Best movies like Well, Come On, Smile
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Well, Come On, Smile focuses on a girl who runs from an orphanage. The film presents a sobering depiction of newly built urban environs and addresses formerly taboo problems such as alcoholism.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 281
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union, Estonia
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Well, Come On, Smile (1985):
Similar in 86%
Surviving: A Family in Crisis (1985)
Plot Summary:
Rick is a 17 year old golden boy whose father wants him to became a doctor like himself. Lonnie is a problematic 16 year old girl, who has just come out from a sanatorium after an attempted suicide. The families of both teens are very close friends. Right away, Lonnie and Rick fall strongly in love for each other. Meanwhile Rick becomes aware that his father betrays his mother, so he begins to show his uneasiness at home and do odd things. Thinking Lonnie's the reason of his son's behaviour, Rick's father forbids him to see her anymore. After an unsuccessful getaway the two adolescents realize their love is impossible, therefore they decide to commit suicide. From then onwards both o their families are destroyed, and their friendship as well. It'll be hard to reconstruct the family and retrieve the friendship.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 712
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: crying
Similar in 88%
Nordsee ist Mordsee (1976)
Plot Summary:
14-year old Uwe lives in s suburban Hamburg housing estate. Besides trouble, the boy has not much to expect from his parents. To get his hands on some money, he prizes open vending machines, and to let out his frustration he beats up "wogs". Among them is Dschingis, his nemesis. But one day, the rivals make peace. They become friends because they realize that they have the same problems and are driven by the same dreams and hopes.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 455
Genere: Drama
Country: West Germany
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
To Die of Love (1971)
Plot Summary:
A love story between a teacher, Daniele, 32 years and one of his students Gerard, 17 during the heated atmosphere of May 68. Daniele is a fiery young woman, very involved politically. Gerard's parents accuse Danièle of statutory rape and complain. Danièle is trapped and the drama begins.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 573
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: crying, freeze frame, weeping
Similar in 78%
Lakki... The Boy Who Could Fly (1992)
Plot Summary:
Surreal tale of a 14 year-old boy who dreams of escaping the loneliness from an unhappy home & sexual abuse (from his mother's boyfriend who is also his school swimming coach). One day his back mysteriously sprouts feathers and he can metaphorically fly away from it all.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 279
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: surreal, crying
Similar in 77%
Spieltrieb (2013)
Plot Summary:
A tangled drama of cruelty and manipulation, attraction and love.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 421
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 81%
Places (2014)
Plot Summary:
A coming of age story about love, loss and revenge centers around two teenage friends, Adam (Vladimír Polívka) and Marek (Jan Cina), whose aimless lives in a small town are suddenly disrupted by the appearance of Anna (Johana Matousková), the troubled daughter of a rich and influential local businessman. Initially her free spirit energizes Adam but soon he finds himself thrown into a spiraling chain of events. His innocence is about to be abruptly replaced with the adult emotions of guilt, fear and revenge.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 54
Genere: Drama
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: ambiguous ending, suspense, psychological, tense, sexy, crying
Similar in 79%
The Nerd's Confession (2016)
Plot Summary:
Eugene is a teenage nerd who lives in a small Russian town. He sits in front of his computer all day long, playing games and surfing the Internet. He decides to run a small porn website and soon as he earns his first money from e-commerce. His life now will never be the same - he is no longer a school nerd. From now on every school boy wants to become his friends and the girls are dreaming of dating him. Developing business Eugene was caught in a dilemma: to live up to the corrupted world standards and find his place in the unideal reality or to rebel against the powerful organization risking his and his family lives.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 94
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, unusual plot structure, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, freeze frame
Similar in 76%
Play (2011)
Plot Summary:
In central Gothenburg, Sweden, a group of boys, aged 12-14, robbed other children on about 40 occasions between 2006 and 2008. The thieves used an elaborate scheme called the 'little brother number' or 'brother trick', involving advanced role-play and gang rhetoric rather than physical violence.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden, France
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, psychological, serious, captivating, inspirational, touching, transgressive, realistic, witty, contemplative
Similar in 76%
Green Butterflies (2017)
Plot Summary:
Mateo is an intelligent boy who falls in love with Daniel, but when everyone reveals that relationship, Mateo is at a crossroads, and he will have to decide between fighting his adversities or giving up everything, even his life.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 688
Genere: Drama
Country: Colombia
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, serious, disturbing, erotic, lgbt cinema, crying, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 76%
The Word (2014)
Plot Summary:
Days before the end of the school year, Liliana gives Janek an ultimatum, giving him 24 hours to either prove his love for her or forget about her altogether.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 504
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Poland, Denmark
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, psychological, captivating, atmospheric, realistic, gloomy, neurotic, crying
Similar in 78%
Almost 18 (2012)
Plot Summary:
Almost 18 is a charming and unaffected film about five 17-year-old guys from Helsinki in 2010. Karri, Peter, André, Akseli and Joni dream, party, love and boast like only teenage males can.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 637
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: touching, suspense, suspenseful, non-linear, homoerotic
Similar in 81%
Take Me to the River (2015)
Plot Summary:
A naive California teen plans to remain above the fray at his Nebraskan family reunion, but a strange encounter places him at the center of a long-buried family secret.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: ambiguous ending, psychological, sincere, suspenseful, touching, suspense, mumblecore, tension, queer cinema, weird
Similar in 87%
Consequences (2018)
Plot Summary:
After being sent to a youth detention centre, 18-year-old Andrej has to fight for his place within the group of inmates while getting closer to Željko, their informal leader, and struggling to keep his repressed secret in the dark.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Slovenia, Austria
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: lgbt cinema, serious, suspense, realistic, suspenseful, social, crying, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 79%
Tree of Knowledge (1981)
Plot Summary:
As a group of Danish children pass into adolescence, gradually the most popular girl becomes an outcast, for trivial reasons that she never understands.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: cult classic, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sexual, crying, sexy
Similar in 86%
Corrections Class (2014)
Plot Summary:
Lena is a bright, disabled girl who, after years spent studying at home, is keen to get back to school. She is assigned to a special class for disabled pupils who have to present themselves before a school commission at the end of the year in order to prove that they merit being moved back into a "normal" class. Her enervated teachers, however, show absolutely no desire to motivate the students and help them improve; on the contrary, they try to quash right from the start any interest Lena shows in more complex study material. Nevertheless, Lena soon involves herself in the school routine and gets together with classmate Anton. Yet their transparent happiness is not to everyone's liking and repercussions soon follow.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia, Germany
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: emotional, lyrical, compassionate, sad, disturbing, melancholic
Similar in 80%
The Simple-Minded Murderer (1982)
Plot Summary:
The feeble-minded Sven's mother dies and he gets work as a farm-hand at the rich, affluent Höglund's farm. He has to work without pay and sleeps together with the cows. He meets the disabled Anna who is the first one to treat him as an adult. One day he has had enough of Höglund's maltreatment and moves in with Anna's family. Plot by Mattias Thuresson.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: non-linear, period piece, touching, offbeat, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, disturbing, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Ostia (1970)
Plot Summary:
Two anarchistic brothers live by petty thievery and try to recover from their Catholic upbringing. Bandiera (Laurent Terzieff) and Rabbino (Franco Citti) were children when they pushed their drunk of a father out of a window for killing their pet sheep. When a girl is raped by her father, she is brought by young "rescuers" to the home of the two brothers who then watch their friends take advantage of her sexually. The brothers take her in, and the three live happy and celibate if not uneventful lives until the brother's are sent to jail for stealing.The ending has a real life resemblance and makes you wonder, what P.P. had foreseen.. Screenplay, Davoli, Franco and Sergio Citti, aesthetics etc.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 300
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: crying, independent film, black comedy
Similar in 86%
Term of Trial (1962)
Plot Summary:
Weir, an alcoholic schoolteacher, whose criminal record for refusing to fight during the Second World War has prevented him from progressing further in his teaching career, is looked upon with disdain by his headmaster, his pupils and even his wife. The one person who appreciates his shyness and warmth is one of his pupils, Shirley Taylor. After Weir offers to give her free private tuition, the pupil slowly falls in love with her teacher leading to accusations of molestation.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 841
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: crying, detective
Similar in 78%
System Crasher (2019)
Plot Summary:
The wild and energetic journey of 9-year-old girl Benni through all possible stations of German Child Proctective Services.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, disturbing, sincere, inspirational, emotional, social, sad, intense, crying
Similar in 81%
Psychobitch (2019)
Plot Summary:
Frida is different. Self chosen different. Marius, on the other hand is the most perfect boy in class, and likes to show off. When they have to work together at school, it's the start of a turbulent and challenging relationship. Generation Achievement meets impossible love.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, suspense, unusual plot structure, captivating, contemplative, crying
Similar in 76%
The Cleaner (2015)
Plot Summary:
Just out of prison, Tomáš, a taciturn loner, takes a job cleaning houses where people have recently died. Things take an alarming turn when he begins putting in overtime: hiding behind closet doors after hours to secretly watch the homes’ residents. His voyeuristic ways soon lead to a romantic obsession with a woman in distress—but in order to help her, Tomáš will have to come out of the shadows.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 100
Genere: Drama
Country: Slovakia
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, ambiguous ending, crying
Similar in 89%
Open Future (1983)
Plot Summary:
A 16 year old boy growing up in the 60's, experimenting with life, sex, drugs and alcohol.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 125
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: freeze frame
Similar in 88%
Filthy (2017)
Plot Summary:
Lena is a 17-year old girl, experiencing her first love, secret night- time adventures, and magical mornings at the river in Bratislava. Her dream world is shattered after being raped by her math teacher. Lena must set out on a journey that is not simply about coming of age, but a struggle with herself. Others misunderstand her, and will never quite get her. It is Lena who must grow up and realize that she is not the one who deserves punishment and should feel guilty.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 635
Genere: Drama
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspense, suspenseful, sincere, crying, non-linear
Similar in 87%
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 86%
Blame (2017)
Plot Summary:
A drama teacher's taboo relationship with an unstable student strikes a nerve in her jealous classmate, sparking a vengeful chain of events within their suburban high school that draws parallels to 'The Crucible'.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: realistic, emotional, talky, atmospheric, touching, thought provoking, stylized, teen, double entendre
Similar in 89%
We (2018)
Plot Summary:
During a scorching summer in a Belgian-Dutch border village, eight teenagers play games of discovery to break the listless monotony. They challenge each other and themselves and pretty soon, their sexual curiosity starts to blur the lines between right and wrong. As innocence is crushed in depraved games and sexual exploitation, the teenagers soon turn into ruthless predators.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Netherlands, Belgium
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: erotic, psychological, light, sexy, thought provoking, captivating, disturbing, avant garde, cult classic, twisted
Similar in 79%
13 Reasons Why (2017)
Plot Summary:
After a teenage girl's perplexing suicide, a classmate receives a series of tapes that unravel the mystery of her tragic choice.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 311000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: emotional, psychological, thought provoking, serious, suspenseful, dramatic, realistic, teen, tragic ending, exciting
Similar in 90%
The Wall (1983)
Plot Summary:
Produced, written and directed by Yılmaz Güney within his own personal experiences of capital offense, he dedicates Duvar to male teenagers aged 13 to 19 living behind the bars under diabolical treatments. These teenagers get barbaric corporal punishments, injurious harrows, tortures and sexual abuses just for taking the responsibility of their destiny on a wrong turn.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Turkey, France
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: political, art house, tense, rough, thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 76%
Mommy (2014)
Plot Summary:
A peculiar neighbor offers hope to a recent widow who is struggling to raise a teenager who is unpredictable and, sometimes, violent.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 61000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: melancholic, touching, depressing, emotional, psychological, independent film, atmospheric, surreal, sincere, sad
Similar in 87%
Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (1979)
Plot Summary:
An abusive sexual relationship between a white spinster schoolteacher and a young black janitor in 1956 Kansas complicates her struggle to come to grips with her sexuality and emotions.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 432
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: crying, independent film, freeze frame