Movies like The Death of John L.
If you like "The Death of John L." you are looking for bleak and period piece movies about / with loneliness, singer, fame, character study, celebrity, showbiz and existential crisis themes of Drama genre shot in Poland.
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1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
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The Death of John L. (1988)
23
Original name: Śmierć Johna L.
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
Zbigniew Gasior, a thirty year old singer, is a youth idol. Despite fame, money and success with the ladys, he can't neglect the emptiness in his life. The shattered dreams of his friends are not really a help, to ease his existential pains.
Style:
bleak, period piece
Plot:
loneliness, singer, fame, character study, celebrity, showbiz, existential crisis, alienation, melancholy, male protagonist, introspection, identity, emptiness, isolation, music industry, realism, bittersweet, celebrity culture, soul searching, midlife crisis, nightlife, nostalgia, social commentary, women, obsession ...
Place:
poland
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Most similar movies to The Death of John L.
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out art house, melancholic, existential and bleak films with plots about character study, loneliness, isolation, alienation, psychological drama, urban and nostalgia mostly in Drama genres. Some movies like The Death of John L.: Une femme d'extérieur (2000), The Magician of Lublin (1979), Revenge (1983), Heide M. (2001), How Far, How Near (1972). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 118 min.
Story:
Françoise breaks up with Jacques after living with him for fifteen years. She's left alone with their three children, a lovely home, and her nursing job at a hospital. Françoise quickly refuses to assume responsibility for this new situation ...
Plot:
character study, single mother, self discovery, divorce, female protagonist, nightlife, introspection, realism, relationships, slice of life, independent woman, parenting ...
Time:
2000s
Similarity:
95%
Genre: Drama
Country: Israel, West Germany
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
Yasha is a Jewish stage magician who tours through eastern Europe while destroying his career through personal problems. He has one more chance at theatrical success, but he needs to do a brand new trick in a Warsaw theater.
Style:
atmospheric, art house, independent film, period drama, moody
Plot:
magician, jewish culture, stage magic, european, theater, character study, ambition, obsession, moral ambiguity, midlife crisis, existential crisis, melancholy ...
Time:
year 1979, 1800s, 19th century
Place:
poland, warsaw poland, eastern europe
Similarity:
77%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
Polish Psychological Drama
Style:
reflective, existential, philosophical, psychological, melancholic ...
Plot:
aging, midlife crisis, mortality, character study, memory, mountain, friendship, fear of death, male friendship, crisis of faith, nostalgia, isolation ...
Time:
80s
Similarity:
73%
113
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Heidi M. is in her late forties and has a small store in the pulsating center of Berlin. She goes out in the evenings with her friend Jacqui, but when she is unexpectedly confronted with romantic love, old wounds are opened.
Style:
poignant, melancholic, art house, contemplative
Plot:
character study, female protagonist, longing, introspection, city life, urban, bittersweet, loneliness, desire, self discovery, confrontation, realism ...
Place:
berlin germany
Similarity:
73%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
On the eve of his fortieth anniversary Sergei Makarov looks back at his life and learns that he has achieved nothing. He was not able to be happy and to bring happiness to the closest people in his life, neither to his long-suffering wife nor young ...
Style:
psychological, melancholic, poignant, period piece, satirical ...
Plot:
middle aged man, midlife crisis, character study, loneliness, regret, alienation, existential crisis, family drama, intimate, infidelity, urban, slice of life ...
Place:
soviet union, poetic realism, ussr
Similarity:
71%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
A middle-aged man sets out on a symbolic journey through past, present, and future to learn why an old friend committed suicide, and learns much about his own life along the way.
Style:
reflective, existential, melancholic, bleak, philosophical ...
Plot:
suicide, memory, existential crisis, symbolism, loss, midlife crisis, self discovery, guilt, flashback, mature, regret, isolation ...
Place:
poland
Similarity:
69%
Genre: Drama
Country: Tunisia, France
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
Youssef Soltane, a 45-year-old Tunisian intellectual, is the product of a generation that lived the era of euphoria and great ideologies in the sixties, and their subsequent failure. He was incarcerated and tortured for his political opinions. ...
Style:
melancholic, bleak, art house, political drama
Plot:
introspection, existential crisis, political repression, character study, social commentary, identity crisis, isolation, alienation, nostalgia, moral ambiguity, class conflict, reflection ...
Time:
80s
Place:
tunisia
Similarity:
66%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
Ewa is a reporter. Using her feminine charms and other means she is trying to become a journalist on a Warsaw weekly popular magazine. She hopes to become political interviewer of personalities and state leaders. On her way up the ladder she trips ...
