Best movies like Dreams and Shadows

Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life.

A coming of age story set in 1975 working-class Brooklyn, in which two teenage brothers living with their abusive father and their well-meaning but ineffective mother are caught up in a life of petty crime. Older brother Danny concocts a daring scheme to steal enough money for the two to escape, timed around the chaos of an upcoming Rolling Stones concert. The sensitive younger brother, Brian, ultimately has a choice: remain loyal to the brother with whom he shares a powerful love-hate bond, or use his hidden talent as an artist as his own ticket out of their dead-end existence.

A reclusive man conducts a series of interviews with human souls for a chance to be born.

17 year old Nói drifts through life on a remote fjord in Iceland. In winter, the fjord is cut off from the outside world, surrounded by ominous mountains and buried under a shroud of snow. Nói dreams of escaping from this white-walled prison with Íris, a city girl who works in a local gas station. But his clumsy attempts at escape spiral out of control.

Bebe is surrounded by suitors, but her father wants her to marry Professor M. T. Noodle. Harold makes his move by impersonating the professor.

Diabolical French capitalist Paul Reynard is forced to leave Irene, his bride of one year, when he is arrested for the crimes of forgery and embezzlement and sentenced to a penal colony off the coast of South America.

A former boyracer, who married his first love and took a job in one of the fish factories, now has a 17 year-old-son of his own following in his footsteps and can no longer ignore the fact he’s going nowhere. Unable to be physically or emotionally present with his family, he takes his son’s car out for one final joy ride and risks losing the love that surrounds him

Huckleberry Finn, a rambunctious boy adventurer chafing under the bonds of civilization, escapes his humdrum world and his selfish, plotting father by sailing a raft down the Mississippi River.

One man must learn the meaning of courage across four lifetimes centuries apart.

Josh Townsend finds himself living in New Mexico after his father's new job requires the family to move from their home in Utah. While acclimating to his new surroundings, Josh becomes involved with a group of teens attempting to preserve the buffalo and Navajo traditions. Along the way he makes friends and learns important lessons about life in this Disney Channel Original movie.

Three high school students make an incredible discovery, leading to their developing uncanny powers beyond their understanding. As they learn to control their abilities and use them to their advantage, their lives start to spin out of control, and their darker sides begin to take over.

In a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm, a fantastic story about 5 mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale advances.

California teen Anita Minteer struggles in the face of an absentee mother, her mom's abusive boyfriend, Rooney, and a lack of respect from her classmates. This all changes when a pen-pal school project connects her with convict Howard. Anita secures Howard's parole and violently squares off against Rooney after he rapes her. Soon enough, the gun-crazy teen is on the run with Howard, with his parole officer in pursuit.

Revolting mutants hunt human outcasts and underground fighters (Bruce Campbell, Marta Alicia) in a future world of mind control.

Abandoned by her family, Kya raises herself all alone in the marshes outside of her small town. When her former boyfriend is found dead, Kya is instantly branded by the local townspeople and law enforcement as the prime suspect for his murder.

Frank Perry is an institutionalized convict twelve years into a life sentence without parole. When his estranged daughter falls ill, he is determined to make peace with her before it's too late. He develops an ingenious escape plan, and recruits a dysfunctional band of escapists - misfits with a mutual dislike for one other but united by their desire to escape their hell hole of an existence.

Abandoned by her mother when she was a child, Shell has stayed to take care of her dying father but now feels trapped within the beautiful but desolate landscape that surrounds her. With only her routine of running the decaying petrol station, taking care of her father, and spending afternoons in her bedroom with a local mechanic, life is passing Shell by with every passing truck that rattles her walls. One day a salesman stops to re-fuel and offers Shell a taste of the outside world that takes her closer than ever to the edge of the road and her desire to escape.

An alcoholic former horse-trainer perceives in a fifteen-year-old boy a unique gift of horsemanship and makes it possible for the boy to conceive his dream and pursue it.

A coming of age drama that follows two 15-year old girls, Zoe and Shelby, through the physical and emotional growing pains of their youth. As they test the limits of their relationship and the impact of an older married man, they forge a friendship that changes both their lives forever.

The Shadow Men are immortal beings of darkness and destruction. One such Shadow Man, Os (Zane), is confronted by the White Warrior, a being of light, and given the chance to change his ways or die. After the White Warrior bests Os in combat, she opens his heart to the power of love, and charges him to find the warriors who are the representation of the five elements and will save the world.

Sent to spend the summer with their uncle on a remote island, young brothers Andy and Mark learn that their eccentric grandfather once owned the island, but vanished without a trace…taking with him the secret to a vast fortune. Delving into the mysterious past of the island, the brothers discover that their grandfather designed a complex treasure hunt, a hunt that could lead to unimaginable wealth and heal their broken family – if they can find it in time. Sinister forces also search for the money and will stop at nothing to keep the boys from their quest. As the adventure unfolds, the boys learn that the bonds of family are the most valuable riches of all, and that some family secrets can’t stay buried forever.

