Movies like Ironweed

If you like "Ironweed" you are looking for touching, intense and sincere movies about / with alcohol abuse, homeless, mental illness, redemption, alcoholism, halloween and couple relations themes of Drama genre shot in USA.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps: 1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below). 2. Look for them in the presented list.
Ironweed (1987)
 6.7
 10K
Ironweed (1987)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 143 min.
Story: Albany, New York, Halloween, 1938. Francis Phelan and Helen Archer are bums, back in their birth city. She was a singer on the radio, he a major league pitcher. Death surrounds them: she's sick, a pal has cancer, he digs graves at the cemetery and visits the grave of his infant son whom he dropped; visions of his past haunt him, including ghosts of two men he killed. That night, out drinking, Helen tries to sing at a bar. Next day, Fran visits his wife and children and meets a grandson. He could stay, but decides it's not for him. Helen gets their things out of storage and finds a hotel. Amidst their mistakes and dereliction, the film explores their code of fairness and loyalty.
Style: touching, intense, sincere, serious, realistic, depressing, compassionate, cult classic, gloomy, independent film ...
Plot: alcohol abuse, homeless, mental illness, redemption, alcoholism, halloween, couple relations, rich and poor, parents and children, life is a bitch, best friend, human nature, buddies, mental disorder, alcoholic, homelessness, addiction, twists and turns, cancer, great depression, poverty, drifter, guilt, rock, illness ...
Time: 1900s, 1930s, year 1987, 1910s, 20th century, 30s
Place: new york, usa
Keyword: gangsters, dreams, retrospective

Movie in categories

homeless movies
1204
redemption movies
8188
touching movies
11218
1900s movies
540
1930s movies
1498
intense movies
5142

Most similar movies to Ironweed

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out serious, realistic, sincere and gloomy films with plots about life is a bitch, hopes, human nature, family relations, society, couples and misfit mostly in Drama and Sport genres. Some movies like Ironweed: Midnight Cowboy (1969), Smashed (2012), The Wrestler (2008), Clean and Sober (1988), Drunks (1995). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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 7.8
 120K
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min.
Story: A naive male prostitute and his sickly friend struggle to survive on the streets of New York City.
Style: disturbing, realistic, depressing, controversial, cult classic ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: friendship, dream, prostitution, fish out of water, gay, cripple, homosexual, gay slur, prostitute, cowboy, female nudity, sexuality ...
Time: 20th century, 60s, year 1969, 50s, 1950s
Place: new york, texas, florida, manhattan new york city, usa ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.7
 18K
Smashed (2012)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min.
Story: Kate and Charlie like to have a good time. Their marriage thrives on a shared fondness for music, laughter… and getting smashed. When Kate’s partying spirals into hard-core asocial behavior, compromising her job as an elementary schoolteacher, ...
Style: sincere, depressing, touching, realistic, indie film ...
Plot: addiction, alcoholic, rehabilitation, support group, teacher, alcohol abuse, depression, introspection, irresponsible, recovery, life is a bitch, hopes ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.9
 319K
The Wrestler (2008)
Genre: Drama, Sport
Country: USA, France
Duration: 109 min.
Story: Aging wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson is long past his prime but still ready and rarin' to go on the pro-wrestling circuit. After a particularly brutal beating, however, Randy hangs up his tights, pursues a serious relationship with ...
Style: depressing, emotional, bleak, touching, serious ...
Audience: manly, adult
Plot: wrestling, loneliness, aging, life is a bitch, fame, father daughter relationship, self destructing, professional wrestling, stripper, ambition, character study, father daughter estrangement ...
Time: year 2008, 2000s, 2010s, 21st century
Place: new jersey, iran, bolivia, usa, north america
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Clean and Sober (1988)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min.
Story: Hotshot real estate salesman Daryl has a bad cocaine habit. After embezzling his company's money, he wakes up next to a girl who overdosed. To hide from the police, he checks into a rehabilitation program guaranteeing anonymity. Under the ...
Style: realistic, touching, compassionate, emotional, melancholic ...
Plot: drug addiction, addiction, introspection, alcoholism, alcoholic, drug abuse, yuppie, alcoholics anonymous, drug, tragedy, character study, recovery ...
Time: 80s
Place: usa, philadelphia
⇓ similarity ⇓
44%
Movie in collections
 6.4
 1K
Drunks (1995)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story: At the beginning of a nightly Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Jim seems particularly troubled. His sponsor encourages him to talk that night, the first time in seven months, so he does - and leaves the meeting right after. As Jim wanders the night, ...
