Movies like On the Nickel
If you like "On the Nickel" you are looking for independent film, emotional and melancholic movies about / with slum, street life, homelessness, alcoholism, friendship, character study and poverty themes of Drama genre shot in USA.
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On the Nickel (1980)
79
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
feature film written, produced by, and starring Ralph Waite (best known as John Walton, Sr., on the long-running CBS television series, "The Waltons"). The film tells the story of Sam (Donald Moffat), a recovering alcoholic who feels dissatisfied with his life of sobriety and goes back in search of the good times he enjoyed with his old friends living on Los Angeles' skid row (Fifth Street - hence the film's title). Eventually finding his best friend, "C.G." (Waite), still living on the nickel, the two men reminisce, and Sam gets a fresh look at the lifestyle he had once vigorously abandoned. The film is a multi-level odyssey through the slums of L.A., as well Sam's personal ruminations as he re-evaluates the nostalgia he had felt for the free and bohemian lifestyle of a street person.
Style:
independent film, emotional, melancholic, art house, existential, road movie, period piece, inspirational, philosophical, cynical
Plot:
slum, street life, homelessness, alcoholism, friendship, character study, poverty, urban, male protagonist, identity crisis, social realism, survival, subculture, redemption, nostalgia, slice of life, bittersweet, anti hero, mourning, police, alcoholic, judge, bum, drunkenness, drunkard ...
Time:
year 1980
Place:
los angeles
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to On the Nickel
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out emotional, melancholic, independent film and realistic films with plots about character study, social realism, poverty, redemption, urban, intimate and street life mostly in Drama and Adventure genres. Some movies like On the Nickel: Downtown: A Street Tale (2004), Off-Time (2022), Chance Meeting (1965), Hector (2015), Nautilus (1990). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
A group of street kids find that the only way to make it through the day is to hold onto their dreams while their reality is eating out of dumpsters, turning tricks and squatting in abandoned buildings.
Style:
captivating, thrilling, psychological, emotional, independent film ...
Plot:
street life, homelessness, survival, urban setting, urban ghetto life, life is a bitch, city life, orphan, hopes, friendship, poverty, social issues ...
Place:
new york
Similarity:
95%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
Cliff Raines is an up-and-coming actor who struggles with living a lonely life in Los Angeles. In his time between roles, he finds comfort in alcohol and his new found relationship with a young woman with similar baggage to his.
Style:
independent film, melancholic, realistic, existential
Plot:
character study, isolation, loneliness, intimate, slice of life, alcoholism, showbiz, self destructing, identity crisis, bittersweet, urban, personal growth ...
Place:
los angeles
Similarity:
92%
Genre: Drama
Country: Czechoslovakia
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Wandering around wine bars and pubs drinking, thirty-year old worker Oldrich (Petr Kostka), who is celebrating the birth of his son, meets a seventeen-year old lad called Yellow T-shirt Boy (Vladimír Pucholt). Yellow T-shirt Boy is a problematic ...
Style:
realistic, emotional, melancholic, poignant
Plot:
fatherhood, compassion, character study, working class, social realism, male protagonist, male bonding, friendship, alienation, bittersweet, coming of age, redemption ...
Time:
60s
Place:
czechoslovakia
Similarity:
72%
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
Hector has been living on the motorways for years. His once comfortable family life has been replaced by a never-ending tour of service stations that offer him shelter, anonymity, washing facilities and food. The story follows his journey south from ...
Style:
road movie, social, realistic, art house, compassionate
Audience:
girls' night
Plot:
christmas, homelessness, journey, loneliness, character study, pilgrimage, drifter, melancholy, isolation, british, identity, social realism ...
Similarity:
70%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
This life period of the main character Felix (L. Lutvinsky) coincides with rather complicated period of country history Chernenko dies, Gorbachev succeeds him, then Ligachev criticizes Eltsin, county is reined by deficit, backstairs influence, ...
Style:
melancholic, art house, existential, period piece
Audience:
adult
Plot:
social commentary, character study, alienation, escape from reality, loneliness, social realism, identity crisis, absurdism, minimalism, poverty, city life, working class ...
Place:
soviet union, ussr
Similarity:
68%
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 ...
Similarity:
66%
Genre: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
Broke and homeless Australian teenagers in love.
Style:
independent film, emotional, romantic drama, melancholic, bleak ...
Plot:
teenager, street life, homelessness, youth, coming of age, friendship, urban, poverty, realism, social realism, survival, working class ...
Time:
70s, year 1978
Place:
australia
Similarity:
61%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
An abused, former orphan living in San Francisco returns to New York to reconnect with the love of his life and understand how his past has shaped his future. It's a semi-autobiographical work based on the book of the same name originally ...
