Best movies like Water
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The year is 1938, and Mahatma Gandhi's groundbreaking philosophies are sweeping across India, but 8-year-old Chuyia, newly widowed, must go to live with other outcast widows on an ashram. Her presence transforms the ashram as she befriends two of her compatriots.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, India
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: touching, bleak, melancholic, poignant, independent film, controversial, philosophical, offbeat, intense, erotic
Best tv shows and movies like Water (2005):
Similar in 78%
Maborosi (1995)
Plot Summary:
A young woman's husband apparently commits suicide without warning or reason, leaving behind his wife and infant. Yumiko remarries and moves from Osaka to a small fishing village, yet continues to search for meaning in a lonely world.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: art house, atmospheric, contemplative, slow cinema, retro, aesthetic, psychological, serious, realistic, light
Similar in 86%
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990)
Plot Summary:
It's about a five member family. The father is a conservative and traditional person who directs the family. The mother is at home, she tries to hold together the family, while Mr. Bridge works as a lawyer. The children have just grown up, and the complications are derived from that they have a more modern view of life.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA, Canada
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: talky, melancholic, sentimental, realistic, family saga, touching, gloomy, semi serious, crying, independent film
Similar in 86%
The Cage (2003)
Plot Summary:
In the days leading up to Partition, a Hindu woman is abducted by a Muslim man. Soon, she finds herself not only forced into marriage, but living in a new country as the borders between India and Pakistan are drawn.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 188 min
Plot tags: social, patriotic, emotional, realistic, semi serious, cult film
Similar in 80%
Cooking with Stella (2009)
Plot Summary:
A woman cooks for clients and tries to keep her thefts of food and money from being discovered.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 321
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Canada, India
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: clever, realistic, feel good, humorous, semi serious, intercultural, uplifting, inter cultural
Similar in 77%
Funny Boy (2020)
Plot Summary:
A student must navigate issues of sexuality, identity and family amid Sri Lanka's social turmoil of the 1970s and 1980s.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 990
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, aesthetic, queer cinema
Similar in 76%
Amal (2007)
Plot Summary:
Autorickshaw driver Amal is content with the small, but vital, role he serves - driving customers around New Delhi as quickly and safely as possible. But his sense of duty is tested by an eccentric, aging billionaire, who, moved by Amal's humility, bequeaths him his entire estate before passing away. With only one month to discover and claim the inheritance, Amal's struggles with duty and wealth are threatened by all those around him - from a young injured beggar girl and a lovely store merchant, to the danger of the old man's upper-caste friends and siblings, all seeking to claim their share of the riches.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, offbeat, spiritual, cult classic
Similar in 79%
Ida (2013)
Plot Summary:
Anna, a young novitiate in 1960s Poland, is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a family secret dating back to the years of the German occupation.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 60000
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland, Denmark, France, UK
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: black and white, art house, emotional, melancholic, visually stunning, bleak, depressing, serious, independent film, cerebral
Similar in 78%
Heaven on Earth (2008)
Plot Summary:
When Chand arrives in Brampton, Ontario to meet her new husband, she leaves behind a loving family and supportive community. Now, in a new country, she finds herself living in a modest suburban home with seven other people and two part-time tenants. Inside the home, she is at the mercy of her husband's temper, and her mother-in-law's controlling behaviour.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 919
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, serious, captivating, multicultural, surreal, gloomy, folk tale
Similar in 75%
Midnight's Children (2012)
Plot Summary:
A Canadian-Brith film adaptation of Salman Rushdie's novel of the same name. The film tells the story of a pair of children born within moments of India gaining independence from England grow up in the country that is nothing like their parent's generation.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA, UK, India
Duration: 146 min
Plot tags: captivating, surreal, stylized, psychological, epic, serious, family saga
Similar in 88%
Mustang (2015)
Plot Summary:
In a Turkish village, five orphaned sisters live under strict rule while members of their family prepare their arranged marriages.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Germany, Turkey, Qatar
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sad, heartbreaking, realistic, art house, social, atmospheric, inspirational, uplifting, thought provoking, intellectual
Similar in 80%
Maya (2001)
Plot Summary:
MAYA is a coming of age story set against an outlawed brutal practice of ritual rape still occurring in some parts of India.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 294