In Lagos, Nigeria, Ebele Njoko has been running all his life. A search for acceptance and love from his family, has led him to recreate himself as Adrian Njoko, respected father, husband, and brother. Suddenly, Adrian’s past and secrets have caught up with him and his world soon begins to crumble as he frantically tries to control the growing ripple effect of a revelation. In coming to terms with his sexuality, Adrian is forced to choose between a compromised existence and the life that he would like to lead.

Molly, the eldest child of a group of orphans being used as slaves on a farm hidden deep in a swamp, must rescue the others when their cruel master decides that one of them will be disposed of.

An inside glimpse of how it feels to be a teen in today's disconnected world. PURGATORY HOUSE chronicles the after-life journey of Silver Strand: a lonely teen who abandons her life of turmoil and drug addiction, only to find herself caught somewhere between heaven and hell. There, she must choose whether she will accept her drab existence or discover within herself the power to change.

Calvin Campbell is a former professional baseball player sent to an early retirement due to his panic attacks at the plate. Even though he had all the talent for the big leagues, he struggles with the curveballs life has thrown him. Today, he mindlessly sleepwalks through his days and the challenge of raising his teenager daughter. His life is in a slow downward spiral when it is suddenly awakened and invigorated by the most unlikely person – Produce, a young-man with Down syndrome who works at the local grocery store.

Matt Ballot has returned home after 12 years of hard-drinking in all 48 states. His wife has managed to raise their 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son nicely without his help. Matt is considered a disgrace to the town he came from and now he finds himself trying to win the love of his children, his wife, and the respect of the townspeople. Set in Arkansas in the 1920s.

A boy and his dog must go in search of a fabled local treasure in an effort to save the family house from foreclosure.

When he unwittingly sends some of his men into a trap, pirate Captain Peter Blood decides to rescue them. They've been taken prisoner by the Spanish Marquis de Riconete who is now using them as slave labor harvesting pearls from the sea.

A man accused of planning a prison break turns the tables on escaped cons by leading the group into the desert.

Dusty Rhodes is new at Jefferson High, and she sticks out like a... well, a cowgirl. Dusty is a real cowgirl from Texas. Her parents are in the U.S. Army: her mother a helicopter pilot and her father a Special Forces Army Ranger. At first, Dusty is an outcast, but eventually she makes friends with a group that includes Savanah, a girl whose father was killed while fighting in Iraq three years earlier. Even though Savanah is kind of Goth and Dusty is all cowgirl they have a special connection and they bond. Dusty gets the school to agree to an Equestrian Drill Team and she enlists her new city slicker friends to join the team. As Dusty and the team practice, Dusty deals with the fears that come with her mother fighting in Afghanistan.

A small town is struck by scandal when Jennifer Walsh, a troubled teenager takes her own life. But things aren't always what they seem. In the weeks before her death, Jennifer is thrown into detention with a twisted trio of "bad girls," the moral rejects of an oppressive educational system at St. Andrew's Catholic High School. These outcasts quickly form a strange bond, but the delicate balance of their friendship is threatened after Jennifer uncovers one of the girl's criminal activities. When the girl learns that Jennifer has a secret of her own, all Hell breaks loose.

After breaking up with her boyfriend, Lillian moves in with married couple Julia and Don only to overhear them arguing in the night. The front door slams as Don moves out, and the following days sees Lillian, selfish and irresponsible, having to earn her keep by cooking for Julia, a reclusive, distrustful writer who rarely emerges from her room. Though communicating largely through notes, the odd couple gradually forge a bond and help one another to negotiate the foibles, phobias and obstacles that have long hindered their happiness.

After his last assignment ended with the death of an innocent woman, a hitman's new job in London is compromised when he is overcome with guilt, and ends up helping a desperate woman who is caught up in a human trafficking operation.

On Skeet’s twelfth birthday his older brother Randy buys him his first surfboard. Suddenly his summer turns to the endless search for the perfect wave, wild times and beach parties and eventually, finding his own daring adventures when Randy’s attention turns to a girl. Beyond his wildest dreams, Skeet is taken under the wings of surfing legend Jim Wesley who gives Skeet first-hand lessons in hot-dogging. Meanwhile, Randy, still dealing with the loss of his father and trying to fill his shoes, is jealous of Jim’s influence on Skeet and isn’t thrilled when Jim begins a relationship with their single mom. Tangled by the conflict between his brother and his newfound father figure, Skeet retreats to his room while longing to surf.

A young paraplegic wants to escape the bonds of gravity by going into outer space.

A man who stops into a foster home to drop off some donations soon tells the kids a story about two teenage friends who uncover a long-lost medallion that transports them back in time.

Growing up as identical twin sisters, Lora and Ashley Gerritson always had a special psychic bond. When one would feel pain, sorrow or happiness, the other felt it too. Lora's life is suddenly changed when she begins to receive chilling visions from her sister, Ashley. Something is horribly wrong...she can feel it.

