Movies like There once was a man (2023)
The best movies like There once was a man (2023) are Elena Knows (2023), A Father's Miracle (2025) and Call Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013). If There once was a man hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedYou're Not You (2014)7.4/10 from 867 votes
- NewestA Father's Miracle (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishElena Knows (2023)Also in Spanish
Elena Knows (2023)
As her Parkinson's disease progresses, a woman leads a relentless investigation into finding those responsible for the sudden death of her daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Father's Miracle (2025)
After being falsely accused of a terrible crime, Hector, a man with a neurological disability, goes to a secret prison. His goodness conquers the prisoners, who plan to prove their innocence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCall Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Pride of the Yankees (1942)
The story of the life and career of the baseball hall of famer, Lou Gehrig.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisYou're Not You (2014)
When an accomplished pianist is diagnosed with the devastating and incurable disease ALS, she hires a directionless young woman who becomes her full-time caregiver. Complete opposites, the strangers form a life-changing bond inspiring each other to live life to fullest, while being brought together by the most challenging of circumstances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTyson's Run (2022)
When fifteen-year-old Tyson attends public school for the first time, his life is changed forever. While helping his father clean up after the football team, Tyson befriends champion marathon runner Aklilu. Never letting his autism hold him back, Tyson becomes determined to run his first marathon in hopes of winning his father's approval. With the help of an unlikely friend and his parents, Tyson learns that with faith in yourself and the courage to take the first step, anything is possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnbroken: Path to Redemption (2018)
Zamperini returns to California where he wound up marrying Cynthia Applewhite while wrestling with untreated PTSD, suffering constant nightmares, angry, bitter and deeply depressed, his wife convinces Zamperini to attend the 1949 Billy Graham Crusade.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBang the Drum Slowly (1973)
The story of a New York pro baseball team and two of its players. Henry Wiggen is the star pitcher and Bruce Pearson is the normal, everyday catcher who is far from the star player on the team and friend to all of his teammates. During the off-season, Bruce learns that he is terminally ill, and Henry, his only true friend, is determined to be the one person there for him during his last season with the club. Throughout the course of the season, Henry and his teammates attempt to deal with Bruce's impending illness, all the while attempting to make his last year a memorable one.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNeverwas (2005)
Zach Riley is a psychiatrist, who leaves a job at a prestigious university, to take up a job at the privately run mental institution, Millwood. What he doesn't reveal at the time of his appointment is that this was the very place where his novelist father, T.L. Pierson, spent many years of his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisHelen (2009)
On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depression, Helen finds solace through her friendship with Mathilda, a kindred spirit struggling with bipolar disorder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisBrain on Fire (2017)
Susannah Cahalan, an up-and-coming journalist at the New York Post becomes plagued by voices in her head and seizures, causing a rapid descent into insanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisThe Artist and the Model (2012)
In occupied France in summer 1943, a world-weary famous sculptor finds the desire to work again with the arrival of a beautiful young Spanish refugee.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCoda (2020)
A famous pianist at the twilight of his career meets a free-spirited music critic who soon becomes his rock as his mental state deteriorates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdam (2020)
A hard-living salesman becomes a quadriplegic after an accident.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
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 thisRun Uje Run (2020)
Uje, a pop star in the 1990s, gets diagnosed with Parkinson's. This is a film about his everyday struggles.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Never Steady, Never Still (2017)
A mother struggles to take control of her life in the face of advanced Parkinson's disease, while her son battles his sexual and emotional identity amongst the violence of Alberta's oil field work camps.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
This Girl's Life (2004)
The porn star Moon spends her time working, nursing her widowed father that has Parkinson disease and with her friends Jessie and Martine. Her boss Aronson gives a new contract to Moon to be signed. Moon has a blind date with Jessie's friend Kip and they feel a great attraction for each other. When Jessie asks Moon to test the fidelity of her boy-friend, Moon decides to offer the service to other customers. But when she meets the dangerous Terry, she reevaluates her life and her relationship with Skip.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisWavering (2019)
As her Parkinson's disease intensifies, a National Parks Ranger struggles to accept her new limitations.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Love & Other Drugs (2010)
Maggie is an alluring free spirit who won't let anyone – or anything – tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie, whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serves him well with the ladies and the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales. Maggie and Jamie's evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSaving Milly (2005)
True story based on the best-selling book by Mort Kondracke.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
After Last Season (2009)
Two neurology students create a telepathy experiment together to visualize a murderer, who recently knifed another student.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Next Level (2024)
After a deadly accident and a tough move, a young basketball player must learn to overcome adversity and make the most of his new situation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Late Night (2019)
A legendary late-night talk show host's world is turned upside down when she hires her only female staff writer. Originally intended to smooth over diversity concerns, her decision has unexpectedly hilarious consequences as the two women separated by culture and generation are united by their love of a biting punchline.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like There once was a man?
The closest matches to There once was a man are Elena Knows (2023), A Father's Miracle (2025) and Call Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after There once was a man?
Start with Elena Knows (2023), the closest match to There once was a man.
What is the highest-rated movie like There once was a man?
You're Not You (2014), rated 7.4/10 by 867 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like There once was a man?
A Father's Miracle (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like There once was a man?
Yes: Elena Knows (2023), A Father's Miracle (2025) and The Artist and the Model (2012).
How are movies similar to There once was a man chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside There once was a man, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.