Movies like The Ladder
If you like "The Ladder" you are looking for reflective, bleak and emotional movies about / with existentialism, character study, spiritual journey, loss of innocence, alienation, identity crisis and socially awkward themes of Drama and History genre shot in Romania.
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1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
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The Ladder (2021)
278
Original name: Scara
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Romania
Duration: 137 min.
Story:
Based on true events, The Ladder follows the spiritual journey of Andrei, a sensitive, socially awkward young man who turns to acting in his search for true happiness. After the fall of communism, he is blinded by the illusion of freedom and democracy and faces a series of brutal events that have deeply marked Romania's recent history. Finding comfort in playing the part of Aliosa in a stage adaptation of The Karamazov Brothers, he becomes closer and closer to his character, gradually discovering the way to understanding divinity.
Style:
reflective, bleak, emotional, melancholic, art house, atmospheric, intellectual, intense, tragic, period drama
Plot:
existentialism, character study, spiritual journey, loss of innocence, alienation, identity crisis, socially awkward, moral ambiguity, obsession, mental illness, oppression, coming of age, haunting, slow burn, small town, freedom, sex scene, illusion, childbirth, military training, secret police, bare chested male, psychological drama, religious symbolism, shaving head ...
Time:
90s, 1990s
Place:
romania, eastern europe
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to The Ladder
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out melancholic, art house, bleak and intense films with plots about psychological drama, moral ambiguity, character study, isolation, slow burn, coming of age and alienation mostly in Drama, History and Biography genres. Some movies like The Ladder: The New Year That Never Came (2024), Almost a Man (1966), Alice (2005), The Mountain (2018), Lost Years (2010). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Romania
Duration: 138 min.
Story:
The New Year That Never Came is a tragicomedy whose action takes place in a single day, before the counter-revolution of 1989, in which the characters search for normality, safety, love, freedom and meaning in an absurd world.
Style:
emotional, tragicomedy, tense, intense, melancholic ...
Plot:
protest, communism, political unrest, oppression, social commentary, bittersweet, desperation, dark humor, cold war era, resilience, urban, moral ambiguity ...
Time:
year 1989
Place:
romania, eastern europe, bucharest, europe
Similarity:
95%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
Jacques Perrin was awarded Best Actor at the 1966 Venice Film Festival for his gripping portrayal of a young writer's descent into madness. Alienated, neurotic, and plagued by guilt, Perrin retreats from reality, loses interest in work, and ...
Style:
art film, art house, melancholic, bleak, intense ...
Plot:
alienation, psychoanalysis, neurosis, mental illness, existentialism, guilt, family conflict, mental breakdown, identity crisis, isolation, domineering mother, electroshock therapy ...
Place:
italy
Similarity:
65%
2K
Genre: Drama
Country: Portugal
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
In the wake of his daughter's disappearance, a father wallowing in grief feeds his desire to find her with unusual methods.
Style:
intense, melancholic, emotional, suspense, noir ...
Plot:
depression, surveillance camera, missing daughter, missing child, grief, obsession, father daughter relationship, loss, bereavement, investigation, routine, small town ...
Place:
lisbon portugal, portugal
Similarity:
64%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
1950s America. Since his mother‘s confinement to an institution, Andy has lived in the shadow of his stoic father. A family acquaintance, Dr. Wallace Fiennes, employs the introverted young man as a photographer to document an asylum tour ...
Style:
psychological, thrilling, captivating, melancholic, art house ...
Plot:
mental institution, cult leader, mental illness, illness, psychiatry, character study, ethical dilemma, doctor, social problems, unconventional method, moral ambiguity, alienation ...
Time:
1950s
Similarity:
63%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 70 min.
Story:
Bart, a young film student slowly loses his mind while studying at the film academy. Based on a true story.
Style:
realistic, independent film, dark, bleak, emotional ...
Plot:
psychosis, hallucination, mental illness, mental breakdown, character study, delusion, coming of age, identity crisis, isolation, loneliness, self destructing, young adult ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
amsterdam
Similarity:
57%
Genre: Drama
Country: Greece, Cyprus
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
Takis is trapped. Takis tries to escape. Takis wants money. He's got a family, a baby, a home... Takis is being cheated. He loves her and he suffers... Takis can't take it at work. He's besieged by savages. But his boss tops them ...
Style:
melancholic, intense, dark, psychological, tragic
Plot:
working class, desperation, family crisis, betrayal, male protagonist, anger, oppression, isolation, alienation, revenge, realism, slow burn ...
Time:
2000s
Place:
athens greece
Similarity:
57%
512
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Hungary, UK, USA, Cyprus, France, Germany
Duration: 132 min.
Story:
In 1957 Budapest, one year following the failure of the Hungarian Revolution, a 12-year-old Jewish boy whose mother has raised him to believe that his father will return from the camps has his hopes shattered when a brutish stranger appears on the ...
Style:
historical drama, emotional, melancholic, period piece, intense ...
Plot:
child protagonist, family drama, trauma, post war, identity crisis, father son conflict, jewish family, intimate, haunting, cold war, brutality, mistrust ...