Style:
emotional, psychological, realistic, independent film, semi autobiographical ...
Plot:
character study, trauma, foster home, male protagonist, lost love, introspection, identity, literary, memory, urban, intimate, self discovery ...
Place:
new york, san francisco
Similarity:
58%
Movie in collections
33
Genre: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 71 min.
Story:
EDEN deals with what could possible be a future for most people caught up in the current economic climate in Ireland and how we have taken a bite of the financial apple and borrowed beyond our means. We follow Adam who has been left unemployed and ...
Style:
melancholic, independent film, bleak, existential, grim
Plot:
homelessness, street life, realism, social commentary, unemployment, poverty, empathy, character study, working class, survival, desperation, urban decay ...
Similarity:
58%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
16 year old Bret lives with his indifferent father and a stepmother who abhors him. After yet another fight he leaves home. He meets two guys and a girl who are drifting around. He feels attracted to Roxanne and they decide to continue together to ...
Style:
emotional, bleak, melancholic, independent film, tragic
Audience:
teen drama
Plot:
male prostitution, coming of age, sexploitation, survival, identity crisis, friendship, urban, moral ambiguity, social realism, sexual exploration, road trip, human trafficking ...
Time:
90s
Similarity:
55%
Genre: Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 112 min.
Story:
Just out of jail, Fai finds a spot on a street corner where other homeless people welcome him. But he doesn’t get much time to settle in. The police soon chase them away, and their possessions disappear into a garbage truck. Young social worker Ms ...
Style:
melancholic, tense
Plot:
homelessness, poverty, street life, survival, social realism, eviction, inequality, friendship, police chase, compassion, social work, urban decay ...
Similarity:
54%
465
Genre: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Malu — a mercurial, unemployed actress living with her conservative mother in a precarious house in a Rio de Janeiro slum — tries to deal with her strained relationship with her own adult daughter while surviving on memories of her glorious ...
Style:
emotional, thrilling, psychological, captivating, melancholic ...
Plot:
female protagonist, mother daughter relationship, character study, motherhood, family drama, poverty, family problems, family relations, social problems, relationship problems, kids and family, problem ...
Place:
rio de janeiro, brazil
Similarity:
53%
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
A young boy homeless by tragic misfortune, is taken in by a poor yet loving man. Dylan, now a street-smart maverick yearns for a better future. With the odds stacked against him, Dylan fights to bring hope to his community, and find his place in the ...
Style:
heartfelt, inspirational, emotional
Plot:
struggle, resilience, homelessness, poverty, coming of age, hopes, aspiration, street life, community, survival, urban, friendship ...
Similarity:
53%
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
A man who has lost his wife and daughter finds a baby in a garbage. He decides to save her.
Style:
emotional, melancholic, realistic, art house, independent film ...
Plot:
grief, child abandonment, loss, family tragedy, single father, rescue, redemption, compassion, loneliness, character study, bittersweet, social realism ...
Similarity:
52%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 112 min.
Story:
On a holiday eve, everyone, especially one tired and chilly, does so need at least one living soul at one's side: it is bad to meet a holiday alone with oneself. Thus, on a New Year's Eve, the main characters meet, — a meeting of two ...
Style:
melancholic, bleak, existential
Plot:
winter, social injustice, character study, social realism, bittersweet, poverty, slice of life, realism, loneliness, gender roles, intimate, desperation ...
Place:
ussr, soviet union
Similarity:
50%
100
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
When a man (Michael Ochotorena, "John Light," "Dispatched") wakes up under a bridge to discover he no longer knows who he is or how he got there, his life brutally unfolds as a homeless person. Enduring the scorn of random ...
Style:
emotional, realistic, reflective, independent film, road movie
Plot:
kindness, compassion, homelessness, hopes, humanity, street life, redemption, amnesia, loss, faith, survival, second chance ...
Similarity:
50%
394
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
Follows the lives of an unemployed drunk and his son as they struggle to adapt to each other.
Style:
emotional, melancholic, independent film, bleak
Plot:
unemployment, family drama, alcoholism, father son relationship, poverty, character study, intimate, social realism, parenting, working class, empathy, slice of life ...
Time:
21st century
Similarity:
49%
105
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
A tragic tale of an individual teen prostitute as seen from the lens of her Buddhist neighbor.
Style:
poignant, melancholic, independent film, contemplative, realistic ...
Plot:
compassion, prostitution, character study, poverty, loss, empathy, social realism, loneliness, urban, slice of life, street life, ethical dilemma ...
