Best movies like Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Finding herself unable to cope with the divorce of her parents and the stress of daily life, 15-year-old Sarah Travis starts drinking in secret. At first, alcohol provides comfort and release. Then it sends her life spiraling out of control.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 651
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
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Best tv shows and movies like Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (1975):
Similar in 90%
The Accident: A Moment of Truth Movie (1997)
Plot Summary:
Lizzie and Janie are best friends, bonded like sisters, who share many things in common: crushes, gossip, and a taste for liquor. Although they manage to sneak alcohol at home and in water bottles at school, they never get caught. One night, while at a per-graduation party, Lizzie, Janie, and their friend Kate get completely drunk, and Lizzie decides to drive Janie home. While blasting the music in the car, with rain pounding on the windshield, Lizzie crashes the car. She escapes with a concussion, but Janie isn't so lucky - she dies in the twisted metal. What happens is a depiction of the aftermath of tragedy, and the recovery process of an alcoholic. Gruesome dramatization of a horrific car accident, and depiction of a DWI trial.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 186
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags:
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Similar in 87%
Scandal Sheet (1985)
Plot Summary:
The publisher of a celebrity gossip tabloid sets out to destroy an aging actor, whose career is foundering and who is also facing a battle with alcoholism.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 234
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: eighties
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Similar in 75%
Forever Tomorrow (2016)
Plot Summary:
'Forever Tomorrow' weaves a narrative out of the speeches given in AA meetings, the interrupted life of a party girl, a young couple who have lost their connection to one another, and the relationships Aaron, a rent boy, and his clients maintain. With alcoholism and life choices used as a backdrop, the film explores the various unwelcomed roads traveled by people as they attempt to redeem themselves from addiction.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 174
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
White Girl (2008)
Plot Summary:
Debbie, a working class single mother from Leeds, moves her family to Bradford, where they find themselves in an ethnic minority. Daughter Leah must adapt to being the only white girl at school.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 211
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
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Similar in 88%
The Homefront (1998)
Plot Summary:
Vietnam veteran Archibald Wright works as a house painter. One family he paints a house for has a problem he can relate to: Elaine, a woman who hired him, left his husband J.P., also a Vietnam vet while he was in 'Nam, and J.P. became an alcoholic. Archibald tries to help their daughter Tory to maintain a connection with J.P., and Elaine is strongly against it.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 50
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: independent film
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Similar in 83%
8:17pm, Darling Street (2003)
Plot Summary:
This is the story of Gerard, an man who miraculy survived to an explosion that destroyed his appartment and killed a lot of people. During the next days, he tries to find out why he survived and why others died.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 371
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
No Laughing Matter (1998)
Plot Summary:
Emma is the bright, attractive and funny widowed mother of teen honor-student Charlie. She has a drinking problem that seemingly increases exponentially, and Charlie has problems of his own, chief among them the pregnancy of his girlfriend Lauren.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 147
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
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Similar in 90%
Dogs' Feast (1990)
Plot Summary:
On a holiday eve, everyone, especially one tired and chilly, does so need at least one living soul at one's side: it is bad to meet a holiday alone with oneself. Thus, on a New Year's Eve, the main characters meet, — a meeting of two solitudes. Chance brought two persons of disorderly lives together in a railway terminal.... kindling the hope for a normal, pure human life, the kind others have.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 103
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags:
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Similar in 78%
A Sort of Homecoming (2015)
Plot Summary:
A Sort of Homecoming tells the story of Amy, a New York news producer who thought she left her high school experiences long in the past. She unexpectedly returns to Louisiana at the request of her high school debate coach. Their strained reunion brings back memories of her tumultuous senior year of high school.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 289
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 90%
Hala (2019)
Plot Summary:
Meet 17-year-old Hala, who struggles to balance being a suburban teenager with her traditional Muslim upbringing. As she comes into her own, Hala finds herself grappling with a secret that threatens to unravel her family.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, inspirational
Similar in 80%
The Yellow Scarf (2000)
Plot Summary:
The main character - a man who suffers from alcoholism - wants to change his tumultuous life. The day before Christmas Eve he receives a gift from his son - a yellow scarf. A gift is a kind of talisman he receives from loved ones, and every time he loses it. When after another banquet he falls into delirium, his ex-wife and secretary bring him to his mother. She helps him to sober up and arranges holiday celebration for two of them. She gives her son another yellow scarf, in belief that it will help him break the pernicious habit.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 802
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 59 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
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Similar in 78%
The Late Liz (1971)
Plot Summary:
Religion changes a woman's attitude towards alcohol.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 101
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: christian film, independent film
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Similar in 82%
The Party Never Stops: Diary of a Binge Drinker (2007)
Plot Summary:
A promising track star, 18 year old Jesse Brenner struggles with binge drinking during her freshman year of college.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 840
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, twisted
Similar in 87%
Under the Volcano (1984)
Plot Summary:
Against a background of war breaking out in Europe and the Mexican fiesta Day of Death, we are taken through one day in the life of Geoffrey Firmin, a British consul living in alcoholic disrepair and obscurity in a small southern Mexican town in 1939. The Consul's self-destructive behaviour, perhaps a metaphor for a menaced civilization, is a source of perplexity and sadness to his nomadic, idealistic half-brother, Hugh, and his ex-wife, Yvonne, who has returned with hopes of healing Geoffrey and their broken marriage.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, depressing, psychological, serious, realistic, grim, sexy, political thriller, independent film, contemplative
Similar in 85%
Doing Time on Maple Drive (1992)
Plot Summary:
Dysfunctional family drama. Absent father, alcoholic brother Tim (Jim Carrey) try to cope with life. Fox movie of the week.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: cult classic, realistic, talky, gloomy, semi serious, crying, queer cinema
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Similar in 82%
My Lucky Star (2012)
Plot Summary:
In Normandy, Louise lives happily in the horse world. Suddenly, fate strikes. Louise left alone with his father and a family friend to Ferronnière the stud where she has always lived. Business is bad, they are on the verge of bankruptcy ... Fortunately there Marquise, a young mare Louise high. Against all odds, the girl and Marquise will fight against the fate that seems hell-bent.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 287
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: feel good, sentimental, touching, semi serious, realistic
Similar in 88%
Clean and Sober (1988)
Plot Summary:
Hotshot real estate salesman Daryl has a bad cocaine habit. After embezzling his company's money, he wakes up next to a girl who overdosed. To hide from the police, he checks into a rehabilitation program guaranteeing anonymity. Under the mentorship of counselor Craig, Daryl accepts that he has a substance abuse problem. As he falls in love with fellow patient Charlie, Daryl begins committing to a newly sober life.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, emotional, compassionate, melancholic, sincere, serious, psychological, depressing, spiritual
Similar in 75%
Blame (2017)
Plot Summary:
A drama teacher's taboo relationship with an unstable student strikes a nerve in her jealous classmate, sparking a vengeful chain of events within their suburban high school that draws parallels to 'The Crucible'.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: realistic, emotional, talky, atmospheric, touching, thought provoking, stylized, teen, double entendre
Similar in 88%
Deep in the Heart (2012)
Plot Summary:
An alcoholic man refocuses himself on putting kids through college via 4H and FFA scholarship donations. Guiding him is a spiritual figure he calls "The Bearded Man".
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 275
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: realistic, uplifting, touching, serious, captivating, sincere, independent film, entertaining
Similar in 84%
Shattered Spirits (1986)
Plot Summary:
Martin Sheen plays an alcoholic father who loses his family.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 355
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: spiritual, sincere, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, sexual, sexy
Similar in 89%
Smashed (2012)
Plot Summary:
Kate and Charlie like to have a good time. Their marriage thrives on a shared fondness for music, laughter… and getting smashed. When Kate’s partying spirals into hard-core asocial behavior, compromising her job as an elementary schoolteacher, something’s got to give. But change isn’t exactly a cakewalk. Sobriety means she will have to confront the lies she’s been spinning at work, her troubling relationship with her mother, and the nature of her bond with Charlie.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: sincere, depressing, touching, realistic, indie film, sentimental, spiritual, mumblecore, cute, informative
Similar in 76%
My Name Is Bill W. (1989)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Bill W. (James Woods), a successful stock broker whose life falls apart after the stock crash of the 20's and how he comes to grips with his alcoholism. Along with a fellow alcoholic (James Garner) he forms a support group that would eventually become Alcoholics Anonymous.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, serious, spiritual, contemplative
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Similar in 76%
Drunks (1995)
Plot Summary:
At the beginning of a nightly Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Jim seems particularly troubled. His sponsor encourages him to talk that night, the first time in seven months, so he does - and leaves the meeting right after. As Jim wanders the night, searching for some solace in his old stomping grounds, bars and parks where he bought drugs, the meeting goes on, and we hear the stories of survivors and addicts - some, like Louis, who claim to have wandered in looking for choir practice, who don't call themselves alcoholic, and others, like Joseph, whose drinking almost caused the death of his child - as they talk about their lives at the meeting.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, realistic, talky, spiritual, sincere, serious, emotional, thought provoking, clever, depressing
Similar in 84%
Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
Plot Summary:
An alcoholic falls in love with and gets married to a young woman, whom he systematically addicts to booze so they can share his "passion" together.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: sexy, poignant, realistic, depressing, black and white, bleak, emotional, social, offbeat, spiritual
Similar in 80%
When a Man Loves a Woman (1994)
Plot Summary:
An airline pilot and his wife are forced to face the consequences of her alcoholism when her addictions threaten her life and their daughter's safety. While the woman enters detox, her husband must face the truth of his enabling behavior.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, romantic, intense, psychological, touching, sad, retro, spiritual, romantic drama
Similar in 84%
Half Nelson (2006)
Plot Summary:
Despite his dedication to the junior-high students who fill his classroom, idealistic teacher Dan Dunne leads a secret life of addiction that the majority of his students will never know. But things change when a troubled student Drey makes a startling discovery of his secret life, causing a tenuous bond between the two that could either end disastrously or provide a catalyst of hope.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 91000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: depressing, independent film, talky, emotional, serious, inspirational, feel good, melancholic, intense, indie film
Similar in 83%
Everything Must Go (2010)
Plot Summary:
When an alcoholic relapses, causing him to lose his wife and his job, he holds a yard sale on his front lawn in an attempt to start over. A new neighbor might be the key to his return to form.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 53000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, feel good, humorous, talky, sincere, semi serious, dark comedy, independent film
Similar in 81%
Boyhood (2014)
Plot Summary:
The film tells a story of a divorced couple trying to raise their young son. The story follows the boy for twelve years, from first grade at age 6 through 12th grade at age 17-18, and examines his relationship with his parents as he grows.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 364000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags: melancholic, emotional, independent film, depressing, serious, realistic, philosophical, touching, sincere, inspirational
Similar in 80%
Palo Alto (2013)
Plot Summary:
Palo Alto weaves together three stories of teenage lust, boredom, and self-destruction: shy, sensitive April, torn between an illicit flirtation with her soccer coach and an unrequited crush on sweet stoner Teddy; Emily, who offers sexual favors to any boy to cross her path; and the increasingly dangerous exploits of Teddy and his best friend Fred, whose behavior may or may not be sociopathic.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: melancholic, atmospheric, serious, teen, realistic, indie film, aesthetic, erotic, mumblecore, artsy
Similar in 88%
Thirteen (2003)
Plot Summary:
Tracy is a normal 13-year-old trying to make it in school. After befriending the most popular girl at school, Evie, Tracy's world is turned upside down when Evie introduces her to a world of sex, drugs and cash. But it isn't long before Tracy's new world and attitude finally takes a toll on her, her family, and old friends.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 96000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: teen, sincere, realistic, tense, disturbing, emotional, intense, serious, depressing, bleak