Best movies like Something in the Way
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Ahmad, a porn obsessed taxi driver from Jakarta, falls for the beautiful young prostitute Kinar and struggles with sexual frustration and misguided piety.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 712
Genere: Drama
Country: Indonesia
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, bleak, sincere, realistic, gloomy
Best tv shows and movies like Something in the Way (2013):
Similar in 88%
Helen (2008)
Plot Summary:
An 18 year old girl called Joy has gone missing. Another girl called Helen is a few weeks away from leaving her care home. Helen is asked to 'play' Joy in a police reconstruction that will retrace Joy's last known movements. Joy had everything. A loving family, a boyfriend, a bright future. Helen, parent-less, has lived in institutions all her life and has never been close to anyone. Gradually Helen begins to immerse herself into the role, visiting the people and places that Joy knew; quietly and carefully insinuating her way into the lost girl's life. But is Helen trying to find out what happened to Joy that day, or is she searching for her own identity?.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 456
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, atmospheric, touching, bleak, serious
Similar in 84%
I Am Yours (2013)
Plot Summary:
An unhappy single mother in Norway's Pakistani expatriate community begins to ignore her young son in favor of placating a Swedish filmmaker she thinks could change her life for the better.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 754
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, erotic, sexy, eros
Similar in 86%
Mojave Phone Booth (2006)
Plot Summary:
In the middle of the Mojave desert rests an abandoned phone booth, riddled with bullet holes, graffiti, its windows broken, but otherwise functioning. Its identity was born on the Internet and for years, travelers would make the trek down a lonely dirt road and camp next to the booth, in the hopes that it might suddenly ring, and they could connect with a stranger (often from another country) on the other end of the line. This is the story of four disparate people whose lives intersect with this mystical outpost, and the comfort they seek from a stranger's voice: There is Beth, a troubled woman facing dilemmas with her love-life and a recurring, baffling crime; Mary, a young South African, who is contemplating selling her body for the funds to escape her dreadful existence; Alex, a woman who is losing her lover, Glory, to the belief she is plagued by aliens, and Richard, driven into desperation by a separation from his wife, who happens upon the booth after his failed suicide attempt.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 288
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: clever, serious, realistic, sincere, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 87%
The Sea Is Behind (2014)
Plot Summary:
Tarik lives in a land without colour, a land where water is contaminated by a strange phenomenon of “water bugs”. Tarik wears make-up and dresses up as a woman. He dances on a cart that is drawn by a dying horse and his father has practically abandoned him. One day, Tarik’s horse Larbi stops in the middle of a procession and refuses to take another step forward. Tarik will have to learn to live again and surrender to the colours of his life, which is the only way to escape the dullness of the world around him.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 45
Genere: Drama
Country: Morocco, France, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, disturbing, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Chromophobia (2005)
Plot Summary:
Encouraged by his editor to seek 'sexy stories that sell', a reporter preys upon the private life of an erstwhile friend, with disastrous results.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, France, USA
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, psychological, serious, realistic, erotic, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Henri (2013)
Plot Summary:
The meeting of two lonely, marginal souls. There is Henri, a man in his 50s, limp, resigned, somewhat alcoholic. And Rosette, a (slightly) retarded woman who dreams of love, sexuality, normality.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 274
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 78%
The Night (2014)
Plot Summary:
A young man stands in front of a mirror. The night belongs to him. Every evening, he appraises his appearance, attired in a new shirt, leaves his apartment and waits in a poorly lit alleyway for his johns. One night he meets a female prostitute of his age who’s new in this part of town.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 77
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, serious, suspense, queer cinema
Similar in 89%
Freddy Hotel (2014)
Plot Summary:
Freddy Angi, separate and homeless, stumbles into strange love affairs, including one with his wife Anna. The two meet now and then as lovers in a hotel room.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 17
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Italy, Romania
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, realistic, bleak
Similar in 85%
The Memory Thief (2007)
Plot Summary:
A Los Angeles tollbooth clerk becomes obsessed with the Holocaust after meeting a survivor.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 253
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, disturbing, independent film, sincere, mind bending, offbeat, bleak
Similar in 89%
What Is It? (2005)
Plot Summary:
What Is It? is the name of a 2005 experimental film written, starring, funded and directed by Crispin Glover. As of 2008, the film has only been shown at independent theaters, typically accompanied by a question and answer session, slideshow and meet-and-greet/autograph signing with Glover.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 945
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: surreal, atmospheric, serious, avant garde, controversial, psychotronic, intelligent, independent film, offbeat, realistic
Similar in 76%
Into Temptation (2009)
Plot Summary:
A call girl goes to a priest to confess a sin she hasn't committed yet: she plans to kill herself on her next birthday. Then she disappears and he goes looking for her, enlisting the help of an ad hoc congregation of troubled souls along the way. A story about forgiveness.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 882
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, realistic, captivating, psychological, serious, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 89%
If Nothing Else Works Out (2008)
Plot Summary:
In 2006, a journalist in financial problems, a woman who dresses as a man and a troubled taxi driver become friends, and gradually, an awkward, strong emotional bond emerges among them, especially when they decide to play a confidence game.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 281
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sincere, rough, touching, serious, clever, offbeat, bleak, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 78%
The Off Hours (2011)
Plot Summary:
You're awake when everyone else is asleep. You're standing still as traffic is whipping by at 70mph. You see dusk and dawn everyday because they happen on your way to a time clock and then to a bed. Your off hours are spent trying to figure out why you're here, whether you want to stay, and how to leave.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 464
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, realistic, serious, mumblecore, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 85%
Pavee Lackeen: The Traveller Girl (2005)
Plot Summary:
An intimate portrait of a resilient and spirited young girl and her proud and dignified family, who are part of Ireland's "traveller" community.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 332
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 88%
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 75%
Dealer (2004)
Plot Summary:
In an impressive follow up to his debut film Forest, Benedek Fliegauf tells the uncompromising story of a day in the life of a drug dealer. His clients include the leader of a religious sect, a friend who needs a final fix, a former lover who has had his child, a student, and a black marketeer. Fliegauf's film recreates life in a city that resembles a ghost town, an alienated world with its own priorities and realities. It is, he says '. an imaginary city with a strongly spiritualist atmosphere. This necropolis is the film's real protagonist'.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, serious, stylized, contemplative, experimental, avant garde, cult classic, bleak, realistic
Similar in 89%
Exit: A personal history (2010)
Plot Summary:
A young man travels to Holland for an assisted suicide. The young man was convinced that this was his only way of ending an existence that he considered to lack any dignity.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 22
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: experimental, atmospheric, contemplative, psychological, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, surreal, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Letter to the King (2014)
Plot Summary:
In Letter to the King we meet a group of refugees, all with their own agendas, on an excursion to Oslo. A young man about to be deported visits his former employers to collect his off-the-books salary, a martial arts expert is looking for work, a young woman is haunted by the past and out for vengeance and an old man named Mirza is busy writing a letter to the king to get his final wish granted. An altogether urgent and nuanced portrait of a motley group of individuals, too often regarded as a homogeneous group.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 255
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway, United Arab Emirates
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere, anthology, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 79%
Bo (2010)
Plot Summary:
Fifteen year old Deborah meets Jennifer who steers her into a career as an escort. Under the alias Bo she begins a new life that she cannot handle and starts a downward spiral that only she can end.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, rough, captivating, realistic, erotic, sad, bleak
Similar in 90%
Dance Town (2010)
Plot Summary:
A North Korean refugee, Jung-Nim, is trying to find a new life in South Korea, with people suspecting that she is a spy.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 83
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, touching, sincere, thought provoking, bleak, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 77%
3:13 (2014)
Plot Summary:
From living a normal life to surviving homelessness in the city of Miami, Peter is a victim of the turbulent U.S. recession during late 2000's. A drama based on true events.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 78
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, bleak
Similar in 81%
Macondo (2014)
Plot Summary:
A drama centered on an 11-year-old Chechnyan refugee living in Vienna whose life is thrown into disarray when a friend of his deceased father materializes.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 310
Genere: Drama
Country: Austria
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 79%
Angel's Fall (2004)
Plot Summary:
Zeynep, Tülin Özen works in a hotel as a housekeeper. But she suffers hell on earth because of her father's behavior. She only talks to Mustafa, 'Engin Dogan' who works in the same hotel and he is interested in Zeynep. She is not interested in Mustafa who is younger than Zeynep, but she is not indifferent to him. While Zeynep is trying to make a bonfire of bad situation, Selçuk, Budak Akalin who lives on the other side of city is a voice technician. He feels guilty after his wife's death. The suitcase which has his wife's dresses changes the Zeynep's destiny.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Greece, Turkey
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, atmospheric, touching, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Manpower (2014)
Plot Summary:
An intelligent social issues drama, Manpower sketches a portrait of four men in crisis. Moving between scathing realism and subtle irony, the film raises questions of belonging and uprooting, exile and emigration, home and family. Meir Cohen is a decorated police officer yet he barely earns a living. His new assignment to deport African migrant workers teaches him that foreigners aren’t the only ones with no future in his country. Other plotlines intertwine with Meir’s story: an Israeli-Filipino boy fighting for recognition; a taxi driver whose children are migrating to a distant country; and a veteran migrant worker who’s forced to decide whether to leave or to hide until trouble passes.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 66
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, touching, realistic, serious, gloomy, biting, suspense
Similar in 79%
Sex My Life (2008)
Plot Summary:
Tells the story of seven Iranian transgender individuals living in Tehran who live pieces of their own lives on the screen.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 82
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 76 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, sincere, touching, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 78%
Choking Man (2006)
Plot Summary:
The social anxiety of a morbidly shy Ecuadorian dishwasher working in a Queens diner provides the psychological engine that powers this blend of drama and magical realism.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 597
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, touching, captivating, psychological, sentimental, serious, gloomy
Similar in 75%
Tokyo Noir (2004)
Plot Summary:
In this excursion into Tokyo's dark side, a sexually repressed woman finds liberation by turning tricks at night a sex worker is taken by surprise when her ex drops by and a sex blogger finds strange kinship with a loner.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 32
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 75%
3 Backyards (2010)
Plot Summary:
An executive, a housewife and a youngster spend a day in their Long Island suburban town during the course of one curious autumn day afternoon.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 753
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, serious, tense, sincere, gloomy, independent film, psychological thriller, psycho film
Similar in 78%
Same Same But Different (2009)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Benjamin Prufer and Sreykeo Solvan. The unexpected and uncertain love story of Sreykeo, a 21 year old bar girl in Phnom Penh and Ben, a young German student traveling to Cambodia on a post graduation summer trip. When Ben returns home to Germany he discovers that Sreyko is sick and he takes on the responsibility to save her. On the way he discovers a world where not everyone is dealt the same cards and where motivations are not always pure.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, atmospheric, touching, realistic, sincere, offbeat, serious, captivating, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Labour of Love (2014)
Plot Summary:
Set in the crumbling environs of Calcutta, Labour of Love is a lyrical unfolding of two ordinary lives suspended in the duress of a spiralling recession.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: realistic, sincere, atmospheric, touching, serious, contemplative, silent, art house, silent film