20 movies like Ballast, ordered by similarity : Sweet Sixteen(2002), I Never Sang for My Father(1970), Lady Bird(2017), Staying Together(1989), Somers Town(2008), Loveling(2018), Wildlife(2018), Dean(2016), The Confirmation(2016), Mum's List(2016), Life Is Beautiful(1997), Never Steady, Never Still(2017) ...
Drama
USA
2008
96 Minutes
Micheal J. Smith Sr. JimMyron Ross Tarra Riggs Johnny McPhail
father twin widow son uncle mother bleak emotional powerful calm mississippi delta convenience store backyard school radio station house suicide grief father figure family dysfunction
A drama set in the Mississippi delta, where one man's suicide affects three people's lives.
Drama
UK|Germany|Spain
2002
106 Minutes
Martin Compston William Ruane Annmarie Fulton Michelle Abercromby Michelle Coulter Gary McCormack Tommy McKee
teen boy stepfather mother grandfather prisoner drug dealer tense gutsy emotional greenock, scotland port city prison street house apartment imprisonment drugs ambition theft teenage rebellion
Determined to have a normal family life once his mother gets out of prison, a Scottish teenager from a tough background sets out to raise the money for a home.
Drama
1970
90 Minutes
Melvyn Douglas Gene Hackman Dorothy Stickney Estelle Parsons Elizabeth Hubbard Lovelady Powell Daniel Keyes Conrad Bain Jon Richards James Karen
father son mother fiancée sister college professor moving tender emotional bleak touching brooding new york city parents' house diner hospital father/son relationship independence family grief
A middle-aged New York professor (Gene Hackman) loses his mother (Dorothy Stickney) and reaches out to his bitter father (Melvyn Douglas).
Comedy, Drama
USA
2017
94 Minutes
Saoirse Ronan Laurie Metcalf Timothée Chalamet Lucas Hedges Tracy Letts Odeya Rush Jake McDorman Beanie Feldstein Lois Smith Stephen McKinley Henderson Jordan Rodrigues
mother daughter teenager high-school student best friend teacher father moving uplifting playful california high school catholic school sacramento, calif. family home university united states prom mother/daughter relationship coming of age
In 2002, an artistically inclined seventeen-year-old girl comes of age in Sacramento, California.
Drama
USA
1989
91 Minutes
Sean Astin Stockard Channing Melinda Dillon Jim Haynie Levon Helm Dinah Manoff Dermot Mulroney Tim Quill Keith Szarabajka Daphne Zuniga
father mother brother son older brother younger brother emotional heartwarming amusing small town restaurant family business life lessons coming of age father/son relationship mother/son relationship brotherhood growing up 1980s
The complacent life of three small town brothers is shattered when their father sells the family business from under them.
Comedy, Drama
UK
2008
75 Minutes
Thomas Turgoose Kate Dickie Piotr Jagiello Perry Benson Ireneusz Czop Elisa Lasowski Ben Porter Steven Hillman
teen boy best friend father love interest waitress photographer emotional bleak midlands london household coming of age friendship father/son relationship poverty family discovery escape 2000s
A black-and-white study of a social environment in London, concentrating on a pair of unlikely new friends and the girl they both fancy.
Drama
2018
95 Minutes
Karine Teles Otávio Muller Adriana Esteves Konstantinos Sarris César Troncoso Mateus Solano Camilo Pellegrini Ariclenes Barroso Pablo Riera Lucas Gouvêa
mother father child brother sister teen boy touching emotional amusing charming cheeky moving rio de janeiro house school beach car auditorium leaving home mother/son relationship
On the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Irene has only a few days to overcome her anxiety about sending her eldest son out into the world on his own.
Drama
USA
2018
104 Minutes
Carey Mulligan Jake Gyllenhaal Ed Oxenbould Bill Camp Zoe Colletti Travis W. Bruyer Darryl Cox Mollie Milligan
teen boy golfer housewife firefighter mother friend bleak emotional tense intricate raw montana forest school house car small town mother/child relationship father/child relationship marriage
A teenage boy must deal with his mother's complicated response after his father temporarily abandons them to take a menial and dangerous job.
Comedy, Drama
2016
94 Minutes
Demetri Martin Kevin Kline Gillian Jacobs Rory Scovel Christine Woods Ginger Gonzaga Briga Heelan Reid Scott Mary Steenburgen Asif Ali Kate Berlant
illustrator new yorker mother son father lover young man young woman moving emotional amusing charming los angeles family home new york city brooklyn love grief new experiences family
An illustrator falls in love with a woman while trying to keep his father from burning down the family home after his wife dies.
Comedy, Drama
Canada
2016
101 Minutes
Clive Owen Jaeden Martell Maria Bello Robert Forster Tim Blake Nelson Patton Oswalt Matthew Modine Stephen Tobolowsky
carpenter thief son father family mother charming endearing heartwarming lighthearted moving playful canada small town home father/son relationship fatherhood bonding life lessons growing up
A divorced father and his eight-year-old son are about to spend a somewhat predictable weekend together, nevertheless, when a valuable toolbox gets stolen, the search for the thieves will soon turn into a true family bonding.
