Best movies like Ticket to Heaven
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
David is a young man seduced by a religious cult that uses starvation, exhaustion, and brainwashing to mold recruits into money hustling disciples of a messiah-like leader. Chronicles David's chilling transformation into a gaunt, mindless shadow of his former self...and his ultimate salvation when friends and family launch a plan to kidnap and deprogram him.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 862
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, thought provoking, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, independent film
Best tv shows and movies like Ticket to Heaven (1981):
Similar in 78%
Seize the Day (1986)
Plot Summary:
Tommy Wilhelm (Robin Williams) is a salesman. An honest, hard-working guy who has lost his job, his girlfriend, and left part of his sanity behind as he heads to New York to pick up the pieces of his life. He's always been able to sell, but caught in a downward spiral, he must, in addition, face the father who never really understood him, while trying to balance his newly precarious existence.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: depressing, independent film, bleak, realistic, gloomy, semi serious, thinking, road movie, touching, feel good
Similar in 86%
Cargo (2011)
Plot Summary:
A young Russian woman, smuggled into America by human traffickers, and a notorious Egyptian transporter hired to drive her from the Mexican border to New York City, form an unlikely bond that transforms them and threatens to derail the traffickers' plans.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 531
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 90%
Split Image (1982)
Plot Summary:
An impressionable young man finds himself literally enslaved by a modern-day religious cult. In an effort to bring him back to reality, the boy's parents hire a deprogrammer to kidnap him and return him to his family.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: spiritual, retro, independent film, weird
Similar in 78%
Stacy's Knights (1983)
Plot Summary:
Everyone has a talent, and dreams do come true. Stacy Lancaster has an incredible knack for Blackjack. Once she joins up with daring Will Bonner the two young gamblers are on a non-stop roll. Soon the casino wants to even the odds. How long can their winning streak last?.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 490
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film, thinking
Similar in 80%
Lies My Father Told Me (1975)
Plot Summary:
A Jewish boy grows up in 1920s Montreal with a grandfather who tells stories and a father who won't work.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 573
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 78%
Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970)
Plot Summary:
Lou Andreas Sand, a once famous model, recalls her past as she tries to make success in the modeling world of New York, her stressfull workdays, her affair with Mark, an advertising executive, her friendship with photographer Aaron, and her downward spiral into ruin.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 891
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Unfinished Business (1984)
Plot Summary:
Seventeen year old Izzy Marks lives in Toronto with her divorced mother and finds her life boring and directionless. Meant to be a sequel to Don Owen's acclaimed 1964 film "Nobody Waved Good-bye", "Unfinished Business" looks at life two decades later for Peter and Julie's (Peter Kastner and Julie Biggs) daughter Isabelle "Izzy" Marks (Isabelle Mejias). Curious, funny and intelligent, 17 year old Izzy feels the frustrations of her limiting environment and the pull of a more exciting, larger world. She meets passionate anarchist wannabe Jessie 'Fixit' (Peter Spence) and is quickly drawn into his free living alternative lifestyle. Much to the displeasure of her once free-thinking parents and friends.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 43
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 88%
Nobody Waved Goodbye (1964)
Plot Summary:
18 year-old Peter lives with his parents in a middle-class Toronto suburb and rebels constantly against their imposed middle-class goals and conventions and the materialist values they represent. He constantly mocks and belittles his family with his only real ally being his girlfriend Julie. Peter's relationship with his parents reaches its boiling point when he borrows his father's new car without permission and is left by him to spend the night in jail after Peter is arrested for reckless driving. Peter runs away from home and moves into a rooming house, and eventually gets a shady job as a parking attendant. His relationship with Julie becomes exponentially more complicated and he finally realizes that being alone in the real world is much harder than he ever imagined.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 326
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Fast Talking (1984)
Plot Summary:
A bright young teenager from a broken home uses his quick wits and glib tongue to get out of trouble - but they also get him into it.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 146
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: independent film, detective
Similar in 77%
Annie's Coming Out (1984)
Plot Summary:
It tells the story of a young female social worker who begins work at a hospital for retarded children, and discovers that some of the psychological problems attributed to these children are incorrectly diagnosed. Proving this to be the case is difficult, however, as it is generally accepted that as those who are 'profoundly retarded' cannot communicate, therefore they cannot think. In the case of Annie O'Farrell (Tina Arhondis), finding a way for her to 'talk', other than speaking or writing, finally shows that she is not only able to think, but is highly intelligent. The battle against the hospital to acknowledge this in a legal sense goes to court, as the psychiatrists try to hide their misdiagnosis.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 181
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: independent film, learning
Similar in 82%
High Tide (1987)
Plot Summary:
Story about a backup singer for an Elvis impersonator who re-enters her past when she leaves a tour in a small town and finds her daughter in a mobile home park.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 957
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: retro, touching, serious, realistic, biting, crying, independent film, suspense, eighties
Similar in 89%
Beyond the Stars (1989)
Plot Summary:
This Sci-Fi Drama centers around the teen-age Eric, son of a computer scientist who worked for the Apollo mission which sent the first human to the moon. Eric, determined to become an astronaut himself one day, befriends Paul Andrews, the first man on the moon. Paul is avoided by other astronauts nowadays, because he was very rude and rebuffing when he returned from space. Only slowly Eric learns, that he discovered something during his excursion on the moon, that he keeps as a secret.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Sci-Fi, Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: exciting, disturbing, tense, enigmatic, captivating, suspense, futuristic, independent film
Similar in 81%
An American Story (1992)
Plot Summary:
World War II has ended and many soldiers return to their houses and families. But three of them find themselves with big problems when they arrive at their home village.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 266
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 86%
The House on Garibaldi Street (1979)
Plot Summary:
When Israeli officials learn than Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann may be living in Argentina, they send a team of secret agents to apprehend him.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 340
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, sincere, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 80%
Hitting Home (1988)
Plot Summary:
Canadian businesswoman Dinah Middleton's is devastated when her teenage son, Alex, is killed by a hit-and-run driver. When the police fail to turn up any suspects, she turns private detective to track the killer down. She traces the murderer to New York, only to discover that the crime is not covered by the extradition treaty between Canada and the US. She becomes obsessed with bringing the criminal to justice.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 139
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 77%
Brilliant Lies (1996)
Plot Summary:
Susy Conner accuses former employer, Gary Fitzgerald, of harassment and unfair dismissal for failing to comply with his sexual demands. Relating the incident to conciliation lawyer, Marion Lee, Susy comments that the trauma experienced should entitle her to a compensation payment of $40,000.00.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 360
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 75%
The 19th Wife (2010)
Plot Summary:
Fundamentalist sect member BeckyLyn is accused of killing her husband. Queenie, another wife in the polygamist sect, doesn't believe BeckyLyn is capable of such violence and desperate to prove her innocence reaches out to her excommunicated son Jordan for help in freeing his mother.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 729
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, disturbing, psychological, tense, captivating, rough, bleak, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
Lourdes (2009)
Plot Summary:
In order to escape her isolation, wheelchair-bound Christine makes a life changing journey to Lourdes, the iconic site of pilgrimage in the Pyrenees Mountains.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Austria, France, Germany
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: realistic, contemplative, serious, christian film, psychological, atmospheric, slow cinema, aesthetic, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Lamb (1985)
Plot Summary:
Michael Lamb is a Father questioning his calling, in a Reform School in Ireland. When young epileptic runaway Eoin is sent to the school, the two recognise kindred spirits and escape to London together. With the police on their tail and the money running out however, Lamb is forced to make some terrible decisions.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 655
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, eighties
Similar in 84%
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)
Plot Summary:
The younger son of a working-class Jewish family in Montreal, Duddy Kravitz yearns to make a name for himself in society. This film chronicles his short and dubious rise to power, as well as his changing relationships with family and friends. Along the way the film explores the themes of anti-semitism and the responsibilities which come with adulthood.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sad, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, semi serious, biting, semi autobiographical, suspense
Similar in 83%
What Would Jesus Do? (2010)
Plot Summary:
The citizens of a small town lose their faith day by day. Poverty and hardships have been hard on them... when all of a sudden something changes. Their faith is reborn. And a question rises inside them: "What would Jesus do?".
