Rails & TiesMovies like Rails & Ties
- Key Features:
- Grief, Unlikely friendship, Orphan, Loss, Trauma, Human connection, Redemption, Family drama, Melodrama, Compassion, Healing
- Tone:
- restrained, serious
- Target Audience:
- Drama fans, Viewers interested in character-driven stories, Those who appreciate emotional narratives, Fans of independent films
- Emotional Arc:
- Loss → Connection → Hope
Rails & Ties

A deadly collision between a train and car lead to an unlikely bond between the train engineer and a young boy who escapes the carnage.
Rails & Ties
A modern day train hopper fighting to be a successful musician and a single mom battling to maintain custody of her daughter defy their circumstances by coming together in a relationship that may change each others lives forever.

A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.

The mother of a severely traumatized daughter enlists the aid of a unique horse trainer to help the girl's equally injured horse.

Put in charge of his young son, Ali leaves Belgium for Antibes to live with his sister and her husband as a family. Ali's bond with Stephanie, a killer whale trainer, grows deeper after Stephanie suffers a horrible accident.

A young boy has lost his mother and is losing touch with his father and the world around him. Then he meets Hesher who manages to make his life even more chaotic.

Passengers on a murder mystery train that crashes into a river must decide whether to risk waiting for help in the wreckage or take their chances in the murky depths below.

When passengers on a train are attacked by a creature, they must band together in order to survive until morning.

Ex-football star Mike Gambril meets Terry McKay on a flight to Sydney, which is forced to land on a small atoll. They become romantic on board a ship sent to take them to a larger island. They agree to meet in New York three months later to see if the attraction is real. One shows up but the other doesn't. However, a chance meeting brings them together again.

When two married business executives having an affair are blackmailed by a violent criminal, they are forced to turn the tables on him to save their families.

As a huge electrical storm sweeps towards Texas, lineman Beau Ginner is haunted by memories of his brother's death by lightning years earlier. Since that tragic day, he has raised his niece Bailey and risen to foreman of a lineman team. However, there is friction when Bailey's on-off boyfriend Duncan joins the crew, while another new recruit is hiding PTSD symptoms. Beau and his team are soon putting their lives at risk in a race to replace miles of power cables to keep the electrical grid running before the deadly lightning storm strikes. Based on a true story; this film is a tribute to the heroes who risk it all to keep us safe.

Train operator Andrea Marcocci has to witness the suicide of a desperate man who jumps in front of his train. Under the influence of this shock he starts making mistakes. A check up by a doctor reveals that he's at the brink of becoming an alcoholic. Due to this evaluation he is degraded and must accept a salary cut.

Markus returns home to care for his daughter when his wife dies in a tragic train accident. However, when a survivor of the wreck surfaces and claims foul play, Markus suspects his wife was murdered and embarks on a mission to find those responsible.

A victim from World War II's "Death Railway" sets out to find those responsible for his torture. A true story.

An unexpected meeting on a train leads two travelers to spend an evening wandering through Vienna. As the night unfolds, they share stories and conversations about life and love, exploring new ideas while a quiet intimacy grows between them, knowing it may be their only night together.

An emotional journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

With his 20th reunion looming, Dan can’t shake his high school insecurities. In a misguided mission to prove he’s changed, Dan rekindles a friendship with the popular guy from his class and is left scrambling to protect more than just his reputation when a wild night takes an unexpected turn.

A fatal plane crash changes the lives of Roman and Jake forever. Roman loses his wife and daughter in the accident, while Jake loses his mind—as he happens to be the air traffic controller who failed to avert the nightmare. Rage and revenge engulfs Roman and Jake finds himself swamped with guilt and regret.

A businessman, on his daily commute home, gets unwittingly caught up in a criminal conspiracy that threatens not only his life but the lives of those around him.

Adam, a lonely man with Asperger's Syndrome, develops a relationship with his upstairs neighbor, Beth.

After surviving a car accident that took the life of her boyfriend, a teenage girl believes he's attempting to reconnect with her from the after world.

When tragedy strikes the community surrounding a cafe in West Philadelphia, the cafe's regulars come to realize how intertwined their lives truly are.

Katja's life collapses after the deaths of her husband and son in a bomb attack. After a time of mourning and injustice, Katja seeks revenge.

A Pulitzer-winning writer grapples with being a widower and father after a mental breakdown, while, 27 years later, his grown daughter struggles to forge connections of her own.

