Best movies like Siddhartha
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin and his search for a meaningful way of life. His journey takes him through periods of harsh asceticism, sensual pleasures, material wealth, self-revulsion and eventually to the oneness and harmony that he had been seeking. The story is based on the best-selling novel by German Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: India, USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: spiritual, philosophical, road movie, dramatic, surreal, existential, independent film, psychological, atmospheric, serious
Best tv shows and movies like Siddhartha (1972):
Similar in 85%
Corroboree (2007)
Plot Summary:
A beautiful young man has been summoned to an eerie meditation retreat by a dying theatre director. The young man has been given a tape of instructions; over a weekend he must perform scenes from the director's life. He visits different rooms encountering five actresses who all portray key women in the director's life. They rehearse the boy to play the lead role in an as yet 'unmade film'. The dying director watches young boy's progress as he searches to inhabit the director's identity. It's an Alice in Wonderland tale and an unpredictable journey of self discovery for all concerned.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 129
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Australia
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, surreal, atmospheric, captivating, meta, realistic, sexual, independent film, sexy
Similar in 76%
The Last Monk (2006)
Plot Summary:
The Last Monk is the journey of a young newly-married woman from the world of the newly-rich, 30-something IT engineers and corporate managers in New Delhi, to the vast, stark beauty of Ladakh in the Indian Himalayas. It is a journey from the superficial materialism of the new young Indian middle class to the universal mysticism of Buddhism. The otherworldly landscape becomes inseparable from the cosmic power of the physical and mystical universe as she discovers her own spirituality and a sexuality beyond the physical, led and mentored by a young khempo, or lay Buddhist monk vital, verbose, funny, and a fountain of cosmic truths. The Last Monk is part of a growing movement in Indian cinema, approaching the societal and spiritual issues raised by todays rapidly-changing India.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 49
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Zen Noir (2004)
Plot Summary:
No overview found.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 373
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 71 min
Plot tags: spiritual, inspirational, neo noir, detective, dark comedy
Similar in 86%
The Shift (2009)
Plot Summary:
From the creators of You Can Heal Your Life: The Movie comes a compelling portrait of three modern lives in need of new direction and new meaning. In his first-ever movie, Wayne Dyer explores the spiritual journey in the second half of life when we long to find the purpose that is our unique contribution to the world. The powerful shift from the ego constructs we are taught early in life by parents and society—which promote an emphasis on achievement and accumulation—are shown in contrast to a life of meaning, focused on serving and giving back. Filmed on coastal California’s spectacular Monterey Peninsula, The Shift captures every person’s mid-life longing for a more purposeful, soul-directed life.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, serious, realistic, spiritual, inspirational, existential, mystical
Similar in 80%
The Third Miracle (1999)
Plot Summary:
The Vatican sends a priest to verify some miracles, performed by a woman who has been nominated for sainthood.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: biblical, controversial, sincere, thought provoking, serious, realistic, contemplative, independent film, psychological, sentimental
Similar in 90%
The Razor's Edge (1984)
Plot Summary:
He had everything and wanted nothing. He learned that he had nothing and wanted everything. He saved the world and then it shattered. The path to enlightenment is as sharp and narrow as a razor's edge.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: philosophical, touching, spiritual, epic, psychological, tense, thought provoking, clever, serious, realistic
Similar in 88%
Higher Ground (2011)
Plot Summary:
Vera Farmiga's directorial debut, HIGHER GROUND, depicts the landscape of a tight-knit spiritual community thrown off-kilter when one of their own begins to question her faith. Inspired by screenwriter Carolyn S. Briggs' memoir This Dark World, the film tells the story of a thoughtful woman's struggles with belief, love, and trust - in human relationships as well as in God.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, aesthetic, independent film
Similar in 77%
Love Eternal (2013)
Plot Summary:
Based on the Japanese novel 'Loving the Dead' from acclaimed author Kei Oishi, the film centres on a damaged young man who, after shutting himself away for ten years, is forced to venture out into a world that he no longer understands.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 629
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Ireland, Luxembourg
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, bleak, disturbing, serious, realistic, contemplative, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 76%
At the Gate of the Ghost (2011)
Plot Summary:
Adapted from Japanese film called Rashomon, U Mong Pa Meung (The Outrage) takes place in a wood during Thai’s Lanna period where a mysterious murder happens. The story is told through three witnesses: a young monk, woodcutter and undertaker.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 406
