Recommended Films about Children
by johndavies007 | created - 05 Mar 2014 | updated - 13 Nov 2021 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Alice in the Cities (1974)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama
A German journalist is saddled with a nine-year-old girl after encountering her mother at a New York airport.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Yella Rottländer, Rüdiger Vogler, Lisa Kreuzer, Edda Köchl
Votes: 13,263
2. Mirror (1975)
Not Rated | 107 min | Biography, Drama
A dying man in his forties remembers his past. His childhood, his mother, the war, personal moments and things that tell of the recent history of all the Russian nation.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Margarita Terekhova, Filipp Yankovskiy, Ignat Daniltsev, Oleg Yankovskiy
Votes: 52,268 | Gross: $0.18M
3. Pather Panchali (1955)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama
Impoverished priest Harihar Ray, dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work.
Director: Satyajit Ray | Stars: Kanu Bannerjee, Karuna Bannerjee, Subir Banerjee, Chunibala Devi
Votes: 38,567 | Gross: $0.54M
4. Eternity and a Day (1998)
Unrated | 137 min | Drama
Famous writer Alexander is very ill and has little time left to live. He meets a little boy on the street, who is an illegal immigrant from Albania, and goes on a journey with him to take the boy home.
Director: Theodoros Angelopoulos | Stars: Bruno Ganz, Isabelle Renauld, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Ahilleas Skevis
Votes: 14,440 | Gross: $0.11M
5. The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, Fantasy
In 1940, after watching and being traumatized by the movie Frankenstein (1931), a sensitive seven year-old girl living in a small Spanish village drifts into her own fantasy world.
Director: Víctor Erice | Stars: Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera, Ana Torrent, Isabel Tellería
Votes: 20,681
6. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real dad hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.
Director: Charles Laughton | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, James Gleason
Votes: 97,395 | Gross: $0.65M
7. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
G | 86 min | Animation, Comedy, Family
When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Hitoshi Takagi, Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi
Votes: 380,472 | Gross: $1.11M
8. Where Is the Friend's House? (1987)
Not Rated | 83 min | Drama, Family
Eight-year-old Ahmed has mistakenly taken his friend Mohammad's notebook. He wants to return it, or else his friend will be expelled from school. The boy determinedly sets out to find Mohammad's home in the neighbouring village.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Babek Ahmed Poor, Ahmed Ahmed Poor, Khodabakhsh Defaei, Iran Outari
Votes: 18,718
9. Kes (1969)
PG-13 | 111 min | Drama, Family
A working-class English boy spends his free time caring for and training his pet kestrel.
Director: Ken Loach | Stars: David Bradley, Brian Glover, Freddie Fletcher, Lynne Perrie
Votes: 22,948
10. My Childhood (1972)
Not Rated | 46 min | Biography, Drama
The First part of Bill Douglas' influential trilogy harks back to his impoverished upbringing in early-'40s Scotland. Cinema was his only escape - he paid for it with the money he made from... See full summary »
Director: Bill Douglas | Stars: Stephen Archibald, Hughie Restorick, Jean Taylor Smith, Karl Fieseler
Votes: 1,395
11. Berta's Motives (1984)
115 min | Drama
The life of a young girl who plays with little animals and insects is suddenly changed with the arrival of a film crew and a strange man.
Director: José Luis Guerín | Stars: Sílvia Gracia, Iñaki Aierra, Rafael Díaz, Carmen Ávila
Votes: 147
12. Aniki Bóbó (1942)
71 min | Drama, Family
The story takes place in the old streets of Porto and by the banks of the Douro River. A gang of very young kids has just accepted a new member, Carlitos, a shy boy who has "played it tough... See full summary »
Director: Manoel de Oliveira | Stars: Nascimento Fernandes, Vital dos Santos, António Palma, Armando Pedro
Votes: 1,887
13. The Tale of Tales (1979)
29 min | Animation, Short
Distant, well-worn memories of childhood are inhabited by a little gray wolf. Through astonishing imagery, the memory of all of Russia is depicted.
Director: Yuri Norstein | Star: Aleksandr Kalyagin
Votes: 4,135
14. Hugo (2011)
PG | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
In 1931 Paris, an orphan living in the walls of a train station gets wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Lee, Ben Kingsley
Votes: 336,881 | Gross: $73.86M
15. Mädchen in Uniform (1931)
Passed | 87 min | Drama, Romance
At an all-girls boarding school, Manuela falls in love with a teacher, to terrific consequences.