Style:
period piece
Plot:
reporter, ambition, ethical dilemma, female protagonist, journalism, character study, ambitious woman, obsession, social climbing, manipulation, moral ambiguity, downfall ...
Time:
80s
Place:
warsaw poland, eastern europe, poland, rome italy
Similarity:
65%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
The life of a grumpy 40-year-old man living with his wife in a high-rise block. Every day is like the other - quarrel over dinner, garbage, neighbours, elevators, lost socks. He hates everybody, especially his wife. Not even sexual fantasies are an ...
Style:
existential, cynical, bleak, psychological, art house ...
Plot:
character study, neighbor, resentment, marital strife, midlife crisis, domestic drama, alienation, routine, slice of life, awkwardness, sexual frustration, isolation ...
Place:
poland
Similarity:
64%
79
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
Patrick feels absolutely lonely when he decides to search for his supposable genitor after the suicide of his mother. He doesn’t have a plan, a goal or hopes. He just wants to meet the phantom that he thinks is the reason for his mother’s death.
Style:
existential, emotional, melancholic, independent film, art house ...
Plot:
grief, loneliness, isolation, identity crisis, character study, search for father, alienation, minimalism, intimate, regret, male protagonist, urban ...
Similarity:
64%
Genre: Drama
Country: Turkey, Germany, France
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
In the heart of Istanbul's prison, Zakir controls the letters prisoners receive. His average day is spent between the censorship office, his colleagues and his evening writing class. For a writing assignment, he steals a photo from one of the ...
Style:
psychological thriller, atmospheric, tense, suspense, dark ...
Plot:
prison, obsession, character study, isolation, loneliness, bureaucracy, surveillance, confined, obsessive love, privacy invasion, power, secret life ...
Place:
istanbul turkey
Similarity:
60%
Genre: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 84 min.
Story:
An actor in search of fame finds on his Instagram the way to gain likes and boost his career. To maintain his fake life online, he does crazy things in real life and risks losing track of who he really is.
Style:
satirical, dark comedy, mockumentary
Plot:
social media, instagram, actor, fame, identity crisis, obsession, social commentary, deception, identity, self delusion, media satire, reputation ...
Similarity:
59%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min.
Story:
Kaoru Fukazawa is a manga artist. His manga series was published for eight years, but has now finished. He doesn't have any ideas for his next work. His situation seems bleak, with his editor seeming to not care about him anymore and his ...
Style:
entertaining, captivating, dramatic, melancholic, bleak ...
Plot:
infidelity, desperation, relationships, prostitute, secret, job, life, business, melancholy, writer's block, loneliness, downfall ...
Place:
japan
Similarity:
59%
Genre: Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
A painter with a turbulent history, fiercely committed to his ideals and still averse to settling down despite his 70 years; a lawyer who packed in his job after suffering a heart attack and now pursues a quiet life looking after his pet snail; a ...
Style:
poignant, reflective
Plot:
friendship, companionship, aging, loneliness, nostalgia, slice of life, community, realism, melancholy, intimacy, humanism, intimate ...
Similarity:
51%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
Giulio, a young man from Sicily, arrives in Rome to trace back Aurora, his ex-girlfriend whom he cannot forget. He stays with a couple of family friends, Rosalia and Eugenio, who have lost their only son, Nello, of the same age as Giulio. The ...
Style:
art house, ambiguous ending, tragic
Plot:
depression, mourning, unrequited love, grief, loneliness, loss, drug use, existential crisis, isolation, alienation, obsession, alcoholism ...
Place:
sicily, rome italy
Similarity:
50%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 80 min.
Story:
A man who is socially inept and out of touch with the world lives with his sister in a small farmhouse. The overly sensitive man lives off his hard-working sibling, taking odd jobs as he gets them to secure his meager earnings. When he brings home a ...
Style:
melancholic, art house, tragic ending, tragicomedy
Plot:
socially awkward, loneliness, jealousy, character study, sibling relationship, isolation, alienation, lake, love triangle, obsession, social realism, possessiveness ...
Place:
poland
Similarity:
46%
Genre: Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
A man lives alone in Istanbul. He makes a living doing odd jobs for several people, but dreams of being a singer.
Style:
melancholic, emotional, independent film
Plot:
dream, loneliness, male protagonist, character study, ambition, singing, working class, housekeeper, struggle, introspection, urban, aspiration ...
Place:
istanbul turkey
Similarity:
44%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
A chorus girl comes to the realization that she is not getting any younger and that her longtime relationship with a nightclub comedian is going nowhere. She finds herself attracted to an unassuming but attentive--and much younger--delivery boy.
Style:
romantic drama
Plot:
chorus girl, infidelity, female protagonist, relationships, club, delivery man, longing, attraction, showbiz, middle aged, cabaret, backstage ...
