Best movies like Tropical Manila
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Kim-Dusik, who committed a murder in Korea, fled to Manila and has lived there nearly 15 years. He lives with his Filipino wife, Medusa, and their 15-year old son, Philip. Dusik, his irresistible yearning for his mother, turns into violence inflicted on his son, and sexual abuse inflicted on his wife. He only looks forward to going back to Korea as the 15 year statute of limitations runs out. As Philip grows up he confronts his father about his mistreatment of his mother. Philip, in spite of himself, takes after his father's violent behavior. Medusa finds out that Dusik is leaving for Korea in a few months and begs him to take Philip with him to raise him as a Korean.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 49
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea, Philippines
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Best tv shows and movies like Tropical Manila (2008):
Similar in 82%
A Gap in the Skin (2004)
Plot Summary:
A young couple go on the run after the murder of his mother.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 78
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 79%
The Inseminator (2014)
Plot Summary:
Boi leads an isolated life on a mountain with his unwed daughter and his mentally disabled son Maize. Feeling death approach, he becomes obsessed with the continuation of the family line and he resolves to find his son a wife. After numerous intense but failed attempts to buy a woman for Maize, the father is driven to increasingly insane acts.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 90
Genere: Drama
Country: Vietnam
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, minimal cast
Similar in 90%
Oscuro animal (2016)
Plot Summary:
Oscuro animal tells the story of three women forced to flee their homes in a war torn region in Colombia. Each of their journeys, marked by terror, takes them on a trek from the deep jungle to the outskirts of Bogotá, where they will gather new strength to start a new life.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 238
Genere: Drama
Country: Colombia, Argentina, Netherlands, Germany, Greece
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 85%
Father Is a Dog (2010)
Plot Summary:
A mentally-handicapped young man, a sex-obsessed tortured artist, and their responsible but somewhat prideful brother are all grief-stricken in the wake of their mother's death. The three brothers live with their father, a withdrawn and abusive parent who offers no consolation to his mournful sons. The dysfunctional family's dynamic is further complicated when the father strikes up an eccentric sexual affair with a Chinese man who is nearly the same age as his own sons.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 51
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspense, bleak
Similar in 78%
Jan Dara: The Finale (2013)
Plot Summary:
Based on a famous Thai erotic novel, the film tells the story of Jan, a boy who grows up in a house lorded over by his sadistic and debauched father, Luang Wisnan. Set in the 1930′s the story recounts the growing pains of Jan, whose mother dies while giving birth to him and who’s intensely hated by his father. Jan grows up with Aunt Wad, his stepmother, and he struggles to reconcile his guilt and longing with different women in his life, including a girl called Hyacinth, whom he adores, and later Madame Boonleung, his father’s lover who becomes a key to Jan’s sexual awakening.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 669
Genere: Drama
Country: Thailand
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, psychological, suspense, disturbing, romantic
Similar in 86%
Pink (2011)
Plot Summary:
Set in a run-down bar named "Pink," movie follows the lives of people surrounding the bar including its owner Ok-Ryun.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 35
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 83%
Another Child (2019)
Plot Summary:
17-year-old Joo-ri discovers her father is having an affair with the mother of her hard-headed classmate Yoon-ah.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 435
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 90%
The Right Mom (2021)
Plot Summary:
While writing an article about an abused boy, a woman fights for protect him after she uncovers shocking details.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 41
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 75%
Touched (2015)
Plot Summary:
Four stories showing how individuals are able move forward after being abused as children.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 48
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, captivating
Similar in 89%
Father's Acre (2009)
Plot Summary:
Love makes a bad relationship between father and son all the more rancorous in this drama from Hungarian director Viktor Oszkar Nagy. A convict (Janos Derzsi) returns home after a long stretch in prison to a less than enthusiastic welcome; his son (Tamas Ravasz), now in his late teens, was left to fend for himself and tend the family farm on his own after his dad went away, and the youngster blames his father for his mother's untimely death. The father wants to mend his relationship with his son, but the young man makes no secret of his contempt for his dad, and only grudgingly allows him back on the farm.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 74
Genere: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 81%
Happy Lambs (2015)
Plot Summary:
The perfect world of a small family breaks, when Can discover that his mother works in a brothel. In a maelstrom of anger, guilt and despair Mother and son are forced to forgive himself.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 213
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, sexy
Similar in 82%
Miss Baek (2018)
Plot Summary:
A woman's past as a convict follows her everywhere and because of this she doesn't open up to others. But then she strikes up a friendship with a broken child who has suffered from domestic violence and decides to save the girl from the cruel world. A man who holds feelings for the woman, tries to protect her in his own way.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 90%
Flesh and Blood (2017)
Plot Summary:
Mixing fiction and reality, filmmaker Mark Webber tells the story of a man who returns home from prison and attempts to rebuild his life in his impoverished Philadelphia neighborhood.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 195
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 82%
Hands of a Mother (2016)
Plot Summary:
A family reunion aboard a ship becomes a turning point in the life of 39-year-old engineer Markus. When his son Adam (4) gets a little cut after going to the bathroom with his grandmother Renate, Markus recalls for the first time what his mother did to him when he was a little boy. Markus and his wife Monika find themselves confronted with an ugly truth of the kind you wouldn’t think a mother capable of.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 235
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, serious, suspense
Similar in 77%
Up Among the Stars (2018)
Plot Summary:
Víctor is a film director who is overcome by his own misfortunes. He is an alcoholic, unemployed and terribly depressed, largely because of the death of his wife. However, Victor is still the best in one thing: telling fantastic stories to his nine-year-old son, Ingmar. These stories are each of the scripts he dreams of directing in the future, when he gathers all the necessary resources. Victor and Ingmar share a present full of sadness and precariousness, but also full of robots and locations of films they have seen together. Despite forming a great team, their problems will multiply when others begin to question their role as a father.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 535
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 85%
Memories of Summer (2016)
Plot Summary:
The late 1970s. It's summer in a small provincial town. Twelve-year-old Piotrek has a very strong bond with his mother. While his father is away, his mother starts going out almost every night. Their simple and clear relationship starts to get complicated.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 173
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 86%
The Artist's Wife (2019)
Plot Summary:
Claire Smythson, wife of the renowned abstract artist Richard Smythson, is plunged into a late-life crisis when her husband is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and is in danger of not completing the paintings for his final show.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 324
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 81%
A Distant Cry from Spring (2018)
Plot Summary:
A Distant Cry from Spring (TV Movies).
