Best movies like Penélope

The story frames on 7-year-old Maisie, caught in a custody battle between her mother – a rock and roll icon – and her father. What Maisie Knew is an evocative portrayal of the chaos of adult life seen entirely from a child’s point of view.

Two estranged half-brothers, Billy and Torch, reconnect during a brief jail stay. 20/20 Mike concocts a scheme in which the two of them will steal dope from some young couriers. The heist goes wrong when Billy shoots the couriers dead. They hole up in an abandoned building, and 20/20 Mike seeks help from an old cell mate, Tony.

During a heated argument with her sister Joan, Gail discovers the shocking news that she is adopted. With the reluctant support of her adoptive parents and baby sister Penny, Gail goes in search of her biological mother and true identity.

Ralph Cotter, a ruthless criminal, escapes violently from a farm prison. Then, he seduces a dead inmate’s sister, gets back quickly into the crime business, faces corrupt local cops who run the city’s underworld and meets a powerful tycoon’s whimsical daughter.

A revealing look at the life of Victoria Gotti, the daughter of notorious mob boss John Gotti.

Encouraged by her lover, Danielle kills her husband and goes on the lam with her infant daughter Cali. But the cops catch her and, en route to prison, she agrees to give custody of Cali to her arch rival, her sister Nikki. But on release from prison, Danielle will stop at nothing to get Cali back from Nikki's safe and healthy home.

A woman who was raped by a NetCar driver takes a job with the company to exact her revenge on her attacker after she becomes frustrated with the slow pace of the criminal Justice system.

A desperate mother is forced to break the law in order to protect her children from her abusive ex-husband, and rely on the kindness of strangers who help battered spouses to escape their tyrannical mates via an elaborate "underground railway" system.

In 2008, New York mother Tiffany Rubin faced every parent's worst nightmare when her six year old son Kobe vanished into thin air. Upon learning that Kobe had been kidnapped by his biological father and taken to South Korea, Tiffany seeks the assistance of American Association for Lost Children representative Mark Miller, who guides her through the arduous process of traveling to Korea, and getting Kobe back.

In the drama, a father, firmly believing that the baby daughter in his arms is not his own, abandons her upon the doorstep of the town drunk. Many years pass, and the man finds himself continually wracked with guilt about deserting her.

Duets is a road-trip comedy which revolves around the little known world of karaoke and the whimsical characters who inhabit it. All roads lead to Omaha, site of a national karaoke competition where this motley group of singers and stars come together for a blow-out sing-off.

Deadbeat dad kidnaps his kids from the bus to an abusive foster home and they go on a run. The cops are after them, they bicker constantly and his idea of a way out is grim, yet this dangerous ride might just turn them into a family.

A former US Operative, who lived in Russia in his earlier years and had been married there with a child, comes out of retirement to face down a former enemy, now running as a candidate for President in modern Russia. Working with a Russian policewoman, they work to uncover a plot to use biological weapons against certain factions of the Russian people to commit genocide. The virus would also be released in other populations, but would be treated making the candidate a hero. A side plot has the agent being reunited with his long lost daughter.

Young Tina lives with her mother and stepfather on a wildlife reserve in Kenya. While her stepfather believes this is a wonderful environment for her to grow up in, her mother becomes increasingly concerned by her behaviour. These concerns are reinforced when it is revealed that her daughter's best friend in the whole world is a fully grown lion. Worried that her daughter may be turning into a savage, she sends for her former husband, Tina's biological father, in the hope that he can take her back to civilization (in this case rural Connecticut). But it seems as though Tina's mother wants something more than a civilized upbringing for her daughter.

Amidst the devastation of post-crisis Spain, mother and daughter bluff and grift to keep up the lifestyle they think they deserve, bonding over common tragedy and an impending eviction.

Three people, three extraordinary stories. All lived out within a hundred London streets.

J.P. Tannen (Jon Voight) wants a second chance to be a father to his children ... but someone else has taken his place. Determined not to just be a friendly 'uncle' in their lives, he gets permission from his ex-wife Kathleen (Millie Perkins) and her new husband (Richard Crenna) to take the kids on a Mediterranean cruise. On the journey he comes to realise it's not that easy and, feeling overwhelmed, begins to doubt his abilities until a tragedy back home forces him to become the father he always hoped to be.

The story of 4 lives slammed together in a shocking moment. Intercutting between a carjacking and the separate stories of the 4 kids, we watch as they hurtle toward a life-changing end.

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.

After a gang of thugs brands a hard working truck driver a traitor and murders his bride, He retaliates by being even more violent than his attackers.

