Best movies like Under the Naked Sky

In the 1940s a 40-year-old woman with five healthy children gives birth to a girl with Down's syndrome.

When his brother disappears, mentally disabled Langston Bellows (Gbenga Akinnagbe) is left without a protector in Brooklyn's housing projects. Now under the control of his abusive mother (Alfre Woodard) Langston must take his future into his own hands. He sets out to find the one doctor he believes can cure him, a celebrity magazine columnist who touts questionable prescription drug cocktails. If Langston can become "mentally excellent", it will mean moving into an apartment of his own with his girlfriend, who may herself be a creation of his wishful thinking. Landing in the unscrupulous world of pharmaceutical marketing, the search for his mysterious doctor and hero leads to some unwanted discoveries. Langston strives for independence from his prior life; from his mother, from his neighborhood and from his fractured mind - while all around him people are not who they seem.

Mary Thomas, a free-spirited musician, has spent the past two decades traveling the world, but at age 41 she decides to go back to college and finish her degree so that, for once, she can finally finish something she started. Back at her old university, she becomes close friends with her popular and charming "peer tutor" -- only to learn that he is actually the son she gave up 20 years earlier.

Down the road from Woodstock in the early 1970s, a revolution blossomed in a ramshackle summer camp for disabled teenagers, transforming their young lives and igniting a landmark movement.

A teenager with cerebral palsy attempts to become pen pals with her idol, Elvis Presley.

An awkward 13-year-old leaves her cranky grandfather in rural Texas, to live with her mother in Fort Worth.

Michael is a 24-year-old who has cerebral palsy and long-term resident of the Carrigmore Residential Home for the Disabled, run by the formidable Eileen. His life is transformed when the maverick Rory O'Shea moves in.

Iona returns to the island where she was born with her teenage son to seek refuge from a violent crime in Glasgow. Iona's return exposes her tormented son, Bull, to a way of life she rejected when she left the island and sends a shockwave through the family she left behind.

A sailor takes a short leave to visit his hometown and see if his mother is still alive.

A man with a split personality fools his small town into believing his two alter egos are a man and a wife, although a struggling young mother holds the key to his past and sparks a battle between the two personalities.

A Colorado family is thrust into the international media spotlight when they fight for the rights of their 6-year-old transgender daughter in a landmark civil rights case.

Juvenile delinquents (Joyce Holden, Glenda Farrell, Harvey Lembeck) trap a neighborhood hoodlum in New York.

Korean War--era veterans and ex-classmates "Gunner" Casselman and "Sonny" Burns reunite upon their return home. Gunner, who spent the war years abroad, is trying to convince his mother that his gal Marty is good enough for him, while Sonny, who was stationed stateside, is torn between loyal Buddy and tempting Gale Ann. As they commiserate, the men realize that they're outgrowing the lives they lived before the war.

A young man journeys through a bizarre land inhabited by mentally impaired people, demons, and snails.

Child abuse, mental illness, and forbidden love converge in this mystery involving a mother and daughter who were thought to be living a fairy tale life that turned out to be a living nightmare.

A horror film festival, held in a theater which was once the scene of a tragic fire, turns into a real life horror show.

My Flesh and Blood is a 2003 documentary film by Jonathan Karsh chronicling a year in the life of the Tom family. The Tom family is notable as the mother, Susan, adopted eleven children, most of whom had serious disabilities or diseases. The film itself is notable for handling the sensitive subject matter in an unsentimental way that is more uplifting than one might expect.

Falling Like This showcases compelling performances by two young actors, Brian Vaughan and Megan Wilson. Writer/Director Dani Minnick has crafted a compassionate examination of the ragged edge of suburban life as characterized by Boyd, a charming, vulnerable and inveterate juvenile delinquent whose love nearly derails the life of a middle-class teenage girl. The understated themes of adolescent rebellion, adult responsibility and the redemptive power of love are woven elegantly into this dream-like film.

When the matriarch of the family suddenly dies, custody of a mentally disabled mother is inherited by her normal daughter.

A mother tracks down the first person ever diagnosed with autism, now an elderly man in rural Mississippi, to learn if his life story holds promise for her own autistic son. Her journey exposes a startling record of cruelty and kindness alike, framed by forces like race, money and privilege – but leads to hope that more of us are learning to have the backs of those who are "different".