Time:
1950s, year 1956, 20th century
Place:
budapest, hungary, europe, central europe
Similarity:
48%
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Sri Lanka
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
In 1814, a nobleman from the Kandian Kingdom of Sri Lanka helped the British army to revolt against the king of Southern India, but was driven to a traitor. His wives have to choose between committing suicide or marrying outcasts. Instead of ...
Style:
emotional, historical romance, melancholic, intense, bleak ...
Plot:
female protagonist, nobility, class struggle, colonialism, patriarchy, social injustice, oppression, resilience, dignity, identity, sacrifice, betrayal ...
Place:
sri lanka
Similarity:
46%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Romania, Germany
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
Set in the period prior to the revolt in Timisoara in December 1989 and mirroring the events that led to the downfall of the dictator Ceausescu. -- BFI
Style:
thought provoking, historical drama, tense, art house, bleak ...
Plot:
dictatorship, totalitarianism, oppression, revolution, fear, surveillance, guilt, protest, atonement, revolt, anxiety, reconciliation ...
Time:
80s
Place:
eastern europe, romania
Similarity:
46%
Genre: Drama
Country: Greece
Duration: 60 min.
TV show
Story:
The bright sunlight shines on the small island of Arsinoe. Some secrets, betrayals, and crimes are revealed. The mirror has somehow turned upside down. Sotiris, who was let down by those closest to him, will go from being a victim to becoming a ...
Style:
tension, atmospheric, suspense, realistic, intense ...
Plot:
island, oppression, secrets, greek, betrayal, tradition, moral ambiguity, character study, patriarchy, family conflict, female protagonist, revenge ...
Time:
70s
Similarity:
46%
173
Genre: Drama
Country: Cyprus, Israel, Slovenia
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
Chara’s family is everything to her, and yet she sometimes ponders a life without them. When she strikes up a hesitant friendship with a young girl, she is inexorably forced to confront a painful past and to answer a burning question: Is ...
Style:
emotional, melancholic, realistic, psychological, atmospheric ...
Plot:
motherhood, domestic drama, character study, identity, female protagonist, gender roles, intimate, realism, family secret, trauma, friendship, intimacy ...
Similarity:
44%
Genre: Drama, History
Country: West Germany
Duration: 55 min.
Story:
Not Reconciled, the title of the Straubs’ first feature-length film, is engraved on their work like an inscription. It is a story about the continuity and collapse of history, the power of suppression, and the terror of reconciliation; loyalty, ...
Style:
historical drama, family saga, serious, period piece, bleak ...
Plot:
guilt, reconciliation, german history, betrayal, memory, suppression, family secret, post war germany, moral ambiguity, revenge, symbolism, loyalty ...
Time:
20th century, 1940s, 1950s, 50s
Place:
germany
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
15-year-old David lives with his family and around another hundred Jacobins in a closed community in Germany. The monotonous life of this early Christian community consists of pray.
Style:
emotional, intense, thought provoking, tense, dark ...
Plot:
religious community, isolation, alienation, coming of age, loss of innocence, teen angst, persecution, identity crisis, mysticism, nude young male, gay, nudity ...
Time:
90s
Similarity:
41%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
In the aftermath of a traumatic event, a socially-awkward teen, Charlie, grapples with the guilt and judgement that ensues. He must confront the prison-like bondage of his fear when the perpetrator comes after him. In this tribute to contemporary ...
Style:
slow cinema, bleak, melancholic, tense, realistic ...
Plot:
guilt, character study, trauma, mother son relationship, slow burn, mental health, intimate, isolation, socially awkward, fear, family drama, claustrophobia ...
Similarity:
40%
Genre: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Russia
Duration: 175 min.
Story:
In a Crimean filtration camp, after the evacuation of the White Army, an unnamed captain is haunted by memories of a brief romance as he tries to understand how the Russian Empire fell apart and who is to blame.
Style:
captivating, atmospheric, melancholic, bleak, existential ...
Plot:
unrequited love, one night stand, russian civil war, literary, imperial russia, relationship problems, love interest, male female relationship, empire, relationships, unfulfilled love, love affair ...
Time:
1920s
Place:
crimea, soviet union, russia
Similarity:
39%
Genre: Drama
Country: Côte d'Ivoire, Guadeloupe
Story:
A small group of people meet in a guest house lost in the middle of nowhere. Disconnected from everything, each will try to understand his destiny. Trapped by the past, they each have to find the key to their existence, like « shadows walking ...
Style:
melancholic, philosophical, art house, poetic, atmospheric ...
Plot:
destiny, character study, isolation, existentialism, redemption, memory, alienation, secrets, identity, moral ambiguity, haunting, claustrophobia ...
Similarity:
38%
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:
38%
Genre: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
Bullfighting, music, medicine, change, and homoerotic possibilities mix in this study of friendship. Francisco is a bullfighter on his way up, so focused even sex doesn't hold his interest. After a minor road accident, he meets a doctor, ...
Style:
tense, emotional, art house, intense, melancholic ...
Plot:
bullfighting, bullfighter, friendship, character study, obsession, passion, machismo, relationships, sexual repression, medicine, doctor, trauma ...
