Movies like Song of Dawn (1965)
The best movies like Song of Dawn (1965) are Star! (1968), Revenge Porn: PAIN OF LOVE (2019) and Purple Hearts (2022). If Song of Dawn 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 ratedGabriel's Inferno: Part III (2020)8.3/10 from 1,097 votes
- NewestVacuumin’ Around (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseRevenge Porn: PAIN OF LOVE (2019)Also in Japanese
Star! (1968)
Gertrude Lawrence rises to stage stardom at the cost of happiness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRevenge Porn: PAIN OF LOVE (2019)
Rei is a college student in the midst of finding a job. She confesses her love to Mikio, a senior whom she admires. Mikio soon demands that she perform perverted acts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPurple Hearts (2022)
An aspiring musician agrees to a marriage of convenience with a soon-to-deploy Marine, but a tragedy soon turns their fake relationship all too real.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisNewness (2017)
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPure Country 2: The Gift (2010)
Three angels bestow the gift of song to a young girl, who must follow a series of rules in order hold on to it during her rise to fame and fortune.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man from Elysian Fields (2001)
A failed novelist's inability to pay the bills strains relations with his wife and leads him to work at an escort service, where he becomes entwined with a wealthy woman whose husband is a successful writer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisRadiance (2017)
The story follows the social intercourse between a cameraman, Masaya, with a visual impairment, and Misako who disconnects from the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisGabriel's Inferno: Part III (2020)
The final part of the film adaption of the erotic romance novel Gabriel's Inferno written by an anonymous Canadian author under the pen name Sylvain Reynard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCenter Stage: Turn It Up (2008)
All self-taught dancer Kate Parker has ever wanted to do was perform with the American Academy of Ballet. But when she doesnt make it after auditioning, she learns that it takes more than precision and perfection to succeed in the dance world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Easily Broken (2009)
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlamingo Road (1949)
A stranded carnival dancer takes on a corrupt political boss when she marries into small-town society.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSee You Soon (2019)
A U.S. soccer star suffers a career-threatening injury in the run-up to the World Cup, and during his recovery, embarks on an epic romance with a Russian single mom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisGabriel's Inferno: Part II (2020)
Professor Gabriel Emerson finally learns the truth about Julia Mitchell's identity, but his realization comes a moment too late. Julia is done waiting for the well-respected Dante specialist to remember her and wants nothing more to do with him. Can Gabriel win back her heart before she finds love in another's arms?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisFire with Fire (1986)
A tough, street-smart kid serving a sentence in a state youth reformatory meets a beautiful, innocent girl studying at a nearby convent. When forbidden love blossoms between them, they must fight the prison authorities, their parents and the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fugitive Kind (1960)
Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlind (2017)
A novelist is blinded in a car crash that killed his wife and several years later rediscovers his passion for life and writing when he embarks on an affair with the neglected wife of an indicted businessman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBroadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
Johnny Brett and King Shaw are an unsuccessful dance team in New York. A producer discovers Brett as the new partner for Clare Bennett, but Brett, who thinks he is one of the people they lent money to, gives him the name of his partner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMo' Better Blues (1990)
Talented but self-centered trumpeter Bleek Gilliam is obsessed with his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo and Clarke. But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBattle of the Year (2013)
A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMake-Believers (2024)
Masa hires rental actress and aspiring dancer, Kanako, to pose as his fiancée to impress his estranged, terminally-ill father. But as his father's death delays, Masa is forced to confront the spiraling web of lies and to learn to follow his heart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
By Player (2000)
The film is a series of vignettes from Taiji Tonoyama's life and film clips, interspersed with a dialogue to camera by Nobuko Otowa, addressing the camera as if she is addressing Tonoyama himself, recollecting events in his life. The film focuses on Tonoyama's alcohol dependence and his various sexual relationships, as well as his film work with Shindo.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Two Portraits of MIYAGINO (2010)
In Edo-era Japan, a ukiyo-e artist languishes in his master’s shadow. Creatively stifled, he finds consolation in the company of a prostitute, and becomes entangled in a love triangle. A mystery emerges involving two portraits and the sudden disappearance of the artist Sharaku. Helmed by Cannes-selected director Tatsuji Yamazaki, the film employs kabuki-inspired sequences and stylised sets.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Please Baby Please (2022)
After witnessing a murder in the gritty streets of 1950s Manhattan, newlyweds Suze and Arthur become the dangerous obsession of a greaser gang that awakens a sleeping quandary into the couple's sexual identity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last Passenger (2023)
This fictional story is set in Miyagi prefecture, a decade after a devastating earthquake and tsunami. It follows Mr. Endo, a taxi driver searching for his daughter since the earthquake. Along the way, he encounters various passengers and visits a seaside town swallowed by a tsunami. The story explores themes of family, love, and resilience in the aftermath of a disaster, offering hope to survivors.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Shin Kamen Rider (2023)
A man forced to bear power and stripped of humanity. A woman skeptical of happiness. Takeshi Hongo, an Augmentation made by SHOCKER, and Ruriko Midorikawa, a rebel of the organization, escape while fighting off assassins. What’s justice? What’s evil? Will this violence end? Despite his power, Hongo tries to remain human. Along with freedom, Ruriko has regained a heart. What paths will they choose?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Dawn of Kaiju Eiga (2019)
Japan, 1954. A legend emerges from the ashes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, devastated by atomic bombs in 1945. The creature's name is Godzilla. The film that tells its story is the first of kaiju eiga, the giant monster movies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Vacuumin’ Around (2025)
A documentary about a person who cleans his room with a vacuum cleaner, filled with disasters and mishaps.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
truth: 1 Night, 1 Room, 3 Baddest Bitches (2022)
A Japan-set battle-royale comedy over a vial of sperm is centered around three women on the verge of a nervous breakdown from hearing their biological clock ticking away: a doctor and manager of a sperm bank, Sana Kobayashi, a single mother, Maron Kuribayashi, and an alluring receptionist, Mayumi Kujō. Unknowingly, the three shared a beloved partner and a sperm donor, Makoto, but lost him in a sudden accident. The night of Makoto's funeral they are shocked to discover each other in his room. In a rage of screaming, thrashing, and boasting about their own sexual prowess with Makoto, more fierce emotions erupt once Sana's plan to self-inseminate is exposed, but this leads to unexpected consequences. They affirm their real love for Makoto and reveal his true wishes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Music Land (1955)
Walt Disney animation animated cartoon musical compilation ("The BIG Parade of MIRTH and MELODY"; "Offering hits re-released from 'Make Mine Music' and 'Melody Time'"; featuring cartoons from the 1946 musical, "Make Mine Music," and the 1948 musical "Melody Time") featuring Donald Duck, Joe Carioca, and other Disney cartoon characters, and also songs by Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians, Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, Frances Langford, Roy Rogers and Trigger, The Andrews Sisters (Laverne, Maxene, and Patty Andrews), Freddy Martin and his orchestra, Sons of the Pioneers, Jerry Colonna, and Ethel Smith
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Like Song of Dawn and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Song of Dawn?
The closest matches to Song of Dawn are Star! (1968), Revenge Porn: PAIN OF LOVE (2019) and Purple Hearts (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Song of Dawn?
Start with Star! (1968), the closest match to Song of Dawn.
What is the highest-rated movie like Song of Dawn?
Gabriel's Inferno: Part III (2020), rated 8.3/10 by 1,097 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Song of Dawn?
Vacuumin’ Around (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Song of Dawn?
Yes: Revenge Porn: PAIN OF LOVE (2019), Radiance (2017) and Make-Believers (2024).
How are movies similar to Song of Dawn chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Song of Dawn, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.