Best movies like Snow Falling on Cedars
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A Japanese-American fisherman may have killed his neighbor Carl at sea. In the 1950s, race figures in the trial. So does reporter Ishmael.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, meditative, breathtaking, serious, captivating, realistic, scenic, romantic, political
Best tv shows and movies like Snow Falling on Cedars (1999):
Similar in 84%
My House in Umbria (2003)
Plot Summary:
Emily Delahunty (Maggie Smith) is an eccentric British romance novelist who lives in Umbria in central Italy. One day while travelling, the train she is on is bombed by terrorists. After she wakes up in a hospital, she invites three of the other survivors of the disaster to stay at her Italian villa for recuperation. Of these are The General, a retired British Army veteran, Werner, a young German man, and Aimee, a young American girl who has now become mute after her parents were both killed in the explosion.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: UK, Italy, USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sincere, sentimental, captivating, emotional, serious, realistic, talky, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Brokedown Palace (1999)
Plot Summary:
Best friends Alice and Darlene take a trip to Thailand after graduating high school. In Thailand, they meet a captivating Australian man, who calls himself Nick Parks. Darlene is particularly smitten with Nick and convinces Alice to take Nick up on his offer to treat the two of them to what amounts to a day trip to Hong Kong. In the airport, the girls are seized by the police and shocked to discover that one of their bags contains heroin.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, intense, thought provoking, serious, captivating, emotional, political thriller, touching, depressing
Similar in 86%
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
Plot Summary:
A visiting city reporter's assignment suddenly revolves around the murder trial of a local millionaire, whom he befriends.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, southern gothic, suspense, enigmatic, intense, serious, realistic, gothic, suspenseful, crime thriller
Similar in 86%
Possession (2002)
Plot Summary:
Maud Bailey, a brilliant English academic, is researching the life and work of poet Christabel La Motte. Roland Michell is an American scholar in London to study Randolph Henry Ash, now best-known for a collection of poems dedicated to his wife. When Maud and Roland discover a cache of love letters that appear to be from Ash to La Motte, they follow a trail of clues across England, echoing the journey of the couple over a century earlier.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: romantic, clever, period piece, sentimental, serious, realistic, heartbreaking, sweet, slasher, romantic drama
Similar in 82%
Waterland (1992)
Plot Summary:
The story of a mentally anguished high school history teacher going through a complete reassessment of his life. His method for reassessing his life is to narrate it to his class and interweave in it three generations of his family's history.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, serious, offbeat, contemplative, gloomy, crying, independent film
Similar in 75%
Amy Foster (1997)
Plot Summary:
The film tells the story of Russian emigree and the only survivor from ship crash Yanko Goorall and servant Amy Foster in the end of 19th century. When Yanko enters a farm sick and hungry after the shipwreck, everyone is afraid of him, except for Amy, who is very kind and helps him. Soon he becomes like a son for Dr. James Kennedy and romance between Yanko and Amy follows.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: romantic, scenic, touching, captivating, sad, emotional, political thriller, tear jerker, cute, romantic drama
Similar in 80%
Moonlight Mile (2002)
Plot Summary:
As he copes with the death of his fiancee along with her parents, a young man must figure out what he wants out of life.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, realistic, clever, romantic, art film, romantic drama, serious, gloomy, crying
Similar in 77%
Come See the Paradise (1990)
Plot Summary:
Come See The Paradise is a deeply touching love story set against the backdrop of a dramatic and controversial period in American history, It follows the romance and eventual marriage of Jack McGurn (Dennis Quad), a hot blooded Irish American, and a beautiful Japanese American Lily Dawanura (Tamlyn Tomita), at the outset of World War II. The clash of cultures, at once painful for the two lovers, becomes insurmountable after the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Lily and the Kawamuras are relocated To a bleak, outdoor internment camp in California, Jack is drafted into the Army, powerless to help the woman he loves abandoning all hope of ever winning her family's approval.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, thought provoking, serious, realistic, contemplative, crying, sentimental, romantic, clever
Similar in 77%
Labor Day (2013)
Plot Summary:
Depressed single mom Adele and her son Henry offer a wounded, fearsome man a ride. As police search town for the escaped convict, the mother and son gradually learn his true story as their options become increasingly limited.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 51000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, sincere, sentimental, serious, captivating, romantic, intense, romantic drama