Directors: Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich | Stars: Dorothea Wieck, Hertha Thiele, Emilia Unda, Hedy Krilla
Votes: 3,740
16. The River (1951)
Approved | 99 min | Drama, Romance
The growing pains of three young women contrast with the immutability of the holy Bengal River, around which their daily lives unfold.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Patricia Walters, Nora Swinburne, Esmond Knight, Arthur Shields
Votes: 6,890
17. The Red Balloon (1956)
Not Rated | 34 min | Short, Comedy, Drama
A red balloon with a mind of its own follows a little boy around the streets of Paris.
Director: Albert Lamorisse | Stars: Pascal Lamorisse, Sabine Lamorisse, Georges Sellier, Vladimir Popov
Votes: 20,130
18. Innocence (II) (2004)
R | 122 min | Drama, Mystery
A look inside an offbeat boarding school for young girls.
Director: Lucile Hadzihalilovic | Stars: Zoé Auclair, Lea Bridarolli, Bérangère Haubruge, Marion Cotillard
Votes: 6,451
19. El Sur (1983)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A woman reflects on her childhood relationship with her father, attempting to understand the depths of his despair and the truth of his myths.
Director: Víctor Erice | Stars: Omero Antonutti, Sonsoles Aranguren, Icíar Bollaín, Lola Cardona
Votes: 6,156
20. The White Ribbon (2009)
R | 144 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Christian Friedel, Ernst Jacobi, Leonie Benesch, Ulrich Tukur
Votes: 77,674 | Gross: $2.22M
21. The 400 Blows (1959)
Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama
A young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, Claire Maurier, Guy Decomble
Votes: 128,102
22. Naked Childhood (1968)
Not Rated | 83 min | Drama
An anguished foster child takes to mischief and lies as his foster parents do their best to love and care for him. But it might be too little, too late in this emotionally devastating portrayal of the orphaned child.
Director: Maurice Pialat | Stars: Michel Terrazon, Linda Gutenberg, Raoul Billerey, Pierrette Deplanque
Votes: 2,697
23. Fanny and Alexander (1982)
R | 188 min | Drama
Two young Swedish children in the 1900s experience the many comedies and tragedies of their lively and affectionate theatrical family, the Ekdahls.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Bertil Guve, Pernilla Allwin, Kristina Adolphson, Börje Ahlstedt
Votes: 67,513 | Gross: $4.97M
24. Muddy River (1981)
105 min | Drama
In post-War Japan, a boy from a noodle store-owning family befriends a neighboring boy living in poverty.
Director: Kôhei Oguri | Stars: Takahiro Tamura, Mariko Kaga, Nobutaka Asahara, Makiko Shibata
Votes: 1,036
25. Moving (1993)
125 min | Drama
Renko, a girl in the sixth grade, is at first unperturbed by her parents' decision to separate. With the companionship of her boyfriend, Minoru, and Sally, a classmate in the same boat, ... See full summary »
Director: Shinji Sômai | Stars: Kiichi Nakai, Junko Sakurada, Tomoko Tabata, Mariko Sudo
Votes: 679
26. Landscape in the Mist (1988)
TV-MA | 127 min | Drama
Two children journey the long road to Germany to find the man they believe to be their father.
Director: Theodoros Angelopoulos | Stars: Michalis Zeke, Tania Palaiologou, Stratos Tzortzoglou, Eva Kotamanidou
Votes: 9,654
27. Ivan's Childhood (1962)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, War
During WWII, Soviet orphan Ivan Bondarev strikes up a friendship with three sympathetic Soviet officers while working as a scout behind the German lines.
Directors: Andrei Tarkovsky, Eduard Abalov | Stars: Nikolay Burlyaev, Valentin Zubkov, Evgeniy Zharikov, Stepan Krylov
Votes: 39,946
28. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
PG | 115 min | Drama, Mystery
During a rural summer picnic, a few students and a teacher from an Australian girls' school vanish without a trace. Their absence frustrates and haunts the people left behind.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Rachel Roberts, Anne-Louise Lambert, Vivean Gray, Helen Morse
Votes: 41,056 | Gross: $0.23M
29. The White Balloon (1995)
Unrated | 85 min | Drama, Family
Several people try to help a little girl to find the money her mom gave her to buy a goldfish with.
