Best movies like Solanin
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Meiko Inoue is a recent college grad working as an office lady in a job she hates. Her boyfriend Shigeo is permanently crashing at her apartment because his job as a freelance illustrator doesn't pay enough for rent. And her parents in the country keep sending her boxes of veggies that just rot in her fridge. Straddling the line between her years as a student and the rest of her life, Meiko struggles with the feeling that she's just not cut out to be a part of the real world.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 900
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, captivating, realistic, sweet, shoujo
Best tv shows and movies like Solanin (2010):
Similar in 90%
True Mothers (2020)
Plot Summary:
After a long and unsuccessful struggle to get pregnant, convinced by the discourse of an adoption association, Satoko and her husband decide to adopt a baby boy. A few years later, their parenthood is shaken by a threatening unknown girl, Hikari, who pretends to be the child's biological mother. Satoko decides to confront Hikari directly.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, France
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: captivating, entertaining
Similar in 87%
Beck (2010)
Plot Summary:
Yukio is your average high school student who spends his days going to class and avoiding bullies. That is until he meets Ryusuke, a guitar prodigy. Together with Taira, Chiba, and Saku they form the rock band BECK. As their popularity increases so does the danger as Ryusuke's past catches up with him.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Japan
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: light, unusual plot structure, captivating, visually appealing, uplifting
Similar in 88%
Return to Ithaca (2014)
Plot Summary:
Sun is setting on Havana. Five friends are gathered to celebrate the return of Amadeo after 16 years of exile in Madrid.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 832
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, contemplative, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, serious, talky, weird
Similar in 81%
Bones (2010)
Plot Summary:
The heart breaking coming of age story of four teens growing up in 1989 blue collar New York, and the bond that would tie them together for life.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 398
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, tense, captivating, touching, serious, suspenseful, crying
Similar in 77%
Tales (2014)
Plot Summary:
Award-winning Iranian filmmaker Rakshan Banietemad ends her eight-year hiatus from feature filmmaking with this ingenious, mosaic-like narrative, which knits together the stories of seven characters to create a microcosm of Iranian working-class society.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, emotional, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, bleak, serious, gloomy, surprise ending
Similar in 89%
Late Bloomers (2011)
Plot Summary:
Late Bloomers stars Isabella Rossellini and William Hurt as a married couple pulled apart by the threat of old age. Each reacts in a different way: Hurt’s distinguished architect chases after his glory days, while Rossellini’s housewife installs handrails about the house.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium, UK
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, psychological, captivating, humorous, serious
Similar in 78%
Mamitas (2011)
Plot Summary:
A teenager in Echo Park deals with the loss of his mother and his attraction to a girl not considered "cool" by his friends.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 488
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: sincere, realistic, captivating, psychological, light, independent film, serious
Similar in 81%
All Good Children (2010)
Plot Summary:
After experiencing a tragedy, Irish brothers Dara and Eoin move to rural France, where they become friends with young Bella, whose beauty and charm bewitches the emotionally unstable Dara.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 285
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland, UK, Belgium, France
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, psychological, captivating, tense, sincere, gloomy
Similar in 85%
Women or Children First (2002)
Plot Summary:
Tom, a Spaniard, is married to Sylvie and lives a quiet but a bit boring life in the Britanny countryside (west of France). Trouble comes when Tom ex girlfriend reappears, asking for help, announcing him that she had a girl from him 9 years ago.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 264
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Spain
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sentimental, captivating, sincere, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Memories of Tomorrow (2006)
Plot Summary:
After being stricken with Alzheimer's disease in the prime of his life, a successful young businessman slips slowly away from his loving family.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 912
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, psychological, emotional, captivating, independent film, serious
Similar in 76%
Not Waving But Drowning (2012)
Plot Summary:
Not Waving But Drowning is a chronological look at growing up, formed from two different stories. The two sets of friends represent the American dilemma between what you have known and what you hope to know; the tear between longing for the past and the desire to explore.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 431
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, touching, captivating, sincere, serious, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 76%
The Way I Spent the End of the World (2006)
Plot Summary:
Bucharest 1989 - the last year of Ceausecu's dictatorship. Eva lives with her parents and her 7 year old brother, Lalalilu. One day at school, Eva and her boyfriend accidentally break a bust of Ceausescu. They are forced to confess their crime before a disciplinary committee and Eva is expelled from school and transferred to a reformatory establishment. There she meets Andrei, and decides to escape Romania with him. Lalalilu becomes convinced that Ceausescu is the main reason for Eva's decision to leave. So with his friends from school he devises a plan to kill the dictator.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Romania, France
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, captivating, serious, realistic, atmospheric
Similar in 76%
Insecure (2014)
Plot Summary:
Chérif, struggling to pass the entrance exam for nursing school, takes on a side job as a security guard. On duty there, he faces off with a group of hostile teenagers who constantly harass him, and gradually ends up an accomplice to a robbery gone wrong. Caught in between two worlds, Chérif will have to find his own way out….