Style: independent film, realistic, talky, spiritual, serious ...
Plot: alcoholic, drug addiction, drug, addiction, alcohol abuse, drinking, recovery, self discovery, redemption, drug abuse, drug addict, heroin ...
Time: 90s
⇓ similarity ⇓
42%
 6.9
 13K
One True Thing (1998)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min.
Story: A career woman reassesses her parents' lives after she is forced to care for her cancer-stricken mother.
Style: touching, melancholic, emotional, realistic, depressing ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: terminal illness, cancer, dysfunctional family, tragedy, family drama, life, relationships, honest, parenthood, parents and children, unfulfillment, family problems ...
Time: 90s, 20th century
Place: new york, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
41%
Time Out of Mind (2014)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story: Evicted from his squat and suddenly alone on the streets, George is a man without a home. Struggling with his demons and desperately trying to connect with the daughter he abandoned, he navigates the system, hustling for change and somewhere safe ...
Style: realistic, sincere, emotional, serious, independent film ...
Plot: homeless, homeless shelter, homelessness, estrangement, social decay, down on your luck, redemption, life is a bitch, hopes, society, parents and children, depression ...
Time: 21st century
Place: new york, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
39%
Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God... Be Back by Five (1998)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story: No overview found.
Style: independent film, serious, psychological, realistic, gloomy ...
Plot: mental illness, friendship, amusement park, gay interest, best friend, buddies, self discovery, social misfits, misfit, life is a bitch, betrayal, alcohol abuse ...
Time: year 1998, 90s
Place: new york, usa, brooklyn new york city, coney island brooklyn new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
39%
Movie in collections
Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 174 min.
Story: The film follows one day in the lives of the Tyrone family, each member is troubled and has been damaged by alcohol and/or drugs. In addition, they have issues with each other that lead to fights and an inability to reconcile completely with one ...
Style: tense, talky, depressing, realistic, serious ...
Plot: addiction, dysfunctional family, alcoholism, drug addiction, redemption, family life, actor, alcohol abuse, actor's life, lifestyle, human nature, morphine ...
Time: 20th century, year 1962, 60s, 1910s, year 1912
Place: connecticut
⇓ similarity ⇓
39%
Bright Lights, Big City (1988)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 107 min.
Story: A young kid from Kansas moves to New York to work on a magazine. He gets caught up in the world of drink and drugs, and starts a steady decline. The only hope is the cousin of one of his drinking partners, can she pull him through it ?
Style: intense, serious, realistic, bleak, sentimental ...
Audience: teens
Plot: drug abuse, redemption, addiction, writers, nightlife, drug, life is a bitch, starting over, supportive spouse, downfall, alcohol abuse, friendship ...
Time: 20th century, 80s
Place: new york, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
38%
My Name Is Bill W. (1989)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: Based on the true story of Bill W. (James Woods), a successful stock broker whose life falls apart after the stock crash of the 20's and how he comes to grips with his alcoholism. Along with a fellow alcoholic (James Garner) he forms a support ...
Style: touching, realistic, uplifting, thought provoking, sincere ...
Plot: addiction, rehabilitation, support group, recovery, family problems, friendship, human spirit, self discovery, hopes, drug abuse, coping, against the odds ...
Time: 1930s, year 1929, 1920s
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
37%
 7.7
 46K
The Verdict (1982)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min.
Story: Frank Galvin is a down-on-his luck lawyer, reduced to drinking and ambulance chasing. Former associate Mickey Morrissey reminds him of his obligations in a medical malpractice suit that he himself served to Galvin on a silver platter: all parties ...
Style: suspense, tense, atmospheric, intense, thought provoking ...
Plot: courtroom, courtroom drama, redemption, lawyer, court, legal action, character study, fighting the system, legal, alcoholic, trial, law ...
Time: 20th century, year 1982, 80s
Place: boston, massachusetts, usa, new york, new york state
⇓ similarity ⇓
36%
Under the Volcano (1984)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 112 min.
Story: Against a background of war breaking out in Europe and the Mexican fiesta Day of Death, we are taken through one day in the life of Geoffrey Firmin, a British consul living in alcoholic disrepair and obscurity in a small southern Mexican town in ...
Style: atmospheric, depressing, psychological, realistic, serious ...
Plot: alcoholic, alcoholism, depression, dysfunctional family, addiction, greed, introspection, human nature, crumbling marriage, estrangement, couples, one day ...
