Best movies like The Colour of Water
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Set in the frozen steppes of Mongolia, a young nomad confronted with his destiny after animals fall victim to a plague which threatens to eradicate nomadism.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 960
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Belgium, Germany, Netherlands
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, thought provoking, serious, contemplative, inspirational, realistic
Best tv shows and movies like The Colour of Water (2006):
Similar in 77%
Luxor (2020)
Plot Summary:
When British aid worker Hana returns to Luxor, a sleepy city on the banks of the Nile, she comes across Sultan, a talented archeologist and former lover. As she wanders, haunted by the familiar place, she struggles to reconcile the choices of the past with the uncertainty of the present.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 839
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Egypt, UK, United Arab Emirates
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, thought provoking, realistic, disturbing, contemplative
Similar in 75%
Close to Eden (1991)
Plot Summary:
Veteran Russian writer-director Nikita Mikhalkov's film about the impact of modern civilization on an idyllic part of Mongolia won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Film. A farmer (Bayyartu) and his wife, who live in a rural part of Inner Mongolia, have three children. Chinese population control policies prevent them from having any more. The farmer sets out for the nearest town to obtain birth control. He comes upon a Russian truck driver (Vladimir Gostyukhin) who has ended up in a lake. The farmer takes the man back to his farm, and after initially being appalled at the lack of civilization, the Russian becomes enchanted with the peaceful life of the backwards countryside and decides to stay. But his presence presages big changes for the peasants.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: France, Soviet Union
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 88%
Night Sun (1990)
Plot Summary:
Based on Leo Tolstoy's novel, Father Sergius, Night Sun stars Julian Sands as Sergio, a nobleman in 18th-century Italy who is expected to marry a duchess, Nastassja Kinski. Upon learning that she was previously the King's mistress, Sergio turns his back on society and becomes a monk. While at the hermitage he tries to resist all sexual temptations before him and soon becomes known as a miracle worker. Eventually he succumbs to a young seductress and knowing he is undeserving of the adulation, leaves the hermitage to travel around as a homeless beggar.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 868
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy, France, Germany
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: romantic, neorealism, sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying, baroque
Similar in 85%
The Cave of the Yellow Dog (2005)
Plot Summary:
The little nomad girl, Nansal, finds a baby dog in the Mongolian veld, who becomes her best friend - against all rejections of her parents. A story about a Mongolian family of nomads - their traditional way of life and the rising call of the City.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Germany, Mongolia
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, art house, minimal cast, masterpiece, fable
Similar in 81%
Shakespeare-Wallah (1965)
Plot Summary:
The story of a family troupe of English actors who travel around the towns and villages in India giving performances of Shakespearean plays. Through their travels we see the changing face of India as the old is replaced by the new, Maharajas become hotel owners, sports become more important than culture and the theater is replaced by Bollywood movies. Based on the travels of Geoffrey Kendal with his daughter Felicity Kendal.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 851
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, India
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: black and white, sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, contemplative, independent film, baroque, hot
Similar in 79%
Strapless (1989)
Plot Summary:
An expatriate American doctor in London allows herself to lighten up when her freewheeling younger sister and a mysterious man enter her life. Her inhibitions released, the beautiful doctor learns that freedom has its own price.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 432
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, disturbing, independent film, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 85%
Sunflower (2005)
Plot Summary:
Sunflower is the story of the Zhang family in Beijing father, mother and son across three decades, centering on the tensions and misunderstandings between father and son. Nine-year-old Xiangyang is having the time of his life, free of adult supervision until the day he meets the father he can hardly remember. Having spent years away, he returns with strong ideas about his son learning to draw. But Xiangyang chafes under his father's constant rules and soon stages his own revolution against the lessons enforced.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 719
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Hong Kong, China, Netherlands
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: uplifting, sentimental, sincere, touching, captivating, family saga, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 84%
Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker (1994)
Plot Summary:
A woman inherits her father's fireworks factory, as he had no son. The business does well and everything works in an orderly fashion until one day, an itinerant painter is hired to decorate the doors and vases at the factory. The woman, forbidden to marry and thereby involve outsiders in the factory ownership, finds herself drawn to the headstrong painter. When they fall in love, the situation throws her entire life into disarray.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 505
