Movies like White Lightnin'

If you like "White Lightnin'" you are looking for sincere, serious and captivating movies about / with racism, eccentric family, obsessive quest, misfit, family relations, human spirit and life is a bitch themes of Biography and Drama genre shot in UK.
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.
White Lightnin' (2009)
 7.0
 2K
White Lightnin' (2009)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 92 min.
Story: Deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia, where every man owns a gun and a moonshine still, abides living legend Jesco White, "the dancing outlaw". As a boy Jesco was in and out of reform school and the insane asylum. To keep him out of trouble, his daddy D-Ray taught him the art of mountain dancing, a frenzied version of tap dancing to wild country banjo music. After his father's death, crazy Jesco dons his father's tap shoes and takes his show on the road.
Style: sincere, serious, captivating, realistic, dark, disturbing
Plot: racism, eccentric family, obsessive quest, misfit, family relations, human spirit, life is a bitch, society, redemption, lifestyle, small town, couple relations, mountain, vengeance, hillbilly, father, religious fanatic, tap dance, new year's eve, cop, anti christianity, age-gap relationship, alcoholic, vigilante, psychiatric hospital ...
Time: 20th century
Place: usa, appalachia, west virginia
Keyword: americana

Movie in categories

Most similar movies to White Lightnin'

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, serious, captivating and emotional films with plots about biopic, life is a bitch, ambition, society, lifestyle, artists and showbiz and family relations mostly in Drama, Biography and Music genres. Some movies like White Lightnin': Polanski Unauthorized (2009), Risen (2010), Brazuca (2009), My Nikifor (2004), Enid (2009). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Watch Trailers From This List to Choose a Movie
Polanski Unauthorized (2009)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story: An unauthorized chronicle of the life of Roman Polanski.
Style: serious, realistic, thought provoking, captivating, sexual ...
Plot: prodigy, ambition, artists and showbiz, lifestyle, life is a bitch, filmmaking, celebrity culture, unfulfillment, biopic
Time: 60s, 70s
Place: europe, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
95%
 5.2
 223
Risen (2010)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 121 min.
Story: As one of the rising talents of amateur boxing, Howard Winstone, a young Welsh boy from Merthyr Tydfil, was fast making a name for himself with his knock out right hand. A long professional fighting career surely beckoned? Then disaster strikes. An ...
Style: uplifting, realistic, captivating, serious
Plot: human spirit, athlete's life, ambition, against the odds, rise to the top, boxing, rivalry, hopes, disability, lifestyle, contests and competitions, blind ambition ...
Time: 20th century, 60s, 50s
Place: europe, england
⇓ similarity ⇓
89%
Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story: Based on a true story. Liz Murray is a young girl who is taken care of by her loving, but drug-addicted parents. Liz becomes homeless at 15 and after a tragedy comes upon her, she begins her work to finish high school.
Style: sincere, serious, touching, captivating, realistic ...
Audience: teens, family outing, chick flick, teen drama
Plot: homeless, homeless teenager, against the odds, life is a bitch, drug addict, youth, starting over, university, family problems, dysfunctional family, society, aids ...
Time: 21st century
Place: america, nova scotia, new york, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
73%
 6.3
 1K
Brazuca (2009)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, Brazil
Duration: 93 min.
Story: The tragic true story of Jean Charles de Menezes, the innocent Brazilian shot dead by British police in 2005 at the height of the London terrorist alerts.
Style: realistic, emotional, serious, sincere, contemplative
Plot: mistaken identity, wrong place wrong time, injustice, family relations, life is a bitch, society, social differences, immigrant, city life, political unrest, biopic, violent content ...
Time: 21st century
Place: brazil, london, england, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
72%
Movie in collections
usa movies
usa
13963
realistic movies
29790
society movies
12700
 6.7
 870
My Nikifor (2004)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 97 min.
Story: From his birth in 1895 through his death in 1968, the gifted Polish naïve artist Nikifor Krynicki (AKA Epifan Drowniak) lived his life and eked out a career cloaked in obscurity - a casualty of both his extreme speech impediment (his tongue was ...
Style: captivating, realistic, serious, atmospheric, gloomy
Plot: art, painter, genius, prodigy, couples, celebrity culture, tragic love, family life, love and romance, couple relations, society, lifestyle ...
Time: 60s, 20th century
Place: poland
⇓ similarity ⇓
70%
 6.6
 2K
Enid (2009)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 82 min.
Story: Edwardian child Enid Blyton begins to tell stories to her brothers as an escape from their parents' rows before the father deserts the family...
Style: serious, realistic, captivating, cult classic, costume drama ...
Plot: biopic, dysfunctional family, rise to the top, relationship vs career, nanny, novelist, writers, writer's life, couples, lifestyle, couple relations, ambition ...
Time: 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 20th century, 1940s ...
Place: britain, england, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
70%
 6.3
 294
Margot (2009)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 85 min.
Story: At the age of forty Dame Margot Fonteyn is considered to be past her best as a prima ballerina and Ninette de Valois is reducing her roles at the Royal Ballet. Then the exciting young Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev, a recent defector to the West, ...
Style: captivating, realistic, serious, stylized
Plot: love and romance, dancer's life, disability, couples, ambition, artists and showbiz, ballet, biopic, older woman younger man relationship, older woman younger man, music, ballerina ...
Time: 21st century
⇓ similarity ⇓
66%
 7.0
 766
Mother Teresa (2003)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Spain, UK, Italy
Duration: 180 min.
Story: The inspirational portrayal of Mother Teresa, a simple nun who became one of the most significant personalities of the 20th Century. Armed with a faith that could move mountains, Mother Teresa followed her calling to help the poor, the lepers, the ...
Style: serious, realistic, touching, inspirational, sincere ...
Plot: human spirit, nun, charity, against the odds, hopes, prodigy, clergy, tragic hero, religions or cults, society, catholic, religion ...
Time: 20th century
⇓ similarity ⇓
65%
Movie in collections
Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley (2008)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 84 min.
Story: A light hearted look at future Prime Minister Margaret Thatchers rise from research chemist in 1949 to becoming MP for Finchley in 1959 encompassing her early relationship and marriage to Oil Millionaire Denis Thatcher.
Style: realistic, sincere, emotional, captivating, political ...
Plot: politics, rise to the top, ambition, society, feminism, state affairs, campaign, head of state, election, biopic, british history, intrigue ...
Time: 50s, 20th century, 1950s
Place: england, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
60%
The Least Among You (2009)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: Black college graduate Richard Kelly reluctantly accepts a plea bargain requiring him to spend two semesters at an all-white seminary after he's wrongly accused of crimes committed during the 1965 Watts riots. Facing bigotry on all sides, ...
Style: emotional, touching, uplifting, captivating, independent film ...
Plot: racism, college, rebellion, human spirit, against the odds, self discovery, life is a bitch, social relations, hopes, student life, clergy, society ...
Time: 60s, 20th century, 21st century
Place: california, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
60%
King of Salsa (2006)
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story: The rise and fall of salsa singer, Héctor Lavoe (1946-1993), as told from the perspective of his wife Puchi, who looks back from 2002.
Style: realistic, serious, captivating, disturbing, informative ...
Plot: music, ambition, musician's life, artists and showbiz, showbiz, dancing, biopic, lifestyle, life is a bitch, rise and fall, drug abuse, salsa ...
Time: 70s, year 2006, 60s
Place: usa, new york, puerto rico
⇓ similarity ⇓
58%
 5.4
 3K
Nina (2016)
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min.
Story: The story of the late jazz musician and classical pianist Nina Simone including her rise to fame and relationship with her manager Clifton Henderson.
Style: captivating, serious, touching, controversial, thought provoking ...
Plot: jazz, music, biopic, love affair, ambition, musician's life, rising to stardom, society, discrimination, artists and showbiz, racism, love and romance ...
Time: 20th century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
57%
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010)
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 115 min.
Story: A biography of Ian Dury, who was stricken with polio at a young age and defied expectations by becoming one of the founders of the punk-rock scene in Britain in the 1970s.
Style: realistic, semi serious, touching, teen, cult classic ...
Plot: disability, biopic, rock and roll, human spirit, lifestyle, follow your dream, desire for fame, ambition, couples, parents and children, rock, hopes ...
Time: 70s, 1940s, 20th century, 90s, 80s ...
Place: england, ireland, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
57%
The Brooke Ellison Story (2004)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story: Rendered a quadriplegic since a child from a near-fatal neck injury, a young girl fights against all odds to succeed in life from grade school to her acceptance into college under the assistance of her loyal and dedicated mother.
Style: sincere, uplifting, touching, sentimental, saga ...
