Best movies like Thursday's Child
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Sam Alden is the 17-year-old high school star player in baseball who seems to have it all. However, his family notices that he is often bothered with fits of coughing. Worried, his parents decide to take him to the hospital, where they are shocked to find out that he has a life-threatening heart disease. Sam has trouble dealing with his illness, but he pretends to still be a joyful teenager to not have his parents worrying even more than they already do. His health is deteriorating, though, and it is eventually revealed that he needs a heart transplant if he wants to survive. This is the beginning of a long journey, which is mentally and physically exhausting. Sam has countless operations, and tests. The search for a donor seems endless to him. Even before the final operation, Sam is forced to deal with several setbacks in his life.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 123
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Thursday's Child (1983):
Similar in 83%
1:01 (2006)
Plot Summary:
In a Copenhagen suburb the 19-year-old Per is found unconscious after having been badly beaten up. He is taken to hospital in a coma. The police have no clues, but the air is thick with suspicion. His mother struggles to maintain her faith in his survival. His younger sister, Mie, begins to pick up rumors. Her boyfriend, Shadi, suspects that his elder brother is behind the assault but he cannot tell anyone. Many well-meaning people find themselves at sea in a fable about emotions leading us astray.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 325
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark, UK
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
44 (2007)
Plot Summary:
Based on true events, 44 is the story of Migs, an 18 year old high school student trapped between the two opposing forces of his father, a drug dealer and convicted felon, and his mother, an NYPD cop.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 81
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
Moving On (2019)
Plot Summary:
A family gathers at grandfather’s place by chance and breaks up. Okju, who has been observing her family for a short time, gains the strength to rise above the loss through this experience.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 797
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, atmospheric, sincere, melancholic
Similar in 84%
Juvenile Delinquents -- New World Order (2020)
Plot Summary:
Broken teens trying to claim something their parents failed to provide - A Future and Purpose.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 107
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: dark
Similar in 87%
Angel Dusted (1981)
Plot Summary:
Cautionary anti-drug film based on a true story, made for NBC television. Drama about the effects on Jean Stapleton and Arthur Hill when their teenage son (John Putch, Stapleton's real-life son) gets spaced out on a marijuana joint laced with PCP, or "angel dust," and the family wrestles with the crisis.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 185
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
Generational Sins (2017)
Plot Summary:
A dying mother, Sarah, tells her last wish to her eldest son, Drew, that he take his younger brother, Will, to the place they were born. Despite tragic family history, hope gives promise to the future.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 88%
The Death of Richie (1977)
Plot Summary:
A sensitive but confused teenager feels pressure on him from all directions and turns to drugs, which causes problems for him in school and at home.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 454
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: grindhouse
Similar in 80%
Land Legs (2015)
Plot Summary:
Dom, 36 years old, is a sailor on board of the fishing boat Petit Gael II from the port of Les Sables d'Olonne, a small town in western France. He is used to leave for the open sea for at least three weeks in a row. Despite of his absences, his teenaged children decided to live with him since the divorce of the parents. But when his daughter Mailys gets pregnant, Dom understands that he will have to choose between the sea and his family.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 132
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, thought provoking, touching, unusual plot structure, captivating, contemplative
Similar in 77%
Juniper (2021)
Plot Summary:
When a self-destructive teenager is suspended from school and asked to look after his feisty alcoholic grandmother as a punishment, the crazy time they spend together turns his life around.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, powerful
Similar in 87%
All the Winters That Have Been (1997)
Plot Summary:
Dane Corvin (Chamberlain) returns to Raven Island where 20 years before he and Helen Raven (Allen) had fallen in love. She vowed never to see him again because he had arrested her brother, who he had been investigating. Dane is now determined to win her back and slowly re-enters her daily life. But Helen has a secret, and unless Dane can forgive her and understand the powerful feelings that motivated her to keep it from him, their fragile relationship will not survive.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 160
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
A Question of Love (1978)
Plot Summary:
A lesbian mother fights to keep her son when a custody suit is brought by her ex-husband.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 165
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
A Friend's Betrayal (1996)
Plot Summary:
Two childhood friends grow up. One has a family and the other has a career. One relationship may make or break a family. Paul, the teenage son, must decide what he wants for his future. While family would like to make that decision for him. Watch as all the truth unravels in this drama/ romance.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 352
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sexy, ridiculous
Similar in 83%
Without Warning: The James Brady Story (1991)
Plot Summary:
In 1981, during the assassination attempt on then President Ronald Reagan, White House Press Secretary James Brady was shot and left paralyzed.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 289
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Ice Bound (2003)
Plot Summary:
It is during the final months of 1999 that 46-year-old physician Jerri Nielsen (Susan Sarandon) finds herself stranded at the Amundsen-South Pole Research Station along with a tiny staff of researchers and technicians. Although, at first, there is little love lost between the somewhat aloof Nielsen and her more down-to-earth colleagues, a strong bond develops among them as the extreme Antarctic winter progresses. Nielsen, in particular, grows quite close to two of the "Polies": Big John Penny (Aidan Devine) and Claire Furinski (Cynthia Mace).
