Movies Similar to American Stories: Food, Family and Philosophy

Do No Harm(2017)

3am. Hongjing, China. 1980s. A single-minded surgeon is forced to break her physician's oath when violent gangsters storm into a hospital to stop a crucial operation.

The Cave of the Yellow Dog(2005)

The little nomad girl, Nansal, finds a baby dog in the Mongolian veld, who becomes her best friend - against all rejections of her parents. A story about a Mongolian family of nomads - their traditional way of life and the rising call of the City.

Take My Eyes(2003)

One winter night, Pilar runs away from home. With her, she takes only a few belongings and her son, Juan. Antonio soon sets out to look for her. He says Pilar is his sunshine, and what's more, "She gave him her eyes"...

Las Horas Contigo(2015)

Ema finds out she is pregnant with an unplanned child she's not sure she wants to keep, the same week her beloved grandmother becomes gravely ill. Spending her last days at her grandmother's side, Ema is forced to spend time with her estranged, larger than life mother, getting to know her and seeing her with new eyes. As she spends time with the people gathered around her grandmother in her last days; Ema re-evaluates her beliefs, her fears and her set ideas about family, love and parenthood.

Leave No Trace(2018)

A father and daughter live a perfect but mysterious existence in Forest Park, a beautiful nature reserve near Portland, Oregon, rarely making contact with the world. But when a small mistake tips them off to authorities, they are sent on an increasingly erratic journey in search of a place to call their own.

Swept from the Sea(1998)

The film tells the story of Russian emigree and the only survivor from ship crash Yanko Goorall and servant Amy Foster in the end of 19th century. When Yanko enters a farm sick and hungry after the shipwreck, everyone is afraid of him, except for Amy, who is very kind and helps him. Soon he becomes like a son for Dr. James Kennedy and romance between Yanko and Amy follows.

The Last Mistress(2007)

Secrets, rumors and betrayals surround the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and virtuous woman of the French aristocracy.

Anatomy of Hell(2004)

A woman employs a gay man to spend four nights at her house to watch her when she's "unwatchable".

The Mourning Forest(2007)

A young woman working at a retirement home takes an elderly man living there on an excursion into the countryside, but the two wind up stranded in the titular forest.

Persepolis(2007)

In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.

Cherry Tobacco(2014)

An exploration of the growing friendship between small-town girl Laura, who is persuaded onto a hiking trip by her friend Merit, and Joosep, a middle-aged guide.

Little Box of Sweets(2006)

Indian coming-of-age story set in the 1970s and a love story between Seth, a young Englishman, and Asha, a young Indian girl and his friend from the childhood.

Talkback(1987)

A radio compere is forced to take the late shift and finds her night going places she couldn't have imagined.

Die Jüdin(1918)

Vacua(2022)

During an ordinary summer, Alba lives day by day trying to find the way to her future: a job, a purpose.

Erasing Eden(2016)

A young woman sabotages her own wedding in order to reclaim her identity and obliterates her life in the process.

Children of a Lesser God(1986)

Starting his new job as an instructor at a New England school for the deaf, James Leeds meets Sarah Norman, a young deaf woman who works at the school as a member of the custodial staff. In spite of Sarah's withdrawn emotional state, a romance slowly develops between the pair.

How Good to See You Alive(1989)

Four years after a military coup overthrew the Brazilian government in 1964, all civil rights were suspended and torture became a systematic practice. Using a mix of fiction and documentary this extraordinary film is a searing record of personal memory, political repression and the will to survive. Interviews with eight women who were political prisoners during the military dictatorship are framed by the fantasies and imaginings of an anonymous character, portrayed by actress Irene Ravache.

Elly Beinhorn: Solo Flight(2014)

The story of Elly Beinhorn, the first German aviator ever to fly around the world which made her a national hero in the 1930s.

Nemesis(2010)

Claire and Robert spend most of their time in a house they own in the beautiful and remote countryside in Italy. Their life seems to be perfect. But when Claire's sister gets murdered in the very same house, the traumatic event shakes up their relationship. Disappointment, fear and resentment they swept under the rug for years, resurface. Revealing the dark side of a blissful love - a dream that turns into a nightmare. It is the story of two people trapped in a dark secret.