Best movies like The Last Best Year
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Jane (Bernadette Peters) has a dizzy spell while at home. As her condition does not improve, she consults a doctor who finds that she is very ill and that she has no family to help her through this very trying time. He enlists the help of a therapist (Mary Tyler Moore) who is very hesitant to become involved in this case due to the loss she suffered as a young child. As her condition deteriorates, Jane learns how to come to terms with her past as does her therapist.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 122
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like The Last Best Year (1990):
Similar in 78%
The Legacy (2017)
Plot Summary:
A terminally ill, abused boy chronicles his life on an online message board.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 12
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Life As a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (2000)
Plot Summary:
The story of a doctor named Tomasz who questions his beliefs, faith and morality as his end is near, so he makes all efforts to find dignity in his imminent death.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland, France
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, tricky, clever, intellectual, existential
Similar in 84%
'The Day of the Purple Sun': Part I (2017)
Plot Summary:
"The Day Of The Purple Sun´´: The cosmos of the incurable Margarethe. Her journey through the mysteries of the Egypt underworld. Will she be coming forth by day? film in two parts by Carsten Frank "DER TAG DER VIOLETTEN SONNE´´ "THE DAY OF THE PURPLE SUN´´ starring Margarethe von Stern Carsten Frank Music by maggy moon Photographed in PsychoVision Quiet Village Film Production 68 Mins / 1.78 : 1 (16:9) / German (language) / English & German (subtitles).
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 21
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 68 min
Plot tags: dark, expressionism, mystic
Similar in 86%
Brothers (2003)
Plot Summary:
Photographer Sami, maybe 35 and living in a loveless marriage, has to travel south to Pärnu, Estonia, to find his much younger brother Joni and get him back to Helsinki for treatment. Joni, around 20, is possibly fatally ill but would rather stay in Estonia enjoying a simple life together with a local girlfriend Rimma and her little baby.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 134
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland, Estonia
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 81%
She Lives! (1973)
Plot Summary:
A young couple searches for the cure for the girl's terminal illness.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 132
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Waiting for the Light to Change (2022)
Plot Summary:
Over the course of a week-long beachside getaway, Amy, having recently undergone dramatic weight loss, finds herself wrestling between loyalty to her best friend Kim and her attraction to Kim's new boyfriend.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 44
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Imagine I'm Beautiful (2014)
Plot Summary:
Hoping to leave behind the trauma of her mother's death, a young woman moves to New York City, where she becomes close to her similarly haunted roommate -- until a disturbing revelation changes everything.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 289
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Yumechiyo's Diary (1985)
Plot Summary:
Yumechiyo, a geisha house madam recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, yearns to do something constructive with the little time she has left. Through her responsibility lies in taking care of her girls, she finds purpose in providing a man innocent of a false murder charge and in the process discovers love for the first time in his arms.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 29
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Grace & Glorie (1998)
Plot Summary:
When a lonely ex-New Yorker moves into the home of a rural senior to act as a hospice worker, the two initially couldn't seem to be less alike. However, as time passes, the two find much kinship including a lost child. Slowly the two build a bond and learn about life.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 376
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Coming to Terms with the Dead (1994)
Plot Summary:
While middle-aged Vincent (Didier Sandre) makes a sand castle on a beach in Brittany, France, his sister Zaza (Catherine Ferran) and brother Francois (Charles Berling) spend a summer day reflecting on death and loss. They think back on their sister who was killed 20 years earlier in a motorbike accident. Her sudden death has haunted the siblings ever since. Meanwhile, young boy Jumbo (Guillaume Charras), who himself just lost a friend to cancer, joins the three in conversation.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 222
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 81%
Endings (2010)
Plot Summary:
Emmy Ferguson is a 10-year old who learns that, after a long bout with leukemia, today is probably her last day on earth. Chris Ryan is a 35-year-old drug addict who is determined to make this his last day. And Adonna Frost, suffering from advanced breast cancer, has made a similar decision about the end of her life. They are all strangers to each other, but as Emmy embarks on a strange journey, and as the day's events bring these three dying people together, through Emmy's unique point of view, their lives are changed forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 30
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 89%
The Shadow Box (1980)
Plot Summary:
Over the course of a day in a California hospice, three terminally ill patients are observed with their families reflecting on life and death. Adapted for television from the award-winning play by Michael Cristofer.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 232
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Mum's List (2016)
Plot Summary:
A dying mother's life lessons to the husband and sons she left behind. Based on the best-selling novel by St John (Singe) Greene, the film is the story of Singe and Kate, a couple from North Somerset, whose lives were turned upside down when Kate was diagnosed with an incurable breast cancer. Over her last few days, she created her list: writing her thoughts and memories down, to help the man she loved create the best life possible for their two sons, after she was gone.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 909
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, sincere, sentimental, thought provoking, tear jerker, visually appealing, tearjerker
Similar in 88%
The Forgettable Life of Liam White (2021)
Plot Summary:
Liam White's career has peaked—to put it kindly. Uninspired and burnt-out, the titular character loses his will to finish his next novel and even shirks his public appearance commitments. To top it all off, Liam is told by his oncologist that his cancer has returned. Resigned to the fact that his life will soon come to an end, he begins a journey of reflection as he comes to grips with his life thus far and the people who shaped him, for better and worse.
