Best movies like Travelers and Magicians
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A young government official, named Dondup, who is smitten with America (he even has a denim gho) dreams of escaping there while stuck in a beautiful but isolated village. He hopes to connect in the U.S. with a visa out of the country. He misses the one bus out of town to Thimphu, however, and is forced to hitchhike and walk along the Lateral Road to the west, accompanied by an apple seller, a Buddhist monk with his ornate, dragon-headed dramyin, a drunk, a widowed rice paper maker, and his beautiful daughter, Sonam.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Bhutan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: road movie, atmospheric, serious, captivating, spiritual, independent film, inspirational, philosophical, poignant, anthropological
Best tv shows and movies like Travelers and Magicians (2003):
Similar in 75%
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 85%
Meetings with Remarkable Men (1979)
Plot Summary:
The story of G.I. Gurdjieff an Asian mystic who after a lifetimes study developed a form of meditation incorporating modern dance.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: spiritual, philosophical, inspirational, surreal, esoteric, independent film, uplifting, serious, realistic, mystical
Similar in 85%
Route 132 (2010)
Plot Summary:
Two old friends and small-time crooks embark on a crime spree, but take an unexpected detour that could lead them down the road to redemption.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 214
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: road movie, realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, sentimental, uplifting, offbeat
Similar in 87%
Milarepa (2006)
Plot Summary:
Milarepa depicts the humble beginnings of the man who was to become Tibet's greatest saint. A true story based on centuries-old oral traditions, a youthful Milarepa is propelled into a world of sorrow and betrayal after his father's sudden death. Destitute and hopeless, he sets out to learn black magic - and exact revenge on his enemies - encountering magicians, demons, an enigmatic teacher and unexpected mystical power along the way. But it is in confrontation with the consequences of his anger that he learns the most. Photographed in the stunning Lahaul-Spiti region of Northern India, Milarepa offers a provocative parallel to the cycle of violence and retribution consuming today's world.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Biography, Drama
Country: Bhutan
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, stylized, spiritual, mystical, thought provoking, thinking, esoteric, banned
Similar in 84%
Enlightenment Guaranteed (1999)
Plot Summary:
Two middle aged German brothers - one New Age and recently divorced, the other uptight and sceptical - travel to a Zen monastery in Japan in search of enlightenment, or perhaps just in search of themselves.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Comedy
Country: Germany
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: touching, spiritual, inspirational, poignant, existential, feel good, humorous, realistic, contemplative, semi serious
Similar in 82%
Siddhartha (1972)
Plot Summary:
Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin and his search for a meaningful way of life. His journey takes him through periods of harsh asceticism, sensual pleasures, material wealth, self-revulsion and eventually to the oneness and harmony that he had been seeking. The story is based on the best-selling novel by German Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: India, USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: spiritual, philosophical, road movie, dramatic, surreal, existential, independent film, psychological, atmospheric, serious
Similar in 76%
Island Etude (2006)
Plot Summary:
First-time actor Tung Ming-Hsiang plays Ming, a young college student whose lifelong hearing problem causes him to communicate via slurred speech. Carrying a guitar on his back and lacking few concrete reasons, he decides to bike around the island of Taiwan by himself months before his college graduation.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 641
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, exciting, tense, rough, touching
Similar in 79%
How Much Further (2006)
Plot Summary:
Esperanza and Tristeza both have to get to Cuenca. However, by an unlucky turn of events, the bus they are on gets delayed due to a worker strike. Taking their journey into their own hands, they decide to hitchhike to Cuenca. Along the way they meet interesting characters who help them re-evaluate the purpose of their journey.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 809
Genere: Drama
Country: Ecuador
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: road movie, realistic, touching, captivating, scenic, semi serious
Similar in 82%
The Celestine Prophecy (2006)
Plot Summary:
Based on James Redfield's worldwide best-selling novel, The Celestine Prophecy is a spiritual adventure film chronicling the discovery of ancient scrolls in the rainforests of Peru. The prophecy and its nine key insights predict a worldwide awakening, arising within all religious traditions, that moves humanity toward a deeper experience of spirituality.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, serious, reflective, captivating, philosophical, thought provoking, smart, esoteric, mind bending
Similar in 80%
Dreaming Lhasa (2005)
Plot Summary:
Karma, a Tibetan filmmaker from New York, goes to Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama's exile headquarters in northern India, to make a documentary about former political prisoners who have escaped from Tibet. She wants to reconnect with her roots but is also escaping a deteriorating relationship back home.One of Karma's interviewees is Dhondup, an enigmatic ex-monk who has just escaped from Tibet. He confides in her that his real reason for coming to India is to fulfill his dying mother's last wish, to deliver a charm box to a long-missing resistance fighter. Karma finds herself unwittingly falling in love with Dhondup even as she is sucked into the passion of his quest, which becomes a journey into Tibet's fractured past and a voyage of self-discovery.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 265
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK, India
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, enigmatic, captivating, spiritual, contemplative, banned
Similar in 86%
Powwow Highway (1988)
Plot Summary:
Buddy Red Bow is struggling, in the face of persecution, by greedy developers and political in-fighting, to keep his nation on a Montana Cheyenne Reservation financially solvent and independent. Philbert, a simple-minded friend of Buddy's, ardently pursues Native American/First Nation wisdom and lore wherever he can find it--even on Bonanza--in order to earn his warrior name. He's even got his war pony, Protector: a beat-up old wreck of a car. Buddy's sister has been arrested in Santa Fe, and together Buddy and Philbert set off on a road trip to look after her kids and go bail her out. However, Bonnie's arrest has something strange about it as her friend Rabbit points out. As the miles roll by, Philbert's faith challenges Buddy's hard-edged view of the world (and occasional bout of reckless violence), and together they face the realities and dreams of being Cheyenne in the modern-day US as they fight to free Bonnie and her children and elude the Feds.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: road movie, independent film, psychedelic, sincere, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, fairy tale, inspirational
Similar in 81%
Bab'Aziz: The Prince That Contemplated His Soul (2005)
Plot Summary:
The story of a blind dervish named Bab'Aziz and his spirited granddaughter, Ishtar. Together they wander the desert in search of a great reunion of dervishes that takes place just once every thirty years. With faith as their only guide, the two journey for days through the expansive, barren landscape.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Tunisia, Hungary, France, Germany, Iran, Switzerland, UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, atmospheric, road movie, sentimental, philosophical, spiritual, inspirational, visually stunning, christian film
Similar in 82%
Marco Polo (2007)
Plot Summary:
Assigned to accompany two priests on a mission to convert the court of Kublai Khan to Christianity, Marco Polo is abandoned in the mountains when the priests, doubting the very existence of China, turn back. Polo eventually pushes bravely forth alone toward the fabled country where he is accepted as an envoy into Khan's court. Marooned on the far side of the world, Polo, accompanied by his servant, Pedro, advances as a Mongol grandee for twenty extraordinary years. What he eventually brings back with him to the West is a chronicle that changed history forever.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags: exciting, atmospheric, epic, captivating, serious, realistic, stylized
Similar in 85%
One Mile Above (2011)
Plot Summary:
Shuhao is a 24 year old Taiwanese university graduate. His older brother Shuwei, whom he has idolized since childhood, dies on a bicycle ride to Lhasa. He decides to complete Shuwei's journey, hoping to prove himself through this challenging trip. Shuhao's inexperience almost sees him headed over a cliff one dark night. Food poisoning nearly costs him his life just after surviving an attack by a pack of menacing Tibetan Mastiffs. In the end, Shuhao arrives in Lhasa to see the Potola Palace. His lonely journey, filled with laughter and tears, brings him to the discovery of a new purpose in life.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 280
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: China, Taiwan
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, realistic, captivating, road movie
Similar in 79%
Himalaya (1999)
Plot Summary:
As the denizens of a Tibetan village prepare for their arduous annual trek to exchange salt for grain, the community's allegiances are split between aging chieftain Tinle (Thilen Lhondup) and rebellious young Karma (Gurgon Kyap). Tinle tries to maintain his clout and preserve obedience to ancient customs when Karma challenges the old man's power.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Switzerland, UK, Nepal
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: road movie, independent film, atmospheric, spiritual, dramatic, tense, sincere, epic, serious, captivating
Similar in 77%
Charlie's Country (2013)
Plot Summary:
Blackfella Charlie is getting older, and he's out of sorts. The intervention is making life more difficult on his remote community, what with the proper policing of whitefella laws that don't generally make much sense, and Charlie's kin and ken seeming more interested in going along with things than doing anything about it. So Charlie takes off, to live the old way, but in doing so sets off a chain of events in his life that has him return to his community chastened, and somewhat the wiser.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: semi autobiographical, atmospheric, thought provoking, realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, political, anthropological, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Crossroads (2006)
Plot Summary:
The life of a young Jesuit seminarian is turned upside down when he falls in love with a young woman while working as a volunteer at a soup kitchen.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 300
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, serious, sexual
Similar in 87%
Tomorrow Will Be Better (2010)
Plot Summary:
Three Russian street kids, who live on their wits in a train station, take off to the countryside hoping to make it across the border to a better life in Poland. They are alternately looking for tenderness and pushing it away because they sense that it is a sign of vulnerability they can ill-afford. Kędzierzawska has the rare ability to take the world of children on its own terms. There is not a false note in this dazzlingly beautiful and emotionally involving story of three kids trying to find their path to a new life. - Adelaide Film Festival.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 275
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, atmospheric, realistic, sentimental, touching
Similar in 88%
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 88%
Bass Ackwards (2010)
Plot Summary:
A man coming off a disastrous affair with a married woman has a lyrical, strange and comedic cross-country journey in a modified VW bus.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 363
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, captivating, sincere, serious, realistic, mumblecore, offbeat, independent film
Similar in 78%
Little Buddha (1993)
Plot Summary:
Little Buddha is a movie about the life of Siddhartha starring Keanu Reeves and Bridget Fonda and directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Liechtenstein, UK
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: unusual plot structure, spiritual, fairy tale, retro, philosophical, existential, cult classic, independent film, sentimental, meditative
Similar in 86%
Zen (2009)
Plot Summary:
In the early 1200s, Dogen brought Chinese Zen philosophy to Japan, and established the Japanese Zen sect of Buddhism. He taught that a person was capable of realizing Buddhahood within himself, by way of Zazen. Zazen is extended hours of sitting and meditating to achieve a state of “Mu” (nothingness, or empty existence).