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 593
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: dramatic, suspense, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 80%
The Killing of Randy Webster (1981)
Plot Summary:
A young man is shot and killed in an altercation with Houston police. His father doesn't believe the police version of the incident and starts digging around on his own.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 227
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
No Letting Go (2015)
Plot Summary:
What would you do to save your child? A young teenager struggles with a debilitating mental illness as his mom risks everything to save him without losing the rest of her family.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 732
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, cult classic, independent film
Similar in 88%
Ordinary Angels (2024)
Plot Summary:
A hairdresser single-handedly rallies an entire community to help a widowed father save the life of his critically ill young daughter.
IMDB Rating:
IMDB Votes:
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Heart of a Child (1994)
Plot Summary:
A drama directed by Sandor Stern.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 119
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 81%
The Theory of Everything (2006)
Plot Summary:
Does God exist? Does Science prove God's existence or provide more reasons to doubt? Doug Holloway (David de Vos), a family man on the verge of financial and marital ruin, embarks on a journey to find his birth father, Dr. Eugene Holland (Victor Lundin). Dr. Holland is on a mission of his own - to prove the Holy Grail of physics - the Theory of Everything - that may prove the existence of Go.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 273
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, serious, christian film
Similar in 87%
Little Girl Lost (1988)
Plot Summary:
This heart-wrenching story inspired by real events depicts the trials of the Brady family, who are trying desperately to adopt a helpless little girl they took in when she was in a foster care program. Clara and Tim Brady are in for the fight of their lives as they find that adopting Tella will not be so easy -- especially when social services puts her back into the care of her abusive father.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 251
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 86%
Have You Seen My Son (1996)
Plot Summary:
A woman fears for her son's health when her ex-husband kidnaps him.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 173
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Go Toward the Light (1988)
Plot Summary:
A young couple faces the realities of life with their child who is diagnosed with AIDS.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 572
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 88%
A Family Upside Down (1978)
Plot Summary:
An elderly married couple find that as their physical and mental health deteriorates, they find themselves dependent more and more upon their grown children.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 156
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
In the Custody of Strangers (1982)
Plot Summary:
A teenage delinquent who goes on a drunken joyride is left in jail overnight by his parents in the hope that he might learn a lesson from it. But events follow which result in the boy spending far longer behind bars than anyone had foreseen.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 458
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 90%
An Early Frost (1985)
Plot Summary:
Set in the mid-eighties Michael Pierson, a young gay man, is struck with AIDS in the prime of his life. He's forced to be open about the disease and his homosexuality for the first time with his co-workers (he's a successful lawyer) and family. He, and the people around him, must face up to the inevitablity of his death and the disease that's killing him. "An Early Frost" was many people's first look at an AIDS victim as a human being instead of a statistic.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy, tear jerker, queer cinema, tearjerker
Similar in 76%
Hurricane (1974)
Plot Summary:
Two hurricane hunters track a huge, violent hurricane that is bearing down on a Gulf Coast town.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 213
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychotronic, disaster movie
Similar in 85%
Honor Thy Father and Mother: The True Story of the Menendez Murders (1994)
Plot Summary:
TV movie based on the novel "Blood Brothers," about the murder of Jose Menéndez and his wife Kitty by their sons, Erik and Lyle.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 165
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
Extraordinary Measures (2010)
Plot Summary:
Working-class father John Crowley is finally on the fast track to corporate success when his two young children, Megan and Patrick, are diagnosed with Pompe disease - a condition that prevents the body from breaking down sugar. With the support of his wife, Aileen, John ditches his career and teams with unconventional specialist Dr. Robert Stonehill to found a bio-tech company and develop a cure in time to save the lives of Megan and Patrick. As Dr. Stonehill works tirelessly to prove the theories that made him the black sheep of the medical community, a powerful bond is forged between the two unlikely allies.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, inspirational, touching, serious, entertaining, intense, cult classic, captivating, realistic
Similar in 80%
A Child Is Waiting (1963)
Plot Summary:
Dr. Matthew Clark is the head of a state institution for mentally retarded children. Jean Hansen, a former music teacher anxious to give her life some meaning, joins the staff of the hospital. Jean, who tries to shelter the children with her love, suspiciously regards Clark's stern training methods. She becomes emotionally involved with 12-year-old Reuben Widdicombe, who has been abandoned by his divorced parents.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, intellectual, social, sad, sentimental
Similar in 84%
The Neon Bible (1995)
Plot Summary:
While on a train, a teenage boy thinks about his life and the flamboyant aunt whose friendship acted as an emotional shield from his troubled family. This film evokes the haunting quality of memory while creating a heartfelt portrait of a boy's life in a rural 1940s Southern town.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Spain
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: stylized, inspirational, serious, emotional, erotic, southern gothic, independent film, sentimental, atmospheric, thought provoking