Movies Similar to Elise, or Real Life

Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl(1919)

The love story of an abused English girl and a Chinese Buddhist in a time when London was a brutal and harsh place to live.

Do the Right Thing(1989)

Salvatore "Sal" Fragione is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin' Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin' Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.

Kuhle Wampe or Who Owns the World?(1932)

Kuhle Wampe takes place in early-1930s Berlin. The film begins with a montage of newspaper headlines describing steadily-rising unemployment figures. This is followed by scenes of a young man looking for work in the city and the family discussing the unpaid back rent. The young man, brother of the protagonist Anni, removes his wristwatch and throws himself from a window out of despair. Shortly thereafter his family is evicted from their apartment. Now homeless, the family moves into a garden colony of sorts with the name “Kuhle Wampe.”

Support the Girls(2018)

Lisa Conroy is general manager at a highway-side 'sports bar with curves', Double Whammies. She nurtures and protects her employees fiercely - but over the course of one trying day, her optimism is battered from every direction. Double Whammies sells a big, weird American fantasy, but what happens when reality pokes a bunch of holes in it?

The Rat Pack(1998)

After a brief flash-forward to Frank Sinatra as an old man, saying "I miss my guys," the movie's main narrative begins during high points in the solo careers of the Rat Pack: Dean Martin has become a big success despite the breakup of his partnership with Jerry Lewis; Sinatra's career is at its peak; Sammy Davis, Jr., is making a comeback after a near fatal car crash, and standup comic Joey Bishop is gaining exposure as an opening act for the other three. The Pack becomes complete when Sinatra reconciles with actor Peter Lawford, who has been ostracized since being seen out publicly with Sinatra's ex-wife, Ava Gardner.

The Desert Ark(1998)

The Desert Ark (L'Arche du Desert), a variation on Romeo and Juliet set in the Algerian desert. A young couple must face inevitable conflict when their rival families discover their secret love. Taking refuge in a cave, they listen to the sounds of a senseless campaign of violence and murder, which is the culmination of the extremism that has long divided their two communities. Nominated for the Golden Leopard at the 1997 Locarno Film Festival.

Rat Girl

JORDAN is a lonely Manhattan painter. When GINGER, a suicidal 19 year old squatter calls Jordan by accident, she threatens to kill herself if he doesn't meet her for lunch. This dark dramedy is 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' on lithium. 16mm film

Rosewood(1997)

Spurred by a white woman's lie, vigilantes destroy a black Florida town and slay inhabitants in 1923.

Trocando de Pele(2023)

Erotic Stories(1959)

A modest film of three independent parts showing sad couple stories.

Conrack(1974)

A young, white school teacher is assigned to Yamacraw Island, an isolated fishing community off the coast of South Carolina, populated mostly by poor black families. He finds that the basically illiterate, neglected children there know so little of the world outside their island.

I Proud to Be an Indian(2004)

Indian (Sohail Khan), or I, as he goes by, is distraught when he must move to London with his father in order to live with the rest of his family, who have been living in England for a while. Once there, I begins to realize that many of the minority families are being bullied by white skinheads, and he decides he must get involved in order to stop the cycle of hatred.

We of the Never Never(1982)

Based on the well-loved Australian classic by Mrs. Aeneas Gunn, this is the remarkable true story of Jeannie Gunn, a woman who fought to overcome sexual and racial prejudice amid the harsh beauties of the outback. Leaving her Melbourne existence for a new life on her husband's isolated ranch, Jeannie's feisty, good-natured attitude soon wins over the misogynistic stockmen, but she faces a much tougher challenge in trying to change their racist attitudes towards the indigenous aboriginal population.

In the Heat of the Night(1967)

African-American Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs is arrested on suspicion of murder by Bill Gillespie, the racist police chief of tiny Sparta, Mississippi. After Tibbs proves not only his own innocence but that of another man, he joins forces with Gillespie to track down the real killer. Their investigation takes them through every social level of the town, with Tibbs making enemies as well as unlikely friends as he hunts for the truth.

Pelle the Conqueror(1987)

In the late 19th century, two Swedish emigrants, Lasse Karlsson and his son Pelle, arrive on the Danish island of Bornholm hoping to find work on a farm and save enough money to travel to the United States of America.

The Merchant of Venice(2004)

Venice, 1596. Bassanio begs his friend Antonio, a prosperous merchant, to lend him a large sum of money so that he can woo Portia, a very wealthy heiress; but Antonio has invested his fortune abroad, so they turn to Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, and ask him for a loan.

Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down(2019)

This anthology film, whose Chinese title begins with a romantic name for human excrement, premiered internationally at Rotterdam and won Best Screenplay from the Hong Kong Film Critics Society. A variety of Hong Kong people wrestle with nostalgia when facing an uncertain future. Their stories give way to a documentary featuring a young barista turned political candidate.

The Beacon

Joshua Nyaga travels to the countryside from London to spend a summer’s weekend with his girlfriend Cass’ family for the first time. Transplanted as a young boy from the violence of the Ugandan civil war to the concrete jungle of London, Joshua has never experienced the privilege that Cass’ family enjoys. Surrounded by the sea and lush natural landscape, the farm is an oasis, brimming with idealistic notions and lively debate amongst Cass’ father, stepmother and their longtime friend of the family, Michael. But Joshua’s warm welcome is short lived, when a sudden act of violent racism at a local summer concert shatters the peace forcing Joshua and those around him to confront the uncomfortable truth of their differences.

Enemy Mine(1985)

A soldier from Earth crashlands on an alien world after sustaining battle damage. Eventually he encounters another survivor, but from the enemy species he was fighting; they band together to survive on this hostile world. In the end the human finds himself caring for his enemy in a completely unexpected way.

Ramona(1928)

Based on the Helen Hunt Jackson novel of 1884 about a young woman of partial Native American descent, who experiences love and loss in 1800s California.