Tags: movies similar to Zen (2009) - full list
Mark | imdb: 6.6 |
Genre | drama, military, biography, history |
Country | Japan |
Duration | 02:20 |
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (1884-1943) was the Japanese Naval commander who was given the order to attack Pearl Harbour, an order he was duty bound to obey which went against his own personal beliefs. While this infamous attack is a low point in Japanese and US history it wouldn’t have happened if the Japanese government had listened to Yamamoto in 1939 and searched for a more peaceful way to end their war campaign, proving his many ominous presages of the outcomes of the attack to come true.
Mark | imdb: 8.1 |
Genre | drama, military, biography, history |
Country | Australia, USA |
Duration | 02:29 |
WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Mark | imdb: 6.7 |
Genre | comedy, drama, biography |
Country | United Kingdom |
Duration | 01:52 |
The true story of the relationship between Alan Bennett and the singular Miss Shepherd, a woman of uncertain origins who ‘temporarily’ parked her van in Bennett’s London driveway and proceeded to live there for 15 years.
Mark | imdb: 7 |
Genre | drama, military, biography, history |
Country | USA, Monaco, Morocco |
Duration | 02:14 |
The Tibetans refer to the Dalai Lama as 'Kundun', which means 'The Presence'. He was forced to escape from his native home, Tibet, when communist China invaded and enforced an oppressive regime upon the peaceful nation. The Dalai Lama escaped to India in 1959 and has been living in exile in Dharamsala ever since.
Mark | imdb: 5 |
Genre | melodrama, drama, biography |
Country | France, Belgium |
Duration | 02:26 |
Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), man of the people, autodidact and revolutionary sculptor - the most brilliant of his era. At 42, Rodin meets Camille Claudel, a young woman desperate to become his assistant. He quickly acknowledges her as his most able pupil, and treats her as an equal in matters of creation.
Mark | imdb: 6.2 |
Genre | fantasy, melodrama, detective, biography, history |
Country | China, Japan, Hong Kong |
Duration | 02:03 |
During the Late Tang Dynasty, a manor is invaded by a demon cat and a sense of unrest befalls the capital of Changan. A poet is charged with investigating the case and meets up with a monk. The two work together and pull apart the thread of clues to reveal a history of truths leading to the events.
Mark | imdb: 7.3 |
Genre | drama, biography |
Country | United Kingdom, USA, United Arab Emirates, Japan |
A movie about reporter W. Eugene Smith and his research on mercury poisoning in Minamata, Japan, resulting in severe neurological symptoms.
Mark | imdb: 7.9 |
Genre | drama, biography, history |
Country | South Korea |
Duration | 01:50 |
May, 1980. Man-seob is a taxi driver in Seoul who lives from hand to mouth, raising his young daughter alone. One day, he hears that there is a foreigner who will pay big money for a drive down to Gwangju city. Not knowing that he’s a German journalist with a hidden agenda, Man-seob takes the job.
Mark | imdb: 7.7 |
Genre | drama, biography, history |
Country | United Kingdom, Italy, France, China |
Duration | 02:46 |
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
Mark | imdb: 6.7 |
Genre | horror, drama, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 02:02 |
When a younger girl called Emily Rose dies, everyone puts blame on the exorcism which was performed on her by Father Moore prior to her death. The priest is arrested on suspicion of murder. The trial begins with lawyer Erin Bruner representing Moore, but it is not going to be easy, as no one wants to believe what Father Moore says is true.
Mark | imdb: 7.9 |
Genre | drama |
Country | Japan |
Duration | 01:48 |
After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu and his son come across a little girl in the freezing cold. At first reluctant to shelter the girl, Osamu’s wife agrees to take care of her after learning of the hardships she faces. Although the family is poor, barely making enough money to survive through petty crime, they seem to live happily together until an unforeseen incident reveals hidden secrets, testing the bonds that unite them.
Mark | imdb: 6.5 |
Genre | drama, biography |
Country | United Kingdom, Belgium, USA, Canada |
The story of American poet Emily Dickinson from her early days as a young schoolgirl to her later years as a reclusive, unrecognized artist.
