Best movies like The Cage and the Dream

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.

Amanda is a divorced woman who makes a living as a photographer. During the Fall of the year Amanda begins to see the world in new and different ways when she begins to question her role in life, her relationships with her career and men and what it all means. As the layers to her everyday experiences fall away insertions in the story with scientists, and philosophers and religious leaders impart information directly to an off-screen interviewer about academic issues, and Amanda begins to understand the basis to the quantum world beneath. During her epiphany as she considers the Great Questions raised by the host of inserted thinkers, she slowly comprehends the various inspirations and begins to see the world in a new way.

When neighborhood kids begin vanishing, Jenny suspects her child psychologist husband, Carter, may be resuming the deranged experiments his father performed on Carter when he was young. Now, it falls to Jenny to unravel the mystery. And as more children disappear, she fears for her own child's safety.

Retired wealthy sea captain Jim McKay arrives in the vast expanse of the West to marry fiancée Pat Terrill. McKay is a man whose values and approach to life are a mystery to the ranchers and ranch foreman Steve Leech takes an immediate dislike to him. Pat is spoiled, selfish and controlled by her wealthy father, Major Henry Terrill. The Major is involved in a ruthless civil war, over watering rights for cattle, with a rough hewn clan led by Rufus Hannassey. The land in question is owned by Julie Maragon and both Terrill and Hannassey want it.

When Lindsay Porter, responsible mother and head of the local neighborhood watch program, falls for Stephen, the handsome new bachelor on the block, she begins to fear she and her daughter's lives may be in grave danger.

Led by a strange dream, scientist Aki Ross struggles to collect the eight spirits in the hope of creating a force powerful enough to protect the planet. With the aid of the Deep Eyes Squadron and her mentor, Dr. Sid, Aki must save the Earth from its darkest hate and unleash the spirits within.

A retired and widowed Chinese master chef Chu and his family live in modern day Taipei, Taiwan. He lives with his three attractive daughters, all of whom are unattached. Soon, each of the daughters encounter new men in their lives. When these new relationships blossom, stereotypes are broken and the living situation within the family changes. Since the family has difficulty expressing their love for each other, the intricate preparation of banquet quality dishes for their Sunday dinners is the surrogate for their familial feelings.

In a neighborhood where fighting is stitched into the fabric of everyday life, Miguel has never found himself in one. However, when a combination of events turn his life upside down, Miguel and his friends enter into a series of misadventures.

A man, Milan (played by Johnny Hallyday) steps off a train, into a small French village. As he waits for the day when he will rob the town bank, he runs into an old retired poetry teacher named M. Manesquier (Jean Rochefort). The two men strike up a strange friendship and explore the road not taken, each wanting to live the other's life.

Confusing realities surface in this paranoid film dealing with the fragile nature of a young woman recovering from rape and an apparent attempted suicide. In one reality, she is a killer destroyer of men. In another she is the new wife on a Jamaican honeymoon with her husband (William Baldwin), who is trying to help her recover. Which is real is the question as the story unfolds.

The big-screen translation of the successful television show of the 1950's. Arden stars as Connie Brooks, wisecracking English teacher at Madison High School, still hoping to tie the knot with shy biology teacher Philip Boynton (Robert Rockwell).

A lonely boy befriends a vicious stallion.

Documents the daily lives of a small community of the living deceased who make their home in Los Angeles.

Jackie Foster, a dynamic Assistant District Attorney and single mom, is looking forward to wrapping up her latest case and spending Christmas with Gracie, her adorable and precocious, eight-year old daughter. But when Jackie’s estranged dad, Jack , a gruff retired police officer, unexpectedly shows up at her door, they will be forced to confront old wounds.

A retired teacher sells her apartment to a group of gangsters.

A group of shark-attack survivors is hunted by a supernatural shark that haunts their dreams.

Poppy Summerall is hired near Halloween as a temporary nanny by Ryan Lawson, a widowed, work-obsessed executive. Through a series of adventures, the eternally optimistic Poppy sets out to teach Ryan and his two young children what is important in life - unconditional love, family and the joy of everyday occurrences. Poppy and Ryan soon find they are drawn to each other. Could it become more than temporary?