Similarity:
49%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
Mother of a 15-month old daughter and would-be dancer, fighting alcoholism and the hardships of living on the streets gets help from a home for women and tries to find the will to live and get her life back on track
Style:
realistic, serious, sincere, touching, inspirational ...
Plot:
addiction, friendship, starting over, adoption, poverty, pregnancy, family relations, hopes, life is a bitch, optimism, couples, babies and infants ...
Time:
21st century
Similarity:
46%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
Tweek City is a week in the life of Bill, a potentially closeted, half-Latino, small-time speed dealer in San Francisco's Mission District. Bill is stuck on an endless walk from one empty experience to the next. Only Bill's friend Jerm has ...
Style:
independent film, psychological, existential, melancholic, noir ...
Plot:
drug, alienation, desperation, character study, urban, self destructing, isolation, regret, identity, lost love, friendship, addiction ...
Place:
san francisco, los angeles
Similarity:
44%
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:
44%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
A young woman sabotages her own wedding in order to reclaim her identity and obliterates her life in the process.
Style:
captivating, dramatic, serious, suspenseful, emotional ...
Plot:
female protagonist, desert, wedding, mute, left for dead, runaway bride, woman, self discovery, identity, life, fiancee, sabotage ...
Place:
los angeles
Similarity:
43%
65
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
After her car is towed and she is left with a shocking $21,634 tow bill, an unhoused woman wages a relentless fight to reclaim her car—and her life—exposing a broken system and redefining what it means to persevere against all odds.
Style:
inspirational, realistic, emotional, tension, independent film
Plot:
homelessness, legal battle, female protagonist, resilience, perseverance, economic inequality, social justice, empowerment, survival, class conflict, poverty, human rights ...
Time:
2020s, 2010s
Place:
seattle
Similarity:
43%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
A homeless ex-boxer and an inner-city kid's unlikely bond, helps them face their future, while fighting the tragedy from their past!
Style:
thrilling, captivating, suspenseful, psychological, emotional ...
Plot:
ex boxer, tragedy, boxer, boxing, redemption, homeless man, confronting the past, life is a bitch, troubled past, homeless, social problems, tragic past ...
Similarity:
40%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
THE LAST PASSPORT takes place in a passport office...or so you think. George Miller is a 70 year old man who through a variety of encounters, takes us on a journey through his mysterious past to show us we are not all that different.
Style:
uplifting, inspirational, emotional, reflective, philosophical ...
Plot:
self discovery, humanity, life lesson, memory, identity, single, mentor, magic realism, redemption, bittersweet, slice of life, nostalgia ...
Similarity:
39%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Story:
Two Telugu-speaking friends with opposing views towards life work at a construction site in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. When one of them dies of a heart attack, the other takes it upon himself to take the body to his friend’s village for last rites. What ...
Style:
emotional, reflective, melancholic, philosophical
Plot:
friendship, journey, grief, loss, transformation, self discovery, road trip, life & death, mourning, compassion, character study, slice of life ...
Similarity:
39%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
Vietnam veteran Archibald Wright works as a house painter. One family he paints a house for has a problem he can relate to: Elaine, a woman who hired him, left his husband J.P., also a Vietnam vet while he was in 'Nam, and J.P. became an ...
Style:
compassionate, emotional, independent film, reflective, melancholic
Plot:
vietnam veteran, alcoholism, father daughter relationship, family conflict, healing, empathy, reconciliation, domestic drama, redemption, second chance, character study, bittersweet ...
Time:
90s
Place:
los angeles, beverly hills
Similarity:
39%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
The Woman with the Issue of Blood, or as we call her in our film, Maria. She was arguably the most well-known, nameless figure in the bible. A woman who suffered for 12 years with an incurable disease. 12 years of doctors telling her that they can ...
Style:
religious drama, serious, inspirational, emotional, reflective ...
Plot:
faith, miraculous event, hopes, faith healing, faith based, redemption, spiritual journey, compassion, sacrifice, forgiveness, urban, perseverance ...
Similarity:
38%
86
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Story:
A street-savvy teen tries to turn her life around but soon goes back to her old ways.
Style:
realistic, emotional, intense, cynical, melancholic ...
Plot:
street life, erotic scene, coming of age, character study, social realism, real world, city, young woman, slice of life, peer pressure, temptation, poverty ...
Time:
2000s
Similarity:
38%
216
Genre: Drama
Country: Bolivia
Duration: 78 min.
Story:
The story of an improbable friendship and a social comment on life in Bolivia in the eighties.
Style:
compassionate, emotional, melancholic, road movie
Plot:
friendship, road trip, character study, poverty, working class, social realism, realism, humanism, coming of age, class differences, male bonding, social commentary ...
Time:
80s
Place:
bolivia
Similarity:
38%
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