Director: Jafar Panahi | Stars: Aida Mohammadkhani, Mohsen Kafili, Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy, Anna Borkowska
Votes: 8,245 | Gross: $0.47M
30. Chronicle of a Boy Alone (1965)
79 min | Drama
CHRONICLE OF A BOY ALONE, is an indictment of a fascist regime running roughshod over its most vulnerable citizens, its children. Focusing on the bleak life of eleven-year-old bad boy Polin... See full summary »
Director: Leonardo Favio | Stars: Diego Puente, Tino Pascali, Cacho Espíndola, Victoriano Moreira
Votes: 813
31. White Mane (1953)
Approved | 40 min | Short, Adventure, Drama
In the Camargue, France, a young boy bonds with a white haired horse that escaped from ranchers.
Director: Albert Lamorisse | Stars: Alain Emery, Laurent Roche, Clan-Clan, Pascal Lamorisse
Votes: 2,319
32. Cría Cuervos (1976)
PG | 105 min | Drama
In the twilight of Francisco Franco's dictatorship, an 8-year-old orphan and her two sisters find shelter in the house of their stern aunt and try their best to acclimatize to a new reality. Can they summon up the courage to grow up?
Director: Carlos Saura | Stars: Ana Torrent, Conchita Pérez, Mayte Sanchez, Geraldine Chaplin
Votes: 11,406
33. Sundays and Cybèle (1962)
Not Rated | 111 min | Drama
Story of a lonely young girl who is befriended by an innocent but emotionally disabled veteran of the French Indochina War.
Director: Serge Bourguignon | Stars: Hardy Krüger, Nicole Courcel, Patricia Gozzi, Daniel Ivernel
Votes: 4,800
34. Hope and Glory (1987)
PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Bill, a young boy living on the outskirts of London experiences the exhilaration of World War II. During this period, Bill learns about sex, death, love, hypocrisy, and the faults of adults as he prowls the ruins of bombed houses.
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Sarah Miles, David Hayman, Sebastian Rice-Edwards, Geraldine Muir
Votes: 14,603 | Gross: $10.02M
35. Eldra (2002)
80 min | Drama
A gypsy girl arrives in Bethesda to stay with her grandparents.
Director: Timothy Lyn | Stars: Iona Jones, Rhys Richards, Leisa Mererid, John Ogwen
Votes: 28
36. The Return (2003)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
In the Russian wilderness, two brothers face a range of new, conflicting emotions when their father - a man they know only through a single photograph - resurfaces.
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev | Stars: Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin Lavronenko, Nataliya Vdovina
Votes: 47,514 | Gross: $0.50M
37. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)
Not Rated | 77 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Surreal tale in which love, fear, sex, and religion merge into one fantastic world. Based on a classical Czech novel of the same title.
Director: Jaromil Jires | Stars: Jaroslava Schallerová, Helena Anýzová, Petr Kopriva, Jirí Prýmek
Votes: 11,237
38. Murmur of the Heart (1971)
R | 118 min | Comedy, Drama
As France is nearing the end of the first Indochina War, an open-minded teenage boy finds himself torn between a rebellious urge to discover love, and the ever-present, almost dominating affection of his beloved mother.
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Lea Massari, Benoît Ferreux, Daniel Gélin, Michael Lonsdale
Votes: 10,852 | Gross: $0.35M
39. Goodbye, Children (1987)
PG | 104 min | Drama, War
A French boarding school run by priests seems to be a haven from World War II until a new student arrives. Occupying the next bed in the dormitory to the top student in his class, the two young boys begin to form a bond.
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejtö, Francine Racette, Stanislas Carré de Malberg
Votes: 36,127 | Gross: $4.54M
40. Bashu, the Little Stranger (1989)
120 min | Drama, War
An Iranian boy is lost after fleeing home for his life; his family has been killed during the Iran-Iraq war. He's saved and trained by a middle-aged woman.
