Movies like Once Upon a Lifetime (2021)
The best movies like Once Upon a Lifetime (2021) are The Shepherd (2023), Northfork (2003) and Nine Days (2021). If Once Upon a Lifetime hooked you with its drama and fantasy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRemember (2015)7.3/10 from 785 votes
- NewestMan with No Past (2025)Released 2025
The Shepherd (2023)
On Christmas Eve, a fighter pilot on his way home becomes lost while flying over water and needs a miracle to land safely.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNorthfork (2003)
The year is 1955, and a great flood is coming to Northfork, Montana. A new hydroelectric dam is about to be installed in the mountains above the town, ready to submerge the valley in the name of progress. It is the responsibility of a six-man Evacuation Committee to relocate the townsfolk to higher ground. Most have duly departed, but a few stubborn stragglers remain – among them a priest caring for a sickly orphan, a boy whose fevered visions are leading him to believe he is a member of a roaming band of lost angels desperately searching for a way home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNine Days (2021)
A bureaucrat interviews five souls to decide which of them will be given a life on Earth. But he soon faces an existential challenge of his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Witch's Destiny (2013)
As Cassie's birthday approaches, Lori discovers disturbing parallels between Cassie and her great aunt, who disappeared years before on her birthday. When signs of a curse appear, Cassie conjures up a little magic to make things right again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHouse of Anubis: The Touchstone of Ra (2013)
The students of Anubis House are on the eve of their graduation when they encounter a new group of underclassmen and a mysterious stone that leads them on a quest to save the world from evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHorns (2013)
In the aftermath of his girlfriend's mysterious death, a young man awakens to strange horns sprouting from his temples.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTuesday (2024)
A mother and her teenage daughter must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Witch (2008)
A mysterious woman comes in to town and inhabits the local haunted mansion, making everyone wonder if she's a witch or "The Grey Lady".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Good Witch's Gift (2010)
Almost as soon as Jake and Cassie decide to get married on Christmas Eve, complications arise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSplit (2016)
The story of a young woman who takes an epic journey to claim her own darkness and sexuality so she can stop putting it into the hands of her abusive lover. When Inanna, a young actress, working as a stripper, becomes obsessed with a mask maker, she sacrifices parts of herself and her life, piece by piece, in order to win his love. At the same time she enters a mythic journey in the theater. One that forces her to face the many abuses endured by women around that world and that blurs her performance, her dreams and her real life and results in a provocative and powerful confrontation that frees her. -- from official website
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisVesper (2022)
After the collapse of Earth's ecosystem, Vesper, a 13-year-old girl struggling to survive with her paralyzed Father, meets a mysterious Woman with a secret that forces Vesper to use her wits, strength and bio-hacking abilities to fight for the possibility of a future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMythica: A Quest for Heroes (2014)
Stuck in a life of indentured servitude, Marek dreams of becoming a wizard. When she meets the beautiful priestess Teela in need of help, she offers her assistance and provides a motley troupe. Together they go in search of Teela's sister, who was kidnapped by a wild ogre.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisI Believe (2019)
A 9 year old boy experiences God's power in a supernatural way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (2003)
Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with "Old Dan" and "Little Ann."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkater Girl (2021)
Prerna, a teenager growing up in rural India, comes of age when she’s introduced to the sport of skateboarding. As a result, she has to fight the odds to follow her dreams and compete in the national championship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (1974)
Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red-bone coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in life as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with his dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRemember (2015)
With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with dementia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAbigail (2019)
A young girl Abigail lives in a city whose borders were closed many years ago because of an epidemic of a mysterious disease. Abby's father was one of the sick - and he was taken when she was six years old. Going against the authorities to find his father, Abby learns that her city is actually full of magic. And she discovers in herself extraordinary magical abilities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan with No Past (2025)
Waking up in an unfamiliar city, a man with no memory must confront the mysteries of his own identity. However, his desperate search to uncover the past pits him against a powerful enemy, leading to a showdown that ultimately reveals the truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisForever Young (1992)
A 1939 test pilot asks his best friend to use him as a guinea pig for a cryogenics experiment. Daniel McCormick wants to be frozen for a year so that he doesn't have to watch his love lying in a coma. The next thing Daniel knows is that he's been awoken in 1992.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Voice of Grass (1995)
This Ukrainian fantasy reflects the careful retelling of a folk legend about a beautiful sorceress and her young apprentice. The older witch initiates the younger into a magical world while two winged men observe them. The film is done without sensation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy & drama
Buddy (2015)
A young man agrees to support his ex lover during an HIV test. What starts out as an awkward reunion, soon becomes something more tender. Is there still hope for reconciliation?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019)
Hilarious and outgoing, Brittany Forgler, is everybody’s best friend ― except her own. Her partying, underemployment and toxic relationships are catching up with her. She receives a startling wake-up call when a visit to the doctor reveals how unhealthy she is. Motivated to lose weight, but too broke for a gym and too proud to ask for help, Brit is at a loss, until her neighbor pushes her to run one sweaty block. Soon, she sets an almost unthinkable goal: the New York City Marathon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVibrator Girl (2023)
An isolated young woman uses her vibrator compulsively — until it starts deforming her body in disturbing ways. To regain control and change the way she masturbates, she goes on a journey through a lurid underground of corporate neurologists and orgasm gurus, none of whom seem to have her best interests in mind. Ultimately, there’s little she can do to withstand her vibrator’s eerie influence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Yağmur Rengi (2021)
Yağmur, drawing pictures on electrical transformers for the public benefit, gets in a friendly and warm neighborhood that she longed for all her life, in her quest to get rid of her childhood traumas. This new adventure will not only relieve the longing for the warmth of a family she wished, but also opens the door to a totally new life where she will forget the pangs of love in her heart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Fishergirl's Folly (1914)
Londoner tries to woo fishergirl away from her sweetheart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Six crimes sans assassins (1990)
A legendary police commissioner is at the edge of writing his memoirs when he asked to help out with solving a locked room mystery where two people are found dead in an apartment that was locked from the inside.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
ATEEZ - ZERO : FEVER Part.1 'Diary Film' (2020)
'Diary Film' tells the story of a group of 8 people from different backgrounds who, for various different reasons, come together to follow the same dream: music.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Glastage (2007)
Rosalie, an aging art historian, falls in love with a troubled bisexual artist half her age. Their relationship becomes pure torture for them both.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Once Upon a Lifetime?
The closest matches to Once Upon a Lifetime are The Shepherd (2023), Northfork (2003) and Nine Days (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Once Upon a Lifetime?
Start with The Shepherd (2023), the closest match to Once Upon a Lifetime.
What is the highest-rated movie like Once Upon a Lifetime?
Remember (2015), rated 7.3/10 by 785 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Once Upon a Lifetime?
Man with No Past (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Once Upon a Lifetime?
Yes: The Shepherd (2023), Northfork (2003) and Nine Days (2021).
How are movies similar to Once Upon a Lifetime chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Once Upon a Lifetime, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.