Movies like Arava (2023)
The best movies like Arava (2023) are Scarecrow (1973), Head Full of Honey (2018) and Lady Driver (2020). If Arava hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedCharm City Kings (2020)7.8/10 from 508 votes
- NewestNot Without Hope (2025)Released 2025
Scarecrow (1973)
Two drifters bum around, visit earthy women and discuss opening a car wash in Pittsburgh.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisLady Driver (2020)
When a rebellious teen embarks on a solo summer journey to connect with her roots, she finds herself in a new world, geared up for the ride of her life, and discovers she had the drive in her all along.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Short History of the Long Road (2019)
Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHala (2019)
Seventeen-year-old Pakistani American teenager Hala struggles to balance desire with her family, cultural, and religious obligations. As she comes into her own, she grapples with a secret that threatens to unravel her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Together Now (2020)
An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisSalomé (2013)
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGracie (2007)
A teenager faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCharm City Kings (2020)
Mouse desperately wants to join The Midnight Clique, the infamous Baltimore dirt bike riders who rule the summertime streets. When Midnight’s leader, Blax, takes 14-year-old Mouse under his wing, Mouse soon finds himself torn between the straight-and-narrow and a road filled with fast money and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Without Hope (2025)
A group of friends' fishing boat capsizes off the coast of Mexico and they're left alone stranded at sea and struggling for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKisses (2008)
Two kids, Dylan and Kylie, run away from home on Christmas Day and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDeath's Dice (TBA)
Stuck in his motel room, Billy's luck runs out as he tries to save his straining relationship with his daughter, stay one step ahead of the cops, and devise a plan to beat a notorious crime lord before a fate worse than death arrives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Photo for the Memories (1985)
A boy falls in love with the girl whose injuries he is responsible for...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Under Your Bed (2019)
Naoto was ignored by other people. During his school days, Chihiro was the first person who called his name. Naoto dreams of seeing her again and tries to find her. Finally, after 11 years, he locates her, but she is a totally different person now. Naoto becomes obsessed with her. Naoto sneaks into her house and stays under her bed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
La volta buona (2019)
Bartholomeo, sports attorney, lives on gimmicks and little tricks. Over the years he has wasted the many opportunities he has had, the vice of gambling has made him lose money and family and now he spends his days in the suburbs hoping to find the new Maradona. Always looking for a stroke of luck, one day he receives a phone call: in Uruguay there is a young boy, Pablito, who is a real phenomenon…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I'm Livin' It (2020)
Once a star in his finance firm, Bowen now spends his nights in a 24-hour fast food joint, where he encounters others “roommates” who are in a similar predicament. Together these accidental roommates must strive to lift one another out of rock bottom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
90 Feet from Home (2019)
A former, troubled Major League Baseball player returns home to confront his abusive step-father.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Tournament 6: My City (2019)
Mr. Lee, a senior social worker, has been fed up with all sorts of social problems that cannot be resolved. He wants to resign after passing his expertise to the new comer, Candy. However, because of lack of manpower, he is asked to handle multiple special cases before he leaves, including mildly retarded Ha, Po with Down syndrome, schizophrenic Ming, Chung with serious autism and Keung with hyperactivity disorder. While Lee and Candy engage themselves in handling those difficult cases, Mrs. Lee, who has been suffering from serious mood disorder, commits suicide. Heavily blown, Lee abandons himself and decides to give up all cases. Two preachers from the church and two radio anchors are also involved indirectly into the resolving process. They have different levels of devotion and expectation on those cases. They hope to help those people in trouble to build up new understanding on the front-line social workers as well as on themselves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Windrush: Movement of the People (2019)
Leeds-based Phoenix Dance Theatre’s performance of Sharon Watson’s Windrush: Movement of the People toured the UK to wide acclaim. Now captured on film and screening at LIFF 2019, the performance is the first contemporary dance work to explore the narrative of the arrival of SS Empire Windrush that brought the first Caribbean migrants to the UK. The work is a lively celebration of the rise of multicultural Britain and features an uplifting soundtrack from calypso, jazz, gospel and reggae with original music created by Christella Litras and features set and costume design by Eleanor Bull.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Someone Else's (1978)
Factory director Kungurtsev returns from a trip abroad and finds out that his longtime and only friend engineer Alexei Putyatin is going to marry Vera, who is very different from everyone's beloved Lipa, Alexei's first wife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Arava?
The closest matches to Arava are Scarecrow (1973), Head Full of Honey (2018) and Lady Driver (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Arava?
Start with Scarecrow (1973), the closest match to Arava.
What is the highest-rated movie like Arava?
Charm City Kings (2020), rated 7.8/10 by 508 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Arava?
Not Without Hope (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Arava chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Arava, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.