Movies like Manuel
If you like "Manuel" you are looking for realistic, emotional and melancholic movies about / with house arrest, mother son relationship, family drama, coming of age, social realism, loneliness and isolation themes of Drama genre shot in Italy.
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1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
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Manuel (2017)
293
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
An eighteen-year-old boy is released from an institute for minors with no family support, and for the first time tastes the bittersweet flavor of freedom; an imprisoned mother longs to go back and start all over again. These are the characters taken from the real world and transferred into a film that is first of all a shadowing of human beings, of their hopes and little acts of cowardice. But it is also the story of a time of waiting, of a soul going around in circles, a coming of age in a desolate and oppressive, marginal context that becomes a character in its own right.
Style:
realistic, emotional, melancholic
Plot:
house arrest, mother son relationship, family drama, coming of age, social realism, loneliness, isolation, humanity, slice of life, poverty, sacrifice, waiting, rehabilitation, resilience, identity, bittersweet, social commentary, bureaucracy, small town, urban decay, brothel, panic attack, painting, social worker, working class ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
italy, rome italy
Most similar movies to Manuel
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out emotional, melancholic, realistic and independent film films with plots about social realism, slice of life, poverty, coming of age, intimate, working class and bittersweet mostly in Drama genres. Some movies like Manuel: Crime of the Decade (1984), Pratikshya (2022), Naples to New York (2024), Dreams (2009), Ricky: Three's a Crowd (2013). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 80 min.
Story:
A young man in a depressed satellite city, meets a woman who offers him love and hope.
Style:
melancholic, emotional
Plot:
urban decay, desperation, social commentary, working class, poverty, alienation, longing, character study, hopes, social realism, isolation, loneliness ...
Time:
80s
Place:
australia
Similarity:
95%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 137 min.
Story:
An unemployed graduate faces the dilemma of securing a government job and saving his father after the family meets a medical crisis.
Style:
emotional, melancholic, compassionate
Plot:
father son relationship, unemployment, family crisis, family bonds, social commentary, sacrifice, job seeking, desperation, social realism, poverty, ethical dilemma, working class ...
Similarity:
90%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
In the immediate post-war period, amidst the rubble of a poverty-ridden Naples, two kids, Carmine and Celestina, try to survive as best they can by helping each other out. One night, they secretly board a ship bound for New York to reach ...
Style:
realistic, emotional, neorealism, historical drama, period piece ...
Plot:
post war, journey, immigration, struggle, social realism, hopes, resilience, working class, poverty, coming of age, friendship, survival ...
Time:
1950s, 1940s
Place:
new york, naples italy, italy
Similarity:
90%
118
Genre: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 83 min.
Story:
Goran just got out of high school and doesn't know what he wants to do with his life. Should he stick with his small time gangster friends and make some cash, or listen to Zeko in the fast food stall who thinks you should go to school forever? ...
Style:
realistic, melancholic, independent film, crime drama
Audience:
teen drama
Plot:
moral dilemma, youth, self discovery, responsibility, mother son relationship, coming of age, temptation, realism, peer pressure, family drama, bittersweet, slice of life ...
Place:
croatia, eastern europe
Similarity:
82%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
Life isn't easy for 10-year old Ricky - his cooler, bigger brother Micha, who just dropped out of school, is always giving him a hard time. Their parents business is in trouble, and with emotions running high, Michas conflicts with his father ...
Style:
dramatic, emotional, tension, melancholic
Plot:
coming of age, sibling rivalry, family drama, friendship, youth, working class, childhood, small town, slice of life, adolescence, maturation, kids and family ...
Time:
2010s
Similarity:
82%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 134 min.
Story:
A twelve-year-old bright schoolboy, Sivanandhan, his mother, sister, and with his friend Sekhar works during his school holidays carrying banana stalks, a task he dreads. As he navigates life's challenges, poverty, friendship, and the ...
Style:
emotional, melancholic, realistic
Plot:
coming of age, poverty, childhood, social realism, village life, friendship, resilience, sibling relationship, mother son relationship, determination, labor, slice of life ...
Similarity:
78%
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:
76%
Genre: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 111 min.
Story:
While he loses his clandestine work, and because he believes that Maroussia and him will no longer be able to love each other as well, Frank leaves to earn as much as she: twelve thousand, just what it takes to have a year before them. No more no ...
Style:
melancholic
Plot:
employment, working life, poverty, working class, realism, urban, slice of life, intimate, resilience, character study, social realism, sacrifice ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
france
Similarity:
74%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 112 min.
Story:
Set in the late 1980s, this family drama is about an 11-year-old boy who befriends his landlord, nicknamed Old Fox, and learns from him how to survive in a rapidly changing world as well as things his poor father would never be able to teach him.
Style:
realistic, emotional, melancholic, period piece
Plot:
grownups, family drama, life lesson, coming of age, child protagonist, family bonds, working class, resilience, character study, poverty, intergenerational friendship, bittersweet ...
Time:
80s
Similarity:
72%
Genre: Drama
Country: Montenegro
Duration: 84 min.
Story:
Milutin’s harmony of life collapses when his wife Magdalena experiences a car accident, defending her body of a one-year-old son who was entrusted with the care of Milutin. Magdalena remains immobile. Love between Milutin and Magdalena has always ...
Style:
emotional, melancholic, realistic
Plot:
love, parenthood, family bonds, family drama, disability, marriage, sacrifice, accident, motherhood, trauma, loyalty, intimate ...
Time:
21st century
Similarity:
70%
Genre: Drama
Country: Austria
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
Anna, 12, lives with her deaf mother in a loving bond, yet under humble conditions, that are a source of social shame when she begins high school. Staying close to its heroines, this refreshing debut blends solidarity, feminism and tons of melodies.
Style:
compassionate, emotional
Plot:
mother daughter relationship, coming of age, female protagonist, heartwarming, motherhood, empathy, adolescence, family drama, friendship, identity, slice of life, self discovery ...
Place:
vienna
Similarity:
59%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 131 min.
Story:
Megh is a married person, who works as manager of a tea estate in North Sikkim. In a certain crisis he became jobless and struggles to make ends problems of his life because there are not many options for livelihood around in the hills. He fights to ...
Style:
emotional, realistic, scenic, melancholic
Plot:
struggle, resilience, empathy, poverty, hopes, unemployment, perseverance, family bonds, slice of life, sacrifice, parenting, recovery ...
Place:
kolkata
Similarity:
56%
Genre: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
Father got leukaemia. Mother was laid off long ago. She had to borrow money for her husband everywhere. Sister went to a night club to be a waitress secretly and soon became a “call girl”. Lin was cold-shouldered at school because of father’s ...
Style:
emotional, melancholic, realistic, art house, tragic
Plot:
leukemia, family drama, illness, mother son relationship, poverty, financial difficulty, coming of age, teenage protagonist, desperation, empathy, loss, social realism ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
china
Similarity:
56%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 129 min.
Story:
The driver of a Metro water lorry falls in love with a girl from a very affluent and powerful family, and faces objections and threats to their relationship.
Style:
romantic drama, heartfelt, emotional, realistic, sentimental
Audience:
adult
Plot:
love story, domestic drama, class differences, family honor, forbidden romance, social conflict, social realism, small town, daily life, slice of life, working class, patriarchy ...
Time:
2010s
Similarity:
56%
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min.
Story:
In the communal area of a block of temporary accommodation, the residents go about their day-to-day routines in the run-up to Christmas. The bonds of love that keep people together are put to the test.
Style:
captivating, emotional, heartfelt, melancholic, uplifting ...
Plot:
relationships, mother son relationship, living together, male female relationship, life is a bitch, coping, family relations, couple relations, hardship, resilience, poverty, hopes ...
Similarity:
55%
86
Genre: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
An Australian film about a teenage girl who takes responsibility for keeping her "family" together.
Style:
emotional, realistic, melancholic, heartfelt, intense ...
Audience:
teen drama
Plot:
coming of age, teenage protagonist, family crisis, family drama, sacrifice, adolescence, personal growth, realism, drug use, religious fanaticism, identity, intimate ...
Place:
australia
Similarity:
54%
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:
53%
Genre: Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 80 min.
Story:
How much space does Zeynep take up in this vast universe? This is a city brimming with the struggling and the unemployed; aren’t their lives a bit like the infinite, tiny particles flying through the air? Zeynep is already trying hard to make ends ...
Style:
realistic, bleak, contemplative, melancholic, existential ...
Plot:
social realism, economic inequality, city life, working class, unemployment, poverty, slice of life, working woman, job seeking, single mother, female protagonist, motherhood ...
Place:
istanbul turkey, turkey
Similarity:
52%
Movie in collections
1K
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
"I am" tells the story of Kundel, a boy searching for his place in life, his identity. After running away from an orphanage where he is treated as an outcast among outcasts by both his peers and the adults in charge, and being rejected a ...
Style:
realistic, poignant, emotional, melancholic, independent film
Plot:
coming of age, children, childhood, child protagonist, youth, friendship, self discovery, orphanage, adolescence, boy, survival, intimate ...
Place:
poland
Similarity:
52%
Genre: Drama
Country: Nepal
Duration: 143 min.
Story:
In the heart of a remote village, Purna Bahadur Ko Sarangi weaves a poignant drama about the unbreakable bond between a struggling father and his son. Purna Bahadur, a humble and impoverished musician, clings to the hope of a better life through his ...
Style:
emotional, heartfelt, melancholic, inspirational, atmospheric
Plot:
family bonds, family drama, father son relationship, hopes, struggle, sacrifice, poverty, single father, resilience, intimate, longing, bittersweet ...
Similarity:
51%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
The National Film Board of Canada was one of the guiding forces behind Sitting in Limbo. Fabian Gibbs plays a black Montreal college student forced to leave school when his girlfriend Pat Dillon becomes pregnant. Gibbs resents this interruption in ...
Style:
realistic, melancholic, independent film
Plot:
teenage pregnancy, poverty, social commentary, working class, social realism, young parents, coming of age, character study, welfare, domestic drama, teenage angst, intimate ...
Time:
80s
Place:
montreal, canada
Similarity:
51%
63
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Suzie, a 58 year old depressed taxi driver on the night shift. On Halloween, she finds a 10 year old autistic boy in the back seat of her taxi with 50$ and an address. As Suzie arrived at the father's address, she realizes the mess this family ...
Style:
emotional, realistic, melancholic, independent film, road movie ...
Plot:
autism, loneliness, connection, character study, female protagonist, compassion, lost child, isolation, parent child relationship, midlife crisis, redemption, taxi driver ...
Similarity:
48%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
The story of a drug dealer from Romania and his son in Rome's suburbs.Roman is an immigrant from Romania arrived in Italy 30 years ago. He sells drugs and lives in criminal contexts. His dream is to see his child, Nicu, whom he raised without a ...
Style:
crime drama, emotional, intense, tense, bleak ...
Plot:
fatherhood, drug dealing, immigration, father son relationship, social realism, street life, illegal drugs, moral ambiguity, poverty, urban decay, violence, survival ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
italy
Similarity:
47%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
Pelin, a young single mother from the problem neighborhood of Berlin-Wedding, is sent with her three children by different fathers of different nationalities - Robby (seven), Elvis (four) and Roxanne (ten months) - to a mother-child cure in a ...
Style:
realistic, reflective, emotional, multicultural, queer cinema
Plot:
single mother, family drama, burnout, social realism, family bonds, character study, resilience, social services, slice of life, mental health, working class, bittersweet ...
Place:
northern germany
Similarity:
47%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
In the 90s, Isabella was eighteen and a star. 20 years later, she is still singing those same songs in small town bars with her son Bruno, playing guitar. It's because of him that her career stopped. At least it's what she tells herself.
Style:
dramatic, exciting, captivating, serious, emotional ...
Plot:
singing, family relations, female singer, pop star, relationships, guitarist, son, parent child relationship, single mother, mother and son, loneliness, coming of age ...
Time:
90s, 2010s
Similarity:
46%

Genre: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
Thelma (Cherry Pie Picache), together with her husband Dado (Dan Alvaro) and teenage sons Gerald (Alwyn Uytingco) and Yuri (Jiro Manio), are a poor urban family hired by a local foster care facility to provide temporary home and care to abandoned ...
Style:
heartbreaking, realistic, emotional, melancholic, touching ...
Plot:
foster home, adoption, family bonds, family drama, social issues, poverty, bittersweet, social realism, working class, child protagonist, sacrifice, resilience ...
Time:
year 2007
Place:
the philippines, manila philippines
Similarity:
46%
Genre: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
A cynical young boy gets to know the latest girlfriend of his ne'er-do-well father and begins to hope that this new relationship actually sticks.
Style:
sincere, dramatic, captivating, serious, emotional ...
Plot:
stepmother, single father, terminal illness, poverty, boy, child protagonist, family drama, diabetic, family relations, family problems, diabetes, father ...
Time:
2000s
Similarity:
44%
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:
44%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
Wally Olynyk (Stefan Wodoslawsky) returns home to the Cape Breton region of Nova Scotia in this somber drama. After years of living in Los Angeles, he hopes to attend his high-school reunion and visit with his father Stan (Jan Rubes). Stan is the ...
Style:
melancholic, emotional, bleak, realistic, independent film ...
Plot:
father son relationship, alzheimer's disease, family drama, small town, memory loss, character study, estranged son, getting home, regret, mortician, reconciliation, homecoming ...
Place:
nova scotia, canada, nova scotia, canada, los angeles
Similarity:
42%
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:
41%
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