Jennifer's daughter is having nightmares and acting violently. It dawns on her that the child may be being sexually abused by her father. What is she to do when the court isn't favorable in the child's hour of need?

By a daring ruse and inside help, Pete Rennick, a noted criminal behind bars on federal charges, escapes from the prison, and all of the law-agencies and local police are out to catch him with roadblocks and every car searched, but the escapee gets away. Bill Hasford, a private detective, investigating a racket finds it leads to the wanted man, and has the biggest adventure of his career.

An ex-con sets up a program to straighten out hard-core prisoners. Things don't go as planned.

Nacho, a 13 year old boy, crosses the threshold of adolescence trying to find his place in life in all the wrong places: a dysfunctional family and a social setting that is corrupt and violent. Can the purity of first love survive the darkest aspects of our society?

While the fight for LGBTQ Civil Rights movement was gaining momentum, the 1970s witnessed horrific custody battles for lesbian mothers. Mom's Apple Pie: The Heart of the Lesbian Mothers’ Custody Movement revisits the early tumultuous years of the lesbian custody movement through the stories of five lesbian mothers and their four children. Narrated by Kate Clinton, the documentary interviews the sons and daughters who were separated from their mothers, the mothers themselves, and one woman who made the difficult decision to flee with her children.

Three women who share a familial bond but little more come to know each other better in this beautifully-photographed drama. Marie-Madeleine (Sylvie Drapeau) is a photographer in her mid-30s who, for the first time, has come into contact with Mado (France Arbour), her biological mother, who put her up for adoption shortly after she was born. Marie-Madeleine is to take a long road trip for a magazine assignment, and she invites Mado along. Joining the two women is Marie-Madeleine's daughter (Isadora Galwey), who has yet to meet her German father. The three women share their thoughts and ideas as they travel through an idyllic setting to photograph birds. Les Fantomes des Trois Madeleine was shown at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival as part of the Directors Fortnight series.

A group of children, ages 5 to 9, share their advice for parents to help kids adjust and cope when families go through a divorce. Through drawings, songs, photos and memories, these children share their stories of how divorce has impacted their lives. The result is a rare chance for parents to hear kids' insightful, funny, and often heartfelt thoughts on how to do a better job.

In the wake of his big brother’s violent death, 13-year-old Dayveon struggles to find his way in an economically depressed Arkansas town. With no parents and few role models around, Dayveon is soon torn between the lure of a local gang and the friendship of his sister’s boyfriend.

The Detroit Police launches a full-scale war against gun runners with the cooperation of the Feds and target a criminal named Rich. When a gun exchange goes bad and Rich’s old friend Angel, steps up big time and saves his life, they form a bond that makes his supplier and lover, Gabriella paranoid. But there is a snitch in the group and Gabriella’s biggest deal goes bad only to have an even bigger secret revealed, one that rocks Rich to his core.

After her mother is murdered by her stepfather, gifted 15 year old student Pearl goes to live with an ex-lover of her mother, a grumpy unemployed film director who, pending the results of a paternity test, may be her biological father.

Christmas for Miranda (Krakow) is a painful reminder of the family she never had. Her mother died when she was young, never revealing the identity of her father. But, three days before Christmas, she unexpectedly receives a clue as to the whereabouts that takes her to a beautiful New England town where she meets Ian (Matter), a young man who helps with her search. As the clues lead to her father’s identity and Miranda discovers the possibility of love in Ian, and she learns that her father lived in the small town and now she knows his family (her brother and her biological father’s wife). She faces a terrible decision… Should she share the truth and risk losing the family she has just found, or leave and keep the secret forever? This Christmas promises to be life-changing for Miranda with a new chance at life and love.

Californian widower Joel Wallace, a successful businessman, is a great catch in a grand mansion, but absorbed by his work. His daughter Felice writes to a TV Christmas special, hoping for a 'new mammy'.

Two mothers, one biological, one stepmother, fight for the custody and love of 13-year-old Andrea.

Doña Refugio works in an office until the bounce and has three children: Fernando who is studying to be a lawyer, doctor and Nacho Edmundo to work in a company as a truck driver gas. Things become difficult within the family and each seek solutions to economic oppression living.

Martín is a 13-year-old orphan shoeshine boy from La Paz, Bolivia, who has lived his entire life in the streets with the hope and desire to find his father. Driven by this desire and his imagination, Martin begins to suspect that one of his best clients is his father; Mr Novoa, a lonely tailor whose only emotional bond is his dog, Astor, a fine German shepherd whom he cares for like a son.