Travel along on the adventure of a lifetime as a young Viking boy banished from Iceland by bloodthirsty conquerors becomes the first European ever to set foot on American soil in an animated epic adventure from the acclaimed animation director Phil Nibbelink (Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Black Cauldron). The year is 1000 A.D. and young Leif Ericson has just fled to Greenland to escape the vicious plundering of his native Iceland. When Eric falls for a beautiful slave girl and his disapproving father casts a dark shadow over the relationship, the heartbroken young adventurer sets out on the uncharted seas to tempt fate and find his destiny in the New World. Subsequently forced to return to Greenland after learning that his father is in grave danger, Leif sets sail once again to help his father, and reclaim his one true love.

A teenager pretends to be dying from cancer as a way to cope with the realities of his daily existence and his father's terminal illness.

Panic and fear overtake a small British farming community after a homicidal child-killer escapes from a local mental hospital.

In a mountain town, where corn and poppies grow, the girls wear boyish haircuts and have hiding places underground to escape the threat of being stolen. Ana and her two best friends grow up together, affirming the bonds of their friendship and discovering what it means to be women in a rural town marked by violence. Their mothers train them to flee death, to escape those who turn them into slaves or ghosts. They create their own impenetrable universe, but one day one of the girls doesn’t make it to her hiding place in time.

23-year-old Franky is a nurse who lives with her large family in an East London borough. Obsessed with a thirst for revenge and a need to assign guilt for a traumatic event that happened 15 years before, she is unable to build any meaningful relationship until she falls in love with one of her patients – Florence. They escape to the coast where Florence lives with her more open-minded patchwork family. There, Franky finds the emotional shelter to deal with the grudges of the past.

After an altercation with her ailing mother, Jennifer, a self-absorbed teenager inadvertently stumbles into a local homeless shelter late one evening. Upset with his daughter's selfish attitude, Jennifer's father offers an ultimatum which includes her volunteering at the shelter in the hope she will learn to be responsible and compassionate toward others. Through this new experience Jennifer creates an unlikely bond with both the staff and one very special young guest which lead her to a deeper understanding of the true meaning of Christmas is love and family.

When a substance abuse counsellor gets arrested for a DUI and returns to her hometown of Niagara Falls, she learns that her estranged father is dying of cancer and wants her to form a bond with her teenage half-sister that she's never met.

Set in the rainy environs of Oregon and Washington, Punk Love is the story of two forlorn lovers, searching for that elusive Hollywood Ending to the story of their dreams. Sarah is a lost 15-year-old, trapped in an unloving home, in a dreary small paper mill town. When she meets Spike, she envisions a new life for herself. Falling in love, Sarah and Spike go on a crime spree of small-time con jobs, both to support themselves and their drug habit. Spike has dreams of his own, and when he successfully auditions for a band, he can't help but feel that he and Sarah are starting on the road to escaping their ill-fated existence. But just as things are looking up, everything goes uncontrollably wrong, and Spike and Sarah have only their undying love for each other as a means of survival against all odds. Director/writer Nick Lyon's Punk Love is a modern-day fairy tale about two fallen angels searching for meaning in a world without pity...

BEIJING, NEW YORK is a touching and complex love story that bridges time, distance and culture, intertwining the lives of two Chinese childhood friends and an American artist. It is set against the backdrop of economic power shift between China and America. As the film's complex love triangle takes the audience on a wild ride, interweaving its way through the plot and each character's unique existence, it ultimately forces each of them to face life's eternal questions head-on. BEIJING, NEW YORK is a truthful and thrilling look into the journey to find true happiness and the joy, pain and adventure that ensues when one is forced to integrate their dreams into reality.

Jake Groden is the black sheep of his family. Ankle deep in fish guts, he serves out his parole in Alaska. Then, after a decade of self-imposed exile, he is forced to return to his Brooklyn family. He soon discovers that his perfect brother, Michael is dead, and he begins trying to take what Michael had- a beautiful wife, adoring son, control of the family furniture business and the love of their gruff father. For Jake, the price of a new life is his identity.

Three friends meet one summer at a skydiving center. Adventurous, they spend most of their time jumping - for thrills and to escape what haunts them. When his dream of becoming a pilot is shattered, Rafaël, a young daredevil of 20 years, puts his life in danger by pushing his limits as a parashooter. Her friend Charles, the older owner of the skydiving center, tries to make her understand reason while developing a love passion for Manu, a young woman who, at 20, has to deal with her mother's cancer. But Manu and Rafaël also develop a strong passion, which comes to compromise the strong bond between the three friends. Things don't work out when Rafaël, who has been forbidden to jump, comes to miss a particularly dangerous jump prepared by Charles.

A lonely but creative college student who manifests his dream girl. Though their relationship seems like a welcome escape from his mundane existence, it's not long before Frankie realizes that if he wants true happiness, he must let go of his illusions and confront the insecurities that hold him back from living his best life.

When a cartel gunman is killed, he leaves behind Sujo, his beloved 4-year-old son. The shadow of violence surrounds Sujo during each stage of his life in the isolated Mexican countryside. As he grows into a man, Sujo finds that fulfilling his father’s destiny may be inescapable.