Best movies like Sonny

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Little Boy Blue (1997)

Plot Summary:

Living in rural Texas is a dysfunctional family: an abusive dad, a Vietnam vet with a war wound that's left him impotent; a compliant wife and a son of about 20, two small sons who look a lot like their brother. The dad harbors a secret, and he goes to murderous lengths to keep it hidden. The young man, Jimmy, who has suspicions, but little comes out until a Yankee woman comes to town.

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Our Lady of the Assassins (2000)

Plot Summary:

World-weary arthur Fernando has returned to his native Colombia to live out his days in peace. But Fernando's once-quiet hometown has become a hotbed of violence, drugs and corruption. On the brink of despair, Fernando meets Alexis, a beautiful but hardened street kid who lives by the rule of the gun. Together, they forge an unlikely relationship.

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From the Edge of the City (1998)

Plot Summary:

Minority-group Greeks from an outer suburb of Athens struggle with their life on society's fringe and exploitation of one another.

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Less Than Zero (1987)

Plot Summary:

A college freshman returns to Los Angeles for the holidays at his ex-girlfriend's request, but discovers that his former best friend has an out-of-control drug habit.

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The Naked Kiss (1964)

Plot Summary:

A former prostitute discovers that her philanthropic fiance is involved in perversion.

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River's Edge (1986)

Plot Summary:

A group of high school friends discover that they are in the presence of a killer. One of them, Samson, has murdered his girlfriend Jamie. He brags to his friends about killing her, and when they discover he is telling the truth, their reactions vary.

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L.I.E. (2001)

Plot Summary:

In this biting and disturbing coming-of-age tale from writer-director Michael Cuesta, life is bittersweet along the L.I.E., also known as the Long Island Expressway, as suburban teen Howie Blitzer learns all too clearly. In the space of a week, he loses nearly everything and everyone he knows and is left to navigate his adolescence virtually unsupervised.

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Pixote (1980)

Plot Summary:

Pixote, a 10-year-old runaway boy, is arrested on the streets of Sao Paulo during a police round-up homeless people. Pixote endures torture, degradation and corruption at a local youth detention center where two of the runaways are murdered by policemen who frame Lilica, a 17-year-old transvesite hustler. Pixote helps Lilica and three other boys escape where they make their living by the life of crime which only escalates to more violence and death.

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White Boy Rick (2018)

Plot Summary:

The story of teenager, Richard Wershe Jr., who became an undercover informant for the police during the 1980s and was ultimately arrested for drug-trafficking and sentenced to life in prison.

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Hardcore (1979)

Plot Summary:

A conservative Midwest businessman ventures into the sordid underworld of pornography in California to look for his runaway teenage daughter who is making porno films in the porno pits of Los Angeles.

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Blood In, Blood Out (1993)

Plot Summary:

Based on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on half-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo. It opens in 1972, as the three are members of an East L.A. gang known as the "Vatos Locos", and the story focuses on how a violent crime and the influence of narcotics alter their lives. Miklo is incarcerated and sent to San Quentin, where he makes a "home" for himself. Cruz becomes an exceptional artist, but a heroin addiction overcomes him with tragic results. Paco becomes a cop and an enemy to his "carnal", Miklo.

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A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)

Plot Summary:

Dito Montiel, a successful author, receives a call from his long-suffering mother, asking him to return home and visit his ailing father. Dito recalls his childhood growing up in a violent neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., with friends Antonio, Giuseppe, Nerf and Mike.

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Ash Wednesday (2002)

Plot Summary:

Ash Wednesday is set in the Manhattan of the early 1980's and is about a pair of Irish-American brothers who become embroiled in a conflict with the Irish Mob.

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Cost of a Soul (2010)

Plot Summary:

Wounded in the war, Tommy Donahue and DD Davis return home from Iraq to the slum neighborhood they grew up in. Tommy returns to his wife, Faith, whom he abandoned while she was pregnant to escape a life of crime. Tommy meets his disabled six year-old daughter, Hope, for the first time, and she begins to melt his frozen heart. While DD struggles to make an honest living, his older brother, Darnell, has risen to become the neighborhood kingpin. DD faces the pressure to save his younger brother, James, from following in Darnell’s dangerous footsteps. Tommy and DD find themselves trapped in the same slum they joined the military to escape. As they struggle for redemption, their own families become entangled in a web of crime, corruption and violence.

IMDB Rating: 5.1

IMDB Votes: 214

Genere: Crime, Drama

Country: USA

Duration: 107 min

Plot tags: realistic, tense, serious, psychological, captivating, rough, bleak, independent film