Movies like Hawaii 2017
If you like "Hawaii" you are looking for historical drama, bleak and tension movies about / with family drama, inheritance, totalitarianism, moral dilemma, moral ambiguity, cold war era and political oppression themes of Drama genre shot in Romania.
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1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
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Hawaii (2017)
1K
Genre: Drama
Country: Romania
Duration: 116 min.
Story:
Hawaii is a story on the struggle of inheriting $3 million in communist-era Romania when owning $1 could mean losing your freedom and touches on the theme of how money could buy if not happiness, at least the freedom to choose unhappiness.
Style:
historical drama, bleak, tension, political, period drama
Plot:
family drama, inheritance, totalitarianism, moral dilemma, moral ambiguity, cold war era, political oppression, survival, loss of innocence, family secret, class struggle, black market, bureaucracy, irony, longing, social realism, village life, resistance, nostalgia, small town, identity crisis, revolt, satire, money, family secrets
Place:
romania, eastern europe
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to Hawaii
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out melancholic, bleak, historical drama and period piece films with plots about social realism, small town, moral ambiguity, moral dilemma, coming of age, survival and poverty mostly in Drama and Action genres. Some movies like Hawaii: Hungarians (1978), The Christening (2022), Ten Thousand Days (1967), The Rage (2002), The Constant Factor (1980). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
A group of landless Hungarian peasants accept work as migrant-laborers on a farm in northern Germany where the wages are good, and the wives and family are allowed to accompany them. Though it is in the midst of World War II, they are relatively ...
Style:
historical drama, period piece, bleak, art house, grim ...
Plot:
world war two, migration, anti fascism, social realism, survival, class struggle, oppression, moral dilemma, working conditions, poverty, getting home, village life ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
hungary, northern germany
Similarity:
95%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
December, 1981. Marianna, a zealous Catholic, decides to use the family celebration - the baptism of the youngest grandson, to reconcile her children who have been quarreling for years. General Jaruzelski, who declares martial law that day, will ...
Style:
historical drama, tension, tragicomedy
Plot:
martial law, family drama, baptism, religion, secrets, catholicism, moral dilemma, family reunited, mother daughter relationship, social realism, matriarchy, community ...
Time:
80s
Similarity:
86%
Genre: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
The changing and turbulent history of Hungary is seen through the eyes of three men over a 30-year period in this somber drama. The three recall the highlights of their lives in flashbacks as they reminisce in the mid 1960s. The venerable trio begin ...
Style:
family saga, historical drama, bleak, period piece, thought provoking ...
Plot:
political repression, social realism, father son relationship, village life, class struggle, oppression, cold war era, moral ambiguity, resistance, revenge, betrayal, boredom ...
Time:
year 1967
Place:
hungary
Similarity:
81%
Genre: Action, Drama
Country: Romania
Duration: 83 min.
Story:
In a city full of "manele", drugs and illegal car races you don't survive unless you know how to pay. Sometimes with other's lives. Young people today are trying to adapt to a world without consciousness, a world of money, ...
Style:
serious, realistic, disturbing, captivating, crime thriller ...
Plot:
partner, moral dilemma, dishonesty, car race, chases and races, debt, street racing, illegal street racing, urban, drug, moral ambiguity, satire ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
eastern europe, romania
Similarity:
77%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
The main character in this effective, convincing drama is Witold (Tadeusz Bradecki) who is high in what later would be termed the "emotional quotient" or the ability to bounce back from adverse, tragic circumstances. Witold has been ...
Style:
existential, melancholic, bleak, intellectual, tragic
Plot:
corruption, grief, character study, moral dilemma, family drama, existential crisis, bureaucracy, frustration, social realism, betrayal, class struggle, anti hero ...
Time:
year 1980
Place:
eastern europe, poland, himalaya
Similarity:
72%
Genre: Drama
Country: Armenia
Duration: 121 min.
