Best movies like Whatever Lola Wants
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A Brooklyn postal worker follows her Egyptian boyfriend to Cairo where she takes belly-dancing lessons from a legendary but disgraced Egyptian dancer.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, France
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: semi serious, captivating, psychological, atmospheric, sentimental, feel good, humorous, realistic
Best tv shows and movies like Whatever Lola Wants (2007):
Similar in 81%
The Belly Dancer and the Politician (1990)
Plot Summary:
A dancer asks a politician with whom she once had an affair to use his influence on her behalf.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 290
Genere: Drama
Country: Egypt
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
The Dancer (2000)
Plot Summary:
Elle a une passion: la danse. Une ambition: danser a Broadway. Un handicap: elle est muette. Le samedi soir, dans une boite new-yorkaise, elle affronte les plus grands DJ et, quelle que soit la musique, techno, funk, jazz ou soul, elle garde le tempo et met le public a genoux. Un soir, dans la foule, un jeune scientifique la decouvre, fascine. Avec elle, il inventera un systeme qui lui permettra de danser, de s'exprimer et d'aimer.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, touching, feel good, independent film
Similar in 89%
Just Like a Woman (2012)
Plot Summary:
Two women get on the highway heading to Santa Fe. Marilyn dreams of winning a contest held by a famous belly dancing company, while her friend, Mona, has a secret: she's a fugitive from justice - accused of her mother-in-law's death.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA, France
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, disturbing, sex comedy, touching, realistic, independent film, interesting
Similar in 83%
Louis (2010)
Plot Summary:
A silent film about Louis Armstrong as a young boy and how he acquired his first cornet.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 224
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, realistic, psychological, captivating, sentimental, offbeat, humorous, stylized, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 79%
The Baby Doll Night (2008)
Plot Summary:
Hossam returns home to Cairo for New Year's Eve after a year's separation from his wife. At the airport, his plans for a romantic night (and to conceive a child) are thwarted by several events, including a terrorist plot.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 738
Genere: Drama
Country: Egypt
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, tense, captivating, sad, islamic, humorous, suspenseful, semi serious
Similar in 90%
Video Girl (2011)
Plot Summary:
Lorie Walker ( Meagan Good), attends a ritzy private school in a small southern town. Raised by her grandmother Valerie ( Ruby Dee), she often daydreams of becoming a professional dancer. After a chance meeting with a renowned music video director, her lifestyle changes completely. She finds herself struggling to stay grounded in this new, provocative, glamorous world.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 772
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, serious
Similar in 84%
Hope (2014)
Plot Summary:
On his clandestine journey from Cameroon to Europe through the Sahara desert, Léonard meets Hope, a Nigerian girl who's following the same dream.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 187
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Morocco
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating
Similar in 83%
Little Lion (2012)
Plot Summary:
Mitri is 15 years old and lives in a village in Senegal. Like all the youngsters of his age, he plays football, dreaming of the Barcelona and Chelsea Football Clubs. When an agent sees him, Mitri believes in his luck. But, in order to go chasing Europe´s big clubs, he has to pay. The family puts money together and runs into debts to help him. Once in Paris, everything falls apart: Mitri finds himself abandonned without a cent in his pocket, and cannot imagine facing shame when he comes back to the village. An odyssey of tanglements begins then. But, his football dream will catch up with him when he meets someone.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 220
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, captivating, psychological, serious
Similar in 80%
The Citizen (2012)
Plot Summary:
Yearning to leave behind his life of misfortune in the Middle East, Ibrahim Jarrah wins the U.S. Green Card Lottery for a chance to become an American citizen. Ibrahim lands in New York City the day before 9/11…and the events of the September terrorist attacks forever shape the struggles he faces on his journey to capture the American dream.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, uplifting, independent film
Similar in 88%
X/Y (2014)
Plot Summary:
As Mark, Jen, Sylvia, and Jake navigate through their emotionally-arrested states, X/Y reveals the honest and wanton desire we all have to connect with someone and what is at stake when that connection fades.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 693
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, sexy, sincere, touching, serious, independent film, erotic
Similar in 87%
World Traveler (2001)
Plot Summary:
After hitting the road a man encounters characters that make him realize the importance of family.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, captivating, road movie, humorous, contemplative, talky, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 78%
Not Waving But Drowning (2012)
Plot Summary:
Not Waving But Drowning is a chronological look at growing up, formed from two different stories. The two sets of friends represent the American dilemma between what you have known and what you hope to know; the tear between longing for the past and the desire to explore.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 431
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, touching, captivating, sincere, serious, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 76%
Crossroads (2006)
Plot Summary:
The life of a young Jesuit seminarian is turned upside down when he falls in love with a young woman while working as a volunteer at a soup kitchen.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 300
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, serious, sexual
Similar in 89%
Firelight (2012)
Plot Summary:
Incarcerated women join a band of volunteers who battle forest fires and assist during natural disasters.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 631
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, sincere, touching, serious, psychological, captivating
Similar in 85%
How She Move (2007)
Plot Summary:
After the death of Raya Green's(Rutina Wesley) sister, she gets out from her classes at school, and sees a stomp crew practicing. She meets Bishop(Dwain Murphy) which is the dance crew leader. She then meets Michelle and does a stomp battle with her. They become enemies then friends later on. Her uptight mom pushes her to pass the test to get into Medical school, but she thinks she failed.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Canada, USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, exciting, serious, independent film
Similar in 85%
The Music Teacher (2012)
Plot Summary:
Music Teacher revolves around Alyson Daley (Potts), a high school music teacher who is on the brink of losing her beloved school music program because of district budget cuts. In an effort to spare the program, Daley's former students band together to stage a musical to raise money to keep the program alive.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 179
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, touching, serious
Similar in 84%
Juanita (2019)
Plot Summary:
Fed up with her deadbeat grown kids and marginal urban existence, Juanita takes a Greyhound bus to Paper Moon, Montana - where she reinvents herself and finds her mojo.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, captivating, feel good, light, sincere
Similar in 80%
An American in Hollywood (2014)
Plot Summary:
A talented young filmmaker from New York sets off to Los Angeles in pursuit of the Hollywood dream, only to discover through his relationship with a beautiful feisty young actress, that Hollywood is not all that it seems.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 219
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: realistic, semi serious, sincere, captivating, humorous, independent film
Similar in 80%
The God of Wood (2010)
Plot Summary:
Yao (Madi Diocou) and Moroccan Rachid (Soufiane Ouaarab) arrive illegally in Valencia, Spain, and separate. Yao sells pirated DVDs in the street and wanders disconsolately around the barrio until he glimpses divorcee Maria Luisa (Marisa Paredes) working in her boutique. High-strung and irritable, Maria lives with her gay son, Rober (Nao Albet), who, like many other things in life, is a disappointment to her. Rachid, meanwhile, is doing just fine working as a hairstylist in a beauty salon; Rober is hopelessly in love with him. When Yao starts sleeping in Rober's flat, a confrontation between him and Maria suddenly becomes inevitable, and when it comes, what could have been an embarrassment is actually handled with grace.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 152
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: realistic, emotional, sentimental, psychological, captivating, touching, serious, sexual, sexy
Similar in 88%
The Three-Way Wedding (2010)
Plot Summary:
A play writer entertains the actors of his next play, including his ex-wife and her new lover. Everyone is finding his new place.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 242
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: realistic, semi serious, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, sincere, offbeat, humorous, witty, contemplative
Similar in 85%
Same Same But Different (2009)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Benjamin Prufer and Sreykeo Solvan. The unexpected and uncertain love story of Sreykeo, a 21 year old bar girl in Phnom Penh and Ben, a young German student traveling to Cambodia on a post graduation summer trip. When Ben returns home to Germany he discovers that Sreyko is sick and he takes on the responsibility to save her. On the way he discovers a world where not everyone is dealt the same cards and where motivations are not always pure.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, atmospheric, touching, realistic, sincere, offbeat, serious, captivating, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Love Chronicles: Secrets Revealed (2010)
Plot Summary:
Love Chronicles, a romantic “dramedy”, is set at Los Angeles radio station KLUV, where callers air their dirty laundry over the airwaves for all to hear. Over the course of one crazy day, show host and "relationship expert" Darren (Rockmond Dunbar) and Janet (Vivica Fox) have had another one of their epic fights that threatens to end their marriage and make a joke of Darren's career. At the radio station, street author Thomas Black (Mike Epps) advises cougar Monique (Elise Neal) how to stay married while DJ Mike V (Ving Rhames) helps out the good girl who falls for bad boy from the other side of the tracks.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 115
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: semi serious, talky, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, sincere, humorous, realistic, independent film
Similar in 83%
Home Again (2012)
Plot Summary:
Returning to a "home" they hardly know after being deported from their adopted countries for minor criminal offenses, three people from very different backgrounds try to make a new life for themselves, in Jamaica in this gutsy drama from writer-director Sudz Sutherland. (TIFF).
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 428
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 90%
Mentor (2006)
Plot Summary:
A thought-provoking drama about the power that a famous university professor holds over his students and assistants.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 226
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, serious, captivating, touching, emotional, independent film, sexual, sexy
Similar in 85%
Hassan and Marcus (2008)
Plot Summary:
When the lives of Mahmoud, a Muslim Sheikh (Omar Sharif) and Boulos, a Christian Theologian (Adel Imam) are threatened by religious extremists on both sides, the Egyptian government inducts them into a witness protection program that requires them to disguise themselves as the Christian Marcus and a Muslim Sheikh, Hassan el-Attar, respectively. When, unwittingly, they move into the same building, a friendship blossoms that must, along with a romance between the protagonists' children, withstand the difficulties of prejudice and social persecution.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Egypt
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, captivating, light, touching, feel good, semi serious
Similar in 86%
Lebanon, Pa. (2010)
Plot Summary:
Will, a charming 35-year-old Philadelphia ad man, heads to Lebanon, Pa. to bury his recently deceased father. He forms an unexpected friendship with CJ, his bright, newly pregnant 17-year-old cousin. As Will becomes interested in CJ's married teacher and CJ confronts her conflicted father, both struggle with formidable decisions about the path their lives will take. Can we vault our differences and meet in the middle? This bittersweet comic drama tenderly explores the cultural divide in America through the lives of one extended family.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 584
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, psychological, captivating, sincere, clever, touching, serious, independent film
Similar in 84%
2nd Take (2011)
Plot Summary:
Reclusive writer takes aspiring actress under his wing.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 183
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, touching, serious, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Snow in August (2001)
Plot Summary:
In a world filled with hatred, their only hope was magic. Believe and anything can happen.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 326
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, atmospheric, emotional, psychological, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 78%
Jump (2009)
Plot Summary:
Aspiring dancer Phoenix lives in the countryside with her father, but she's got her eyes set on farther places. Jumping at the chance to move to shiny Shanghai, she makes ends and dreams meet by working as a janitor at an elite dance studio where she picks up dance moves on the sly. Even with her unfailing spirit, things aren't easy for Phoenix working two jobs and putting up with the mockery from city folks. Enter her knight in shining armor, CEO and studio owner Ron, who sweeps her off her feet and gives her a spot on the dance team.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 308
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: feel good, realistic, semi serious, sincere, humorous
Similar in 87%
Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks (2014)
Plot Summary:
A retired woman hires a dance instructor to give her private dance lessons at her home -- one per week for six weeks. What begins as an antagonistic relationship turns into a close friendship as they dance together.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 356
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Hungary, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, feel good, humorous, semi serious, independent film, realistic, queer cinema