Best movies like Shy People
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A New York journalist visits her distant cousin for the first time to write an article about her hard life in the bayous of Louisiana. The journalist's wild, drug-addicted daughter adds tensions between the two relatives' cultures.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: retro, southern gothic, grindhouse, independent film, tense, atmospheric, serious, realistic, gloomy, eighties
Best tv shows and movies like Shy People (1987):
Similar in 79%
Ulee's Gold (1997)
Plot Summary:
An elderly beekeeper and Vietnam vet must rescue his daughter-in-law and protect his grandchildren from killers.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: realistic, independent film, atmospheric, touching, serious, gloomy, tense, sentimental, light, thought provoking
Similar in 75%
The Dry Land (2010)
Plot Summary:
A U.S. soldier returning home from war struggles to reconcile his experiences abroad with the life and family he left in Texas.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 545
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, contemplative, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, serious, independent film
Similar in 80%
Courage (1986)
Plot Summary:
A mother in Queens, New York, is so angered when she discovers that her son is a drug addict that she becomes an undercover agent for the DEA to clean up the drug trade in her neighborhood. Based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 173
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 77%
Tiger Warsaw (1988)
Plot Summary:
Chuck brought sorrow to his family when he shot his father who is now a semi-invalid. After 15 years of self destruction, he returns home to seek forgiveness.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 88%
A Brother's Kiss (1997)
Plot Summary:
Two brothers, Lex and younger Mick, are living in Harlem. Mick is a policeman, and Lex, who spent youth years in reformatory because of injustice after he confronted the cop who tried to sodomize Mick on the street, is living with his wife Debbie trying to make ends meet and failing. One day Lex calls Mick - he has a problem.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 412
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, serious, rough, bleak, erotic, independent film, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 90%
The Town Is Quiet (2000)
Plot Summary:
A dark tale of working-class life in Marseilles, a city in crisis. Interesting characters include a hard-bitten but compassionate fish market worker with a drug addicted daughter and a moody bartender with a shocking secret life.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: serious, contemplative, touching, bleak, captivating, realistic, disturbing, neo noir, anthology, psychological
Similar in 81%
Cocaine Angel (2006)
Plot Summary:
A week in the life of a young drug addict.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 323
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, mumblecore, independent film, sincere, witty, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Here and There (2012)
Plot Summary:
Pedro returns home to a small mountain village in Guerrero, Mexico after years of working in the US. He finds his daughters older, and more distant than he imagined. His wife still has the same smile. Having saved some earnings from two trips to the US, he hopes to now finally make a better life with his family, and even to pursue his dreams on the side by starting a band: Copa Kings. He cherishes the everyday moments with his family. The villagers think this year's crop will be bountiful. There is also good work in a growing city an hour away. But the locals are wise to a life of insecurity, and their thoughts are often of family members or opportunities far away, north of the border. While working in the fields, Pedro meets and begins to mentor a teenager who dreams of the US. That place somehow always feels very present, practically knocking at the door. "Aquí y Allá" is a story about hope, and the memories and loss of what we leave behind.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 238
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Spain, Mexico
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, serious, psychological
Similar in 87%
White Irish Drinkers (2010)
Plot Summary:
A coming of age story set in 1975 working-class Brooklyn, in which two teenage brothers living with their abusive father and their well-meaning but ineffective mother are caught up in a life of petty crime. Older brother Danny concocts a daring scheme to steal enough money for the two to escape, timed around the chaos of an upcoming Rolling Stones concert. The sensitive younger brother, Brian, ultimately has a choice: remain loyal to the brother with whom he shares a powerful love-hate bond, or use his hidden talent as an artist as his own ticket out of their dead-end existence.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: sincere, emotional, sentimental, bleak, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 83%
Cook County (2008)
Plot Summary:
After a stint in prison, Sonny returns to his home in East Texas, determined to repair his relationship with his son. Standing in his way is his brother, who has turned the home into a crumbling meth lab (IMDb.com).
