Bastard Out of Carolina
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer a…
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Movies Like Despair
If you liked Despair, this Cinento mix gives you more titles with a similar feeling, rhythm, tension, comfort level, and after-watch taste. Start with 16 picks, then load more when you want a wider path.
Movies Like Despair
The Secret Life of Bees
Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationshi…
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Starving in Suburbia
When seventeen-year-old Hannah stumbles upon a website about Thinspiration--an online community devoted to anorexia as a life choice--she becomes an obsessive follower of the site …
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The Trials of Cate McCall
In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicte…
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Strange Weather
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.…
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Helen
On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depressio…
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The Beaver
Suffering from a severe case of depression, toy company CEO Walter Black begins using a beaver hand puppet to help him open up to his family. With his father seemingly going insane…
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The Truth About Emanuel
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.…
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Hounddog
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.…
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Call Me Crazy: A Five Film
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.…
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Goodbye June
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.…
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I Believe in Unicorns
Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.…
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The Safety of Objects
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, an…
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Palm Trees and Power Lines
A disconnected teenage girl enters a relationship with a man twice her age. She sees him as the solution to all her problems, but his intentions are not what they seem.…
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Killer's Kiss
Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Ra…
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The Human Voice
A woman watches time pass beside the suitcases of her ex-lover (who is supposed to come pick them up but never arrives) and a restless dog who doesn't understand that his master ha…
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Iron Jawed Angels
Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.…
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Suburbia
When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like…
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The Nest
Rory is an ambitious entrepreneur who brings his American wife and kids to his native country, England, to explore new business opportunities. After abandoning the sanctuary of the…
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Lucky Them
More interested in partying and flirting with young musicians than work, veteran rock journalist Ellie Klug has one last chance to prove her value to her magazine’s editor: a no-st…
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Tuesday
A mother and her teenage daughter must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird.…
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What Maisie Knew
In New York City, a young girl is caught in the middle of her parents' bitter custody battle.…
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The Crush
A precocious and obsessive teenager develops a crush on a naive writer with harrowing consequences.…
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Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland
Based on the best-selling book, Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days, and told through the eyes of Jackson's trusted bodyguards, Bill Whitfield and Javon…
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Girl in the Box
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as …
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The Greatest
Teenagers Rose and Bennett were in love, and then a car crash claimed Bennett's life. He left behind a grieving mother, father and younger brother, and Rose was left all alone. She…
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Nine Days
A bureaucrat interviews five souls to decide which of them will be given a life on Earth. But he soon faces an existential challenge of his own.…
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The Experiment
20 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.…
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Sky
A woman embarks on a journey alone across the United States after fleeing from her violent husband.…
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Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). …
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Dream Lover
Not long after they cross paths at an art gallery, architect Ray Reardon and hypnotically sensual Lena are married with children. But as strange incidents occur, Ray begins to real…
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Thirteen
When 13-year-old Tracy befriends Evie, the most popular girl in school, her life is turned upside down as Evie introduces her to a world of sex, drugs, and money. But it isn’t long…
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The Mustang
While participating in a rehabilitation program training wild mustangs, a convict at first struggles to connect with the horses and his fellow inmates, but he learns to confront hi…
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...And Justice for All
An ethical Baltimore defense lawyer disgusted with rampant legal corruption is forced to defend a judge he despises in a rape trial under the threat of being disbarred.…
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Holler
In a forgotten pocket of Southern Ohio where American manufacturing and opportunity are drying up, a determined young woman finds a ticket out when she is accepted to college. Alon…
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The Unforgivable
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.…
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Hello
An emotionally unavailable flight attendant meets a potential love interest and later finds out that her "perfect guy" has ulterior motives. As the clock ticks down on New Year's E…
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TalhotBlond
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately lead…
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Rogue Agent
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.…
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The Enforcer
A noir thriller set in Miami, the film follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cyber sex trafficking, putting a young runaway he’s befriended …
Open full watch pageFAQ
How should I use Movies Like Despair?
Start with the first row of picks and choose the title that matches your mood tonight. Use Load More when you want a wider path without leaving the same feeling zone.
Why do these picks belong together?
Cinento looks at the feeling behind the search: tone, pacing, tension, comfort level, genre lane, and the kind of emotional aftertaste people usually want from this mix.
Is this mix only for people who already know the main title?
No. The title is a shortcut. You can use the mix even if you simply want the same mood, pressure, or story energy.
Can I find official watch options from here?
Yes. Open any title card and check the Stream / Rent / Buy section for official provider options when they are available in your region.