Time: 1930s, year 1984, 20th century
Place: mexico, latin america
⇓ similarity ⇓
35%
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: A drop-out from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil-rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.
Style: road movie, realistic, serious, thought provoking, captivating ...
Plot: road trip, character study, dysfunctional family, on the road, drifter, alienation, hitchhiker, working class, piano, self discovery, pianist, bowling ...
Time: 20th century, 70s, year 1970
Place: california, usa, oregon, washington state, northern california ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
35%
 6.9
 6K
The Doctor (1991)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min.
Story: Jack McKee is a doctor with it all: he's successful, he's rich, and he has no problems.... until he is diagnosed with throat cancer. Now that he has seen medicine, hospitals, and doctors from a patient's perspective, he realises that ...
Style: psychological, sentimental, touching, emotional, uplifting ...
Plot: hospital, medical, cancer, medicine, doctor, redemption, health, doctors and patients, coldhearted, nurse, tumor, brain tumor ...
Time: 90s, 20th century
⇓ similarity ⇓
35%
The River Niger (1976)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story: An intimate look at life in the ghetto: Johnny Williams is a house painter who moonlights as a poet, struggling to financially and emotionally support his cancer-ridden wife Mattie. But times are tough and the poverty-troubled streets are even ...
Style: crime drama, independent film, serious, realistic, touching ...
Plot: black, blaxploitation, african, swing, racial issues, african american, performer's life, family relations, urban ghetto, couple relations, human spirit, love and romance ...
Time: year 1976, 70s
⇓ similarity ⇓
34%
Of Mice and Men (1981)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min.
Story: George and Lenny travel through the Depression-era west working at odd jobs, hoping to make enough money to buy their own farm. George must always watch over his intellectually disabled friend, and keep him out of danger, both to himself and to ...
Style: serious, realistic, gloomy, touching
Plot: man child, great depression, labor, homeless, strike, union, drifter, friendship, human nature, society, misfit, social relations ...
Time: 1930s, 20th century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
34%
 6.1
 586
Sweet Nothing (1995)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story: Angel celebrates the birth of his daughter by taking his first hit of crack cocaine. With the hesitant support of his wife, Monika, he joins a friend of his to deal drugs for a short time--enough time to get out of debt and buy some nice things for ...
Style: melancholic, realistic, serious, independent film, crying ...
Plot: drug addiction, drug abuse, loneliness, family problems, family relations, downfall, introspection, crumbling marriage, life is a bitch, misfit, money, addiction ...
Time: 90s
Place: new york, usa, bronx new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
34%
Movie in collections
realistic movies
29790
buddies movies
3388
 6.4
 298
Islander (2006)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: After a tragic accident at sea, Eben Cole loses his family, friends and stature in his island fishing community. He returns to the island an outcast but determined to win back the way of life he fought so hard to protect. Set against the stunning ...
Style: serious, realistic, touching, sincere, independent film
Plot: hopes, redemption, island, starting over, family problems, estrangement, social misfits, couple relations, human nature, friendship, ocean, family relations ...
Time: 21st century
Place: maine, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
34%
Curse of the Starving Class (1994)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min.
Story: Curse of the Starving Class is a play by Sam Shepard, considered the first of a series on family tragedies. Drama about a dirt-poor 1950's-era farm family. Dad's a foul talking drunk and Mom is desperately trying to save what's left ...
Style: gloomy, independent film, serious, realistic
Plot: poverty, farm, alcoholic, family relations, coming of age, social misfits, society, hopes, life is a bitch, couple relations, human nature, unfulfillment ...
Time: 50s, 20th century, 1920s
⇓ similarity ⇓
34%
Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story: An alcoholic falls in love with and gets married to a young woman, whom he systematically addicts to booze so they can share his "passion" together.
Style: sexy, poignant, realistic, depressing, black and white ...
Plot: addiction, alcoholic, alcoholism, alcoholics anonymous, alcohol abuse, rehabilitation, recovery, love, drinking, drunk, drug addiction, secretary ...
Time: year 1962, 20th century, 60s
Place: san francisco, usa, texas, california, houston texas
⇓ similarity ⇓
34%
 7.2
 19K
Scarecrow (1973)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min.
Story: Two drifters bum around, visit earthy women and discuss opening a car wash in Pittsburgh.
Style: road movie, atmospheric, emotional, sincere, touching ...
Plot: drifter, road trip, on the road, friendship, prison, attempted rape, character study, self discovery, violence, introspection, mental breakdown, car wash ...