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Thailand
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspenseful, atmospheric, mind bending, serious, realistic, non-linear
Similar in 82%
An Interview with God (2018)
Plot Summary:
An up-and-coming journalist finds his world and faith increasingly challenged when he's granted the interview of a lifetime – with someone who claims to be God.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: christian film, psychological, sincere, philosophical, thought provoking, rough, spiritual, dramatic, thinking
Similar in 83%
Steppenwolf (1974)
Plot Summary:
In the bourgeois circles of Europe after the Great War, can anything save the modern man? Harry Haller, a solitary intellectual, has all his life feared his dual nature of being human and being a beast. He's decided to die on his 50th birthday, which is soon. He's rescued from his solipsism by the mysterious Hermine, who takes him dancing, introduces him to jazz and to the beautiful and whimsical Maria, and guides him into the hallucinations of the Magic Theater, which seem to take him into Hell. Can humour, sin, and derision lead to salvation?.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Switzerland, UK, France, Italy, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: surreal, existential, philosophical, depressing, manga, esoteric, cult classic, independent film, mystic, psychological
Similar in 89%
The Rapture (1991)
Plot Summary:
A lonely telephone operator leading an empty, amoral life finds God — only to have her faith continually tested in ways beyond what she could have imagined.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: disturbing, surreal, psychological, biblical, philosophical, stylized, talky, thought provoking, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
Dreaming Lhasa (2005)
Plot Summary:
Karma, a Tibetan filmmaker from New York, goes to Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama's exile headquarters in northern India, to make a documentary about former political prisoners who have escaped from Tibet. She wants to reconnect with her roots but is also escaping a deteriorating relationship back home.One of Karma's interviewees is Dhondup, an enigmatic ex-monk who has just escaped from Tibet. He confides in her that his real reason for coming to India is to fulfill his dying mother's last wish, to deliver a charm box to a long-missing resistance fighter. Karma finds herself unwittingly falling in love with Dhondup even as she is sucked into the passion of his quest, which becomes a journey into Tibet's fractured past and a voyage of self-discovery.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 265
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK, India
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, enigmatic, captivating, spiritual, contemplative, banned
Similar in 90%
The Fine Art of Love: Mine Ha-Ha (2005)
Plot Summary:
A group of young girls are brought up in a college within dark forests and gloomy lakes. Young Hidalla and her friends Irene, Vera, Blanka, Melusine and Rain are brought up in an isolated world: the girls don't know anything about live outside the college's high walls. At the age of 16, some of them start asking questions about their origins, their parents and the true purposes of the Headmistresses strict rules. When two of them disappear mysteriously, the initial fairytale atmosphere grows more and more eerie.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 629
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Italy, UK, Czech Republic
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, realistic, suspenseful, erotic, sexy, fairy tale, serious, independent film, suspense
Similar in 80%
Traces of Sandalwood (2014)
Plot Summary:
Despite her fame and fortune, Mina, a successful Indian actress in Mumbai, can't forget her little sister Sita, from whom she was forced to separate after their mother's death in a village. Thirty years later she will finally find out that Sita is alive and well in Barcelona. However, Sita's adoptive parents have erased all traces of her past. She is now called Paula, works as a researcher in Biology and has no recollection of her Indian background, let alone of Mina. Faced with the shocking truths of her past, Paula begins a long journey of self-discovery, aided along the way by her budding romance with the handsome Indian immigrant Prakash. A story of hope and love across Mumbai and Barcelona; from India to the Mediterranean and all the way back.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 445
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, India, France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious
Similar in 79%
The Temptation of St. Tony (2009)
Plot Summary:
A mid-level manager who develops an aversion to being "good" finds himself confronting the mysteries of middle-age and morality as he loses grasp of what was once his quiet life.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: Estonia, Finland, Sweden, France
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychological, bleak, suspenseful, black and white, philosophical, disturbing, controversial, dark comedy, spiritual
Similar in 79%
Nostalgia (1983)
Plot Summary:
The Russian poet Andrei Gorchakov, accompanied by guide and translator Eugenia, is traveling through Italy researching the life of an 18th-century Russian composer. In an ancient spa town, he meets the lunatic Domenico, who years earlier had imprisoned his own family in his house for seven years to save them from the evils of the world. Seeing some deep truth in Domenico's act, Andrei becomes drawn to him. In a series of dreams, the poet's nostalgia for his homeland and his longing for his wife, his ambivalent feelings for Eugenia and Italy, and his sense of kinship with Domenico become intertwined.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, Soviet Union
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, philosophical, art house, cerebral, contemplative, poetic, black and white, visual, mind twisting, emotional
Similar in 90%
I Am (2010)
Plot Summary:
In the City of Angels, despair and heartache are the daily mail -- delivered with painful regularity whether we want them or not. Through I AM, we join an eclectic cast as they try to untangle themselves from the web of sin. All along the way, they are each joined by a mysterious companion -- ever present with a loving guidance without judgment for their actions. The more they attempt to fix their lives, the deeper they sink into chaos, pain, and loss. In addition, we discover that sin is a matrix connecting even the most remote of strangers to one another. It is at this breaking point when we see the presence of this companion was no accident. He was the ever-loving constant who refused to abandon His people -- even when they abandoned Him.
IMDB Rating: 3.3
IMDB Votes: 413
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, contemplative, psychological, captivating, spiritual, sincere, independent film
Similar in 82%
Himalaya (1999)
Plot Summary:
As the denizens of a Tibetan village prepare for their arduous annual trek to exchange salt for grain, the community's allegiances are split between aging chieftain Tinle (Thilen Lhondup) and rebellious young Karma (Gurgon Kyap). Tinle tries to maintain his clout and preserve obedience to ancient customs when Karma challenges the old man's power.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Switzerland, UK, Nepal
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: road movie, independent film, atmospheric, spiritual, dramatic, tense, sincere, epic, serious, captivating
Similar in 75%
Ship of Theseus (2012)
Plot Summary:
This first feature film from Indian playwright Anand Gandhi, tells three stories about persons forced to think about the ethics and moral issues raised by medical advances: a visually impaired Egyptian photographer, who after a cornea transplant has trouble adjusting to her newfound sense of sight; a devout Indian monk fighting against animal testing, who has to confront his beliefs when he is diagnosed with liver cirrhosis; and an Indian stockbroker, who after having a kidney transplant learns about the illegal trade in stolen organs and decides to help a poor victim of such theft - even though it means travelling all the way from India to Sweden. The film was first shown at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, where it received great critical acclaim and was touted as "the hidden gem of the year". It was released in India in July 2013, and was awarded Best Feature Film of 2013 at the Indian National Film Awards in 2014.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama
Country: India, Netherlands
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, thought provoking, serious, atmospheric, philosophical, spiritual, independent film, experimental, anthology
Similar in 85%
Jess + Moss (2011)
Plot Summary:
Jess, age 18, and Moss, age 12 are second cousins in the dark-fire tobacco fields of rural Western Kentucky. Without immediate families that they can relate to, and lacking friends their own age, they only have each other. Over the course of a summer they venture on a journey exploring deep secrets and hopes of a future while being confronted with fears of isolation, abandonment and an unknown tomorrow.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 980
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, realistic, contemplative, stylized, psychological, captivating, teen, aesthetic, sincere, touching
Similar in 83%
Travelers and Magicians (2003)
Plot Summary:
A young government official, named Dondup, who is smitten with America (he even has a denim gho) dreams of escaping there while stuck in a beautiful but isolated village. He hopes to connect in the U.S. with a visa out of the country. He misses the one bus out of town to Thimphu, however, and is forced to hitchhike and walk along the Lateral Road to the west, accompanied by an apple seller, a Buddhist monk with his ornate, dragon-headed dramyin, a drunk, a widowed rice paper maker, and his beautiful daughter, Sonam.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Bhutan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: road movie, atmospheric, serious, captivating, spiritual, independent film, inspirational, philosophical, poignant, anthropological
Similar in 89%
Little Buddha (1993)
Plot Summary:
Little Buddha is a movie about the life of Siddhartha starring Keanu Reeves and Bridget Fonda and directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Liechtenstein, UK
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: unusual plot structure, spiritual, fairy tale, retro, philosophical, existential, cult classic, independent film, sentimental, meditative
Similar in 77%
Zen (2009)
Plot Summary:
In the early 1200s, Dogen brought Chinese Zen philosophy to Japan, and established the Japanese Zen sect of Buddhism. He taught that a person was capable of realizing Buddhahood within himself, by way of Zazen. Zazen is extended hours of sitting and meditating to achieve a state of “Mu” (nothingness, or empty existence).