IMDB Rating: 9.0
IMDB Votes: 20
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Who Will Love My Children? (1983)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story of Iowa farm wife Lucile Fray. Ann-Margret plays a dying mother of ten whose last wish is to find loving families for her children.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 629
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: depressing
Similar in 88%
After (2017)
Plot Summary:
An aging man lies bleeding to death in an alley. As onlookers start to gather around, he reflects on the life that he has lived.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 18
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, independent film, visual, poetic
Similar in 90%
Arresting Gena (1997)
Plot Summary:
A directionless teenager (Aesha Waks) becomes involved with a headstrong runaway (Summer Phoenix) and her drug-dealing brother (Sam Rockwell).
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 137
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 86%
Griffin and Phoenix (1976)
Plot Summary:
Geoffrey Griffin who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer in his chest, meets Sarah Phoenix as they both attend a university lecture on the psychology of dying. Sarah Phoenix has got terminal leukemia, but Griffin doesn't know that, and she doesn't know that he is terminally ill. They start spending time together and fall in love, both struggling with their fate. This is the beginning of a beautiful and sad love story!.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 440
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 77%
My Breast (1994)
Plot Summary:
Meredith Baxter plays Joyce Wadler in this heartwarming story of hope, courage and redemption inspired by the New York City journalist's real-life struggle with breast cancer. Stuck in a lackluster relationship with her boyfriend, she's forced to re-examine her life when she receives the troubling diagnosis.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 140
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
The Other Woman (1995)
Plot Summary:
After the divorce from Michael, Tessa raises her daughters Kate and Lara alone. None of them can stand Michael's new young wife Carolyn, a model. But when Tessa learns that she's suffering from cancer and soon will die, she tries to get her kids to accept Carolyn as new mother. She takes them on a trip across the country to her father Jacob's ranch in Wyoming. During this trip, Tessa tries to teach Carolyn about the responsibilities involved in raising kids.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 238
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: realistic
Similar in 75%
Six Weeks (1982)
Plot Summary:
A wealthy cosmetic tycoon and her 12-year-old daughter who's dying from leukemia, strike up a sentimental friendship with a California politician. Since the girl has only six weeks or less to live, the trio fly to New York City where the daughter skates the ice rink at Rockefeller Center, assumes the lead in The Nutcracker ballet, and sightsees most of the city.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 75%
The Mouth Agape (1974)
Plot Summary:
The portrait of a woman going through a terminal illness and the tumorous lives of her husband and son.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 75%
An Early Frost (1985)
Plot Summary:
Set in the mid-eighties Michael Pierson, a young gay man, is struck with AIDS in the prime of his life. He's forced to be open about the disease and his homosexuality for the first time with his co-workers (he's a successful lawyer) and family. He, and the people around him, must face up to the inevitablity of his death and the disease that's killing him. "An Early Frost" was many people's first look at an AIDS victim as a human being instead of a statistic.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy, tear jerker, queer cinema, tearjerker
Similar in 86%
Lullaby (2014)
Plot Summary:
Estranged from his family, Jonathan (Hedlund) discovers his father has decided to take himself off life support in forty-eight hours’ time. During this intensely condensed period, a lifetime of drama plays out. Robert (Jenkins) fights a zero sum game to reclaim all that his illness stole from his family. A debate rages on patients’ rights and what it truly means to be free. Jonathan reconciles with his father, reconnects with his mother (Archer), sister (Brown-Findlay), and his love (Adams) and reclaims his voice through two unlikely catalysts – a young, wise-beyond-her-years patient (Barden) and a no-nonsense nurse (Hudson). Through this intensely life affirming prism, an unexpected and powerful journey of love, laughter, and forgiveness unfolds.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, serious, realistic, sad
Similar in 75%
In the Gloaming (1997)
Plot Summary:
Danny, dying of Aids, returns home for his last months. Always close to his mother, they share moments of openness that tend to shut out Danny's father and his sister.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 67 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, queer cinema
Similar in 79%
Wit (2001)
Plot Summary:
A renowned professor is forced to reassess her life when she is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: depressing, sincere, emotional, touching, sentimental, thought provoking, contemplative, sad, christian film, clever
Similar in 90%
Just Between Friends (1986)
Plot Summary:
Holly and Sandy strike up an instant friendship; they don't know however that they have more in common than they'd like. When tragedy strikes, their relationship is tested.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: independent film, sentimental, clever, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, talky, gloomy
Similar in 88%
You're Not You (2014)
Plot Summary:
A drama centered on a classical pianist who has been diagnosed with ALS and the brash college student who becomes her caregiver.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sweet, lyrical, heartbreaking, dramatic, sad, emotional, depressing, serious
Similar in 84%
My Life (1993)
Plot Summary:
It seems that Bob Jones has everything a man could want, namely a fulfilling job and a beautiful, pregnant wife, Gail. But Bob's life is turned upside-down when he is diagnosed with cancer and given four months to live -- not even enough time to see his first child's birth. To cleanse himself of demons in his remaining days, Bob makes a video diary, hoping to pass along some wisdom to his future child. Along the way, he discovers a lot about himself.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: sad, emotional, touching, heartbreaking, melancholic, sincere, sentimental, depressing, compassionate, philosophical
Similar in 89%
Ordinary People (1980)
Plot Summary:
Beth, Calvin, and their son Conrad are living in the aftermath of the death of the other son. Conrad is overcome by grief and misplaced guilt to the extent of a suicide attempt. He is in therapy. Beth had always preferred his brother and is having difficulty being supportive to Conrad. Calvin is trapped between the two trying to hold the family together.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 56000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, depressing, realistic, sentimental, compassionate, crying, serious, existential, inspirational