Best movies like The Waterdance
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
An oft overlooked film about struggling to deal with paralysis. Author Joel Garcia breaks his neck while hiking, and finds himself in a rehab center with Raymond, an exaggerating ladies man, and Bloss, a racist biker. Considerable tension builds as each character tries to deal with his new found handicap and the problems that go with it, especially Joel, whose lover Anna is having as difficult a time as he is.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, emotional, talky, psychological, sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, independent film, erotic
Best tv shows and movies like The Waterdance (1992):
Similar in 83%
Passion Fish (1992)
Plot Summary:
Soap actress May-Alice Culhane is paralyzed from the waist down in an accident. She returns to her old home in Louisiana, where she proceeds to drink quite steadily and to drive away five personal attendants in the first twenty minutes of the movie. Then she meets with Chantelle, whose stubbornness matches her own -- if only because Chantelle, herself a recovering cocaine addict, cannot afford to lose this job. Their mutual dislike gradually develops into an armed truce as the two women deal with their own problems and with each others'.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: sentimental, independent film, clever, talky, cult classic, psychological, sincere, thought provoking, touching, realistic
Similar in 88%
Intruder (1993)
Plot Summary:
In childhood and youth, the three were "the inseparables." Luisa married Ángel, then two years later, she left him to marry Ramiro. After ten years, Ángel reappears, back from South America, broke and ill. Luisa is overcome with sentimentality and, over Ramiro's objections, takes Ángel into their house. Ángel is bitter, he and Ramiro have shifted from best friends to enemies. Luisa wants to be in love with both. Ramiro hopes he can wait out Ángel's declining health, and Luisa wants to heal Ángel through force of will. What is Ángel's plan? Observing the roiling emotions are Luisa and Ramiro's precocious young children. Who's in danger here?.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 357
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Spain
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic
Similar in 84%
The Last Good Time (1994)
Plot Summary:
A reclusive aging widower struggling with tax problems has a complete change in his views of life as he has a chance encounter with a young woman who moves in with him briefly.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 339
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Open Hearts (2002)
Plot Summary:
Cecilie and Joachim are about to get married when a freak car accident leaves Joachim disabled, throwing their lives into a spin. The driver of the other car, Marie, and her family don’t get off lightly, either. Her husband Niels works in the hospital where he meets Cecilie and falls madly in love with her.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Denmark
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, independent film, touching, realistic, romantic, captivating, sentimental, art house, psychological, sincere
Similar in 86%
XX/XY (2002)
Plot Summary:
When two college students, Sam and Thea, meet Coles at a party, their mutual attraction is immediate, leading to a passionate and awkward night together, and the onset of an intensely charged bond. As they continue to push the sexual boundaries of their friendship, however, they are tested by Sam and Coles' incipient romance and Thea's increasing recklessness, until the relationship dissolves amid a cloud of fear, resentment and mistrust. Eight years later they reunite. An animator for a high-profile ad agency, Coles now lives with Claire, his girlfriend of five years. Thea is happily married to Miles, with whom she owns a flourishing restaurant. And Sam has just returned to Manhattan after working in London where she recently broke off her engagement. Yet upon reconnecting, the three are drawn back into the complicated dynamic that defined their relationship from the start and are forced to confront the true meaning of commitment and love.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: melancholic, intense, psychological, touching, humorous, erotic, art house, independent film, talky, sensual
Similar in 77%
Ruby in Paradise (1993)
Plot Summary:
Reeling from her mother's recent death, Ruby Lee Gissing relocates to Florida to start anew. After finding a job at a souvenir store, Ruby becomes friends with the shop's owner, Mildred Chambers, and slowly acclimates to her new surroundings. Before long, she's juggling the affections of Mildred's Lothario son, Ricky, and the good-natured Mike. As she wavers between Ricky and Mike, Ruby also tries to come to terms with her past.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: independent film, touching, realistic, road movie, mumblecore, romantic drama, psychological, tense, sentimental, sincere
Similar in 75%
The Dive from Clausen's Pier (2005)
Plot Summary:
Good boy Mike Mayer is looking at a fine future and enjoys life with Wisconsin small town friends and steady girlfriend Carrie Beal. Then a stupid accident, diving from the local pier when the water is too low, leaves him quadriplegic. As if that weren't bad enough, Carrie does what none of the gang could imagine: she dumps him, as soon as best friend Rooster realizes she wasn't even honest. Carrie leaves for New York to pursue an undefined 'ambition', moving in with Simon Rhodes she vaguely knows. She starts a love affair with Paul Elliot 'Kilroy' Fraser. However he has his own nagging tragic secret, and her past needs dealing with.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 775
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 75%
Picnic (2000)
Plot Summary:
The son of the richest man in town wants to marry the town's beauty queen, but she meets a more interesting stranger who just got off the train.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 242
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, tense
Similar in 89%
Children of a Lesser God (1986)
Plot Summary:
James is a new speech teacher at a school for the deaf. He falls for Sarah, a pupil who decided to stay on at the school rather than venture into the big bad world. She shuns him at first, refusing to read his lips and only using signs. Will her feelings change over time?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, sentimental, emotional, compassionate, heartbreaking, melancholic, sincere, uplifting, serious
Similar in 77%
Dirty Filthy Love (2004)
Plot Summary:
A man's life falls apart as a result of his affliction with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Tourette's Syndrome in this touching and funny tale.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sentimental, psychological, touching, realistic, offbeat, humorous, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 84%
Sweet Jane (1998)
Plot Summary:
Jane, an HIV-positive heroin addict, meets Tony, a young AIDS victim with no family, and the two form a bond.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 609
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: sad, independent film, sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 82%
Maze (2000)
Plot Summary:
Artist Lyle Maze is reconciled to a life without romance thanks to his dual afflictions: Tourette's Syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder. But his life takes an unexpected turn when his friend Mike departs on a humanitarian mission, leaving behind his pregnant girlfriend Callie. She leans on Lyle for help, and before long he's Lamaze coach, pinch-hitting father-to-be and in love with Callie.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 898
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, erotic, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Twice in a Lifetime (1985)
Plot Summary:
A middle-aged steelworker is content with his job and his family, but feels that something is missing in his life. On his 50th birthday, he stops in at a local bar for a drink to celebrate. He finds himself attracted to the young, very sexy barmaid--and, to his surprise, he finds that she is also very attracted to him.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, realistic, sincere, touching, serious, independent film, contemplative
Similar in 86%
Alexander the Last (2009)
Plot Summary:
An ensemble drama about a married actress, her sister and their myriad sexual and creative temptations.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 902
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: mumblecore, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, heartfelt, contemplative, independent film, sexual, sexy
Similar in 86%
Disappearing Acts (2000)
Plot Summary:
Zora Banks is a school teacher and aspiring singer hoping to become a successful star while taking a break from heartache. Franklin Swift is a down-on-his-luck construction worker and not-quite divorced father of two hoping to start his own business. The two meet and fall in love and during the course of the stormy relationship, they both come to some startling conclusions about love and each other.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, sentimental, talky, romantic
Similar in 87%
Ordinary Sinner (2001)
Plot Summary:
Three friends encounter violence and bigotry in a small college town.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 236
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, emotional, sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, sex comedy, independent film, tense, talky
Similar in 86%
Not Since You (2009)
Plot Summary:
A romantic drama about a tight-knit group of college friends who graduated from NYU the year of 9/11 and reunite years later for a weekend wedding in Georgia. Unresolved conflicts and love affairs spark again.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, talky, sincere, disturbing, sex comedy, serious, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 77%
No Looking Back (1998)
Plot Summary:
Charlie returns to his old town where he meets his ex-girlfriend again and tries to get her back.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: emotional, disturbing, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy, scary, light
Similar in 76%
Oasis (2002)
Plot Summary:
Oasis is a love story of two young people abandoned by families. A young man released from prison visits the widow of the man he killed drunk-driving. There he meets her daughter, wheelchair bound with cerebral palsy. Will these two lost people find a way to make their relationship work?.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, sincere, emotional, realistic, depressing, erotic, disturbing, independent film, romantic comedy
