Best movies like Sway
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A murder investigation reveals a deep-rooted sibling rivalry in director Miwa Nishikawa's brooding family drama. On the one-year anniversary of his mother's death, Tokyo art and fashion photographer Takeru (Joe Odagiri) returns to his small hometown in order to pay his respects. But all is not well back home, and when Takeru's authoritative father questions his sincerity, the frustrated son strikes back with accusations of violent conduct. Though the situation is initially diffused by Takeru's older brother Moniru (Teruyuki Kagawa), who stayed behind to run the family business, tensions once again start to run high when Tekeru, Moniru, and pretty childhood friend Cheiko (Yoko Maki) decide to celebrate their reunion by taking a hike in the wilderness.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, emotional, serious, suspenseful
Best tv shows and movies like Sway (2006):
Similar in 89%
The Five of Us (2004)
Plot Summary:
In Montreal, the teenagers Manon, Anne, Isa, Claudie and Sophie are friends since their childhood. While spending a couple of days in the cottage of Sophie's parents nearby a lake, the girls decide to give a party, and Manon and Sophie hitch for a ride to the town in a jeep to buy some beers and supplies and they invite the driver to the party. On the return, the same driver stops the car and later Sophie is found stabbed, raped and covered of blood. Fifteen years later, Manon sees the guy in a car-wash and she invites her former friends to return to the house nearby the lake, where wounds of their traumatic loss are disclosed.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 775
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, psychological, touching, realistic, disturbing, sincere, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 83%
In Defense of a Married Man (1990)
Plot Summary:
A lawyer's husband is having an affair. When the woman he is having the affair with is found dead. He is the prime suspect. Though he adamantly proclaims his innocence. His wife takes charge of his defense, but can she place his betrayal behind or aside to be able provide him with the best possible defense?.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 254
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: crime drama, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 88%
The Overeater (2003)
Plot Summary:
Séléna is chief of the Marseille police. Respected and feared by his men, his sole enemy seems to be himself, along with his 300 pounds. Strangled by the bursting straight-jacket of his body, tortured by his past, he leads a solitary life in a large isolated house. Séléna is the only person who knows that Elsa was guilty of the murder of her uncle, a wealthy shipowner. Fascinated by the young woman’s beauty, he offers her a strange deal: in exchange for his silence, he demands that she dines with him every night for a year.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 470
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, captivating, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Little Foxes (2009)
Plot Summary:
Alzbeta and Tina are sisters bound by jealousy and love, an unspoken history hovering over them like a dark cloud. It is this history that compels Alzbeta to refuse Tina's help in finding a better life, until the day arrives that forces them to confront their common past.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 115
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland, Czech Republic, Slovakia
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, realistic, touching, emotional, tense, sincere, serious, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Just Before Nightfall (1971)
Plot Summary:
A married man (Michel Bouquet) who killed the wife of his best friend during a tryst feels compelled to turn himself in.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: art house, psychological, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, witty, cynical
Similar in 81%
Villain (2010)
Plot Summary:
Shimizu Yuichi (Tsumabuki Satoshi) is a shy and lonely day laborer looking for love. He aimlessly spends time corresponding with girls via telephone dating services and going on random encounters with girls looking for spending cash. His world is shattered one day when he is involved in the murder of one of his former encounters, the sweet-faced Ishibashi Yoshino (Mitsushima Hikari) who, after being jilted by playboy Masuo Keijo (Okada Masaki), berates and mocks the troubled loner.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, emotional, realistic, captivating, tense, psychological thriller, heavy, serious, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Bright Future (2002)
Plot Summary:
Two friends who work in the same oshibori laundry are lost in the drudgery of everyday life. They hang out together, barely functioning and barely communicating. Their middle-aged boss makes a desparate attempt to connect with them with disasterous consequences. Their future is far from bright.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 80%
The Wolves (1971)
Plot Summary:
After going to prison for killing the boss of the Kanno gang, Seji Iwahashi (Tatsuya Nakadai) gets released early -- only to find that his former gang has merged with the Kannos. But with bitter resentments lingering on both sides, how long will it be before the bloodshed begins anew? Set in 1926 Japan, this serpentine crime thriller from director Hideo Gosha also stars Toshio Kurosawa and Isao Natsuyagi as Iwahashi's closest ally.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 612
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: crime drama, atmospheric, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 75%
State of Mind (2003)
Plot Summary:
Reeling from the discovery of her husband's adultery, Grace moves back to her family home with her son. Amidst all this emotional turmoil, forensic psychologist Grace is asked by police to determine the guilt or innocence a man who killed his wife.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 163
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, mind bending, realistic
Similar in 87%
Code 37 (2011)
Plot Summary:
A famous writer is violated in a sex-movie-theatre. He had a date with Roos, a young student who works also as a prostitute. Quickly it becomes clear that more students are active in the prostitution. Enough reason for Hannah and her team to go undercover in club Sin City, a port for everyone who avoids the daylight and for girls who pick up their customers. When Hannah and her team investigate that the owner of both the sex-theatre as Sin City are Roos' uncle, the whole case takes a personal turn. In the first place for Hannah, because she knows as no-one else how heavy family secrets can weigh.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 762
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: tense, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
Your Next Life (2004)
Plot Summary:
A fight over the calf of a prize milk cow in the close-knit and traditional Pas Valley of Cantabria leaves a cantankerous dairy farmer dead and another fearful of arrest. He and his daughter Val conspire to keep the cause of death quiet, but tensions mount when Val becomes attracted to the dead farmer's son, Rai, estranged from his father and now a hairdresser in the city. The tensions open long-festering family resentments and spur the lurid imagination of Val's younger sister, the teen Genia. "What goes unsaid, gets undone," the Pasiegos say, but is it true? Is there harm in staying silent?.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 825
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, emotional, serious, realistic, captivating, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Hazard (2005)
Plot Summary:
Shin is a Japanese university student living a boring and meaningless life. One day, he spots a book titled Dangerous Ways to Walk the World, in which he finds a page written about hazards in New-York. Eager to get out, he jets off to New-York to find this inspiration.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 823
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: realistic, rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting
Similar in 88%
The Rebirth (2007)
Plot Summary:
Coincidence and the aftermath of violence. A man's middle-school daughter has been murdered. His wife is already deceased. He tells a counselor he wants to live in anonymity, working with his hands. He moves away and gets a job in a factory. The woman who is the mother of the killer wants to apologize to the father, although she knows it would change nothing. He refuses to meet. She moves back to her hometown. She works in the kitchen at an inn where the man now lives. No one speaks. He eats alone. He reads in his apartment. She walks to her home and has a sandwich. She keeps her eyes lowered. He drives to work. Does either want to connect? What bond can they establish? Written by.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 263
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star (1986)
Plot Summary:
An actor rigs a fake shooting on TV with the connivance of his friend, the show's host, but the practical joke goes wrong when the gun turns out to contain a live round.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 573
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: psychological, detective, clever, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
Guilty Hearts (2002)
Plot Summary:
Quiet and unassuming church organist Jenny Moran is depressed with her marriage to working-class Matt and leaves him. Jenny begins an affair with the manipulative and charming Dr. Stephen Carrow, who is also deacon of her church and a married man. Someone kills Carrow's wife after she learns of the affair between Jenny and her husband. The murderer is caught and confesses, but that confession leads to new lies which tear apart Jenny Moran's life.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 202
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 80%
The End of Summer (1961)
Plot Summary:
The Kohayakawa family is thrown into distress when childlike father Manbei takes up with his old mistress, in one of Ozu’s most deftly modulated blendings of comedy and tragedy.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, emotional, serious, realistic, social, witty, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 81%
Distance (2001)
Plot Summary:
On the eighth anniversary of a cult's failed chemical attack on Tokyo and their subsequent mass suicide, family members of those affected gather at the cult's former base on the shores of a lake to observe the anniversary of their loved ones' deaths.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, serious, atmospheric, mind bending, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 83%
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 90%
Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad (2007)
Plot Summary:
Adapted from the bestselling Japanese autobiography of the same title, this gentle coming-of-age drama concerns an adolescent boy, Boku - Masaya, torn between the inherited recklessness of his father Oton and the inherited responsibility, wisdom and emotional strength of his mother Okan. Following a period of intensely rebellious behavior, Boku learns that his mom has contracted cancer; suddenly, his mother comes to live with him in Tokyo the entire emotional landscape of his life is altered.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, captivating, independent film, realistic
Similar in 87%
A Night for Dying Tigers (2010)
Plot Summary:
The night before Jack (Gil Bellows) is slated to begin a five-year prison sentence for murder, his wife, Melanie (Jennifer Beals), and assorted siblings gather for a dinner to bid Jack farewell and good luck on his trip up the river. But the party slides into a bitter fight over the bad behavior of Jack's brothers (John Pyper-Ferguson and Tygh Runyan) and sister Karen (Lauren Lee Smith). Terry Miles directs this dark comic drama.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 443
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, emotional, psychological, captivating, serious, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Born Killers (2005)
Plot Summary:
iggy Banks tells the story of two charming and brilliant brothers who finance their lifestyle by robbing and murdering pretty much anyone foolish enough to get in the car with them. They learn the business from their sociopath father (Tom Sizemore) who doesn't bother to hide his crimes, or the brutal philosophy which drives it. He tells his sons people are just piggy banks. You need money? Just break one open. Michael is sloppy and reckless he goes about his work with a demented glee, John perhaps even more horrifyingly, understands the misery he inflicts he simply doesn't care. It's just a job. Lock all your doors.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 844
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, rough, suspenseful, serious, realistic, psychological thriller, psycho film
Similar in 81%
About Her Brother (2010)
Plot Summary:
Ginko’s younger brother Tetsuro, a failed comedian, is the oddball of the family. Embarrassing, loud and plain inappropriate at times causes Ginko to disown him. The two reunite when she discovers Tetsuro is terminally ill. Tetsuro’s impending death marks the beginning of love and toleration.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 843
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, emotional, captivating, independent film, sincere, touching, serious, entertaining
Similar in 78%
Mystery (2012)
Plot Summary:
A car full of irresponsible youths hit a woman on a rainy freeway and think she is trying an insurance scam.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: China, France
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, serious, emotional, tense, captivating, neo noir
Similar in 83%
Pleasures of the Flesh (1965)
Plot Summary:
A corrupt businessman blackmails the lovelorn reprobate Atsushi into watching over his suitcase full of embezzled cash while he serves a jail sentence. Rather than wait for the man to retrieve his money, however, Atsushi decides to spend it all in one libidinous rush—fully expecting to be tracked down and killed.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, captivating, suspenseful, bleak, realistic, sexual, black comedy, dark comedy, sexy
Similar in 83%
My Kingdom (2001)
Plot Summary:
A powerful dynasty, headed by a charismatic, manipulative father, falls when he decides to hand over his criminal empire to his three corrupt and power-hungry daughters. Kath runs a brothel down by the docks, Tracy owns a soccer team and Jo, a former junkie -- and prostitute -- rejects her inheritance, pitting sisters Kath and Tracy against each other.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 667
Genere: Drama, Crime
Country: Italy, UK
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 79%
Silent Witness (2011)
Plot Summary:
Prominent defense attorney Tony Lord returns to his hometown to defend an old friend, a teacher accused of murdering one of his students. The case re-opens the heartache from Tony's own high school days, when he was a student falsely accused of murdering his first love.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 585
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, captivating, psychological, serious, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)
Plot Summary:
In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, exciting, rough, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 79%
Black Souls (2014)
Plot Summary:
A former narcotics trafficker now living peaceably in the Calabrian hills is drawn back into his family’s drug-trade dynasty by his impetuous teenage son, in this darkly elegant gangster drama.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, captivating, emotional, breathtaking, realistic
Similar in 76%
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.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: intense, rough, suspenseful, serious, realistic, talky, crying, independent film, exciting, surprise ending
Similar in 84%
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