Time:
year 1970
Similarity:
43%
Movie in collections
293
Genre: Drama
Country: Latvia, Germany
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
One night, Matiss Zelcs, an employee of the Latvian national archive in Riga, notices a woman on a bridge. After passing by her without preventing her suicidal fall into the depths, a sensation of failure and guilt changes his life. He cannot forget ...
Style:
existential, melancholic, contemplative, intense, psychological thriller ...
Plot:
suicide, loneliness, guilt, redemption, obsession, existential crisis, desperation, missing person, soul searching, memory, regret, isolation ...
Place:
latvia
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: Yugoslavia
Duration: 84 min.
Story:
A story about partly miserable lives of middle aged men and unfulfilled dreams of youth.
Style:
melancholic, bleak, existential, grim, period piece
Plot:
frustration, regret, midlife crisis, alcoholism, middle aged, guilt, slice of life, shame, realism, crisis, self destructing, friendship ...
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min.
Story:
While doing a story on the intrusion of surreptitious surveillance in peoples' private lives, a television reporter rents some surveillance equipment to get a feel for what it's like to spy.
Style:
suspense, creepy, period piece, independent film, deviant
Plot:
surveillance, voyeurism, obsession, privacy invasion, paranoia, ethical dilemma, social commentary, peeping tom, investigative journalism, guilty conscience, urban, loneliness ...
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 56 min.
Story:
Two symbiotic sociopaths play obscurely deviant mind games with each other while engaging in perversely brutal acts of violence against victims apparently chosen at random
Style:
disturbing, intense, tense, bleak, atmospheric ...
Plot:
violence, working class, class conflict, moral ambiguity, character study, cruelty, celebrity, social commentary, humiliation, obsession, machismo, alienation ...
Time:
90s
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
A story about the generation of 1968.
Style:
black comedy, art house, reflective, serious, period piece ...
Plot:
irony, satire, character study, male friendship, moral ambiguity, bittersweet, identity crisis, midlife crisis, melancholy, nostalgia, social realism, urban ...
Time:
60s, 70s
Similarity:
40%
Movie in collections
169
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
A young quebecer descends into alienation and depression.
Style:
existential, melancholic, psychological, art house, slow cinema ...
Plot:
strong sexual content, unsimulated sex, alienation, loneliness, identity, depression, identity crisis, isolation, introspection, coming of age, male protagonist, realism ...
Place:
quebec, montreal
Similarity:
40%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
The emotional inertia and chaos affecting a narcoleptic woman, a fatally ill writer and a doctor, and their attempts to escape from their dead-end situations.
Style:
existential, melancholic, surreal, art house, bleak ...
Plot:
narcolepsy, gay, illness, isolation, terminal illness, alienation, mortality, character study, relationships, minimalism, sexuality, identity ...
Place:
poland
Similarity:
40%
Genre: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 82 min.
Story:
A homeless Irish girl encounters a series of men who appear strikingly similar to each other
Style:
independent film, melancholic, art house, bleak, indie film
Plot:
homelessness, character study, identity, isolation, survival, poverty, loneliness, ambiguity, alienation, rehearsal, social commentary, minimalism ...
Place:
ireland, dublin ireland
Similarity:
40%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 82 min.
Story:
A young, idealistic poet, turns his back on civilization and goes to small, backwood village, rents a bed in the house of an old woman, and decides to make his living as a lumberjack. Soon he realizes that the world around him is far from perfect.
Style:
existential, melancholic, bleak, art house, period piece
Plot:
lumberjack, outsider, alienation, loneliness, isolation, introspection, backwoods, small town, poet, frustration, self discovery, intimate ...
Place:
poetic realism, poland
Similarity:
40%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
Aki is an unsuccessful 29-year-old actress who eventually became a magician's assistant. While pretending to be hypnotised on the stage, Aki finds the boundary between reality and illusion becoming increasingly vague. For Aki, the only ...
Style:
psychological, disturbing, captivating, surreal, emotional ...
Plot:
hypnotist, female protagonist, illusionist, ambition, actress, illusion, mental illness, disturbed individual, mentally unstable, social problems, psychological manipulation, life is a bitch ...
Place:
tokyo
Similarity:
39%
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:
39%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
An impressionistic, black-and-white portrait of the day-to-day of a nonagenarian woman as she experiences the final act of her life. Danuta Szaflarska stars as Aniela, who lives in a massive yet rapidly-deteriorating wooden house, filled with ...
Style:
reflective, black and white, slow cinema, independent film
Plot:
elderly man, character study, mortality, aging, isolation, loneliness, memory, melancholy, nostalgia, greed, bittersweet, retiring ...
Place:
poland
Similarity:
38%
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