Best movies like Sunflower
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Sunflower is the story of the Zhang family in Beijing father, mother and son across three decades, centering on the tensions and misunderstandings between father and son. Nine-year-old Xiangyang is having the time of his life, free of adult supervision until the day he meets the father he can hardly remember. Having spent years away, he returns with strong ideas about his son learning to draw. But Xiangyang chafes under his father's constant rules and soon stages his own revolution against the lessons enforced.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 719
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Hong Kong, China, Netherlands
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: uplifting, sentimental, sincere, touching, captivating, family saga, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Best tv shows and movies like Sunflower (2005):
Similar in 75%
Radio Inside (1994)
Plot Summary:
As two brothers fall in love with the same woman they must come to grips with the accidental death of their father in this sensitive drama set in Miami.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 587
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, talky
Similar in 84%
Dust in the Wind (1986)
Plot Summary:
A-yuan and A-yun are both from the small mining town of Jio-fen. In the city, A-yuan is an apprentice by day and goes to night school, and A-yun works as a helper at a tailors. Everyone thinks they are meant for each other, so do they. They fail to see time and fate are beyond their control.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: slow cinema, teen, aesthetic, rough, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 85%
So Young (2013)
Plot Summary:
In the brink of the 90s, 18-year-old Zheng Wei steps into her university life with a hopeful heart for love. She forms a great friendship with her roommates and united as a group, they embark on their university life together. Wei meets Chen Hao-Zheng in a chance encounter, and despite initial reluctance, Chen accepts Wei as his girlfriend and the two become inseparable. Four years of university life pass and Wei looks forward to establishing a life together with Chen. However, Chen is forced into an impossible decision to leave Wei. Devastated, Wei decides to start afresh. A decade later, Wei’s previous lovers Lin and Chen both find their way back into her life and she has to make a choice of her next step in life.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 77%
Today and Tomorrow (2013)
Plot Summary:
This movie tells a story of young people from 'Ant tribe' in Beijing. By telling the story of these young people, Today and Tomorrow shows the psychological changes of college graduates. It reflects their confusion about future and love. The movie chooses 'Ant tribe' to show a unique aspect of the Chinese society. It encourages all the young people facing problems to learn from the 'Ant tribe' spirit and strive for a bright future.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 21
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, thought provoking, gloomy
Similar in 81%
Springtime in a Small Town (2002)
Plot Summary:
In a mansion decimated during World War II, a frustrated, bored housewife, Yuwen, is torn between caring for her ailing husband and her longing for a former sweetheart, a doctor who has come to treat her husband.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China, Hong Kong, France, Netherlands
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: sentimental, thought provoking, serious, emotional, realistic, stylized, touching, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 90%
Summer Palace (2006)
Plot Summary:
Country girl Yu Hong leaves her village, her family and her lover to study in Beijing. At university, she discovers an intense world of sexual freedom and forbidden pleasure. Enraptured, compulsive, she falls madly in love with fellow student Zhou Wei. Driven by obsessive passions they can neither understand nor control, their relationship becomes one of dangerous games - betrayals, recriminations, provocations - as all around them, their fellow students begin to demonstrate, demanding democracy and freedom. Was the only Asian film selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in 2006. In September of 2006, director Lou Ye was barred from making movies for five years because the film incorporated footage of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations and wasn't screened for Chinese officials. The Chinese government also demanded that all copies of the film be confiscated.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China, France
Duration: 158 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, emotional, bleak, realistic, contemplative, sexual, controversial, sexy
Similar in 88%
Table for Five (1983)
Plot Summary:
J.P. Tannen (Jon Voight) wants a second chance to be a father to his children ... but someone else has taken his place. Determined not to just be a friendly 'uncle' in their lives, he gets permission from his ex-wife Kathleen (Millie Perkins) and her new husband (Richard Crenna) to take the kids on a Mediterranean cruise. On the journey he comes to realise it's not that easy and, feeling overwhelmed, begins to doubt his abilities until a tragedy back home forces him to become the father he always hoped to be.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 836
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: independent film, sentimental, sincere, uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 79%
The Magnificent Ambersons (2002)
Plot Summary:
The spoiled rotten and utterly unlikable rich kid George Amberson becomes horrified when his recently widowed mother rekindles her relationship with the wealthy Eugene Morgan, who she left decades earlier in order to marry George's father. As George struggles to sabotage his mother's new romance, he must deal with his own romantic feelings for Morgan's daughter and the consequences of his meddling as his once great family falls into ruin due to his machinations.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 911
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, captivating, emotional, serious, realistic, tension, suspense, period drama
Similar in 89%
Follow The Stars Home (2001)
Plot Summary:
Two brothers - one virtuous, one feckless - are in love with the same woman. She falls for Brother Wrong, carrying a torch for him even after he deserts her. But Brother Right remains steadfast and available. What's unusual here is why the bad brother pulls his disappearing act. Mark walks out on wife Dianne after learning that the baby they're expecting has severe genetic abnormalities. Dianne is nonetheless determined to bear her child, with support from her mother and Mark's brother David, a pediatrician whose love for Dianne is unspoken but obvious. How do they cope with the challenges of raising this little girl named Julia?.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: uplifting, sentimental, sincere, touching, erotic, feel good, serious, emotional, realistic, romantic drama
Similar in 83%
Stella (1990)
Plot Summary:
Barmaid Stella Claire and blueblood Stephen Dallas have very little in common -- except they've fallen in love. When their relationship fails, Stella decides to raise the child they had, Jenny, alone. But Jenny and Stella are far from the perfect mother-daughter pair.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, sentimental, captivating, sad, touching, realistic, sexual, erotic, romantic
Similar in 82%
Serenades (2001)
Plot Summary:
A girl is born to an Aboriginal mother and an Afgan father.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 105
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: serious, touching, sincere, captivating, tense, realistic, independent film
Similar in 80%
Engel & Joe (2001)
Plot Summary:
A love story of a 17 year old punk-rocker and a 15 year old runaway girl.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 966
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, sentimental, sincere, atmospheric, serious, emotional, realistic, talky, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Love is the Word (2013)
Plot Summary:
Love is the Word is a moving, romantic and funny coming-of-age drama about the magic of first love and the misery of first lost, set in 1978: the year 'Grease' hit the big screen.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 630
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Netherlands, Belgium
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, sentimental, realistic, captivating, emotional, sexy
Similar in 75%
Johan (2005)
Plot Summary:
Johan Dros is born as eleventh consecutive son of soccer-obsessed pa Rinus, who raises his boys mainly as the small island Texel's team. Johan's rare reprieves from training for a sport he doesn't care for cease when ma dies. After captain brother Johhny sort of steals his local girl-friend Evy, Johan leaves for Amsterdam, where he becomes a hairdresser and would-be singer. Soccer, a vocal TV talent-hunt and Evy will bring them all together again, but also raise unprecedented strife in the Dros family.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 471
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, psychological, captivating, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 76%
In Mom's Head (2007)
Plot Summary:
Lulu's mother is depressed and has been as far back as she can remember, Lulu is determined to discover the truth behind her listlessness.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 407
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, captivating, realistic
Similar in 85%
The Only Thrill (1997)
Plot Summary:
A small-town store owner with a comatose wife shares a long-term relationship with his seamstress.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 780
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: independent film, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Don't Let Me Drown (2009)
Plot Summary:
In a post-September 11th world overflowing with fear and hate, two Latino teens discover that sometimes the only thing that can keep them from drowning is love.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 428
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, sentimental, captivating, touching, serious, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 84%
Once Upon a Time in Rio (2008)
Plot Summary:
Situated just above the awe-inspiring Ipanema beach in Rio is the Cantagalo slum. Every day, floods of Cantagalo residents make their way down the mountain, only to disappear into their surroundings as part of the invisible working-class that cleans apartments, works in restaurants, and sells food along the scenic, sun-drenched shores. Young Dé (Thiago Martins) is just such a man. Dé lives with his mother Bernadette (Cyria Coentro) in a cramped Cantagalo apartment, selling hot dogs on the beach in order to make the rent. His brother Beto was killed when Dé was just a young boy, and his adopted brother Carlão (Rocco Pitanga) has been jailed for a robbery that he didn't commit. One day, while working on the beach, Dé meets Nina (Vitória Frate). Nina is the only child of a successful lawyer named Evandro (Paulo César Grande), who's none to happy to discover that his daughter is dating a member of the lower class. How.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Brazil
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, realistic, sentimental, serious, bleak
Similar in 86%
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac (2010)
Plot Summary:
Diving to save a camera from a fall down a flight of stairs, high school junior Naomi Sukuse wakes with no memory of the last four years. Naomi must remember who she was and figure out who she wants to be in this story of love and second chances.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 674
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, contemplative, captivating, sincere, psychological, romantic, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 86%
Treading Water (2001)
Plot Summary:
Casey (Angela Redman) has rejected her privileged upbringing and restores old boats for a living. She lives a cozy life with her beautiful social worker girlfriend Alex (super sexy Nina Landey) until her stuffy family demands that she come home for Christmas – without Alex.Casey is a longshorewoman who seems to have everything she wants; she and her girlfriend Alex are very much in love. But there’s nothing like the holidays to bring out the drama of the average family. Casey lives just across the bay from her upper crust New England family. The proximity seems no accident: Casey can’t quite let go, despite her family’s judgmental and inescapable hold on her otherwise independent and unconventional life. When the family reunites for Christmas, the unwrapping of presents takes a back seat to the unraveling of emotions.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 435
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, talky, biting, suspense, queer cinema
Similar in 84%
The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1999)
Plot Summary:
An amnesiac youth tries to piece together his past, but what he discovers may jeopardize his future.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 82%
Stanley & Iris (1990)
Plot Summary:
An illiterate cook at a company cafeteria tries for the attention of a newly widowed woman. As they get to know one another, she discovers his inability to read. When he is fired, she takes on trying to teach him to read in her kitchen each night.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sentimental, melancholic, sincere, serious, realistic, romantic, light, anamorphic
Similar in 90%
A Year in My Life (2006)
Plot Summary:
In 1950s France, a young boy is taken in by a couple after spending a few months in the care of social service.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 224
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, sincere, captivating, feel good, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 86%
Three Sisters (1970)
Plot Summary:
Laurence Olivier's film of Chekhov's play.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 486
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, rough, captivating, sincere, touching, gloomy, independent film, period drama
Similar in 90%
Cafe Setareh (2006)
Plot Summary:
Filmmaker Saman Moghadam details the struggles of three women living in an antiquated district of Tehran in this emotionally resonant drama. Fabria's husband has been morally corrupted, and now it's up to her to take charge of the small café that proves the only source of income to the couple. Saloomeh is a beautiful young woman who dreams of marrying Ebi, but how will the couple survive on the salary of a simple mechanic? Lastly, middle aged Moluk has fallen for a much younger man, and her heart breaks when she discovers that her love is unrequited.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 899
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Iran
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Long Ago, Tomorrow (1971)
Plot Summary:
Bruce Pritchard is paralysed in a soccer game and is confined to a wheelchair in a convalescence home. But this doesn't slow his lust for life. Then he meets Jill and has to think about the effects of disability.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 648
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Lost in Time (2003)
Plot Summary:
Sui Wai lost her fiance Ah Man in a car accident. With the obligations of life sitting heavy on her shoulders, she lives on only to find herself confiding in her beloved through a phone call. Dai Fai. a mini-bus driver who witnessed Ah Man's death, is always there offering her attentive encouragement and support, yet he himself also lives in the shadow of his last relationship. When Siu Wai strives to face the future without the man she loves, Dai Fai finds himself steadily falling in love with her.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Under the Hawthorn Tree (2010)
Plot Summary:
The daughter of a right-winger, schoolgirl Jing Qiu (Zhou Dong-Yu) is sent to the countryside for reeducation, and tasked to help write a textbook. There she meets Lao San (Shawn Dou), a young soldier with a bright future ahead. Despite the class divide and parental disapproval, romance blooms against turbulent times.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sincere, realistic, romantic, serious, emotional
Similar in 88%
Sugar (2004)
Plot Summary:
Cliff has just turned 18 and his little sister has a gift for him: booze, a joint, a subway token and the command to have sex. Heading out on the town, Cliff finds friendship -- and more -- in the person of a young hustler named Butch. But Butch's dark side, along with a growing drug problem, leaves suburban family boy Cliff fearing for their future in this gay coming-of-age tale.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Canada
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sexual, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 75%
Face (2002)
Plot Summary:
Genie, a Chinese-American teenager, develops feelings for a charming African-American DJ, but her grandmother forbids their romance forcing Genie to choose between family and love.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 350
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, emotional, sentimental, serious, realistic, contemplative