"A man who dreams of being a father. A boy disillusioned with life. Together they share a compelling story of friendship, trust, and hope."

1994

1h 45m

6.7(42 votes)

Drama

Family

Overview

The difficult relationship between a british postal officer and his adoptive son.

Links & Resources

IMDbView

Social & External

IMDb

Production Companies

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

William Hurt

Graham Holt

Nathan Yapp

Jimmy

Jane Horrocks

Debbie

Prunella Scales

Margery

Keith Allen

John

Alan Cumming

Bernard

John Hurt

Uncle Turpin

Nerys Hughes

Maureen

Alfred Lynch

Edward

Chris Cleary Miles

James

Creative team

Directed by: Chris Menges
Written by: David Cook
Produced by: Sarah Radclyffe

Similar Movies

2025

Gunjou

An orphan girl on a solo journey met a fellow traveller abroad who took her on a life changing journey

Movie

6.4

2017

Raajakumara

A dutiful son, a prince in his fathers' eyes, retains his purity of character despite the many challenges thrown his way.

Movie

5.5

2008

Fleisch ist mein Gemüse

Heinz Strunk, plagued by crater-like skin rashes, lives with his sick mother in Hamburg-Harburg in the 1980s. As a saxophonist, he tours the North German lowlands with the dance combo "Tiffanys". In this bizarre universe of Korn, Klaus & Klaus and Koteletts, bandleader Gurki teaches him how to deliver cheerful, upbeat music. To escape the vicious circle of shooting festivals and village weddings, Heinz wants to start a solo career and become a hit producer...

Movie

8.1

2007

There Will Be Blood

Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview's motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.

Movie

6.2

2008

Untraceable

Special Agent Jennifer Marsh works in an elite division of the FBI dedicated to fighting cybercrime. She thinks she has seen it all, until a particularly sadistic criminal arises on the Internet. This tech-savvy killer posts live feeds of his crimes on his website; the more hits the site gets, the faster the victim dies. Marsh and her team must find the elusive killer before time runs out.

Movie

3.5

2008

Up! Up! To the sky

From an early age, Arnold believes he is an extraterrestrial. Day in, day out, he is busy trying to build a flying machine that will finally take him "home". Protected by his mother Ida and her long-time admirer, the country doctor Emil, he is regarded as a quirky but lovable outsider in his home village.

Movie

6.6

2007

The Grocer's Son

Antoine Sforza, a thirty-year-old young man, left his village ten years before in order to start a new life in the big city, but now that his father, a traveling grocer, is in hospital after a stroke, he more or less reluctantly accepts to come back to replace him in his daily rounds.

Movie

7.3

1998

Train of Life

In 1941, the inhabitants of a small Jewish village in Central Europe organize a fake deportation train so that they can escape the Nazis and flee to Palestine.

Movie

7.0

2008

The Baader Meinhof Complex

When German police viciously quell a protest against the shah of Iran, popular journalist Ulrike Meinhof rebels against her dishonest marriage, walks away from her children and joins radical anarchist Andreas Baader. Together with Baader's girlfriend, Gudrun Ensslin, they form the violent Red Faction Army, and together perpetrate a slew of terrorist attacks as a way of disrupting the fabric of what they see as an increasingly fascist state.

Movie

7.7

2013

The Longest Distance

Two sides of the same country: a chaotic and violent city contrasting against a natural paradise where the oldest mountains on the planet can be found. Two main characters that find each other at a crucial moment. Two fearless journeys, one that begins as a childlike adventure and ends up on the other side of the country and a one-way journey, free and determined. The same destiny will inevitably bond a woman with her grandson. Without knowing it they are part of an unbreakable family circle that deeply unites them. Second opportunities will arise while individual freedom of choice will become imposing. Everything comes together to tell us: there is only one destiny, the one you choose for yourself.

Movie

7.0

1970

I'm Poor But Angry

A young barber comes to the small village to open a barbershop. He gradually gets to know with the locals and farmers, makes friends with them and even tries to organize the plans, activities and schedules of the village. He also runs a parallel, intimate life with the several village girls. When the locals realize that these plans will not come true, they blame him for the failure.

Movie

6.3

2016

The BFG

An orphan little girl befriends a benevolent giant who takes her to Giant Country, where they attempt to stop the man-eating giants that are invading the human world.

Movie

7.1

2017

Rakshadhikari Baiju (Oppu)

A kind-hearted government employee in his forties, who spends most of his time with youngsters, selflessly intervenes in the problems of his near and dear ones.

Movie

3.2

2007

Athisayan

Devan is an orphan raised by Maya, an investigative journalist. When she is abducted before she can expose a high-profile group of criminals, Devan consumes an invisibility potion to try and save her.

Movie

6.7

2008

Chop Shop

Alejandro, a tough and ambitious Latino street orphan on the verge of adolescence, lives and works in an auto-body repair shop in a sprawling junkyard on the outskirts of Queens, New York. In this chaotic world of adults, young Alejandro struggles to make a better life for himself and his 16-year-old sister, Isamar.

Movie

6.3

1990

The Death King

Seven episodes, each taking place on a different day of the week, on the theme of suicide and violent death.