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: spiritual, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, contemplative, inspirational, independent film, thinking, esoteric
Similar in 75%
Samsara (2001)
Plot Summary:
A love story situated in the Himalayas. A Buddhist monk can't choose between life and the way of the Buddha.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: India, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: philosophical, atmospheric, thought provoking, serious, captivating, spiritual, sentimental, sexy, sincere, realistic
Similar in 76%
Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? (1989)
Plot Summary:
Three people live in a remote Buddhist monastery near Mount Chonan: Hyegok, the old master; Yong Nan, a young man who has left his extended family in the city to seek enlightenment - Hyegok calls him Kibong!; and, an orphan lad Haejin, whom Hyegok has brought to the monastery to raise as a monk. The story is mostly Yong Nan's, told in flashbacks: how he came to the monastery, his brief return to the city, his vacillation between the turbulence of the world and his hope to overcome passions and escape the idea of self. We also see Hyegok as a teacher, a protector, and a father figure, and we watch Haejin make his way as a curious and nearly self-sufficient child.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: spiritual, slow cinema, psychedelic, thinking, aesthetic, psychological, atmospheric, thought provoking, serious, captivating
Similar in 78%
Old Joy (2006)
Plot Summary:
Two old pals reunite for a camping trip in Oregon's Cascade Mountains.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 76 min
Plot tags: road movie, atmospheric, talky, lyrical, sincere, realistic, touching, serious, independent film, entertaining
Similar in 75%
Scarecrow (1973)
Plot Summary:
Two drifters bum around, visit earthy women and discuss opening a car wash in Pittsburgh.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: road movie, atmospheric, emotional, sincere, touching, depressing, anamorphic, cult classic, serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
The Journals of Knud Rasmussen (2006)
Plot Summary:
Based on the journal of Knud Rasmussen's "Great Sled Journey" of 1922 across arctic Canada. The film is shot from the perspective of the Inuit, showing their traditional beliefs and lifestyle. It tells the story of the last great Inuit shaman and his beautiful and headstrong daughter; the shaman must decide whether to accept the Christian religion that is converting the Inuit across Greenland.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 382
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, Denmark, Greenland
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, atmospheric, psychological, philosophical, touching, serious, intercultural, inter cultural
Similar in 88%
Easy Rider (1969)
Plot Summary:
A cross-country trip to sell drugs puts two hippie bikers on a collision course with small-town prejudices.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 116000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: road movie, psychedelic, avant garde, cult classic, offbeat, independent film, atmospheric, surreal, dark comedy, realistic
Similar in 87%
Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
Plot Summary:
Austrian mountaineer, Heinrich Harrer journeys to the Himalayas without his family to head an expedition in 1939. But when World War II breaks out, the arrogant Harrer falls into Allied forces' hands as a prisoner of war. He escapes with a fellow detainee and makes his way to Llaso, Tibet, where he meets the 14-year-old Dalai Lama, whose friendship ultimately transforms his outlook on life.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 153000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: inspirational, captivating, epic, breathtaking, dramatic, scenic, uplifting, serious, philosophical, realistic
Similar in 81%
Into the Wild (2007)
Plot Summary:
The true story of top student and athlete, Christopher McCandless, who after graduating from Emory University in 1992, abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 648000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 148 min
Plot tags: road movie, philosophical, melancholic, inspirational, motivational, reflective, touching, independent film, sad, atmospheric