Best movies like Year Zero
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Through a mosaic of stories intertwined and created a current picture of the sad social and economic situation in Israel. Mother forced into prostitution to support her son; Blind man must survive after loosing his dog; Son is looking for his rocker father's; Apartment owner complicates his life while entering the underworld.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 190
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Year Zero (2004):
Similar in 75%
Tramontane (2016)
Plot Summary:
Rabih, a young blind man, lives in a small village in Lebanon. He sings in a choir and edits Braille documents for an income. His life unravels when he tries to apply for a passport and discovers that his identification card, which he has carried his entire life, is fake. Now he must travel across Lebanon in search of his identity.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 361
Genere: Drama
Country: Lebanon, France, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Egypt
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
The Garden (1977)
Plot Summary:
Abraham, an old man, has a fruit garden in Jerusalem that is threatened by a number of people who want to buy him out or chase him off. One day, the old man finds a mute young woman (Melanie Griffith), confused after being attacked by thugs, wandering in his garden and he thinks she is actually an angel.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 119
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
One Day in August (2001)
Plot Summary:
Middle August in Athens. Three families, living in a three storey building, leave for their summer vacations. Everyone is wishing for a miracle to happen this summer. In the meantime, a drifter breaks into their apartments and rummages their personal belongings, thus unfolding hidden secrets.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Greece
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
A Sudden Loss of Gravity (2000)
Plot Summary:
Three generations of small town rebel-rebels crash into each other and burn in Todd Verow's new film, A Sudden Loss of Gravity. The small town of Bangor Maine is finally entering the 80's with a pile-up of new wave proportions. Based on true stories of the Northeastern town.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 57
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 83%
By Accident (2015)
Plot Summary:
One evening, Amra, a young Algerian living in France, accidentally runs over a pedestrian. Riddled with guilt and the certainty that she will lose her French identity papers, Amra is miraculously proved innocent by Angélique, a beautiful redhead who is as open and without any hang-ups as Amra is unsociable and introverted. The two young women become friends, but then Angélique's attitude becomes increasingly strange, indeed, even troubling.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 137
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Hide and Seek (1980)
Plot Summary:
Twelve year-old Uri reports his teacher Balaban as a suspected spy when he observes him meeting with a young arab man. Only later does he discover that Balaban's interest in the young arab is romantic rather than political.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 46
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Working Girls (2020)
Plot Summary:
During a scorching summer, Axelle, Conso and Dominique cross every day the Franco-Belgian border to prostitute themselves in Belgium to continue living in Roubaix.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 960
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium, France
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Foxtrot (2017)
Plot Summary:
A personal movie inspired by Maoz’s experience as a soldier, through a tragic yet universal story of grief.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, Switzerland, Germany, France
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: social, political, surreal, cult classic, independent film, odd, weird
Similar in 85%
Made in Israel (2001)
Plot Summary:
Egon Schultz, the last Nazi criminal, is extradited by Syria to Israel. Hoffman, A wealthy businessman and son of a holocaust survivor, puts out a 2 million dollar contract on his head and a group of people turned Nazi-Hunters make their way through the heavy snows of Ramat Ha'Golan, to catch Schultz and bring him unharmed to the highest mountain, where Hoffman plans to kill "The Nazi Beast".