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 14
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 76%
The Animal's Wife (2016)
Plot Summary:
Colombian director Víctor Gaviria melds stark realism with nail-biting thrills in this story about a teenage girl who is kidnapped and forced into marriage with a ferocious shantytown thug.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 444
Genere: Drama
Country: Colombia
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 76%
After This Our Exile (2006)
Plot Summary:
After his mother flees the family home, a son turns to thieving in order to support his father, an abusive sort who is addicted to gambling.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 908
Genere: Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, erotic
Similar in 78%
Virgin 2: Not a Porn Movie (2009)
Plot Summary:
A friendship of two young girls, Tina and Nadya, who have fallen into dark professions. Friendships often come at a heavy price and end in tragic death, just when they want to change the course of their lives.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 77
Genere: Drama
Country: Indonesia
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 80%
The Choice (2015)
Plot Summary:
A childless couple struggle in the aftermath of a sexual assault leaves the woman pregnant.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 297
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 76%
She Walks (2015)
Plot Summary:
An illegal Chinese immigrant and her teenage daughter are held captive in their home after a stranger breaks in.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 50
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 78%
Great Plains (2016)
Plot Summary:
Inspired by True Events An abused wife and mother to a young boy escapes her violent husband and heads for California with her son. She soon learns that her husband has accused her of kidnapping and the law is in hot pursuit. Now a fugitive, she must risk her life and freedom to protect them both from this predator of a man.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 155
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 86%
Strands (2002)
Plot Summary:
Isabel and Clara are two childhood friends separated by fate. Isabel is a naive provincial lass who works as an indigenous fabric weaver while Clara is the liberated city girl. Clara has gone wild after her mother runs off with another man. The two meet after years of separation when Clara returns to the barrio to visit her father, Roman. But their cultural difference further separates them as Lando, Isabel's boyfriend, enters into the picture. Lando, frustrated with Isabel's conservatism and idealism, turns his attention to Clara, which irked Isabel. Isabel, in turn, seduces Clara's father.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 192
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, erotic, tagalog
Similar in 84%
Three Sisters (2020)
Plot Summary:
The awkward, distant, and wounded three sisters gather at their hometown for their father’s birthday. However, on the day of the party, there is a big mess because of their little brother Jinseob’s abnormal behavior, and the past of the three sisters slowly reveals.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 143
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 88%
Interlude (2016)
Plot Summary:
Sofia, recently separated, takes her daughters to a small coastal town. Each one in their own universe, live the interlude as a challenge to free themselves and face their fears.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 19
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, independent film
Similar in 81%
La casa delle donne (2003)
Plot Summary:
It all begins in 1919 in the countryside surrounding Bari, Apulia. From a rich farmer and his three concubines(two of them the sisters of his handyman and the third his maid) a complicated family is formed, in which paternity and maternity is occasionally uncertain. Twenty years later, the eldest of the group weds and flees to Bari. The rest of the relatives move - not only to the same city - but into the same building. Furthermore, the "tribe" expands with the addition of the in-laws of the first-born.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 30
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 85%
Little Boy Blue (1997)
Plot Summary:
Living in rural Texas is a dysfunctional family: an abusive dad, a Vietnam vet with a war wound that's left him impotent; a compliant wife and a son of about 20, two small sons who look a lot like their brother. The dad harbors a secret, and he goes to murderous lengths to keep it hidden. The young man, Jimmy, who has suspicions, but little comes out until a Yankee woman comes to town.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, serious, suspense, bleak, sexy, explicit, realistic, crying, independent film
Similar in 75%
The Katsuragi Murder Case (2016)
Plot Summary:
The Katsuragi Household that runs a small store may appear serene. But as the younger son Minoru commits a murder on the street, the family is exposed to the public. Is there anybody that is behind this murder case?.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 132
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing