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Movies like The Thistle in the Kiss (2025)

The best movies like The Thistle in the Kiss (2025) are Paris, Texas (1984), The Whales of August (1987) and Father Mother Sister Brother (2025). If The Thistle in the Kiss hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Paris, Texas (1984)

    A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  2. The Whales of August (1987)

    Two aged sisters reflect on life and the past during a late summer day in Maine.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  3. Father Mother Sister Brother (2025)

    Estranged siblings reunite after years apart, forced to confront unresolved tensions and reevaluate their strained relationships with their emotionally distant parents.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  4. People Like Us (2012)

    After flying home to L.A. for the funeral of his estranged record-producer father, a struggling man discovers that the will stipulates that he must deliver $150,000 in cash to a 30-year-old alcoholic sister he never knew existed, and her troubled 12-year-old son.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  5. Right on Track (2003)

    Based a on a true story about two sisters who came out on top of a man's sport. The story is based on Erica and Courtney Enders, two sisters who get in to junior drag racing and make it all the way to the top. The two sisters fight a battle of fellow racers who are against having girls race with them therefore it pushes them harder to compete against their competition. Erica becomes stressed when her racing life becomes mixed with her social life and academic goals, and decided to quit racing, until she realizes racing is what she truly wants to do. Finally towards the end of their teen years the Enders sisters come out on top to win the junior drag racing national title. They continue to race throughout high school and college, and still do so today.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  6. The Mountain (1956)

    Selfish Chris Teller pressures his older brother, a retired climber, to accompany him on a treacherous Alpine climb to loot the bodies of plane crash victims.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  7. Good One (2024)

    On a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills, 17-year-old Sam contends with the competing egos of her father and his oldest friend.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  8. The Sundowners (1960)

    In the Australian Outback, the Carmody family--Paddy, Ida, and their teenage son Sean--are sheep drovers, always on the move. Ida and Sean want to settle down and buy a farm. Paddy wants to keep moving. A sheep-shearing contest, the birth of a child, drinking, gambling, and a racehorse will all have a part in the final decision.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  9. Hide Your Smiling Faces (2014)

    Tommy and his older brother Eric live in the midst of vast remote forests. The death of their friend pushes them close to the edge. Eric doesn’t know how to channel his energy. All at once, nature’s vastness feels stifling.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  10. A River Runs Through It (1992)

    The Maclean brothers, Paul and Norman, live a relatively idyllic life in rural Montana, spending much of their time fly fishing. The sons of a minister, the boys eventually part company when Norman moves east to attend college, leaving his rebellious brother to find trouble back home. When Norman finally returns, the siblings resume their fishing outings, and assess where they've been and where they're going.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  11. The Tree of Life (2011)

    The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father. Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  12. Skater Girl (2021)

    Prerna, a teenager growing up in rural India, comes of age when she’s introduced to the sport of skateboarding. As a result, she has to fight the odds to follow her dreams and compete in the national championship.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  13. Here (2024)

    An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. Head 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 this
  15. The 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 this
  16. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

    George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  17. Undercurrent (1946)

    After a rapid engagement, a dowdy daughter of a chemist weds an industrialist, knowing little of his family or past. He transforms her into an elegant society wife, but becomes enraged whenever she asks about Michael, his mysterious long-lost brother.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  18. Jonathan (2018)

    Jonathan is a young man with a strange condition that only his brother understands. But when he begins to yearn for a different life, their unique bond becomes increasingly tested.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  19. Ice Castles (2010)

    Young, beautiful, talented Alexis Winston comes from nowhere to become a figure skating superstar. But her rise to stardom isn’t easy. She has to push herself, reinvent herself, and most painfully of all, leave her hometown boyfriend behind. When a tragic fall leaves her blind, she needs someone to believe in her, to love her; someone to convince her she has the strength to skate and dream again.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  20. Bambi (1942)

    Bambi's tale unfolds from season to season as the young prince of the forest learns about life, love, and friends.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  21. By the Wayside (2012)

    Four friends (a background actor, a documentarian, a homeless musician, and a virgin) descend into a life-awakening 24 hours that involve excess drinking, prostitutes, a sage-like lounge singer and psychedelic drugs.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  22. Flor do Ártico (2022)

    Laura and Clarice live very different realities. While Laura tries to decide her life and take courage about her future, Clarice deals with her past tormented by an abusive relationship. Their lives intertwine as Laura's curiosity speaks louder, she takes her first dose of courage, and a passion arises with both facing their previous baggage and future plans along the way.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  23. True North (2007)

    The crew of a bankrupt Scottish trawler turn to smuggling illegal immigrants over the stormy waters of the North Sea.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  24. The Lion King (1994)

    Young lion prince Simba, eager to one day become king of the Pride Lands, grows up under the watchful eye of his father Mufasa; all the while his villainous uncle Scar conspires to take the throne for himself. Amid betrayal and tragedy, Simba must confront his past and find his rightful place in the Circle of Life.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  25. The History Boys (2006)

    The story of an unruly class of bright, funny history students at a Yorkshire grammar school in pursuit of an undergraduate place at Oxford or Cambridge. Bounced between their maverick English master, a young and shrewd teacher hired to up their test scores, a grossly out-numbered history teacher, and a headmaster obsessed with results, the boys attempt to pass.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  26. Summertime (2015)

    In 1971, a young woman moves from the French countryside to Paris and begins a passionate love affair with a feminist leader.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  27. Little Tragedies (2026)

    In 2011, Daniel Nolasco moved from his small hometown in the Brazilian countryside to Rio de Janeiro. He went to college. He was the first of a group of queer friends to leave the city. Ten years later, none of the people who made up that group live there anymore; some have died, and those who are alive have moved away. The city is called Catalão, a place that everyone says is too good to live in.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  28. Son In The Barbershop (2015)

    A teenager overhears a phone call and inserts himself into the father-son story behind it. As this strange 'conversation' develops, two separately wounded lives slowly wind into a double helix of pain, regret, and filial love.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  29. The Family Stone (2005)

    An uptight, conservative businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family's annual Christmas celebration and finds that she's a fish out of water in their free-spirited way of life.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  30. A Christmas Tale (2008)

    When their regal matriarch falls ill, the troubled Vuillard family come together for a hesitant Christmastime reunion. Among them is rebellious ne'er-do-well Henri and the uptight Elizabeth. Together under the same roof for the first time in many years, their intricate, long denied resentments and yearnings emerge again.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this

Like The Thistle in the Kiss and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like The Thistle in the Kiss?

The closest matches to The Thistle in the Kiss are Paris, Texas (1984), The Whales of August (1987) and Father Mother Sister Brother (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after The Thistle in the Kiss?

Start with Paris, Texas (1984), the closest match to The Thistle in the Kiss.

What is the highest-rated movie like The Thistle in the Kiss?

It's a Wonderful Life (1946), rated 8.3/10 by 5,163 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like The Thistle in the Kiss?

Little Tragedies (2026) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like The Thistle in the Kiss?

Yes: Paris, Texas (1984), The Whales of August (1987) and Father Mother Sister Brother (2025).

How are movies similar to The Thistle in the Kiss chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Thistle in the Kiss, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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