Story:
In 1948, decades after fleeing Armenia to the US as a child, Charlie returns in the hopes of finding a connection to his roots, but what he finds instead is a country crushed under Soviet rule. After being unjustly imprisoned, Charlie falls into ...
Style:
melancholic, historical drama, art house, period piece, tragic
Plot:
diaspora, imprisonment, character study, political oppression, memory, loneliness, longing, introspection, identity crisis, nostalgia, surveillance, survival ...
Time:
1950s, 1940s
Place:
armenia
Similarity:
68%
Genre: Drama
Country: Mexico, France
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Ivan, a 14-year old boy, lives with his uncle Jaime, a mediocre dealer of used car parts. Both of them dream with a better life and are stashing away their money in order to emigrate ilegally to Chicago shortly. When Jaime realizes that he needs ...
Style:
realistic, bleak, melancholic, tense, tension ...
Plot:
coming of age, uncle nephew relationship, border crossing, poverty, migration, family drama, illegal immigration, loss of innocence, friendship, juvenile delinquency, survival, coyote ...
Place:
latin america
Similarity:
64%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
Drama directed by Radoslaw Piwowarski.
Style:
historical drama, period piece, melancholic, emotional, intense ...
Plot:
anti semitism, exile, emigration, youth, political persecution, moral dilemma, identity crisis, political oppression, cold war, escape, family conflict, nationalism ...
Time:
60s
Place:
poland
Similarity:
55%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 75 min.
Story:
Basia and Krystyna are trying to smuggle clothes, perfumes and other things purchased abroad through the border back to Poland during communist period. They are accompanied by Basia's son Piotrek, infatuated with Krystyna. At the beginning ...
Style:
tension, suspense, period drama
Plot:
smuggling, customs officer, bribery, customs, cold war, bureaucracy, moral ambiguity, black market, negotiation, road trip, character study, moral dilemma ...
Time:
70s
Place:
poland
Similarity:
52%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
Trying to get his dying father out of prison with a compassionate release, Max Dagan needs the help of the daughter of the man his father killed.
Style:
emotional, heartfelt, bleak, melancholic, tension
Plot:
redemption, forgiveness, father son relationship, family drama, prison, guilt, moral dilemma, second chance, dying man, reconciliation, grief, family secret ...
Similarity:
51%
Genre: Drama
Country: Austria, Germany, Hungary, Romania
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
A moving coming of age story in a time of extreme change: on August 23, 1944 in a small city in Romanian Transylvania, the 16 year old Felix Goldschmidt awaits his classmates for their traditional Exitus Party (school graduation). However, this very ...
Style:
historical drama, dramatic, period piece, atmospheric, melancholic ...
Plot:
coming of age, world war two, friendship, loss of innocence, adolescence, first love, social change, bittersweet, identity crisis, small town, social commentary, provincial life ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
transylvania, romania
Similarity:
47%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy, Switzerland, Albania, Poland
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
Threatened by creditors, a newly unemployed man agrees to work for a debt collector, but soon discovers his deal with the devil has unexpected costs.
Style:
sincere, psychological, disturbing, captivating, suspense ...
Audience:
teens, boys' night
Plot:
desperation, debt, society, life is a bitch, rivalry, money, violence, redemption, escapades, life philosophy, adaptation, poverty ...
Place:
italy
Similarity:
47%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
Looking for Angelina is based on one of the most important murder trials in Canada. Angelina Napolitano murdered her husband with an axe and was sentenced to be executed...
Style:
bleak, historical drama, period piece, emotional, melancholic ...
Plot:
courtroom drama, domestic violence, murder trial, marital abuse, true crime, death sentence, biopic, family drama, empathy, social realism, moral ambiguity, poverty ...
Place:
canada, ontario canada
Similarity:
47%
Genre: Drama
Country: Venezuela
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
Gilberto, a young man from the countryside, arrives in the city with the aim of carving out a future for himself. Initially he is dazzled by the sparkling image of the city, the spoiler of civilization, which will batter him until his personality ...
