Best movies like Village of Dreams
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Tells of the childhood of two nine-year-old twins in a rural village in Japan after World War 2. Includes the boys relationships with their schoolteacher mother, civil servant father, elderly landlord, a rough new boy at the school, and three mysterious spirits in the form of old women.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 422
Genere: Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sentimental, atmospheric, touching, serious, realistic, experimental, stylized
Best tv shows and movies like Village of Dreams (1996):
Similar in 79%
Elina: As If I Wasn't There (2002)
Plot Summary:
In rural Sweden of the early 1950s, little Elina goes to school again after recovering from tuberculosis, the same illness that has killed her father a few years earlier. Elina's family belongs to Finnish-speaking Finns frowned upon by a staunch schoolmistress who starts hounding Elina for questioning her authority. Elina's mother, sister, and a liberal young male teacher all try to mediate the ensuing battle of wills between Elina and Miss Holm. Elina finds consolation in wandering out on the dangerous marshlands to have imaginary conversations with her dead father. Written by Markku Kuoppamäki.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Sweden, Finland
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, realistic, atmospheric, serious, stylized
Similar in 76%
Times and Winds (2006)
Plot Summary:
In a small, poor village leaning over high rocky mountains, the villagers are simple and diligent people who struggle to cope with a harsh nature. They earn their living off the earth and a few animals they feed. Fathers always prefer one of their sons. Mothers command their daughters ruthlessly. Ömer, the son of the imam, wishes hopelessly for the death of his father. When he understands that wishful thinking does not have any concrete results, he begins to search for childish ways to kill his father. Yakup is in love with his teacher, and one day after seeing his father spying on the teacher he dreams too, like Ömer, of killing his father. Yıldız studies and tries to manage the household chores imposed by her mother. She learns with irritation about the secrets of the relationship between men and women.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, rough, serious, art house, bleak, realistic, neorealism, crying
Similar in 81%
The Devil in the Skin (2011)
Plot Summary:
Coming-of-Age drama telling the story of the strong bond between Xavier and his little brother Jacques and their struggle to remain together despite all odds.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 71
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, serious, realistic
Similar in 84%
Misa mi (2003)
Plot Summary:
When her mother died, 10 year old girl Misa's world stopped. And when her father, along with her new girlfriend, wants to spend the summer in the Swedish province Skåne she refuses to come with them. Misa's father reluctantly agrees that Misa stays with her grandmother in Arjeplog over the summer instead. In the deep forest of northern Sweden Misa find more than she ever could imagine; she meets a wolf with cubs that Misa develop a deep and strange connection with. But the wolf spreads fear in the small village and someone has hired a poacher to kill it and her cubs.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 274
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Sweden
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere
Similar in 84%
Cider with Rosie (2015)
Plot Summary:
A semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story set in the Cotswolds during and immediately after the First World War.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 825
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, sentimental, touching, semi autobiographical
Similar in 82%
The Girl (2009)
Plot Summary:
Story of a ten-year-old girl left alone in her house in the summer of 1981.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Sweden
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, sincere, touching, emotional, realistic, erotic, cult classic, atmospheric, cult film
Similar in 86%
Mommo (2009)
Plot Summary:
A brother and sister are split up after their mother dies, their father remarries, and their new stepmother rejects them.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Turkey
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, atmospheric, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 81%
Taliesin Jones (2000)
Plot Summary:
Not quite a religious film, not quite a coming-of-age story, not quite a kiddie flick, and not quite a supernatural horror movie, Taliesin Jones's identity crisis nonetheless reveals a sweet examination of one child and his thoughts on God.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 263
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 77%
I Wish (2011)
Plot Summary:
Two young brothers at opposite ends of Kyushu devise a magical plan to reunite their separated parents in Hirokazu Koreeda's benign and superbly acted picture of family life.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, stylized, realistic, poignant, art film, teen, moody, beautiful
Similar in 78%
We Can Be Heroes! (2002)
Plot Summary:
Two kids - about 11 years old - Marcello and Fatima, meet and like each other very much. Both have dreams and problems. Marcello wants to fly but feels like an absolutely useless human being, Fatima wants to play soccer - which is not acceptable for her Muslim family. But then they start to support each other in a very delicate and subtle manner.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 999
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Sweden
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, serious, captivating, contemplative
Similar in 79%
Spin (2003)
Plot Summary:
"Spin" tells the story of a boy who loses his parents in a plane crash, is taken in by his uncle (Tucci), who then leaves him for ten years in the care of his Hispanic ranch hand (Blades) and his wife (Delany). Once in high school, Eddie (Merriman) reconnects with a girl from his past (Garces), and their growing interracial relationship teaches the sometimes-sullen Eddie to think of others before himself.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 537
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, independent film
Similar in 86%
My Sweet Orange Tree (2012)
Plot Summary:
Zezé is an 8 year old boy who, although a naughty boy, has a good heart. He leads a very modest life, due to the fact that his father has been unemployed for a long time, and has the habit of having long conversations with a sweet orange tree which is in his backyard. Until one day he meets Portuga, a man who begins to help him and soon becomes his best friend.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Brazil
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, atmospheric, captivating, serious, realistic
Similar in 77%
Eskil & Trinidad (2013)
Plot Summary:
Eskil moves from town to town with his father in Northern Sweden. He misses his mother and sucks at playing hockey, the main activity among the boys his age. Things changes when he meets Trinidad, a mysterious woman who lives outside society spending her time building a great ship that perhaps could take Eskil to his mother.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 185
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Sweden
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, feel good, sentimental, light, sincere, captivating, exciting, tense
Similar in 82%
Paper Planes (2014)
Plot Summary:
The film tells the story of 11-year-old Dylan (Ed Oxenbould), who is brought up by his father (Sam Worthington) in a remote town in the country of Australia. Dylan’s life is changed forever when he wins a place in the regional Paper Plane Championships in Sydney. The heart warming journey of a young boy and his father reconnecting after a family’s struggle will have us cheering them all the way to the world championships of paper plane flying in Japan.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Australia, Japan
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, feel good, serious, realistic
Similar in 76%
War of the Buttons (1994)
Plot Summary:
The children of Ballydowse and Carrickdowse engage in battles where they cut of the buttons, shoe-laces and underwear of their captured opponents. This is to get the boys in trouble with their parents. They go to battle in mass groups of dozens, throwing stones and cutting off their opponents buttons etc. And sometimes they go to battle completely naked and exposed. In one such scene about 30 boys return from a battle to celebrate victory at a barn-house only to find some girls waiting for them and they get very embarrassed at losing their privacy.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Family
Country: UK, France, Japan, USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, epic, sincere, serious, contemplative, light, romantic, sexy
Similar in 85%
Opal Dream (2006)
Plot Summary:
Pobby & Dingan are invisible. They live in an opal town in Australia and are friends with Kellyanne, the 9 year-old daughter of an opal miner. The film tells the story of the bizarre and inexplicable disappearance of Pobby & Dingan, Kellyanne's imaginary friends, and the impact this has on her family and the whole town. The story is told through the eyes of Kellyanne's 11 years old brother Ashmol.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Australia, UK
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, semi serious, humorous, sad
Similar in 81%
Summer of the Colt (1989)
Plot Summary:
This award-winning film by André Melançon -- set on a ranch on the pampas of Argentina -- tells the story of three children spending a summer with their grandfather. The youngest, Felipe, makes friends with a puppy; his older brother, Daniel, breaks and train his first horse; their 13-year-old sister, Laura, struggles with the transition between childhood and growing up. The kids find it difficult to adapt to their proud and stubborn grandfather, and he learns that he has to change his ways and try to understand them as they all experience the joys and sorrows of growing up and growing old. ~ Alice Duncan, Rovi.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 130
Genere: Family, Drama
Country: Argentina, Canada
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, serious, realistic
Similar in 89%
Miracle (2000)
Plot Summary:
What do you do if you're twelve years old, your mum is a neurotic babbler, your best friend is hitting on the girl you love, and you're the only guy in your class who doesn't yet sport pubes ...? For Dennis P. there's only one way out - pray. In this musical adventure the miracle comes in the shape of an angel clone looking suspiciously like Dennis P.'s late father. The angel issues Dennis P. with a license to perform medium grade miracles, but there's a string attached - Dennis P. must stop using swearwords. Dennis P. throws himself into readjusting his existence. But one miracle leads to another, and the 'adjustments' lead to grotesque consequences.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 630
Genere: Family, Musical, Drama, Comedy, Fantasy
Country: Denmark
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, semi serious, feel good, offbeat
Similar in 84%
The Blue Umbrella (2005)
Plot Summary:
Young Biniya lives a poor lifestyle in a small village in the mountainous and snowy region of Himachal Pradesh in India along with her widowed mom and wrestler brother. She entertains various tourists, and while doing so with some tourists from Japan, trades in her bear-tooth amulet with a blue umbrella.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: India
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, anime, art film, cult classic, sincere, crying, freeze frame
Similar in 84%
The Indian in the Cupboard (1995)
Plot Summary:
A nine-year-old boy gets a plastic Indian and a cupboard for his birthday and finds himself involved in adventure when the Indian comes to life and befriends him.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, light, clever, epic, grindhouse, juvenile, cult classic, weeping, offbeat, feel good
Similar in 76%
The Way Home (2002)
Plot Summary:
The story begins on a fine summers morning, when San-woo and his mother board a bus to the country. It is soon clear that the unsophisticated rural passengers annoy the seven-year-old urban boy. His mother is taking him to live with his 78-year-old mute, but not deaf, grandmother while she looks for a new job after a business venture failed in Seoul.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, stylized, inspirational, rough, thought provoking, sincere, sad, independent film, warmhearted
Similar in 86%
Prancer Returns (2001)
Plot Summary:
This holiday-themed children's film offers a unique take on the legend of Santa Claus and his tiny reindeer. In this movie, a young boy finds a deer in the forest he is sure is Santa's beloved Prancer. Determined to return the creature to the North Pole and his rightful destiny, the child overcomes the cynicism of his family to teach them and us a lesson about the true spirit of Christmas.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 651
Genere: Family, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 77%
The Secret Garden (1993)
Plot Summary:
A young British girl born and reared in India loses her neglectful parents in an earthquake. She is returned to England to live at her uncle's castle. Her uncle is very distant due to the loss of his wife ten years before. Neglected once again, she begins exploring the estate and discovers a garden that has been locked and neglected. Aided by one of the servants' boys, she begins restoring the garden, and eventually discovers some other secrets of the manor.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 44000
Genere: Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: costume drama, touching, atmospheric, feel good, fairy tale, sentimental, period piece, serious, realistic, light
Similar in 76%
Alabama Moon (2009)
Plot Summary:
After the unexpected death of his survivalist father, an eleven year old boy raised in the Alabama wilderness must learn how to make a home in the modern world.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, exciting, serious, inspirational, feel good
Similar in 82%
The Color of Paradise (1999)
Plot Summary:
The story revolves around a blind boy named Mohammed who is released from his special school in Tehran for summer vacation. His father, shamed and burdened by Mohammed's blindness, arrives late to pick him up and then tries to convince the headmaster to keep Mohammed over the summer. The headmaster refuses, so Mohammed's father eventually takes him home.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Iran
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, dramatic, depressing, sentimental, realistic, inspirational, spiritual, educational, art house
Similar in 84%
Where is the Friend's Home? (1987)
Plot Summary:
An 8 year old boy must return his friend's notebook he took by mistake, lest his friend be punished by expulsion from school.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Iran
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: social, art house, inspirational, road movie, thought provoking, independent film, islamic, touching, feel good, serious
Similar in 86%
We Shall Overcome (2006)
Plot Summary:
A drama about a boy who's inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and challenges repressive school authority in 1969 Denmark.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Denmark
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, uplifting
Similar in 80%
Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
Plot Summary:
Jesse Aarons trained all summer to become the fastest runner in school, so he's very upset when newcomer Leslie Burke outruns him and everyone else. Despite this and other differences, including that she's rich, he's poor, and she's a city girl, he's a country boy, the two become fast friends. Together, they create Terabithia, a land of monsters, trolls, ogres, and giants and rule as king and queen.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 169000
Genere: Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: emotional, tear jerker, sad, touching, heartbreaking, fairy tale, sentimental, teen, captivating, melancholic
Similar in 82%
Pollyanna (2003)
Plot Summary:
Pollyanna Whittier goes to live with her wealthy but bitter aunt after the tragic death of her father. Pollyanna shares a game her father taught her -- the 'Glad Game' -- in which everyone can find a silver lining in even the darkest cloud, and her sunny nature, good humor and determination to look on the bright side of life prove to have an astonishing effect on those around her. With the help of her orphaned friend, Jimmy Bean, she casts her spell on the grumpiest townsfolk of Beldingsville -- including the cynical shut-in Mrs. Snow, the morose millionaire Mr. Pendleton and the enigmatic Dr. Chilton. And Pollyanna masterminds the romance between her Aunt's maid, Nancy, and the handyman, Tim. It is only Aunt Polly, who cannot bring herself to embrace Pollyanna's innocence and joy. But all is not straightforward in Pollyanna's war against pessimism, since she must overcome a personal tragedy that threatens to banish "glad" from her vocabulary forever.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, uplifting, sentimental, realistic, semi serious, humorous, tear jerker, period drama, tearjerker
Similar in 76%
A Little Princess (1995)
Plot Summary:
When her father enlists to fight for the British in WWI, young Sara Crewe goes to New York to attend the same boarding school her late mother attended. She soon clashes with the severe headmistress, Miss Minchin, who attempts to stifle Sara's creativity and sense of self- worth.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, fairy tale, heartbreaking, serious, humorous, realistic, semi serious, sweet, sad