Plot: quadriplegic, disability, college, against the odds, hospital, teenage love, human spirit, lifestyle, ambition, parents and children, family problems, survival ...
Time: 21st century
⇓ similarity ⇓
56%
 6.2
 1K
Pinero (2001)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story: "Piñero" tells the story of the explosive life of a Latino icon, the poet-playwright-actor Miguel Piñero, whose urban poetry is recognized as a pre-cursor to rap and hip-hop. After doing time in hard-core Sing-Sing for petty thefts and ...
Style: disturbing, stylized, factual, intense, sincere ...
Plot: drug abuse, addiction, writers, biopic, rise and fall, lifestyle, rising to stardom, ambition, drug, drug addiction, prison, society ...
Time: 80s, year 2001, 70s
Place: new york, usa, lower east side manhattan new york city, puerto rico, manhattan new york city ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
56%
 5.7
 675
Paradise Found (2003)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, France, Germany, Australia, USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: Paradise Found is a biography about the painter Paul Gauguin. Focusing on his personal conflict between citizen life and his family life and the art scene in Frane. In an incredible imagery montage Gauguin manages to make a successful living in the ...
Style: realistic, serious, scenic, contemplative
Plot: painter, obsessive quest, lifestyle, ambition, prodigy, survival, artist, biopic, love and romance, life is a bitch, obsession, tragic hero ...
Time: 19th century, ancient times, 1890s, 1870s
Place: tahiti, paris france, europe, france
⇓ similarity ⇓
53%
 6.7
 397
Aglaya (2012)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Hungary, Romania, Poland
Duration: 116 min.
Story: This film is about the relationship of a mother and her daughter, the split-up of their family, the blessing and curse of belonging together and about coming of age - all this from the perspective of the young girl Aglaja. The story is based on ...
Style: atmospheric, touching, sentimental, emotional, serious ...
Plot: circus, ambition, performer's life, self discovery, dysfunctional family, desire for fame, family relations, artists and showbiz, parents and children, eccentric family, youth, family problems ...
Time: 80s, 20th century, 90s
Place: hungary
⇓ similarity ⇓
48%
Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (1996)
Genre: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story: A dramatization of the life of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (Don Cheadle), with a lot of factual based occurrences. A reformed junkie returns from prison to clean up his act and devote the rest of his life to the young kids of Harlem. 1996 ...
Style: captivating, realistic, serious, sincere, emotional
Plot: basketball, addiction, drug abuse, drug, african american, black, motivation, african, athlete, heroin, biopic, power relations ...
Time: 70s, 60s, 20th century
Place: new york, harlem, usa, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
48%
Movie in collections
mountain movies
1720
vengeance movies
11795
dark movies
4055
hillbilly movies
245
Billy: The Early Years (2008)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: Most of us know Billy Graham as the self-assured and charismatic preacher who became one of the most important figures of 20th Century Christianity. Now, with the release of Billy: The Early Years, we meet Billy as the earnest and promising young ...
Style: christian film, captivating, serious, realistic
Plot: christianity, faith, christian, self discovery, idealism, redemption, hopes, life is a bitch, society, lifestyle, clergy, miraculous event ...
Time: 1940s, 1930s, 20th century
Place: north carolina
⇓ similarity ⇓
46%
 6.5
 903
Sister Smile (2009)
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: Belgium, France
Duration: 120 min.
Story: A biography of the Belgian nun Jeannine Deckers, who became a popular singer in the early 1960s and struggled with the contradiction between the church and her true self.
Style: sincere, realistic, serious, emotional, captivating ...
Plot: nun, convent, ambition, musician's life, follow your dream, showbiz, mother superior, society, against the rules, rising to stardom, life is a bitch, rise and fall ...
Time: 60s, 20th century
Place: belgium, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
46%
 5.6
 845
Best (2000)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 102 min.
Story: The life story of former Manchester United football legend, George Best.
Style: realistic, captivating, serious, emotional
Plot: athlete's life, football player, ambition, rising to stardom, sport team, life is a bitch, rivalry, celebrity culture, professional sports, football, biopic, unfulfillment ...
Time: 60s, 70s, 90s, 20th century
Place: ireland, europe, england, manchester, northern england
⇓ similarity ⇓
46%
 7.5
 1K
My Ain Folk (1973)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 55 min.
Story: When Jamie's maternal grandmother dies, he and his brother Tommy are separated - Tommy is taken off to a welfare home and Jamie goes to live with his other grandmother and uncle. His life is far from happy, filled with silence, rejection and ...
Style: bleak, art house, depressing, contemplative, captivating ...
Plot: youth, children, childhood, autobiography, neglect, biopic, teenage life, family life, siblings relations, parents and children, boarding school life, down on your luck ...
Time: 1940s, 20th century, year 1973
Place: scotland, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
46%
Will There Really Be a Morning? (1983)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 180 min.
Story: This is the story of actress Frances Farmer, her struggles with mental illness and involuntary confinement in an insane asylum.
Style: captivating, realistic, serious, emotional, gloomy
Plot: biopic, hollywood, mental illness, insane asylum, mental patient, couples, artists and showbiz, actor's life, state affairs, prodigy, politics, performer's life ...
Time: 1930s, 1940s
Place: washington d.c., seattle
⇓ similarity ⇓
44%
Movie in collections
 5.0
 2K
Whitney (2015)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min.
Story: Chronicles Whitney Houston's rise to fame and turbulent relationship with husband Bobby Brown.
Style: realistic, emotional, serious, touching, sincere ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: musician's life, music, rising to stardom, desire for fame, ambition, couple relations, fall in love, addiction, celebrity culture, showbiz, price of fame, pop star ...
Time: 20th century, 80s, 90s
Place: usa, indiana
⇓ similarity ⇓
43%
 6.2
 841
Everyday (2012)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 106 min.
Story: This film charts the relationship between a man imprisoned for drug smuggling and his wife and is being shot over the course of five years, a few weeks at a time.
Style: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, independent film ...
Plot: prison, parents and children, life is a bitch, hopes, family relations, couples, husband wife relationship, drug smuggling, society, youth, couple relations, prison life ...
Time: 21st century
Place: england, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
42%
Bill: On His Own (1983)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story: Bill Sackter struggles to cope after his best friend and guardian, Barry Morrow and his wife Beverly move away. Bill moves into a group home run by Mae Driscoll who teaches him how to read. Bill soon discovers his religious heritage, overcoming the ...
Style: realistic, semi serious, touching, emotional
Plot: biopic, family problems, disability, family relations, mental illness, custody, mentally challenged, misfit, life is a bitch, society, human spirit, hopes ...
Time: 80s
Place: iowa, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
42%
Vysotsky: Thank God I'm Alive (2011)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 128 min.
Story: Russian poet, singer and actor Vladimir Vysotsky was an idol of the 1970s and '80s. In 1980, at the age of 42, he passed away during the Moscow Olympic Games. This is the story of his last great love as handed down to his son from a family ...
Style: realistic, serious, captivating, dramatic, suspenseful ...
Plot: drug addiction, musician's life, artists and showbiz, society, addiction, life is a bitch, kgb, songwriter, actor, concert, writers, biopic ...
Time: 20th century, 70s, 80s, year 1979
Place: soviet union, russia
⇓ similarity ⇓
42%
Burton and Taylor (2013)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 83 min.
Story: TV drama based on Richard Burton's diaries, about his last performance in 1983 with ex-wife Elizabeth Taylor. They meet after several years and he agrees to her suggestion that they star in a stage revival on Broadway of Noel Coward's ...
Style: realistic, captivating, serious, stylized, historical drama ...
Plot: actor's life, artists and showbiz, couple relations, couples, celebrity culture, hollywood, biopic, love, art, love affair, showbiz, love and romance ...
Time: 20th century, 80s, year 1983
Place: usa, los angeles, new york, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
42%
The Wronged Man (2010)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min.
Story: Janet Gregory, a single mother with a haunting past, is a paralegal struggling to overcome doubts about Calvin Willis, an African-American husband and father wrongfully accused of raping a neighborhood girl. Eventually convinced of his innocence, ...
Style: emotional, captivating, serious, realistic, disturbing ...
Plot: african american, false accusation, hopes, court, injustice, society, courtroom drama, dishonesty, legal, justice, morality, dignity ...
Time: 21st century
⇓ similarity ⇓
41%
Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story (1987)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 282 min.
Story: The true story of one of the richest women in America - heiress to the Woolworth fortune. She had vast wealth and seven husbands, but never found lasting love.
Style: serious, realistic
Plot: biopic, wealth, women, hedonism, tragedy, historical figure, family problems, couples, life is a bitch, crumbling marriage, love and romance, rise to the top ...
Place: morocco, denmark, africa, england, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
40%
Watch Trailers From This List to Choose a Movie