Lilja 4-ever by Lukas Moodysson (2002, Sweden / Denmark)

A movie set in the armpit slums of Russia. A story about Lilja, a young girl who is about to be abandoned by her single mom, and how she copes living alone in the ghetto. It is a movie which will motivate most viewers to greatly sympathize with characters like Lilja, propelling them to do extreme stuff like volunteer in their local orphanage during weekends... or something.

The film is extremely gritty. The characters there are thrown into very unforgiving circumstances, to which they are presented with almost no way out.

4/5 stars
IMDB

August Rush by Kirsten Sheridan (2007, USA)

A story based on the classic Dicken's novel, Oliver Twist. It's a love story between 2 talented musicians who had an incredibly romantic encounter one night conceiving a son who was orphaned (won't go into detail, just have to watch the movie to find out why). Life's bleak and realistic circumstances broke then apart and extraordinary circumstances reunited them again many many years after.

To me the show was trying to teach us all a lesson about finding one's solace, in this case it was music.

The soundtrack to the film is nothing short of beautiful. Almost every scene was complimented with euphonic instrumental arrangements. The movie had a tendency to be quite corny in some areas but somehow always makes up for it soon after.

If everything else isn't appealing to you, it has Jonathan Rhys Meyers doing his own vocals and instruments in the movie, that to me is one significant selling point.

3/5 stars
IMDB