Director: Bahram Beyzaie | Stars: Susan Taslimi, Parviz Poorhosseini, Adnan Afravian, Golshan Anooshe
Votes: 3,205
41. Mouchette (1967)
Not Rated | 81 min | Drama
A young girl living in the French countryside suffers constant indignities at the hand of alcoholism and her fellow man.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Nadine Nortier, Jean-Claude Guilbert, Marie Cardinal, Paul Hébert
Votes: 12,989
42. Paper Moon (1973)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Ryan O'Neal, Tatum O'Neal, Madeline Kahn, John Hillerman
Votes: 52,474 | Gross: $30.93M
43. Bes Vakit (2006)
Not Rated | 111 min | Drama
The pain of growing up, as seen by three Turkish youths: Ömer, the son of the local imam, who wishes the death of his father; his best friend, Yakup, who's enamored with the village ... See full summary »
Director: Reha Erdem | Stars: Ozen Ozkan, Ali Bey Kayali, Elit Iscan, Bülent Emin Yarar
Votes: 4,402 | Gross: $0.01M
44. Coraline (2009)
PG | 100 min | Animation, Drama, Family
Wandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, an 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life. In order to stay in the fantasy, she must make a frighteningly real sacrifice.
Director: Henry Selick | Stars: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, Jennifer Saunders
Votes: 263,907 | Gross: $75.29M
45. The Apple (1998)
86 min | Drama
After twelve years of imprisonment by their own parents, two sisters are finally released by social workers to face the outside world for the first time.
Director: Samira Makhmalbaf | Stars: Massoumeh Naderi, Zahra Naderi, Ghorban Ali Naderi, Azizeh Mohamadi
Votes: 2,745 | Gross: $0.12M
46. Come and See (1985)
Not Rated | 142 min | Drama, Thriller, War
After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
Director: Elem Klimov | Stars: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas
Votes: 97,333
47. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
R | 114 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
After being institutionalized in a mental hospital, Su-mi reunites with her sister, Su-yeon, and they return to live at their country home. But strange events plague the house, leading to surprising revelations and a shocking conclusion.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Lim Soo-jung, Yum Jung-ah, Kim Kap-su, Moon Geun-young
Votes: 68,288
48. Children of the Beehive (1948)
86 min | Drama
The movie focuses on the plight of ten war orphans hailing from different cities across Japan. With nowhere to go, they scavenge around train stations, scratching out an existence by means ... See full summary »
Director: Hiroshi Shimizu | Stars: Shunsaku Shimamura, Natuski Masako, Gosho Shoichi, Kiyomi Imoto
Votes: 314
49. Never Take No for an Answer (1951)
82 min | Drama
Since the local church is not willing to bless Peppino's donkey for a successful recovery, Peppino went to Rome to see the Holy Father, in spite of the numerous difficulties of actually getting in to see him.
Directors: Maurice Cloche, Ralph Smart | Stars: Vittorio Manunta, Denis O'Dea, Guido Celano, Nerio Bernardi
Votes: 74
50. Whistle Down the Wind (1961)
Unrated | 99 min | Crime, Drama
When an injured wife murderer takes refuge on a remote Lancashire farm, the owner's three children mistakenly believe him to be the Second Coming of Christ.
Director: Bryan Forbes | Stars: Alan Bates, Bernard Lee, Hayley Mills, Norman Bird
Votes: 3,751
51. The Color of Paradise (1999)
PG | 90 min | Drama, Family
The story of Mohammed, a blind Iranian boy and his father, Hashem, who is always oscillating between accepting his son as he is and abandoning him, as he represents a burden for him, after the loss of his wife.
Director: Majid Majidi | Stars: Hossein Mahjoub, Mohsen Ramezani, Salameh Feyzi, Farahnaz Safari
Votes: 18,205 | Gross: $1.81M
52. Central Station (1998)
R | 110 min | Drama
The emotive journey of a former schoolteacher who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.
Director: Walter Salles | Stars: Fernanda Montenegro, Vinícius de Oliveira, Marília Pêra, Soia Lira
Votes: 42,336 | Gross: $5.60M
53. Black Jack (1979)
R | 105 min | Adventure, Comedy
When honest young Tolly is forced on the run with 'Black Jack,' adventure and mishap are never far away. Based on Leon Garfield's popular novel, Ken Loach's 'Black Jack' is a dark, complex adventure film set in the 18th century.