Rex is an old man who is bitter about never becoming famous and having lived a life without any meaning. After suffering a stroke, he ends up in a nursing home staffed by Latin American immigrants. Put off by the situation, he focuses his energy on getting out, which places him at odds with the Latino workers. However, their relationship takes on new meaning when it is discovered that he once shook hands with Vicente Fernandez, a Mexican singer, producer and actor idolized throughout Latin culture. The employees soon begin to treat Rex like the celebrity he's always dreamed of being.

Russas, a small town in northeastern Brazil, is the home of Pacarrete, a grumpy retired dance teacher who dreams of getting a big shot and starring at a dance spectacle for the whole town to see. She's close to fulfilling that dream, but not without overcoming a few impediments along the way.

Carmen is a good student with a bad attitude who lives for dancing in the underground clubs of Chicago. She yearns to be 'somebody' but is afraid to believe in herself. Her immigrant Mexican, working-class parents want her to stay in school and get an education, so she attends junior college while working at a grocery store. Carmen's professor catches her performing one day in the neighborhood and challenges her to audition to a formal dance school in California. She gets into a fight with her chaotic family and runs away to her best friend Gina's place only to find out Gina's been getting beat up by her boyfriend. Meanwhile, Carmen's boyfriend, Jared wants her to commit and move in with him. Pulled apart in every direction, her dream of dancing fades. Can Carmen overcome her fears and take the biggest chance of her life, or will she succumb to her self-doubt?

After a violent storm, Ali awakens on a deserted beach, sick and disoriented. They'll be looking for him and he must keep moving. Ivan, a local Cuban, takes Ali to the apartment of his sister Manuela, a dancer in Havana. At first, she is apprehensive to take in this tormented stranger, but she relents as she feels drawn to this mysterious person who has shown up on her door step. Ali is haunted by nightmares, which bring him to the horror of the interrogation room at Guantanamo, and by startling visions linking his past and his present life. But are these nightmares flash backs to his experiences in the prison or just dreams of a tortured soul?

When a washed-up boxer invites a British priest to minister in his South Chicago neighborhood, he never suspects that the priest is not who he says he is.

A special Christmas tree decorated with handwritten wishes helps Evan and his group of orphaned students develop a connection and a sense of family.

A lonesome man at the threshold of death finds himself trapped in a place called the Endless.

Zel, a lonely young man's life changes when his enigmatic neighbour offers to help him overcome social anxiety.

A man and a woman team up to challenge and destroy their oppressive government's mind-altering technology designed to control people.

Judah is a young man with a condition - he dreams while he's still awake. His imagination makes it difficult for him to process the loss of an important person in his life, so when his cousin contacts him with a ridiculous scheme to get at the riches of their eccentric Uncle Airmid who has disappeared, Judah agrees to go along with it.

Socially isolated dream-programmer Norman is desperately and secretly in love with his new boss, Claudia. When promoted to program a dream for a high profile client, Norman inadvertently bungles the operation and is forced to share his own fantasy dream involving Claudia. When the lines between dream and reality begin to blur, Norman questions if he is in fact dreaming or is stuck in his client's dream.

Lucid Dreaming forces the dreamer's dreamworld to merge with his waking one. But at what cost to the dreamer's grasp on reality? Dreams are doorways, but what are they really for? And, if you feel you must know, beware the TRICKSTER.

Regina, a lonely 65 year old who works on the neighborhood watch for the police in Copacabana, believes to have witnessed a murder in the building across the street, and ends up getting involved with the suspect in a potentially dangerous chain of events that will force her to take stock of her life.

A woman with increasingly disturbing and violent dreams consults a famous sleep therapist known for his controversial treatments. Her experience plummets her into the dark, twisted depths of her subconscious, grasping for her sanity.

Two young teenagers believe their worst issues are within their everyday lives and homes, until strange occurrences and mysterious deaths begin to terrorize the small neighborhood.

A teenage boy investigates lucid dreaming, he discovers frightening things happening in his home and to his mother, that turn out not to be actual dreams at all.

A Zen priest in San Francisco and cookbook author use Zen Buddhism and cooking to relate to everyday life.

An unflinching verité portrait of the children of Stanton Elementary School in North Philadelphia, an inner-city neighborhood where 90% of the students live below the poverty line. Seen through the viewpoint of devoted principal Deanna Burney, the film shows Stanton as grossly underfunded, understaffed, and filled with children struggling to overcome their difficulties. But for these at-risk kids, however, the hope for their future survives only in the success of their education. A captivating series of vignettes concerning children growing up outside the American dream, echoing current “hot-button” issues in our country’s ongoing political discussion.