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 193
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Jellyfish (2007)
Plot Summary:
Meduzot (the Hebrew word for Jellyfish) tells the story of three very different Israeli women living in Tel Aviv whose intersecting stories weave an unlikely portrait of modern Israeli life. Batya, a catering waitress, takes in a young child apparently abandoned at a local beach. Batya is one of the servers at the wedding reception of Keren, a young bride who breaks her leg in trying to escape from a locked toilet stall, which ruins her chance at a romantic honeymoon in the Caribbean. One of the guests is Joy, a Philippine chore woman attending the event with her employer, and who doesn't speak any Hebrew (she communicates mainly in English), and who is guilt-ridden after having left her young son behind in the Philippines.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, France
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, art house, existential, humorous, witty, stylized
Similar in 80%
The Magician of Lublin (1979)
Plot Summary:
Yasha is a Jewish stage magician who tours through eastern Europe while destroying his career through personal problems. He has one more chance at theatrical success, but he needs to do a brand new trick in a Warsaw theater.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 174
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, West Germany
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 90%
Shor (1972)
Plot Summary:
Shankar (Manoj Kumar), his lovely wife Geeta (Nanda) and Deepak (Master Satyajeet) are a poor but happy family. Tragedy strikes one day, when Deepak wonders over to the railway tracks. When Geeta rushes in to warn and rescue him, she is run over by the train and is instantly killed. Deepak loses his vocal chords and cannot speak. Shankar takes Deepak to see a doctor (Raj Mehra), who examines Deepak, and tells Shankar that Deepak can recover his voice after a surgerical operation, which may cost around 1000 to 1500 rupees. Shankar is unable to afford this but is determined to find the money to cure his son. Shankar's mom (Kamini Kaushal), sister (Naaz), Khan Badshan (Prem Nath), Rani alias Raat ki Rani (Jaya Bhaduri) offer support. And Shankar takes part in a grueling tournament that puts his very life at risk.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 398
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 170 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
Wedding Doll (2015)
Plot Summary:
Fixated on romantic fantasies, a kindly and strong-willed young woman with a mild mental disability embarks on a relationship — much to the concern of her protective mother.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 301
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
All the Way Home (1981)
Plot Summary:
A wife and mother in 1915 Tennessee copes with the loss of her husband and the necessity of raising their children alone.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 105
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Drifting (1982)
Plot Summary:
Robi is a young Israeli who lives his grandparents and works at their store. He dreams of finding true love and becoming a movie director, both of which seem increasingly difficult. His film career stalls, until he can get financial backing and his love life seems to be in similar shape. While the urban city has places to cruise for sex, Robi struggles to find an organized gay community and a committed relationship.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 85
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Surrogate (2008)
Plot Summary:
Eli is a 32 year old man who has problems with relationships with women. Hagar is a surrogate, an alternative partner for practical, sexual therapy. They meet once a week and practice a relationship and intimacy in laboratory conditions. The fictitious relationship between them exposes them both physically and emotionally and brings to surface repressed fears from the real world. The changes Eli goes through during the therapy, along with the secrets revealed, not only shake his own life, but also the life of his family. Between clinic walls, due to an "artificial" process, Eli learns how to love for the first time.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 168
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 57 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, captivating, suspense, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 84%
Baba Joon (2015)
Plot Summary:
Yitzhak runs the turkey farm his father built with his own two hands after they emigrated from Iran to Israel. When his son Moti turns thirteen, Yitzhak teaches him the trade, hoping that he will continue the proud family tradition. But Moti doesn't like working in the turkey barn; his passion is fixing up junkyard cars and bringing them back to life. Moti's mother Sarah tries to reconcile between the two, while his grandfather pushes Yitzhak to take a firm hand with his son. Yitzhak takes Moti's refusal to work in the turkey barn as a personal rejection. Though he loves his son dearly, he makes it his mission to impose the family farm on Moti. The arrival of Darius, the uncle from America, sets off a chain of events that will undermine the familial harmony. Soon enough Yitzhak will learn that his son is just as stubborn as he is. The conflict is inevitable.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 412
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
Amazing Grace (1992)
Plot Summary:
A drama about two families, each with a gay son. Jonathan is splitting from Miki because the more experienced Miki is playing around. Then Jonathan sees Thomas, the son and grandson of his neighbors, who is back in Israel after failing to make it as a musician in New York: Thomas is ill, detached, in search of hard drugs. Jonathan tries to connect with him. Meanwhile, Thomas's grandmother, facing old age, has become bitter, particularly toward her hard-working daughter. They worry about Thomas. A few blocks away, Jonathan's mother, brother and sister maintain their sometimes bickering relationships, watching Jonathan brave adulthood.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 169
