Movies like Empire of Dirt
If you like "Empire of Dirt" you are looking for sincere, serious and emotional movies about / with small town, haunted by the past, native american, youth, parents and children, family life and life is a bitch themes of Drama genre shot in Canada.
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Empire of Dirt (2013)
299
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
Like many Native families, Lena Mahikan grew up in the cycle of abuse. Her father, a residential school survivor, was an alcoholic until he killed himself when Lena was 10. Her mother, only 14 years her senior, turned to the slots. By the time Lena was 15, she was pregnant and, before giving birth, was kicked to the curb by her mom. The cycle continues and Lena is now watching helplessly as her own daughter, Peeka, spirals out of control, landing herself in the hospital following a drug overdose. As a final attempt at survival, Lena decides to return home and face her own mother and a past she’s desperate to escape.
Style:
sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, bleak, gloomy
Plot:
small town, haunted by the past, native american, youth, parents and children, family life, life is a bitch, dysfunctional family, society, danger, family problems, social misfits, single parent, family in crisis, responsibility, indigenous people, broken family, neglect, native, homeless, poverty, parent child relationship, abuse, misfit, family relations ...
Time:
21st century, contemporary
Place:
canada
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Most similar movies to Empire of Dirt
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, serious, sincere and emotional films with plots about family relations, parents and children, family problems, life is a bitch, youth, society and single parent mostly in Drama genres. Some movies like Empire of Dirt: Gracie's Choice (2004), Gimme Shelter (2013), Shirley Adams (2009), About Sunny (2011), Hidden Diary (2009). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
For as long as she can remember, 16 year-old Gracie has been raising her four siblings, each of whom has a different, absent father and their mother is on the fast track to self-destruction. When these children's lives are about to be pulled ...
Style:
sentimental, emotional, sincere, touching, realistic ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, teen drama
Plot:
custody battle, teenage girl, coming of age, custody, youth, responsibility, abusive mother, teenager, family values, dysfunctional family, parents and children, siblings relations ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
nova scotia
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
After running away from her abusive mother, a streetwise teen seeks refuge with her father, but he rejects her when he learns that she's pregnant.
Style:
emotional, serious, psychological, rough, cult classic ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick
Plot:
abusive mother, pregnancy, homeless, abuse, teenage mother, mother daughter relationship, survival, starting over, pregnant teenager, family problems, life is a bitch, youth ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: South Africa, USA, UK
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
Shirley Adams spends her days caring for her disabled son, Donovan - he was shot in the back of the neck on his way home from school one afternoon over a year ago. Since then the Adams family has lost all their worldly possessions to medical bills. ...
Style:
uplifting, realistic, serious, emotional, touching ...
Plot:
disability, family problems, family relations, parents and children, hopes, single parent, human spirit, life is a bitch, introspection, small town, family in crisis, social decay ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
africa, south africa, cape town south africa
Similarity:
28%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
As things unravel for a struggling single mother in Las Vegas, she must decide what she's willing to give up to get by.
Style:
realistic, serious, captivating, emotional, psychological ...
Plot:
poverty, moral dilemma, life is a bitch, society, working class, parents and children, family problems, down on your luck, single mother, youth, homeless, single parent ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
las vegas, usa
Similarity:
27%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: France, Canada
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
In the 1950s, Louise left her husband when their children were still little. She was never heard from again. Her daughter Martine stayed in the small seaside town, where she became a doctor. Martine's daughter, Audrey, a thirty-year-old ...
Style:
sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, gloomy
Plot:
dysfunctional family, mysterious past, murder, parent child relationship, estrangement, haunted by the past, family problems, parents and children, bittersweet, small town, doctor, beach ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
canada
Similarity:
24%
Genre: Drama
Country: Sweden, USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
On a freezing January evening, school bus driver Lesley completes her route, but her final inspection abruptly ends when a bluebird comes into view. What happens next shakes her small Maine logging town, proving that even the slightest actions have ...