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: spiritual, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, contemplative, inspirational, independent film, thinking, esoteric
Similar in 81%
Samsara (2001)
Plot Summary:
A love story situated in the Himalayas. A Buddhist monk can't choose between life and the way of the Buddha.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: India, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: philosophical, atmospheric, thought provoking, serious, captivating, spiritual, sentimental, sexy, sincere, realistic
Similar in 88%
Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? (1989)
Plot Summary:
Three people live in a remote Buddhist monastery near Mount Chonan: Hyegok, the old master; Yong Nan, a young man who has left his extended family in the city to seek enlightenment - Hyegok calls him Kibong!; and, an orphan lad Haejin, whom Hyegok has brought to the monastery to raise as a monk. The story is mostly Yong Nan's, told in flashbacks: how he came to the monastery, his brief return to the city, his vacillation between the turbulence of the world and his hope to overcome passions and escape the idea of self. We also see Hyegok as a teacher, a protector, and a father figure, and we watch Haejin make his way as a curious and nearly self-sufficient child.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: spiritual, slow cinema, psychedelic, thinking, aesthetic, psychological, atmospheric, thought provoking, serious, captivating
Similar in 82%
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Plot Summary:
Takes place in a chateau, an ambiguous story of a man and a woman who may or may not have met last year at Marienbad.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: surreal, mind bending, psychological, atmospheric, philosophical, visual, experimental, non-linear, talky, black and white
Similar in 75%
Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
Plot Summary:
This story takes place in a small town on the Hungarian Plain. In a provincial town, which is surrounded with nothing else but frost. It is bitterly cold weather — without snow. Even in this bewildered cold hundreds of people are standing around the circus tent, which is put up in the main square, to see — as the outcome of their wait — the chief attraction, the stuffed carcass of a real whale. The people are coming from everywhere. From the neighboring settlings, even from quite far away parts of the country. They are following this clumsy monster as a dumb, faceless, rag-wearing crowd. This strange state of affairs — the appearance of the foreigners, the extreme frost — disturbs the order of the small town. Ambitious personages of the story feel they can take advantage of this situation. The tension growing to the unbearable is brought to explosion by the figure of the Prince, who is pretending facelessness. Even his mere appearance is enough to break loose destructive emotions.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Hungary, Italy, Germany, France
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: bleak, contemplative, serious, allegory, psychological, slow cinema, tense, atmospheric, suspenseful, futuristic
Similar in 75%
I Origins (2014)
Plot Summary:
I Origins follows a molecular biologist studying the evolution of the human eye. He finds his work permeating his life after a brief encounter with an exotic young woman who slips away from him. As his research continues years later with his lab partner, they make a stunning scientific discovery that has far reaching implications and complicates both his scientific and and spiritual beliefs. Traveling half way around the world, he risks everything he has ever known to validate his theory.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 132000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, spiritual, mind bending, enigmatic, philosophical, cerebral, atmospheric, psychological, romantic, mindfuck
Similar in 87%
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)
Plot Summary:
This South Korean film takes place on an isolated lake, where an old monk lives in a small floating temple. The monk has a young boy living with him, learning to become a monk. We watch as seasons and years pass by.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 86000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea, Germany
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: philosophical, atmospheric, melancholic, meditative, spiritual, art house, touching, stylized, scenic, lyrical