Movies like Brain on Fire
If you like "Brain on Fire" you are looking for medical drama, thought provoking and realistic movies about / with strong female lead, hospital, diagnosis, psychiatry, fighting illness, human brain and journalist themes of Biography and Drama genre shot in USA or Canada.
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.
Brain on Fire (2016)
26K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Canada, Ireland
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
Susannah Cahalan, an up-and-coming journalist at the New York Post becomes plagued by voices in her head and seizures, causing a rapid descent into insanity.
Style:
medical drama, thought provoking, realistic, suspenseful, neurotic, inspirational, touching, sad, cult classic
Plot:
strong female lead, hospital, diagnosis, psychiatry, fighting illness, human brain, journalist, visual hallucination, doctor, female protagonist, newspaper reporter, catatonia, hallucination, mental illness, true love, writers, treatment, psychology, women, young girl, medicine, depression, illness, medical, capture ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
america, new york
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to Brain on Fire
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out inspirational, touching, emotional and realistic films with plots about biopic, hospital, storytelling, depression, transformation, doctor and mentor mostly in Drama, Biography and Romance genres. Some movies like Brain on Fire: Girl, Interrupted (1999), The Good Lie (2014), Stronger (2017), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Living Proof (2008). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 127 min.
Story:
Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, Susanna Kaysen's prescribed "short rest" from a psychiatrist she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice's Wonderland, where she struggles with the thin line ...
Style:
psychological, crying, gothic, serious, heartbreaking ...
Audience:
girls' night, chick flick, teens, teen drama, adult
Plot:
mental illness, suicide, coming of age, psychiatric ward, suicide attempt, mental institution, teenage girl, psychiatrist, borderline personality disorder, insanity, female protagonist, mentally unstable ...
Time:
20th century, year 1999, 90s, year 1967, 60s
Place:
usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Kenya, India, USA, Canada, South Africa
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
A young refugee of the Sudanese Civil War who wins a lottery for relocation to the United States with three other lost boys. Encountering the modern world for the first time, they develop an unlikely friendship with a brash American woman assigned ...
Style:
inspirational, touching, sentimental, captivating, philosophical ...
Audience:
chick flick, adult
Plot:
survival, refugee, culture clash, friendship, childhood, children, self sacrifice, courage, civil war, life is a bitch, fish out of water, society ...
Time:
70s, 21st century
Place:
africa, sudan, south africa, kenya, kansas ...
Similarity:
100%
53K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Hong Kong
Duration: 119 min.
Story:
A victim of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 helps the police track down the killers while struggling to recover from devastating trauma.
Style:
disturbing, suspenseful, touching, emotional, suspense ...
Plot:
physical therapy, rehabilitation, running, hospital, terrorist bombing, disability, sex scene, conspiracy, terrorism, terrorist, husband wife relationship, friendship ...
Time:
year 2017, 2010s, year 2013, year 2016, year 2014 ...
Place:
boston
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Biography, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min.
Story:
At Princeton University, John Nash struggles to make a worthwhile contribution to serve as his legacy to the world of mathematics. He finally makes a revolutionary breakthrough that will eventually earn him the Nobel Prize. After graduate school he ...
Style:
psychological, touching, cerebral, dramatic, intellectual ...
Audience:
teens, date night, chick flick, family friendly
Plot:
mathematics, mental illness, schizophrenia, genius, paranoia, insanity, imagination, scientist, prodigy, nobel prize, imaginary friend, mathematician ...
Time:
year 2001, 60s, 1940s, 20th century, 2000s ...
Place:
harvard university, boston, new jersey, detroit, persia ...
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min.
Story:
Living Proof is a 2008 Lifetime Television movie, directed by Dan Ireland, starring Harry Connick, Jr. The film is based on the true life story of Dr. Dennis Slamon and the book HER-2: The Making of Herceptin, a Revolutionary Treatment for Breast ...
Style:
sincere, touching, emotional, lighthearted, light ...
Plot:
hopes, breast cancer, doctor, terminal illness, doctors and patients, ego clash, medical, cancer, special needs, explorer, biopic, power relations ...
Time:
21st century
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 116 min.
Story:
When he was 14, Smith drowned in Lake St. Louis and was dead for nearly an hour. According to reports at the time, CPR was performed 27 minutes to no avail. Then the youth's mother, Joyce Smith, entered the room, praying loudly. Suddenly, there ...
Style:
touching, inspirational, biblical, christian film, sincere ...
Plot:
religious, police, christian, catholic, hospital, death, doctor, church, paramedic, christianity, religion, waking up from a coma ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
usa, missouri
Similarity:
57%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story is a movie based on the life story of world-renowned neurosurgeon Ben Carson from 1961 to 1987.
Style:
uplifting, sincere, inspirational, christian film, realistic ...
Audience:
family outing
Plot:
medical, african american, against the odds, neurosurgeon, human spirit, medicine, surgeon, ambition, biopic, medical school, physician, doctor ...
Time:
70s, 60s, 2010s, 20th century, 80s
Place:
cuba, usa, detroit, west germany
Similarity:
100%
320K
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
On 15 January 2009, the world witnessed the 'Miracle on the Hudson' when Captain 'Sully' Sullenberger glided his disabled plane onto the frigid waters of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard. However, even as ...
Style:
inspirational, factual, realistic, suspense, intense ...
Audience:
teens, family outing, family friendly, chick flick, adult
Plot:
aviation, airplane accident, pilot, airplane, courage, crash landing, investigation, accident, plane crash, air traffic controller, catastrophe, co pilot ...
Time:
year 2016, year 2009, 2010s, year 2015, 20th century ...
Place:
new york, usa, persia, north america, manhattan new york city ...
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
A biopic of Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who has become one of top scientists in humane livestock handling.
Style:
touching, inspirational, sincere, compassionate, feel good ...
Audience:
kids
Plot:
autism, teacher, female protagonist, human spirit, disability, genius, against the odds, inventor, biopic, asperger's syndrome, slaughterhouse, ambition ...
Time:
20th century, y2k, 60s, year 1951, 70s ...
Place:
arizona, boston, new hampshire, texas, usa ...
Similarity:
36%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Ireland, UK
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
In this true story told through flashbacks, Christy Brown is born with crippling cerebral palsy into a poor, working-class Irish family. Able only to control movement in his left foot and to speak in guttural sounds, he is mistakenly believed to be ...
Style:
inspirational, unusual plot structure, touching, sentimental, sad ...
Plot:
disability, cerebral palsy, biopic, artist, working class, writers, paralysis, handicapped, medical, painter, poet, art ...
Time:
20th century, 80s, year 1989, 1930s
Place:
ireland, dublin ireland, england, europe, canada
Similarity:
36%
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Japan, USA
Duration: 123 min.
Story:
The Theory of Everything is the extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde.
Style:
touching, uplifting, inspirational, compassionate, sentimental ...
Audience:
kids, teens, chick flick
Plot:
genius, disability, love, cambridge university, physicist, mathematics, husband wife relationship, prodigy, supportive spouse, handicapped, against the odds, relationships ...
Time:
year 2014, 2010s, 20th century, 60s, 70s ...
Place:
oxford university, england, united kingdom
Similarity:
36%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 129 min.
Story:
Lorenzo Odone was a normal child until the age of 7. After then, strange things began to happen to him: he would have blackouts, memory lapses, and other strange mental phemonenons. He is eventually diagnosed as suffering from ALD: an extremely rare ...
Style:
touching, sincere, inspirational, sad, melancholic ...
Audience:
family outing, kids
Plot:
terminal illness, against the odds, family relations, human spirit, hopes, child illness, death, medical, life is a bitch, cure, disability, family drama ...
Time:
20th century, 90s, year 1984, year 1983, year 1986 ...
Place:
washington d.c., pittsburgh, edinburgh scotland, london, england ...
Similarity:
35%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: South Africa, USA
Duration: 116 min.
Story:
After an inspiring chance encounter with his idol, rookie journalist Jay Bahadur uproots his life and moves to Somalia looking for the story of a lifetime. Hooking up with a local fixer, he attempts to get embedded with the local Somali pirates, ...
Style:
suspenseful, suspense, factual, exciting, cult classic ...
Plot:
drug, journalist, pirate, journalism, point of view, journey, danger, village, weapons, escapades, culture clash, news report ...
Time:
2000s, year 2008
Place:
somalia, africa, canada
Similarity:
35%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA
Duration: 158 min.
Story:
Janet Frame grows up in a poor family. She is different than the other kids. She is considered abnormal and locked away in a mental institution for eight years. Everything changes when she starts writing books.
Style:
erotic, psychological, touching, neurotic, spiritual ...
Plot:
writers, mental illness, making love, depression, biopic, schizophrenia, children, art, women, mental disorder, female writer, woman ...
Time:
year 1990, 20th century, 80s
Place:
new zealand, london, paris france
Similarity:
34%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
A dramatization of the relationship between heart surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.
Style:
sincere, inspirational, serious, realistic, uplifting ...
Audience:
family outing
Plot:
surgery, medical, prejudice, racism, african american, biopic, interracial relations, blacks and whites, surgeon, following a dream, medical research, friendship between men ...
Time:
1930s, 1940s, 20th century, 60s, 70s ...
Place:
maryland, america, baltimore, usa, nashville tennessee ...
Similarity:
34%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
A young music student has a seizure forcing her to undergo brain surgery. She comes out of the surgery unable to count or read and has difficulty adapting to life.
Style:
medical drama, emotional, serious, dramatic, heartbreaking ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
capture, hospital, doctor patient relationship, female protagonist, trauma, identity crisis, amnesia, biopic, resilience, ethical dilemma, recovery, mortality ...
Similarity:
34%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
A drama directed by Sandor Stern.
Style:
medical drama, emotional, tear jerker, realistic, compassionate ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
family crisis, hospital, tragedy, hopes, grief, sacrifice, fatherhood, resilience, biopic, diagnosis, families, disability ...
Similarity:
33%
Genre: Biography, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
\When Christy discovers her 10-year-old daughter Anna has a rare, incurable disease, she becomes a ferocious advocate for her daughter’s healing as she searches for a solution. After Anna has a freak accident and falls three stories, a miracle ...
Style:
christian film, inspirational, sentimental, thought provoking, suspenseful ...
Audience:
family outing, kids, chick flick
Plot:
christian, christianity, illness, faith, mother daughter relationship, medical, hospital, parent child relationship, sick child, child cancer, female protagonist, coping ...
Place:
boston
Similarity:
50%
Movie in collections
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph ...
Style:
emotional, touching, psychological, sad, poignant ...
Audience:
family outing, teens
Plot:
disability, hospital, dignity, freak, melancholy, disfigurement, social misfits, cruelty, isolation, hopes, biopic, humanism ...
Time:
19th century, victorian era, ancient times, 20th century, turn of the century ...
Place:
england, london, britain, europe
Similarity:
33%
129K
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
Meet Patch Adams, a doctor who doesn't look, act or think like any doctor you've met before. For Patch, humor is the best medicine, and he's willing to do just anything to make his patients laugh - even if it means risking his own ...
Style:
inspirational, touching, uplifting, feel good, emotional ...
Audience:
kids, family friendly, girls' night, teen drama
Plot:
medical school, hospital, human spirit, doctors and patients, life philosophy, compassion, medical profession, friendship, dealing with death, doctor, happy ending, stereotypes ...
Time:
20th century, 70s, 90s, year 1998, 60s ...
Place:
usa, virginia
Similarity:
33%
35K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
A boy with a massive facial skull deformity and biker gang mother attempts to live as normal a life as possible under the circumstances.
Style:
emotional, sentimental, touching, uplifting, depressing ...
Audience:
teens, boys' night, girls' night
Plot:
coming of age, disability, fall in love, relationships, human spirit, depression, adolescence, teenager, motorcycle, teenage love, protective parent, family relations ...
Time:
80s, 20th century, year 1985
Place:
california, usa
Similarity:
32%
26K
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Switzerland
Duration: 118 min.
Story:
Based on the true story of Robin, a handsome, brilliant and adventurous man whose life takes a dramatic turn when polio leaves him paralyzed.
Style:
sad, touching, inspirational, compassionate, factual ...
Audience:
toddlers
Plot:
disability, illness, supportive spouse, paralysis, marriage, husband wife relationship, love, hospital, quadriplegic, biopic, adaptation, human spirit ...
Time:
year 2017, 50s, year 1971, year 1981, year 1965 ...
Place:
africa, england, germany, spain, kenya
Similarity:
32%
152K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
A story based on the life of a struggling Long Island single mom who became one of the country's most successful entrepreneurs.
Style:
inspirational, intense, sentimental, serious, realistic ...
Plot:
entrepreneur, business, strong female lead, businesswoman, career woman, entrepreneurship, inventor, marketing, divorce, career, women, destiny ...
Time:
80s, 2010s, year 2015, 20th century, 70s ...
Place:
boston, usa, new jersey, california, new york state ...
Similarity:
32%
Movie in collections
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career.
Style:
inspirational, emotional, sentimental, uplifting, motivational ...
Audience:
family outing, chick flick, teens, family friendly
Plot:
homeless, life, human spirit, rags to riches, life philosophy, success, single father, poverty, rise to the top, family drama, life is a bitch, biopic ...
Time:
80s, year 2006, 2010s, 20th century
Place:
usa, california, bay area, san francisco, america
Similarity:
32%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min.
Story:
Angel of mercy… or murderous “Doctor Death”? Jack Kervorkian is one of the most polarizing figures in modern American history, a man whose passionate belief that people have the right to die has brought him both praise and vilification. ...
Style:
unusual plot structure, serious, compassionate, witty, talky ...
Plot:
suicide, terminal illness, biopic, murder, moral dilemma, euthanasia, lethal injection, greed, eccentricity, atheism, legal, historical figure ...
Time:
90s, year 2010, 2010s, 20th century
Place:
detroit, usa, michigan, california
Similarity:
32%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Spain, France, Italy
Duration: 126 min.
Story:
The Sea Inside is about Spaniard Ramón Sampedro, who fought a 30-year campaign to win the right to end his life with dignity. It is the story of Ramón’s relationships with two women: Julia a lawyer who supports his cause, and Rosa, a local woman ...
Style:
sad, thought provoking, philosophical, emotional, breathtaking ...
Plot:
disability, euthanasia, biopic, death, human spirit, dying, handicapped, existentialism, suicide, depression, lawyer, dignity ...
Time:
year 2004, y2k, 90s, 60s, 20th century
Place:
spain, barcelona, south america, europe, galicia ...
Similarity:
32%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min.
Story:
The story of Dian Fossey, a scientist who came to Africa to study the vanishing mountain gorillas, and later fought to protect them.
Style:
sincere, touching, captivating, inspirational, bleak ...
Audience:
kids, girls' night
Plot:
animal, jungle, gorilla, environmental, forest, biopic, extinction, brutality, environmentalism, human spirit, nature, hunting ...
Time:
20th century, 60s, year 1966
Place:
africa, south africa, congo, rwanda
Similarity:
32%
117K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, France
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
A look at the life of Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, with a focus on the price she paid for power.
Style:
thought provoking, political, touching, inspirational, period piece ...
Plot:
politics, prime minister, british prime minister, british history, female protagonist, female politician, monarchy, british politics, women, biopic, alzheimer's disease, political leader ...
Time:
20th century, year 2011, 2010s, 90s, 70s ...
Place:
london, england, britain, europe, united kingdom ...
Similarity:
32%
23K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
New York in the 1920s. Max Perkins, literary editor at Scribner’s Sons is the first to sign such subsequent literary greats as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. When a sprawling, chaotic 1,000-page manuscript by an unknown writer named ...
Style:
period piece, talky, touching, intellectual, informative ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
writers, novelist, genius, book editor, book, mentor, brutality, relationships, biopic, literary, jazz, creativity ...
Time:
1930s
Place:
usa, new york, new jersey
Similarity:
32%
405K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 170 min.
Story:
A biopic depicting the life of filmmaker and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes from 1927 to 1947, during which time he became a successful film producer and an aviation magnate, while simultaneously growing more unstable due to severe ...
Style:
epic, inspirational, realistic, period piece, visually stunning ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
mental illness, success, aviation, entrepreneurship, businessman, test pilot, entrepreneur, biopic, business, filmmaking, obsessive compulsive disorder, corruption ...
Time:
1930s, year 2004, 1920s, 1900s, 20th century ...
Place:
los angeles, california, connecticut, new york, usa ...
Similarity:
32%
Related movie lists
