Movies Like Horse, Apple, and Spring

If you liked Horse, Apple, and Spring (2011), a movie directed by Anahita Ghanizadeh, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Tehran Taboo (2017)
★ 7.1/10
The lives of three strong-willed women and a young musician cross paths in Tehran’s schizophrenic society where sex, adultery, corruption, prostitution and drugs coexist with strict religious law. In this bustling…
2
Close-Up (1990)
★ 8/10
This fiction-documentary hybrid uses a sensational real-life event—the arrest of a young man on charges that he fraudulently impersonated the well-known filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf—as the basis for a stunning…
3
Lemonade Mouth (2011)
★ 7.4/10
When five ragtag freshman first meet in detention, it seems they have nothing in common. But, through music, they form an unbreakable bond and discover they have the makings of the greatest high school garage band in…
4
The Salesman (2016)
★ 7.3/10
Forced out of their apartment due to dangerous works on a neighboring building, Emad and Rana move into a new flat in the center of Tehran. An incident linked to the previous tenant will dramatically change the young…
5
Taste of Cherry (1997)
★ 7.7/10
A middle-aged Tehranian man, Mr. Badii is intent on killing himself and seeks someone to bury him after his demise. Driving around the city, the seemingly well-to-do Badii meets with numerous people, including a Muslim…
6
I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
★ 6.2/10
In late-90s suburbia, a lonely teenager meets a girl at school who introduces him to a mysterious late-night T.V. show — a vision of a supernatural world pulsing beneath their own. As time goes on, however, questions…
7
Circumstance (2011)
★ 6.6/10
A wealthy Iranian family struggles to contain a teenager's growing sexual rebellion and her brother's newfound conservatism.
8
Tatami (2024)
★ 7.7/10
Iranian female judokas Leila and her coach Maryam, travel to the Judo World Championship, intent on bringing home Iran’s first gold medal. Midway through the Judo World Championships, they receive an ultimatum from the…
9
Septembers of Shiraz (2015)
★ 5.9/10
In this adaptation of the critically acclaimed debut novel by Iranian American author Dalia Sofer, a secular Jewish family is caught up in the maelstrom of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
10
Not Without My Daughter (1991)
★ 6.9/10
An American woman, trapped in Islamic Iran by her brutish husband, must find a way to escape with her daughter as well.
11
Sight (2023)
★ 6.4/10
Ming Wang is an impoverished Chinese prodigy who flees Communist China to become a pioneering eye surgeon in America. When tasked with restoring the sight of an orphan in India, who was blinded by her stepmother, Wang…
12
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
★ 6.8/10
A group of Southern-California high school students ignore their studies in favor of indulging in their teenage distractions.
13
Midnight Express (1978)
★ 7.4/10
Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of a country. The courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made…
14
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
★ 8/10
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.
15
Room (2015)
★ 8/10
Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.
16
Propeller One-Way Night Coach (2026)
★ 6.2/10
During the golden age of aviation, a young airplane enthusiast and his mother embark on a cross-country journey to Hollywood—and their simple flight transforms into the trip of a lifetime.
17
Reading Lolita in Tehran (2024)
★ 7.2/10
In 1979, amidst censorship and religious extremism, a revolutionary literature professor in Tehran gathers seven of her most dedicated female students to immerse themselves in banned literary classics.
18
Taxi (2015)
★ 7/10
A yellow cab is driving through the vibrant and colourful streets of Tehran. Very diverse passengers enter the taxi, each candidly expressing their views while being interviewed by the driver who is no one else but the…
19
Through the Olive Trees (1994)
★ 7.5/10
When the actor in a scene for his film Life And Nothing More… has to quit, a film director casts another man for the part. However, complications arise since the man and the woman who was cast for the scene know each…
20
Peter Ibbetson (1935)
★ 7/10
When his mother dies, young Peter Ibbetson leaves Paris and his best friend, Mary, behind to live with a severe uncle in England. Years later, Peter is an architect with little time for women, until he begins a project…