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: queer cinema
Similar in 84%
Asia (2020)
Plot Summary:
Asia is the single mother of 17-year-old Vika. Vika's deteriorating health urges Asia to finally find her voice as a mother and to embrace and cherish their time together.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 703
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, captivating, social
Similar in 80%
Self Made (2014)
Plot Summary:
Self Made tells the story of two women - one Israeli, the other Palestinian- who are trapped within their respective worlds. After a mix-up at a checkpoint, they find themselves living the life of the other on the opposite side of the border.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 232
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, surreal, semi serious, atmospheric, thought provoking, clever, offbeat, witty
Similar in 83%
The Exchange (2011)
Plot Summary:
A family man becomes obsessed with looking at his own life out of context.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 327
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, Germany
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, atmospheric, serious, contemplative, realistic, weird
Similar in 76%
Insight (2015)
Plot Summary:
Pavel Zuev has to start his life over from darkness after he looses his sight. The young man has to learn again how to eat, walk, wash himself, do simple housework, and even how to look out of the window without seeing anything. All connections to his previous life are broken. In this new life blind Zuev encounters an exceptional woman capable of seeing more than other people. Her name sounds symbolic – Nadezhda (translates as 'hope' into English) and she works at the local hospital. Nadezhda will help Zuev find his strength and a new sense of existing. These equally strong but otherwise different people spend together what, perhaps, will be the best days of their lives; but everything has an ending.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 54
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 77%
Little Q (2019)
Plot Summary:
Little Q is an aspiring guide dog, training to be a guide for the blind. Soon Little Q is partnered with Bo-ting, a renowned pastry chef who’s losing his sight. But Bo-ting is irritable and reluctant, constantly losing his temper at those around him and rejecting Little Q. Eventually, dog and owner bond as Little Q wins Bo-ting over with its unwavering loyalty. However, as Little Q gets older and Bo-ting’s health suffers, the two of them face an unwilling separation.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 242
Genere: Drama
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 81%
Campfire (2004)
Plot Summary:
The story of one woman's personal battle for acceptance, but also a portrait of a political movement that has forever affected millions of lives in the Middle East.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 684
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, crying
Similar in 80%
Inheritance (2012)
Plot Summary:
A Palestinian family living in the north of Galilee gathers to celebrate the wedding of one of their daughters, as war rages between Israel and Lebanon. Internal conflicts explode between the family - secrets are revealed and lies are unmasked. The battles between different family members become as merciless as the outside war once their father falls into a coma and inches toward death.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 148
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Israel
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 77%
In Between (2016)
Plot Summary:
The film captures the daily duality of three young Palestinian women in Tel Aviv, caught between hometown tradition and big city abandon, and the price they must pay for a lifestyle that seems obvious to many: the freedom to work, party, fuck, and choose.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Israel
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sincere, psychological, unusual plot structure, humorous, captivating, contemplative, queer cinema
Similar in 77%
The Kindergarten Teacher (2014)
Plot Summary:
A teacher discovers in a five year-old child a prodigious gift for poetry. Amazed and inspired by this young boy, she decides to protect his talent in spite of everyone.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, France
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: realistic, clever, serious, contemplative, exciting, captivating, offbeat, biting, suspense, weird
Similar in 78%
Broken Wings (2002)
Plot Summary:
Daphne and her four children try to cope with the abrupt death of husband/father. As the family seems to fall apart, a sudden incident gives them a chance to heal their 'broken wings'.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, depressing, lyrical, stylized, sentimental, serious, sincere, realistic, talky
Similar in 77%
Aviva, My Love (2006)
Plot Summary:
Aviva, a hard-working hotel cook in the small northern Israeli town of Tiberias, is on the brink of finally fulfilling her lifelong dream. For years she kept her remarkable writing abilities under wraps, until her sister, Anita, introduces her to Oded, an accomplished novelist. Immediately recognizing Aviva's talent, Oded takes her under his wing, promising to help her achieve greatness. But the journey to greatness effects her life and the lives of her family - her unemployed husband, her trouble children, her unstable mother, and primarily her sister, a funny and sensitive woman who have her own dreams. When Aviva discovered that Oded has other plans for her work, her world collapses.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 494
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, captivating, psychological, sentimental, semi serious
Similar in 84%
Tsili (2014)
Plot Summary:
Tsili is a young girl caught in the middle of World War II. After her family is taken to a concentration camp, Tsili hides in the forest, free from hatred and men, until the arrival of Marek, a stranger who speaks to her in Yiddish.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 64
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, France, Italy
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, bleak, disturbing, tense