty
Similar in 76%
You Wont Miss Me (2009)
Plot Summary:
A kaleidoscopic film portrait of Shelly Brown, a twenty-three year-old alienated urban misfit recently released from a psychiatric hospital.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 355
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: mumblecore, psychological, realistic, humorous, captivating, independent film, sincere, bleak, emotional, semi serious
Similar in 87%
The Boys Next Door (1996)
Plot Summary:
Jack Palmer is a social worker whose job has taken precedence over his personal life. Mainly, his job is to help four mentally challenged men live regular lives in a home. They consist of: Norman, who works at a donut shop and has a thing for keys; Barry, who thinks he is a golf pro and doesn't communicate well with his father; Arnold, who is into all things Russian and has a habit of spending money; and Lucien, who is into Spider Man and must testify before the state senate. Jack wants to help them, but he also thinks it is time to move on with his life. The hard part is trying to say goodbye to the guys he cares about.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 501
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 88%
Frownland (2007)
Plot Summary:
A rotten egg lobbed with spazmo aim at the spotless surface of the silver screen, FROWNLAND centers on social misfit and self-labeled "troll from under the bridge" Keith Sontag (Dore Mann). When he's not trying to sell coupons door-to-door, Keith struggles with evicting his roommate from their seedy apartment, helping a friend who's suicidal and just getting by as an outsider in the cruel city.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 758
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: mumblecore, humorous, semi serious, clever, realistic, witty, stylized, inspirational, controversial, offbeat
Similar in 75%
Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
Plot Summary:
Rootless Hungarian émigré Willie, his pal Eddie, and visiting sixteen-year-old cousin Eva always manage to make the least of any situation, whether aimlessly traversing the drab interiors and environs of New York City, Cleveland, or an anonymous Florida suburb.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, West Germany
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: independent film, road movie, black and white, art house, contemplative, atmospheric, stylized, cult classic, indie film, aesthetic
Similar in 79%
The Go-Getter (2007)
Plot Summary:
When his mother dies, a teenager takes a road-trip in a stolen car to find his long-lost brother. Along the way he discovers a profound connection with the car-owner and with himself as well.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: road movie, enigmatic, melancholic, ironic, semi serious, realistic, inspirational, cult classic, comedy drama, sentimental
Similar in 90%
Trees Lounge (1996)
Plot Summary:
Tommy has lost his job, his love and his life. He lives in a small apartment above the Trees Lounge, a bar which he frequents along with a few other regulars without lives. He gets a job driving an ice cream truck and ends up getting involved with the seventeen-year-old niece of his ex-girlfriend. This gets him into serious trouble with her father.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: independent film, grim, cult classic, talky, art house, dark comedy, intellectual, entertaining, black comedy, indie film
Similar in 75%
Here and There (2009)
Plot Summary:
Here and There (Serbian: Tamo i ovde) is a Serbian film which was premiered at the Belgrade Film Festival FEST 2009. Here and There follows two interconnected stories on two different continents. Robert (Thornton), a depressed New Yorker, tries to make quick cash and ends up in Serbia, where instead of money he finds his soul. At the same time, a young Serbian immigrant, Branko (Trifunović), struggles in an unforgiving New York, desperately trying to bring his girlfriend from Serbia to the United States. Mirijana Karanović plays Branko's mother.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Serbia, USA, Germany
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sentimental, clever, humorous, realistic, semi serious, offbeat, cynical
Similar in 83%
Newlyweds (2011)
Plot Summary:
A newlywed couple's honeymoon is upended by the arrivals of their respective sisters.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: humorous, captivating, light, sincere, realistic, witty, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 82%
King of California (2007)
Plot Summary:
Charlie gets released from an insane asylum and moves in with Miranda, the young daughter he left behind. Charlie believes that there is treasure hidden beneath the local Costco, so he puts together a plan to unearth the loot. By convincing Miranda to quit her job at McDonald's and instead work at the wholesale store, he is able to obtain a key. Although Miranda is skeptical, she helps her father with his irrational quest.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, emotional, humorous, semi serious, feel good, independent film, cult classic, indie film, psychological
Similar in 83%
Mind the Gap (2004)
Plot Summary:
Five seemingly unrelated people decide to take huge risks in their personal lives in an effort to find happiness.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 997
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: humorous, talky, semi serious, captivating, sincere, sentimental, clever, touching, offbeat, realistic
Similar in 81%
Crooklyn (1994)
Plot Summary:
From Spike Lee comes this vibrant semi-autobiographical portrait of a school-teacher, her stubborn jazz-musician husband and their five kids living in '70s Brooklyn.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: humorous, sentimental, touching, light, melancholic, talky, stylized, hood, semi serious, sad
