Best movies like Thanks Maa
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
While on the run from the reformatory, a 12 year old boy named Municipality finds and saves a two day old abandoned baby from becoming the prey to a ferocious street dog. Failing to find any takers among the people whom he deemed responsible and respectable, Municipality takes up the onus of finding the mother of that abandoned baby himself. Municipality's rock steady determination ultimately helps him emerge a winner against all odds as he reaches that baby's mother but in bargain he loses his most precious possession, the flawless and god-like image of a mother he used to see in his dreams and probably the hope that he'll ever find his own mother again.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 737
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: India
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: serious, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, ambiguous ending, black comedy, dark comedy, avant garde
Best tv shows and movies like Thanks Maa (2009):
Similar in 77%
In the Darkness of the Night (2004)
Plot Summary:
A disturbing film about the Portuguese underworld of prostitution.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 608
Genere: Drama, Crime
Country: Portugal
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, touching, masterpiece
Similar in 77%
A Night Too Young (2012)
Plot Summary:
On New Year's Day, two preteen boys wind up in the apartment of Katerina, a teacher from their school, along with her friends, Stepan and David. As the older trio bickers, drinks and flirts, the boys gain eye-opening insight into the adult world.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 140
Genere: Drama
Country: Czech Republic, Slovenia
Duration: 65 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, serious, suspenseful, suspense
Similar in 89%
The Killing of John Lennon (2006)
Plot Summary:
The film follows the travels and accounts of Mark Chapman (Jonas Ball) and gives the watcher an insight into his mind. It starts with him in Hawaii and how he does not fit in with anyone including his job; family; friends etc. He says he is searching for a purpose in his life and that it has no direction. He seeks refuge in the public library where he finds the book, 'The Catcher in the Rye'. He becomes obsessed with the book and believes that he himself is the protaganist in the book, Holden Caulfield. He believes the ideas in the book reflect his own personal life and how he does not fit in anywhere and he reads it constantly. He then finds another book in the library about The Beatles singer John Lennon and begins a personal hatred for him.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspenseful, disturbing, serious, realistic, independent film, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Cyclo (1995)
Plot Summary:
Follows a young cyclo (bicycle cab) driver on his poverty-driven descent into criminality in modern-day Ho Chi Minh City. The boy's struggles to scratch out a living for his two sisters and grandfather in the mean streets of the city lead to petty crime on behalf of a mysterious Madame from whom he rents his cyclo.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Vietnam, France, Hong Kong
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: disturbing, bleak, stylized, intellectual, neo noir, controversial, rough, serious, realistic, crying
Similar in 83%
Psycho Raman (2016)
Plot Summary:
Set in present day Mumbai the story follows the life of a serial killer Ramanna who is inspired by an infamous serial killer from the 1960s Raman Raghav. His strange obsession with Raghavan, a young Cop keeps growing as he closely follows him without his knowledge and often creates situations where both of them come face to face.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: India
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspense, tense, rough, suspenseful, perverse, avant garde, extraordinary
Similar in 77%
Waters Rising (2006)
Plot Summary:
Two Hurricane Katrina evacuees from the Desire Projects in New Orleans who both end up in Houston after the storm. The storm twists the fates of these two men. The first, Jay Dee, was a feared and powerful crime boss who is humbled when he loses everything and winds up as a lowly clerk at a retail chain store. The second, Shawn, an underachieving poor kid from the neighborhood gets a fresh start and becomes a writer/novelist.
IMDB Rating: 3.3
IMDB Votes: 127
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: rough, suspense, suspenseful, independent film, disaster movie
Similar in 85%
The Bridge to Nowhere (2009)
Plot Summary:
A group of 20-something blue-collar workers in Pittsburgh cook up a scheme to make extra money that involves prostitution. Their business takes off, then gets way out of hand.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspense, bleak, realistic
Similar in 80%
The Children of Times Square (1986)
Plot Summary:
An alienated teenage boy runs away from home and ventures to New York City where he falls in with a gang of juvenile delinquents working as drug dealers and pickpockets for a shady crime boss.(IMDB).
