Best movies like How I Learned to Fly

Out on parole after 8 years inside Bill Hayward returns home to find his now 11 and 15 year old sons abandoned by their mother and fending for themselves. Unwilling to play Dad, an uncaring Bill is determined to move on.

A lyrical telling of the coming of age of a 13-year-old boy who learns to cope with his new found sexuality and his unrequited love for the cool kid in school.

Diagnosed with a mental illness halfway through his senior year of high school, a witty, introspective teen struggles to keep it a secret while falling in love with a brilliant classmate who inspires him to open his heart and not be defined by his condition.

In 1983, Oliver Nicholas, at thirteen, is well-poised to enter the precocious teenage world of first-sex, vodka and possible-love in New York City when he is traumatized by the stroke of his housekeeper (and only true maternal figure), a sixty-five-year-old Chilean woman named Aida. What was supposed to be an exhilarating and somewhat fearful rite of passage - diving into the exciting, fast-paced world of first experiences - quickly becomes skewed by an incomprehensible depression, and a house of interior horrors. Surrounded by women - his untraditional, Spanish, photographer mother (more interested in the role of confidante than mother) his sister, a comedic, door-slamming tormentor, marked by her parent's divorce; and Aida, his silver-haired emotional focal point on the verge of death in Lenox Hill Hospital - Oliver struggles to maintain his role as "man of the house" and his sanity.

A quixotic artist hypothesizes about why he feels bad when a mystery girl stands him up. The event prompts him to ask: what's the content of a momentary feeling? Is it the sum of your experiences? And perhaps more importantly, are your experiences the sum of you?

Jeremy is learning cello at an arts school in New York. At school he spots Susan, who practices for a ballet audition, and he falls in love.

A Roman Catholic teenage boy in Glace Bay, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia during the 1930s faces various growing-up problems: Should be become a priest? What should he do about the murder he witnessed, committed by a local cop and upstanding parishioner? And how far should he go with his girl friend, who happens to be the murderer's daughter?

Born free in the American West, Black Beauty is a horse rounded up and brought to Birtwick Stables, where she meets spirited teenager Jo Green. The two forge a bond that carries Beauty through the different chapters, challenges and adventures.

Two small children and a ship's cook survive a shipwreck and find safety on an idyllic tropical island. Soon, however, the cook dies and the young boy and girl are left on their own. Days become years and Emmeline and Richard make a home for themselves surrounded by exotic creatures and nature's beauty. But will they ever see civilization again?

Julian Albans, the bully who left Beecher Prep, is visited by his Grandmère from Paris and is transformed by her remarkable story of compassion and courage. As a girl in Nazi-occupied France, the young Grandmère goes into hiding with the help of a schoolmate, a young man who risks everything to give her the chance to survive. Together, they find beauty and love in the secret world of their own creation.

A small-town beauty queen and an unlicensed mortician set out across the Texas plains on a journey of self-discovery.

A boy with a massive facial skull deformity and his biker gang mother attempts to live as normal a life as possible under the circumstances.

On the eve of Y2K, orphaned 12-year-old Beverly discovers a broken mixtape crafted by her teen parents. Raised by her grandmother – who struggles talking about her late daughter – Beverly sees the mixtape as a chance to finally learn more about her parents.

For many years, four teenage orphans at an Australian outback convent have watched their younger comrades find new parents, and realize that they may never be adopted. The Reverend Mother sends the four boys away on a seaside vacation, where they meet Teresa and Fearless, a couple who would make perfect parents. The youths compete with one another to be the one Teresa and Fearless decide to adopt.

Natasha takes place over the course of one summer. It is the story of Mark Berman, 16, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants living in the suburbs north of Toronto. When his uncle enters into an arranged marriage with woman from Moscow, the woman arrives in Canada with her fourteen year-old daughter, Natasha. Mark, a slacker, is conscripted by his parents to take responsibility for the strange girl. He learns that, in Moscow, she’d led a troubled and promiscuous life. A secret and forbidden romance begins between the two of them that has bizarre and tragic consequences for everyone involved.

A successful artist looks back with loving memories on the summer of his defining year, 1974. A talented but troubled 18-year-old aspiring artist befriends a brilliant elderly alcoholic painter who has turned his back on not only art but life. The two form what appears to be at first a tenuous relationship. The kid wants to learn all the secrets the master has locked away inside his head and heart. Time has not been kind to the old master. His life appears pointless to him until the kid rekindles his interest in his work and ultimately gives him the will to live. Together, they give one another a priceless gift. The kid learns to see the world through the master's eyes. And the master learns to see life through the eyes of innocence again. This story is based on a real life experience.

The Nature of Nicholas is a surreal story of twelve-year-old Nicholas as he struggles with an attraction to his best friend.

A non-verbal, autistic girl and a chatty boy are partnered on a canoeing trip. To complete their journey across an urban lake, they must both learn how the other experiences the world.

The South African multi-award winning film about a young South African boy from the ghetto named Tsotsi, meaning Gangster. Tsotsi, who left home as a child to get away from helpless parents, finds a baby in the back seat of a car that he has just stolen. He decides that it his responsibility to take care of the baby and in the process learns that maybe the gangster life isn’t the best way.

The story of a teenage boy coming of age in a suburban grow-operation, where every day is paradise or fresh hell. But it's always a trip. Sheltered all his life and home-schooled by loving parents who are also committed criminals, Quinn Dawson yearns to experience the normalcy of the suburban world which surrounds him.

Brooks is an eccentric rich kid, with a fondness for big band music, bow ties taking strange photographs who one day whilst stealing a mannequin from a clothes store, meets Anne, a free-spirited, young deaf girl who works in the shop. It's a meeting that will transform his life. As their friendship blossoms he starts to learn sign-language and she helps him to conquer his fear of water but with a bullying brother, insensitive overbearing father and his father's peculiar new girlfriend all pressurising him to be 'normal' will Brooks be able to break free from their boundaries and his own fears and limitations to find the meaning of true and selfless love.

With World War 2 looming, a prominent family in China must confront the contrasting ideas of traditionalism, communism and Western thinking, while dealing with the most important ideal of all: love and its meaning in society.

Eight young people from Ohio who are dancers, come to New York, to compete in a major talent competition. But when they get there, they learn that they have to wait some time before they take part in it. So they try to do their best to survive in the Big Apple before competition, and get some lessons about the real World.

This award-winning film by André Melançon -- set on a ranch on the pampas of Argentina -- tells the story of three children spending a summer with their grandfather. The youngest, Felipe, makes friends with a puppy; his older brother, Daniel, breaks and train his first horse; their 13-year-old sister, Laura, struggles with the transition between childhood and growing up. The kids find it difficult to adapt to their proud and stubborn grandfather, and he learns that he has to change his ways and try to understand them as they all experience the joys and sorrows of growing up and growing old. ~ Alice Duncan, Rovi

"Found" is the story of an innocent teenage boy raised up in the Appalachian Mountains on a small old fashioned homestead devoid of modern conveniences and tucked away from the broader culture at large. Through a sudden tragedy, he suddenly finds himself cast out, alone and adrift into our high-speed, hi-tech modern world until he meets a troubled family who takes him into their home for better or for worse. What he learns about himself and what others around him discover about themselves brings new meaning to the phrase "testing your faith" (James 1:2-4).

Well meaning friends try to persuade Suzanne, a beautiful widow, to remarry and the choice seems to be between Frank, a philandering dentist, and Tony, a sensitive, failing sports trainer who helps her son.

Lonnie and Rick seem to be complete opposites, at first glance. A survivor of suicide, Lonnie is introverted and ill at ease around her parents, Lois and Harvey. Rick, meanwhile, is sunny and charismatic. But appearances can be deceiving, as their families learn when the teens begin a romance. Upset about Lonnie's influence on Rick, his parents forbid the pair to see each other -- with tragic consequences.

New mother Molly (Eléonore Hendricks) is overcome with the need to run away. Feeling abandoned by her husband and unable to connect with her infant son, she takes up an invitation from her old high school group of guy friends to go on a weekend trip to the mountains. Without the pressure of daily responsibilities and with the help of psychoactive mushrooms, Molly comes out of her shell and is ready to accept the beauty and love that can be found in nature. When Molly's “trip” turns into a dark out-of-body experience she is forced to choose between the person she was and the person she's become.

Two high school boys from different social worlds experience romantic feelings for each other. Edmar, a high-performing Filipino student, and Pili, a Native Hawaiian student-athlete, learn that navigating self-growth and teenage love in Hawaiʻi is as complicated as their understanding and love for Hawaiʻi and it’s ever-changing cultural landscape.

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.

In the forgotten corners of rural Virginia, Sheryl struggles to balance her work as a housekeeper and raising her two sons, fifteen year-old Marc and eleven year-old Stephen. Hoping to meet the love of her life and bring home a father for her boys, she frequents a depressing, weekly mixer for the towns aging singles set. Meanwhile, Marc is desperate to lose his virginity, and spends his days working at a used car lot. And his brother Stephen, in the throes of sexual discovery, becomes infatuated with his school teacher while hoping to win the approval of a group of peers who adamantly detest her.

Antoine, 13, spends the summer vacation with his parents in a rented cottage on an island in the middle of the Saint-Lawrence River. His neighbour, 17-year-old Anna, is an enigmatic and lively young woman. Antoine begins to experience the first stirrings of love-which soon yield a troubling brew of anxiety, desire and obsession. He eventually comes across a terrible secret that will forever change his life.

After experiencing a tragedy, Irish brothers Dara and Eoin move to rural France, where they become friends with young Bella, whose beauty and charm bewitches the emotionally unstable Dara.

Life on the Rock never seemed easy, but for Mitsy it is especially rough. The teenager has been abandoned by her mother, a particularly unfit parent prone to both the bottle and the sex trade. She is left to be brought up by her mercurial grandmother Bride, who is well-meaning but oppressively suffocating. Mitsy's dreams for the future hinge on her desire to be a hairdresser, but her current emotional well-being revolves around a wee dog named Sparky, an unwanted canine misfit to whom she becomes hopelessly attached. After Bride agrees to let Mitsy take the dog in as a pet, the teen tries desperately to create a happy, safe place for Sparky to thrive.

Miles From Home, is a tale of lost innocence. Miles Conway, 17, is force to fend for himself after his mother walks out on him and his brother, due to her drug addiction. Abandoned also by his brother he is homeless on the streets of Los Angeles. Miles is introduced to a group of teenage prostitutes and is seduced into a world of sex, money, and drugs. They become his family. Once he is confronted by his inner demon, it's too late. Innocence is lost. Miles is torn between his two worlds after he meets Natasha Freeman, 19, a free spirited college student. Without effort, Natasha shows Miles there is still beauty in life. In order to survive, he must learn to overcome his circumstances and recognize a blessing when he sees one. There is a war within him and Miles has to make a decision. Will he choose life or death? Miles quickly learns the greatest fear we will ever have to face is to confront the person inside.