Movies like Returning South (2022)
The best movies like Returning South (2022) are The Border (1982), Rio Grande (1950) and And When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007). If Returning South hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBring Her Back (2025)7.3/10 from 2,066 votes
- NewestGreenland 2: Migration (2026)Released 2026
The Border (1982)
A corrupted border agent decides to clean up his act when an impoverished woman's baby is put up for sale on the black market.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRio Grande (1950)
Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke is posted on the Texas frontier to defend settlers against depredations of marauding Apaches. Col. Yorke is under considerable stress by a serious shortage of troops of his command. Tension is added when Yorke's son (whom he hasn't seen in fifteen years), Trooper Jeff Yorke, is one of 18 recruits sent to the regiment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnd When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007)
The story of a son's conflicting memories of his dying father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Make Me Go (2022)
A terminally ill man and his teenage daughter embark on a road trip from California to New Orleans for his 20th college reunion. While there, he secretly hopes she can reunite with the mother who left them long ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrack of the Cat (1954)
A family saga: In a stunning mountain valley ranch setting near Aspen, complex and dangerous family dynamics play out against the backdrop of the first big snowstorm of winter and an enormous panther with seemingly mythical qualities which is killing cattle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThis Is Where I Leave You (2014)
When their father passes away, four grown, world-weary siblings return to their childhood home and are requested -- with an admonition -- to stay there together for a week, along with their free-speaking mother and a collection of spouses, exes and might-have-beens. As the brothers and sisters re-examine their shared history and the status of each tattered relationship among those who know and love them best, they reconnect in hysterically funny and emotionally significant ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDuel in the Sun (1946)
Beautiful half-breed Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between her sons, one good and the other bad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBring Her Back (2025)
Following the death of their father, a brother and sister are sent to live with a foster mother, only to learn that she is hiding a terrifying secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGreenland 2: Migration (2026)
Having found the safety of the Greenland bunker after the comet Clarke decimated the Earth, the Garrity family must now risk everything to embark on a perilous journey across the wasteland of Europe to find a new home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Beautiful Country (2004)
After reuniting with his mother in Ho Chi Minh City, a family tragedy causes Binh to flee from Viet Nam to America. Landing in New York, Binh begins a road trip to Texas, where his American father is said to live.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Missing (2003)
When rancher and single mother of two Maggie Gilkeson sees her teenage daughter, Lily, kidnapped by Apache rebels, she reluctantly accepts the help of her estranged father, Samuel, in tracking down the kidnappers. Along the way, the two must learn to reconcile the past and work together if they are going to have any hope of getting Lily back before she is taken over the border and forced to become a prostitute.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
Father and son coroners receive a mysterious unidentified corpse with no apparent cause of death. As they attempt to examine the "Jane Doe," they discover increasingly bizarre clues that hold the key to her terrifying secrets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wailer (2006)
On their way to Mexico, six students are stranded in a small town where years before a tragedy took place.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRambo: Last Blood (2019)
After fighting his demons for decades, John Rambo now lives in peace on his family ranch in Arizona, but his rest is interrupted when Gabriela, the granddaughter of his housekeeper María, disappears after crossing the border into Mexico to meet her biological father. Rambo, who has become a true father figure for Gabriela over the years, undertakes a desperate and dangerous journey to find her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Road (2009)
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and water. It is cold enough to crack stones and, when the snow falls, it is gray. Their destination is the warmer south, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAngela's Ashes (1999)
An Irish Catholic family returns to 1930s Limerick after a child's death in America. The unemployed I.R.A. veteran father struggles with poverty, prejudice, and alcoholism as the family endures harsh slum conditions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCarmen (2023)
A young and fiercely independent woman, Carmen, is forced to flee her home in the Mexican desert following the brutal murder of her mother. She survives an illegal border crossing into the US, only to be confronted by a lawless volunteer border guard. When the border guard and his patrol partner Aidan become embroiled in a deadly standoff, the pair is forced to escape together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSweet Girl (2021)
A man vows to bring justice to those responsible for his wife's death while protecting the only family he has left, his daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Returning South?
The closest matches to Returning South are The Border (1982), Rio Grande (1950) and And When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Returning South?
Start with The Border (1982), the closest match to Returning South.
What is the highest-rated movie like Returning South?
Bring Her Back (2025), rated 7.3/10 by 2,066 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Returning South?
Greenland 2: Migration (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like Returning South?
The closest matches are in other languages.
How are movies similar to Returning South chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Returning South, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.