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 422
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
Rustom (2016)
Plot Summary:
Rustom Pavri, an honourable officer of the Indian Navy shoots his friend Vikram to death after discovering that his wife Cynthia had an affair with the rich businessman. The Commander surrenders himself to the Police immediately and admits to have killed Vikram but pleads 'not guilty' in court. Is he convicted or acquitted?.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: India
Duration: 148 min
Plot tags: patriotic, exciting, tense, rough, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, political, mind twisting, fast
Similar in 88%
New Trial (2017)
Plot Summary:
A taxi driver is found dead, and Hyun-woo, the only witness, charged with a murder and serves 10 years in prison. While offering pro bono services, a lawyer Junyoung meets Hyun-woo, and they begin their journey to prove his innocence.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, suspense, realistic, intense, crime drama, detective
Similar in 90%
The Hillz (2004)
Plot Summary:
A promising college athlete takes a turn for the worse when he hooks up with old highschool friends during his summer break.
IMDB Rating: 2.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: serious, surreal, realistic, captivating, suspenseful, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 90%
Rivals (2000)
Plot Summary:
A teenage girl becomes entangled in a volatile relationship with a pair of high-school lovers.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 594
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, psychological, suspense, dark, teen, mind bending, realistic
Similar in 90%
Mean Creek (2004)
Plot Summary:
Teenagers living in small-town Oregon take a boat trip for a birthday celebration. When they get an idea to play a mean trick on the town bully, it suddenly goes too far. Soon they're forced to deal with the unexpected consequences of their actions.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, suspenseful, suspense, intense, independent film, captivating, emotional, sad, tense
Similar in 87%
The Child I Never Was (2002)
Plot Summary:
A serial killer dispassionately discusses the nuts and bolts of his grisly avocation, as well as the youthful traumas which helped to mold him into a psychopath, in this disturbing independent drama from Germany, based on the true story of of Germany's most famous child murderer Juergen Bartsch who, between the ages of 15 and 19, abused, tortured and killed four schoolboys in the Ruhr region of Germany from 1962 to 1966.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 638
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, serious, bleak, art house, realistic, gloomy, crying
Similar in 88%
Chandni Bar (2001)
Plot Summary:
Chandni Bar, a film directed by Madhur Bhandarkar depicts the gritty life of the Mumbai underworld, including prostitution, dance bars and gun crime.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: India
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, tense, suspenseful, exciting, captivating, social, cult classic, sexual, independent film
Similar in 90%
Three Walls (2003)
Plot Summary:
Three men are on death row. Jaggu (Jackie Shroff), a lawyer and a poet, is serving a sentence for murdering his wife because she was cheating on him with another man. Nagya (Nagesh Kukunoor), a man angry with the whole world, is arrested for murdering his wife too, but he claims that it was an accident where she falls off the sidewalk while they were talking. Ishaan (Naseeruddin Shah), a happy-go-lucky man, is also arrested for murder that he commits while in the act of robbery. The prison's custodian is Mohan (Gulshan Grover), who attempts several methods to reform the prison's inmates. A documentary filmmaker, Chandrika (Juhi Chawla) comes to the jail to set a film about these three men. In the process, she finds redemption to her troubled marriage.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: India
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, touching, bleak, contemplative, rough, realistic, suspenseful, offbeat, twist ending
Similar in 75%
56 So Far (2004)
Plot Summary:
Sadhu Agashe, a police officer in Mumbai, makes a name for himself by killing criminals in sting operations instead of locking them up in prison. The film follows his method of working, gives an insight into the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, and Agashe's alleged connection with the underworld.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: India
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, suspenseful, disturbing, experimental, funny, offbeat, intellectual, neo noir, entertaining
Similar in 76%
Oliver Twist (2005)
Plot Summary:
Oliver Twist the modern filmed version of Charles Dickens bestseller, a Roman Polanski adaptation. The classic Dickens tale, where an orphan meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. From there, he joins a household of boys who are trained to steal for their master.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France, UK, Czech Republic
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: emotional, costume drama, atmospheric, sentimental, touching, serious, suspense, period piece, melancholic, stylized
Similar in 87%
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.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: disturbing, depressing, bleak, realistic, rough, atmospheric, serious, political, controversial, hood
Similar in 83%
Salaam Bombay! (1988)
Plot Summary:
Before Slumdog Millionaire came Salaam Bombay!, Mira Nair’s Oscar-nominated drama tells the moving story of life on the streets of Bombay as seen through the eyes of Chaipu, a twelve-year-old boy living rough in the city.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: India, USA, France, UK
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, social, offbeat, depressing, sad, art house, art film, existential, sentimental
Similar in 90%
Maria Full of Grace (2004)
Plot Summary:
A pregnant Colombian teenager becomes a drug mule to make some desperately needed money for her family.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Colombia, Ecuador, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: realistic, disturbing, tense, sentimental, sincere, emotional, independent film, touching, depressing, heartbreaking
Similar in 77%
Lilya 4-Ever (2002)
Plot Summary:
Lilya lives in poverty and dreams of a better life. Her mother moves to the United States and abandons her to her aunt, who neglects her. Lilya hangs out with her friends, Natasha and Volodya, who is suicidal. Desperate for money, she starts working as a prostitute, and later meets Andrei. He offers her a good job in Sweden, but when Lilya arrives her life quickly enters a downward spiral.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 49000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Sweden, Denmark
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: bleak, depressing, sad, harsh, brutal, serious, sincere, dramatic, disturbing, touching
Similar in 83%
Welcome to No Man's Land (2015)
Plot Summary:
Pete, Steven and Dave are good friends that have fallen on hard times; They are unemployed and hardly get by on benefits. Coincidentally, they are approached by a low-key gangster who offers them what seems like quick cash-in-hand work. One drop-off. Six bags of cocaine. Both estranged and tempted by the situation, they accept, only things don't go to plan.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 9
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 86%
Hell's Kitchen (1998)
Plot Summary:
When a robbery goes awry, the bandits all end up in a puddle of blood and only one lives and goes to jail for five years. Upon his release, the girlfriend wants her new boyfriend to kill him. Only trouble is the boyfriend knows that the fault was not the ex-con's and can't bring himself to do the task. Meanwhile, the ex-con tries to turn his life around by becoming a boxer and training under a former heavyweight contender.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, suspense, disturbing, independent film, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 82%
LUV (2012)
Plot Summary:
Over the course of one day, a shy 13-year-old forms a bond with his troubled uncle.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, rough, realistic, hood, crime drama, independent film
Similar in 83%
Squeeze (1997)
Plot Summary:
Ty, Hector, and Bao are close friends in a tough section of Boston, where they're called "the PG-13 crew." They're 14, decent kids with few skills who've bailed out of school. A small gang of older tough guys, led by Marcus and Tommy, menace them, and when the PG-13s fight back and rob one of the gang, Marcus and Tommy vow to kill them. They seek protection from Derick, a drug dealer, who agrees to help if they'll sell drugs. Meanwhile, Ty is recruited to work at a community center by J.J., its quiet leader. Ty and his friends are in a squeeze: surrounded by violence, drugs, and no opportunities, is there any way out?.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 344
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: crime drama, independent film, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets (2000)
Plot Summary:
Ali, Kwita, Omar and Boubker are street kids. The daily dose of glue sniffing represents their only escape from reality. Since they left Dib and his gang, they have been living on the portside of Casablanca. They live in constant fear of Dib's revenge. Ali wants to become a sailor - when he was living with his mother, a prostitute, he used to listen to a fairy tale about the sailor who discovered the miracle island with two suns. Instead of finding his island in the dream, Ali and his friends are confronted with Dib's gang. Matters are getting serious.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Crime
Country: Morocco, Tunisia, France, Belgium, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, captivating, bleak, social, disturbing, crying, islamic, realistic, masterpiece
Similar in 75%
City of Men (2007)
Plot Summary:
Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: tense, bleak, suspense, harsh, disturbing, rough, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic
Similar in 82%
The Elizabeth Smart Story (2003)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of the kidnapping of teenager Elizabeth Smart,in June 2002, by two people, in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 922
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, suspense, psychological, rough, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Plot Summary:
Jamal Malik is an impoverished Indian teen who becomes a contestant on the Hindi version of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ but, after he wins, he is suspected of cheating.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 869000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France, USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: touching, uplifting, realistic, motivational, feel good, heartbreaking, inspirational, emotional, serious, harsh