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, disturbing, sincere, emotional, grim, bleak, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Osama (2003)
Plot Summary:
Teenage girl Osama cuts her hair and dresses like a boy to get a job and support her widowed mother and grandmother. When Osama is called by the Taliban to join school and military training she embarks on a terrifying and confusing journey as she tries to keep the Taliban from finding out her true identity.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: Afghanistan, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Iran
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, disturbing, sincere, bleak, thought provoking, breathtaking, talky, stylized, captivating
Similar in 86%
Mouchette (1967)
Plot Summary:
Robert Bresson plumbs great reservoirs of feelings with one of the most searing portraits of human desperation ever put on film.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: art house, black and white, depressing, bleak, emotional, disturbing, contemplative, stylized, spiritual, inspirational
Similar in 87%
Existence (2000)
Plot Summary:
Astitva is a bold film with adultery. An ambitious male chauvinist and his loving wife are happily married but the guy is not able to give time to the family as he want to make it big in life. His work is of paramount importance to him. His work keeps him away from his home for days and this makes the wife very lonely. In one such instance, she succumbs to loneliness and has a physical relationship with her music teacher and becomes pregnant. She tries confessing to her husband, but he is so excited about her pregnancy, that he does not listen to her story. Twenty Five years later, circumstances force the suspicious husband's mind to work overtime and confronts his wife with facts and figures that when she was pregnant, he had not had any physical relationship with her for more than 9 months before the child's birth. Then whose child is it? The wife accepts it and ask for forgiveness.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 785
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, social, art film
Similar in 86%
String (2006)
Plot Summary:
Shankar Singh and his wife, Meera, live in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India along with widowed paternal grandmother, Laxmibai, his mom, Gowri, and dad, Randhir. The family feel that they are blessed after Meera's entry in this family. Shankar must go and abroad in Saudi Arabia and bids farewell to Meera, promising to keep in touch, which he does, and also sends them a large portion of his earnings, which is used to pay off the family's debts. Then when no word is received from him, a worried Meera phones, and is devastated to learn that Shankar has been killed by being thrown off a 10th floor balcony. Her status quickly changes, her jewelery, ornaments, fancy clothes are taken off, and she is told to remain indoors. wear dark clothes, and is only allowed to pray at a Mandir.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 147 min
Plot tags: sincere, emotional, realistic, atmospheric, serious, offbeat, social, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Jasmine (2003)
Plot Summary:
Lamington Road on Bombay's Western Railway is the nearest railway station that takes one to Kamathipura, notorious for it's red-light, in particular, and a crime-prone area in general.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, art film
Similar in 81%
Devdas (2002)
Plot Summary:
Devdas is sent away by his father so he can improve himself but upon his return his father still doesn’t welcome him back. Devdas and Paro are in love but Paro is a lower caste and is set to be married to an older widower. Devdas is devastated & leaves home. He becomes an alcoholic womanizer and falls in love with a courtesan. Paro tries to get Devdas away from drinking before he self destructs.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 46000
Genere: Drama, Musical, Romance
Country: India
Duration: 185 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, weeping, sentimental, serious, captivating, romantic, rough, sincere, thought provoking
Similar in 75%
Samaritan Girl (2004)
Plot Summary:
Yeo-jin and Jae-yeong are two teenage girls who are trying to earn money for a trip to Europe. To reach this end, Jae-yeong is prostituting herself while Yeo-jin acts as her pimp, setting her up with the clients and staying on guard for the police. Things take a turn for the worse when Yeo-jin gets distracted from her duty and the police raid the motel where Jae-yeong is meeting with a client. To avoid getting caught, Jae-yeong jumps out of a window, fatally injuring herself.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, realistic, erotic, psychological, sincere, romantic, depressing, spiritual
Similar in 89%
Liam (2000)
Plot Summary:
A morality tale of xenophobia, religious prejudice, mob violence, poverty, and their effect on two children in Liverpool during the Depression. When a shipyard closes, Liam and Teresa's dad loses his job. Liam, who's about 8, making his first Holy Communion, gets a regular dose of fire and brimstone at church. Teresa, about 13, has a job as a maid to the Jewish family that owns the closed shipyard. The lady of that house is having an affair, and Teresa becomes an accomplice. Liam stutters terribly, especially when troubled. Dad comes under the sway of the Fascists, who blame cheap Irish labor and Jewish owners. A Molotov cocktail brings things to a head.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Germany, France, Italy
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, bleak, emotional, sincere, depressing, intense, tense, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 79%