Paul Rivers, an ailing mathematician lovelessly married to an English émigré; Christina Peck, an upper-middle-class suburban housewife and mother of two girls; and Jack Jordan, a born-again ex-con, are brought together by a terrible accident that changes their lives.

A near-penniless drifter's journey to Alaska in search of work is interrupted when she loses her dog while attempting to shoplift food for it.

Follow a group of children who are evacuated to a Yorkshire village during the Second World War, where they encounter a young soldier who, like them, is far away from home.

One night, Leo, a Spaniard working in Brussels as a subway driver, sees a young man on the edge of the platform, just before he falls onto the tracks.

Many loosely connected characters cross paths in this film, based on the stories of Raymond Carver. Waitress Doreen Piggot accidentally runs into a boy with her car. Soon after walking away, the child lapses into a coma. While at the hospital, the boy's grandfather tells his son, Howard, about his past affairs. Meanwhile, a baker starts harassing the family when they fail to pick up the boy's birthday cake.

Ian begins a relationship with Drew's daughter, who works in the financial sector. The couple gets involved in a tragic accident that will change their lives forever. At the same time, the accident has a major impact on both their families who, despite the class difference, cross paths.

The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them suffers a family tragedy.

A drama focused on the friendship between a high-functioning autistic woman and a man who is traumatized after a fatal car accident.

A US soldier suffers a traumatic brain injury while fighting in Afghanistan and struggles to adjust to life back home in New Orleans. When she meets local mechanic James, the pair begin to forge an unexpected bond.

A deeply religious black ex-con thwarts the suicide attempt of an asocial white college professor who tries to throw himself in front of an oncoming subway train, 'The Sunset Limited.' As the one attempts to connect on a rational, spiritual and emotional level, the other remains steadfast in his hard-earned despair. Locked in a philosophical debate, both passionately defend their personal credos and try to convert the other.

A soon-to-be bride on her way to a wedding rehearsal is having second thoughts and decides to take a detour. Her car breaks down and a hitch-hiker offers help. Could it be fate?

In the rail yards of Queens, contractors repair and rebuild the city's subway cars. These contracts are lucrative, so graft and corruption are rife. When Leo Handler gets out of prison, he finds his aunt married to Frank Olchin, one of the big contractors; he's battling with a minority-owned firm for contracts.

Neglected by her husband, Sarah embarks on an impromptu road trip with her young daughter and her best friend, Mindy. Along the way, the dynamic between the two friends intensifies before circumstances force them apart. Years later, Sarah attempts to rebuild their intimate connection in the days before Mindy’s wedding.

A hardened convict and a younger prisoner escape from a brutal prison in the middle of winter only to find themselves on an out-of-control train with a female railway worker while being pursued by the vengeful head of security.

In World War II London, nine-year-old George is evacuated to the countryside by his mother, Rita, to escape the bombings. Defiant and determined to return to his family, George embarks on an epic, perilous journey back home as Rita searches for him.

An ordinary man makes an extraordinary discovery when a train accident leaves his fellow passengers dead — and him unscathed. The answer to this mystery could lie with the mysterious Elijah Price, a man who suffers from a disease that renders his bones as fragile as glass.

A solitary nurse bonds with a badly burned patient who survived an accident on an oil rig.

Karen, a young psychiatric nurse, boards the last subway train of the night only to have it stop in the middle of the tunnel. Suddenly, her nightmare begins: a mysterious cult has decided that it's the end of the world and the only way to save the souls of the living is to kill them in cold blood. As those around her are brutally murdered, Karen and a handful of survivors must face the homicidal cult, supernatural forces, and their own fears of Armageddon in order to survive.

Life for a happy couple is turned upside down after their young son dies in an accident.

Punk-rocker turned suburban mom, Kelly, is nostalgic for a life she can no longer have and uncertain of a future she doesn’t yet fit in. Seventeen-year-old Cal is frustrated at his lack of control over the hand he's been dealt. When the two strike up an unlikely friendship, it's the perfect spark needed to thrust them both back to life.

An army ranger and his dog embark on a road trip along the Pacific Coast Highway to attend a friend's funeral.

Rachel Watson, devastated by her recent divorce, spends her daily commute fantasizing about the seemingly perfect couple who live in a house that her train passes every day, until one morning she sees something shocking happen there and becomes entangled in the mystery that unfolds.

