Best movies like Universal Signs
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
After the death of his fiancée's daughter while in his care, a deaf man shuts himself off from the world. Haunted by memories, it is only through new friendship that he can learn to forgive, love, and reconnect.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 152
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Universal Signs (2008):
Similar in 85%
Potential Inertia (2014)
Plot Summary:
Declan Holmes is graduating college, a hard enough time as it is, and heading out into the real world. The loss he experiences is like nothing he has ever known before. 'Potential Inertia' is the story of his journey through a very difficult time, and the relationships that can either build you up or tear you apart.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 49
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Goodbye Trainmen (1992)
Plot Summary:
Veturimiehet heiluttaa on 4. syyskuuta 1992 ensi-iltansa saanut suomalainen elokuva. Elokuva on kuvattu suurimmaksi osaksi Porissa. Veturimiehet heiluttaa sai ensi-iltansa Ruotsissa 26. maaliskuuta 1993.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 540
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland, Sweden
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Slipaway (2017)
Plot Summary:
When a homeless young musician moves into a sailboat with a feisty elderly widow, the two must overcome their differences and haunting pasts to unlock each other's dreams.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 288
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, sincere, touching, captivating, disturbing, independent film, life affirming, spiritual
Similar in 79%
Love is Never Silent (1985)
Plot Summary:
A young woman struggles with her own need for independence and the obligation she feels for her deaf parents in this depression-era drama. A friend sees her turmoil and tells her she must find happiness on her own. However, the initial joy she finds in marriage starts to strain under the guilt she feels for deserting her parents and the bitterness they express towards her.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 338
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Her Last Chance (1996)
Plot Summary:
Drug adict teen gets out of rehab only to be accused of her boyfriend's death.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 434
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
Angel Blue (1998)
Plot Summary:
Dennis (Sam Bottoms) is a handsome, successful and well-liked civic leader who lives in his hometown with his lovely wife (Lisa Eichhorn) and their new baby. When Enrique Vasquez (Marco Rodriguez) and his striking teen daughter Angela (Yeniffer Behrens) move in next door, Dennis is only too happy to lend a hand. But when he and Angela begin an affair, Dennis's perfect life is threatened in this provocative drama.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 103
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: sensual, crying
Similar in 75%
Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story (1992)
Plot Summary:
An AIDS-stricken woman becomes a leader in the struggle to educate people about the disease and its prevention.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 476
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: crying
Similar in 75%
Shelter (2008)
Plot Summary:
With a catastrophic event rapidly approaching, 18 people vie for 10 spots in the small town's only bomb shelter.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 169
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, epic, independent film, bleak, futuristic
Similar in 85%
Man Push Cart (2005)
Plot Summary:
Every night while the city sleeps, Ahmad, a former Pakistani rock star turned immigrant, drags his heavy cart along the streets of New York. And every morning, he sells coffee and donuts to a city he cannot call his own. One day, however,the pattern of this harsh existence is broken by a glimmer of hope for a better life.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, independent film, informative, absurd, one man show
Similar in 85%
...And Your Name Is Jonah (1979)
Plot Summary:
A couple whose son had been diagnosed as mentally retarded, and was institutionalized, are shocked to discover that the diagnosis was wrong, and that their son is in fact deaf.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 445
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 81%
This Is Martin Bonner (2013)
Plot Summary:
Two men, at opposite ends of the social spectrum, find themselves starting new lives in the same, small town and form an unlikely friendship.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, emotional, realistic, sincere, contemplative, talky, independent film
Similar in 86%
Handsome Harry (2009)
Plot Summary:
An ex-Navy man carrying out the last wish of a dying shipmate renews contact with old friends to break the code of silence around a mysterious, long-buried crime.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: realistic, sincere, serious, captivating, emotional, psychological, atmospheric, queer cinema
Similar in 83%
Columbus (2017)
Plot Summary:
When a renowned architecture scholar falls suddenly ill during a speaking tour, his son Jin finds himself stranded in Columbus, Indiana - a small Midwestern city celebrated for its many significant modernist buildings. Jin strikes up a friendship with Casey, a young architecture enthusiast who works at the local library.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, captivating, sentimental, philosophical, sweet, experimental, artsy, independent film
Similar in 78%
George Washington (2000)
Plot Summary:
Set in the landscape of a rural southern town, "George Washington" is a stunning portrait of how a group of young kids come to grips with a hard world of choices and consequences. During an innocent game in an abandoned amusement park, a member of the group dies. Narrated by one of the children, the film follows the kids as they struggle to balance their own ambitions and relationships against a tragic lie.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, bleak, independent film, meditative, lyrical, touching, realistic, stylized, southern gothic, thought provoking
Similar in 77%
A Map of the World (1999)
Plot Summary:
School nurse Alice Goodwin lives with her husband and two daughters on a dairy farm in a small Wisconsin community. After an accident on her property involving a friend's child, the town turns against her and Alice finds herself fighting charges of child abuse.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: black comedy, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, disturbing, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 76%
You (2009)
Plot Summary:
You is a love story. It spans 21 years, bouncing around in time, creating a kind of family quilt that wraps around a father as he struggles to overcome the grief of losing his beloved wife and raise their daughter alone. A coming-of-age journey for both the father and his daughter, You is filled with the magic of life and love and family.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 143
