Best movies like Seventeen Years
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Is a simple family drama that evolves into a moving study of immutable family ties and is also a scathing indictment of the political and penal system in China.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 626
Genere: Drama
Country: Switzerland, China, Italy, Hong Kong
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, crying
Best tv shows and movies like Seventeen Years (1999):
Similar in 80%
Rosie (1998)
Plot Summary:
In a juvenile lockup, a new ward answers questions: she's Rosie, 13, no parents, a sister Irene, a brother Michel. In flashbacks we find out what happened. She lives with Irene, who's 27, whom Rosie knows is in fact her mother, but that's their secret. Irene's brother Michel, unemployed, a compulsive gambler, comes to stay with them. Around then, Irene meets Bernard; they come to care for each other. This leaves Rosie without attention, so she puts all her adolescent hopes and romantic fantasies into a relationship with Jimi, a good looking kid she sees on a bus. Is it adventures with Jimi that land her in juvie? Once she's there, why doesn't he answer her letters?.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 570
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: depressing, serious, realistic, sexual, crying, psychological, light, sexy, thought provoking, clever
Similar in 76%
Passover Fever (1995)
Plot Summary:
Part funny part sad movie about a family Passover dinner.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 145
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic
Similar in 84%
Campfire (2004)
Plot Summary:
The story of one woman's personal battle for acceptance, but also a portrait of a political movement that has forever affected millions of lives in the Middle East.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 684
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, crying
Similar in 81%
Drifters (2003)
Plot Summary:
The young adult life of Hong Yunsheng, nicknamed Little Brother, is seen as somewhat of a failure by those that know him. A Chinese national, he stowed away on a boat to the United States, where he worked as a dishwasher in the restaurant of a family from his hometown back in Fujian province. After two years in the States and after fathering an illegitimate child there named Fusheng, the child's mother Xuhui who is the restaurateur's daughter, he was deported back to China. Since, he has been floundering in life, which has caused a rift between himself and his older brother, who, with his wife, operate a street front diner and can't have children of their own. Little Brother relies on his new girlfriend, a woman he barely knows named Wu Ruifang who is a performer in a touring opera troupe, for emotional support. Despite Little Brother being the local poster boy for not stowing away, his friend named Monkey tried to do the same, but died on the voyage over due to exposure to toxic.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 304
Genere: Drama
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, sincere, crying
Similar in 84%
First, Last and Deposit (2000)
Plot Summary:
Thirteen-year-old Tessa (Jessica White) faces more than the usual tribulations of adolescence. When bad times hit, she and her mother find themselves living on the streets. The injustice of poverty is emphasized by the fact that Tessa's school chums are the children of very wealthy parents, and the only way to fit in is by lying. Add the gorgeous and expensive trappings of their Santa Barbara community, and you get a portrait of cruel contradictions seen through the eyes of a young girl.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 78
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, touching, serious, realistic, independent film, bleak, gloomy, crying
Similar in 90%
Magnifico (2003)
Plot Summary:
With a daughter who suffers from cerebral palsy and a son who's lost his much-needed scholarship, an impoverished married couple begins to abandon their faith and courage in the face of such misfortune. But when a gifted young boy called Magnifico uses his goodness to magically transform their lives for the better, the family's belief in miracles is restored. Suddenly, living with adversity doesn't seem like such a burden.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 930
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, uplifting, serious, realistic, surprise ending, sad, tagalog, contemplative
Similar in 88%
Times and Winds (2006)
Plot Summary:
In a small, poor village leaning over high rocky mountains, the villagers are simple and diligent people who struggle to cope with a harsh nature. They earn their living off the earth and a few animals they feed. Fathers always prefer one of their sons. Mothers command their daughters ruthlessly. Ömer, the son of the imam, wishes hopelessly for the death of his father. When he understands that wishful thinking does not have any concrete results, he begins to search for childish ways to kill his father. Yakup is in love with his teacher, and one day after seeing his father spying on the teacher he dreams too, like Ömer, of killing his father. Yıldız studies and tries to manage the household chores imposed by her mother. She learns with irritation about the secrets of the relationship between men and women.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, rough, serious, art house, bleak, realistic, neorealism, crying
Similar in 79%
In Bloom (2013)
Plot Summary:
Eka and Natia leave their childhood behind and ignore societal customs to escape from their turbulent family lives.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Georgia, Germany, France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, serious, captivating, social, art house, transgressive, sincere, queer cinema
Similar in 76%
A Father's Choice (2000)
Plot Summary:
The fast-paced city life of two sisters is turned upside down when they are sent to live in the country with their father after their mother is killed.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 721
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating, sincere, entertaining
Similar in 84%
Anonymes (2009)
Plot Summary:
A teenager unwittingly reveals a terrible family secret to her new neighbors.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 211
Genere: Drama
Country: Tunisia, Switzerland, France
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, serious, sentimental, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 78%
Night Has Settled (2014)
Plot Summary:
In 1983, Oliver Nicholas, at thirteen, is well-poised to enter the precocious teenage world of first-sex, vodka and possible-love in New York City when he is traumatized by the stroke of his housekeeper (and only true maternal figure), a sixty-five-year-old Chilean woman named Aida. What was supposed to be an exhilarating and somewhat fearful rite of passage - diving into the exciting, fast-paced world of first experiences - quickly becomes skewed by an incomprehensible depression, and a house of interior horrors. Surrounded by women - his untraditional, Spanish, photographer mother (more interested in the role of confidante than mother) his sister, a comedic, door-slamming tormentor, marked by her parent's divorce; and Aida, his silver-haired emotional focal point on the verge of death in Lenox Hill Hospital - Oliver struggles to maintain his role as "man of the house" and his sanity.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 382
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, humorous, sexual, sexy
Similar in 76%
Zion and His Brother (2009)
Plot Summary:
Zion, aged 14 and his brother Meir, 17, are facing a crisis in their relationship after a terrible accident. They keep the secret to themselves and it haunts them until, finally, Zion re-examines his loyalty towards his older brother and decides that he is ready to take responsibility for his own life.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 147
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, France
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 90%
Nobody Owns Me (2013)
Plot Summary:
The story of a lone father's relationship with his daughter, of the destructive power of alcohol, of a child's vulnerability, but also of love, betrayal and socialist politics in 1970s Sweden. A unique and moving story freely based on Åsa Linderborg's best-selling novel.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, social
Similar in 88%
All or Nothing (2002)
Plot Summary:
Penny's love for her partner, taxi-driver Phil, has run dry. He is a gentle, philosophical guy, and she works on the checkout at a supermarket.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, France
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: depressing, emotional, bleak, serious, realistic, meditative, sentimental, sincere, talky, offbeat
Similar in 81%
Yelling to the Sky (2011)
Plot Summary:
As her family falls apart, seventeen year old Sweetness O'Hara is left to fend for herself in a neighborhood where her survival is uncertain.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 904
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, captivating, realistic, independent film, crying
Similar in 78%
Pure (2002)
Plot Summary:
A young boy trying to deal with his mother's heroin addiction befriends a waitress who helps him cope with the tough situation.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, crying, independent film, iconic
Similar in 84%
Alone (1999)
Plot Summary:
Maria, whose parents live in the country, cannot stand her father's authoritarian ways and moves to the city. She finds a job as a cleaner and tries to survive in a wretched apartment in the shabby part of a big city. She is pregnant, and the fact that her boyfriend has abandoned her does not help matters. When her father goes to the hospital for an operation, her mother comes to stay with her. Her neighbor, an old recluse whose only friend is his dog, begins to come out of his shell and these three lost souls try to give each other the strength to start over.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, Canada
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, serious, erotic, uplifting, feel good, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 81%
Blame it on Fidel (2006)
Plot Summary:
A 9-year-old girl weathers big changes in her household as her parents become radical political activists in 1970-71 Paris.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, political, epic, historical drama, sincere, crying
Similar in 76%
American Gun (2005)
Plot Summary:
Seemingly disparate portraits of people -- among them a single mother, a high school principal, and an ace student -- Distinctly American -- all affected by the proliferation of guns in American society.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, emotional, sincere, bleak, serious, realistic, contemplative, inspirational, independent film, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Fifteen and Pregnant (1998)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, 15 year old Tina Spangler discovers she is pregnant. Her choices are abortion, adoption, or a lonely, exhausting life as a single parent. Abandoned by her boyfriend, she turns to her mother. Tina discovers although it has torn her world apart, her pregnancy could re-unite her shattered family and help her find her true purpose in life.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, psychological, sincere, talky, ridiculous
Similar in 90%
12 and Holding (2005)
Plot Summary:
Three pre-adolescents with virginal and eager-of-signals naivety, hit headlong against monstrous and inhospitable loneliness, in the incandescent fire among the ashes of their own inocence.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, emotional, heartbreaking, sad, sentimental, serious, depressing, harsh, art house
Similar in 85%
Of Boys and Men (2008)
Plot Summary:
Robert Townsend stars as the patriarch of a family devastated when his wife is killed in a senseless auto accident. Reeling with grief, each family member must find courage and vision to carry on, ultimately eager to do the mother proud.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 192
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, sentimental, captivating, touching, serious, independent film
Similar in 76%
Almost a Woman (2002)
Plot Summary:
A young woman named Esmeralda and her family move to New York from a rural area of Puerto Rico. The transition is difficult due to the many challenges she and her family face.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 156
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, hispanic
Similar in 77%
Our Father (2002)
Plot Summary:
Two boys (Tamir & Amine) awake one morning to find that their father has abandoned their family. Shocked, they begin to misbehave. While surreptitiously watching a movie, they think they see their father speaking to them and steal the film to examine the frames. Their mother (Achta) eventually despairs and sends them to Koranic school. Unhappy, they plan their escape until the eldest boy falls in love with a deaf girl (Khalil).
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 734
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Chad, Netherlands
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, captivating, contemplative, crying, entertaining
Similar in 81%
The Keys to the House (2004)
Plot Summary:
Meeting his handicapped son for the first time, a young father attempts to forge a relationship with the teenager.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, Germany, France, USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, touching, emotional, sincere, bleak, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 77%
Mommy Is at the Hairdresser's (2008)
Plot Summary:
Summer 1966. It's time to enjoy the summer holiday, total freedom. Teenage Élise discovers that the sudden departure of her mother completely disrupts the family. Her brother Coco seeks solace in the garage, building a super racing car. Her youngest brother Benoît throws himself into his own inner world. The father seems absolutely knocked out by the situation. Élise decides to take control of her family, in an eloquent attempt to save them. With the assistance of flourishing nature around her, she stands on the threshold of an incomparable summer.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 922
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, disturbing, sexy, sincere, captivating, sexual
Similar in 79%
Absence (2014)
Plot Summary:
A daily, familiar, sexual and emotional drama. Based on the character Serginho, the plot is based around various aspects of this "no longer a boy, not yet a man". We follow his day to day: the recently acquired role of man of the house, taking care of his mother and younger brother; is work at the market; his friendship with Mudinho and Silvinha; and his confusing relationship, between sex and affection, with professor Ney. The film is a tapestry of the life moments of a boy in transition.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 177
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil, Chile, France
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, bleak
Similar in 75%
The United States of Leland (2003)
Plot Summary:
A withdrawn young man, Leland Fitzgerald is imprisoned for the murder of a mentally disabled boy, who also happened to be the brother of his girlfriend, Becky. As the community struggles to deal with the killing, Pearl Madison, a teacher at the prison, decides to write about Leland's case. Meanwhile, others affected by the murder, including Becky and her sister, Julie, must contend with their own problems.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: depressing, meditative, psychological, bleak, emotional, rough, serious, realistic, touching, melancholic
Similar in 82%
Canvas (2006)
Plot Summary:
A woman's schizophrenia affects her relationships with her husband and son.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sentimental, sincere, rough, melancholic, psychological
Similar in 79%
Jack (2004)
Plot Summary:
Jack, in full puberty, not only has to deal with his parents' divorce, but also feels his world is falling apart when his dad tells him he is living with a man. He slowly comes to terms with his own feelings when the girl he has a crush on turn out to have a gay dad as well and his best friend's parents end up not having the perfect marriage Jack thought they had.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 576
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sentimental, humorous, realistic, sincere, touching, emotional, semi serious, melancholic, clever, queer cinema