Best movies like The Camera Obscura
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
At the end of the 19th century, a woman whom everyone considers ugly is ignored by all. Eventually, she meets a French photographer, and he will be the only person capable of seeing the beauty and the richness of her intense inner world.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 167
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Argentina, France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like The Camera Obscura (2008):
Similar in 80%
Bait (2019)
Plot Summary:
Martin Ward is a cove fisherman, without a boat. His brother Steven has repurposed their father’s vessel as a tourist tripper, driving a wedge between the brothers. With their childhood home now a getaway for London money, Martin is displaced to the estate above the picturesque harbour. As his struggle to restore the family to their traditional place creates increasing friction with tourists and locals alike, a tragedy at the heart of the family changes his world.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: independent film, suspense, social, black and white, experimental
Similar in 85%
Woman in Chains (1968)
Plot Summary:
Stanislas Hassler blazes the development of modern art in his gallery, packed with works of surprising shapes, colours and textures, and where exhibitions turn into media events. Gilbert Moreau is one of the artists whose sculptures are on display in the gallery. His wife, Josée, is intrigued by the stern Stanislas, who devotes his free time to photography in an apartment that highlights his sophisticated artistic tastes. But besides enlarged pictures of calligraphic samples, Stanislas is amassing a collection of photographs that reveal a disturbed character. So why would Josée endanger her mature relationship with Gilbert for the morbid observation of Stanislas's hidden personality?.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: psychological thriller, stylized, psychedelic, weird
Similar in 82%
Brother (2022)
Plot Summary:
Sons of Caribbean immigrants, Francis and Michael face questions of masculinity, identity and family amid the pulsing beat of Toronto's early hip-hop scene. A mystery unfolds when escalating tensions set off a series of events which changes the course of the brothers’ lives forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 928
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Canada
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
Plot Summary:
The second film in Terence Davies's autobiographical series (along with "Trilogy" and "The Long Day Closes") is an impressionistic view of a working-class family in 1940s and 1950s Liverpool, based on Davies's own family. Through a series of exquisite tableaux Davies creates a deeply affecting photo album of a troubled family wrestling with the complexity of love.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: UK, West Germany
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: anthology, historical drama, independent film, bleak, serious, realistic, gloomy, crying, complex, eighties
Similar in 75%
The Last Elvis (2012)
Plot Summary:
In the unique world of the Buenos Aires celebrity-impersonator scene, “Elvis” Gutiérrez is a star. By day, though, he must contend with a dead-end factory job and an ex-wife who worries about how his obsessive behavior affects their young daughter, Lisa Marie. Feeling more connected to his persona as the King than to his own family, Gutiérrez retreats from reality until a tragic accident interrupts his plans and forces him to grapple with his real-world responsibilities.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Argentina
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 88%
Our Wonderful Lives (2018)
Plot Summary:
Margot, Jeremy, Salome, Caesar, Sonia - They are between 18 and 50 years old. Everything separates them except the urgency to rebuild and restore the relationship to the other that the addiction has destroyed. Solidary, they have as rules, sharing, honesty, authenticity, sincerity, humanity. An incredible band of living people who are screaming loudly that we are doing better than others alone.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 120
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Tango Argentino (1992)
Plot Summary:
A boy who is helping lonely, elderly people revives their urge to live and receives in return their love and understanding, which have been denied to him by his parents.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 849
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: pre war
Similar in 86%
Little Paris (2008)
Plot Summary:
"Little Paris" is the nickname given to Luna's hometown in provincial Baden Württemberg. Its name comes from a replica of the Eiffel Tower on a factory roof on an industrial estate next to the A9 autobahn. Luna knows she has to leave her home, the dead-end part-time jobs and a relationship which has about as much going for it as the local market. And that's not a lot. With the arrival of the mysterious dancer G. in the small town, life in the place is suddenly shaken up his erotic vibes and moves. Luna finds herself in love with G. who is different to her childhood sweetheart Ron. G. is the first one to recognize her talent and together they start rehearsing at the "Pink Palace", a huge disco, for an audition for a dance contest in Berlin. If they win, they could end up starring in a music video. With the support of G., with whom she's falling deeper in love.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 86
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Germany
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Bluebird (2004)
Plot Summary:
Merel is a young girl with a lot of talent. She excels at school, is good on the springboard and is careful too. Her severely handicapped brother Kasper gets a lot of attention. Merel also has talent for singing. It is no surprise that she is asked for the school musical. But maybe Merel is a bit too convinced of herself. When people perform solos, she likes to sing along loudly. This doesn't fall on good ground though. People start ignoring her and she is getting bullied. All of the sudden Merel's life isn't that easy anymore, it will be hard to keep herself together.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 589
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
The Milk of Sorrow (2009)
Plot Summary:
Fausta is suffering from a rare disease called the Milk of Sorrow, which is transmitted through the breast milk of pregnant women who were abused or raped during or soon after pregnancy. While living in constant fear and confusion due to this disease, she must face the sudden death of her mother. She chooses to take drastic measures to not follow in her mother's footsteps.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Spain, Peru
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, rough, disturbing, bleak, depressing, political, art house, atmospheric, serious, captivating
Similar in 88%
BlackJack (1990)
Plot Summary:
Kaj, Lennart and Robert are 30-somethings who goes out to dance every weekend. At one dance they meet Inger, whom Kaj falls in love with. Kaj has some friends who are playing in a band. The drummer Tommy is known for being the local Casanova, seducing women when ever he gets the chance. It doesn't take him long to have an affair with Inger, behind Kaj's back. Plot by Mattias Thuresson.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Sweden
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 85%
Waiting for Happiness (2002)
Plot Summary:
The story of two people who cross paths in Nouhadhibou.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, Mauritania
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, slow cinema, aesthetic, atmospheric
Similar in 81%
Lullaby (2022)
Plot Summary:
Amaia, who has just become a mother, decides to return to her parents' house along the Basque coast for guidance while her partner is temporarily away.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: beautiful
Similar in 79%
Boxes (2007)
Plot Summary:
Anna, 50 years old, moves into her new house. Rooms are full of boxes which contain a lot of things and plenty of memories. Anna has lived many lives and her past comes out of these boxes. Her parents surely, but also her children and their fathers, the living and the dead. In this breakneck period of her life, time is running faster and faster and Anna takes a run-up to face the past and try to go towards the future. And, maybe, to manage to still believe in love?.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 174
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: semi autobiographical
Similar in 80%
Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets (1971)
Plot Summary:
Conditions have been better for the nameless protagonist: his grandmother is a shoplifter and his war criminal father and sister have an unhealthy, intimate relationship with the family rabbit.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Japan
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: avant garde, experimental, offbeat, disturbing, erotic drama, art house, surreal, psychedelic, weird, cult film
Similar in 86%
Madame Butterfly (1995)
Plot Summary:
Cio-Cio-San, a young Japanese geisha, seeks to fulfill her dreams through marriage to an American naval officer. Her faith in their future is shattered by his empty vows and the loss she endures touches something deep within us all.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 635
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, UK, Germany
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, stylized, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, gloomy, light, romantic
Similar in 80%
I Could Go on Singing (1963)
Plot Summary:
Jenny Bowman is a successful singer who, while on an engagement at the London Palladium, visits David Donne to see her son Matt again, spending a few glorious days with him while his father is away in Rome in an attempt to attain the family that she never had. When David returns, Matt is torn between his loyalty to his father and his affection for Jenny.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 88%
Ripple Effect (2007)
Plot Summary:
Believing that bad karma is keeping him from realizing his dream, hip clothing designer Amer Atrash (Philippe Caland) attempts to orchestrate salvation -- with unexpected results -- in this indie drama. Pushed to the edge of financial disaster and facing marital woes, Atrash resolves to right a wrong he committed years earlier when his car accidentally struck Philip Blackman (Forest Whitaker), leaving him paralyzed.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 763
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, emotional, spiritual, realistic, crying
Similar in 88%
Bolero (1981)
Plot Summary:
The film follows four families, with different nationalities (French, German, Russian and American) but with the same passion for music, from the 1930s to the 1960s. The various story lines cross each other time and again in different places and times, with their own theme scores that evolve as time passes. The main event in the film is the Second World War, which throws the stories of the four musical families together and mixes their fates. Although all characters are fictional, many of them are loosely based on historical musical icons (Édith Piaf, Josephine Baker, Herbert von Karajan, Glenn Miller, Rudolf Nureyev, etc.) The Boléro dance sequence at the end brings all the threads together.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France
