Best movies like What They Had
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A woman must fly back to her hometown when her Alzheimer's-stricken mother, wanders into a blizzard. The return home forces her to confront her past.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, captivating, melancholic, sad, cult classic, crying
Best tv shows and movies like What They Had (2018):
Similar in 87%
A Kid Like Jake (2018)
Plot Summary:
On the eve of the admissions cycle for New York City kindergartens, Alex and Greg Wheeler have high hopes for four-year-old Jake. The director of Jake’s preschool encourages them to accentuate Jake’s gender expansive behavior to help him stand out. As Alex and Greg navigate their roles as parents, a rift grows between them, one that forces them to confront their own concerns about what’s best for Jake, and each other.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: captivating, deep, fairy tale, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 78%
Stand Clear of the Closing Doors (2013)
Plot Summary:
When autistic teen Ricky is scolded for skipping class, he escapes into the subway for a days-long odyssey among the subway’s disparate denizens. Meanwhile, his mother wages an escalating search effort above ground. Based on a true story and set in Far Rockaway, Queens, in the days leading up to Hurricane Sandy, these parallel stories of mother and son take the viewer on a touching journey of community and connection in and below New York City.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 513
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, melancholic, disturbing, independent film, serious, realistic, detective
Similar in 76%
Miss Juneteenth (2020)
Plot Summary:
Turquoise, a former beauty queen turned hardworking single mother, prepares her rebellious teenage daughter for the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant, hoping to keep her from repeating the same mistakes in life that she did.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, aesthetic, black cinema
Similar in 76%
The Tender Bar (2021)
Plot Summary:
J.R. is a fatherless boy growing up in the glow of a bar where the bartender, his Uncle Charlie, is the sharpest and most colorful of an assortment of quirky and demonstrative father figures. As the boy’s determined mother struggles to provide her son with opportunities denied to her — and leave the dilapidated home of her outrageous if begrudgingly supportive father — J.R. begins to gamely, if not always gracefully, pursue his romantic and professional dreams, with one foot persistently placed in Uncle Charlie’s bar.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating, disturbing, feel good, entertaining, art house, cult classic
Similar in 79%
Certain Women (2016)
Plot Summary:
The lives of four women intersect in small-town America, where each is imperfectly blazing a trail.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, captivating, ironic, disturbing, poetic, indie film, heartfelt, profound, weird, queer cinema
Similar in 89%
So B. It (2016)
Plot Summary:
A young girl named Heidi who lives with her mentally disabled mother, travels across the country to find out about her and her mothers past.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 630
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: sad
Similar in 85%
The Wife (2017)
Plot Summary:
A wife questions her life choices as she travels to Stockholm with her husband, where he is slated to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Sweden, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, lyrical, intellectual, serious, emotional, sad, art house, novela, independent film
Similar in 82%
The Exploding Girl (2009)
Plot Summary:
On a summer break from college, Ivy, a young epileptic woman, struggles to balance her feelings for her fledgling boyfriend while her friend Al crashes with her for the season.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: mumblecore, touching, serious, sincere, realistic, independent film, crying, avant garde, whimsical
Similar in 80%
Blackbird (2019)
Plot Summary:
A terminally ill mother invites her family to their country house for one final gathering, but tensions quickly boil over between her two daughters.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, thought provoking, disturbing, touching, heartbreaking, compassionate, deep, cult classic
Similar in 87%
Four Good Days (2020)
Plot Summary:
A mother helps her daughter work through four crucial days of recovery from substance abuse.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, touching
Similar in 77%
3 Generations (2015)
Plot Summary:
A teenager transitions from female to male, and his family must come to terms with that fact.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, emotional, disturbing, sexy, teen, lgbt cinema, neurotic, queer cinema
Similar in 88%
Pieces of a Woman (2020)
Plot Summary:
A grieving woman embarks on an emotional journey after the Ioss of her baby.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 55000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, Hungary, USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, suspense, suspenseful, rough, disturbing, deep, existential, weird, beautiful
Similar in 89%
Fathers and Sons (2005)
Plot Summary:
Intertwined tales of three families who grow up on the same street, focusing on the relationship of fathers and sons. The first section features Anthony and Jenny and traces the father-son bond that develops between Anthony and his newborn son over 30 years. The second story centers on the affairs of an airline pilot who shares a house but not a life with his wife. He crosses paths with an unusual woman and spends an extraordinary night with his son. The final chapter follows the homecoming of Elliot to his estranged family. As his father dies, Elliot meets and falls in love with a woman who sees past his tough-guy exterior.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 406
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, serious, emotional, captivating, offbeat, crying, entertaining
Similar in 88%
Touching Home (2008)
Plot Summary:
The true story about a father struggling to make amends with his twin sons as they pursue their dreams of professional baseball.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 788
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, psychological, captivating, anamorphic, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Spa Night (2016)
Plot Summary:
A young Korean-American man works to reconcile his obligations to his struggling immigrant family with his burgeoning sexual desires in the underground world of gay hookups at Korean spas in Los Angeles.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, captivating, suspenseful, sexy, sensual, queer cinema
Similar in 90%
Poetry (2010)
Plot Summary:
Grandmother Mi Ja works part-time as a caretaker, and struggles to raise a teen grandson by herself. Despite her tough situation, she speaks softly, dresses fashionably, and approaches the world with child-like curiosity. Enrolling in a poetry class, she endeavors to capture life in verse form, but her simple dream of completing a poem is stalled by the early signs of Alzheimer's disease and the heavy financial and emotional burden of her grandson's shocking wrongdoing.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea, France
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, emotional, realistic, lyrical, sentimental, captivating, sad, art house, existential
Similar in 86%
Around the Bend (2004)
Plot Summary:
A tale of four generations of men, all of whom have had their offspring at a young age: a great-grandfather, a grandfather, a father in his twenties and a son who is about 7 years old. When the oldest member passes away, the trio heads out on the road together in the Southwest to search out an old family secret that connects to their past.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, road movie, emotional, semi serious, humorous, family saga, realistic, crying, funny
Similar in 82%
Alone (1999)
Plot Summary:
Maria, whose parents live in the country, cannot stand her father's authoritarian ways and moves to the city. She finds a job as a cleaner and tries to survive in a wretched apartment in the shabby part of a big city. She is pregnant, and the fact that her boyfriend has abandoned her does not help matters. When her father goes to the hospital for an operation, her mother comes to stay with her. Her neighbor, an old recluse whose only friend is his dog, begins to come out of his shell and these three lost souls try to give each other the strength to start over.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, Canada
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, serious, erotic, uplifting, feel good, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 83%
Redwood Highway (2013)
Plot Summary:
Marie, a reluctant resident of a retirement community in Southern Oregon, decides to walk 80 miles down the Redwood Highway to see the ocean for the first time in 45 years.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 585
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, feel good, serious, realistic, independent film, detective
Similar in 87%
Concussion (2013)
Plot Summary:
After a blow to the head, Abby decides she can't do it anymore. Her life just can't be only about the house, the kids and the wife. She needs more: she needs to be Eleanor.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: independent film, serious, realistic, erotic, sexy, depressing, deep, sensual, indie film, tense
Similar in 77%
Where Is Kyra? (2017)
Plot Summary:
Pushed to the brink after losing her job, a woman struggles to survive. As the months pass and her troubles deepen, she embarks on a perilous and mysterious journey that threatens to usurp her life.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, captivating, suspense, melancholic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 86%
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 80%
The Trip to Bountiful (1985)
Plot Summary:
Carrie Watts is living the twilight of her life trapped in an apartment in 1940's Houston, Texas with a controlling daughter-in-law and a hen-pecked son. Her fondest wish -- just once before she dies -- is to revisit Bountiful, the small Texas town of her youth which she still refers to as "home.".
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, independent film, road movie, thought provoking, serious, captivating, realistic, sincere
Similar in 76%
What Maisie Knew (2012)
Plot Summary:
Based on the Henry James novella, the story frames on 7-year-old Maisie, caught in a custody battle between her mother – a rock and roll icon – and her father. What Maisie Knew is an evocative portrayal of the chaos of adult life seen entirely from a child’s point of view.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sad, atmospheric, talky, sincere, captivating, serious, depressing, melancholic
Similar in 87%
You're Not You (2014)
Plot Summary:
A drama centered on a classical pianist who has been diagnosed with ALS and the brash college student who becomes her caregiver.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sweet, lyrical, heartbreaking, dramatic, sad, emotional, depressing, serious
Similar in 86%
James White (2015)
Plot Summary:
James White is a troubled twentysomething trying to stay afloat in a frenzied New York City. As he retreats further into a hedonistic lifestyle, his mother's battle with a serious illness faces a series of setbacks that force him to assume more responsibility. With the pressure on him mounting, James must find new reserves of strength or risk imploding completely.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sad, psychological, sincere, captivating, disturbing, mumblecore, weird
Similar in 80%
My Mother (2015)
Plot Summary:
Margherita, a director in the middle of an existential crisis, has to deal with the inevitable and still unacceptable loss of her mother.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France, Germany
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, social, existential, crying
Similar in 84%
The Savages (2007)
Plot Summary:
A sister and brother face the realities of familial responsibility as they begin to care for their ailing father.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, independent film, emotional, compassionate, touching, depressing, melancholic, sincere, humorous
Similar in 82%
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Plot Summary:
After his older brother passes away, Lee Chandler is forced to return home to care for his 16-year-old nephew. There he is compelled to deal with a tragic past that separated him from his family and the community where he was born and raised.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 305000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: sad, depressing, heartbreaking, psychological, emotional, touching, independent film, compassionate, realistic, cerebral
Similar in 89%
Still Alice (2014)
Plot Summary:
Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children, is a renowned linguistics professor who starts to forget words. When she receives a devastating diagnosis, Alice and her family find their bonds tested.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 142000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, UK, France
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sad, heartbreaking, touching, emotional, inspirational, depressing, tear jerker, psychological, compassionate, sentimental