Overwhelmed by grief following the death of his wife, Donnelly shares a train carriage home with a troubled young man identified only as the 'Kid'. As the Kid becomes more agitated and foul-mouthed, the journey takes on a violent and dangerous hue – for the bereaved Donnelly and for other hapless passengers on the train. Academy Award Winner: Best Live Action Short Film – 2005

Louise, a widow with two children, almost crushes a stranger with her car. She takes care of him, even if he's not really wounded. It turns out that he has mental disorders and that they can help each other much more than they thought.

During shopping for Christmas, Frank and Molly run into each other. This fleeting short moment will start to change their lives, when they recognize each other months later in the train home and have a good time together. Although both are married and Frank has two little kids, they meet more and more often, their friendship becoming the most precious thing in their lives.

Faced with the decision of a lifetime, Arvilla Holden enlists her two best friends and sets off in a vintage '66 Bonneville convertible to deliver her late husband's ashes to Santa Barbara.

Teenager David Clemens develops a hysterical fear that he will die if he comes into physical contact with another person. Perturbed, David's overbearing mother places him in a home for mentally disturbed young people, but David remains withdrawn from the other patients and his psychiatrist. Over time, however, David grows interested in 15-year-old Lisa, who suffers from multiple personalities – one who can only speak in rhyme, and the other, a mute.

Stranded on a mountain after a tragic plane crash, two strangers must work together to endure the extreme elements of the remote, snow-covered terrain. When they realize help is not coming, they embark on a perilous journey across hundreds of miles of wilderness, pushing each other to survive and discovering their inner strength.

A recently divorced man and an emotionally devastated widow begin a love affair.

A charming psychopath tries to coerce a tennis star into his theory that two strangers can commit the perfect crime by exchanging murders—each killing the other’s most-hated person.

Alabama; 1969: The death of a clan's estranged wife and mother brings together two very different families. The scars of the past hide differences that will either tear them apart or expose truths that could lead to unexpected collisions.

A recent widow invites her husband's troubled best friend to live with her and her two children. As he gradually turns his life around, he helps the family cope and confront their loss.

Having thought that monogamy was never possible, a commitment-phobic career woman may have to face her fears when she meets a good guy.

The loss of their young daughter threatens to destroy the love and faith of two married musicians.

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, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.

A novelist is blinded in a car crash that killed his wife and several years later rediscovers his passion for life and writing when he embarks on an affair with the neglected wife of an indicted businessman.

A tough marshal with political ambitions leads an elite posse to capture a notorious train robber and his gang.

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.

Writer Paul Benjamin is nearly hit by a bus when he leaves Auggie Wren's smoke shop. Stranger Rashid Cole saves his life, and soon middle-aged Paul tells homeless Rashid that he wouldn't mind a short-term housemate. Still grieving over his wife's murder, Paul is moved by both Rashid's quest to reconnect with his father and Auggie's discovery that a woman who might be his daughter is about to give birth.

The destinies of two families are irrevocably tied together after a cyclist is hit off the road by a jeep in the night before Christmas Eve.

A man in his mid-20s, still living at home with his mother and stepfather, puts all his eggs in one basket: the girl who works at his local coffee shop. The problem is, she has a serious boyfriend. As they become closer, the line between friendship and intimacy is blurred, and the situation forces both to examine where they are in their lives.

Heroin addict Mark Renton stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends --Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Tommy. He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane, along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can't escape the life he left behind as Begbie and Sick Boy come knocking.

A woman who is robbed on her way to catch the 1:30 train to Boston is left stranded in New York City. She meets a man who helps her during the course of the night and the two form a romance.

After losing a family member to a violent crime, a shattered rideshare driver picks up a passenger that forces him to confront his grief.

Moussa has always been gentle, altruistic and present for his family. This is the opposite of his brother Ryad, a TV presenter of great notoriety who is reproached for his selfishness by his entourage. Only Moussa defends him, who has great admiration for his brother. One day Moussa falls and hits his head violently. He suffers a head injury. Unrecognizable, he now speaks without a filter and tells his relatives the truth. He ends up falling out with everyone except Ryad.

In the wake of a school tragedy, Vada, Mia and Quinton form a unique and dynamic bond as they navigate the never linear, often confusing journey to heal in a world that feels forever changed.

Widower Harry Keach is a construction worker who was raised to appreciate the importance of working for a living. He takes a dim view of his sensitive son Howard's lackadaisical lifestyle and has a strained relationship with his daughter Nina as he does not approve of her husband. When Harry is fired from his job, his life changes drastically as he is made to focus on the relationships around him.

