Best movies like The Man Without a Past
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The second part of Aki Kaurismäki's "Finland" trilogy, the film follows a man who arrives in Helsinki and gets beaten up so severely he develops amnesia. Unable to remember his name or anything from his past life, he cannot get a job or an apartment, so he starts living on the outskirts of the city and slowly starts putting his life back on track.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Finland, Germany, France
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: bleak, satirical, black comedy, touching, humorous, semi serious, dark comedy, clever, contemplative, art house
Best tv shows and movies like The Man Without a Past (2002):
Similar in 84%
Hamlet Goes Business (1987)
Plot Summary:
A bizarre black-and-white film noir reworking of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Finland
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, neo noir, black and white, surprise ending, avant garde
Similar in 86%
Shadows in Paradise (1986)
Plot Summary:
An episode in the life of Nikander, a garbage man, involving the death of a co-worker, an affair and much more.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Finland
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: art house, dark comedy, contemplative, sentimental, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 83%
Juha (1999)
Plot Summary:
A farmer's wife is seduced into running away from her stolid older husband by a city slicker, who enslaves her in a brothel.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Finland, Germany, France
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: silent, black and white, contemplative, sentimental, bleak, serious, realistic, gloomy, modern day adaptation, silent film
Similar in 80%
Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana (1994)
Plot Summary:
Lugubrious Finns Valto and Reino take to the road in search of coffee and vodka, without which their lives are not worth living. But their reveries are interrupted by the arrival of garrulous Russian Klaudia and Estonian Tatiana - who are clearly interested in the two men, despite the language barrier. But what are the chances of getting a response from men who prefer staring at vodka bottles to talking?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Romance
Country: Finland, Germany
Duration: 62 min
Plot tags: road movie, black and white, offbeat, humorous, realistic, stylized, semi serious, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 84%
Ariel (1988)
Plot Summary:
Taisto Kasurinen is a Finnish coal miner whose father has just committed suicide and who is framed for a crime he did not commit. In jail, he starts to dream about leaving the country and starting a new life. He escapes from prison but things don't go as planned.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Romance
Country: Finland
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, art house, road movie, humorous, witty, stylized, black comedy, clever, offbeat, realistic
Similar in 78%
Dummy (2002)
Plot Summary:
An ex-office worker becomes a ventriloquist, leading to a date with his unemployment counselor; but his quirky family and a gauche female friend may thwart his new career and love life.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, dark comedy, sentimental, independent film, witty, art house, black comedy, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 77%
The Other Side of Hope (2017)
Plot Summary:
A restaurateur befriends a Syrian refugee who has recently arrived in Finland.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Finland, Germany
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: humorous, serious, captivating, realistic, comedy drama, political, social, absurd, art house, intercultural
Similar in 87%
Drifting Clouds (1996)
Plot Summary:
Tram driver Lauri looses his job. Shortly later, the restaurant where his wife Ilona works as a headwaitress is closed. Too proud, to receive money from the social welfare system, they hardly try to find new jobs. But they are completely unlucky and clumsy, one disaster is followed by the next. Finally, their courage, confidence, and their unbreakable love triumph over the fate.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Finland, Germany, France
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, touching, realistic, inspirational, uplifting, clever, humorous, semi serious, sexy, thought provoking
Similar in 87%
The Match Factory Girl (1990)
Plot Summary:
Iris (Kati Outinen) has a soul-deadening job as a quality-control worker watching boxes of matches go by on an assembly line all day. At night, she eats silently with her dour mother (Elina Salo) and stepfather (Esko Nikkari). One weekend, wearing her new red dress at a local dance, she ends up going home with Aarne (Vesa Vierikko), whom she mistakenly believes is her new boyfriend. When she discovers that she's pregnant, years of pent-up rage explode in a shocking outburst.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: Finland, Sweden
Duration: 69 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, art house, disturbing, atmospheric, harsh, psychological, depressing, dark comedy, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Western (1997)
Plot Summary:
Catalonian Paco is a traveling rep for a shoe manufacturer. When he stops to pick up Russian emigree hitchhiker Nino, Paco soon finds himself on the side of the road with everything stolen out from under him. Local gift shop owner Marinette gives the Spaniard a lift. Their mutual attraction manifests itself quickly, and Paco, who was fired over the stolen-car episode, hangs around. When he happens to spot Nino in the same town, he beats up the scrawny Russian, who lands in the hospital. Oddly enough, this marks the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Paco and Nino soon take the trip down the road together.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, road movie, independent film
Similar in 80%
The Bohemian Life (1992)
Plot Summary:
Three penniless artists become friends in modern-day Paris: Rodolfo, an Albanian painter with no visa, Marcel, a playwright and magazine editor with no publisher, and Schaunard, a post-modernist composer of execrable noise.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Finland, France, Sweden, Germany
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: black and white, dark comedy, spiritual, art house, cerebral, sincere, atmospheric, touching, humorous, captivating
Similar in 80%
Good Bye Lenin! (2003)
Plot Summary:
An affectionate and refreshing East/West-Germany comedy about a boy who’s mother was in a coma while the Berlin wall fell and when she wakes up he must try to keep her from learning what happen (since she was an avid communist supporter) to avoid shocking her which could lead to another heart attack.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 151000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Germany
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: political, humorous, sentimental, witty, touching, feel good, comedy drama, clever, offbeat, realistic
Similar in 75%
Cape of Good Hope (2004)
Plot Summary:
Mark Bamford's thought-provoking comedy explores the ever-present friction between class, race and faith in modern-day South Africa, tracing the intersection of multiple lives. A Drama revolving around 3 women's lives and how they are intertwined.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 292
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: South Africa, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, realistic, semi serious, humorous, contemplative, crying
Similar in 82%
I Like It Like That (1994)
Plot Summary:
Lisette and husband Chino face marital difficulties. She is fed up with the kids, while he has job troubles. His mother Rosaria hates Lisette and the neighborhood tramp has designs on Chino. Things get even worse when Chino goes to jail and Lisette gets a good job uptown. Can this marriage be saved?.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, semi serious, independent film, romantic drama, sentimental, touching, realistic, hispanic, road movie
Similar in 77%
Wild About Harry (2000)
Plot Summary:
A sleazy chef is forced to face the truth about the man he has become and realizes that he has the chance to begin again.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 549
Genere: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, Ireland, Germany
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, semi serious, feel good, humorous, realistic, black comedy, witty, independent film
Similar in 85%
Toto the Hero (1991)
Plot Summary:
Thomas and Alfred were born around the same time; a fire in the nursery had nurses scrambling to save the newborns. Because he felt that he deserved Alfred's good fortune at being born into a wealthy family, Thomas conceives the idea that he and Alfred were switched at birth, and he can't help seeing that his unhappiness should be Alfred's, from the loss of his sister to his inability to have a relationship with the woman Evelyne. So, as his life is ending, he formulates a plan of revenge against his bitter enemy, his lifetime adversary, the man who stole his existence.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Belgium, France, Germany
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, epic, sad, cult classic, sentimental, offbeat, humorous, semi serious, crying
Similar in 90%
The Crazy Stranger (1997)
Plot Summary:
A man is looking for a singer he had heard on cassette. He finds much more.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Romania, France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, sexy, sentimental, humorous, romantic, art house, realistic, semi serious, crying, light
Similar in 85%
Happenstance (2000)
Plot Summary:
How, thanks to what's known as the "Butterfly theory" (a random series of unlinked events), can a young woman and a young man meet?.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: melancholic, stylized, touching, feel good, humorous, romantic, thought provoking, offbeat, sweet, realistic
Similar in 76%
Three Colors: White (1994)
Plot Summary:
Polish immigrant Karol Karol finds himself out of a marriage, a job and a country when his French wife, Dominique, divorces him after six months due to his impotence. Forced to leave France after losing the business they jointly owned, Karol enlists fellow Polish expatriate Mikolah to smuggle him back to their homeland.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 78000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Switzerland, France, Poland
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: witty, atmospheric, emotional, touching, art house, cerebral, visual, spiritual, art film, black comedy
Similar in 78%
The Thing Called Love (1993)
Plot Summary:
Miranda Presley moves from New York to Nashville to become a songwriter. At an unsuccessful audition she meets James Wright, a promising newcomer. After only a few days they marry but start to quickly regret it.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: sentimental, feel good, humorous, semi serious, touching, realistic, entertaining, talky, crying, light
Similar in 75%
A Better Life (2011)
Plot Summary:
A gardener in East L.A. struggles to keep his son away from gangs and immigration agents while traveling across town to perform landscaping work for the city's wealthy landowners.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, sincere, thought provoking, inspirational, hood, independent film, romantic, captivating