The Kite Runner (2007)
Plot Summary:
After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 82000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, China, USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: emotional, disturbing, inspirational, sincere, psychological, touching, realistic, educational, sad, motivational
Similar in 88%
Nine Lives (2005)
Plot Summary:
Captives of the very relationships that define and sustain them, nine women resiliently meet the travails and disappointments of life.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: emotional, talky, intense, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, depressing, anthology
Similar in 81%
Breaking the Waves (1996)
Plot Summary:
In a small and conservative Scottish village, a woman's paralytic husband convinces her to have extramarital intercourse so she can tell him about it and give him a reason for living.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 71000
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark, Sweden, France, Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Spain, UK
Duration: 159 min
Plot tags: disturbing, sad, bleak, heartbreaking, emotional, psychological, erotic, depressing, art house, touching
Similar in 84%
Fire (1996)
Plot Summary:
In a barren, arranged marriage to an amateur swami who seeks enlightenment through celibacy, Radha's life takes an irresistible turn when her beautiful young sister-in-law seeks to free herself from the confines of her own loveless marriage.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Canada, India
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: touching, controversial, sexy, romantic, offbeat, art house, art film, sincere, serious, realistic
Similar in 90%
Earth (1998)
Plot Summary:
It's 1947 and the borderlines between India and Pakistan are being drawn. A young girl bears witnesses to tragedy as her ayah is caught between the love of two men and the rising tide of political and religious violence.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: India, Canada
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, touching, offbeat, poignant, art house, romantic drama, tense, sincere, serious
Similar in 85%
The Best Day of My Life (2002)
Plot Summary:
The Best Day of My Life is the story of a dysfunctional family as seen through the eyes of young Chiara (Maria Luisa De Crescenzo) who is about to receive her first communion. The family includes matriarch Irene (Virna Lisi) and her three grown up children.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, sentimental, captivating, serious, emotional, gloomy, sexual, sexy
Similar in 75%
Guru (2007)
Plot Summary:
Gurukant Desai hails from Idhar, a small village in Gujarat, but dreams of setting up his own business in Mumbai. After he returns from Turkey, he marries Sujatha for getting the dowry and arrives in Mumbai to start his business. This film chronicles the obstacles he meets, his subsequent rise and the huge backlash he receives when it is revealed that he used unethical means to rise in the business circuit.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 162 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, captivating, serious, inspirational, motivational, epic, social, cult classic, historical drama
Similar in 75%
The Joy Luck Club (1993)
Plot Summary:
Through a series of flashbacks, four young chinese women born in America and their respective mothers born in feudal China, explore their past. This search will help them understand their difficult mother/daughter relationship.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, sincere, captivating, thought provoking, emotional, sad, retro, depressing, spiritual
Similar in 76%
Flight (2010)
Plot Summary:
After being abandoned for eight straight years in boarding school, Rohan returns to the small industrial town of Jamshedpur and finds himself closeted with an authoritarian father and a younger half brother who he didn't even know existed. Forced to work in his father's steel factory and study engineering against his wishes, he strives to forge his own life out of his given circumstances and pursue his dream of being a writer.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 47000
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: sincere, sentimental, touching, captivating, inspirational, offbeat, realistic, light, intellectual, social
Similar in 88%
Happy Days (2007)
Plot Summary:
The movie revolves around eight youngsters, who become good friends in their freshman years when they join the college for their Bachelors in Engineering (B.E.). The life of these young minds, be it personal or that in college, is dealt with aplomb. The first-half deals with the relationship of these freshmen with their seniors, who try to gain an upper hand over their juniors. In the second half, the movie also shows love and affection among one another, but does not ignore to emphasize the main aim of going to the college, i.e., to evolve from a young person with fruity dreams, to a more purposeful professional.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 153 min
Plot tags: sentimental, humorous, semi serious, realistic, light, inspirational, romantic, touching
Similar in 87%
Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
Plot Summary:
The story of Katherine Ann Watson, a feminist teacher who studied at UCLA graduate school and in 1953 left her boyfriend behind in Los Angeles, California to teach at Wellesley College, a conservative women's private liberal arts college in Massachusetts, United States.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 89000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, romantic, sentimental, period piece, sweet, educational, thought provoking, independent film, deep