Movies like Arbat Motif (1990)
The best movies like Arbat Motif (1990) are Eleanor the Great (2025), Blue Chips (1994) and What Maisie Knew (2013). If Arbat Motif hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat Maisie Knew (2013)7.1/10 from 466 votes
- NewestCemento (2026)Released 2026
Eleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue Chips (1994)
Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team isn't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate and has pressures from all around.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAmateur (2018)
14-year-old basketball phenom Terron Forte has to navigate the under-the-table world of amateur athletics when he is recruited to an elite NCAA prep school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMindwalk (1991)
On the French island of Mont Saint-Michel, Jack, a failed presidential candidate, Tom, a poet and Sonia, a physicist, engage in an intellectual conversation about politics, philosophy and life over the course of a single day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMay December (2023)
Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome Run (2013)
A pro ball player with a substance abuse problem is forced into rehab in his hometown, finding new hope when he gets honest about his checkered past, and takes on coaching duties for a misfit Little League team
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 thisIron Jawed Angels (2004)
Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalomé (2013)
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Congress (2013)
An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFast Girls (2012)
A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisO.G. (2018)
Louis Menkins is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTrains Are Passing by the Windows (1966)
In a boarding school in a provincial Siberian town comes a literature teacher, a graduate of a teacher training college. The directness with which the heroine intrudes into the life of the school provokes active resistance from the principal and head teacher. As a result of a series of clashes, the young teacher must leave the boarding school, but her pupils protest, and the directorate is defeated.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ghostwriter Of My Thesis (2022)
Akbar is a person who work as a Thesis Ghostwriter for university student. One day he met Amir who used his service, since then they start sharing stories about each other life
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sunday Morning in Victoria Park (2010)
A young woman struggles in foreign countries to improve her self esteem to her family and to the community.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
152 AB (2024)
Cêcil and Cecília, neighbors in a suburb, suffer daily from the challenges imposed by the Brazilian suburban condition. An unexpected meeting leads the two, newly introduced, to nurture a friendship separated by a wall.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Without Direction (2012)
Teo, a gay Guatemalan musician, flees a brutal homophobic attack. Ray, an American doctor, escapes his past after a fatal mistake. When their paths cross, they discover that redemption can come from where they least expect it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Difficulty Shuffling (TBA)
Sam deals with the issues of his disabilities while away on holiday with his friends, actively trying to cover them up. He starts to realise he can’t keep suppressing them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Perfect for everyone (2026)
A young couple of social media influencers, Octav and Lia, pose as the "perfect couple" in front of the camera, filming a reel for Instagram. As the day fades and the artificial light replace the natural light, the filters are off, and behind the smiles, a toxic relationship is revealed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Arbat Motif?
The closest matches to Arbat Motif are Eleanor the Great (2025), Blue Chips (1994) and What Maisie Knew (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Arbat Motif?
Start with Eleanor the Great (2025), the closest match to Arbat Motif.
What is the highest-rated movie like Arbat Motif?
What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 466 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Arbat Motif?
Cemento (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Arbat Motif chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Arbat Motif, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.