Movie

6.5

1982

Annie

An orphan in a facility run by the mean Miss Hannigan, Annie believes that her parents left her there by mistake. When a rich man named Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks decides to let an orphan live at his home to promote his image, Annie is selected. While Annie gets accustomed to living in Warbucks' mansion, she still longs to meet her parents. So Warbucks announces a search for them and a reward, which brings out many frauds.

Movie

6.0

2008

Dorothy Mills

When a gloomy, God-fearing island community is rocked by the assault of an infant, a psychiatrist is called in to examine Dorothy Mills, the teenager accused of the crime. Despite the villagers' hostility to her inquiry, she soon comes to suspect that Dorothy suffers from multiple personality disorder...

Movie

6.6

2006

Taxidermia

Three stories. Three ages. Three men. Grandfather, father, son. One is an orderly, one is a leading sportsman, and one is a master taxidermist. One desires love, the other success, and the third immortality.

Movie

9.0

1928

The Circus Kid

In 'The Circus Kid', Buddy, an orphan who runs away from a a harsh orphanage, joins Cadwallader's Circus.

Movie

Recommended Movies

7.3

2020

Nowhere Special

John, a 35-year-old window cleaner, has dedicated his life to bringing up his 4-year-old son, Michael, after the child's mother left them soon after giving birth. When John is given only a few months left to live, he attempts to find a new, perfect family for Michael, determined to shield him from the terrible reality of the situation.

Movie

7.5

2017

The Book of Henry

Susan, a single mother of two, works as a waitress in a small town. Her son, Henry, is an 11-year-old genius who not only manages the family finances but acts as emotional support for his mother and younger brother. When Henry discovers that the girl next door has a terrible secret, he implores Susan to take matters into her own hands.

Movie

7.7

2013

Short Term 12

Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, helps at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.

Movie

7.0

1993

A Home of Our Own

In 1960s Los Angeles an energetic widow and her six children try to make a dream of theirs come true: to have a home of their own. They leave L.A. and head for the countryside, all the while facing numerous difficulties and obstacles during their journey.

Movie

6.8

2022

The Son

A successful lawyer, with a new wife and infant, agrees to care for his teenage son from a previous marriage after his ex-wife becomes concerned about the boy's wayward behavior.

Movie

8.3

1946

It's a Wonderful Life

George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.

Movie

6.5

2008

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

During a blizzard in 1964, Dr. David Henry delivers his son Paul with the help of nurse Caroline. But when Henry realizes his wife is also carrying a girl with Down syndrome, he hands the second child over to Caroline without his wife's knowledge. Henry's fateful decision yields grave consequences for his family over the next 20 years.

Movie

7.6

2011

Detachment

A chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of substitute teacher, Henry Barthes. Henry roams from school to school, imparting modes of knowledge, but never staying long enough to form any semblance of sentient attachment.

Movie

6.7

2003

Normal

A Midwestern husband and father announces his plan to have a sex change operation.

Movie

7.2

2023

The Old Oak

A pub landlord in a previously thriving mining community struggles to hold onto his pub. Meanwhile, tensions rise in the town when Syrian refugees are placed in the empty houses in the community.

Movie

7.2

1994

Ladybird Ladybird

Maggie has had four children, by four different fathers, removed by social services because of a previous violent relationship. When she meets Jorge, a gentle Latin American refugee, she gradually sees her chance for happiness, but her past still haunts her.

Movie

7.1

1994

The Boys of St. Vincent

The true story of boys being sexually abused at their orphanage, run by a religious community in Newfoundland.

Movie

6.4

2009

Skin

Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.

Movie

7.6

1958

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.

Movie

7.3

2002

The Hours

The story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings and their fears. Their stories intertwine, and finally come together in a surprising, transcendent moment of shared recognition.

Movie

6.1

2010

Hereafter

Three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — are touched by death in different ways.

Movie

6.5

1995

Losing Isaiah

Khaila Richards, a crack-addicted single mother, accidentally leaves her baby in a dumpster while high and returns the next day in a panic to find he is missing. In reality, the baby has been adopted by a warm-hearted social worker, Margaret Lewin, and her husband, Charles. Years later, Khaila has gone through rehab and holds a steady job. After learning that her child is still alive, she challenges Margaret for the custody.

Movie

6.9

1985

Death of a Salesman

Willy Loman, an aging, failing salesman, struggles to accept reality and his failure to achieve the American Dream.

Movie

6.1

2008

Sleepwalking

When her boyfriend is arrested for marijuana possession, Joleen Reedy and her 11-year-old daughter, Tara, take refuge with Joleen's aimless brother, James. Joleen soon runs off with a truck driver, and James is unable to meet his responsibilities. After Child Protective Services takes possession of Tara, James abducts her from a foster home, and the two travel from California to Utah, where his abusive father lives.

Movie

6.4

1989

Dad

A busy executive learns during a meeting that his mother may be dying and rushes home to her side. He ends up being his father's caretaker and becomes closer to him than ever before. Estranged from his own son, the executive comes to realize what has been missing in his own life.

Movie