Similar in 81%
Sommersby (1993)
Plot Summary:
Set in the south of the United States just after the Civil War, Laurel Sommersby is just managing to work the farm without her husband Jack, believed killed in the Civil War. By all accounts, Jack Sommersby was not a pleasant man, thus when he returns, Laurel has mixed emotions. It appears that Jack has changed a great deal, leading some people to believe that this is not actually Jack but an imposter. Laurel herself is unsure, but willing to take the man into her home, and perhaps later into her heart.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: France, USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: romantic, touching, psychological, sentimental, suspense, suspenseful, sincere, emotional, period piece, social
Similar in 79%
Love in the Time of Cholera (2007)
Plot Summary:
In Colombia just after the Great War, an old man falls from a ladder; dying, he professes great love for his wife. After the funeral, a man calls on the widow - she dismisses him angrily. Flash back more than 50 years to the day Florentino Ariza, a telegraph boy, falls in love with Fermina Daza, the daughter of a mule trader.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Mexico, UK, Colombia
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: psychological, sexy, romantic, costume drama, emotional, serious, sentimental, atmospheric, realistic, erotic
Similar in 79%
The Good German (2006)
Plot Summary:
An American journalist arrives in Berlin just after the end of World War Two. He becomes involved in a murder mystery surrounding a dead GI who washes up at a lakeside mansion during the Potsdam negotiations between the Allied powers. Soon his investigation connects with his search for his married pre-war German lover.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: black and white, neo noir, atmospheric, suspenseful, serious, realistic, period piece, clever, stylized, political
Similar in 83%
A Dry White Season (1989)
Plot Summary:
Taking place during the 1976 Soweto uprising, the story follows a white school teacher whose life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: talky, emotional, disturbing, rough, thought provoking, serious, realistic, political, retro, thinking
Similar in 83%
Great Expectations (1998)
Plot Summary:
Loosely based on the Charles Dickens' classic novel, "Great Expectations" is a sensual tale of a young man's unforgettable passage into manhood, and the three individuals who will undeniably change his life forever. Through the surprising interactions of these vivid characters, "Great Expectations" takes a unique and contemporary look at life's great coincidences.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 56000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: romantic, heartbreaking, emotional, sexy, touching, light, melancholic, serious, realistic, erotic
Similar in 86%
The Words (2012)
Plot Summary:
The Words follows young writer Rory Jansen who finally achieves long sought after literary success after publishing the next great American novel. There's only one catch - he didn't write it. As the past comes back to haunt him and his literary star continues to rise, Jansen is forced to confront the steep price that must be paid for stealing another man's work, and for placing ambition and success above life's most fundamental three words.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 81000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, suspense, romantic, inspirational, intellectual, psychological, thought provoking, serious, emotional, contemplative
Similar in 83%
Strange Fruit (2004)
Plot Summary:
New York attorney William Boyals has escaped the Louisiana bayou of his childhood, but he must return to investigate the death of a childhood friend who, like Boyals himself, was both black and gay.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 260
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, thought provoking, bleak, crying, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 86%
The Human Stain (2003)
Plot Summary:
Coleman Silk is a worldly and admired professor who loses his job after unwittingly making a racial slur. To clear his name, Silk writes a book about the events with his friend and colleague Nathan Zuckerman, who in the process discovers a dark secret Silk has hidden his whole life. All the while, Silk engages in an affair with Faunia Farley, a younger woman whose tormented past threatens to unravel the layers of deception Silk has constructed.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, erotic, sexy, melancholic, talky, intellectual, sincere, serious, clever
Similar in 90%
Safe Haven (2013)
Plot Summary:
A young woman with a mysterious past lands in Southport, North Carolina where her bond with a widower forces her to confront the dark secret that haunts her.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 115000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: romantic, touching, teen, emotional, sentimental, suspenseful, sweet, cute, romantic drama, serious
Similar in 87%
Water for Elephants (2011)
Plot Summary:
In this captivating Depression-era melodrama, impetuous veterinary student Jacob Jankowski joins a celebrated circus as an animal caretaker but faces a wrenching dilemma when he's transfixed by angelic married performer Marlena.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 120000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: romantic, emotional, sexy, touching, stylized, scenic, melancholic, intense, realistic, inspirational
