Movies like Backroads (1997)
The best movies like Backroads (1997) are Bonjour Tristesse (2025), Broken Embraces (2009) and El verano que vivimos (2020). If Backroads hooked you with its romance and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRebecca (1940)7.9/10 from 2,084 votes
- NewestRegretting You (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishBroken Embraces (2009)Also in Spanish
Bonjour Tristesse (2025)
At the height of summer, 18-year-old Cécile is relaxing by the French seaside with her father and falling in love with her new boyfriend. The arrival of her late mother's enigmatic friend turns her world upside down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBroken Embraces (2009)
Harry Caine, a blind writer, reaches this moment in time when he has to heal his wounds from 14 years back. He was then still known by his real name, Mateo Blanco, and directing his last movie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEl verano que vivimos (2020)
Year 1998. Isabel, a journalism student, is forced to do her internship in the newspaper of a small Galician coastal town in order to finish her degree. When she arrives, she wants to start investigating as soon as possible, to demonstrate everything she has learned in order to become a real journalist. But the position she is assigned is the last one she expected: the writing and management of the obituaries that reach the newsroom. But this, which might seem boring at first, becomes the door to an investigation that will take her through different parts of the Spanish geography in search of an impossible love story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between (2022)
Clare and Aidan make a pact to break up before college — no regrets, no broken hearts. But will one epic goodbye date offer them a last chance at love?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMansfield Park (1999)
Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthy relatives, the Bertrams, where she is treated poorly by most except her cousin Edmund. Her life is complicated by the arrival of the worldly Mary and Henry Crawford.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCharlie St. Cloud (2010)
Accomplished sailor Charlie St. Cloud has the adoration of his mother Claire and his little brother Sam, as well as a college scholarship that will lead him far from his sleepy Pacific Northwest hometown. But his bright future is cut short when tragedy strikes and takes his dreams with it. After high school classmate Tess returns home unexpectedly, Charlie grows torn between honoring a promise he made four years earlier and moving forward with newfound love. As he finds the courage to let go of the past for good, Charlie discovers the soul most worth saving is his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Letter from Your Lover (2021)
A young journalist in London becomes obsessed with a series of letters she discovers that recounts an intense star-crossed love affair from the 1960s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove Everlasting (2016)
Bridger is a young outsider who's always wanted more. He and his mother flee an abusive home, eventually finding a small town in the middle of nowhere. Once there, Bridger finds true acceptance with another misfit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTurtles All the Way Down (2024)
17-year-old Aza Holmes tries be a good daughter, a good friend, and a good student, all while navigating an endless barrage of invasive, obsessive thoughts that she cannot control. When she reconnects with Davis, her childhood crush, Aza is confronted with fundamental questions about her potential for love, happiness, friendship, and hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLeave Her to Heaven (1945)
A socialite marries a prominent novelist, which spurs a violent, obsessive, and dangerous jealousy in her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRegretting You (2025)
Morgan Grant and her daughter Clara explore what's left behind after a devastating accident reveals a shocking betrayal and forces them to confront family secrets, redefine love, and rediscover each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Choice (2016)
Travis and Gabby first meet as neighbors in a small coastal town and wind up in a relationship that is tested by life's most defining events.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFar from the Madding Crowd (2015)
In Victorian England, the independent and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak, a hardworking young sheep farmer; Frank Troy, a handsome and reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood, a prosperous and mature bachelor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHot Milk (2025)
Rose and her daughter Sofia travel to the Spanish seaside town of Almería to consult with the shamanic Dr. Gomez, a physician who could possibly hold the cure to Rose’s mystery illness, which has left her bound to a wheelchair. But in the sultry atmosphere of this sun-bleached town Sofia, who has been trapped by her mother’s illness all her life, finally starts to shed her inhibitions, enticed by the persuasive charms of enigmatic traveller Ingrid.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisSafe Haven (2013)
A young woman with a mysterious past lands in Southport, North Carolina where her bond with a widower forces her to confront the dark secret that haunts her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRebecca (1940)
Story of a young woman who marries a fascinating widower only to find out that she must live in the shadow of his former wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years earlier. The young wife must come to grips with the terrible secret of her handsome, cold husband, Max De Winter. She must also deal with the jealous, obsessed Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, who will not accept her as the mistress of the house.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Shack (2017)
A grieving man receives a mysterious, personal invitation to meet with God at a place called 'The Shack'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWonderstruck (2017)
The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChase a Crooked Shadow (1958)
A woman who lives in Spain has trouble convincing anybody that a complete stranger has taken her dead brother's identity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFatima (2020)
In 1917, outside the parish of Fátima, Portugal, a 10-year-old girl and her two younger cousins witness multiple visitations of the Virgin Mary, who tells them that only prayer and suffering will bring an end to World War I. As secularist government officials and Church leaders try to force the children to recant their story, word of the sighting spreads across the country, inspiring religious pilgrims to flock to the site in hopes of witnessing a miracle..
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGoodbye, Spy (2025)
Two spies spend an emotional evening together before one must leave on a dangerous mission - or so he says...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Love Story (1970)
Harvard Law student Oliver Barrett IV and music student Jennifer Cavilleri share a chemistry they cannot deny - and a love they cannot ignore. Despite their opposite backgrounds, the young couple put their hearts on the line for each other. When they marry, Oliver's wealthy father threatens to disown him. Jenny tries to reconcile the Barrett men, but to no avail.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Four Feathers (2002)
A young British officer resigns his post when he learns of his regiment's plan to ship out to the Sudan for the conflict with the Mahdi. His friends and fiancée send him four white feathers as symbols of what they view as his cowardice. To redeem his honor, he disguises himself as an Arab and secretly saves their lives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue Crush (2002)
Nothing gets between Anne Marie and her board. Living in a beach shack with three roommates, she is up before dawn every morning to conquer the waves and count the days until the Pipe Masters competition. Having transplanted herself to Hawaii with no one's blessing but her own, Anne Marie finds all she needs in the adrenaline-charged surf scene - until pro quarterback Matt Tollman comes along...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSomething Like Summer (2017)
Something Like Summer traces the tumultuous relationship of Ben and Tim, secret high school sweethearts who grow over the years into both adulthood enemies and complicated friends.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBibingka Apoy Sa Ilalim Apoy Sa Ibabaw (2002)
Long years of separation have made sisters Loida and Lina strangers to each other. So much so that when cruel fate makes their paths cross anew, it is by way of one man's love Willie's. As unsuspecting of the two women are, of their familial affinities, Willie gets caught in the what seems a sticky situation. Especially as Loida and Lina finally and eventually find the truth about themselves. Love and life can be as hot and sticky as rice cakes, indeed!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
10 (1979)
A Hollywood songwriter goes through a mid-life crisis and becomes infatuated with a sexy blonde newlywed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisJust Cause (1995)
A Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific murder of a child.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Craft (1996)
A Catholic school newcomer falls in with a clique of teen witches who wield their powers against all who dare to cross them -- be they teachers, rivals or meddlesome parents.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBuffalo Soldiers (2002)
A criminal subculture operates among U.S. soldiers stationed in West Germany just before the fall of the Berlin wall.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Backroads?
The closest matches to Backroads are Bonjour Tristesse (2025), Broken Embraces (2009) and El verano que vivimos (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Backroads?
Start with Bonjour Tristesse (2025), the closest match to Backroads.
What is the highest-rated movie like Backroads?
Rebecca (1940), rated 7.9/10 by 2,084 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Backroads?
Regretting You (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Backroads?
Yes: Broken Embraces (2009) and El verano que vivimos (2020).
How are movies similar to Backroads chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Backroads, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.