Movies like A Better Life
If you like "A Better Life" you are looking for touching, realistic and sincere movies about / with immigrant, u.s. mexico border, single father, truck, father son relationship, theft and single parent themes of Drama and Romance genre shot in USA.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps:
1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
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A Better Life (2011)
17K
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
A gardener in East L.A. struggles to keep his son away from gangs and immigration agents while traveling across town to perform landscaping work for the city's wealthy landowners.
Style:
touching, realistic, sincere, thought provoking, inspirational, hood, independent film, cute, romantic, captivating ...
Plot:
immigrant, u.s. mexico border, single father, truck, father son relationship, theft, single parent, parenthood, character study, life is a bitch, teenage life, working class, poverty, parents and children, society, down on your luck, unsuccessful, youth, urban, organized crime, migration, family life, love and romance, father and son, relationship problems ...
Time:
year 2011, 2010s, september 11 2001, 21st century, contemporary
Place:
los angeles, california, mexico, southern california, south america, usa, beverly hills ...
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Most similar movies to A Better Life
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, touching, serious and sincere films with plots about family relations, drinking alcohol, drinking, father son relationship, friendship, mother son relationship and telephone call mostly in Drama, Romance and Crime genres. Some movies like A Better Life: Jamesy Boy (2014), Poetic Justice (1993), Stanley & Iris (1990), Hateship Loveship (2013), Lowriders (2016). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
Based on the true story of teenager James Burns who goes from a suburban street gang to a maximum-security prison cell surrounded by hardened criminals. He turns his life around in prison thanks to the unexpected friendship he forms with a convicted ...
Style:
serious, sincere, realistic, crime drama, crying ...
Plot:
prison, mentor, friendship, prison life, criminal, confined, teaching the ways of the world, jail, gang, drug, anger, lawyer ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
In this film, we see the world through the eyes of main character Justice, a young African-American poet. A mail carrier invites a few friends along for a long overnight delivery run.
Style:
road movie, hood, realistic, touching, serious ...
Audience:
date night, teens
Plot:
road trip, african american, gang, hip hop, black, ghetto, friendship, writers, urban, on the road, starting over, self discovery ...
Time:
year 1993, 90s, 80s
Place:
los angeles, usa, chicago, south central los angeles, new jersey
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
An illiterate cook at a company cafeteria tries for the attention of a newly widowed woman. As they get to know one another, she discovers his inability to read. When he is fired, she takes on trying to teach him to read in her kitchen each night.
Style:
sentimental, touching, melancholic, serious, realistic ...
Audience:
girls' night
Plot:
working class, love story, opposites attract, food, happy ending, education, unemployment, love and romance, couple relations, teachers and students, family problems, couples ...
Time:
80s
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
A wild teenage girl orchestrates a romance between her nanny and her father, who is a recovering addict.
Style:
emotional, realistic, serious, cerebral, sincere ...
Audience:
teens, teen drama
Plot:
teenage girl, love affair, male female relationship, dysfunctional family, coping, happy ending, redheaded woman, addiction, ambition, family relations, friendship, loneliness ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
usa, new orleans, louisiana, iowa, chicago
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Adventure, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
A young street artist in East Los Angeles is caught between his father's obsession with lowrider car culture, his ex-felon brother and his need for self-expression.
Style:
suspense, unusual plot structure, disturbing, hood, hispanic ...
Plot:
stealing a car, car chase, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, breaking and entering, released from prison, car, friendship, love, husband wife relationship, brother brother relationship, interracial romance, mechanic ...
Place:
los angeles, california
Similarity:
100%
98K
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Mexico, Spain
Duration: 148 min.
Story:
This is a story of a man in free fall. On the road to redemption, darkness lights his way. Connected with the afterlife, Uxbal is a tragic hero and father of two who's sensing the danger of death. He struggles with a tainted reality and a fate ...
Style:
depressing, bleak, sad, sincere, emotional ...
Plot:
single father, redemption, death, cancer, terminal illness, parenthood, immigrant, birthday, family relations, suffering, life is a bitch, reconciliation ...
Time:
year 2010, 2010s, y2k, 2000s, 21st century
Place:
barcelona, spain, south america, iran, senegal ...
Similarity:
25%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
Teenagers Rose and Bennett were in love, and then a car crash claimed Bennett's life. He left behind a grieving mother, father and younger brother, and Rose was left all alone. She has no family to turn to for support, so when she finds out ...
Style:
touching, sincere, captivating, realistic, serious ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick
Plot:
teenage pregnancy, pregnancy, childhood sweetheart, teenage mother, loss of child, family relations, loss of son, crumbling marriage, youth, family problems, death in the family, parents and children ...
Time:
year 2009, year 2008, 21st century
Place:
usa
Similarity:
23%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
In a small town of rolling fields and endless skies, isolated 16 year old Mason lives in a world where families exist in fragmented silence and love seems to have gone missing. Then Mason meets Danny, a sensitive and troubled girl, and their tender ...
Style:
emotional, sincere, touching, sentimental, independent film ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
small town, dysfunctional family, young lovers, parents and children, troubled teen, desperation, depression, compassion, jail, self discovery, loner, amor ...
Place:
idaho, usa, washington state
Similarity:
23%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Germany
Duration: 118 min.
Story:
The lives of two Danish families cross each other, and an extraordinary but risky friendship comes into bud. But loneliness, frailty and sorrow lie in wait.
Style:
thought provoking, touching, bleak, harsh, gloomy ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
bully, bullying, friendship, father son relationship, revenge, divorce, childhood, parenthood, youth, society, alienation, coming of age ...
Time:
year 2010, 2010s, 21st century
Place:
africa, sudan, scandinavia, denmark, europe ...
Similarity:
23%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min.
Story:
A New York couple's relationship is tested after the loss of their child. This film is the wide-released combination of the original two :him and :her volumes that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
Style:
sincere, independent film, psychological, meditative, surreal ...
Audience:
date night
Plot:
couples, obsession, suicide attempt, philosophy, family relations, love affair, life turned upside down, marriage, crumbling marriage, couple relations, hopes, breakup ...
Time:
year 1951, 21st century
Place:
new york, usa, connecticut, manhattan new york city, new haven connecticut ...
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
As Magdalena's 15th birthday approaches, her simple, blissful life is complicated by the discovery that she's pregnant. Kicked out of her house, she finds a new family with her great-granduncle and gay cousin.
Style:
touching, melancholic, sentimental, realistic, emotional ...
Audience:
teens, girls' night
Plot:
coming of age, pregnancy, unwanted pregnancy, gay, culture clash, religion, teenage pregnancy, gay latino, character study, life turned upside down, starting over, lgbtq ...
Time:
year 2006
Place:
los angeles, california, usa, glendale california, spain
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min.
Story:
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a patient named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support ...
Style:
touching, emotional, sentimental, romantic, teen ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, girls' night, date night, teen drama
Plot:
cancer, terminal illness, teenager, fall in love, teenage love, love story, youth, teenage life, first love, dealing with death, illness, adolescence ...
Time:
year 2014, 21st century
Place:
amsterdam, usa, pittsburgh, ethiopia, indiana ...
Similarity:
21%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
After losing both her parents, Failan emmigrates to Korea to seek her only remaining relatives. Once she reaches Korea, she finds out that her relatives have moved to Canada well over a year ago. Desperate to stay and make a living in Korea, Failan ...
Style:
romantic, touching, captivating, depressing, thought provoking ...
Audience:
date night
Plot:
fall in love, gangster, love affair, family relations, asian, marriage, orphan, threat, marriage of convenience, cancer, outsider, love story ...
Time:
year 2001
Place:
east asia, asia, south korea, korea
Similarity:
21%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
In 1921 New York. an immigrant woman is tricked into a life of burlesque and vaudeville until a dazzling magician tries to save her and reunite her with her sister who is being held in the confines of Ellis Island.
Style:
atmospheric, emotional, harsh, costume drama, period piece ...
Audience:
teens, girls' night
Plot:
prostitution, immigrant, immigration, corruption, brothel, family relations, confession, american dream, love affair, exploitation, society, forceful separation ...
Time:
1920s, year 2013, 20th century, 1930s
Place:
poland, israel, america, usa, manhattan new york city ...
Similarity:
20%
9K
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Iran
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
In a building site in present-day Tehran, Lateef, a 17-year-old Kurdish worker is irresistibly drawn to Rahmat, a young Afghan worker. When Lateef is given heavier tasks to compensate for new Afghan worker Rahmat, he resents his displacement and ...
Style:
touching, emotional, stylized, lyrical, serious ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
immigrant, true love, fall in love, unrequited love, self discovery, love and romance, family relations, youth, human nature, society, parents and children, muslim ...
Time:
year 2001
Place:
iran, middle east, japan, persia, tehran iran ...
Similarity:
20%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
Thirteen-year-old Tessa (Jessica White) faces more than the usual tribulations of adolescence. When bad times hit, she and her mother find themselves living on the streets. The injustice of poverty is emphasized by the fact that Tessa's school ...
Style:
serious, realistic, rough, touching, independent film ...
Plot:
juvenile delinquency, kids in trouble, youth, society, working class, parents and children, teenage life, family relations, survival, eviction, school, corporate crime ...
Time:
90s
Place:
california, usa
Similarity:
20%
158K
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Ireland, UK, Canada, USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
In 1950s Ireland and New York, young Ellis Lacey has to choose between two men and two countries.
Style:
touching, sentimental, sweet, romantic, period piece ...
Audience:
girls' night, chick flick, date night
Plot:
immigrant, love and romance, starting over, sex scene, marriage proposal, hopes, immigration, friendship, female protagonist, true love, love affair, homesickness ...
Time:
1950s, 50s, 2010s, year 2015, 1900s ...
Place:
ireland, brooklyn new york city, new york, coney island brooklyn new york city, america ...
Similarity:
20%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
Walkout is the true story of a young Mexican American high school teacher, Sal Castro. He mentors a group of students in East Los Angeles, when the students decide to stage a peaceful walkout to protest the injustices of the public school system. ...
Style:
realistic, serious, sincere, captivating, political ...
Audience:
teen drama
Plot:
politics, discrimination, society, righting the wronged, lifestyle, fighting the system, teachers and students, rebelliousness, dedicated educator, activism, resistance, injustice ...
Time:
60s, year 1968, year 1969
Place:
los angeles, usa, california, malibu california
Similarity:
20%
Movie in collections
92K
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min.
Story:
Mexican immigrant and single mother Flor Moreno finds housekeeping work with Deborah and John Clasky, a well-off couple with two children of their own. When Flor admits she can't handle the schedule because of her daughter, Cristina, Deborah ...
Style:
feel good, sentimental, sincere, touching, romantic ...
Audience:
chick flick, girls' night, date night
Plot:
single parent, food, life, immigrant, housewife, relationships, infidelity, dysfunctional family, mother, parent child relationship, relationship problems, love and romance ...
Time:
year 2004, 21st century
Place:
los angeles, california, usa, malibu california, mexico ...
Similarity:
20%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
The film follows four inter-connecting stories revolving around love, drugs and poverty in Philadelphia
Style:
serious, touching, emotional, freeze frame, realistic ...
Plot:
poverty, family relations, dysfunctional family, social decay, injustice, teenage life, drug abuse, hopes, youth, lifestyle, society, drug dealing ...
Time:
year 2008, year 2007, 21st century
Place:
philadelphia, usa
Similarity:
19%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min.
Story:
After his father's untimely suicide, Cufe leaves his home in a Native American reservation in search of a more fulfilling life.
Style:
realistic, serious, touching, sincere, romantic comedy ...
Plot:
family relations, dysfunctional family, family problems, estrangement, parents and children, last wish, native, american indian, aunt nephew relationship, indigenous people, indians, starting over ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
oklahoma, oklahoma city, usa
Similarity:
19%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 73 min.
Story:
All fourteen-year-old Robbie Hendrick ever wanted was a family. Yet as another Mississippi summer begins, his wayward mother has run off again fearing a breakdown and he's left to burn the days caring for his half brother, Fess. As the deep ...
Style:
realistic, serious, atmospheric, touching, sentimental ...
Audience:
teen drama
Plot:
coming of age, small town, youth, little boy, american football, family relations, family problems, social relations, innocence lost, small town life, siblings relations, teenage life ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
mississippi, usa
Similarity:
19%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Monty is a mechanic struggling to make ends meet as he raises his three young daughters. When the court awards custody of his daughters to his shady ex-wife, Monty desperately tries to win them back with the help of Julia, a beautiful, Ivy ...
Style:
sentimental, feel good, touching, erotic, hood ...
Audience:
girls' night, date night
Plot:
father daughter relationship, custody, black, lawyer, looking for love, parents and children, family life, social differences, legal, society, fall in love, human spirit ...
Time:
2000s, year 2007, 21st century
Place:
georgia, usa, atlanta georgia
Similarity:
19%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
A hard-partying high school senior's philosophy on life changes when he meets the not-so-typical "nice girl."
Style:
teen, touching, sincere, melancholic, sweet ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, date night, teen drama
Plot:
coming of age, teenager, youth, couples, teenage love, first love, teenage life, love, teenage girl, family relations, high school student, classmate ...
Time:
future, 2010s, 21st century
Place:
usa, philadelphia, key west florida, new jersey, california
Similarity:
19%
382
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
The stories of four Hispanic immigrants living in New York City.
Style:
black and white, independent film, anthology, realistic, serious ...
Plot:
immigrant, homeless, working class, culture clash, storytelling, poverty, school, father daughter relationship, money, photographer, hobo, tramp ...
Time:
year 1998, 90s
Place:
new york, mexico, usa, tokyo, new jersey ...
Similarity:
19%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
Benjamin Morton's life changed forever the day he met the little girl next door. Ava was and always would be the girl of his dreams. From the innocence of a childhood friendship, through adolescent attraction, their love strengthens and grows. ...
Style:
romantic, sincere, thought provoking, touching, rough ...
Audience:
girls' night
Plot:
best friends in love, cancer, childhood friend, relationships, childhood love, french girl, car accident, romantic relationship, couples, tragic event, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, friendship ...
Similarity:
19%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min.
Story:
A recently widowed woman on the road with her precocious young son is determined to make a new life for herself as a singer.
Style:
road movie, emotional, realistic, touching, thought provoking ...
Plot:
single mother, waitress, widow, on the road, diner, road trip, single parent, self discovery, relationships, friendship, mother, children ...
Time:
70s, year 1974, 20th century
Place:
phoenix arizona, california, arizona, tucson arizona, monterey california ...
Similarity:
19%
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
The story of a young Marine, fresh from Camp Pendleton, who is forced to confront the complexities of adulthood and a volatile home life during a four-day Thanksgiving leave.
Style:
sincere, contemplative, serious, realistic, hispanic ...
Plot:
fall in love, family relations, thanksgiving, family gatherings, marine, love and romance, soldier, society, self discovery, homecoming, parents and children, estrangement ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
iraq, usa, california
Similarity:
19%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
Australian teenager Heidi is left with little choice but to leave home after she's caught red-handed with her mother's boyfriend. With few options, Heidi ends up in Jindabyne, a tourist community. Upon meeting Joe at a bar, she pursues a ...
Style:
sexy, touching, emotional, realistic, psychological ...
Audience:
teens, adult
Plot:
coming of age, mother daughter relationship, teenager, self discovery, teenage life, love and romance, dysfunctional relationship, sexual awakening, runaway, youth, menage a trois, dysfunctional family ...
Time:
year 2004
Place:
australia, new south wales, california, new zealand
Similarity:
19%
Genre: Drama
Country: UK, China, USA
Duration: 128 min.
Story:
After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble.
Style:
emotional, disturbing, inspirational, sincere, psychological ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, adult
Plot:
friendship, childhood, redemption, islam, muslim, coming of age, mission, guilt, courage, bully, rape, haunted by the past ...
Time:
80s, 70s, year 2007, 2010s, 20th century ...
Place:
afghanistan, china, middle east, california, iraq ...
Similarity:
19%
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