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 482
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, captivating, sentimental, tense, touching, serious
Similar in 78%
Wedding Dress (2010)
Plot Summary:
Overly obsessive compulsive and too premature, Sora is easily distanced by her friends. Growing up without a father is something she would like to be fussy about with her mom, but Sora is still the one and only daughter of and the biggest support to Go-woon. Once she finds out about her mom’s dying condition, this mature 9-year-old learns to overcome her difficulty in sharing food with others and asks her classmates to be her friends to make sure her mom feels at ease.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 799
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: semi serious, sad, psychological, sentimental, captivating, contemplative, humorous, realistic
Similar in 79%
A Gentle Breeze in the Village (2007)
Plot Summary:
Based on a popular manga, the film is a tender coming-of-age love story set deep in Japan's countryside. When eighth grade cool guy Hiromi transfers from Tokyo to a small elementary/middle school with only six kids enrolled, wholesome and honest Soyo becomes enthralled with his sophisticated world.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, disturbing, romantic
Similar in 88%
Honey & Clover (2006)
Plot Summary:
Adapted from the popular manga of the same name, director Masahiro Takada's coming of age drama follows five Hama Art College students as they prepare to venture out into the real world on a great voyage of self-discovery.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 900
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, sweet, captivating, manga, shoujo, humorous, sexual, sexy, weird
Similar in 85%
Hard Times (2005)
Plot Summary:
When the troubled son of an NGO worker refuses to take a test and announces that he is not leaving his room, his concerned mother asks one of her clients, a Cuban exile, for help in setting the boy straight. Gonzalo has decided to drop out of school, and his mother Ana isn't sure how to convince the boy that he's making a crucial mistake. Ana's client Carlos is a Cuban exile who makes his living selling cigars and artwork on the black market. When Carlos learns of Ana's dilemma, he calls on recently released convict Mikel to teach the boy how to play chess. Perhaps is young Gonzalo can master the game, he can learn to start living again. As the lessons get underway, each of these characters learns that in order to truly move on with their lives they much first break free of the bonds that prevent them from being who they really are.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 333
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, touching, sentimental
Similar in 88%
Sweet September (2015)
Plot Summary:
Rebecca and Bruno meet in a bar, in a not particularly happy moment of their life, and they start dating. They consider themselves just friends and talk to each other about everything. But if Rebecca stops being so worried about what the bourgeoisie might think and say, and if Bruno realizes he can't live without Rebecca, they will both understand reality.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 90
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating
Similar in 81%
Scratch (2003)
Plot Summary:
A story of young love and early life choices.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 553
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, captivating, realistic, semi serious, humorous
Similar in 78%
In Between Days (2006)
Plot Summary:
A Korean immigrant falls in love with her best friend while navigating her way through the challenges of living in a new country.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 609
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, South Korea, USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, sentimental, contemplative, captivating, depressing, mumblecore, sincere, touching, serious
Similar in 79%
Eat Sleep Die (2012)
Plot Summary:
A young Eastern European immigrant working in Sweden is faced with a painful choice when she's laid off from her factory in the name of "efficiencies.".