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 559
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, atmospheric, disturbing, sentimental, sincere, touching, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
Mainline (2006)
Plot Summary:
The uneasy relationship between a mother and daughter is made all the more turbulent by drug abuse in this downbeat drama from Iranian filmmakers Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and Mohsen Abdolvahab.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 889
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Offline (2012)
Plot Summary:
A man attempts to reclaim the life that prison took from him but his dark past threatens to ruin everything.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 876
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 81%
Woman Thou Art Loosed (2004)
Plot Summary:
An adaptation of Bishop T.D. Jakes' self-help novel, chronciling a woman's struggle to come to terms with her legacy of abuse, addiction and poverty.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, independent film, realistic
Similar in 81%
The Sound and the Fury (2014)
Plot Summary:
A look at the trials and tribulations of The Compson siblings, living in the deep south during the early part of the 20th century.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: serious, touching, realistic, southern gothic, captivating, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Ocean of Pearls (2008)
Plot Summary:
As a Sikh man with a full beard and turban, AMRIT SINGH is often the target of racial profiling. But when he sees his dreams of becoming Chief of Surgery at a state-of-the-art transplant center dwindle because of his appearance, Amrit goes against a tradition he's maintained his whole life and cuts his hair. Hiding this decision from his girlfriend and family in Toronto is only the start of a series of compromises Amrit finds himself making as he deals with hospital politics and health care injustices. When his compromises result in the death of a patient, Amrit begins to reexamine the value of the religious traditions he'd turned his back on.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 313
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: realistic, contemplative, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, spiritual, independent film, sentimental, sincere, uplifting
Similar in 85%
Redland (2009)
Plot Summary:
As a family struggles to survive in rural isolation during the Great Depression, their daughter's secret affair begins a journey into the unknown.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 100
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, rough, serious, disturbing, mystic, tense, bleak, realistic, independent film, epic
Similar in 83%
The End of Innocence (1990)
Plot Summary:
Seemingly autobiographical story of a woman overwhelmed with trying to please everyone except herself, and not finding any answers until she's admitted to a rehab center by her parents. Eventually here is where she finds her answers.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 233
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, psychological, serious, emotional, contemplative, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 88%
A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998)
Plot Summary:
This fictionalized story, based on the family life of writer James Jones, is an emotional slice-of-life story. Jones is portrayed here portrayed as Bill Willis, a former war hero turned author who combats alcoholism and is starting to experience health problems. Living in France with his wife, daughter, and an adopted son, the family travels an unconventional road which casts them as outsiders to others. Preaching a sexual freedom, his daughter's sexual discovery begins at an early age and betrays her when the family moves to Hanover in America. Her overt sexuality clashes with the values of her teenage American peers and gives her a problematic reputation. Meanwhile, her brooding brother copes with his own interior pain regarding his past, only comfortable communicating within the domestic space.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, UK, France
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: sentimental, clever, realistic, talky, independent film, tense, touching, serious, witty, contemplative
Similar in 82%
Bright Lights, Big City (1988)
Plot Summary:
A young kid from Kansas moves to New York to work on a magazine. He gets caught up in the world of drink and drugs, and starts a steady decline. The only hope is the cousin of one of his drinking partners, can she pull him through it ?.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: intense, serious, sentimental, touching, bleak, realistic, stylized, unusual plot structure, suspense, melancholic
Similar in 90%
Particles of Truth (2003)
Plot Summary:
Life, love, and the fear of failing... Lilli Black, battling her painful memories and the secrets surrounding her dying father, collides into the complicated and obsessive life of Morrison Wiley on the streets of New York City. This peculiar love story exposes Lilli's internal bouts and her nightmarish "bad luck". We weave in and out of eight defective lives and go for a turbulent mental ride where Lilli's reality spirals out of control and we're lead to an unforgettable climax where some fall apart and some piece themselves together.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 587
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 76%
Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)
Plot Summary:
The film follows one day in the lives of the Tyrone family, each member is troubled and has been damaged by alcohol and/or drugs. In addition, they have issues with each other that lead to fights and an inability to reconcile completely with one another.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 174 min
Plot tags: tense, depressing, talky, psychological, serious, realistic, grim, clever, retro, spiritual
Similar in 87%
Sweet Nothing (1995)
Plot Summary:
Angel celebrates the birth of his daughter by taking his first hit of crack cocaine. With the hesitant support of his wife, Monika, he joins a friend of his to deal drugs for a short time--enough time to get out of debt and buy some nice things for the family. Three years later, Angel is still dealing, and has not saved any money, instead spending it on crack. His addiction grows, straining his friendship and his family life, and he gradually loses control.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 580
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: melancholic, realistic, serious, independent film, crying, bleak, gloomy, weeping, light, road movie
Similar in 84%
Copperhead (2013)
Plot Summary:
A family is torn apart during the American Civil War.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, touching, serious, captivating
Similar in 78%
Acts of Worship (2001)
Plot Summary:
Alix is taken in by a photographer, Digna, who despite her friends' protests, tries to help Alix piece her life back together and overcome her addictions.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 316
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, disturbing, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Jumpin' at the Boneyard (1991)
Plot Summary:
Manny tries to get his crack addict brother, Danny, to clean up.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 553
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: cult classic, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 85%
Zooey (2006)
Plot Summary:
Angel and Zooey are not your typical newlyweds. Zooey is a professional prostitute and Angel is a drug dealer. Yet they are not without hopes and dreams, of escaping their life in the streets and starting a new in a fresh painted cottage with picked fence, kid and a dog, in Manitoba, Canada, Life gets in the way however when their best friend gets in trouble with her pimp. They sacrifice everything to save her, including their own dreams.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 70
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 77%
A Long Way Home (2003)
Plot Summary:
Family members struggle to heal their emotional wounds after an incident of sexual abuse.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 216
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, emotional, realistic, serious, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 78%
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007)
Plot Summary:
The film follows Mr. Shi, a retired widower from Beijing. When his only daughter, Yilan, who lives in Spokane, Washington and works as a librarian, gets divorced, he decides to visit her to help her heal. However, Yilan is not interested. She tries keeping an emotional distance but when this finally fails she begins physically avoiding her father. He confronts her about an affair with a married Russian man and she, in turn, lets loose about all the gossip she'd heard as a young girl about his alleged affair with a female colleague back in China.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: serious, thought provoking, touching, realistic, emotional, contemplative
Similar in 81%
Hateship Loveship (2013)
Plot Summary:
A wild teenage girl orchestrates a romance between her nanny and her father, who is a recovering addict.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, realistic, sincere, captivating, disturbing, sentimental, cerebral, teen, aesthetic
Similar in 90%
Hunger Point (2003)
Plot Summary:
Meet the Hunters your typical all-American family: two committed parents and two lovely daughters. However, looks can be deceiving because this family is plagued by the nit-picking comments of an overzealous mother determined to keep her daughters thin. The results of this mother's tyranny is unimaginable. This movie really captures the dangers of eating disorders like no other. Based on the best-selling book of the same name.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 655
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, emotional, realistic