Best movies like Standing Tall

Similar in 79%

Teenage Dirtbag (2009)

Plot Summary:

A popular high school girl is harassed by a delinquent boy until they are placed in creative writing class together. Through written words, they create a bond, but tragically a bond that cannot withstand her social pressures or his brutal home life.

Similar in 84%

52 Tuesdays (2013)

Plot Summary:

Sixteen-year-old Billie’s reluctant path to independence is accelerated when her mother reveals plans for gender transition, and their time together becomes limited to Tuesdays. This emotionally charged story of desire, responsibility, and transformation was filmed over the course of a year—once a week, every week, only on Tuesdays.

Similar in 81%

Little Accidents (2014)

Plot Summary:

In a small American coal town living in the shadow of a recent mining accident, the disappearance of a teenage boy draws three people together—a surviving miner, the lonely wife of a mine executive, and a local boy—in a web of secrets.

Similar in 80%

3 Generations (2015)

Plot Summary:

A teenager transitions from female to male, and his family must come to terms with that fact.

Similar in 76%

The Kindergarten Teacher (2014)

Plot Summary:

A teacher discovers in a five year-old child a prodigious gift for poetry. Amazed and inspired by this young boy, she decides to protect his talent in spite of everyone.

Similar in 80%

Goat (2016)

Plot Summary:

Reeling from a terrifying assault, a nineteen year old enrolls into college with his brother and pledges the same fraternity. What happens there, in the name of 'brotherhood,' tests him and his loyalty in brutal ways.

Similar in 77%

Nenette and Boni (1996)

Plot Summary:

Teenage siblings Nenette and Boni were raised apart as a result of their parents' divorce. Their mother, who doted on her son Boni, has died. He works for an interesting couple as a pizza baker, and is surprised and enraged when his younger sister, having run away from boarding school, suddenly turns up. There's a problem that they must confront.

Similar in 87%

10 1/2 (2010)

Plot Summary:

Tommy, 10 years old, is well known by Social Services. He is considered a danger to society. Gilles, his guardian at this halfway house, sees potential for redemption in this kid driven by violence.

Similar in 75%

A Single Girl (1995)

Plot Summary:

A young Parisian must make major decisions about pregnancy, a job and her boyfriend.

Similar in 83%

Boy A (2007)

Plot Summary:

The story of a young ex-con Jack, newly released from serving a prison sentence for a murder he committed as a child.

Similar in 82%

Sorry We Missed You (2019)

Plot Summary:

A story exploring the issue of hardship in modern-day Britain through a young couple scraping to get by in a casual jobs market. A hard-up delivery driver and his carer wife are pushed to breaking point as they struggle to keep their family afloat in a world of zero-hour contracts and gig work.

Similar in 81%

Yelling to the Sky (2011)

Plot Summary:

As her family falls apart, seventeen year old Sweetness O'Hara is left to fend for herself in a neighborhood where her survival is uncertain.

Similar in 90%

Punish Me (2006)

Plot Summary:

Deals with the obsessive relationship between a confused teenager and an elder woman. Elsa Seifert successfully works as probation officer, but the relationship to her longtime companion is in trouble since their common daughter moved out. Then she gets to know Jan, a 16-years-old offender, who frankly offers to submit himself sexually to her. Although being shocked in the beginning, Elsa gets more and more attracted by the young man.

Similar in 80%

The Kid with a Bike (2011)

Plot Summary:

Abandoned by his father, a young boy is left in the hands of an unqualified childcare provider.

Similar in 85%

The Midwife (2017)

Plot Summary:

Claire is a midwife and has devoted her life to others. At a moment when she is preoccupied by the imminent closure of the maternity clinic where she works, her life is further turned upside down when Béatrice, her father's former mistress, turns up on the scene. Béatrice is a capricious and selfish woman, Claire's exact opposite.

Similar in 82%

The Dynamiter (2011)

Plot Summary:

All fourteen-year-old Robbie Hendrick ever wanted was a family. Yet as another Mississippi summer begins, his wayward mother has run off again fearing a breakdown and he's left to burn the days caring for his half brother, Fess. As the deep days and nights pass without her return and with older brother Lucas dangerously in their lives again, Robbie must face the fact that his dream of a family may only be a dream and he might just lose the only family he's ever had: Fess.

Similar in 79%

Capernaum (2018)

Plot Summary:

Zain, a 12-year-old boy scrambling to survive on the streets of Beirut, sues his parents for having brought him into such an unjust world, where being a refugee with no documents means that your rights can easily be denied.

Similar in 75%

Precious (2009)

Plot Summary:

Set in Harlem in 1987, Claireece "Precious" Jones is a 16-year-old African American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother, an angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is chaotic and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and a secret--she can't read.

Similar in 77%

12 and Holding (2005)

Plot Summary:

Three pre-adolescents with virginal and eager-of-signals naivety, hit headlong against monstrous and inhospitable loneliness, in the incandescent fire among the ashes of their own inocence.

Similar in 81%

Tomboy (2011)

Plot Summary:

A French family with two daughters, 10-year-old Laure and 6-year-old Jeanne, moves to a new neighborhood during the summer holidays. With her tomboy ways, Laure is immediately mistaken for a boy by the local kids and passes herself off as Mickaël.

Similar in 80%

Evil (2003)

Plot Summary:

Stockholm, the fifties. Though academically bright, violent pupil Erik Ponti is expelled from his state school with the headmaster’s words “there’s only one word for people like you – evil… what you need is a good thrashing, and more”. In fact already Erik frequently receives a ‘good’ thrashing at the hands of his sadistic stepfather – so he is packed off by his mother to boardingschool.

Similar in 76%

Mommy (2014)

Plot Summary:

A peculiar neighbor offers hope to a recent widow who is struggling to raise a teenager who is unpredictable and, sometimes, violent.

Similar in 90%

Pellet (2000)

Plot Summary:

El Bola, a 12 year old boy a.k.a. "Pellet" is a 12 year old boy raised in a violent and sordid environment. Embarrassed by his family life, he avoids becoming close to classmates. The arrival of a new boy at school changes his attitude towards his classmates, and friendship. The heart of the story is the change in El Bola's life, at almost all levels, after befriending this new classmate. Written by ElianaM.

Similar in 90%

Short Term 12 (2013)

Plot Summary:

Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, works with her boyfriend and colleague, Mason, to help at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.

Similar in 89%

Fish Tank (2009)

Plot Summary:

Everything changes for 15 year old Mia when her mum brings home a new boyfriend.

Similar in 87%

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

Plot Summary:

A coming-of-age story based on the best-selling novel by Stephen Chbosky, which follows 15-year-old freshman Charlie, an endearing and naive outsider who is taken under the wings of two seniors. A moving tale of love, loss, fear and hope - and the unforgettable friends that help us through life.

Similar in 86%

White Oleander (2002)

Plot Summary:

A teenager journeys through a series of foster homes after her mother goes to prison for committing a crime of passion.

Similar in 82%

Thirteen (2003)

Plot Summary:

Tracy is a normal 13-year-old trying to make it in school. After befriending the most popular girl at school, Evie, Tracy's world is turned upside down when Evie introduces her to a world of sex, drugs and cash. But it isn't long before Tracy's new world and attitude finally takes a toll on her, her family, and old friends.