Best movies like The Merry Bus
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Focuses on a woman and child after the 1988 earthquake that rocked the Soviet state of Armenia. They find themselves listening to telephone wires and call it music. They became close and the little boy decides that he has found the basis for the making of his new family. The woman then adopts him, however, he believes that they family needs a father as well.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 69
Genere: Drama
Country: Armenia
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating
Best tv shows and movies like The Merry Bus (2001):
Similar in 77%
Second 20s (2015)
Plot Summary:
Due to an unplanned pregnancy, Ha No Ra married young and dropped out of school. But after two decades as a housewife, she finally gets the chance to experience college, alongside her 20-year-old son Kim Min Soo and his girlfriend Oh Hye Mi. Further complicating things, No Ra already has a strained student-teacher relationship, as her husband Kim Woo Chul and her first love Cha Hyun Suk wind up being her professors.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 379
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 62 min
Plot tags: dorama, sincere, captivating
Similar in 90%
My Mother is a Belly Dancer (2006)
Plot Summary:
A story of four women who take belly dancing lessons to escape from their lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 125
Genere: Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: captivating
Similar in 86%
Life Inside Out (2013)
Plot Summary:
When a mother returns to her musical roots, she rediscovers the passion of her youth, and finds a way to connect with her troubled youngest son.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 281
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, independent film
Similar in 89%
Pelican Blood (2019)
Plot Summary:
Wiebke, a professional horse trainer, faces a unique challenge when she adopts Raya, a five-year-old girl, who is prone to violent outbursts because of her traumatic past.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Germany, Bulgaria
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 89%
The Shame (2009)
Plot Summary:
A young married couple, not knowing how to deal with their new adopted son's behavior, decides to give him back.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 329
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 89%
Murmur of the Hearts (2015)
Plot Summary:
Not Louis Malle's classic but the latest from director Sylvia Chang who, after years of absence from the helm, digs deep into her Taiwanese roots to tell a story about growing up, and letting go. Isabella Leong plays an uncertain painter, Mei, who drifted apart from her tour guide brother after leaving Liudau, the off-shore island of Taiwan, with their mother. Mei falls for an underachieving boxer, and begins years of soul searching in the city, where the siblings reunite under unexpected circumstances. What was remembered and forgotten are lessons that have profound consequences in this emotional drama.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 405
Genere: Drama
Country: Hong Kong, Taiwan
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating, disturbing, entertaining
Similar in 75%
When Time Got Louder (2022)
Plot Summary:
Departing for college, Abbie leaves her parents and brother who has autism and is non-verbal. As she explores her independence and sexuality, she's torn between her new life and her love for her brother.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 311
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, lgbt cinema, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 75%
Little Girl Blue (2007)
Plot Summary:
Julie is a woman who seemingly has everything. A handsome husband, teenage daughter and a thriving, undemanding job as a translator and now even a new dream house ... But she also has a secret that is slowly changing her idyllic life.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 491
Genere: Drama
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating
Similar in 89%
Maria Montessori: una vita per i bambini (2007)
Plot Summary:
The story of Maria Montessori the most famous pedagogue of the world. She spent all her life to make her "metodo" (method) accepted in the archaic Italian school system, while the rest of the world immediately understand the importance of her theories. She was the first Italian Doctor, a famous feminist, a scientist. Her private life was hit by having an illegitimate son and by the Fascism that didn't want to accept completely her theories.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 343
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 82%
The Desert Bride (2017)
Plot Summary:
Teresa’s life is turned upside down when she is forced to accept a job far away. On her way, she loses her bag, causing her to cross paths with El Gringo, a traveling salesman.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 707
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina, Chile
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, road movie
Similar in 78%
Asia (2020)
Plot Summary:
Asia is the single mother of 17-year-old Vika. Vika's deteriorating health urges Asia to finally find her voice as a mother and to embrace and cherish their time together.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 703
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, captivating, social
Similar in 86%
Peaceful (2021)
Plot Summary:
A son in denial of a serious illness. A mother facing the unbearable. And between them a doctor fighting to do his job and bring them to acceptance. The three of them have one year and four seasons to come together and understand what it means to die while living.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 801
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 87%
Pictures of Hollis Woods (2007)
Plot Summary:
After running away from her last foster placement with the Regan family, twelve year old Hollis Woods is placed with a new foster mother, the loving, retired art teacher, Josie Cahill.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, sad
Similar in 82%
The Day I Was Not Born (2010)
Plot Summary:
During a stopover in Buenos Aires on her way to Chile, 31-year-old Maria recognizes a nursery rhyme. Maria doesn't speak a work of Spanish, but without understanding what she is singing, she remembers the Spanish lyrics. Disturbed and thrown off course, she decides to interrupt her journey and wander through the unfamiliar city.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 837
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, Argentina
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, captivating, contemplative, sentimental, sincere, serious
Similar in 87%
My Lovely Angel (2021)
Plot Summary:
A life-changing story of a man who has lived as a loner his entire life. Jae Shik begins to live together with a child with a hearing-visual disability, as they change each other's lives and try to find a way to communicate.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 628
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 78%
The Days I Lost (2021)
Plot Summary:
It's about a man that gets tired of his meaningless life and finds a way to escape from it pretending to be dead.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 47
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating
Similar in 77%
Pearl (2020)
Plot Summary:
After her mother is murdered by her stepfather, gifted 15 year old student Pearl goes to live with an ex-lover of her mother, a grumpy unemployed film director who, pending the results of a paternity test, may be her biological father.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 317
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, thrilling
Similar in 75%
Person Who Gives Happiness (2016)
Plot Summary:
A story about a woman who tries to protect a famous child star that she raises with love against a harsh and exploitative entertainment industry, including from the child's real mother.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 12
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 35 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 80%
Her Way (2021)
Plot Summary:
Marie, an independent and militant woman, has never needed anyone's help, including when it comes to raise her son. When the latter is expelled from his certificate of professional competence training class, Marie cannot accept it. Dreaming of a brighter future for him, she decides to enroll him in one of the best cooking schools in France.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 582
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 77%
Youtopia (2018)
Plot Summary:
A young woman decides to sell her virginity to pay off her mother's debts when she realises that her earnings as an online x-rated model are not enough.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 571
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating
Similar in 85%
Making Family (2016)
Plot Summary:
An independent career woman who wants a family without a husband and a man who has no interest in a family of his own, one day go through something unexpected and become a family.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 164
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China, South Korea
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 85%
My Father's Violin (2022)
Plot Summary:
Through their shared grief and connection to music, an orphaned girl bonds with her emotionally aloof, successful violinist uncle.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sincere, psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 76%
I'm Glad My Mother Is Alive (2009)
Plot Summary:
This finely acted, delicate and provocative new film by one of France’s most impressive filmmakers—working here with his son, Nathan—depicts the troubled life of an adopted boy who, as a taciturn adult, visits his birth mother and strikes up a relationship fraught with tension and emotion.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 574
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, tense, emotional, realistic
Similar in 78%
Hanging Garden (2005)
Plot Summary:
On the surface, the Kyobashis appear to be a happy family. Despite a family agreement that they are all open with each other, the entire household knows the opposite is true.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 930
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, sincere, poignant
Similar in 88%
April, May and June (2019)
Plot Summary:
To inform each personally about her impending death, Mies summons her three daughters home. The three half-sisters April, May and June, each of whom has a different father, start to question their lives: "Where are we at in life? What do we still have in common? What will happen to our autistic brother Jan?".
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 936
Genere: Drama
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 76%
Breadcrumbs (2016)
Plot Summary:
When Liliana decides to return to Uruguay she will have to face up to a new dilemma, perhaps the last great dilemma of her life: To choose between supporting a collective case for female prisoners, raped during the time of the dictatorship, or to reconcile with her son and be able to live peacefully as a mother and a grandmother.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 100
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, Uruguay
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 79%
The Russell Girl (2008)
Plot Summary:
Sarah Russell, a 23-year-old aspiring medical school student, visits her loving family to share some important news, but instead finds herself attempting to finally confront a difficult period from her past.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 80%
Not on My Watch (2017)
Plot Summary:
A single mother gets entangled in a web of lies to protect her sons.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 241
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 82%
The Lady Improper (2019)
Plot Summary:
A woman with a seemingly ideal life, Siu Man is abandoned by her husband partly due to her fear of intimacy. After several life crises, she decides to reboot her life by taking over her father’s restaurant. Siu Man eventually finds herself attracted to her new chef, a free spirit who treats cooking as serious philosophy. Tired of the shackles she placed on herself, Siu Man embarks on a journey of self-discovery and sexual liberation.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 296
Genere: Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 84%
A Year in My Life (2006)
Plot Summary:
In 1950s France, a young boy is taken in by a couple after spending a few months in the care of social service.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 224
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, sincere, captivating, feel good, serious, realistic, contemplative