Best movies like The Sheltering Sky
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
An American couple (John Malkovich, Debra Winger) drift toward emptiness in postwar North Africa.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK, Italy
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: road movie, scenic, surreal, visually appealing, erotic, sexy, independent film, retro, art film, sensual
Best tv shows and movies like The Sheltering Sky (1990):
Similar in 76%
Hideous Kinky (1998)
Plot Summary:
In 1972, disenchanted about the dreary conventions of English life, 25-year-old Julia heads for Morocco with her daughters, six-year-old Lucy and precocious eight-year-old Bea.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: road movie, atmospheric, emotional, serious, realistic, cult classic, gloomy, independent film, erotic, sexy
Similar in 78%
The Forgiven (2021)
Plot Summary:
Over a weekend in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, a random accident reverberates through the lives of both the local Muslims and Western visitors to a house party in a grand villa.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA, Canada
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, atmospheric
Similar in 75%
In the White City (1983)
Plot Summary:
A Swiss sailor jumps ship in Lisbon, tired of the noisy engine room, the ship "a floating factory of crazy people." He rents a room and does little. He writes letters to his lover, describing the whiteness of the city, the solitude and the silence. He sends his love and emptiness; she replies with love and confusion. He sends movies from his 8mm camera. Then he becomes friendly with Rosa, a chambermaid, and soon it's a love affair. He continues to send letters and movies home. His Swiss lover is hurt and angry; she sends an ultimatum. Written by jhailey.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Switzerland, Portugal, UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: road movie, psychological, bleak, serious, realistic, surreal, contemplative, stylized, gloomy, cult film
Similar in 79%
Exiles (2004)
Plot Summary:
One day Zano suggest a crazy idea to his companion Naïma: travel across France and Spain down to Algeria, where they might ultimately come to know the land their parents once had to flee.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Music
Country: France, Japan
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: road movie, captivating, serious, realistic, epic, crying
Similar in 77%
The Double Steps (2011)
Plot Summary:
Fiction inspired by the novelistic biography of the painter and writer Francois Augiéras. The artist covered with paints a military bunker in the desert, and let it sink into the sand so no one could find it until the XXI century. The search continues to feed the myth bunker ... Who is Augiéras? ¿Legionnaire, painter, writer, gunman, holy, thief, devil or a mixture of all?.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 179
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Spain, Switzerland
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 86%
Innocence (2000)
Plot Summary:
After more than forty years apart, Andreas and Claire embark on an affair as reckless and intense as when they were young lovers. Widowed musician Andreas decides to get back in touch with his one great love, Claire, who is still married to her first husband, John. Andreas and Claire find that the connection they shared when they were young is still there and they soon become involved in a rekindled love affair.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia, Belgium
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: romantic, sincere, touching, emotional, romantic drama, atmospheric, serious, realistic, contemplative, erotic
Similar in 80%
The Beautiful Troublemaker (1991)
Plot Summary:
The former famous painter Frenhofer lives quietly with his wife on his countryside residence in the French Provence. When the young artist Nicolas visits him with his girlfriend Marianne, Frenhofer decides to start again the work on a painting he long ago stopped: La Belle Noiseuse. And he wants Marianne as model. The now starting creative process changes life for everyone. It is a struggle for truth, life and sense, and the question where the limits of arts are or whether art is limitless.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Switzerland
Duration: 238 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, realistic, psychological, atmospheric, erotic, serious, sexy, contemplative, sexual
Similar in 89%
America America (1963)
Plot Summary:
A young Anatolian Greek, entrusted with his family's fortune, loses it en route to Istanbul and dreams of going to America.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 174 min
Plot tags: road movie, social, art house, existential, aesthetic, semi autobiographical, atmospheric, touching, serious, captivating
Similar in 83%
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
Plot Summary:
Fitzcarraldo, a dreamer who plans to bring opera and Enrico Caruso to the South American jungles. With limited funding, he must figure out how to finance the opera house, and ultimately decides to capitalize on South America's rubber production. He discovers a hidden forest of rubber trees that is well protected by rapids, but the only way to get there is via a river on the other side of a small group of mountains. Fitzcarraldo therefore hires natives to pull his steamship over the mountain.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: West Germany, Peru
Duration: 158 min
Plot tags: cerebral, surreal, visually appealing, visual, tense, stylized, road movie, scenic, mind bending, thought provoking
Similar in 80%
Morvern Callar (2002)
Plot Summary:
Morvern Callar wakes on Christmas morning to discover that her troubled boyfriend has committed suicide, leaving behind the unpublished manuscript to his first novel and a sum of money intended to pay for his burial. Instead, Morvern attempts to use both to reinvent her life.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Canada
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: disturbing, talky, psychological, touching, serious, contemplative, sincere, atmospheric, erotic, intellectual
Similar in 79%
The Passenger (1975)
Plot Summary:
David Locke (Jack Nicholson) is a world-weary American journalist who has been sent to cover a conflict in northern Africa, but he makes little progress with the story. When he discovers the body of a stranger who looks similar to him, Locke assumes the dead man's identity. However, he soon finds out that the man was an arms dealer, leading Locke into dangerous situations. Aided by a beautiful woman (Maria Schneider), Locke attempts to avoid both the police and criminals out to get him.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy, France, Spain
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: road movie, stylized, cerebral, philosophical, existential, tense, slow cinema, psychedelic, gothic, political
Similar in 85%
Map of the Human Heart (1992)
Plot Summary:
Fantastic improbabilities, happenstance and the undying bridge of love are part of this romantic fantasy about an Inuit who crosses years, oceans and the ravages of WWII to find his childhood love, a Metis girl, but finds that their cultures are the most difficult spaces to gap.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance, War
Country: Australia, UK, Canada, France
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: romantic, touching, emotional, realistic, erotic, retro, independent film, serious, captivating, fairy tale
Similar in 77%
Patagonia (2010)
Plot Summary:
Patagonia narrates the journeys of two women - one looking for her past, the other for her future. The film inter-cuts between their stories, in which one of them travels south to north through the Welsh springtime and the other east to west through the Argentine autumn.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 628
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Argentina, UK
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: road movie, atmospheric, touching, sincere, uplifting, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 89%
The English Patient (1996)
Plot Summary:
In the 1930s, Count Almásy is a Hungarian map maker employed by the Royal Geographical Society to chart the vast expanses of the Sahara Desert along with several other prominent explorers. As World War II unfolds, Almásy enters into a world of love, betrayal, and politics.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 198000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA, UK, Italy
Duration: 162 min
Plot tags: romantic, sentimental, emotional, touching, heartbreaking, sexy, erotic, scenic, epic, captivating
Similar in 78%
Last Orders (2001)
Plot Summary:
Jack Dodd was a London butcher who enjoyed a pint with his mates for over 50 years. When he died, he died as he lived, with a smile on his face watching a horse race on which he had bet, with borrowed money. But before he died he had a final request, 'Last Orders', that his ashes be scattered in the sea at Margate. The movie follows his mates, Ray, Lenny and Vic and his foster son Vince as they journey to the sea with the ashes. Along the way, the threads of their lives, their loves and their disappointments are woven together in their memories of Jack and his wife Amy.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Germany
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, talky, atmospheric, sincere, serious, emotional, contemplative, road movie
Similar in 86%
One Week (2008)
Plot Summary:
Ben Tyler (Joshua Jackson) has been diagnosed with cancer. With a grim chance of survival in the best case scenario even if he immediately begins treatment, he instead decides to take a motorcycle trip from Toronto through the Canadian prairies to British Columbia.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: road movie, realistic, philosophical, bad ending, emotional, meditative, serious, sexy, feel good, children's story
Similar in 76%
Out of Africa (1985)
Plot Summary:
Out of Africa tells the story of the life of Danish author Karen Blixen, who at the beginning of the 20th century moved to Africa to build a new life for herself. The film is based on the autobiographical novel by Karen Blixen from 1937.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 85000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 161 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, romantic, period piece, scenic, costume drama, epic, sentimental, heartbreaking
Similar in 75%
Delta of Venus (1995)
Plot Summary:
A struggling American writer and a fellow American expatriate begin a sordid affair among the chaos and discord of 1940 Paris, France on the brink of World War II.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexual, sexy, sensual, postmodern, independent film, serious, realistic, stylized, intellectual
Similar in 87%
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
Plot Summary:
Successful surgeon Tomas leaves Prague for an operation, meets a young photographer named Tereza, and brings her back with him. Tereza is surprised to learn that Tomas is already having an affair with the bohemian Sabina, but when the Soviet invasion occurs, all three flee to Switzerland. Sabina begins an affair, Tom continues womanizing, and Tereza, disgusted, returns to Czechoslovakia. Realizing his mistake, Tomas decides to chase after her.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 171 min
Plot tags: sexy, sensual, erotic, sexual, romantic, philosophical, art house, crying, existential, independent film
Similar in 78%
Gerry (2002)
Plot Summary:
Two friends named Gerry become lost in the desert after taking a wrong turn. Their attempts to find their way home only lead them into further trouble.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA, Argentina
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: surreal, minimal cast, art house, enigmatic, melancholic, disturbing, captivating, visual, mindfuck, independent film
Similar in 84%
The Beach (2000)
Plot Summary:
Twenty-something Richard travels to Thailand and finds himself in possession of a strange map. Rumours state that it leads to a solitary beach paradise, a tropical bliss - excited and intrigued, he sets out to find it.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 250000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: psychological, scenic, tense, stylized, intellectual, visual, philosophical, epic, atmospheric, psychological thriller
Similar in 83%
One Night Stand (1997)
Plot Summary:
In Los Angeles, Max Carlyle makes a good living directing commercials and has a happy home life with his wife, Mimi, and two children. When Carlyle travels to New York City to visit his friend Charlie, who has been diagnosed with AIDS, he has repeat run-ins with a beautiful woman, Karen, and eventually sleeps with her. Though he goes home the next day and doesn't return until a year later, Carlyle's infidelity still lingers.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sexy, melancholic, light, intense, touching, serious, realistic, erotic, clever, romantic
Similar in 75%
Live Flesh (1997)
Plot Summary:
A scorned ex-convict forces himself into the lives of the couple who put him behind bars.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, France
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sexy, psychological, intense, atmospheric, emotional, erotic, serious, realistic, visual, neo noir
Similar in 77%
Duma (2005)
Plot Summary:
An orphaned cheetah becomes the best friend and pet of a young boy living in South Africa.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sweet, sentimental, touching, captivating, inspirational, sad, atmospheric, realistic, semi serious, romantic
Similar in 75%
The Secret Lives of Dentists (2002)
Plot Summary:
An introspective dentist's suspicions about his wife's infidelity stresses his mental well being and family life to the breaking point.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, talky, sincere, thought provoking, touching, semi serious, humorous, independent film, realistic
Similar in 90%
The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
Plot Summary:
A cargo plane goes down in a sandstorm in the Sahara with less than a dozen men on board. One of the passengers is an airplane designer who comes up with the idea of ripping off the undamaged wing and using it as the basis for an airplane they will build to escape before their food and water run out.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: suspense, harsh, serious, captivating, exciting, bleak, suspenseful, psychological, retro, action adventure
Similar in 79%
And Your Mother Too! (2001)
Plot Summary:
In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 128000
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sexy, road movie, erotic, realistic, art house, sensual, sex comedy, hispanic, eros, humorous
Similar in 81%
On the Road (2012)
Plot Summary:
Dean and Sal are the portrait of the Beat Generation. Their search for "It" results in a fast paced, energetic roller coaster ride with highs and lows throughout the U.S.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 43000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: France, USA, UK, Mexico, Canada, Brazil
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: road movie, sexy, independent film, inspirational, melancholic, atmospheric, art house, period piece, erotic, psychological
Similar in 80%
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Plot Summary:
Dangerous Liaisons is the film based on the novel of the same name by Choderlos de Laclos set in 18th century France. Marquise de Merteuil’s asks her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the future wife of another ex-lover of hers in return for one last night with her. Yet things don’t go as planned in this love triangle drama.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 74000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: sexy, costume drama, period piece, sexual, erotic, historical drama, sensual, romantic, atmospheric, suspense
Similar in 90%
The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
Plot Summary:
Three American brothers who have not spoken to each other in a year set off on a train voyage across India with a plan to find themselves and bond with each other -- to become brothers again like they used to be. Their "spiritual quest", however, veers rapidly off-course (due to events involving over-the-counter pain killers, Indian cough syrup, and pepper spray).
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 214000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, India
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: road movie, emotional, dark comedy, surreal, talky, touching, humorous, stylized, independent film, meditative