Best movies like Tales of Ordinary Madness
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies similar to Tales of Ordinary Madness? Offer your insights to guide others to tv shows and films you've already viewed that may also rivet them. Support widening the community of people alluding videos to one another. We appreciate your input!
Plot Summary:
Poet/lecturer Charles Serking awakens from his alcoholic haze long enough to take a bus back to L.A. and plunge into an orgy of drink and sexual depravity.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sexual, erotic, absurd, disturbing, controversial, neurotic, neorealism, powerful, psychological, serious
Best tv shows and movies like Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981):
Similar in 90%
The Future Is Woman (1984)
Plot Summary:
In this improbable, ponderous story about a couple who do not want to have children of their own, and a pregnant, single woman who needs a home for awhile, the relationship between the three is strange, at the very least.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 435
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France, West Germany
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: independent film, grotesque
Similar in 85%
Crazy Love (1987)
Plot Summary:
Three 'Bukowskian' torrid nights in the life of a man in search of love. Harry Voss, 12, is young and naive. Love, for him, is romantic love between princes and princesses demurely kissing each other on the mouth. His father is a hero who kidnapped his mother and married her on a lonely mountain peak... Later on, he'll do the same. But Harry has a lot to learn. He learns about 'being hot' and 'fucking' and about what you have to do when you're alone and 'feel the itch'. He also learns that there are handsome men and ugly ones, that love can be unfair. That one can find comfort in drinking... but above all he learns that man is capable of anything - absolutely anything! - to get his fair share of love.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: disturbing, controversial, art house, atmospheric, humorous, realistic, semi serious, sexual, dark comedy, sexy
Similar in 81%
The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1988)
Plot Summary:
La leggenda del santo bevitore (literally "The legend of the holy drinker") is a 1988 Italian film directed by Ermanno Olmi. It tells the story of a drunken homeless man (played by Rutger Hauer) in Paris who is lent 200 francs by a stranger as long as he promises to repay it to a local church when he can afford to; the film depicts the man's constant frustrations as he attempts to do so. The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. It is based on the 1939 novella by the Austrian novelist, Joseph Roth.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: spiritual, artsy, neorealism, anamorphic, psychological, atmospheric, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 89%
The Last Woman (1976)
Plot Summary:
Gerard and his 9-month-old son have been left by his wife for feminist reasons. The custody of his son is being threatened by his next romance.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: erotic, disturbing, controversial
Similar in 85%
The Light Shines Only There (2014)
Plot Summary:
A man has thrown away love and a woman has given up on love. The two souls meet in a brief summer in the northern city of Hakodate.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 663
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: rough, touching, serious, realistic, romantic, anthology, bleak
Similar in 86%
Love Streams (1984)
Plot Summary:
Two closely bound, emotionally wounded siblings reunite after years apart.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: independent film, grindhouse, art film, existential, cult classic, psychological, tense, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 89%
Opening Night (1977)
Plot Summary:
An actress suffers an emotional uproar in her personal life after a fan dies trying to see her.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: independent film, serious, thought provoking, art house, postmodern, cerebral, tense, clever, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 82%
Factotum (2005)
Plot Summary:
This drama centers on Hank Chinaski, the fictional alter-ego of "Factotum" author Charles Bukowski, who wanders around Los Angeles, CA trying to live off jobs which don't interfere with his primary interest, which is writing. Along the way, he fends off the distractions offered by women, drinking and gambling.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Norway, USA, Germany, France, Italy
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, philosophical, humorous, serious, realistic, dark, grim, meditative, sad, tense
Similar in 80%
Under the Volcano (1984)
Plot Summary:
Against a background of war breaking out in Europe and the Mexican fiesta Day of Death, we are taken through one day in the life of Geoffrey Firmin, a British consul living in alcoholic disrepair and obscurity in a small southern Mexican town in 1939. The Consul's self-destructive behaviour, perhaps a metaphor for a menaced civilization, is a source of perplexity and sadness to his nomadic, idealistic half-brother, Hugh, and his ex-wife, Yvonne, who has returned with hopes of healing Geoffrey and their broken marriage.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, depressing, psychological, serious, realistic, grim, sexy, political thriller, independent film, contemplative