Place:
spain
Similarity:
38%
Movie in collections
79
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
Patrick feels absolutely lonely when he decides to search for his supposable genitor after the suicide of his mother. He doesn’t have a plan, a goal or hopes. He just wants to meet the phantom that he thinks is the reason for his mother’s death.
Style:
existential, emotional, melancholic, independent film, art house ...
Plot:
grief, loneliness, isolation, identity crisis, character study, search for father, alienation, minimalism, intimate, regret, male protagonist, urban ...
Similarity:
37%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
A 13 years old girl is forced to go living with another family for reasons unknown.
Style:
realistic, serious, touching, emotional, melancholic ...
Plot:
family relations, family drama, female protagonist, coming of age, mother daughter relationship, society, parents and children, family life, life is a bitch, custody, teenage girl, little girl ...
Time:
70s
Similarity:
37%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
Miho and Toshio, putting their children and household at stake, duel for control in their degrading, middle-aged marriage.
Style:
intense, serious, bleak, melancholic, grim ...
Plot:
alienation, infidelity, domestic drama, character study, control, power struggle, obsession, manipulation, isolation, family conflict, claustrophobia, revenge ...
Time:
1950s
Similarity:
37%
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Lebanon
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
The year is 620 A.D., North Lebanon. Living with God is men's privilege and the most unreachable women's right. Stubborn as she is, the 20 year-old revolutionary girl breaks the rules and endures all the consequences.
Style:
emotional, intense, art house, period drama
Plot:
female protagonist, women's rights, patriarchy, social injustice, courage, resilience, cultural conflict, oppression, female empowerment, coming of age, sacrifice, family honor ...
Time:
7th century
Place:
lebanon, middle east
Similarity:
35%
706
Genre: Drama
Country: Denmark, USA
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
On a March night in 1964, 37 neighbors in Queens, New York, witness the brutal murder of Kitty Genovese. None of them takes action or calls the police. 37 tells the story of a few of these people and what led up to the night when they unexplainably ...
Style:
independent film, bleak, thought provoking, historical drama, tense ...
Plot:
apathy, guilt, moral ambiguity, social commentary, silence, character study, racial tension, neighborhood, fear, apartment building, realism, family conflict ...
Time:
60s
Place:
new york
Similarity:
35%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 73 min.
Story:
Two young directors adapted the short stories of two Russian authors whose works had been banned for decades, and so their film ended up in the censor’s vault as well – for twenty years. Both tales look back to the post-revolutionary era, and ...
Style:
anthology, historical drama, period piece, bleak, melancholic ...
Plot:
civil war, adaptation, soldier, brutality, village, political repression, survival, class conflict, destruction, moral ambiguity, haunting, realism ...
Time:
1920s
Similarity:
35%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Story:
Maggie is struggling to keep her life together after the death of her mother when her addict brother shows up, forcing her to make sense of a reality that may not be what it seems.
Style:
emotional, melancholic, tense, surreal, intense ...
Plot:
sibling relationship, addiction, grief, family drama, trauma, female protagonist, character study, mourning, family secret, traumatic past, confrontation, identity crisis ...
Similarity:
34%
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:
34%
Genre: Drama
Country: Romania, France
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
Bucharest, 1972. Ana, 17, dreams of love and freedom. One night, while partying with her friends, they decide to send a letter to Metronom, the musical program which Radio Free Europe broadcasts clandestinely in Romania. It is then that the ...
Style:
melancholic, romantic, art house, tense, historical drama ...
Plot:
teen romance, loss of innocence, authoritarianism, political repression, secret police, surveillance, cold war, coming of age, intimate, forbidden love, slow burn, youth culture ...
Time:
70s, year 1972
Place:
romania, bucharest, eastern europe
Similarity:
34%
Genre: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
The first work from Fernando Franco revolves around Ana, a 30 year old ambulance driver. Though good at her job, Ana has problems relating in her personal life. She doesn't know it, but she suffers from a condition known by psychiatrists as ...
Style:
realistic, tense, serious, emotional, intense ...
Plot:
female protagonist, misfit, mentally unstable, life is a bitch, social misfits, borderline personality disorder, nervous breakdown, mental illness, self harm, character study, woman in danger, isolation ...
Time:
2010s, 21st century
Place:
spain, basque country
Similarity:
34%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
Three stories based in three countries in Europe. Three languages with three sets of peoples, all intertwine to the same tragedy.
Style:
anthology, dramatic, poignant, bleak, emotional ...
Plot:
tragedy, grief, loss, european, fate, slow burn, humanity, relationships, loss of innocence, social realism, moral dilemma, language
Similarity:
33%
Genre: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
Do-yeon, a 6th grade elementary school student, meets her cousin Sang-jun at her grandmother's funeral. On the last day of the funeral Do-yeon and Sang-jun go into an empty classroom near the funeral. There they have their first sexual ...
Style:
disturbing, psychological, bleak, grim, intense ...
Plot:
sexual awakening, rape, rape victim, coming of age, abuse, dysfunctional family, trauma, unsettling, incest, violence, violent, child abuse ...
Similarity:
33%
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