Similar in 77%
Presumed Innocent (1990)
Plot Summary:
Life takes a nasty twist for D.A. Rusty Sabich when the woman he has been romantically involved with is murdered. He is assigned to investigate the case, but is soon charged with the murder.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 45000
Genere: Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: surprise ending, neo noir, suspenseful, tense, suspense, sexy, tricky, enigmatic, talky, intense
Similar in 88%
One Day (2011)
Plot Summary:
A romantic comedy centered on Dexter and Emma, who first meet during their graduation in 1988 and proceed to keep in touch regularly. The film follows what they do on July 15 annually, usually doing something together.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 161000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, romantic, emotional, sad, touching, realistic, heartbreaking, romantic drama, tear jerker, serious
Similar in 86%
The Heart of Me (2002)
Plot Summary:
Drama set in 1930s London with two sisters, Madeleine married to Rickie, and Dinah, who falls in love with him. Rickie and Dinah begin an affair which is to have repercussions throughout all their lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Germany
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, romantic drama, clever, erotic, romantic, spiritual, cult classic
Similar in 87%
Picture Bride (1994)
Plot Summary:
Riyo, an orphaned 17-year old, sails from Yokohama to Hawaii in 1918 to marry Matsuji, a man she has never met. Hoping to escape a troubled past and start anew, Riyo is bitterly disappointed upon her arrival: her husband is twice her age. The miserable girl finds solace with her new friend Kana, a young mother who helps Riyo accept her new life.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, melancholic, serious, independent film, realistic, contemplative, sentimental, inspirational, romantic
Similar in 83%
The Reader (2008)
Plot Summary:
The story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who, as a teenager in the late 1950s, had an affair with an older woman, Hanna, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a concentration camp guard late in the war. He alone realizes that Hanna is illiterate and may be concealing that fact at the expense of her freedom.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 256000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: melancholic, sexy, touching, sexual, psychological, emotional, erotic, heartbreaking, romantic, romantic drama
Similar in 77%
A Walk in the Clouds (1995)
Plot Summary:
World War II vet Paul Sutton falls for a pregnant and unwed woman who persuades him -- during their first encounter -- to pose as her husband so she can face her family.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: romantic, touching, realistic, sentimental, uplifting, sweet, tear jerker, emotional, epic, cult classic
Similar in 89%
Chocolat (2000)
Plot Summary:
A fable of emotional liberation and chocolate. A mother and daughter move to a small French town where they open a chocolate shop. The town, religious and morally strict, is against them as they represent free-thinking and indulgence. When a group of Boat Gypsies float down the river the prejudices of the Mayor leads to a crisis.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 199000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: feel good, romantic, sentimental, sweet, fairy tale, romantic comedy, period piece, melancholic, art film, inspirational
Similar in 75%
Atonement (2007)
Plot Summary:
As a 13-year-old, fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 295000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance, War
Country: UK, France, USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, heartbreaking, sad, period piece, dramatic, visually appealing, romantic, costume drama, sexy
Similar in 75%
Before Sunset (2004)
Plot Summary:
Nine years ago two strangers met by chance and spent a night in Vienna that ended before sunrise. They are about to meet for the first time since. Now they have one afternoon to find out if they belong together.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 282000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: philosophical, emotional, sentimental, romantic, independent film, touching, feel good, realistic, sincere, contemplative
Similar in 75%
The Choice (2016)
Plot Summary:
Travis and Gabby first meet as neighbors in a small coastal town and wind up in a relationship that is tested by life's most defining events.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 45000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: romantic, touching, emotional, sweet, scenic, sentimental, serious, realistic, tear jerker, romantic comedy
Similar in 77%
The Notebook (2004)
Plot Summary:
An epic love story centered around an older man who reads aloud to a woman with Alzheimer's. From a faded notebook, the old man's words bring to life the story about a couple who is separated by World War II, and is then passionately reunited, seven years later, after they have taken different paths.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 605000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: touching, romantic, emotional, sentimental, sweet, sad, tear jerker, inspirational, motivational, feel good