Best movies like The Secret Life of Bees
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, sentimental, emotional, sweet, inspirational, crying, psychological, captivating, intense
Best tv shows and movies like The Secret Life of Bees (2008):
Similar in 89%
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Plot Summary:
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer (Joanne Woodward) and her daughters Ruth (Roberta Wallach) and Matilda (Nell Potts) are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, sentimental, realistic, emotional, talky, surreal, art house, sincere, clever
Similar in 89%
A Raisin in the Sun (2008)
Plot Summary:
Dreams can make a life worth living, but they can also be dashed by bad decisions. This is the crossroads whare the Younger family find themselves when their father passes away and leaves them with $10,000 in life insurance money. Should they buy a new home for the family? Perhaps a liquor store? While no choice is easy, life on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s is even harder.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, emotional, uplifting, touching, serious, family saga, captivating, realistic
Similar in 87%
Circle of Friends (1995)
Plot Summary:
'Circle Of Friends' is set in 1950's Ireland. The movie focuses on Benny Hogan and her best friend, Eve Malone. The story centers around Benny and Eve as they enter student life at University College, Dublin. Here Benny and Eve reunite with their childhood friend, the ice-cool Nan Mahon, the 'college belle'. They also encounter the handsome and charming Jack Foley, whom Benny quickly falls for.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Ireland, USA, UK
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: emotional, period piece, sentimental, realistic, sweet, captivating, sincere, feel good, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 79%
Losing Isaiah (1995)
Plot Summary:
Khaila Richards, a crack-addicted single mother, accidentally leaves her baby in a dumpster while high and returns the next day in a panic to find he is missing. In reality, the baby has been adopted by a warm-hearted social worker, Margaret Lewin, and her husband, Charles. Years later, Khaila has gone through rehab and holds a steady job. After learning that her child is still alive, she challenges Margaret for the custody.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: heartbreaking, touching, emotional, melancholic, serious, thought provoking, sexy, sad, hood, cult classic
Similar in 87%
The Kite Runner (2007)
Plot Summary:
After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 82000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, China, USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: emotional, disturbing, inspirational, sincere, psychological, touching, realistic, educational, sad, motivational
Similar in 81%
Clara's Heart (1988)
Plot Summary:
David is a teenager whose parents are in a deteriorating marriage after their infant daughter dies. Clara is a chambermaid at a Jamaican resort who's hired to be a housekeeper. She and David develop a close bond, opening his eyes and heart to new experiences, and eventually leading to a disturbing secret in Clara's past.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, serious, realistic, romantic, sexy, feel good, unusual plot structure, melancholic
Similar in 75%
Pariah (2011)
Plot Summary:
A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, realistic, sincere, serious, emotional, spiritual, lgbt cinema, sexual, powerful
Similar in 84%
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Plot Summary:
Scout Finch, 6, and her older brother Jem live in sleepy Maycomb, Alabama, spending much of their time with their friend Dill and spying on their reclusive and mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley. When Atticus, their widowed father and a respected lawyer, defends a black man named Tom Robinson against fabricated rape charges, the trial and tangent events expose the children to evils of racism and stereotyping.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 329000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: touching, black and white, enigmatic, compassionate, sentimental, thought provoking, southern gothic, educational, inspirational, gothic
Similar in 81%
The War (1994)
Plot Summary:
The son of a Vietnam War Veteran must deal with neighborhood bullies as well as his dad's post-traumatic stress disorder while growing up in the deep south in the 1970's.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, realistic, epic, dark comedy, cult classic, sincere, serious, tear jerker
Similar in 77%
The Trip to Bountiful (1985)
Plot Summary:
Carrie Watts is living the twilight of her life trapped in an apartment in 1940's Houston, Texas with a controlling daughter-in-law and a hen-pecked son. Her fondest wish -- just once before she dies -- is to revisit Bountiful, the small Texas town of her youth which she still refers to as "home.".
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, independent film, road movie, thought provoking, serious, captivating, realistic, sincere
Similar in 76%
Sudie and Simpson (1990)
Plot Summary:
A television movie about the friendship that develops between a young white girl and an older black man in a racist, rural Georgia town during the 1940s.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 169
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 87%
The Rising Place (2001)
Plot Summary:
The close friendship of two young women, each of a different race, and their struggle to find purpose in their lives during this time of social injustice and world war.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 208
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 75%
My Brilliant Friend (2018)
Plot Summary:
When the most important friend in her life seems to have disappeared without a trace, Elena Greco, a now-elderly woman immersed in a house full of books, turns on her computer and starts writing the story of their friendship.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, suspense, exciting, rough, captivating, erotic, aesthetic
Similar in 78%
Tully (2000)
Plot Summary:
Tully Jr. and Earl live on their father's Nebraska ranch, proud and independent to a fault. While the shy, reclusive Earl spends his free time watching movies, the cockier Tully works his way through a succession of short-term affairs and an off-again, on-again relationship with April, a stripper in town. When their childhood friend Ella returns to town to start a veterinary practice, however, Tully falls for her -- although the townsfolk have their doubts that he could ever commit to one woman.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, touching, serious, independent film, realistic, romantic, social, sincere, thought provoking
Similar in 81%
Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored (1995)
Plot Summary:
This film relates the story of a tightly connected Afro-American community informally called Colored Town where the inhabitants live and depend on each other in a world where racist oppression is everywhere, as told by a boy called Cliff who spent his childhood there. Despite this, we see the life of the community in all its joys and sorrows, of those that live there while others decide to leave for a better life north. For those remaining, things come to a serious situation when one prominent businessman is being muscled out by a white competitor using racist intimidation. In response, the community must make the decision of whether to submit meekly like they always have, or finally fight for their rights.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 558
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, realistic, independent film, compassionate, political, serious, contemplative, road movie, touching
Similar in 89%
To Save a Life (2009)
Plot Summary:
Jake Taylor has everything. He has a beautiful girl, he's the champion in basketball and beer pong, and everyone loves him. Then, an old childhood friend, whom Jake used to be friends with, commits suicide. Jake begins to think. He wonders what he could've done to save his friend's life. A youth minister tells him that Jake needs God. So Jake becomes a Christian. However, things begin to spin out of control. His dad is cheating on his mom, his girlfriend is pregnant, and his former friends ridicule and mock him. During all this, Jake is going to realize just what it means to be a Christian and how, to save a life.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: christian film, sincere, serious, captivating, contemplative, realistic, inspirational, spiritual, exciting, uplifting
Similar in 87%
Toe to Toe (2009)
Plot Summary:
Out on the lacrosse pitch, wealthy but troubled Jesse and poor but driven Tosha form an easy and deep bond, but their relationship is threatened once they enter the hallways of an elite prep school they attend in Washington, D.C. There, they must work to overcome racial and other tensions in their classmates, and in themselves, if they hope to keep their friendship alive.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 517
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, psychological, sentimental, sexy, sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious, emotional
Similar in 80%
Hounddog (2007)
Plot Summary:
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: disturbing, touching, serious, stylized, controversial, crying, erotic, gothic, sad, teen
Similar in 87%
Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
Plot Summary:
The story of an old Jewish widow named Daisy Werthan and her relationship with her colored chauffeur Hoke. From an initial mere work relationship grew in 25 years a strong friendship between the two very different characters in a time when those types of relationships where shunned upon. Oscar winning tragic comedy with a star-studded cast and based on a play of the same name by Alfred Uhry.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 116000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, touching, feel good, inspirational, emotional, witty, talky, intense, period piece
Similar in 86%
Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
Plot Summary:
Eleven year-old Akeelah Anderson's life is not easy: her father is dead, her mom ignores her, her brother runs with the local gangbangers. She's smart, but her environment threatens to strangle her aspirations. Responding to a threat by her school's principal, Akeelah participates in a spelling bee to avoid detention for her many absences. Much to her surprise and embarrassment, she wins. Her principal asks her to seek coaching from an English professor named Dr. Larabee for the more prestigious regional bee. As the possibility of making it all the way to the Scripps National Spelling Bee looms, Akeelah could provide her community with someone to rally around and be proud of -- but only if she can overcome her insecurities and her distracting home life. She also must get past Dr. Larabee's demons, and a field of more experienced and privileged fellow spellers.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: touching, uplifting, emotional, sentimental, realistic, sweet, serious, inspirational, feel good, sincere
Similar in 80%
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Plot Summary:
Gilbert has to care for his brother Arnie and his obese mother, which gets in the way when love walks into his life.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 250000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: melancholic, emotional, touching, depressing, sad, independent film, crying, compassionate, bleak, heartbreaking
Similar in 88%
The Blind Side (2009)
Plot Summary:
Oversized African-American, Michael Oher, the teen from across the tracks and a broken home, has nowhere to sleep at age 16. Taken in by an affluent Memphis couple, Michael embarks on a remarkable rise to play for the NFL.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 355000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, emotional, sentimental, motivational, uplifting, realistic, feel good, captivating, christian film
Similar in 81%
White Oleander (2002)
Plot Summary:
A teenager journeys through a series of foster homes after her mother goes to prison for committing a crime of passion.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: emotional, intense, touching, disturbing, serious, realistic, erotic, sentimental, gothic, social
Similar in 76%
Thirteen (2003)
Plot Summary:
Tracy is a normal 13-year-old trying to make it in school. After befriending the most popular girl at school, Evie, Tracy's world is turned upside down when Evie introduces her to a world of sex, drugs and cash. But it isn't long before Tracy's new world and attitude finally takes a toll on her, her family, and old friends.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 96000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: teen, sincere, realistic, tense, disturbing, emotional, intense, serious, depressing, bleak
Similar in 81%
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002)
Plot Summary:
A mother and daughter dispute is resolved by the "Yaya sisterhood" - long time friends of the mother.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, emotional, intense, sincere, captivating, funny, gothic, feel good, independent film
Similar in 79%
I Am Sam (2001)
Plot Summary:
Sam has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. He has a daughter with a homeless woman who abandons them when they leave the hospital, leaving Sam to raise Lucy on his own. But as Lucy grows up, Sam's limitations start to become a problem and the authorities take her away. Sam shames high-priced lawyer Rita into taking his case pro bono and in turn teaches her the value of love and family.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 154000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: inspirational, emotional, touching, tear jerker, sad, sentimental, sincere, serious, heartbreaking, sweet
Similar in 80%
The Help (2011)
Plot Summary:
Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson is an African-American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family's struggles with money and her desperate need for jobs; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is a young white woman who has recently moved back home after graduating college to find out her childhood maid has mysteriously disappeared. These three stories intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around "the help"; yet they are always kept at a certain distance because of racial lines.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 484000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, India
Duration: 146 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, thought provoking, uplifting, emotional, feel good, captivating, period piece, sad, sentimental
Similar in 88%
The Joy Luck Club (1993)
Plot Summary:
Through a series of flashbacks, four young chinese women born in America and their respective mothers born in feudal China, explore their past. This search will help them understand their difficult mother/daughter relationship.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, sincere, captivating, thought provoking, emotional, sad, retro, depressing, spiritual
Similar in 75%
The Color Purple (1985)
Plot Summary:
An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing "Mister" Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa. Based on the novel by Alice Walker.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 94000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 154 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, inspirational, sad, sincere, emotional, compassionate, period piece, heartbreaking
Similar in 90%
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Plot Summary:
Amidst her own personality crisis, southern housewife Evelyn Couch meets Ninny, an outgoing old woman who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, two young women who experienced hardships and love in Whistle Stop, Alabama in the 1920s.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 80000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: feel good, sentimental, touching, captivating, inspirational, sad, tear jerker, heartbreaking, emotional, realistic