Movies like Father to Son (2004)
The best movies like Father to Son (2004) are David Lynch: The Art Life (2017), Abducted in Plain Sight (2017) and My Father, the BTK Killer (2025). If Father to Son hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMommy Dead and Dearest (2017)7.4/10 from 263 votes
- NewestEvil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025)Released 2025
David Lynch: The Art Life (2017)
An intimate journey through the formative years of David Lynch's life. From his idyllic upbringing in small town America to the dark streets of Philadelphia, we follow Lynch as he traces the events that have helped to shape one of cinema's most enigmatic directors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAbducted in Plain Sight (2017)
A family falls prey to the manipulative charms of a neighbor, who abducts their adolescent daughter. Twice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Father, the BTK Killer (2025)
Raised by a man leading a monstrous double life, the daughter of the BTK serial killer shares her chilling story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCapturing the Friedmans (2003)
An Oscar nominated documentary about a middle-class American family who is torn apart when the father Arnold and son Jesse are accused of sexually abusing numerous children. Director Jarecki interviews people from different sides of this tragic story and raises the question of whether they were rightfully tried when they claim they were innocent and there was never any evidence against them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this"Sr." (2022)
A portrait of the life and career of Robert Downey Sr. (1936-2021), the visionary and fearless US filmmaker — father of actor Robert Downey Jr. — who in the sixties and seventies laid the foundations for countercultural comedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like this35 Up (1991)
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEvil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025)
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mole: Undercover in North Korea (2020)
A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world's most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this42 Up (1999)
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDeliver Us from Evil (2006)
Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMommy Dead and Dearest (2017)
Child abuse, mental illness, and forbidden love converge in this mystery involving a mother and daughter who were thought to be living a fairy tale life that turned out to be a living nightmare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (2012)
Alex Gibney explores the charged issue of pedophilia in the Catholic Church, following a trail from the first known protest against clerical sexual abuse in the United States and all way to the Vatican.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGrey Gardens (1976)
Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. The women reveal themselves to be misfits with outsized, engaging personalities. Much of the conversation is centered on their pasts, as mother and daughter now rarely leave home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSalinger (2013)
An in-depth investigation into the private world of the American writer J. D. Salinger (1919-2010), who lived most of his life behind the impenetrable wall of a self-imposed seclusion: how his dramatic experiences during World War II influenced his life and work, his relationships with very young women, his obsessive writing methods, his many literary secrets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEx Libris: The New York Public Library (2017)
A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King (2020)
A tribute to Chadwick Boseman, celebrating his life and legacy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisStories We Tell (2012)
Canadian actress and filmmaker Sarah Polley investigates certain secrets related to her mother, interviewing a group of family members and friends whose reliability varies depending on their implication in the events, which are remembered in different ways; so a trail of questions remains to be answered, because memory is always changing and the discovery of truth often depends on who is telling the tale.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMarvel's Behind the Mask (2021)
A documentary special that explores the power of identity behind the iconic superheroes we know and love today. These legendary Marvel creations and stories have not only reflected the world outside our window – they have become a reflection of our own identities and who we truly are.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCome See Me in the Good Light (2025)
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this180° South (2010)
The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTarnation (2003)
Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more -- culled from 19 years of his life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZ lásky nenávist 3: Domácí násilí na seniorech (2019)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Z lásky nenávist (2017)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Z lásky nenávist 2: Domácí násilí na mužích (2018)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Loving Martha (2022)
Having broken free from the domestic violence she suffered during 39 years of marriage to her ex-husband Amando, Martha tells her granddaughter Daniela, who is beginning her career as a filmmaker, to make a film out of the personal memoirs in which she narrates her painful past. In this process, despite having gotten a divorce, for over 15 years her family has continued to pressure Martha into spending time with her abuser.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Psychopath with Piers Morgan (2019)
Piers Morgan ventures behind bars to talk to diagnosed psychopath Paris Bennett about what drove him to murder his four-year-old sister.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Is There a Pine on the Mountain (2022)
An intimate account of a highly toxic relationship: during a lengthy visit from her boyfriend’s mother, the filmmaker documents the arguments between mother and son.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Perfect Victim (2012)
For over thirty years, three women have languished in Missouri State prison under unjust sentences for killing their abusive husbands. Denied the opportunity to enter the abuse into evidence, each of the women represents a system broken by outdated and media-sensationalized stereotypes. When a greater understanding of the "battered" syndrome change legal practices in 2000, Missouri's Governor crafts a new law demanding the parole board reevaluate each woman's case.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Family (2017)
Interpersonal relationships in a dysfunctional family under the microscope of the camera.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Welcome Home Freckles (2025)
After four years away, Huiju returns home to South Korea. Exchanges with her loved ones are awkward and clumsy. Huiju turns once again to her familiar rituals: pruning the trees, preparing a sauce, tying a braid.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Father to Son?
The closest matches to Father to Son are David Lynch: The Art Life (2017), Abducted in Plain Sight (2017) and My Father, the BTK Killer (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Father to Son?
Start with David Lynch: The Art Life (2017), the closest match to Father to Son.
What is the highest-rated movie like Father to Son?
Mommy Dead and Dearest (2017), rated 7.4/10 by 263 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Father to Son?
Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Father to Son chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Father to Son, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.