Similar in 86%
Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002)
Plot Summary:
The strange comedy film of two close brothers; one, Wilbur, who wants to kill himself, and the other, Harbour, who tries to prevent this. When their father dies leaving them his bookstore they meet a woman who makes their lives a bit better yet with a bit more trouble as well.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Denmark, UK, Sweden, France
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, black comedy, dark comedy, independent film, offbeat, clever, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 82%
Monday Morning (2002)
Plot Summary:
A story told quietly of Vincent a welder at a large and seemingly toxic plant along the Rhône, living in a village with his sons, wife, and mother, saying little to each other.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: humorous, psychological, sincere, captivating, road movie, realistic, witty, semi serious
Similar in 88%
Roseanna's Grave (1997)
Plot Summary:
Roseanna is dying of a heart condition, and all she wants is to be buried next to her daughter, in a cemetery that is getting full fast. The cemetery can't expand because Capestro, the man who owns the land next to the cemetery, won't sell. While Marcello is doing good deeds to make sure no one dies, Roseanna thinks of Marcello's future.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Romance, Drama
Country: Italy, USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, sentimental, romantic, sweet, melancholic, talky, semi serious, humorous, realistic
Similar in 89%
Le Havre (2011)
Plot Summary:
Marcel Marx, a former bohemian and struggling author, has given up his literary ambitions and relocated to the port city Le Havre. He leads a simple life based around his wife Arletty, his favourite bar and his not too profitable profession as a shoeshiner. As Arletty suddenly becomes seriously ill, Marcel's path crosses with an underage illegal immigrant from Africa, who needs Marcel's help to hide from the police.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Finland, France, Germany
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sentimental, romantic, atmospheric, surreal, uplifting, touching, dark comedy, thought provoking, inspirational, philosophical
Similar in 78%
Autumn Tale (1998)
Plot Summary:
Magali (Béatrice Romand), forty-something, is a winemaker and a widow: she loves her work but feels lonely. Her friends Rosine (Alexia Portal) and Isabelle (Marie Rivière) both want secretly to find a husband for Magali.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: melancholic, meditative, witty, art house, touching, semi serious, realistic, talky, anthology, clever
Similar in 89%
A Silent Love (2004)
Plot Summary:
Through an Internet service, a Montreal professor arranges for himself a Mexican bride. But both husband and wife, even with their good intentions, are in for a bumpy ride toward marital harmony.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 167
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Canada, Mexico
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, semi serious, captivating, romantic, romantic drama, realistic, crying
Similar in 90%
Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002)
Plot Summary:
Dek, a decent but somewhat dull man, enjoys a happy existence with beloved girlfriend Shirley. They live together with her 12-year-old, Marlene: her daughter by the delinquent Jimmy, who flew the coop years ago and hasn't been heard from since. Dek loves Shirley so much that he proposes to her on national television.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Germany
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: humorous, sweet, entertaining, melancholic, intense, atmospheric, witty, touching, feel good, semi serious
Similar in 76%
Kings and Queen (2004)
Plot Summary:
Nora Cotterelle, a woman in her 30s is caring for her ill father, Louis Jenssens. While Nora tries to present a facade that all is well with her life, she is twice divorced and has a son, Elias, whose father is dead. Nora's present relationship is not going well, and she is soon to marry a businessman, while Elias is becoming increasingly withdrawn. A parallel storyline follows her former lover and second husband, Ismaël Vuillard, a musician, with whom she had lived for seven years. He is given to strange behaviour, and as a result he has been committed to a mental hospital, from which he is planning to escape. Nora learns that her father's digestive problems are actually cancer, and facing her father's death, Nora desperately seeks out Ismaël to ask that he reconnect with Elias, but he has mixed feelings about adopting her son. Moreover, he has met Arielle, another patient.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, serious, emotional, clever, realistic, contemplative, talky, gloomy, crying
Similar in 88%
The Taste of Others (2000)
Plot Summary:
Agnès Jaoui co-writes and directs this romantic comedy of manners set in France's rustic Provence. Unpolished and ultra-pragmatic industrialist Jean-Jacques Castella (co-scripter Jean-Pierre Bacri) reluctantly attends Racine's tragedy "Berenice" in order to see his niece play a bit part. He is taken with the play's strangely familiar-looking leading lady Clara Devaux (Anne Alvaro). During the course of the show, Castella soon remembers that he once hired and then promptly fired the actress as an English language tutor. He immediately goes out and signs up for language lessons. Thinking that he is nothing but an ill-tempered philistine with bad taste, Clara rejects him until Castella charms her off her feet.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: biting, meditative, sincere, touching, art house, clever, witty, talky, powerful, humorous