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, romantic, sexy, thought provoking, clever, intellectual, enigmatic, depressing, emotional
Similar in 88%
Tuya's Marriage (2006)
Plot Summary:
Set in Inner Mongolia, a physical setback causes a young woman to choose a suitor who can take care of her, as well as her disabled husband.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, touching, melancholic, sincere, suspense, suspenseful, romantic, road movie
Similar in 90%
Desperados on the Block (2009)
Plot Summary:
Their paths cross in the elevator of an anonymous student block in Munich: Clara, Motek, and Sin are three strangers in Germany, longing for acceptance and warmth, searching for a spark of the feeling we call "home". DESPERADOS ON THE BLOCK is an award-winning independent feature written & directed by Tomasz E. Rudzik.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 61
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, realistic, offbeat, surprise ending, independent film
Similar in 78%
Today and Tomorrow (2013)
Plot Summary:
This movie tells a story of young people from 'Ant tribe' in Beijing. By telling the story of these young people, Today and Tomorrow shows the psychological changes of college graduates. It reflects their confusion about future and love. The movie chooses 'Ant tribe' to show a unique aspect of the Chinese society. It encourages all the young people facing problems to learn from the 'Ant tribe' spirit and strive for a bright future.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 21
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, thought provoking, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Red Rose (2014)
Plot Summary:
A politically complacent middle-aged man and a young pro-democracy activist debate about the future of their country while hiding from the police, in this fascinating drama that blends scripted scenes with on-the-ground footage from Iran’s 2009 Green Revolution.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 261
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Iran, Greece
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 89%
Before the Revolution (1964)
Plot Summary:
The study of a youth on the edge of adulthood and his aunt, ten years older. Fabrizio is passionate, idealistic, influenced by Cesare, a teacher and Marxist, engaged to the lovely but bourgeois Clelia, and stung by the drowning of his mercurial friend Agostino, a possible suicide. Gina is herself a bundle of nervous energy, alternately sweet, seductive, poetic, distracted, and unhinged. They begin a love affair after Agostino's funeral, then Gina confuses Fabrizio by sleeping with a stranger. Their visits to Cesare and then to Puck, one of Gina's older friends, a landowner losing his land, dramatize contrasting images of Italy's future. Their own futures are bleak.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: aesthetic, sentimental, atmospheric, serious, realistic, experimental, contemplative, avant garde
Similar in 78%
Hard Sun (2014)
Plot Summary:
After the death of her parents, a young woman assumes primary guardianship of her special needs brother. But as she attempts to balance her new life with her brother and her own blossoming romance, it becomes painfully clear that life will only make room for one.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 72
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, touching, independent film
Similar in 79%
One Week (2000)
Plot Summary:
A soon-to-be groom learns that he may have contracted HIV. Waiting a full seven days for the test results turns out to be the most hectic week of his life.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 272
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 78%
The Elephant King (2006)
Plot Summary:
The story of two brothers who lead totally different lives. Jake Hunt enjoys life to the fullest in Thailand, while his shy brother Oliver deals with his own depressions back home in the USA. Their dominant mother wants Jake back home and for this reason, Oliver is sent to Thailand to retrieve his brother. Once there, Oliver finds himself in Jake's bizarre life and falls in love with a beautiful girl, Lek. However, it is not a coincidence that she and Oliver have met.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 551
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Thailand
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, sentimental, captivating, multicultural, sincere, touching, serious, gloomy, inspirational
Similar in 79%
Silent Light (2007)
Plot Summary:
Johan and his family are Mennonites from the north of Mexico. Against the law of God and Man, Johan falls in love with another woman.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Mexico, France, Netherlands, Germany
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, slow cinema, serious, realistic, contemplative, erotic, spiritual, christian film, inspirational
Similar in 89%
Red Dirt (2000)
Plot Summary:
Red Dirt offers the story of a young man's search to belong in this sublime expression of love and reconciliation. At only twenty, Griffith is struggling with the responsibilities of caring for his unwell aunt, grieving the loss of their family's matriarch, and his own dreams of leaving Pine Apple. With the arrival of a stranger, Griffith's carefully constructed walls of shame and silence begin to come down and his life takes an unexpected turn.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, serious, realistic, art house, erotic, independent film, contemplative, crying, queer cinema
Similar in 76%
Julie Walking Home (2002)
Plot Summary:
Julie's son is dying of cancer and her marriage falling apart. She goes to Poland in search of a man who can heal using his hands. Julie finds not only a magical cure for her son, but also comes across a love so pure it begins to heal the aching in her heart.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany, Canada, Poland, USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, realistic, atmospheric, serious, contemplative, erotic, spiritual, crying, allegory
Similar in 78%
Coronation (2000)
Plot Summary:
The elderly heir of a formerly wealthy and respected Chilean family, Andres, suffers from decadence and solitude. He hires young Estela in order to look after his tiranic and almost crazy grandmother. The differences in class and age don't stop Andres from courting Estela, whose fiancé Mario tries to make some money with the passions of his well-off rival. The suffocating atmosphere of the run-down mansion in the outskirts of Santiago represents the deterioration of the bourgeoisie, and sets the scene for the total collapse of Andres.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 481
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Chile
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 83%
Fureur (2003)
Plot Summary:
Raphael is an ex-boxing champ who now trains his young brother Manu. Tony, Raphael's ex-rival, returns to town to wed his reluctant fiance Chinh. As soon as Chinh and Raphael meet, sparks fly, and soon the two are sneaking out together.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 260
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, suspense, realistic
Similar in 87%
Love Is Blind (2013)
Plot Summary:
30-year old Kertu has lived under her father's power her whole life. Because of her gentle nature, she is thought by locals to be a little simple-minded. The young woman makes her first timid attempt to change something in her life - she send a postcard to Villu, a handsome but degenerate village drunk.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 958
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Estonia
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, touching, serious, captivating
Similar in 78%
Sunday (1997)
Plot Summary:
This film concerns two mysterious characters who meet on a Sunday in Queens. Madeleine the most unsettling creature of that name since "Vertigo" is a middle-aged, moderately successful actress. Oliver/Matthew is either a homeless man or a famous film director or both. Madeleine hails him on the street as the latter, launching a bizarre chain of events that includes a conversation in a diner, a very unromantic sexual encounter, the arrival of Madeleine's odd husband and unsuspecting daughter, and a child's birthday party. The film also compassionately tracks the daily rounds of Oliver/Matthew's fellow denizens of the homeless shelter, some of whom will be recognizable to New York audiences.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 696
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, thought provoking, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Suzhou River (2000)
Plot Summary:
A tragic love story set in contemporary Shanghai. The film stars Zhou Xun in a dual role as two different women and Jia Hongsheng as a man obsessed with finding a woman from his past.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany, China
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: neo noir, psychological, atmospheric, serious, stylized, sad, clever, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Zhou Yu's Train (2002)
Plot Summary:
Zhou Yu, a ceramic artisan in China's rural Northwest, has a deep rapport with Chen Qing, a shy sensitive poet. Taking a long train ride every weekend just to make mad passionate love with him, her longing seems insatiable. Until one day, she meets the hedonistic vet Zhang Qiang and begins a torrid affair, which takes her to another train station, and another level of lust. Driven by the locomotive of love and desire, she hustles through a dark tunnel of no return.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sentimental, atmospheric, touching, serious, contemplative, realistic, surprise ending, non-linear
Similar in 80%
In My Pocket (2011)
Plot Summary:
A harrowing journey down the dark spiral of drug addiction. As Stephen Jameson's carefully constructed life slowly falls apart, his belief system is shattered when he discovers that he's no longer the functioning addict that he once was.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 234
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, independent film
Similar in 90%
Three Sisters (1970)
Plot Summary:
Laurence Olivier's film of Chekhov's play.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 486
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, rough, captivating, sincere, touching, gloomy, independent film, period drama
Similar in 90%
Half of a Yellow Sun (2013)
Plot Summary:
An epic love story: Olanna and Kainene are glamorous twins, living a privileged city life in newly independent 1960s Nigeria. The two women make very different choices of lovers, but rivalry and betrayal must be set aside as their lives are swept up in the turbulence of war.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Nigeria, UK
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 82%
Germinal (1993)
Plot Summary:
It's mid 19th century, north of France. The story of a coal miner's town. They are exploited by the mine's owner. One day the decide to go on strike, and then the authorities repress them.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Belgium, Italy
Duration: 160 min
Plot tags: political, emotional, realistic, philosophical, anthology, sincere, thought provoking, epic, serious, captivating
Similar in 82%
Nobody's Daughter Haewon (2013)
Plot Summary:
Haewon, a college student, wants to end her secret affair with her professor, Seongjun. Feeling depressed after bidding farewell to her mother who is set to immigrate to Canada the next day, Haewon seeks out Seongjun again after a long time. That day, they run into her classmates at a restaurant and their relationship gets revealed. Haewon gets more agitated and Seongjun makes an extreme suggestion to run away together… Haewon dreams often. Her dreams will be compared to her waking life, but none can be denied as being a part of her life.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, touching, serious, psychological, sexy, sincere, thought provoking, contemplative, gloomy