Best movies like The Shanghai Spell
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A fourteen year old lad discovers his first love at the point of his pencil whilst drawing the portrait of a sickly but coquettish fifteen year old girl. In the neighbourhood an old freedom-fighter pits himself against bad types, a pretty cinema-ticket girl takes to the streets at night and a young anarchist dedicates himself to telling tall stories. Far away, in Shanghai, a hero of the Republic meets a beautiful femme fatal with oriental eyes. Reality and fiction become fused in an embrace.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 549
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Spain, France, UK
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, captivating, neo noir, realistic, fairy tale, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like The Shanghai Spell (2002):
Similar in 78%
El Sur (1983)
Plot Summary:
The movie tells a melancholic story of a little girl who is living in a city in the north. She is fascinated by the secrets of the south which seem to be hidden in the personality of her father.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: Spain, France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: poetic, sad, art house, visual, psychological, sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 76%
The Battery (2007)
Plot Summary:
Because of his younger brother’s poor health, Takumi and his family move to a different Japanese town. There, Takumi, an incredibly gifted baseball pitcher, gradually alienates his relatives and friends by putting sports above all else in life.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 175
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, dorama, light, compassionate
Similar in 86%
Summer Rain (2006)
Plot Summary:
A coming-of-age tale charting the first loves, lusts and obsessions of friends on vacation at the end of the 1970s.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Spain, UK, USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, captivating, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, stylized
Similar in 75%
Love is the Word (2013)
Plot Summary:
Love is the Word is a moving, romantic and funny coming-of-age drama about the magic of first love and the misery of first lost, set in 1978: the year 'Grease' hit the big screen.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 630
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Netherlands, Belgium
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, sentimental, realistic, captivating, emotional, sexy
Similar in 85%
Cowards (2008)
Plot Summary:
A young victim of bullying at school realizes that even the adult world is dominated by fear similar to his own. He pays a high price when he decides to fight back.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 596
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, touching, captivating, hispanic
Similar in 84%
Ismael (2013)
Plot Summary:
An 8-year-old boy tracks down his father.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, serious, emotional, psychological, captivating, feel good
Similar in 78%
The Bay Boy (1984)
Plot Summary:
A Roman Catholic teenage boy in Glace Bay, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia during the 1930s faces various growing-up problems: Should be become a priest? What should he do about the murder he witnessed, committed by a local cop and upstanding parishioner? And how far should he go with his girl friend, who happens to be the murderer's daughter?.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 741
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, France
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: spiritual, sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, independent film, nostalgic
Similar in 78%
My Only Sunshine (2008)
Plot Summary:
Hayat, her father and bedridden grandfather live in a riverside shack near the dangerously dark but breathtakingly beautiful waters of the Bosphorus. Hayat's father owns a small boat that secures the family's survival through a miscellany of not always lawful ventures. Beyond the motion and romance of the water, Hayat's life is harsh and unrelenting. But Hayat has an instinct for survival. Her capacity for courage, endurance and hope in the face of these trials suggest that there is Life despite the manifold injustices of an unjust world.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, captivating, art house, atmospheric, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Mother, I Love You (2013)
Plot Summary:
Raimonds, a 12 year old boy, falls into a world of petty crime while trying to stay out of trouble with his mother.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 896
Genere: Drama
Country: Latvia
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating, entertaining
Similar in 82%
Switch (2007)
Plot Summary:
Mikkel (17) lives a good life in Oslo were he has heaps of friends. When his mother gets a new job, Mikkel has to move to a small town and start all over. Here, snowboard is the big thing and to be accepted by the new kids, Mikkel has to go into training.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama, Sport
Country: Norway
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 79%
Becoming Redwood (2012)
Plot Summary:
A quirky coming of age story about an 11-year-old boy named Redwood who dreams that if he can beat Jack Nicklaus at the 1975 Master's of golf he'll reunite his parents.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 184
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere, gloomy
Similar in 77%
The Devil in the Skin (2011)
Plot Summary:
Coming-of-Age drama telling the story of the strong bond between Xavier and his little brother Jacques and their struggle to remain together despite all odds.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 71
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, serious, realistic
Similar in 84%
Pope Dreams (2006)
Plot Summary:
In the vein of Good Will Hunting and Garden State, POPE DREAMS is a coming of age tale about a young man at a crossroads in life. Filled with heart, music, life, and loss. And a set of drums. Oh, and the Pope. POPE DREAMS is about a directionless nineteen-year old boy, Andy Venable, who works for his hard-case dad in a store warehouse during the day and plays drums in a loud heavy-metal band at night. His only clear goal at the moment is to get his sick mother, a devout Catholic, to meet the Pope before she dies. While he's busy with that, he falls for a girl who's totally out of his league and gets discovered by two Broadway producers for a musical talent that just might be his true calling. Andy's a dreamer. But dreaming is easy. It's reality that's hard.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 285
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, psychological, sentimental, independent film, serious
Similar in 78%
Confetti Harvest (2014)
Plot Summary:
Dorsvloer vol Confetti tells the story of young Katelijne, who grows up in a religious family in the countryside in Zeeland. Based on the novel by Franca Treur.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 605
Genere: Drama
Country: Netherlands, Belgium
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: realistic, emotional, psychological, captivating, sentimental, touching, serious
Similar in 83%
Beautiful Fall (2004)
Plot Summary:
Ninni is sixteen and she lives in a beautiful mansion in the swedish countryside with her family.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 163
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Sweden
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating, freeze frame
Similar in 83%
1st Love (2013)
Plot Summary:
Antoine, 13, spends the summer vacation with his parents in a rented cottage on an island in the middle of the Saint-Lawrence River. His neighbour, 17-year-old Anna, is an enigmatic and lively young woman. Antoine begins to experience the first stirrings of love-which soon yield a troubling brew of anxiety, desire and obsession. He eventually comes across a terrible secret that will forever change his life.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 253
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating
Similar in 84%
Buddha Mountain (2010)
Plot Summary:
Ding Bo (Chen Po Lin) and his friends Nan Feng (Fan Bingbing) and Fei Zao aka Fatso (Fei Long) are a trio of 20-something outsiders who have no intention of sitting exams and getting into universities. When they need a new home, they answer an ad placed by lonely, retired Chinese opera singer Chang Yue Qin (Sylvia Chang), who is mourning the death of her son, and move into her sprawling Chengdu apartment. Right off the bat, the four clash over lifestyle and values, with the bratty trio seeing fit to steal from her and invade her privacy. However, slowly but surely a bond among them develops and everyone eventually learns something from the next.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 921
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sexy, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Ricochet River (2001)
Plot Summary:
hree teenagers looking for adventure find more than they expected in this coming-of-age drama. High school seniors Wade (Jason James Richter) and Lorna (Kate Hudson) have spent all their lives in the small logging town of Calamus Grove, a conservative place where change comes slowly. Jesse Howl (Douglas Spain), a teenager of Native American ancestry, has just moved to Calamus Grove, and soon finds he doesn't fit in this close-knit community. Wade and Lorna go out of their way to befriend Jesse, and soon find that they're also regarded as outcasts among their peers. Eager to get away from the narrow minds which are stifling them, the three friends grab a car and take off for a summer road trip that turns out to be full of lessons in life and love. Ricochet River was based on the novel by Robin Cody.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 326
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, independent film, talky
Similar in 78%
Booky's Crush (2009)
Plot Summary:
The Thomsons - parents Thomas and Francie, and children Willa, Arthur, Beatrice (nicknamed Booky) and Jakey - are a loving working class family living in the Depression era in Toronto. Arthur is showing aptitude in drawing, and although his parents want to support his skill, Thomas in particular wants him to take up a vocation that is a little more stable. Willa, the part time librarian, is attracted to Russell, the medical student she meets at the library. And 11-year old Booky is happy that she has been asked to tutor the new older sixth grade student, Georgie Dunlop, in spelling, since she has a crush on him, her first ever. She just can't wait for him to ask her to the school dance. But she begins to have mixed feelings about Georgie based on a gift he gives to her. Digging a little deeper, Booky begins to understand both the good and bad of Georgie.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 144
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 76%
Cider with Rosie (2015)
Plot Summary:
A semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story set in the Cotswolds during and immediately after the First World War.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 825
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, sentimental, touching, semi autobiographical
Similar in 90%
Valley (2014)
Plot Summary:
This is the story of three sensitive teens who are forced to deal with violence at home, violence at school. It is a story of friendship, of love and hate, where the adolescents world is revealed as cruel and beautiful, a world where the desire to die or kill and the will to live are very confused but finally define the fate of the three heroes.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 64
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Bulgarian Rhapsody (2014)
Plot Summary:
the story of two adolescents, Moni and Zhozho, who meet 17-year-old Zheni in 1943 and with whom both fell in love. The events that follow unfold while Bulgaria has to decide on the deportation of 11 343 Jewish citizens in Macedonia and Thrace.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 437
Genere: Drama
Country: Bulgaria, Israel
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, emotional, suspenseful, serious, realistic
Similar in 87%
The Outlander (2005)
Plot Summary:
It is the early 20th century. A stranger arrives in the small, rural community and disrupts the lives of its inhabitants. The man, who refuses to give his name, is dubbed The Outlander. A traveller who disdains conventional behaviour and parochialism, The Outlander disturbs the villagers' complacency and scandalizes the community; he also elicits admiration and gains a woman's love. He ultimately leaves in the same manner he had arrived, but not before he has helped the villagers open their eyes to the larger world beyond their village.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 406
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, sentimental, touching, realistic, serious
Similar in 76%
What Girls Learn (2001)
Plot Summary:
Two teenage girls must come to terms with their stepfather when their mother is struck by illness.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 340
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sincere, emotional, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 85%
Jack (2014)
Plot Summary:
Although he is only ten years old, Jack is responsible for himself and his little brother Manuel and this fills him with pride. Their single mother works during the day and often goes out at night. There’s no father in sight. One day, Manuel burns himself with boiling hot water while bathing and Jack is blamed for the incident. It's reason enough for social services to put him in a home where he is dreadfully homesick. He soon gets into trouble and bolts, heading for home. He arrives back, only to find his mother is once again absent. Jack and Manuel roam the city in search of her. They sleep in parks and in an underground car park, run away from the police and encounter adults, some of whom help and others who are indifferent.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, touching, captivating, serious, social, gloomy
Similar in 86%
The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
Plot Summary:
When he first enters the Montpellier Opera House, Victor knows nothing about music. Nor does he know his father, Samuel Rovinski, who is there to conduct Mahler’s 6th symphony. To change the course of his suddenly uncertain future, for Nadia his mother, for Luna whom he has fallen in love with, Victor has decided to step out of the shadows. He’ll go as far as he needs to.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 520
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, touching, emotional, captivating, sincere, serious
Similar in 77%
A Time in Quchi (2013)
Plot Summary:
Bao stays with his grandfather for the summer and is shocked to see there are no modern appliances.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 130
Genere: Drama
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, atmospheric, captivating, serious
Similar in 85%
Mommy Is at the Hairdresser's (2008)
Plot Summary:
Summer 1966. It's time to enjoy the summer holiday, total freedom. Teenage Élise discovers that the sudden departure of her mother completely disrupts the family. Her brother Coco seeks solace in the garage, building a super racing car. Her youngest brother Benoît throws himself into his own inner world. The father seems absolutely knocked out by the situation. Élise decides to take control of her family, in an eloquent attempt to save them. With the assistance of flourishing nature around her, she stands on the threshold of an incomparable summer.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 922
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, disturbing, sexy, sincere, captivating, sexual
Similar in 78%
Face (2002)
Plot Summary:
Genie, a Chinese-American teenager, develops feelings for a charming African-American DJ, but her grandmother forbids their romance forcing Genie to choose between family and love.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 350
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, emotional, sentimental, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 83%
Absence (2014)
Plot Summary:
A daily, familiar, sexual and emotional drama. Based on the character Serginho, the plot is based around various aspects of this "no longer a boy, not yet a man". We follow his day to day: the recently acquired role of man of the house, taking care of his mother and younger brother; is work at the market; his friendship with Mudinho and Silvinha; and his confusing relationship, between sex and affection, with professor Ney. The film is a tapestry of the life moments of a boy in transition.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 177
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil, Chile, France
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, bleak