Similar in 83%
Men Don't Leave (1990)
Plot Summary:
After her husband John dies unexpectedly, Beth Macauley is unprepared for life without him. She is unemployed with no job skills and $60,000 in debt from on-going renovations to their house located in suburban Bingham. She doesn't know what to do but sell what material possessions she has, such as the family pick-up truck and the house, and move into an apartment in the city, namely Baltimore. Beth just wants to survive by finding a job she doesn't dislike, and keep her family together while trying to maintain her sanity and sense of self-worth.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, sincere, feel good, realistic, semi serious, independent film, light, road movie
Similar in 75%
Night on Earth (1991)
Plot Summary:
An anthology of 5 different cab drivers in 5 American and European cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 65000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, France, Germany, Japan, USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: intellectual, anthology, independent film, dark comedy, road movie, melancholic, surreal, entirely dialogue, art house, clever
Similar in 89%
Crazy People (1990)
Plot Summary:
A bitter ad executive who has reached his breaking point, finds himself in a mental institution where his career actually begins to thrive with the help of the hospital's patients.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: funny, satirical, black comedy, offbeat, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, psychological, romantic
Similar in 76%
Gummo (1997)
Plot Summary:
Solomon and Tummler are two teenagers killing time in Xenia, Ohio, a small town that has never recovered from the tornado that ravaged the community in the 1970s.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: disturbing, surreal, dark comedy, experimental, independent film, art house, bleak, psychedelic, offbeat, erotic
Similar in 77%
Down by Law (1986)
Plot Summary:
A disc jockey, a pimp and an Italian tourist escape from jail in New Orleans.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 55000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, West Germany
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: black and white, independent film, road movie, atmospheric, humorous, art house, meditative, harsh, sincere, cult classic
Similar in 80%
My Dinner with Andre (1981)
Plot Summary:
Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, apparently playing themselves, share their lives over the course of an evening meal at a restaurant.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: philosophical, thought provoking, surreal, minimal cast, existential, artsy, entirely dialogue, independent film, spiritual, clever
Similar in 80%
Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)
Plot Summary:
Coffee And Cigarettes is a collection of eleven films from cult director Jim Jarmusch. Each film hosts star studded cast of extremely unique individuals who all share the common activities of conversing while drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 67000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: USA, Japan, Italy
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: philosophical, intellectual, atmospheric, black and white, ironic, anthology, humorous, independent film, stylized, psychological
Similar in 82%
Slacker (1990)
Plot Summary:
Presents a day in the life in Austin, Texas among its social outcasts and misfits, predominantly the twenty-something set, using a series of linear vignettes. These characters, who in some manner just don't fit into the establishment norms, move seamlessly from one scene to the next, randomly coming and going into one another's lives.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: independent film, philosophical, surreal, satirical, absurd, art house, cerebral, cult classic, entirely dialogue, experimental
Similar in 84%
Lost in Translation (2003)
Plot Summary:
Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 480000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: melancholic, atmospheric, offbeat, psychological, artsy, emotional, art house, visual, contemplative, heartbreaking
Similar in 77%
Watching TV with the Red Chinese (2012)
Plot Summary:
In New York City in 1980, Dexter Mitchell plays half-willing big brother to his neighbors, a trio of exchange students from the People's Republic of China.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 112
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, offbeat, non-linear, independent film
Similar in 84%
Walkaway (2010)
Plot Summary:
Walkaway, a light-comedy drama, mocks the clutches of social obligations on young Indian professionals settled in New York City.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 813
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 89%
American Chai (2001)
Plot Summary:
The film deals with an Indian American student who wanted to pursue his love of music over the more 'typical' academic endeavors of Indian Americans (e.g., medicine, engineering, law, and business).
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 327
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, witty, semi serious, realistic
Similar in 77%
Motherhood (2009)
Plot Summary:
Motherhood is a comedy written and directed by Katherine Dieckmann, and stars Uma Thurman, Anthony Edwards and Minnie Driver. Shot on location in New York’s West Village, focuses on the dilemmas of motherhood, such as marriage, work, and self, shown in the trials and tribulations of one pivotal day.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, realistic, touching, semi serious, independent film, neurotic