Best movies like The Bright Day
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies like The Bright Day? Offer your insights to guide others to tv series and movies you've already seen that might appeal to them as well. Support expanding the community of people introducing videos to one another. We encourage your participation!
Plot Summary:
THE BRIGHT DAY weaves a story that has its roots in the complexity of Iran’s draconian laws governing capital punishment. A kindergarten teacher hopes to aid the father of one of her young students, a man accused of manslaughter, by convincing each of seven reluctant witnesses to come forward. No one lacks a hidden agenda in this drama in which shades of truth collide with self-interest and the specter of payback. (Gene Siskel Film Center).
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 111
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: art film
Best tv shows and movies like The Bright Day (2013):
Similar in 82%
A Man of Integrity (2017)
Plot Summary:
Reza (35), having distanced himself from urban life to work on a goldfish farm, leads a simple life along with his wife and only son in a remote village in northern Iran. Nearby, a private company with close links to the government and local authorities, has taken control of nearly every aspect of his regional life and continues to accrue more wealth and power.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 79%
Zinat (1994)
Plot Summary:
The conflict felt by a modern Iranian woman as she is forced to choose between her career and the traditional obligations of a housewife are examined in this drama. Until she married Hamed, Zinat worked in a public health clinic in a small Iranian town. She loved her job and was deeply committed to helping the community. After the wedding, her in-laws and family force her to quit and become a full-time housewife. She does try, but her former patients keep returning for help. Zinat cannot, in good conscience, turn them away so she helps them. She then suffers the wrath of her mother-in-law, but even after the irate in-law locks Zinat in the house, the plucky young woman still continues to help people.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 44
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Breath (2016)
Plot Summary:
We are taken care of when we are children and we do not know as much as when we are older. There is less to worry about. But it does not mean the things that are important to us as children have less significance. You see, for Scruffy, despite that she is from a poor family of the countryside, it is very important to study well, because she will become an asthma doctor. The doctor said her dad will die but she has decided - she will grow up and cure her father. Equally important is to run away from her grandmother, who almost always is lurking around in the dark corners of the house with a comb to fix her messy hair. Death is too abstract to understand, war is a word one hears on the radio that grownups sometimes listen to. Yet, as Scruffy lives through her days full of happiness and misery at full steam, the most tumultuous years of Iran become unveiled on the background, as we are introduced to the Revolution and the Iran-Iraqi war through the eyes of a child.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Family, Fantasy, War
Country: Iran
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: black comedy
Similar in 75%
Nargess (1992)
Plot Summary:
A sharp-edged look at people who live outside the constraints of Islamic law.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 347
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
When We Are All Sleep (2009)
Plot Summary:
Chakameh who has lost both her husband and child in a car accident meets a guy who recently been released from prison. While she is under pressure from the lawyers to compromise with the arrested driver, the guy told her his story of why getting arrested and then released from prison.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: beautiful
Similar in 79%
Bemani (2002)
Plot Summary:
A woman tries to escape from the much older man she was forced to marry.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 165
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: dark
Similar in 84%
The Familiar Soil (2008)
Plot Summary:
An artist's life who lives in a village of Kurdistan,Iran has been changed because his nephew enters to the village.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 280
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
A Respectable Family (2012)
Plot Summary:
Arash is an Iranian academic who lives in the West. He returns to Iran to teach in Shiraz, a city far from Tehran where his mother lives. Drawn into a series of domestic and financial dramas, he faces a country that is now alien to him. Following the death of his father and the discovery of what his “respectable family” has become, he is forced to make choices.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 545
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, touching, social, non-linear, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Vortex (2019)
Plot Summary:
The story revolves around a "surprise" kidnapping case. Liu Xiaojun (Dapeng), the owner of the car dealership, was involved in a kidnapping case for the accident of reselling a black car. He was surrounded by the kidnapped little girl Kiki (Ulanto Yaduo), the dereliant brother Xia Xi (Ou Hao) Several seemingly irrelevant people, such as Xia Tao (Sha Baoliang), dancers (Li Meng ), and second-hand car dealers (Cao Bingyu), have also fallen into the abyss of eternal annihilation.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 122
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Immortality (2016)
Plot Summary:
Six families in different compartments of a train, moving through a rainy night. In a single, 145-minute take, the film depicts the families and how their lives are interwoven with each other. Vacillating between dream and reality, each story builds on the one before and leads into the next. Each destiny is influenced by the other one on board, and all hurtle to the same destination.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 89
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Iran
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Boycott (1986)
Plot Summary:
Valeh, a member of a leftist organization, is arrested by the SAVAK and sentenced to death. In prison, he reconsiders his relationships with members of his political cell, and begins to doubt the validity of the ideas for which he is condemned. At the same time, his comrades pressure him to make a sacrifice for their cause, and his beloved wife experiences personal problems and economic hardships.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 378
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
The Cycle (1977)
Plot Summary:
Ali and his father go from their poor neighborhood in the outskirts of the city to a hospital so that Ali's father can be treated for his sickness. However since they have no money, Ali starts to work for Dr. Sameri who deals in blood.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 779
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: banned
Similar in 80%
The Peddler (1987)
Plot Summary:
The movie consists of three episodes that explore the lives of poor and desperate in Iran. In episode one, a very poor couple with many crippled children abandon their newly born baby in hopes that it will have a better future. In the second episode, a mentally impaired and isolated young man tries to take care of his senile mother who is almost dead. In the third episode, a cowardly and desperate peddler tries to escape from his boss.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 414
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: anthology
Similar in 88%
Here Without Me (2011)
Plot Summary:
The story is about the world of a small family with familiar dreams and not so remarkable problems. The mother is trying to lead everything to save her family, but small events disarrange all her plans.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, melancholic, disturbing, islamic
Similar in 90%
The Brick and the Mirror (1965)
Plot Summary:
Hashem (Zakariya Hashemi) is a cab driver who finds an infant child in the back seat of his cab one night after he gives a ride to a young woman. Hashem and his girlfriend, Taji (Taji Ahmadi), try to cope with this unwanted child. Hashem insists on getting rid of the child, Taji on keeping him.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 863
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
The Traveler (1974)
Plot Summary:
The Traveler is a 1974 Iranian drama film directed by Abbas Kiarostami that tells the story of Hassan Darabi, a troublesome, amoral 10-year-old boy in a small Iranian town. He wishes to see the Iran national football team play an important match in Tehran. In order to achieve that, he scams his friends and neighbors. After a number of adventures, he finally reaches Tehran stadium at the time of the match. The film addresses the boy's determination in his goal and his indifference to the effects of his actions on other people, particularly those who are closest to him. In its element, the film is an examination of human behavior and the balance of right and wrong.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: spiritual
Similar in 76%
Mother (1990)
Plot Summary:
The film progresses along two distinct but interwoven series of events. The first series involves young members of a family who have gathered round their old mother and revive their common childhood memories. the second line focuses on the old woman's preparations for her last journey and her joyous cooperation in arranging for the ceremonies that are to be observed after her death.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: spiritual, islamic, interesting
Similar in 77%
M for Mother (2006)
Plot Summary:
What appears to be a grand love story turns sour when parents-to-be discover that their unborn child will likely be born with serious birth defects, as a result of the mother's exposure to chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war. The father does not want to have a disabled child, but the mother insists on going through with the pregnancy.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, sad, islamic, entertaining
Similar in 81%
Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine (2000)
Plot Summary:
Death surrounds Bahman, a director who hasn't made a film in 24 years (he can't get past the censors). He's working on a documentary, for Japanese TV, on Iranian burial practices. On the anniversary of his wife's death, a hitchhiker tells him a story of spousal abuse and infant mortality, he discovers that someone has been buried in his plot next to his wife, and he needs the help of his attorney, a well-connected fixer. He dreams of death, even as he investigates it for his film. His niece's husband, a well-known writer, fails to return home; he searches hospitals for an unclaimed body. His heart disease is flaring up. Is he prepared for death? Is that all that's left?.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 723
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, tense, realistic, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 84%
Travellers (1992)
Plot Summary:
A young woman's wedding becomes a ritual of mourning when her sister and family die in an auto accident on the way to the wedding. The sisters' mother refuses to accept her daughter's death, and in the midst of wedding guests and mourners, including the drivers of the truck that caused the accident, she orders the wedding to take place. But how can the daughter marry in the midst of a wake and without the family's traditional mirror, which the sister was bringing to the service?.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, beautiful
Similar in 79%
Life and a Day (2016)
Plot Summary:
Somaieh, the youngest daughter of an indigent family, is getting married and fear is overwhelming each and every member of the family regarding how to overcome their difficulties after she's gone.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspense, beautiful
Similar in 82%
Tales (2014)
Plot Summary:
Award-winning Iranian filmmaker Rakshan Banietemad ends her eight-year hiatus from feature filmmaking with this ingenious, mosaic-like narrative, which knits together the stories of seven characters to create a microcosm of Iranian working-class society.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, emotional, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, bleak, serious, gloomy, surprise ending
Similar in 75%
Iron Island (2005)
Plot Summary:
Squatters live on a mothballed oil tanker in the Persian Gulf. The children attend a school on board; men harvest scrap metal and old oil in the hull; women keep house and raise children and Captain Nemat runs it all with an iron hand. We follow a lad who rescues fish trapped in the hull, an old man who stares at the sun, the idealistic teacher, and Ahmad, the Captain's assistant who has fallen in love with a young woman whose father wants to marry her to someone of means. What future has this sinking city?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 980
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, atmospheric, offbeat, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Hamoun (1990)
Plot Summary:
Hamoon's wife is leaving him. He is also unsuccessfully trying to finish his Ph.D. thesis. He is forced to reexamine his life. In a series of flashbacks and dreams, Hamoon tries to figure out what he did wrong.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: existential, spiritual, islamic, cult classic, psychological, sentimental, sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 85%
It's Winter (2006)
Plot Summary:
The struggle to survive, for a generation, torn between wanting to leave its country, yet bound by blood to home.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 650
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, touching, serious, bleak, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 76%
The Mirror (1997)
Plot Summary:
When a young Iranian's mother doesn't meet her after school, she tries to negotiate the streets of Tehran by herself.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: inspirational, serious, experimental, neorealism
Similar in 80%
The Runner (1984)
Plot Summary:
Amiro is a young boy who has lost his home during the war. He spends his days by working odd jobs, until he realizes that the only way that he can realize his dreams is by enrolling in school. In school, he has conflict with other students. Finally there is a competition to see who can say the whole alphabet in one breath.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Ten (2002)
Plot Summary:
A visual social examination in the form of ten conversations between a driving woman and her various pick-ups and hitchhikers.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France, USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: talky, melancholic, light, intense, sincere, thought provoking, touching, realistic, art house, contemplative
Similar in 80%
A Separation (2011)
Plot Summary:
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 255000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France, Australia
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: heartbreaking, emotional, realistic, tense, talky, bleak, suspense, compassionate, sad, contemplative
Similar in 78%
Taste of Cherry (1997)
Plot Summary:
A middle-aged Tehranian man, Mr. Badii is intent on killing himself and seeks someone to bury him after his demise. Driving around the city, the seemingly well-to-do Badii meets with numerous people, including a Muslim student, asking them to take on the job, but initially he has little luck. Eventually, Badii finds a man who is up for the task because he needs the money, but his new associate soon tries to talk him out of committing suicide.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: art house, contemplative, road movie, independent film, philosophical, spiritual, existential, slow cinema, psychological, sincere