Movies like Leaving (2018)
The best movies like Leaving (2018) are What They Had (2018), Head Full of Honey (2018) and Big World (2024). If Leaving hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedIf Anything Happens I Love You (2020)7.7/10 from 1,029 votes
- NewestGoodbye June (2025)Released 2025
- In ChineseBig World (2024)Also in Chinese
What They Had (2018)
A woman must fly back to her hometown when her Alzheimer's-stricken mother wanders into a blizzard. The return home forces her to confront her past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHead Full of Honey (2018)
A young girl tries to help her grandfather, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, navigate his increasing forgetfulness, and ends up going on a remarkable adventure with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBig World (2024)
Liu Chunhe, suffering from cerebral palsy, bravely breaks through the shackles of body and mind to realize the dream stage for his grandmother, while trying to find the coordinates of his own life. After experiencing a summer transformation, he finally embarked on a new journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIf Anything Happens I Love You (2020)
Grieving parents journey through an emotional void as they mourn the loss of a child after a tragic school shooting.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGoodbye June (2025)
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Week Friends (2022)
A high school student suffers from a strange amnesia, causing her memories to only last a week. After she befriends a new student, his kindness and persistence make her gradually open up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLighting Up the Stars (2022)
Having been released after serving his sentence, a funeral director accidentally crosses paths with a girl which brings about an unexpected change in his attitude towards life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Little Prince(ss) (2021)
When Gabriel, a 7-year-old Chinese kid who loves ballet, becomes friends with Rob, another Chinese kid from school, Rob’s dad gets suspicious about Gabriel's feminine behavior and decides to intervene.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCanvas (2020)
After a heartbreaking loss, a grandfather struggling to reclaim his passion for painting finds the inspiration to create again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Summer at Grandpa's (1984)
A coming-of-age story about a young brother and sister whom spend a pivotal summer in the country with their grandparents.
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 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 thisBlackbird (2019)
A terminally ill mother invites her family to their country house for one final gathering, but tensions quickly boil over between her two daughters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStill Alice (2014)
Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children, is a renowned linguistics professor who starts to forget words. When she receives a devastating diagnosis, Alice and her family find their bonds tested.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHoly Lands (2019)
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.
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 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 thisThree Wishes (1995)
While Jane Holman is driving with her two sons, she accidentally runs into a drifter, Jack McCloud, who breaks his leg. Being responsible, Jane invites Jack, and his dog, to stay at her home until his leg has healed. Jack struggles to adapt their lifestyle, and finds himself loved by the family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCall Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisElizabeth Is Missing (2019)
Maud's best friend Elizabeth has disappeared, but as she tries to solve the mystery, dementia threatens to erase all the clues, giving the search a poignant urgency.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSavage Fire (2017)
In the city of Cajamar, in the middle of ruined nature, lonely characters deal with the police, rodeos and mysterious fires.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Shannon Amen (2019)
Shannon Amen unearths the passionate and pained expressions of a young woman overwhelmed by guilt and anxiety as she struggles to reconcile her sexual identity with her religious faith. A loving elegy to a friend lost to suicide.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Robin Hood (1913)
Robin Hood and his followers aid the poor and oppressed from their hideout in Sherwood Forest, pursued by the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Turkish Gothic: Portrait of a Family (2021)
An upper-class family who wants to have a picture of their family made meet with a famous painter. In this process, the painter, who witnessed the inner dynamics of the family, helps these people to face their own reality through painting.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Devil's Instrument (1965)
A jazz bassist who surveys a beautiful girl at a gig decides to try to get her home. But the devil is getting into the game too.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Marion (2024)
The short tracks the tense fifteen minutes before Marion's – France's only female bull jumper – first performance in a packed French arena. As she prepares, being the only woman in the team, the film explores her battle against misogyny and prejudiced attitudes. A journey of one woman through an all-male world – juggling motherhood and the contentious pursuit of her passion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
To Be A Good One (2008)
After a fight with her mother, six year old Clara decides to run off to be with her father. But she falls asleep on the way on the bus and somehow ends up with the Wagner family. When Julia Wagner discovers bruises on Clara's body, she feels compelled to act.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Yuppies (1991)
A succesfull busninessman who has it all is looking for a new challenge and decides to hire a contract killer to assassinate him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Herman the Gangster (1995)
Short gangster film based on a novella by Belgian writer Hugo Claus.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Leaving and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Leaving?
The closest matches to Leaving are What They Had (2018), Head Full of Honey (2018) and Big World (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Leaving?
Start with What They Had (2018), the closest match to Leaving.
What is the highest-rated movie like Leaving?
If Anything Happens I Love You (2020), rated 7.7/10 by 1,029 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Leaving?
Goodbye June (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like Leaving?
Yes: Big World (2024), One Week Friends (2022) and Lighting Up the Stars (2022).
How are movies similar to Leaving chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Leaving, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.