A privileged rich debutante and a cynical struggling entertainer share a turbulent, but strong childhood friendship over the years.

NATO operative Jacques Kristoff (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is summoned into action—on his birthday, no less—to track down Galina Konstantin (Laura Harring), who has stolen an extremely valuable and dangerous top-secret container from the Slovakian Government. Finding Galina doesn't take long, and Jacques must wrap up the mission by returning Galina and the contraband to his superiors by train. Things seem to be going smoothly as Jacques and Galina board the train posing as a couple, but soon all hell breaks loose.

On the eve of his wedding, a successful writer travels around the country to meet up with ex-lovers in an attempt to make amends for his wrongdoings.

A young beautician, newly arrived in a small Louisiana town, finds work at the local salon, where a small group of women share a close bond of friendship and welcome her into the fold.

Martin Durnley is a young man with an infantilizing mother, resentful stepfather and an institutionalized brother with Down's syndrome. To cope, he retreats into an alternate child personality he calls Georgie. After being caught during a theft attempt at a department store, he befriends a female customer who is sympathetic to him, but his friendship soon turns into obsession.

After journalist Mary Landers is assigned to write a Valentine's Day story about "The Meaning of Love," her long-time boyfriend breaks up with her. On her train ride home, she finds herself trading glances with a handsome stranger who, as he exits the train, leaves his phone behind.

Unable to move on from the loss of his daughter, Freddy, now a shell of the person he was before, swears to kill the man responsible for her death.

These intertwining stories about romance and separation follow a firefighter who can't find the right time to propose, a shy theme park worker who falls for an artist, an estranged mother and son, and a man seeking to regain his lost love.

Two seemingly unconnected souls from different corners of the United States make a telepathic bond that allows them to see, hear and feel the other's experiences, creating a bond that apparently can't be broken.

A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.

A grieving doctor is being contacted by his late wife through his patient's near death experiences.

Two young horse traders guide a Mormon wagon train to the San Juan Valley and encounter rugged terrain, the cutthroat Clegg gang, hospitable Navajo, and moral challenges on the journey.

After the death of his wife and father, Kudret, who has always lived by the book, decides to go on a road trip to save a girl.

Two couples meet for a painful and raw conversation in the aftermath of a violent tragedy.

Three close knit 12-year-olds - introverted Jacob, precocious Malee and vulnerable Leonard - start down the path of self-discovery and begin to distinguish their own voices from those of their parents.

When a young mother's home birth ends in unfathomable tragedy, she begins a year-long odyssey of mourning that fractures relationships with loved ones in this deeply personal story of a woman learning to live alongside her loss.

Tess enlists her biological father – a lovable slacker from the wrong side of the tracks – and the charming juvenile delinquent next door to help her come to grips with the death of her little sister.

After having visions of a member of her support group who killed herself, a woman who also suffers with chronic pain seeks out the widower of the suicide.

Two mismatched cops team up to investigate the murder of a business mogul's wife.

A man and a woman meet by accident on a Sunday evening at their childrens' boarding school. Slowly, they reveal themselves to each other, finding that they have something deeply in common.

The last train travel of the year from Barcelona to Madrid, suddenly stops by a voltage drop in the middle of nowhere during a fierce snowstorm. Because of the peculiarity of its passengers, will begin to emerge hilarious conflicts between them.

After 20 years abroad, Mark Renton returns to Scotland and reunites with his old friends Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie.

A retired businesswoman – who tries to control everything around her – decides to write her own obituary. A young journalist takes up the task of finding out the truth, and the result is a life-altering friendship.

After World War II, Anita, a young survivor of Auschwitz, becomes involved in an intense and passionate affair that almost shatters her until she gains the strength to start a new life.

Two strangers find their lives colliding in an impossible way. Alex is a methodical cargo thief working for a dangerous cartel. Sam is a determined paramedic trying to save the world while running from her past.

A Texan traveling across the wild West bringing the news of the world to local townspeople, agrees to help rescue a young girl who was kidnapped.

Sparks fly after Ali and Ava meet through their shared affection for Sofia, the child of Ali’s tenants whom Ava teaches. Ali finds comfort in Ava’s warmth and kindness while Ava finds Ali’s complexity and humour irresistible. As the pair begin to form a deep connection they have to find a way to keep their newfound passion from being overshadowed by the stresses and struggles of their separate lives and histories.

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.