Mark | imdb: 6.7 |
Genre | melodrama, drama |
Country | Japan, France, Spain |
Taking place during the full-moon night of traditional dances in August and set on the Japanese island of Amami-Oshima, the drama centers on a 14-year-old boy who finds a dead body floating in the sea. The young man enlists the help of his girlfriend to solve the mystery. The pair will learn to become adults by experiencing the interwoven cycles of life, death and love.
Mark | imdb: 6 |
Genre | drama, biography, history |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:35 |
At an isolated log cabin in the harsh wilderness of Indiana circa 1817, the rhythms of love, tragedy, and the daily hardships of life on the developing frontier shaped one of our nation’s greatest heroes: Abraham Lincoln. Abe is a thoughtful and quiet boy who spends his days at the side of his beloved mother while learning to work the land from his stern father. When illness takes his mother, Abe's new guardian angel comes in the form of his new stepmother, who sees the potential in the boy and pushes for his further education.
Mark | imdb: 5.8 |
Genre | melodrama, drama, biography, history |
Country | Finland, Canada, Germany, Sweden |
Duration | 02:24 |
A portrait of the brilliant, extravagant Kristina of Sweden, queen from age six, who fights the conservative forces that are against her ideas to modernize Sweden and who have no tolerance for her awakening sexuality.
Mark | imdb: 5.9 |
Genre | drama, biography |
Country | United Kingdom, Australia, USA |
Duration | 02:09 |
Set in the Holy Land in the first century C.E., a young woman leaves her small fishing village and traditional family behind to join a radical new social movement. At its head is a charismatic leader, Jesus of Nazareth, who promises that the world is changing. Mary is searching for a new way of living, and an authenticity that is denied her by the rigid hierarchies of the day. As the notoriety of the group spread and more are drawn to follow Jesus’ inspirational message, Mary’s spiritual journey places her at the heart of a story that will lead to the capital city of Jerusalem, where she must confront the reality of Jesus’ destiny and her own place within it.
Mark | imdb: 7 |
Genre | drama, documentary, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 02:50 |
In this genre-bending tale, Errol Morris explores the mysterious death of a U.S. scientist entangled in a secret Cold War program known as MK-Ultra.
Mark | imdb: 7 |
Genre | comedy, drama, biography |
Country | Republic of Ireland, Canada |
Duration | 02:27 |
In 1843, despite the fact that Dickens is a successful writer, the failure of his latest book puts his career at a crossroads, until the moment when, struggling with inspiration and confronting reality with his childhood memories, a new character is born in the depths of his troubled mind; an old, lonely, embittered man, so vivid, so human, that a whole world grows around him, a story so inspiring that changed the meaning of Christmas forever.
Mark | imdb: 5.8 |
Genre | drama, biography |
Country | USA |
As one of the youngest Planned Parenthood clinic directors in the nation, Abby Johnson was involved in upwards of 22,000 abortions and counseled countless women on their reproductive choices. Her passion surrounding a woman's right to choose led her to become a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood, fighting to enact legislation for the cause she so deeply believed in. Until the day she saw something that changed everything.
Mark | imdb: 6 |
Genre | drama, biography |
Country | France, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Belgium, USA, Japan, Netherlands |
In the lush tradition of the glorious films of Merchant and Ivory, comes the true life story of Leonie Gilmour (Emily Mortimer), whose life crossed continents, wars and cultures, embodied with courage and passion in search of art and freedom. A tender and inspiring story of a remarkable woman who nurtures the amazing artistic talent of her son who has only one way to succeed and one person to guide him, as he grows into the world renown artist, Isamu Noguchi.
Mark | imdb: 6.8 |
Genre | drama, biography |
Country | United Kingdom, Vietnam |
Christina Noble overcomes the harsh difficulties of her childhood in Ireland to discover her destiny on the streets of Saigon. A true story.
Mark | imdb: 6.7 |
Genre | melodrama, drama, biography, history |
Country | United Kingdom, India, Sweden |
Duration | 02:21 |
In 1947, Lord Mountbatten assumes the post of last Viceroy, charged with handing India back to its people, living upstairs at the house which was the home of British rulers, whilst 500 Hindu, Muslim and Sikh servants lived downstairs.