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: realistic, thought provoking, serious, psychological, crying, sincere, touching
Similar in 88%
Cuckoo (2014)
Plot Summary:
Visually-challenged Tamizh and Suthanthirakodi fall in love with each other, but her self-centred brother wants to marry her off to his friend, which leads to the lovers' separation. Can their love help them find each other?.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 771
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: India
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, captivating, psychological, sentimental, touching
Similar in 80%
Lebanon, Pa. (2010)
Plot Summary:
Will, a charming 35-year-old Philadelphia ad man, heads to Lebanon, Pa. to bury his recently deceased father. He forms an unexpected friendship with CJ, his bright, newly pregnant 17-year-old cousin. As Will becomes interested in CJ's married teacher and CJ confronts her conflicted father, both struggle with formidable decisions about the path their lives will take. Can we vault our differences and meet in the middle? This bittersweet comic drama tenderly explores the cultural divide in America through the lives of one extended family.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 584
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, psychological, captivating, sincere, clever, touching, serious, independent film
Similar in 90%
Kids on the Slope (2018)
Plot Summary:
Two different students—a successful but aloof academic and a rebellious but kindhearted delinquent—form a friendship through their love of jazz music.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 797
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: emotional, light, captivating, realistic, anime
Similar in 81%
Blue Spring (2001)
Plot Summary:
Soon after being named the new leader of his high school's gang system, Kujo grows bored with the violence and hatred that surround him. He wants desperately to abandon his post… but his once-enviable position of power has a strange way of making him feel powerless.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: bleak, realistic, disturbing, serious, manga
Similar in 85%
Smuggler (2011)
Plot Summary:
To pay off his loan shark, failed actor Ryōsuke Kinuta is forced to smuggle dead bodies – and one live elite assassin – in the middle of the night.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 550
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, psychological, captivating, heavy, exciting, rough, humorous, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 78%
Kakera: A Piece of Our Life (2009)
Plot Summary:
The story of the relationship between a college student whose relationship with her boyfriend is going nowhere and a bisexual medical artist who makes prosthetic body parts. Haru is a college student ignored by her boyfriend yet believes she is still in love with him. One day at a café, Haru meets Riko, a medical artist (prosthetist) who creates body parts in order to disguise clients’ missing pieces, lost due to accident or disease. Both were alone, but struck up an immediate friendship and closeness. Riko doesn't care about gender when it comes to relationships, and believes that love itself is the most important thing a human can achieve. Haru struggles in her life between friendship and a deeper relationship with Riko.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 381
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, semi serious, captivating, manga, clever
Similar in 77%
Lulu (2014)
Plot Summary:
Two young urchins turn the streets of Buenos Aires into their own magical playground, in this vibrant portrait of young love.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 87
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, semi serious, psychological, sincere, captivating, disturbing, offbeat, humorous
Similar in 79%
Butterfly Kisses (2017)
Plot Summary:
We follow Jake and his two best friends, Kyle and Jarred through a world distorted by sex and porn. The leader is Kyle – he talks about girls non-stop, Jarred can’t stop cheating on his girlfriend and then there’s Jake, a quiet and shy teenager whose friends are determined to help him lose his virginity to Zara, the pretty girl on the 19th floor of their estate. All three are trying to find their way in a complex world. They all have their demons, but Jake’s secret is one that he must keep to himself.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 880
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sexy, psychological, light, unusual plot structure, humorous, contemplative
Similar in 88%
Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler (2009)
Plot Summary:
Itou Kaiji is a bum who steals car emblems and slashes tires on what seems to be a regular basis. This routine changes one day when he is paid a visit by a man in a trench-coat. Once the two get talking, it seems that the visitor (Calling himself Endou) is a debt collector. The reason for his visit is an unpaid loan which kaiji had previously co-signed for a work-mate (Furuhata Takeshi). The original loan was 30000 yen and once Takeshi had disappeared, the loan then fell on Kaiji. Kaiji is then told of a way to clear the interest compounded debt (which stood at 3,850,000 yen), which involved getting on a boat with others in his position. Once on the boat the debtors would then have to gamble with loaned money, which would end with a few winning, and others getting into deeper debt and having to work to pay of their debts. After some coercing kaiji accepts a position on the boat, in order to clear himself and make a bit of money as well.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: tense, psychological, captivating, anime, atmospheric, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful