Movies like All Doors Were Closed (1990)
The best movies like All Doors Were Closed (1990) are Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998), Hounddog (2008) and A Dry White Season (1989). If All Doors Were Closed hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedZ (1969)7.8/10 from 668 votes
- NewestMexicali (2026)Released 2026
Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
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 thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl Chicano (2019)
A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisAbout Dry Grasses (2023)
A young art teacher hopes to be transferred to Istanbul after completing his mandatory duty in a remote village school in Anatolia. After accusations of inappropriate contact with a student surface, his hopes of escape fade and he descends further into an existential crisis.
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 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 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 this40 Acres (2025)
Hailey Freeman and her family are the last descendants of African American farmers who settled in rural Canada after the Civil War. In a famine-decimated near future, they now struggle to safeguard their farm, as they make one last stand against a vicious militia hell-bent on taking their 40 Acres.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 Good Neighbor (2022)
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.
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 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 thisMexicali (2026)
A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.
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 thisI Am Elizabeth Smart (2017)
The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRiot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSimón (2023)
Simón, a Venezuelan freedom fighter exiled in Miami, copes not only with trauma, but also deep guilt over a choice he must make: stay in Miami and start a new life, or return home to the losing fight against a tyrannical regime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMissing (1982)
Based on the real-life experiences of Ed Horman. A conservative American businessman travels to Chile to investigate the sudden disappearance of his son after a military takeover. Accompanied by his son's wife he uncovers a trail of cover-ups that implicate the US State department which supports the dictatorship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZ (1969)
A prominent politician is murdered during a demonstration. The government and army are trying to suppress the truth, but a tenacious magistrate is determined not to let them get away with it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAfter the Fall (1999)
In the early days of the September 12 military coup, five-year-old Metin waits for his mother, singing to himself as he looks out the window. But his mother, Ayten, has been arrested and sent to prison. Since the child is alone at home, they take him to his mother in her cell, but despite all her jokes and games, Metin is aware of what is happening. The next day, Metin's grandfather Hüseyin Efe, who lives on Bozcaada, comes to take him, and Metin's days of freedom on the island begin. His friends exclude him because of the "communist" label his mother has been given. Yet Metin cannot even properly say the word "communist." Metin, affected by the exclusion, has another concern: his father’s photo is also on the “Wanted” posters hanging all over the island.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Lady (2011)
The story of Aung San Suu Kyi as she becomes the core of Burma's democracy movement, and her relationship with her husband, writer Michael Aris.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Painting Lesson (2012)
In Chile, during the 60´s, the son of a poor single teenage girl turns out to be a gifted painter. The man to discover his talent is the owner of the drugstore that lies in the outskirts of the small rural town, next to the railroad. He himself is an amateur painter who will try to make the boy into a great artist, like all the ones in his art books. From the pharmacists point of view in his old age, unfolds the story of this young boy who could have become a great art genius, had he not disappeared at the age of 13, along with all his works, on September 11th 1973, the day of the coupe d´état.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
April Captains (2000)
Story of the 1974 coup that overthrew the right-wing Portuguese dictatorship--which continued the fascist policies of long-time dictator Antonio Salazar--and of two young army captains who were involved in it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYour Excellency (1967)
Lopitos, who is horribly inefficient but quick-witted, is invited (because of the current ambassador's superstition about 13 sitting down to a meal) to a banquet attended by the ambassadors of both superpowers. After the news of a series of coups d'état in Los Cocos arrives throughout the meal, Lopitos becomes the official ambassador. At a summit of world leaders, the representatives of the two world superpowers court the allegiances of third-world diplomats to tilt the balance of global power in their favor. The last diplomat to remain unaligned, Lopitos instead harangues the superpowers for infringing on the rights of developing countries to self determination, talking to them with his point of view as a citizen not as ambassador because he arranged his demise as ambassador one day before his speech.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLe transfuge (1982)
A military junta, led by the tyrannical colonel Tcheroff, reigns terror.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Educate Yourself My Son (1981)
The most important political, post-military junta satire about the nation, the religion, the education, the family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like All Doors Were Closed?
The closest matches to All Doors Were Closed are Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998), Hounddog (2008) and A Dry White Season (1989). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after All Doors Were Closed?
Start with Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998), the closest match to All Doors Were Closed.
What is the highest-rated movie like All Doors Were Closed?
Z (1969), rated 7.8/10 by 668 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like All Doors Were Closed?
Mexicali (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to All Doors Were Closed chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside All Doors Were Closed, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.