Best movies like The King of Marvin Gardens
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Jason Staebler lives on the Boardwalk and fronts for the local mob in Atlantic City. He is a dreamer, who asks his brother David, a radio personality from Philadelphia to help him build a paradise on a Pacific Island, yet another of his get-rich-quick schemes. But luck is against them both and the game ends badly - real life reduced to radio drama.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: cult classic, tense, sexual, clever, serious, realistic, gloomy, crying, neo noir, light
Best tv shows and movies like The King of Marvin Gardens (1972):
Similar in 90%
Turn the River (2007)
Plot Summary:
A pool shark takes the ultimate gamble when she kidnaps her own son and flees her ex-husband.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, realistic, serious, gloomy, crying, detective, neo noir
Similar in 90%
The Men's Club (1986)
Plot Summary:
Seven men have a group session and share their feelings on women, love, life and work.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sentimental, independent film, touching, realistic, talky, semi serious, crying
Similar in 80%
Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day (1996)
Plot Summary:
The Yosemite Valley Railroad, which runs through the breathtaking scenery and stunning vistas of Yosemite National Park, is on the brink of failure. The grandson of a Chinese railroad laborer embarks on a romantic, but ultimately doomed, quest to save this railroad from being sold for scrap. His love of trains finds him working as a railroad-man, instead of at his father's profitable business. He manages to locate a wealthy eccentric investor to help him acquire the railroad, but its financial inviability makes this a quixotic reprieve, at best. The film also portrays the anti-Asian racism present in America at the conclusion of World War II.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 178
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: black and white, independent film, sincere, atmospheric, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 84%
Mrs. Harris (2005)
Plot Summary:
Based on the sensational 1980s media event, famed cardiologist Herman Tarnower meets a particularly brutal end at the hands of his jilted lover, Jean Harris.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: clever, serious, realistic, witty, biting, crying, detective, suspense
Similar in 78%
Pieces of a Woman (2020)
Plot Summary:
A grieving woman embarks on an emotional journey after the Ioss of her baby.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 55000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, Hungary, USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, suspense, suspenseful, rough, disturbing, deep, existential, weird, beautiful
Similar in 81%
The Crossing Guard (1995)
Plot Summary:
After his daughter died in a hit and run, Freddy Gale has waited six years for John Booth, the man responsible, to be released from prison. On the day of release, Gale visits Booth and announces that he will kill him in one week. Booth uses his time to try and make peace with himself and his entourage, and even finds romance. Gale, whose life is spiraling down because of his obsession towards Booth, will bring himself on the very edge of sanity. At he end of the week, both men will find themselves on a collision course with each other.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: bleak, suspenseful, emotional, suspense, intense, psychological, serious, existential, sentimental, cult classic
Similar in 80%
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990)
Plot Summary:
It's about a five member family. The father is a conservative and traditional person who directs the family. The mother is at home, she tries to hold together the family, while Mr. Bridge works as a lawyer. The children have just grown up, and the complications are derived from that they have a more modern view of life.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA, Canada
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: talky, melancholic, sentimental, realistic, family saga, touching, gloomy, semi serious, crying, independent film
Similar in 80%
The Indian Runner (1991)
Plot Summary:
An intensely sad film about two brothers who cannot overcome their opposite perceptions of life. One brother sees and feels bad in everyone and everything, subsequently he is violent, antisocial and unable to appreciate or enjoy the good things which his brother desperately tries to point out to him.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, realistic, rough, serious, independent film, cult classic, tense, captivating, controversial
Similar in 82%
The Winter Guest (1997)
Plot Summary:
It's winter in a small Scottish village near the sea, and multiple lives intersect in a day. Frances (Emma Thompson) has just lost her husband to an early death, so her mother, Elspeth (Phyllida Law), travels to Frances' house to reconnect with her daughter and grandson, Alex (Gary Hollywood). Meanwhile, old women Chloe (Sandra Voe) and Lily (Sheila Reid) go to a funeral, youngsters Sam (Douglas Murphy) and Tom (Sean Biggerstaff) cut class, and Alex gets a crush on tomboy Nita (Arlene Cockburn).
