Best movies like The Lives We Lead
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies similar to The Lives We Lead? Contribute your insights to navigate others to movies and tv shows you've seen before that might interest them too. Facilitate widening the network of individuals proposing videos to each other. We welcome your involvement!
Plot Summary:
Two sisters and their male counterparts struggle with the negative influences of their youths over a 50-year period.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 193
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, captivating, sincere, independent film
Best tv shows and movies like The Lives We Lead (2015):
Similar in 85%
Grown Up Movie Star (2009)
Plot Summary:
The story of Ruby, 13, determined to grow up fast after her mother runs away to become a movie star, leaving Ruby with her hopelessly rural father.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 429
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, realistic, serious, emotional, teen, gloomy, independent film, crying, queer cinema
Similar in 77%
Open Seas (2018)
Plot Summary:
A coming of age story of three young friends during their student years in Amsterdam.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 85%
A Silent Agreement (2017)
Plot Summary:
Reuben, a sensitive writer, grapples with a speech impediment as his boyfriend, Derek, a profoundly deaf Human Rights activist, provides strategies to restore his confidence and communication skills. When Reuben approaches an over-the-hill film producer with his autobiographical screenplay, the producer betrays him and Reuben is forced to overcome the long-term effects of bullying in order to succeed.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 316
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: intellectual, psychological, romantic, serious, realistic, disturbing, compassionate, cult classic, independent film, art house
Similar in 84%
Without You I'm Nothing (2008)
Plot Summary:
A weekend in the Bavarian Alps. 25-year-old Hannes meets his father after 8 years of separation in a little mountain hut. By the influence of their very different girlfriends Ann and Lavinia, the stage-director-father and his actor-son cautiously try to make a new start. A bold venture, leading all of them to an abyss of unforeseen cruelty.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 141
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Waterberry Tears (2010)
Plot Summary:
This coming of age story is about a gay boy, Goyo, as he discovers himself. Living with his Mexican family in the Coachella Valley, Goyo has a hard time hiding his sexual preferences. Although Goyo seeks acceptance from his father Ramon, Ramon will not accept that his only son is gay. Adding to the situation is that his sister Rosa and Goyo both fall in love with the same guy.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 96
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 84%
Martin (1997)
Plot Summary:
An emotionally distant father attempts to reconnect with the son he abandoned. After his estranged son (Juan Diego Botto) tries to commit suicide, Argentine expat Martín (Federico Luppi) brings the troubled teen live with him in Spain. But though Martín tries to reach out to his son, he's unable to bond with anyone in his life -- including his much-younger girlfriend.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, Argentina
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 77%
Seeds (2017)
Plot Summary:
The coming of age story of a boy that after a traumatic event is taken to beautiful Cuernavaca, where he has to find his father while trying to adapt to life with his grandmother, who has problems of her own.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 369
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, queer cinema
Similar in 90%
Teenage Dirtbag (2009)
Plot Summary:
A popular high school girl is harassed by a delinquent boy until they are placed in creative writing class together. Through written words, they create a bond, but tragically a bond that cannot withstand her social pressures or his brutal home life.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: uplifting, sincere, serious, realistic, erotic, romantic, depressing, dark, intense, romantic drama
Similar in 80%
The Dark Side of Love (2012)
Plot Summary:
Two brothers on different life paths, a gay waiter with a crush on an eligible bachelor and a drug addict in a twisted dependent relationships with his girlfriend, reunite to mourn the death of their mother.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 178
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, sentimental, serious, captivating, touching, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 87%
52 Tuesdays (2013)
Plot Summary:
Sixteen-year-old Billie’s reluctant path to independence is accelerated when her mother reveals plans for gender transition, and their time together becomes limited to Tuesdays. This emotionally charged story of desire, responsibility, and transformation was filmed over the course of a year—once a week, every week, only on Tuesdays.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, captivating, rough, lgbt cinema, social, emotional, realistic, queer cinema
Similar in 90%
A Perfect Son (2000)
Plot Summary:
A man's terminal illness reunites him with his estranged brother.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 361
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, independent film, sincere, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 80%
My Brother, My Sister (2021)
Plot Summary:
When their father's will forces them to live together, siblings Nik and Tesla — and Tesla's kids — try to overcome their differences to become a family.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating, disturbing, emotional
Similar in 90%
Teenage Kicks (2016)
Plot Summary:
Miklós is at the age when everything feels high-stakes. He is coming to terms with his own sexuality, and when his best friend Dan reveals that he has a new girlfriend, this puts an end to their plans to run away together.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: lgbt cinema, homoerotic, captivating, suspenseful, psychological, unusual plot structure, suspense, contemplative, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 78%
In Bloom (2013)
Plot Summary:
Eka and Natia leave their childhood behind and ignore societal customs to escape from their turbulent family lives.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Georgia, Germany, France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, serious, captivating, social, art house, transgressive, sincere, queer cinema
Similar in 79%
Family Tree (2010)
Plot Summary:
When Frédérick, the patriarch of the Alsatian Muller family, is conspicuously absent from his son Charles' funeral, Frédérick's surviving son and his granddaughter, raw from their loss, await an explanation. Once revealed, Frédérick's reasons and the painful secret Charles harbored for years threaten the foundations of the entire family.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 205
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 83%
My Skinny Sister (2015)
Plot Summary:
Just as Stella enters the exciting world of adolescence she discovers that her big sister and role model Katja is hiding an eating disorder. The disease slowly tears the family apart. A story about jealousy, love and betrayal told with warmth, depth and laughter - on and off the ice.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden, Germany
