Movies like The City Wakes Up Early (1968)
The best movies like The City Wakes Up Early (1968) are Embattled (2020), Daddy Longlegs (2010) and I Never Sang for My Father (1970). If The City Wakes Up Early hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat Maisie Knew (2013)7.1/10 from 466 votes
- Newest180 (2026)Released 2026
Embattled (2020)
The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDaddy Longlegs (2010)
After months of living a solitary existence, Lenny, 34, picks up his kids from school. Every year he spends a couple of weeks with his sons Sage, 9, and Frey, 7. Lenny hosts his kids within a midtown studio apartment in New York. During these two weeks, he must figure out if he wants to act as their father or be their friend. Ultimately, their trip upstate results in complete lawlessness taking over their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Never Sang for My Father (1970)
A man living in the towering shadow of his aging father finds it difficult to start a new chapter in his life by marrying his girlfriend and moving to California.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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 · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this180 (2026)
When an unexpected road rage incident puts his son in critical condition, an enraged father spirals down a dark path of emotional turmoil and vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisViolent Ends (2025)
A man raised in a violent crime family struggles to build an honest life with his fiancée but is dragged back into the criminal world after his cousin’s armed robbery leaves an innocent person caught in the crossfire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisImperial Dreams (2014)
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisO.G. (2018)
Louis Menkins is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFirstborn (1984)
Because he's the oldest, Jake has been the man of the house, since his parents divorce. When Mom starts seeing Sam, who always seems to be trying some new way to get rich quick, and declares he's the man of the house now, Jake puts up with it. Until he discovers Sam's illegal activities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl Chicano (2019)
A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRiot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Pumpkin Eater (1964)
Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Nest (2020)
Rory is an ambitious entrepreneur who brings his American wife and kids to his native country, England, to explore new business opportunities. After abandoning the sanctuary of their safe American suburban surroundings, the family is plunged into the despair of an archaic '80s Britain and their unaffordable new life in an English manor house threatens to destroy the family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Question of Faith (2017)
When Tragedy Strikes three Families, their Destiny forces them on a coverging path and mercy as the challenges of their fate could also resurrect their beliefs
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMagpie (2024)
A couple's lives are thrown into disarray when their daughter is cast opposite a controversial major star.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Boy Blue (1998)
Living in rural Texas is a dysfunctional family: an abusive dad, a Vietnam vet with a war wound that's left him impotent; a compliant wife and a son of about 20, two small sons who look a lot like their brother. The dad harbors a secret, and he goes to murderous lengths to keep it hidden. The young man, Jimmy, who has suspicions, but little comes out until a Yankee woman comes to town.
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 thisEach Dawn I Die (1939)
A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSunday Morning in Victoria Park (2010)
A young woman struggles in foreign countries to improve her self esteem to her family and to the community.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Arbat Motif (1990)
The action takes place during perestroika in one of the old Moscow houses on the Arbat, intended for demolition. The tenants have long been evicted, and only 80-year-old Vera Vasilievna does not want to leave, claiming that Yesenin, Mayakovsky, Bulgakov have been in this house ...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Argumosa 11 (2022)
A house. From outside come shouts of what looks like a demonstration. Inside, two children, Luis (six years old) and Ana (eight years old) play while her mother, Carmen, tries tough it out in front of the little ones.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Gamberra (2026)
During her first year at a conservative, elitist college residence, Marta is driven into a desperate search for the morning-after pill by the sexual taboos around her. As community pressure builds, her peers prepare an initiation ritual no one will forget.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Emptiness (2020)
LEI and WONG clandestinely arrive to Ecuador, on their way to the port city of Guayaquil. From here LEI plans to continue her journey to New York, but CHANG, a bipolar mobster will decide her fate. WONG unwillingly gets entangled in the web of corruption that operates the encroachment of Chinese immigrants. His only objective is to bring his twelve-year-old son from China.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
152 AB (2024)
Cêcil and Cecília, neighbors in a suburb, suffer daily from the challenges imposed by the Brazilian suburban condition. An unexpected meeting leads the two, newly introduced, to nurture a friendship separated by a wall.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Without Direction (2012)
Teo, a gay Guatemalan musician, flees a brutal homophobic attack. Ray, an American doctor, escapes his past after a fatal mistake. When their paths cross, they discover that redemption can come from where they least expect it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Los bárbaros (2025)
In the year of the crisis, four young people attempt to make a home by squatting in an unfinished building – a paradoxical limbo amid the real-estate bubble, where they willingly remain on the fringes of it all.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Curtain (2016)
The wedding day planned by Lala's father is fast approaching. Emil realizes that time is against him and he must act urgently. At that moment, an opportunity arises: Lala's father is leaving town for a few days to prepare for the wedding. Emil asks her brother Zaur for help in saving Lala from this marriage. Zaur, however, is faced with a difficult choice - his father's will, family traditions and influence in society, or loyalty to his friend and protecting his sister from the same fate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The City Wakes Up Early?
The closest matches to The City Wakes Up Early are Embattled (2020), Daddy Longlegs (2010) and I Never Sang for My Father (1970). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The City Wakes Up Early?
Start with Embattled (2020), the closest match to The City Wakes Up Early.
What is the highest-rated movie like The City Wakes Up Early?
What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 466 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The City Wakes Up Early?
180 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The City Wakes Up Early chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The City Wakes Up Early, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.