Similar in 89%
Jungle Fever (1991)
Plot Summary:
A successful and married black man contemplates having an affair with a white girl from work. He's quite rightly worried that the racial difference would make an already taboo relationship even worse.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: sexy, serious, emotional, realistic, controversial, hood, sentimental, captivating, scary, touching
Similar in 80%
Long Ago, Tomorrow (1971)
Plot Summary:
Bruce Pritchard is paralysed in a soccer game and is confined to a wheelchair in a convalescence home. But this doesn't slow his lust for life. Then he meets Jill and has to think about the effects of disability.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 648
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Musical Chairs (2011)
Plot Summary:
When his dancer partner, Mia, lands in the hospital after an accident, Armando persuades her to train for an upcoming wheelchair ballroom dancing contest.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 338
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, realistic, captivating, sincere, romantic, romantic drama, serious, hispanic
Similar in 84%
The Other Side of the Mountain (1975)
Plot Summary:
A female skiing champion is paralyzed in a tragic skiing accident. Her girlfriend is taken out of competition when she contracts polio.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sentimental
Similar in 83%
Cavalcade (2005)
Plot Summary:
An accomplished playboy Leo neglects his girlfriend and enjoys parties. His girlfriend parts from him and then, when he wants to see her once more, he has an accident. He survives, but his whole life is now to be changed. This film is about fetching through the problems of having reduced abilities. Fortunately, he's not alone and his friends are staunch. In the end, he becomes content wheelchair bound. He is grateful for what he has...and God has given to him.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 209
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 84%
The Sessions (2012)
Plot Summary:
Though a childhood bout with polio left him dependent on an iron lung, Mark O'Brien (John Hawkes) maintains a career as a journalist and poet. A writing assignment dealing with sex and the disabled piques Mark's curiosity, and he decides to investigate the possibility of experiencing sex himself. When his overtures toward a caregiver scare her away, he books an appointment with sex surrogate Cheryl Green (Helen Hunt) to lose his virginity.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 44000
Genere: Biography, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, sexy, compassionate, erotic, humorous, sentimental, feel good, sincere, inspirational, realistic
Similar in 81%
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 78%
Carried Away (1996)
Plot Summary:
Based on Jim Harrison's book, "Farmer". 47-year-old Joseph Svenden lives on the family farm with his dying mother and teaches at a two room schoolhouse with Rosealee, his lover and his best friend's widow. Joseph, who lacks a college degree, learns that he will lose his teaching job at the end of the year when the school district expands into his town. Meanwhile, he is seduced by 17-year-old Catherine, a new student in his class. His affair with Catherine and losing his teaching job forces Joseph to take a look at his previously dull life and to decide how he wants to live the rest of it.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: sexy, sincere, psychological, disturbing, serious, independent film, dramatic, sexual, sentimental, erotic
Similar in 87%
Open (2010)
Plot Summary:
OPEN is a hallucinogenic journey through gender, identity, the body, love and how those can be shared by two people. The film consists of interlocking stories lines- the first about two transwomen in a pandrogynous relationship in which they simultaneously receive plastic surgery treatments to mirror each other's features to ideally form into a single person. The second story follows a transman and his new (cisgender) boyfriend as they run away from home and push against their own personal boundaries while dealing with his unexpected pregnancy.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 138
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, psychological, captivating, sincere, atmospheric, touching, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 76%
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Plot Summary:
Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 132000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: depressing, melancholic, disturbing, sexual, sad, emotional, heartbreaking, touching, bleak, talky
Similar in 90%
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Plot Summary:
While serving time for insanity at a state mental hospital, implacable rabble-rouser, Randle Patrick McMurphy inspires his fellow patients to rebel against the authoritarian rule of head nurse, Mildred Ratched.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 11000000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, dramatic, serious, captivating, surprise ending, tragicomedy, bleak, emotional, inspirational