Movies like The Winner 2011

If you like "The Winner" you are looking for emotional, inspirational and reflective movies about / with horse race, friendship, piano, musician, personal growth, second chance and redemption themes of Drama genre shot in Poland or USA.
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.
The Winner (2011)
 5.9
 343
The Winner (2011)
Original name: Wygrany
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland, USA, Switzerland
Duration: 111 min.
Story: Oliver (Pawel Szajda) is a talented young pianist of Polish American heritage. After breaking off his European tournée, he is forced to repay the tour organizers 250 thousand Euros. On his journey, he meets the very colorful character of (Janusz Gajos) a retired high school math teacher and a great enthusiast of the horse races. He dreams of returning to America as a somebody, but can only do so after wining a momentous prize. From then on the two friends endeavor to gain success. They discover true friendship. Together they fulfill Franks dream of winning at the horse races, which in turn allows Oliver to buy back his personal freedom. Having recovered from a dramatically ended marriage, the young man is able to open up to a new love.
Style: emotional, inspirational, reflective, melancholic, road movie, intercultural
Plot: horse race, friendship, piano, musician, personal growth, second chance, redemption, underdog, triumph, character study, gambling, bet, debt, healing, recovery, slice of life, bittersweet, intimate, classical music, coming of age, identity, small town, horse, swimming, pianist ...
Time: contemporary
Place: poland, eastern europe, new york, chicago

Movie in categories

Most similar movies to The Winner

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out emotional, melancholic, realistic and reflective films with plots about intimate, friendship, bittersweet, slice of life, redemption, small town and personal growth mostly in Drama, Comedy and Western genres. Some movies like The Winner: Miracle Seller (2009), Somewhere in Indiana (2004), Shadows in the Sun (2009), Pendulum Swings (2011), The Bus of Life (2024). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
 6.0
 208
Miracle Seller (2009)
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland, Sweden, France
Duration: 107 min.
Story: A recovering alcoholic on a pilgrimage meets two young refugees who are trying to find their father. Their struggles during the trip from Poland to France will forever change their lives.
Style: captivating, psychological, disturbing, suspense, emotional ...
Plot: alcoholic, alcoholism, search for father, journey, social problems, lifestyle change, changing lives, redemption, recovery, refugee, family drama, personal growth ...
Place: poland, france, eastern europe
Similarity:
95%
Somewhere in Indiana (2004)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min.
Story: Drama - An unexpected encounter with a mysterious stranger forever changes the life of four travelers visiting the hometown of a James Dean-like celebrity actor. - Colin Alexander, Jeff Angel, David Grant Briggs
Style: realistic, serious, sincere, captivating, road movie ...
Plot: self discovery, road trip, hotshot hero, inventions and discoveries, secret, spirituality, movie star, character study, small town, mysterious stranger, bittersweet, personal growth ...
Time: 21st century
Place: indiana
Similarity:
82%
Shadows in the Sun (2009)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 81 min.
Story: A mysterious young loner changes the lives of one family and helps them rediscover their roots and deep affection for one another.
Style: independent film, emotional, heartfelt, contemplative, period drama
Audience: family friendly
Plot: family drama, family bonds, friendship, intimate, introspection, reconciliation, healing, second chance, family reunited, nostalgia, slice of life, longing ...
Similarity:
82%
Pendulum Swings (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story: PENDULUM SWINGS follows a man into a dark place in his life - a place at which he arrives through a combination of bad decisions and forces beyond his control. When he finally hits bottom, he is presented with an opportunity to climb out of his ...
Style: emotional, reflective, serious, melancholic, realistic ...
Plot: compassion, redemption, empathy, second chance, character study, recovery, moral dilemma, morality, healing, resilience, self destructing, humanity ...
Similarity:
80%
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The Bus of Life (2024)
Genre: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 98 min.
Story: Andrés, a music teacher diagnosed with cancer, seeks treatment at a hospital in the city. His travels there on a singular, dilapidated bus accompanied by other cancer patients. It soon becomes an extraordinary experience, giving him new friends and ...
Style: life affirming, emotional, uplifting, inspirational, medical drama ...
Plot: friendship, hopes, cancer, compassion, self discovery, healing, resilience, humanism, personal growth, hospital, intimate, second chance ...
Place: spain, basque country, madrid
Similarity:
79%
Traveling to Olympia (2001)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story: Johnny leaves a Washington State juvenile facility and travels to Olympia where he meets other gay men and starts to put to rights some of the wrongs done to gay youths
Style: independent film, emotional, reflective
Plot: lgbtq, gay, identity, self discovery, intimate, introspection, character study, healing, redemption, angst, friendship, coming of age ...
Similarity:
72%
The Wednesday Morning Breakfast Club (2013)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 47 min.
Story: A short film that tells the story of three older men who come into the same restaurant on Wednesday mornings at the same time every week. The story is told from the perspective of Megan, the newly hired waitress at the restaurant that takes classes ...
Style: reflective, emotional, realistic, uplifting, independent film
Plot: restaurant, empathy, humanity, compassion, routine, personal growth, slice of life, intimate, friendship, faith, bittersweet, healing ...
Similarity:
64%
 7.4
 198
Home (2013)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min.
Story: The story of a man suffering from mental illness who attempts to rebuild his life.
Style: realistic, uplifting, sincere, independent film, psychological ...
Plot: mental illness, redemption, parents and children, starting over, hopes, family relations, friendship, empathy, realism, character study, isolation, independence ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa, new york
Similarity:
60%
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The Last Brickmaker in America (2001)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min.
Story: A man must cope with the loss of his wife and the obsolescence of his job before finding redemption by becoming a role model to an equally lost 13-year-old.
Style: realistic, serious, touching, sincere, reflective ...
Audience: family friendly
Plot: friendship, family relations, self discovery, teenage life, interracial relations, hopes, society, idealism, spoiled brat, quibbling, aging, death in the family ...
Time: 2000s, 21st century
Similarity:
59%
Not Waving But Drowning (2012)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: Not Waving But Drowning is a chronological look at growing up, formed from two different stories. The two sets of friends represent the American dilemma between what you have known and what you hope to know; the tear between longing for the past and ...
Style: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, touching, independent film ...
Plot: friendship, self discovery, adolescence vs adulthood, starting over, female friendship, coming of age, personal growth, character study, society, couples, small town, identity ...
Time: 21st century
Place: new york, usa
Similarity:
58%
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2023)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 108 min.
Story: Harold Fry is an unremarkable man who has made mistakes with all the important things: being a husband, a father and a friend. And now, well into his 60s, he is content to fade quietly into the background of life. Until, one day – Harold learns ...
Style: contemplative, reflective, psychological, captivating, thrilling ...
Plot: elderly man, pilgrimage, character study, self discovery, walking, journey, grief, changing lives, lifestyle, lifestyle change, life, bittersweet ...
Place: england
Similarity:
58%
A Country Called Home (2015)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story: Ellie is a 27-year old whose life is far from where she imagined it to be. Filled with annoying friends, a self-involved boyfriend, and a career that she can’t bring herself to pursue, Ellie feels detached from her life. When she learns that her ...
Style: psychological, sincere, captivating, disturbing, independent film ...
Plot: female protagonist, friendship, death of father, alcoholic father, family drama, self discovery, road trip, changing lives, travel, father daughter estrangement, lifestyle, personal growth ...
Place: texas
Similarity:
56%
Migratory Birds (2018)
Genre: Drama
Country: Chile
Duration: 83 min.
Story: Diego is hosting a farewell party in his house before he leaves on a trip that no one knows about.
Style: reflective, emotional, melancholic, realistic, tension ...
Plot: secrets, house party, introspection, intimate, relationships, bittersweet, friendship, regret, single, identity, character study, slice of life ...
Similarity:
55%
Ruby Jean and Joe (1996)
Genre: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story: In a tale set in the rough and tumble world of professional rodeo, an over-the-hill former champion broncobuster and a young hitchhiker develop a special friendship.
Style: heartfelt, touching, melancholic, emotional, reflective ...
Plot: friendship, rodeo, intergenerational friendship, road trip, character study, second chance, life lesson, aging, bittersweet, horse riding, hitchhiking, nostalgia ...
Similarity:
53%
A Sort of Homecoming (2015)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min.
Story: A Sort of Homecoming tells the story of Amy, a New York news producer who thought she left her high school experiences long in the past. She unexpectedly returns to Louisiana at the request of her high school debate coach. Their strained reunion ...
Style: disturbing, psychological, captivating, reflective, emotional ...
Audience: teens, adult
Plot: getting home, childhood memory, memories, debate, teenage life, teenager, memory, teenage girl, schoolgirl, problem, school, personal growth ...
Place: new york
Similarity:
52%
 6.8
 1K
Enemies (2025)
Genre: Drama
Country: Spain, USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story: Chimo turns 18 years and comes from a humble and supportive family. Since childhood he was bullied and even today, while working multiple jobs and dreaming of starting his own business, he continues to face his bully: El Rubio. When Chimo has the ...
Style: emotional, intense, tension
Audience: teen drama
Plot: coming of age, friendship, revenge, rivalry, bullying, adolescence, youth, working class, neighborhood, teen angst, transformation, redemption ...
Similarity:
51%
Tjommies (2023)
Genre: Drama
Country: South Africa
Story: When a retired police inspector, who suffers from agoraphobia, receives an eviction notice, he befriends a homeless boy and together they come up with a plan to get rid of his phobia.
Style: heartfelt, psychological, emotional, contemplative, realistic
Plot: mental health, isolation, agoraphobia, friendship, healing, recovery, bonding, redemption, loneliness, homelessness, personal growth, character study ...
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51%
 7.4
 100
Taxi Love (2025)
Genre: Drama
Country: Croatia
Duration: 95 min.
Story: Joža was wounded in combat during the events of the Croatian War of Independance and now works as a taxi driver in Zagreb, encountering various clients, all of which help him to cope with his past, and reveal to him what it truly means to be human.
Style: emotional, reflective, poignant, melancholic, anthology
Plot: taxi driver, loneliness, humanity, war veteran, wounded soldier, empathy, intimate, slice of life, character study, passenger, healing, identity ...
Place: croatia
Similarity:
51%
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 7.8
 2K
Larry (2022)
Genre: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 108 min.
Story: It tells the story of Adam who lives in isolation due to his stuttering, and hip-hop is the only way he can get rid of his speech impediment.
Style: emotional, independent film, realistic, lyrical, psychological ...
Plot: speech impediment, stuttering, hip hop, personal growth, isolation, intimate, outsider, identity, self discovery, subculture, redemption, coming of age ...
Similarity:
50%
 6.5
 49
Baggage (2003)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story: A drama about how to let go of our emotional "baggage" and start living in the moment.
Style: psychological, captivating, thrilling, realistic, reflective ...
Audience: adult
Plot: getting home, self discovery, personal growth, relationships, confronting the past, life is a bitch, elderly man, relationship problems, troubled past, slice of life, friendship, healing ...
Place: california
Similarity:
50%
Finding Jenua (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 70 min.
Story: The film is about a young woman (Gayle James) running away from her past and moves in with a woman (Leigh Rose) who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease and she believes is her grand-daughter.
Style: realistic, touching, atmospheric, serious, reflective ...
Plot: small town, small town life, connection, loss, memory loss, bittersweet, character study, healing, identity, love, female protagonist, self discovery ...
Time: 21st century
Similarity:
48%
Where I Begin (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 77 min.
Story: A decade after a tragic event, Jacob decides to return home to his small southern roots, only to find that the past is not really the past and that people may change but they never forget. Can you ever really go home?
Style: melancholic, emotional, southern gothic, atmospheric, independent film ...
Plot: regret, secrets, loss, character study, getting home, guilt, bittersweet, family secret, family conflict, longing, forgiveness, redemption ...
Similarity:
48%
 6.7
 503
Grace & Glorie (1998)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: When a lonely ex-New Yorker moves into the home of a rural senior to act as a hospice worker, the two initially couldn't seem to be less alike. However, as time passes, the two find much kinship including a lost child. Slowly the two build a ...
Style: heartfelt, life affirming, emotional, serious, reflective
Plot: friendship, bonding, life lesson, healing, humanity, companionship, senior citizen, loneliness, small town, intimate, family drama, resilience ...
Time: 90s
Place: new york, connecticut
Similarity:
46%
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Early Music (2017)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 62 min.
Story: Two foundering musicians in the early stage of their careers meet and form an unlikely alliance.
Style: realistic, emotional, melancholic, earnest
Audience: adult
Plot: musician, perseverance, passion, creative process, creativity, collaboration, personal growth, intimate, slice of life, character study, friendship, ambition ...
Similarity:
44%
 6.2
 285
Hudson (2019)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 75 min.
Story: A man embarks on a trip with his estranged cousin Hudson to spread his late mother's ashes. They meet an unusual woman along the way and their simple road trip turns into a dysfunctional adventure.
Style: road movie, psychological, captivating, thrilling, satirical ...
Plot: grief, road trip, changing lives, lifestyle change, journey, satire, second chance, recluse, friendship, empathy, bittersweet, intimate ...
Similarity:
43%
I'm Beginning To See the Light (2025)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story: A tale of self-rediscovery seen through the eyes of a grief-stricken trumpeter, who finds salvation in a lighthouse and its two suicidal visitors.
Style: emotional, dramatic, contemplative, atmospheric, melancholic ...
Plot: lighthouse, grief, suicide, seaside, empathy, loneliness, trumpet player, salvation, healing, intimate, mourning, redemption ...
Similarity:
42%
 5.9
 134
Tableau (2022)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 73 min.
Story: Struggling to navigate a promising career, a new romance, and her family life, a photography student confronts notions of love and loss during her senior year of college.
Style: emotional, contemplative, realistic, reflective, romantic drama ...
Plot: photography, coming of age, relationships, student life, self discovery, college life, female protagonist, personal growth, young adult, realism, campus, slice of life ...
Place: france
Similarity:
42%
Winter in Sokcho (2024)
Genre: Drama
Country: France, South Korea
Duration: 104 min.
Story: In the snowy seaside town of Sokcho, 25-year-old Soo-Ha works at a guesthouse. She drifts between her mother’s fish stall and her boyfriend until a French artist’s arrival stirs questions about her identity. As winter deepens, Soo-Ha and the ...
Style: intercultural, contemplative, emotional, melancholic
Plot: winter, female protagonist, coming of age, self discovery, young woman, identity, slice of life, intimate, identity crisis, bittersweet, loneliness, small town ...
Place: south korea
Similarity:
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After the Winter (2021)
Genre: Drama
Country: Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia
Duration: 101 min.
Story: Five childhood friends from a small Montenegrin town have gradually moved away to different corners of the former Yugoslavia, yet they remain in contact, aware that their long-time friendship continues to play a fundamental role in their lives.
Style: melancholic, emotional
Plot: friendship, coming of age, nostalgia, small town, introspection, diaspora, migration, slice of life, bittersweet, intimate, social change, memory ...
Place: montenegro
Similarity:
40%
Letting Life In (2003)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min.
Story: "Letting Life In" explores a single year of life between two people. Michael, a reclusive novelist, lives in a small town in upstate New York. He knows nothing of living life beyond the suffocating walls he has built for himself. Sarah, a ...
Style: emotional, poignant, life affirming, romantic drama, captivating ...
Plot: self discovery, love story, relationships, assistant, personal growth, bittersweet, loss, cancer, healing, writer's life, introspection, writers ...
Time: 21st century
Similarity:
39%