Style:
realistic, dark, bleak, intense, melancholic
Plot:
drug addiction, urban decay, moral ambiguity, loss of innocence, social realism, coming of age, poverty, nightlife, character study, violence, corruption, identity crisis ...
Time:
70s
Similarity:
46%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
In a poor provincial town, the ragamuffin boys are frenziedly drilled for combat, and at nights the local elite, gathered in a pool room, boasts of fictitious biographies, while bands of boys amuse themselves with bloody fights on trashy vacant ...
Style:
period piece, bleak, atmospheric, melancholic
Audience:
kids
Plot:
post war, escape, survival, poverty, desperation, coming of age, loss of innocence, realism, childhood, adolescence, obsession, mafia ...
Place:
kazakhstan, ussr, soviet union
Similarity:
45%
Genre: Drama
Country: Romania
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
After years of deplorable conditions of poverty and injustice, peasants revolt against the landowners, the social elite, and police in this routine social drama. A peasant woman is raped by a lecherous wealthy lesbian, and chaos breaks out in the ...
Style:
historical drama, serious, period piece, grim, bleak ...
Plot:
village, class struggle, oppression, rape, sexual abuse, repression, political unrest, poverty, social realism, massacre, riot, rebellion ...
Time:
1900s, 90s
Place:
romania, transylvania
Similarity:
44%
1K
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
Pampered by his loving and caring parents, an eight-year-old boy's life takes a turn for the worse when he learns a hidden truth about himself. Soon, he begins to distance himself from his mother.
Style:
heartfelt, melancholic, psychological, tension
Plot:
mother son relationship, coming of age, childhood, grownups, family drama, family bonds, mother love, slice of life, realism, empathy, family conflict, loss of innocence ...
Similarity:
44%
Genre: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
In a dying French mining town near the German border, the last miners are preparing to strike. Marek and Mimmo, two young miners and friends, have different views on the impending strike.
Style:
bleak, melancholic, realistic, tension, political
Plot:
strike, working class, friendship, protest, class struggle, blue collar, poverty, unemployment, social realism, small town, solidarity, male friendship ...
Similarity:
44%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Austria, Germany, Romania
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
Requiem for Dominic powerfully portrayed the upheaval in that liminal space between revolution and order. This drama is captured partly on film, partly on video adding to the gritty reality of the time, place and events as they were unfolding in ...
Style:
bleak, serious, tense, political drama
Plot:
revolution, social realism, uncertainty, grief, iron curtain, civil unrest, political violence, identity crisis, repression, protest, alienation, family conflict ...
Place:
eastern europe, romania
Similarity:
43%
143
Genre: Drama
Country: Romania, France
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
Living in Danube Delta Magdalena receives a letter from France. Together with her son, Nae, she embarks on a journey to encounter her brother.
Style:
contemplative, melancholic
Plot:
family reunited, brother sister relationship, road trip, slice of life, village life, small town, social realism, resilience, bittersweet, family secret, emigration, soul ...
Place:
eastern europe
Similarity:
43%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union, Colombia
Duration: 140 min.
Story:
A man wants to flee wartime Germany and the detested Nazis to Columbia, where his brother lives. In order to achieve his goal he agrees to become an informer for the Reich.
Style:
historical drama, period piece, dark, bleak, tense ...
Plot:
world war two, betrayal, nazism, ethical dilemma, moral ambiguity, tragedy, guilt, survival, totalitarianism, collaboration, compromise, conscience ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
colombia
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 139 min.
Story:
Fontamara is a village in the Marsica, forgotten by all but God and its inhabitants are called 'cafoni' (boors). Berardo Viola wants to marry Elvira but only after gaining enough money to buy some land and in order to reach his aim he has ...
Style:
harsh, bleak, historical drama, political, melancholic
Plot:
fascism, political oppression, tragedy, poverty, social injustice, village, death of protagonist, social realism, working class, political persecution, class conflict, torture ...