Style:
sincere, touching, realistic, serious, bleak ...
Plot:
isolation, winter, family problems, family in crisis, youth, single parent, dysfunctional family, drug abuse, teenage life, parents and children, working class, small town ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
maine, usa
Similarity:
24%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada, Afghanistan
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
Saddled by a senile grandfather and a neglectful father, Mina, an impulsive twelve-year-old Afghan street seller sees her future slipping away when she is forced to neglect her education and walk the streets of Kabul to support her fragmented ...
Style:
realistic, sincere, rough, social, serious ...
Plot:
dysfunctional family, rebelliousness, realism, parents and children, youth, family problems, single parent, rebellion, child as adult, family relations, life is a bitch, drug abuse ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
afghanistan
Similarity:
24%
392
Genre: Drama
Country: Israel, Germany, France
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
Brothers Yaki and Shaul live with their parents in Petah Tikva, a satellite town of Tel Aviv. Yaki is doing military service. As for all other 18-year-old Israelis, this means he is allowed to carry a gun. This weapon gives the brothers the power to ...
Style:
realistic, tense, serious, captivating, emotional ...
Plot:
family problems, kidnapping, family relations, unemployment, society, working class, parents and children, teenage life, dysfunctional family, soldier, youth, coming of age ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
israel, middle east
Similarity:
24%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
Mark is a struggling actor stuck between the life he once knew and the one waiting for him. When the mother of his two-year-old son suddenly passes away, Mark is forced to confront his shortcomings. Their fates, now intertwined, hang in the balance ...
Style:
serious, touching, sincere, realistic, emotional ...
Audience:
toddlers
Plot:
single father, family in crisis, babies and infants, family relations, single parent, family problems, parents and children, life turned upside down, parent child relationship, death in the family, father son relationship, baby ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
usa
Similarity:
23%
384
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min.
Story:
The poignant yet humor filled story about a single mother of a teenager severely impacted by autism, forced to reckon with her daughter's future. As her child becomes an adult, what used to work, no longer does. What will sustain her daughter, ...
Style:
sentimental, sincere, emotional, touching, independent film ...
Audience:
teen drama
Plot:
autism, nursing, moral dilemma, parents and children, society, social misfits, mentally challenged, life is a bitch, youth, single parent, family problems, child illness ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
usa
Similarity:
23%
Genre: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
The story of a lone father's relationship with his daughter, of the destructive power of alcohol, of a child's vulnerability, but also of love, betrayal and socialist politics in 1970s Sweden. A unique and moving story freely based on Åsa ...
Style:
touching, bleak, emotional, serious, realistic ...
Plot:
working class, parents and children, life turned upside down, single parent, disorder, dysfunctional family, family problems, family relations, youth, parents, children, addiction ...
Time:
20th century, 80s, 70s
Place:
eastern europe
Similarity:
23%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
1959, support from US troops based in Asia and later from the Sates enables two actresses to start a charity for mixed-race 'orphans' who are locally neglected as outcasts. Thus originates Childhelp, which later runs multi-disciplinary ...
Style:
disturbing, touching, rough, serious, realistic ...
Plot:
child abuse, orphan, adoption, rescue, life is a bitch, danger, parents and children, dysfunctional family, selflessness, family relations, family problems, abuse ...
Time:
50s, 20th century, 60s
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Drama
Country: Israel, France
Duration: 84 min.
Story:
Zion, aged 14 and his brother Meir, 17, are facing a crisis in their relationship after a terrible accident. They keep the secret to themselves and it haunts them until, finally, Zion re-examines his loyalty towards his older brother and decides ...
Style:
realistic, serious, bleak
Plot:
family relations, family problems, dysfunctional family, youth, society, introspection, teenage life, haunted by the past, working class, family in crisis, siblings relations, profanity ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
israel
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
Based on a true story, 15 year old Tina Spangler discovers she is pregnant. Her choices are abortion, adoption, or a lonely, exhausting life as a single parent. Abandoned by her boyfriend, she turns to her mother. Tina discovers although it has torn ...
Style:
realistic, serious, touching, emotional, talky ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
pregnancy, teenage pregnancy, parent child relationship, husband wife relationship, family problems, pregnant teenager, lifestyle, teenage life, family in crisis, hopes, high school, sister sister relationship ...
Time:
20th century, 90s
Place:
usa
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
He can deliver a breathtaking speech on the American soul to flabbergasted schoolboys, get mixed up in the private lives of his citizens, and even get his 18-year-old daughter to swear that never, but never, would she leave home. Meet Simon Wolberg, ...
Style:
sincere, emotional, serious, realistic, touching ...
Plot:
family in crisis, family relations, parents and children, estrangement, family problems, dysfunctional family, family life, hopes, siblings relations, crumbling marriage, unfulfillment, midlife crisis ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
france, europe
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
Follows the choices made by three young women - one a drug dealer, one an addict, one a pregnant teen - in Jersey City.
Style:
serious, rough, emotional, touching, anthology ...
Plot:
teenage pregnancy, drug dealer, single mother, life is a bitch, juvenile delinquency, lifestyle, kids in trouble, teenage life, youth, drug dealing, gang, social misfits ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
new jersey, usa
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
Story of a man Bill Januson whose pride in being the head of his family won't let him accept help from his sick daughters doctor. He has to prove to his kids that even with the death of his wife and the loss of his job that they can and will ...
Style:
crying, serious, realistic, emotional, gloomy ...
Plot:
starving child, starvation, youth, doctor, single parent, unemployment, family problems, family relations, life is a bitch, human nature, human spirit, society ...
Time:
20th century, 90s
Place:
usa
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
At 17 LeighAnne Williams has a six month old baby to look after, with only the help of three teenage squatters who flog stolen gear to make ends meet. A neighbour (actually from Turkey) across the street becomes target to her growing paranoia that ...
Style:
psychological, realistic, bleak, disturbing, sad ...
Plot:
poverty, vandalism, delusion, family relations, family problems, social relations, life is a bitch, society, custody, interracial relations, parents and children, immigrant ...
Time:
21st century
Similarity:
22%
Movie in collections
895
Genre: Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
A man attempts to reclaim the life that prison took from him but his dark past threatens to ruin everything.
Style:
serious, realistic, touching, sincere, gloomy
Plot:
redemption, starting over, haunted by the past, life is a bitch, society, parents and children, family relations, family problems, estrangement, dysfunctional family, hopes, job seeking ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
belgium
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Drama
Country: Belgium, France
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
Nicole (Marianne Basler) gives birth to a mentally challenged boy after she is gang-raped by American soldiers at the close of World War II in this grim dramatic tragedy. Young Ludo is hidden in the attic of the family home and continues to yearn ...
Style:
realistic, serious, psychological, gloomy, emotional ...
Plot:
mental disorder, estrangement, family problems, kids in trouble, family relations, human nature, mentally challenged, single parent, misfit, mentally unstable, youth, life is a bitch ...
Time:
1940s, 20th century
Place:
belgium, europe
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
Jess Gradwell and her teenage daughter boast a superclose relationship. When it comes to sex, however, Mom won't stand for anything less than premarital celibacy. So she gets a pretty healthy dose of her own medicine when she winds up getting ...
Style:
serious, realistic, touching, emotional, sexual ...
Plot:
single parent, pregnancy, love, moral dilemma, teenage life, youth, society, love and romance, lifestyle, family problems, family life, parents and children ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
nova scotia
Similarity:
22%
951
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
Set in a rural Quebec village in the dead of winter, Jean-François, a single father works at a deserted bowling alley at night and in a rundown motel during the day. His daughter, Julyvonne never leaves their home. Jean-François isolates her in ...
Style:
realistic, sincere, atmospheric, serious, aesthetic ...
Plot:
absent mother, isolation, bittersweet, single parent, family relations, parents and children, misfit, social misfits, coming of age, youth, home schooling, overprotective father ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
canada
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
From the late 1950s through the '70s, more than 90,000 of the ethnic Koreans in Japan emigrated to North Korea, a country that promised them affluence, justice, and an end to discrimination. KAZOKU NO KUNI tells the story of one of their ...
Style:
serious, touching, realistic, sincere, gloomy ...
Plot:
haunted by the past, fish out of water, culture clash, family life, homecoming, society, family problems, terminal illness, parents and children, life is a bitch, under the surface, family relations ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
japan, north korea, tokyo, asia
Similarity:
21%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
Family members struggle to heal their emotional wounds after an incident of sexual abuse.
Style:
touching, emotional, sincere, realistic, contemplative ...
Plot:
psychiatrist, dysfunctional family, haunted by the past, parents and children, domestic disturbance, family in crisis, life is a bitch, hopes, family problems, redemption, estrangement, teenager ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
usa
Similarity:
21%
Genre: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
An intimate portrait of a resilient and spirited young girl and her proud and dignified family, who are part of Ireland's "traveller" community.
Style:
touching, serious, sincere, emotional, realistic
Plot:
life is a bitch, family relations, realism, misfit, youth, social misfits, parents and children, culture clash, society, resilience, single mother, discrimination ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
ireland, europe
Similarity:
21%
372
Genre: Drama
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 75 min.
Story:
Joy is an emotionally damaged young woman of eighteen, who was given up at birth, to grow up in homes and with foster families. She lives on the fringes of society, getting by on benefits and earning a little extra by playing the accordion in the ...
Style:
psychological, realistic, atmospheric, emotional, tense ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
obsession, parents and children, life is a bitch, teenage life, redemption, shoplifting, mistaken identity, society, family relations, hopes, dysfunctional family, youth ...
Time:
21st century
Similarity:
21%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
A single mother and her embattled son struggle to subsist in a small Mississippi Delta township. An act of violence thrusts them into the world of an emotionally devastated highway store owner, awakening the fury of a bitter and longstanding ...
Style:
realistic, serious, psychological, emotional, captivating ...
Plot:
small town, single parent, family relations, life is a bitch, parents and children, danger, suicide, juvenile delinquent, robbery, mother son relationship, poverty, society ...
Time:
year 2008, 21st century
Place:
usa, mississippi, africa
Similarity:
21%
939
Genre: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 77 min.
Story:
The uneasy relationship between a mother and daughter is made all the more turbulent by drug abuse in this downbeat drama from Iranian filmmakers Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and Mohsen Abdolvahab
Style:
serious, realistic, emotional, sincere, gloomy
Plot:
lovers apart, redemption, dysfunctional family, couples, family relations, family problems, life is a bitch, hopes, rehabilitation, drug abuse, addiction, parents and children ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
iran, middle east, persia
Similarity:
21%
Genre: Drama
Country: Portugal
Duration: 75 min.
Story:
An authentic and convincing story of a small boy, son of a disrupted young couple, with all the typical hostile reactions about his mother's new love relationship and a behavior showing a mixture of love and resentment towards her, ending in a ...
Style:
realistic, touching, serious, sincere, emotional ...
Plot:
bittersweet, coming of age, dysfunctional family, single parent, life is a bitch, youth, family problems, family drama, child protagonist, childhood, stepfather, estranged father ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
portugal
Similarity:
21%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
Two young children living illegally in a model apartment outside Boston are left to fend for themselves when their hardworking mother disappears
Style:
sincere, serious, touching, realistic, sad ...
Plot:
youth, single parent, family problems, working class, family relations, eviction, society, suburbs, parents and children, siblings relations, poverty, child ...
Place:
boston, usa
Similarity:
20%
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