Drama
UK
2016
101 Minutes
Rafe Spall Emilia Fox Elaine Cassidy William Stagg Matthew Stagg Richard Cordery Susan Jameson Ross McCormack
father single father deceased mother son young boy brother moving emotional engaging endearing england life lessons mother's death mother/son relationship father/son relationship breast cancer disease death challenge love
A woman dying of incurable breast cancer creates a list of memories and lessons for the husband and sons she is about to leave behind.
Comedy, Drama
Italy
1997
122 Minutes
Roberto Benigni Nicoletta Braschi Giorgio Cantarini Giustino Durano Sergio Bustric Marisa Paredes Amerigo Fontani Horst Buchholz Lidia Alfonsi Giuliana Lojodice Pietro De Silva
father mother son waiter schoolteacher nazi moving playful emotional sad bleak frightening italy concentration camp hotel household bookstore big city holocaust concentration camp
When an open-minded Jewish librarian and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor, and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
Drama
Canada
2017
111 Minutes
Shirley Henderson Théodore Pellerin Mary Galloway Nicholas Campbell Jared Abrahamson Jonathan Whitesell Beverley Elliott Lorne Cardinal Eric Keenleyside Chilton Crane Sean Owen Roberts
mother son teenager father oil worker disabled person emotional heartwarming inspiring moving sad alberta, canada oil field house support group small town parkinson's disease mother/son relationship alienation struggle
A mother struggles to take control of her life in the face of advanced Parkinson's disease, while her son battles his sexual and emotional identity amongst the violence of Alberta's oil field work camps.
Drama
USA
2011
129 Minutes
Tom Hanks Sandra Bullock Thomas Horn Zoe Caldwell Viola Davis Jeffrey Wright Max von Sydow John Goodman Dennis Hearn Stephen McKinley Henderson Hazelle Goodman
young boy father mute person mother widow emotional moving new york city central park apartment bridge 9/11 attacks death of father grief mother/son relationship investigation quest discovery growing up 2000s
A nine-year-old amateur inventor, Francophile, and pacifist searches New York City for the lock that matches a mysterious key left behind by his father, who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Romance, Drama
UK
2007
95 Minutes
Jamie Bell Sophia Myles Ciarán Hinds Jamie Sives Maurice Roeves Ewen Bremner Claire Forlani Ruthie Milne John Paul Lawler Lucy Holt
teenager father stepmother manager executive love interest emotional melodramatic engaging hotel estate edinburgh, scotland coming of age mother/son relationship unusual romance grief suicide growing up discovery 2000s
Hallam's talent for spying on people reveals his darkest fears-and his most peculiar desires. Driven to expose the true cause of his mother's death, he instead finds himself searching the rooftops of the city for love.
Drama
USA
1938
60 Minutes
widow daughter son aunt wealthy woman mother bleak melodramatic inspiring house yard poverty family great depression scandal loneliness mother/son relationship fall love transformation
The town of Colbrook, Massachusetts was founded by the family of the same name, and as such they are its leading family. Widowed Mrs. Reginald Colbrook - Mary - has had to manage the family... See full summary »
Drama
Japan|Netherlands|Hong Kong
2008
119 Minutes
Teruyuki Kagawa Kyôko Koizumi Kai Inowaki Haruka Igawa Yû Koyanagi Jason Gray Kanji Tsuda Kazuya Kojima
father mother son friend boss unemployed person bleak tense powerful tokyo house employment office cafeteria loss of job marital problems family guilt deception outsourcing discovery
An ordinary Japanese family slowly disintegrates after its patriarch loses his job at a prominent company.
Comedy, Romance, Drama
2007
93 Minutes
Jay Baruchel Alexis Bledel Schuyler Fisk Victor Rasuk D.J. Qualls A.J. Cook Katey Sagal Chris Parnell
friend radio host fiancée high-school crush father radio station manager amusing touching playful quirky small town radio station countryside bar church house father/son relationship small-town life radio marriage
As he is about to be married to the sweetheart of his small town, Reed Fish's (Jay Baruchel) life turns upside down with an old flame's return.
Drama
UK
2017
101 Minutes
Gemma Arterton Dominic Cooper Jalil Lespert Frances Barber Marthe Keller
mother father child teacher depressed person friend solemn tense emotional disheartening moving london house train station school yard depression escape marriage family
An ordinary woman makes an extraordinary decision which will change her life forever.
Drama
Canada
2005
127 Minutes
Michel Côté Marc-André Grondin Danielle Proulx Pierre-Luc Brillant Émile Vallée Mariloup Wolfe Jean-Louis Roux Francis Ducharme
teen boy father mother brother intricate touching winsome quebec family home homosexuality mother/son relationship father/son relationship coming of age growing up quest 1980s
A young French-Canadian, growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, struggles to reconcile his emerging homosexuality with his father's conservative values and his own Catholic beliefs.
Drama
UK|USA
1994
105 Minutes
William Hurt Chris Cleary Miles Keith Allen Prunella Scales Jane Horrocks Alan Cumming John Hurt
single father child social worker neighbor uncle prisoner tense powerful emotional wales camp prison house adoption father/son relationship aids parenthood transformation love 1990s
Graham, a lonely Welsh postal worker, adopts James, a troubled ten-year-old boy. Graham always wanted a son, but James loves his biological father too much to give Graham a chance. Will the two be able to accept each other as family?