Duration: 184 min
Plot tags: non-linear, sentimental, atmospheric, epic, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, period piece, vintage
Similar in 88%
London Town (2016)
Plot Summary:
A 14-year old boy’s life changes forever when his estranged mother introduces him to the music of The Clash in 1979 London.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: UK, Germany, USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, unusual plot structure, captivating, suspense, contemplative, independent film, rockumentary
Similar in 87%
Attila Marcel (2013)
Plot Summary:
Paul is a sweet man-child, raised — and smothered — by his two eccentric aunts in Paris since the death of his parents when he was a toddler. Now thirty-three, he still does not speak. (He does express himself through colourful suits that would challenge any Wes Anderson character in nerd chic.) Paul's aunts have only one dream for him: to win piano competitions. Although Paul practices dutifully, he remains unfulfilled until he submits to the interventions of his upstairs neighbour. Suitably named after the novelist, Madame Proust offers Paul a concoction that unlocks repressed memories from his childhood and awakens the most delightful of fantasies.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: France
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, realistic, stylized, semi serious, aesthetic, offbeat, postmodern
Similar in 82%
Brothers of the Head (2005)
Plot Summary:
In the 1970s a music promoter plucks Siamese twins from obscurity and grooms them into a freakish rock'n'roll act. A dark tale of sex, strangeness and rock music.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, semi serious, humorous, realistic, witty, period piece, clever, offbeat, mockumentary, gothic
Similar in 77%
Beyond Silence (1996)
Plot Summary:
Beyond Silence is about a family and a young girl’s coming of age story. This German film looks into the lives of the deaf and at a story about the love for music. A girl who has always had to translate speech into sign language for her deaf parents yet when her love for playing music grows strong she must decide to continue doing something she cannot share with her parents.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Germany
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, spiritual, sad, crying, sentimental, sincere, serious, emotional, sexy
Similar in 86%
Sparkle (1976)
Plot Summary:
Three sisters (Sister and the Sisters) from Harlem who become singers Sister (Lonette McKee) becomes involved with drugs and Sparkle ends up being the one who gets famous. This movie tells about how drugs ruined Sister's relationships and eventually ended her life.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, entertaining, black cinema
Similar in 76%
Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming (2010)
Plot Summary:
Chance Harris looks to find a balance between his school, work, relationships and opportunity to perform at the nationally televised step competition during homecoming weekend at Truth University.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: feel good, serious, captivating, realistic, independent film
Similar in 78%
Under the Starry Sky (2013)
Plot Summary:
The debut feature from Franco-Senegalese filmmaker Dyana Gaye charts the interconnected destinies of three far-flung sojourners across three continents. A quiet drama, about the anxieties of negotiating journeying to foreign countries and making a place for oneself in the world.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 92
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium, Senegal
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 81%
Feel the Noise (2007)
Plot Summary:
After a run-in with local thugs, aspiring Harlem rapper Rob flees to a place and father he never knew, and finds his salvation in Reggaeton, a spicy blend of hip-hop, reggae and Latin beats. Puerto Rico, the spiritual home of Reggaeton, inspires Rob and his step-brother Javi to pursue their dream of becoming Reggaeton stars. Together with a dancer named C.C., they learn what it means to stay true to themselves and each other, while overcoming obstacles in love, greed and pride, all culminating in an explosive performance at New York’s Puerto Rican Day Parade.
IMDB Rating: 3.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: feel good, realistic, hood, serious
Similar in 85%
The Mambo Kings (1992)
Plot Summary:
The Mambo Kings tells the story of César and Nestor Castillo, brothers and aspiring musicians who flee from Cuba to America in search of the American Dream.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, melancholic, serious, realistic, touching, captivating, fairy tale, romantic, sexy
Similar in 78%
Together (2002)
Plot Summary:
When a violin prodigy Xiaochun and his father head to Beijing seeking fame and fortune, they soon discover a fierce world of cutthroat ambition. But when Xiaochun is "adopted" by a famous music tutor, success finally seems within reach - until a shocking discovery begins to unravel his entire world, and the boy must make the most difficult choice of his life. Can he achieve the fame his father had always hoped for without losing the extraordinary passion that sets him apart?.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: China, South Korea
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, stylized, uplifting, atmospheric, sincere, depressing, sad, feel good
Similar in 78%
Lackawanna Blues (2005)
Plot Summary:
In a story fueled by rhythm and blues, a young boy's life is shaped by love and the stories of a cast of characters in the boarding house where he lives in 1960s Lackawanna, New York.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere, sentimental, captivating, crying, hispanic, entertaining