A heroin-addicted artist (Thom Hoffman) hugs his self-imposed isolation. While he was in an empty factory to painting, he heroin syringe. He dreams that he is like an eagle above the people flies out. When his mother becomes disabled after a failed suicide attempt, she asks him. He is looking for her for the first time in twelve years again. Together they take a radical decision.

The Christmas Board of Directors has decided to cancel Christmas since children everywhere have lost the true spirit of giving. But Santa Claus, not willing to give up his favorite holiday without a fight, demands 30 days to prove them wrong. The board assigns him what seems like an impossible mission: he must change the hearts of two self-absorbed kids and make them see the true meaning of Christmas.

Two young men journey across the U.S.A to honor one's mother by spreading her ashes at monuments she always dreamed of visiting. Along the way they encounter interesting characters and dangerous situations that force them to question their own character and their life-long friendship. Marital strife, jail time, car chases, old secrets and a demolition derby all threaten to derail their trip and their lives.

When aspiring filmmaker David is mandated by a judge to attend a social program at the Jewish Community Center, he is sure of one thing: he doesn't belong there. But when he's assigned to visit the Brooklyn Bridge with the vivacious Sarah, sparks fly and his convictions are tested. Their budding relationship must weather Sarah's romantic past, David's judgmental mother, and their own pre-conceptions of what love is supposed to look like.

Two brothers fed up with daily life, quit their blue-collar jobs and with a single-minded determination head off to the paradise promise of Key West! But pool sharks, mermaids, tourist traps, and feisty alligators are just a few of the surprises that threaten to derail their not-so-well made plans.

Biopic chronicling the early life of gay nineties-era songwriter Paul Dresser as he outgrows his job as carnival entertainer and moves up into New York society, writing one hit song after another. Despite his egotistical behavior, he manages to woo and win Sally Elliott, one of the more popular songstresses of the day

Quickie-mart employee Melissa and paraplegic Richie are very much in love. Supported only by Melissa’s small hourly wage, they are nevertheless thrilled to learn that Melissa is pregnant. Then their situation deteriorates, and their tenuous financial situation threatens to bring their happy life crashing down.

A classical musician travels to the South of France to escape his demons and wait for his new love, a younger woman named Sophia. Trying to come to peace with his new life in these slow, peaceful surroundings, his seemingly chance meeting with Peter will threaten to derail everything.

A young couple employed by a pet crematorium finds fulfilment in respectfully removing cadavers. Their love blossoms in an environment where the boundaries between human and animal are fading. When they hit a stray dog, their relationship starts to derail.

Quirky stranger Donovan (Colin Firth) blows into the Scottish village of Port Clyde. There, he rents a room with the Pannick family and ingratiates himself into their lives. Lucy (Katy Murphy) is the long-suffering matriarch of the clan, caring for her senile grandmother (Liz Smith) and mentally disabled brother, Sandy (David Brown). When the town cancels Sandy's train route to school, Donovan suggests starting their own bus line. They do, much to the consternation of local officials.

A young woman was left mentally disabled after a car crash twenty years previously, a condition which her mother has never come to accept. Thus she favors her other "normal" daughter and basically tolerates the other daughter's existence. It also doesn't help that her husband also has some mental disabilities. As the family slowly divides, the older daughter's unconditional love rises.

Odd, eccentric specialist Dr. Karn guides unknowing patients through the reincarnation transition. When Harrison experiences mysterious recurring dreams, he turns to Dr. Karn for help and reveals his encounter with a woman he loved in a previous life. Noticing a glitch in the system, the doctor must fix the issue before permanently derailing his patient's future.

Type A personality, Sophie outgrows her job at a small mediation company, and secures a job at the famous Lower Manhattan mediation and wellness firm, Floating Lotus. Always up for a challenge, Sophie dives headfirst into her role as Associate Mediator. She finds herself at loggerheads with the companies chief Life Coach and lothario, Jason Sharpe who is the son of the firm’s President. Jason’s a loveable rouge, who charms his way into people’s hearts. The two are forced to work together.

After her career is derailed by her manager-fiancé, the reigning Princess of Christmas and defuncted R&B singer retreats to her family's home for the holidays, where her mother convinces her to direct the family's ragtag church choir so they can win a Christmas Choir Competition.

Mark and Andrew are two disabled men. When they meet, an incredible attraction between them emerges but it can only flourish as a "mental construct". What they have is a virtual kind of love, a fantasy, but also the awareness that nothing will ever be the same again.