Similar in 85%
The Scrounger (1961)
Plot Summary:
A pimp with no other means to provide for himself finds his life spiralling out of control when his prostitute is sent to prison.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: neorealism, realistic, serious, disturbing, talky, sentimental, atmospheric, psychological, rough, erotic
Similar in 76%
Seduction: The Cruel Woman (1985)
Plot Summary:
Wanda is a dominatrix who runs a gallery in a building on the Hamburg waterfront, where audiences pay for the privilege of watching her humiliate her slaves. She is a business woman who smashes sexual stereotypes and social taboos with icy self-possession and an enigmatic smile. As artist she specializes in the staging of elaborate BDSM fantasies and her affairs transgress the usual boundaries of personal and professional life. Along the way she leaves her German lesbian lover, a shoe fetishist, for an American "trainee," and does more than step on the toes of the male performer who has broken the rules of the master-slave relationship by falling in love with her.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 216
Genere: Drama
Country: West Germany
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: sexy, psychological, serious, realistic, disturbing, controversial, sexual, weird
Similar in 87%
The Beautiful Troublemaker (1991)
Plot Summary:
The former famous painter Frenhofer lives quietly with his wife on his countryside residence in the French Provence. When the young artist Nicolas visits him with his girlfriend Marianne, Frenhofer decides to start again the work on a painting he long ago stopped: La Belle Noiseuse. And he wants Marianne as model. The now starting creative process changes life for everyone. It is a struggle for truth, life and sense, and the question where the limits of arts are or whether art is limitless.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Switzerland
Duration: 238 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, realistic, psychological, atmospheric, erotic, serious, sexy, contemplative, sexual
Similar in 83%
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 80%
Barfly (1987)
Plot Summary:
Downtrodden writer Henry and distressed goddess Wanda aren't exactly husband and wife: they're wedded to their bar stools. But they like each other's company- and Barfly captures their giddy, gin-soaked attempts to make a go of life on the skids.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: talky, depressing, melancholic, touching, humorous, semi serious, intellectual, dark, stylized, black comedy
Similar in 77%
The Fire Within (1963)
Plot Summary:
Alain Leroy is a recovering alcoholic who decides to end his life, but first decides to visit his friends in Paris one last time, in an attempt at finding a reason to continue living.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: philosophical, depressing, art house, independent film, existential, bleak, touching, sad, anthology, powerful
Similar in 90%
Clean and Sober (1988)
Plot Summary:
Hotshot real estate salesman Daryl has a bad cocaine habit. After embezzling his company's money, he wakes up next to a girl who overdosed. To hide from the police, he checks into a rehabilitation program guaranteeing anonymity. Under the mentorship of counselor Craig, Daryl accepts that he has a substance abuse problem. As he falls in love with fellow patient Charlie, Daryl begins committing to a newly sober life.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, emotional, compassionate, melancholic, sincere, serious, psychological, depressing, spiritual
Similar in 87%
Chelsea Walls (2001)
Plot Summary:
This movie tells five stories set in a single day at the famed Chelsea Hotel in New York City, involving an ensemble cast of some 30-35 characters.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: meditative, intense, touching, serious, talky, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, entertaining, detective
Similar in 80%
The Pornographer (1999)
Plot Summary:
A socially inept man's amateur porn film wins him a contract with a small-time pornography distribution company, where he faces a series of moral crises and is forced to face his own porn addiction.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 845
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: erotic, sensual, psychological, sincere, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative, sexual, independent film
Similar in 78%
Tokyo Decadence (1992)
Plot Summary:
A submissive hooker goes about her trade, suffering abuse at the hands of Japanese salarymen and Yakuza types. She's unhappy about her work, and is apparently trying to find some sort of appeasement for the fact that her lover has married.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: erotic, disturbing, tense, surreal, sexy, serious, realistic, controversial, psychological, captivating
Similar in 75%
Stuart: A Life Backwards (2007)
Plot Summary:
Story about the remarkable friendship between a reclusive writer and illustrator and a chaotic homeless man, whom he gets to know during a campaign to release two charity workers from prison.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: bleak, realistic, serious, sincere, christian film, sentimental, gloomy, emotional, hot, iconic
Similar in 77%
Particles of Truth (2003)
Plot Summary:
Life, love, and the fear of failing... Lilli Black, battling her painful memories and the secrets surrounding her dying father, collides into the complicated and obsessive life of Morrison Wiley on the streets of New York City. This peculiar love story exposes Lilli's internal bouts and her nightmarish "bad luck". We weave in and out of eight defective lives and go for a turbulent mental ride where Lilli's reality spirals out of control and we're lead to an unforgettable climax where some fall apart and some piece themselves together.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 587
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 84%
Cet amour-l? (2001)
Plot Summary:
Cet Amour-là is an intimate portrait of a legendary love affair. Set against the beauty of the Breton seaside, it is also a film that revels in the insights that Marguerite Duras' writing affords.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 367
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, sentimental, sincere, serious, captivating, clever, realistic, talky, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Shattered Spirits (1986)
Plot Summary:
Martin Sheen plays an alcoholic father who loses his family.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 355
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: spiritual, sincere, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, sexual, sexy
Similar in 78%
Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)
Plot Summary:
The film follows one day in the lives of the Tyrone family, each member is troubled and has been damaged by alcohol and/or drugs. In addition, they have issues with each other that lead to fights and an inability to reconcile completely with one another.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 174 min
Plot tags: tense, depressing, talky, psychological, serious, realistic, grim, clever, retro, spiritual
Similar in 77%
Drunks (1995)
Plot Summary:
At the beginning of a nightly Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Jim seems particularly troubled. His sponsor encourages him to talk that night, the first time in seven months, so he does - and leaves the meeting right after. As Jim wanders the night, searching for some solace in his old stomping grounds, bars and parks where he bought drugs, the meeting goes on, and we hear the stories of survivors and addicts - some, like Louis, who claim to have wandered in looking for choir practice, who don't call themselves alcoholic, and others, like Joseph, whose drinking almost caused the death of his child - as they talk about their lives at the meeting.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, realistic, talky, spiritual, sincere, serious, emotional, thought provoking, clever, depressing
Similar in 75%
Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
Plot Summary:
An alcoholic falls in love with and gets married to a young woman, whom he systematically addicts to booze so they can share his "passion" together.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: sexy, poignant, realistic, depressing, black and white, bleak, emotional, social, offbeat, spiritual
Similar in 75%
The Mighty Angel (2014)
Plot Summary:
A shocking story about addiction and attempts to overcome it. The script is based on Jerzy Plich’s excellent novel “The Mighty Angel” (alternative title: "The Strong Angel Inn"). Jerzy (Robert Więckiewicz) is a writer and a heavy drinker. We meet him at the point when he believes that he can beat his addiction. He falls in love with a young girl (Julia Kijowska) and finally feels that he has got the person and the reason to live for. But soon he yields to his addiction.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland, Hungary
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, cynical, psychological, captivating, thought provoking, touching, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Beat (2000)
Plot Summary:
The story of writer William Seward Burroughs and his wife.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico, USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: captivating, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 84%
Dangerous Game (1993)
Plot Summary:
A New York film director, working on his latest movie in Los Angeles, begins to reflect the actions in his movie and real life, especially when he begins an affair with the lead actress.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, sexy, melancholic, erotic, rough, art house, independent film, erotic drama, bleak, serious
Similar in 77%
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Plot Summary:
Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 132000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: depressing, melancholic, disturbing, sexual, sad, emotional, heartbreaking, touching, bleak, talky