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, psychological, captivating, independent film, sincere, touching, offbeat, serious
Similar in 80%
A Touch of Fate (2003)
Plot Summary:
One night in a small town in North Carolina, fate brings together three lives: an entertainment lawyer returning home to his dying mother after years in escape of his past, a woman trying to reclaim her supposed love, and a boy with a penchant for the sixth sense who struggles with the death of his father and overbearing love of his single mother. When the past and future suddenly bind these people together on a journey of need, forgiveness and discovery, they realize they've gained something when they least expected it.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 216
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 89%
The Nail: The Story of Joey Nardone (2009)
Plot Summary:
Tony Luke, Jr. stars as Joey Nardone, an out-of-shape boxer, who after 8 years in prison for an unfortunate accident leaves prison and gets a shot at redemption by fighting for one young boy's future - 14 year old Jesus.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 486
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating
Similar in 80%
Letters to God (2010)
Plot Summary:
A young boy fighting cancer writes letters to God, touching lives in his neighborhood and inspiring hope among everyone he comes in contact. An unsuspecting substitute postman, with a troubled life of his own, becomes entangled in the boy's journey and his family by reading the letters. They inspire him to seek a better life for himself and his own son he's lost through his alcohol addiction.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: christian film, sentimental, sincere, inspirational, touching, spiritual, sad, uplifting, teen, serious
Similar in 78%
Jesus' Son (1999)
Plot Summary:
A young man turns from drug addiction and petty crime to a life redeemed by a discovery of compassion.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: independent film, grim, cult classic, dark comedy, psychedelic, deep, thought provoking, touching, humorous, realistic
Similar in 81%
Speakeasy (2002)
Plot Summary:
Two men become unlikely friends after a minor traffic accident.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 220
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, disturbing, sexy, gloomy, crying
Similar in 83%
Farewell to Harry (2002)
Plot Summary:
A down-and-out writer, Nick Sennet, runs into Harry, a man that, legend has it, died long ago. Together they attempt to revitalize a defunct factory as well as their lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 165
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 90%
The Dream Catcher (1999)
Plot Summary:
An abandoned teen jumps a freight train in Philadelphia intent on reaching his uncle in Indiana, whom he believes will help him with financial difficulties including a pregnant girlfriend. In Ohio, he meets another homeless teen, who escorts him to his uncle. Finding his uncle equally broke, the duo head on to Oklahoma City to try to find the first teen's long-gone ex-con father. A confrontation between father and son send the duo on into exploits in the west including getting beaten up, busting into an Indian reservation church, and hitch-hiking with a beautiful nurse.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 606
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, road movie
Similar in 87%
Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993)
Plot Summary:
Rebelling against his dreary life in a small Arizona town, salesman Nick abandons his girlfriend, Beth, and strikes out onto the highway in search of... something else. Encouraged by her best friend, Carol, Beth reluctantly accepts the romantic attentions of Sid, a local housepainter.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, independent film, clever, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, philosophical, thought provoking, intellectual
Similar in 86%
Joe Gould's Secret (2000)
Plot Summary:
Around 1940, New Yorker staff writer Joe Mitchell meets Joe Gould, a Greenwich Village character who cadges meals, drinks, and contributions to the Joe Gould Fund and who is writing a voluminous Oral History of the World, a record of 20,000 conversations he's overheard. Mitchell is fascinated with this Harvard grad and writes a 1942 piece about him, "Professor Seagull," bringing Gould some celebrity and an invitation to join the Greenwich Village Ravens, a poetry club he's often crashed. Gould's touchy, querulous personality and his frequent dropping in on Mitchell for hours of chat lead to a breakup, but the two Joes stay in touch until Gould's death and Mitchell's unveiling of the secret.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: melancholic, sentimental, independent film, realistic, enigmatic, stylized, intellectual, serious, witty, contemplative
Similar in 75%
Rabbit Hole (2010)
Plot Summary:
Life for a happy couple is turned upside down after their young son dies in an accident.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 51000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: touching, sad, crying, emotional, independent film, atmospheric, surreal, compassionate, psychological, sincere
Similar in 82%
Life as a House (2001)
Plot Summary:
When a man is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he takes custody of his misanthropic teenage son, for whom quality time means getting high, engaging in small-time prostitution, and avoiding his father.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 45000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, touching, sincere, sad, inspirational, tear jerker, realistic, feel good, captivating
Similar in 82%
Hide Away (2011)
Plot Summary:
A successful businessman attempting to resurrect his life buys and boards a dilapidated sailboat.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, emotional, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, serious, independent film
Similar in 87%
Ordinary People (1980)
Plot Summary:
Beth, Calvin, and their son Conrad are living in the aftermath of the death of the other son. Conrad is overcome by grief and misplaced guilt to the extent of a suicide attempt. He is in therapy. Beth had always preferred his brother and is having difficulty being supportive to Conrad. Calvin is trapped between the two trying to hold the family together.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 56000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, depressing, realistic, sentimental, compassionate, crying, serious, existential, inspirational
Similar in 78%
The Woodsman (2004)
Plot Summary:
A paedophile returns to his hometown after 12 years in prison and attempts to start a new life.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: disturbing, independent film, psychological, emotional, harsh, controversial, intense, rough, bleak, heartbreaking