Director: Ken Loach | Stars: Stephen Hirst, Louise Cooper, Jean Franval, Phil Askham
Votes: 761
54. The White Dove (1960)
76 min | Drama
A poetic film about a dove getting lost on its way to Prague getting shot down by a paralyzed boy. An artist who finds the dove becomes friends with the boy. Together they take care of it bringing it back to recovery.
Director: Frantisek Vlácil | Stars: Katerina Irmanovová, Karel Smyczek, Vjaceslav Irmanov, Gustav Püttjer
Votes: 751
55. Blood (1989)
95 min | Drama, Mystery
Vicente, seventeen, lives with brother Nino, ten-years-old, and his ailing father in a derelict house on the outskirts of the capital. They don't seem to remember their mother, and are very... See full summary »
Director: Pedro Costa | Stars: Pedro Hestnes, Nuno Ferreira, Inês de Medeiros, Luís Miguel Cintra
Votes: 1,157
56. July (1988)
25 min | Short, Drama
One hot summer afternoon, two boys try to earn the cash for a movie in this beautiful evocation of the landscape of childhood.
Director: Darezhan Omirbayev | Stars: Marat Dosetov, Bakhitchan Dshartibaev
Votes: 139
57. Celia (1989)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
An imaginative and somewhat disturbed young girl fantasizes about evil creatures and other oddities to mask her insecurities while growing up in rural Australia.
Director: Ann Turner | Stars: Rebecca Smart, Nicholas Eadie, Victoria Longley, Mary-Anne Fahey
Votes: 1,504
58. Ponette (1996)
Not Rated | 97 min | Drama
A four-year-old girl tries to come to terms with the sudden death of her mother.
Director: Jacques Doillon | Stars: Victoire Thivisol, Delphine Schiltz, Matiaz Bureau Caton, Léopoldine Serre
Votes: 4,765 | Gross: $1.40M
59. Oriana (1985)
88 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A young girl is sent to a South American hacienda, where she learns about the life of her reclusive aunt, Oriana
Director: Fina Torres | Stars: Doris Wells, Daniela Silverio, Rafael Briceño, Mirtha Borges
Votes: 447
60. A Four-Year-Old Heroine (1907)
Not Rated | 6 min | Short, Drama
The library of a modern home is shown, husband, wife and child each occupied in their particular diversions. The maid is called in, who dresses the child in street garments, and the two ... See full summary »
Directors: Louis Feuillade, Alice Guy
Votes: 222
61. Stand by Me (1986)
R | 89 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A writer recounts a childhood journey with his friends to find the body of a missing boy.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell
Votes: 441,802 | Gross: $52.29M
62. Freeze Die Come to Life (1990)
105 min | Drama
Two children living in a remote mining town in the distant wastes of Siberia in 1947, survive poverty and hardship through the warmth of their friendship and a shared sense of humour.
Director: Vitali Kanevsky | Stars: Dinara Drukarova, Pavel Nazarov, Elena Popova, Valeriy Ivchenko
Votes: 933
63. The Night It Rained (1967)
35 min | Documentary, Short
A documentary which explores what did or did not happen on a rainy night a young boy allegedly saved a train from crashing.
Director: Kamran Shirdel
Votes: 458
64. Tiny Tim and the Adventures of His Elephant (1913)
9 min | Comedy, Short, Family
Bout de Zan is a very precocious young man! When the circus comes to town, he does what any kid might do in this situation--he steals the circus' elephant!!! Later, he sits on the curb with... See full summary »
Director: Louis Feuillade | Stars: René Poyen, Jeanne Saint-Bonnet, Renée Carl, Juliette Malherbe
Votes: 206
65. Children of Heaven (1997)
PG | 89 min | Drama, Family, Sport
After a boy loses his sister's pair of shoes, he goes on a series of adventures in order to find them. When he can't, he tries a new way to "win" a new pair.
Director: Majid Majidi | Stars: Mohammad Amir Naji, Amir Farrokh Hashemian, Bahare Seddiqi, Nafise Jafar-Mohammadi
Votes: 80,740 | Gross: $0.93M
66. Madol Duwa (1976)
Family, Fantasy
The adventure of a rebellious child, running away from his house to an island called Madol Duwa.
Director: Lester James Peries | Stars: Joe Abeywickrama, Dharmasena Athukorala, David Dharmakirthi, Dhamma Jagoda
Votes: 66
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