Time:
1930s
Place:
rome italy, italy
Similarity:
41%
50
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
Sharon and her ten year old son Bayo live in Tickle Cove on the shores of Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland like generations of their family have before them. Sharon hates her life there. She dreams of moving to Toronto - where her now deceased mother was ...
Style:
emotional, melancholic, independent film, period drama
Plot:
fishing, small town, fishing village, sea, family drama, tradition, mother son relationship, father son relationship, working class, longing, village life, storytelling ...
Place:
newfoundland, toronto ontario canada
Similarity:
41%
Movie in collections
706
Genre: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
Young honest public official is sworn in after his predecessor had to leave due to a corruption scandal. Soon, the young idealist discovers just how far-reaching the corruption is in his town and how easy it is to become corrupt yourself.
Style:
serious, thought provoking, tension, intense, grim ...
Plot:
corruption, moral ambiguity, moral dilemma, idealism, power struggle, frustration, compromise, ethics, small town, bureaucracy, character study, rise and fall ...
Time:
21st century
Similarity:
41%
255
Genre: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
When a young boy comes in to see a doctor abourt a red mark on his face, the doctor's wife welcomes him into the consulting room instead. As they talk, she offers him something to eat and then notes that his manner of eating is just like that ...
Style:
bleak, art house, period piece
Plot:
post war, sexual repression, sexual awakening, domestic drama, character study, guilt, regret, moral dilemma, moral ambiguity, family secret, longing, intimacy ...
Time:
1950s
Place:
hungary
Similarity:
40%
2K
Genre: Drama
Country: Saudi Arabia
Duration: 114 min.
Story:
The Saudi family is following strict instructions from their grandfather to remain confined in the desert during the early 1990s. A series of events shakes the family's foundation and they find them in a struggle between life and death.
Style:
tense, realistic, suspenseful, bleak, grim ...
Plot:
desert, isolation, family conflict, survival, family drama, tradition, confined, loneliness, moral dilemma, resilience, family secret, claustrophobia ...
Time:
90s
Place:
saudi arabia
Similarity:
40%
Genre: Drama
Country: Romania
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
Fresh out of university, agricultural engineer Voica Teodorescu returns to her native village where she joins a local team of engineers in the planning of a dam and an irrigation mega project.Although Voica is engaged to be married to Ilarie she ...
Style:
serious, melancholic
Plot:
embezzlement, agriculture, investigation, corruption, village life, female protagonist, bureaucracy, engineering, moral dilemma, social realism, suspicion, love triangle ...
Time:
80s
Place:
romania
Similarity:
39%
Genre: Drama
Country: Bangladesh
Duration: 121 min.
Story:
Just as Moses was found in the river Nile, an infant is rescued from a river, and adopted by Miraj, Karim and Sajib in turns over the years, only to be abandoned at the various stages of his life. From innocence to becoming a gangster, the ...
Style:
crime drama, realistic, emotional, bleak, melancholic ...
Plot:
river, male protagonist, orphan, adoption, identity, coming of age, abandonment, loss of innocence, street life, moral ambiguity, gangster, survival ...
Similarity:
39%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 68 min.
Story:
Parents Divorced. Children suffer.
Style:
heartbreaking, bleak, tense, disturbing, intense ...
Plot:
dysfunctional family, family drama, divorce, psychological trauma, house, abusive relationship, emotional abuse, domestic violence, social issues, intimate, family secret, loss of innocence ...
Similarity:
38%
233
Genre: Drama
Country: Romania
Duration: 80 min.
Story:
Radu, 45, rich and single, manages his business with a strong, unwavering hand and no scruples. His competition is now leading a charge against him on the stock market, which prompts Radu to remember a childhood game of beer bottle caps, a game that ...
Style:
melancholic, atmospheric, existential
Plot:
heart attack, businessman, transplant, moral dilemma, corporation, anti hero, introspection, midlife crisis, moral ambiguity, nostalgia, memory, stock market ...
Place:
romania, eastern europe
Similarity:
38%
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