Best movies like The Roads Not Taken
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The film follows 24 hours in the life of father and daughter Leo and Molly as she grapples with the challenges of dealing with her father’s chaotic mental state. But as they weave their way around New York City, their ordinary but stressful day takes on a hallucinatory and epic quality, for Leo is seamlessly flowing in and out of several parallel lives; a passionate marriage with his childhood sweetheart Dolores in Mexico; a struggling career as a drummer in Manhattan with his more successful lover, Adam; and a life of solitude on a remote Greek island, where a chance encounter with two young tourists unmasks the uncomfortable truths of a family life left behind.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Sweden, Poland, Spain, USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: realistic, intense, visually appealing, clever
Best tv shows and movies like The Roads Not Taken (2020):
Similar in 76%
Far North (1988)
Plot Summary:
After being severly injured in a horse-riding accident,the family patriarch Bertram lies in a hospital bed plotting revenge against Mel, the four legged "enemy" he blames for putting him there. So when his eldest daughter Kate comes to visit,the father has but one request "Shoot that horse!" Meanwhile back at the house, Kate's mom is losing her grip on reality and Kate's sister Rita has her own problems with a teenage daughter who has recently discovered booze and boys. Between her ornery father,her fed up sister, her wild niece and her spaced out mom, Minnesotan turned New Yorker Kate is in for one helluva family visit!.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 747
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, clever, offbeat, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 86%
House Of Himiko (2005)
Plot Summary:
Saori is a young woman struggling to make her way in life. Her gay father, Himiko, had abandoned Saori and her mother years before. Now her father's young lover Haruhiko shows up to tell Saori that her father is dying of cancer. Still angry with her father but in need of money, Saori travels to the House of Himiko, a nursing home established by her father for gay men. Over time, a tenuous relationship begins to develop between Saori, her father, and Haruhiko.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 644
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 87%
Sins of the Mother (2010)
Plot Summary:
Shay is a young African-American college student whom is forced to take a year off from school to return to her hometown where she struggles with her anger and insecurity when she's forced to confront her alcoholic mother, Nona, whom is currently in AA and a churchgoer, over her entire childhood of abuse and neglect which Shay is both unwilling and unable to let go of.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 282
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, touching, entertaining
Similar in 82%
In Celebration (1975)
Plot Summary:
In a Yorkshire mining town, three educated brothers return to their blue-collar home to celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary of their parents, but dark secrets come to the fore.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 419
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: independent film, realistic, talky, semi serious
Similar in 77%
Forgive Me (2006)
Plot Summary:
Violette, an expectant wife, who opens a nasty barrel of worms by filming a documentary about her dysfunctional family, to be shown to her (as yet) unborn son.Through her ever-present lens, Violette begins to unearth one nasty family secret after another.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 427
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 78%
Gone Fishing (2012)
Plot Summary:
A recovering alcoholic travels to the untamed coast of Patagonia to reconnect with his estranged daughter in this gentle yet deeply resonant drama from Argentine writer-director Carlos Sorin.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 449
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, touching, psychological, serious, gloomy, road movie
Similar in 82%
Voice Over (2014)
Plot Summary:
A married woman — seeking to purify herself through a "disconnection vow" — leaves her husband and returns to her parents’ home, but finds a situation far from the peace and quiet she had imagined.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 132
Genere: Drama
Country: Chile, France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: semi serious, clever, humorous, realistic, witty
Similar in 89%
Ginger & Rosa (2012)
Plot Summary:
A look at the lives of two teenage girls - inseparable friends Ginger and Rosa -- growing up in 1960s London as the Cuban Missile Crisis looms, and the pivotal event the comes to redefine their relationship.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Denmark, Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, stylized, realistic, contemplative, social, teen, aesthetic, independent film, political
Similar in 88%
Changing Hearts (2012)
Plot Summary:
A modern Prodigal Son story starring Brian McNamara, Daphne Zuniga, and Brad Johnson. James Reed, quite content with his current life, reluctantly returns home to the family business, a sick father, and a brother with whom he's always at odds.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 213
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, psychological, thought provoking, captivating, christian film, serious, independent film, entertaining
Similar in 86%
The Levelling (2016)
Plot Summary:
Clover is finishing a veterinary course when her brother dies and she is called home to her family's struggling Somerset farm.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, life affirming
Similar in 76%
All Is Forgiven (2007)
Plot Summary:
Victor lives in Vienna with Annette, his beautiful Austrian wife and their daughter Pamela. It’s spring. Fleeing his work, Victor spends his days outside: he plays with Pamela, pays a visit to Annette’s parents, loiters in the park with the drug dealers. Very much in love, Annette is confident that he’ll get a hold of himself as soon as they return to Paris. But back in France, Victor relapses into his bad habits. After a violent dispute, Victor moves into the room of a junkie he has fallen in love with. Annette leaves Victor and disappears with Pamela. 11 years later: Pamela is 17. She lives in Paris with her mother. One day, she learns that her father lives in the same city. She decides to see him again. –Quinzaine des Réalisateurs.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 956
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, psychological, sentimental, captivating, sincere, serious, gloomy
Similar in 85%
The Artist's Wife (2019)
Plot Summary:
Claire Smythson, wife of the renowned abstract artist Richard Smythson, is plunged into a late-life crisis when her husband is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and is in danger of not completing the paintings for his final show.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 324
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 76%
3:13 (2014)
Plot Summary:
From living a normal life to surviving homelessness in the city of Miami, Peter is a victim of the turbulent U.S. recession during late 2000's. A drama based on true events.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 78
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, bleak
Similar in 83%
Anything You Want (2010)
Plot Summary:
Leo is immediately set adrift by his new found responsibilities as a single parent, a feeling that is made doubly distressing when Dafne, herself understandably confused and heartbroken by her mother's absence, asks for an "artificial" mother to help her fall asleep at night. It is here that Mañas takes the road less traveled, but to write any more about the plot line he introduces would be unfair to both the viewer and filmmaker alike. Suffice it to say that Leo's actions are both surprising and potentially dangerous, as they require Leo to subsume his own identity to the point where he nearly loses it.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 565
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, crying
Similar in 83%
Our Homeland (2012)
Plot Summary:
From the late 1950s through the '70s, more than 90,000 of the ethnic Koreans in Japan emigrated to North Korea, a country that promised them affluence, justice, and an end to discrimination. KAZOKU NO KUNI tells the story of one of their number, who returns for just a short period. For the first time in 25 years, Sonho is reunited with his family in Tokyo after being allowed to undergo an operation there. Sonho’s younger sister Rie is at the centre of the film, and is not hard to recognise as the director’s alter-ego. In her documentaries DEAR PYONGYANG and SONA, THE OTHER MYSELF, Yang Yonghi told the story of her own life, and how, at age six, she experienced the departure of her three older brothers, who left their family for Pyongyang.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 285
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 89%
A Father's Choice (2000)
Plot Summary:
The fast-paced city life of two sisters is turned upside down when they are sent to live in the country with their father after their mother is killed.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 721
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating, sincere, entertaining
Similar in 78%
Archipelago (2010)
Plot Summary:
Patricia (Kate Fahy) and her two children, young adults Edward (Tom Hiddleston) and Cynthia (Lydia Leonard), arrive for a break at a holiday cottage. As rain and wind lash against the windows, Patricia grows exasperated at the absence of her husband, who remains an unheard voice on the phone. Good-natured Edward struggles to hide his angst at where his life is heading and assumes a fatherly role while becoming weirdly familiar with Rose (Amy Lloyd), the family’s hired cook. Cynthia, meanwhile, looms like a dark cloud and snaps and lashes out for no clear reason.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, sincere, atmospheric, serious, contemplative, weird, hot
Similar in 90%
The Diary of Preston Plummer (2012)
Plot Summary:
On the day of his college graduation, Preston Plummer cannot think of a single thing he really loves. Adrift, Preston follows a beautiful but troubled young woman to a small island town where he begins to fall for her, but it all threatens to fall apart when he uncovers her family’s dark past.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 390
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, captivating, realistic, romantic, serious, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 86%
Gun Hill Road (2011)
Plot Summary:
An ex-con returns home to the Bronx after three year in prison to discover his wife estranged and his teenage son exploring a sexual transformation that will put the fragile bonds of their family to the test.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, independent film, queer cinema, bilingual
Similar in 81%
Nobody Owns Me (2013)
Plot Summary:
The story of a lone father's relationship with his daughter, of the destructive power of alcohol, of a child's vulnerability, but also of love, betrayal and socialist politics in 1970s Sweden. A unique and moving story freely based on Åsa Linderborg's best-selling novel.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, social
Similar in 80%
A Quiet Little Marriage (2008)
Plot Summary:
A Quiet Little Marriage is the love story of Dax and Olive, who manage to find harmony even as they juggle family, romance and intimacy, but that all changes the night she asks him for a baby. Writer/director Mo Perkins’ intense and profound, raw feature debut is laced with sly humor, exquisitely rendered characters, and a pitch-perfect emotional honesty.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 361
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, realistic, captivating, sincere, serious, talky, independent film
Similar in 87%
Two Gates of Sleep (2010)
Plot Summary:
After preparing for their mother's imminent death, two brothers go on an arduous upriver journey to honor her final request.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 266
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 87%
Stay (2013)
Plot Summary:
A woman finds out she's pregnant and returns home when the expected father wants nothing to do with her.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 819
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, Ireland
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, touching, serious, psychological, captivating, teen, sincere
Similar in 82%
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 77%
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 79%
Blondie (2012)
Plot Summary:
Three sisters, all adrift and in crisis, reunite at their childhood home as their domineering mother arranges a big birthday. But as the festivities come to an end, repressed conflicts rise to the surface. Old wounds are opened and a new family is born.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 707
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, touching, serious, emotional, gloomy
Similar in 75%
Cocked (2015)
Plot Summary:
The Paxsons are a broken family working together - and against each other - in the most quintessentially American business, the business of guns.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 662
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 49 min
Plot tags: clever, humorous, realistic, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 76%
Common Ground (2002)
Plot Summary:
In Buenos Aires, a few days before traveling to Spain with his beloved wife Liliana Rovira to visit their son Pedro, the leftist Literature professor Fernando Robles is compulsory retired in the University, and he concludes that it is impossible to live with his pension. The crisis in Argentina does not allow Fernando to get a new job, and his wife decides to sell her family's apartment and move to a small farm near Villa Dolores to reduce their expenses. Fernando comes up with the idea to grow lavender and sell the oil to the perfume industry.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, Argentina
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, clever, touching, realistic, contemplative, semi serious
Similar in 85%
One True Thing (1998)
Plot Summary:
A career woman reassesses her parents' lives after she is forced to care for her cancer-stricken mother.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: touching, melancholic, emotional, realistic, depressing, clever, serious, contemplative, gloomy, tear jerker
Similar in 78%
A Day Late and a Dollar Short (2014)
Plot Summary:
When irascible matriarch Viola Price learns that her next asthma attack will likely kill her, she is determined to fix her fractured family before she leaves this world.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 732
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, sentimental, captivating, uplifting, touching, serious