Mark | imdb: 6.4 |
Genre | action, drama, biography |
Country | Hong Kong, China |
Duration | 02:11 |
In 1868 during the late Qing Dynasty, rampant corruption on the Imperial Court inflicts much suffering in people's lives. For years, the Black Tiger’s fearsome boss Lei Gong has been trying to get rid of the leader of the Northern Sea. One of his latest recruits is Fei, a fearless fighter who takes the Northern Sea leader’s head after a fierce fight. Just as Lei Gong believes he has total control of the port, a new gang called the Orphans rises in power. Led by Fei’s childhood friend Huo, the Orphans are out to eliminate all the criminal power from the port…
Mark | imdb: 6.5 |
Genre | action, melodrama, drama, military, biography |
Country | Hong Kong, China |
Duration | 02:03 |
Ip Man's peaceful life in Foshan changes after Gong Yutian seeks an heir for his family in Southern China. Ip Man then meets Gong Er who challenges him for the sake of regaining her family's honor. After the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ip Man moves to Hong Kong and struggles to provide for his family. In the mean time, Gong Er chooses the path of vengeance after her father was killed by Ma San.
Mark | imdb: 5.8 |
Genre | drama, family, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:40 |
Heaven is for Real recounts the true story of a small-town father who must find the courage and conviction to share his son's extraordinary, life-changing experience with the world. Four-year-old Colton shares the details of his amazing journey with childlike innocence and speaks matter-of-factly about things that happened before his birth... things he couldn't possibly know.
Mark | imdb: 6.5 |
Genre | drama, biography, history |
Country | Austria, Luxembourg |
At the beginning of the 20th Century, Egon Schiele is one of the most provocative artists in Vienna. His life and work are driven by beautiful women and an era that is coming to an end. Two women will have a lasting impact on him - his sister and first muse Gerti, and 17-year-old Wally, arguably Schiele's one true love, immortalized in his famous painting 'Death and the Maiden'. Schiele's radical paintings scandalize Viennese society while daring artists like Gustav Klimt and art agents alike are sensing the exceptional. But Egon Schiele is also prepared to go beyond his own pain and to sacrifice love and life for his art.
Mark | imdb: 7.1 |
Genre | drama, biography |
Country | Sweden, Denmark |
Duration | 01:58 |
When Astrid Lindgren was very young something happened that affected her profoundly, and this combination of both miracle and calamity came to shape her entire life. It was an event that transformed her into one of the most inspiring women of our age and the storyteller a whole world would come to love. This is the story of when a young Astrid, despite the expectations of her time and religious upbringing, decided to break free from society's norms and follow her heart.
Mark | imdb: 6.7 |
Genre | drama, biography, history |
Country | Italy, Germany, Poland |
Duration | 03:10 |
Augustine is a two-part, Italian-made mini-series about the influential theologian and church father Augustine of Hippo. The piece tells the story of his life from a teenager to his death at the age of 69.Much of the content for the scenes of him as a young and middle-aged man come from his Confessions, which is probably the earliest extant autobiography.
Mark | imdb: 7.3 |
Genre | comedy, drama |
Country | Japan |
Duration | 01:49 |
Ryota is an unpopular writer although he won a literary award 15 years ago. Now, Ryota works as a private detective. He is divorced from his ex-wife Kyoko and he has an 11-year-old son Shingo. His mother Yoshiko lives alone at her apartment. One day, Ryota, his ex-wife Kyoko, and son Shingo gather at Yoshiko's apartment. A typhoon passes and the family must stay there all night long.
Mark | imdb: 6.3 |
Genre | drama, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:51 |
Tragedy strikes when a woman named Joyce's son falls through the ice on a frozen lake and is trapped underwater for over 15 minutes. After being rushed to the hospital, the 14-year-old boy continues to fight for his life as Joyce, her husband and their pastor stay by his bedside and pray for a miracle.
Mark | imdb: 6.6 |
Genre | drama, crime, biography |
Country | Czech Republic, Poland, France, Slovakia |
Duration | 02:18 |
Olga is a complex young woman desperate to break free from her unfeeling family and social conventions. With her Louise Brooks-like tomboyish looks she drags herself, chain-smoking, from one job to another until she appears to find her niche as a truck driver. Although she has female lovers she does not form a bond with any of them; instead she clashes, time and again, venting herself in wordless emotional outbursts and other behavioural extremes.