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: independent film, touching, bleak, talky, scenic, sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative, crying
Similar in 90%
Killer of Sheep (1978)
Plot Summary:
Stan works in drudgery at a slaughterhouse. His personal life is drab. Dissatisfaction and ennui keep him unresponsive to the needs of his adoring wife, and he must struggle against influences which would dishonor and endanger him and his family.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, realistic, serious, emotional, black and white, political, social, contemplative, art house
Similar in 75%
Sherrybaby (2006)
Plot Summary:
After serving time in prison, former drug addict Sherry Swanson returns home to reclaim her young daughter from family members who have been raising the child. Sherry's family, especially her sister-in-law, doubt Sherry's ability to be a good mother, and Sherry finds her resolve to stay clean slowly weakening.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: independent film, emotional, bleak, depressing, serious, sexual, cult classic, realistic, scary, political
Similar in 88%
Three Brothers (1981)
Plot Summary:
In a farmhouse in southern Italy, an old woman dies. Her husband summons their sons: from Rome, Raffaele, a judge facing a political case for which he risks assassination; from Naples, the religious and ideological Rocco, a counselor at a correctional institute for boys; from Turin, Nicola, a factory worker involved in labor disputes. Once home, each encounters the past and engages in reveries of what may come: Raffaele imagines his death, Rocco dreams of lifting the youth of Naples out of violence, drugs, and corruption, Nicola pictures embracing his estranged wife. Meanwhile, the old man and his young granddaughter explore the rhythms of the farm and grieve together.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 84%
Providence (1977)
Plot Summary:
Clive Langham (Sir John Gielgud) spends one tormenting night in his bed suffering from health problems and thinking up a story based on his relatives. He is a bitter man and he shows, through flashbacks, how spiteful, conniving and treacherous his family is. But is this how they really are or is it his own vindictive slant on things?.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Switzerland, France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, thought provoking, serious, emotional, philosophical, anthology, black comedy, metafiction, contemplative
Similar in 76%
Jesus' Son (1999)
Plot Summary:
A young man turns from drug addiction and petty crime to a life redeemed by a discovery of compassion.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: independent film, grim, cult classic, dark comedy, psychedelic, deep, thought provoking, touching, humorous, realistic
Similar in 89%
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Plot Summary:
A drop-out from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil-rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: road movie, serious, realistic, thought provoking, captivating, cynical, cerebral, cult classic, philosophical, existential
Similar in 88%
Around the Bend (2004)
Plot Summary:
A tale of four generations of men, all of whom have had their offspring at a young age: a great-grandfather, a grandfather, a father in his twenties and a son who is about 7 years old. When the oldest member passes away, the trio heads out on the road together in the Southwest to search out an old family secret that connects to their past.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, road movie, emotional, semi serious, humorous, family saga, realistic, crying, funny
Similar in 75%
Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965)
Plot Summary:
Henry Thomas is out on parole in a small Texan town and, in the evenings, he is the lead singer in a band. He is being pressured by his foster mother to give up his singing and go back to school. His wife, Georgette, and young daughter unexpectedly come to town to live with him. However Henry's hot temper leads him into knife fights, and jeopardizes his parole. Written by Will Gilbert.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: retro, black and white, esoteric, psychological, sincere, serious, captivating, realistic, gloomy, neo noir
Similar in 85%
Last Orders (2001)
Plot Summary:
Jack Dodd was a London butcher who enjoyed a pint with his mates for over 50 years. When he died, he died as he lived, with a smile on his face watching a horse race on which he had bet, with borrowed money. But before he died he had a final request, 'Last Orders', that his ashes be scattered in the sea at Margate. The movie follows his mates, Ray, Lenny and Vic and his foster son Vince as they journey to the sea with the ashes. Along the way, the threads of their lives, their loves and their disappointments are woven together in their memories of Jack and his wife Amy.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Germany
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, talky, atmospheric, sincere, serious, emotional, contemplative, road movie
Similar in 88%
August (2008)
Plot Summary:
August is a 2008 drama film directed by Austin Chick and produced by 57th & Irving. The screenplay by Howard A. Rodman focuses on two brothers, ambitious dot-com entrepreneurs attempting to keep their company afloat as the stock market begins to collapse in August 2001, one month prior to the 9/11 attacks.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, sincere, serious, touching, suspense
Similar in 90%
Delta of Venus (1995)
Plot Summary:
A struggling American writer and a fellow American expatriate begin a sordid affair among the chaos and discord of 1940 Paris, France on the brink of World War II.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexual, sexy, sensual, postmodern, independent film, serious, realistic, stylized, intellectual
Similar in 80%
Eve's Bayou (1997)
Plot Summary:
The story is set in 1962 Louisiana. The big Batiste family is headed by charming doctor Louis. Though he is married to beautiful Roz, he has a weakness for attractive women patients. One day Louis is flirting with married and sexy Metty Mereaux, not knowing that he is observed by his youngest idealistic daughter Eve, who is there by accident. Eve can not forget the incident which is traumatic for her naiveté, and shares a secret with older sister Cisely. Lies start to roll.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: cult classic, independent film, southern gothic, gothic, mysterious, family saga, hood, visual, spooky, atmospheric
Similar in 83%
Faces (1968)
Plot Summary:
An old married man leaves his wife for a younger woman. Shortly after, his ex-wife also begins a relationship with a younger partner.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: intense, art house, black and white, independent film, talky, biting, existential, visually stunning, aesthetic, psychological
Similar in 78%
The Substance of Fire (1996)
Plot Summary:
Isaac Geldhart is a Holocaust survivor who, overcome by grief at the recent death of his wife, seems determined to run his publishing firm into the ground by printing books that have no hope of financial success. His son Aaron, who also works at the company, grows frustrated with Isaac's emotional decline and attempts to take over the firm. The resulting crisis involves Isaac's other two children, his daughter Sarah and his dying son Martin.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 667
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: melancholic, talky, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, independent film, contemplative, gloomy, sexy
Similar in 78%
Behind the Red Door (2003)
Plot Summary:
Set in New York and New England (but filmed in Newfoundland), Behind the Red Door stars Kyra Sedgwick as Manhattan-based photographer Natalie Haddad, who enjoys success with her strangely gloomy and foreboding camerawork. When her agent and best friend Julia (Stockard Channing) arranges for her to accept a lucrative contract with a Boston ad agency, Natalie discovers that she will be working for her own gay brother Roy (Kiefer Sutherland), whom she hasn't seen in a decade. Although Roy is insufferably snobbish and manipulative, he manages to exert a curious control over Natalie, forcing her to confront several disturbing, long-suppressed memories of her past (shown in black-and-white flashbacks). Before the film is over, Natalie is made to realize why Roy's behavior is so overbearing -- and also, the viewer learns just how intimately Julia is involved in the lives of both siblings.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 84%
Joe Gould's Secret (2000)
Plot Summary:
Around 1940, New Yorker staff writer Joe Mitchell meets Joe Gould, a Greenwich Village character who cadges meals, drinks, and contributions to the Joe Gould Fund and who is writing a voluminous Oral History of the World, a record of 20,000 conversations he's overheard. Mitchell is fascinated with this Harvard grad and writes a 1942 piece about him, "Professor Seagull," bringing Gould some celebrity and an invitation to join the Greenwich Village Ravens, a poetry club he's often crashed. Gould's touchy, querulous personality and his frequent dropping in on Mitchell for hours of chat lead to a breakup, but the two Joes stay in touch until Gould's death and Mitchell's unveiling of the secret.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: melancholic, sentimental, independent film, realistic, enigmatic, stylized, intellectual, serious, witty, contemplative
Similar in 77%
Ironweed (1987)
Plot Summary:
Albany, New York, Halloween, 1938. Francis Phelan and Helen Archer are bums, back in their birth city. She was a singer on the radio, he a major league pitcher. Death surrounds them: she's sick, a pal has cancer, he digs graves at the cemetery and visits the grave of his infant son whom he dropped; visions of his past haunt him, including ghosts of two men he killed. That night, out drinking, Helen tries to sing at a bar. Next day, Fran visits his wife and children and meets a grandson. He could stay, but decides it's not for him. Helen gets their things out of storage and finds a hotel. Amidst their mistakes and dereliction, the film explores their code of fairness and loyalty.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, intense, sincere, serious, realistic, depressing, compassionate, cult classic, gloomy
Similar in 85%
The Keys to the House (2004)
Plot Summary:
Meeting his handicapped son for the first time, a young father attempts to forge a relationship with the teenager.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, Germany, France, USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, touching, emotional, sincere, bleak, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 89%
Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001)
Plot Summary:
The lives of a lawyer, an actuary, a housecleaner, a professor, and the people around them intersect as they ponder order and happiness in the face of life's cold unpredictability.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: philosophical, psychological, bleak, meditative, depressing, touching, serious, contemplative, existential, cerebral
Similar in 84%
The Spitfire Grill (1996)
Plot Summary:
Percy, upon being released from prison, goes to the small town of Gillead, to find a place where she can start over again. She is taken in by Hannah, to help out at her place, the Spitfire Grill. Percy brings change to the small town, stirring resentment and fear in some, and growth in others.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: christian film, sentimental, touching, emotional, serious, realistic, gloomy, crying, tear jerker, inspirational
Similar in 76%
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Plot Summary:
The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiraling out of control. A look into addiction and how it overcomes the mind and body.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 883000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, bleak, depressing, emotional, atmospheric, surreal, heartbreaking, realistic, mind bending