Time: 20th century, 70s
Place: pennsylvania, pittsburgh, california, denver colorado, detroit ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
34%
The Saint of Fort Washington (1993)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story: Matthew, a young schizophrenic, finds himself out on the street when a slumlord tears down his apartment building. Soon, he finds himself in even more dire straits, when he is threatened by Little Leroy, a thug who is one of the tough denizens of ...
Style: bleak, independent film, political, inspirational, psychological ...
Plot: friendship, mental illness, homelessness, schizophrenia, homeless shelter, homeless, death, murder, photography, loss of friend, photograph, death of friend ...
Time: year 1993, 90s
Place: new york, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
34%
Movie in collections
A Cross to Bear (2012)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story: Mother of a 15-month old daughter and would-be dancer, fighting alcoholism and the hardships of living on the streets gets help from a home for women and tries to find the will to live and get her life back on track
Style: realistic, serious, touching, sincere, humorous
Plot: starting over, friendship, adoption, life is a bitch, pregnancy, couples, family relations, addiction, optimism, hopes, alcohol abuse, babies and infants ...
Time: 21st century
⇓ similarity ⇓
34%
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min.
Story: While serving time for insanity at a state mental hospital, implacable rabble-rouser, Randle Patrick McMurphy inspires his fellow patients to rebel against the authoritarian rule of head nurse, Mildred Ratched.
Style: psychological, thought provoking, dramatic, serious, surprise ending ...
Audience: date night, family friendly, teen drama, adult
Plot: mental illness, mental institution, fighting the system, human spirit, insanity, freedom, psychiatrist, unlikely friendships, psychopath, society, nurse, escaped mental patient ...
Time: 60s, 20th century, year 1975
Place: oregon, eastern europe, america, persia
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
The Iceman Cometh (1973)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 239 min.
Story: Set in 1912, the entire film takes place inside a dive bar named The Last Chance Saloon, where its destitute patrons eagerly await the arrival of Hickey, who arrives annually and props everyone up with free drinks and spirited stories of his ...
Style: talky, serious, realistic, thought provoking, independent film ...
Plot: alcoholic, society, life is a bitch, unemployment, anarchist, bartender, prostitute, confession, drug addiction, storytelling, union, cold war ...
Time: 1910s, year 1912
Place: usa, new york
⇓ similarity ⇓
33%
 6.2
 2K
Helen (2009)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, UK, Germany, Canada
Duration: 120 min.
Story: On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depression, Helen finds solace through her friendship with Mathilda, a ...
Style: psychological, emotional, realistic, depressing, sentimental ...
Plot: mental illness, family relations, suicide, love affair, parents and children, couples, friendship, unfulfillment, mental disorder, self mutilation, psychological disorder, mental health ...
Time: year 2009, 21st century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
33%
 6.3
 936
Phantom Pain (2009)
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 97 min.
Story: Marc is a passionate cyclist and urban slacker who avoids work and responsibility. Marc's life changes from one moment to the next when he suffers a life-changing accident. He can either wallow in self-pity or tackle the beast called life with ...
Style: serious, sincere, touching, psychological, emotional ...
Plot: cyclist, hopes, couple relations, life is a bitch, disability, parents and children, human nature, human spirit, redemption, misfit, family relations, new love ...
Time: 21st century
Place: europe, germany
⇓ similarity ⇓
33%
 7.3
 8K
Dodes'ka-den (1970)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 140 min.
Story: By turns tragic and transcendent, Akira Kurosawa’s film follows the daily lives of a group of people barely scraping by in a slum on the outskirts of Tokyo. Yet as desperate as their circumstances are, each of them—the homeless father and son ...
Style: touching, meditative, compassionate, atmospheric, depressing ...
Plot: poverty, redemption, samurai, social differences, life is a bitch, working class, slum, tragedy, unlikely friendships, character study, hopes, human nature ...
Time: 20th century, year 1970, 60s
Place: tokyo, japan, asia
⇓ similarity ⇓
33%
 6.2
 1K
God's Army (2000)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story: Life as a Mormon missionary isn't what 19-year-old Brandon Allen expected: so many rules and so few successes. Los Angeles is as unrepentant as Sodom and Gomorrah. He's forced to share a small apartment with five young prank-loving ...
Style: realistic, sincere, touching, uplifting, psychological ...
Plot: missionary, couples, working class, terminal illness, redemption, self discovery, life is a bitch, youth, family relations, disorder, culture clash, parents and children ...
Time: 90s
Place: california, los angeles, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
33%
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