Movies like Distance (2012)
The best movies like Distance (2012) are Song Without a Name (2020), Girl in the Box (2016) and The Deep End of the Ocean (1999). If Distance hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedCentral Station (1998)8.1/10 from 1,093 votes
- NewestMaragatha Malai (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishSong Without a Name (2020)Also in Spanish
Song Without a Name (2020)
Peru, at the height of the political crisis of the 1980s. Georgina is a young woman from the Andes whose newborn daughter is stolen at a fake health clinic. Her desperate search for the child leads her to the headquarters of a major newspaper, where she meets Pedro Campos, a lonely journalist who takes on the investigation. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
A three-year-old boy disappears during his mother's high school reunion. Nine years later, by chance, he turns up in the town in which the family has just relocated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Miracle of Marcelino (1955)
Left on the doorstep of a monastery as an infant, Marcelino was raised by the monks. He was well-cared for but lonely and missed having a mother. One day he found a special friend in the forbidden attic, hanging on a cross. A friend that would repay Marcelino's kindness by granting him one heart-felt wish.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMother (2019)
Ten years have gone by since Elena's six-year old son has disappeared. The last thing she heard of him was a phone call he gave her, saying that he was lost on a beach in France and couldn't find his father. Nowadays, Elena lives on this same beach and manages a restaurant. She is finally beginning to emerge from this tragic episode when she meets a French teenager who strongly reminds her of her lost son. The two of them will embark on a relationship which will sow chaos and distrust around them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKamchatka (2002)
In 1976, Argentina fell into the hands of a de facto government. Thousands of citizens are persecuted and kidnapped. This is the case of the parents of two children, who, knowing they are wanted, decide to hide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Road Dance (2022)
A young girl lives in the Outer Hebrides in a small village in the years just before WWI. Isolated and hard by the shore, her life takes a dramatic change when a terrible tragedy befalls her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Map of the World (1999)
School nurse Alice Goodwin lives with her husband and two daughters on a dairy farm in a small Wisconsin community. After an accident on her property involving a friend's child, the town turns against her and Alice finds herself fighting charges of child abuse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOut in the Open (2019)
A boy escaped from home, listening, crouched in the depths of his hiding place, the cries of the men who seek him. When the game passes, what remains before him is an infinite and arid plain that he must cross if he wants to get away definitively from what has made him flee. His steps will intersect with those of a pastor and, from that moment, nothing will be the same for either of them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPerdida (2018)
A policewoman whose childhood friend disappeared in Patagonia years ago starts a new search to find answers, and soon finds her own life in danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Trials of Cate McCall (2013)
In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Perfect World (1993)
A kidnapped boy strikes up a friendship with his captor: an escaped convict on the run from the law, headed by an honorable U.S. Marshal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLion (2016)
A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 thisThe Dead Girl (2006)
The clues to a young woman's death come together as the lives of seemingly unrelated women begin to intersect.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLost (1983)
A little girl gets lost in the wilds of Utah.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Maragatha Malai (2026)
Set in the 18th century, Maragatha Malai follows a zamindar, Parthiban, who protects his ancestral treasure from a ruthless gang led by Kabala Vendan. During the conflict, his family gets separated when his young son goes missing in the forest. Years later, through struggle, fate, and divine grace, the family reunites and safeguards their legacy in this period fantasy adventure.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Vltava po válce (1949)
A 4-year-old girl cries, lost in the city. A Soviet soldier on a ferry takes her in and takes her to her home village.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Light Between Oceans (2016)
A lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of Western Australia raise a baby they rescue from an adrift rowboat.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCentral Station (1998)
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.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisOjos que no ven (2022)
Elena is in charge of the library in a private school. His monotonous life is affected when a new child arrives at school with whom he is obsessed and whom he treats like his son. One day he decides to take him away, generating a crisis in his real mother, Andrea, who will do everything possible to get him back.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Secret of Anna (2009)
Anna and Christian Instrupp are a happy and childless marriage. They have a farm of apple production. But their lives are disrupted when the Anna's illegitimate daughter, Ines Arnold, writes a letter to her where she tells him that his adoptive parents have died and that she would like to know.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Warden of the Dead (2007)
A thirteen year old kid, "the boy", lives and works in a cemetery. The cemetery is his whole life, and growing up with the dead instills in him an obsession and respect for death. His friends depend on him: An unhappy old man, a former political prisoner yearning for death, and makeup artist for deceased, a former artist who dreams of painting a masterpiece. The boy does what he can to help them. The old man attempts suicide, but upon learning the date of his death and seeing his beautiful plot chosen for him by the boy, he is able to bear his life. Upon meeting the beautiful Maria, "the boy" gives the former artist a surprise date with her. But when Maria and the artist become closer, the boy realizes that she is the daughter of the old man. The kid thinks the old man would die unhappy if he knew of her existence and so decides to hide the truth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Little Tora, The Abandoned Cat (1947)
A family of cats find an abandoned kitten and take him in to their home. But one of the siblings becomes jealous about the attention the new cat gets from her mother and runs away from home. The new member of the family goes looking for her. Can he bring her back home safely and get her to accept him as part of the family?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Distance and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Distance?
The closest matches to Distance are Song Without a Name (2020), Girl in the Box (2016) and The Deep End of the Ocean (1999). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Distance?
Start with Song Without a Name (2020), the closest match to Distance.
What is the highest-rated movie like Distance?
Central Station (1998), rated 8.1/10 by 1,093 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Distance?
Maragatha Malai (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Distance?
Yes: Song Without a Name (2020), The Miracle of Marcelino (1955) and Mother (2019).
How are movies similar to Distance chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Distance, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.