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 863
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: christian film, realistic, serious, spiritual, inspirational, fable
Similar in 78%
Goin' Down the Road (1970)
Plot Summary:
Story of desolation as two friends travel from Nova Scotia to Toronto in hope of finding a better life. Drifting from job to job: bottling plant, car wash, bowling alley, newspaper delivery, and in between enjoying the night life of the big city. Their previous life is looking better all the time. This movie is a time capsule of Toronto's Yonge Street - record stores (defunct A&A's), bars, and old neighbourhood side streets.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 967
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: disturbing, independent film, sentimental, sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 81%
Heart of the Beholder (2005)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of a family who opened the first videocassette rental stores in St. Louis in 1980. The family was ruined by a corrupt prosecutor who had been blackmailed by a religious group because the family refused to remove Martin Scorsese's controversial film, "The Last Temptation of Christ", from their stores.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 408
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 79%
Violent Blue (2011)
Plot Summary:
Katarina is a music teacher obsessed with an unfinished symphony. She worries about her brother, Ondrej an introverted inventor whose financiers are reputedly shady and dangerous. Then one day, her ex-husband Pietro shows up in her house and locks her in a cage.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 434
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, surreal, cynical, psychological, tense, captivating, gloomy, independent film, psychological thriller
Similar in 83%
Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story (2002)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Clarence Brandley, a black man wrongly accused in 1980 of the murder of a 16-year-old white high school girl named Cheryl Ferguson. Brandley worked at Conroe High School, where Ferguson was visiting as a member of the Belleville High School volleyball team. Three days after her body was discovered, Brandley was arrested as the murderer. Jew Don Boney, a popular activist and Houston city council member, leads the fight to uncover the truth about the Ferguson murder. Mike DeGeurin, a Texas attorney, is brought in to act as the head defense attorney for Brandley, and is joined by a former minister, Jim McCloskey. The lawyers discover that not only is there a complete lack of evidence against Brandley, but the District Attorney, James Keeshan, has been strategizing with the presiding judge. After nine years in prison, three trials and a stay of execution that saved Brandley's life, justice finally prevails as Brandley is granted his freedom.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 165
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: disturbing, emotional, realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious
Similar in 75%
Rust (2010)
Plot Summary:
In the midst of a midlife crisis of faith, a man finds hope where he least expects it – his hometown. James Moore (Golden Globe nominee Corbin Bernsen) is a former pastor who returns home to discover a family new to the area has been killed in a mysterious fire, and his childhood friend is implicated in the murder. Convinced of his friend’s innocence, James sets out on a mission to find the truth… and in the process, rediscovers his own lost faith. An uplifting drama about faith, family, and the powerful ties that bind a community together.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 501
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: realistic, contemplative, psychological, captivating, sentimental, serious
Similar in 77%
Wedding in White (1972)
Plot Summary:
A young girl's brother comes home from the army, and brings an army buddy with him. The three of them go out that night to celebrate, and after much drinking has been done, the brother's friend rapes the sister. After the two men have gone back, the girl finds that she's pregnant--and discovers that her parents don't blame the soldier, but blame her.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 371
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: crying, independent film
Similar in 75%
Heatwave (1982)
Plot Summary:
A woman attempts to stop a redevelopment plot which she thought was the cover-up for fraud and other criminal activity.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 410
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: neo noir, retro, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, independent film, detective
Similar in 82%
The Man Inside (1990)
Plot Summary:
Gunter Wallraff is a journalist seeking to expose the unethical journalism practiced by The Standard, a very popular and powerful German newspaper. He goes undercover, using forged identity papers and at great personal risk, to join their staff. Once there, he sees how they don't just report the news, but manufacture it to suit the personal political agenda of the paper's leaders.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 178
Genere: Drama
Country: France, USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: action thriller, independent film, psychological, sincere, thought provoking, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 90%
Walkout (2006)
Plot Summary:
Walkout is the true story of a young Mexican American high school teacher, Sal Castro. He mentors a group of students in East Los Angeles, when the students decide to stage a peaceful walkout to protest the injustices of the public school system. Set against the background of the civil rights movement of 1968, it is a story of courage and the fight for justice and empowerment.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, captivating, political, informative, thought provoking, freeze frame