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, sincere, touching, realistic, captivating, sexy, neurotic
Similar in 81%
Open Window (2006)
Plot Summary:
The engagment between a struggling photographer and an assistant professor is marred by an act of violence.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 75%
Rebounce (2011)
Plot Summary:
REBOUNCE is a colorful, tough and powerful film featuring Frederikke Dahl Hansen in the leading role. She plays opposite Anne Sofie Espersen and Dar Salim, and despite being only 16 years old she portrays toughness, charm, and vulnerability admirably. REBOUNCE is an intense drama. Louise's mother is just out of prison and in the eyes of a teenager she's cool, tough and enchanting. To win her love, Louise follows her lead and enters a world of partying, drugs, fast cash and men. Meanwhile, everyone seems to forget that she is just a teenager.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 330
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: realistic, rough, captivating, emotional, psychological, tense, serious
Similar in 82%
How to Win at Checkers (Every Time) (2015)
Plot Summary:
The poor outlying districts of Bangkok are a world where you grow up very quickly. After both their parents die, 11-year-old Oat, his little sister and his older brother Ek move in with their aunt. Ek works in a bar for male prostitutes and transvestites. His relationship with Jai, the son of rich parents, began when he was still at school. Their uneven love for one another is put to the test when the day of the annual conscription arrives; this is when a lottery decides who must do military service and who can stay at home. Young Oat steals money from the local mafia boss in order to buy their beloved brother and family breadwinner out of the army. His actions have dramatic and traumatic consequences. Told from the younger brother's point of view, the film takes a refreshingly unadorned and impartial look at an essentially loving environment where social conditions are governed by venality, corruption and false ideals.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 922
Genere: Drama
Country: Thailand, USA, Indonesia
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, sentimental, sincere, melancholic, contemplative, queer cinema
Similar in 87%
Twelve Thirty (2010)
Plot Summary:
TWELVE THIRTY is drama about a family with adult children that is broken, and a self-centered young man who, in the span of a week, becomes entangled in each of their lives, wreaking havoc in the process.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 267
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, erotic, realistic, independent film, sexual, sexy
Similar in 85%
Virgin (2003)
Plot Summary:
When a teenager finds herself pregnant, with no memory of having had sex, she determines that she is carrying the child of God.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 601
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, psychological, captivating, erotic, sincere, serious, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 84%
Salvation Army (2013)
Plot Summary:
Abdellah is a young gay man navigating the sexual, racial and political climate of Morocco. Growing up in a large family in a working-class neighborhood, Abdellah is caught between a distant father, an authoritarian mother, an older brother whom he adores and a handful of predatory older men, in a society that denies his homosexuality.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 667
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Morocco, Switzerland
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, social, bleak, queer cinema
Similar in 84%
Red Roses and Petrol (2003)
Plot Summary:
A dysfunctional Irish family gathers after the death of their patriarch.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 124
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 81%
Death of a Salesman (1985)
Plot Summary:
Salesman Willy Loman is in a crisis. He's about to lose his job, he can't pay his bills, and his sons Biff and Happy don't respect him and can't seem to live up to their potential. He wonders what went wrong and how he can make things up to his family.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: sincere, emotional, psychological, atmospheric, philosophical, family saga, art house, tense, clever, serious
Similar in 84%
Sexual Dependency (2003)
Plot Summary:
A poor girl, a rich stud, a university student and a model -- nothing in common, except the desire to experience true intimacy. Their stories unfold and overlap as each becomes victim to their own sexual dependencies, self-perceptions and illusions. Thematically structured around issues of femininity, masculinity, virginity, rape and sexuality, each teen struggles to make sense of their own identity, reaching for ideals that represent everything they feel they are supposed to be, but are not.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 810
Genere: Drama
Country: Bolivia, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: erotic, psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, sexual, crying, sexy
Similar in 80%
Alpha Male (2006)
Plot Summary:
Drama about a family torn apart after the death of its patriarch. Haunted by their father's death, Jack and Elyssa have a fraught relationship with their remarried mother even now they have come of age.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 345
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, realistic, contemplative, psychological, sentimental, sincere, serious
Similar in 82%
Blessed (2009)
Plot Summary:
Seven lost children wander the night streets while their mothers await their return home.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 777
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, touching, captivating, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 81%
Interiors (1978)
Plot Summary:
A look at a dysfunctional family dominated by the controlling madness of its matriarch, Eve. Her reluctant husband and their three daughters make doomed efforts to cope with Eve's demands, while also trying to get on with their own lives. But, all bets are off when an ebullient stranger enters the picture.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, realistic, melancholic, touching, depressing, heartbreaking, emotional, disturbing, serious
Similar in 80%
Life as a House (2001)
Plot Summary:
When a man is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he takes custody of his misanthropic teenage son, for whom quality time means getting high, engaging in small-time prostitution, and avoiding his father.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 45000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, touching, sincere, sad, inspirational, tear jerker, realistic, feel good, captivating
Similar in 87%
Savage Grace (2007)
Plot Summary:
This examination of a famous scandal from the 1970s explores the relationship between Barbara Baekeland and her only son, Antony. Barbara, a lonely social climber unhappily married to the wealthy but remote plastics heir Brooks Baekeland, dotes on Antony, who is homosexual. As Barbara tries to "cure" Antony of his sexuality -- sometimes by seducing him herself -- the groundwork is laid for a murderous tragedy.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Spain, USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: disturbing, sexy, erotic, emotional, controversial, talky, psychological, intense, sincere, serious