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Movies like Making Maya (2008)

The best movies like Making Maya (2008) are Girlfight (2000), Bruised (2021) and Just Charlie (2017). If Making Maya hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Girlfight (2000)

    Diana Guzman, a troubled Brooklyn teenager, decides to channel her aggression by training to become a boxer, all while keeping it a secret from her father.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  2. Bruised (2021)

    Jackie Justice is a mixed martial arts fighter who leaves the sport in disgrace. Down on her luck and simmering with rage and regret years after the fight, she's coaxed into a brutal underground fight by her manager and boyfriend Desi and grabs the attention of a fight league promoter who promises Jackie a life back in the Octagon. But the road to redemption becomes unexpectedly personal when Manny - the son she gave up as an infant - shows up at her doorstep. A triumphant story of a fighter who reclaims her power, in and out of the ring, when everyone has counted her out

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  3. Just Charlie (2017)

    Football star Charlie has the world at her feet. With a top club desperate to sign her, her future is seemingly mapped out. But the teenager sees only a nightmare. Raised as a boy, Charlie is torn between wanting to live up to her father's expectations and shedding this ill fitting skin.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  4. Pariah (2011)

    A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  5. Hounddog (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

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  6. Personal Best (1982)

    Young sprinter Chris Cahill is having difficulty reaching her potential as an athlete, until she meets established track star Tory Skinner. As Tory and her coach help Chris with her training, the two women form friendship that evolves into a romantic relationship. Their intimacy, however, becomes complicated when Chris' improvement causes them to be competitors for the Olympic team.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  7. My Brother the Devil (2012)

    Fourteen-year-old Mo is a lonely, sensitive boy whose hunger for the rant and banter of buddies makes him prone to tread dangerous territories. He idolizes his handsome older brother, Rashid, a charismatic, well-respected member of a local gang, whose drug dealing enables “Rash” to provide for his family. Aching to be seen as a tough guy himself, Mo takes a job that unlocks a fateful turn of events and forces the brothers to confront their inner demons. It turns out that hate is easy. It is love and understanding that take real courage.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  8. I Believe in Unicorns (2015)

    Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  9. Blue Chips (1994)

    Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team isn't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate and has pressures from all around.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  10. The Safety of Objects (2002)

    In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  11. Iron Jawed Angels (2004)

    Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  12. Gracie (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

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  13. Amateur (2018)

    14-year-old basketball phenom Terron Forte has to navigate the under-the-table world of amateur athletics when he is recruited to an elite NCAA prep school.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. Whip It (2009)

    In Bodeen, Texas, an indie-rock loving misfit finds a way of dealing with her small-town misery after she discovers a roller derby league in nearby Austin.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  15. Rise (2022)

    After emigrating to Greece from Nigeria, Vera and Charles Antetokounmpo struggled to survive and provide for their five children, while living under the daily threat of deportation. Desperate to obtain Greek citizenship but undermined by a system that blocked them at every turn, the family's vision, determination and faith lifted them out of obscurity to launch the careers of three NBA champions.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  16. Bessie (2015)

    The story of legendary blues performer, Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  17. Pimp (2018)

    An urban love story set on the hard streets of the Bronx. A struggling female pimp, named Wednesday, grows up learning the game from her dad. Once he's gone she's left to look out for her prostitute mother and girlfriend Nikki.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  18. The Color of Rain (2014)

    After cancer claims Matt Kell's life on Christmas Day 2005, his widow, Gina and two young boys are left to cope with the pain of his loss while their close church community gathers around them for support.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  19. Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001)

    In New York City, the lives of a lawyer, an actuary, a house-cleaner, a professor, and the people around them intersect as they ponder order and happiness in the face of life's cold unpredictability.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  20. The 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 this
  21. All About My Mother (1999)

    Following the tragic death of her teenage son, Manuela travels from Madrid to Barcelona in an attempt to contact the long-estranged father the boy never knew. She reunites with an old friend, an outspoken transgender sex worker, and befriends a troubled actress and a pregnant, HIV-positive nun.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  22. Ozon: Remastered & Uncut (2022)

    He thrilled you with 'Swimming Pool', tickled you with '8 Women' and beguiled you with 'Young and Beautiful'. Dive into the the erotic twists and transgressive turns of the early short films of auteur director François Ozon. The 5 short films are: A Summer Dress [Une robe d'été] (1996); X2000 (1998); Truth or Dare [Action vérité] (1994); See the Sea [Regarde la mer] (1997); Little Death [La petite mort] (1995).

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  23. Swans (2016)

    By living his entire life fearing the prejudice of others, Aksel inadvertently made himself the source of true bias. Now, the real victims of prejudice will be revealed, as his secret is laid out for the world to see.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  24. My Life Without Me (2003)

    A fatally ill mother with only two months to live creates a list of things she wants to do before she dies without telling her family of her illness.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  25. Walk on Water (2004)

    Eyal, an Israeli Mossad agent, is given the mission to track down and kill the very old Alfred Himmelman, an ex-Nazi officer, who might still be alive. Pretending to be a tourist guide, he befriends his grandson Axel, in Israel to visit his sister Pia. The two men set out on a tour of the country, during which Axel challenges Eyal's values.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  26. Open Hearts (2002)

    Cecilie and Joachim are about to get married when a freak car accident leaves Joachim disabled, throwing their lives into a spin. The driver of the other car, Marie, and her family don’t get off lightly, either. Her husband Niels works in the hospital where he meets Cecilie and falls madly in love with her.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  27. Brokeback Mountain (2005)

    In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  28. The Secret Life of Words (2005)

    A solitary nurse bonds with a badly burned patient who survived an accident on an oil rig.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  29. Lost in Translation (2003)

    Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  30. Zinzan (2017)

    After his son insists on bringing his boyfriend to practice, a rugby-mad father fears for his son’s chances of getting onto the national team.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Like Making Maya and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Making Maya?

The closest matches to Making Maya are Girlfight (2000), Bruised (2021) and Just Charlie (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Making Maya?

Start with Girlfight (2000), the closest match to Making Maya.

What is the highest-rated movie like Making Maya?

Brokeback Mountain (2005), rated 7.8/10 by 7,811 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Making Maya?

Ozon: Remastered & Uncut (2022) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like Making Maya?

Yes: Girlfight (2000), Bruised (2021) and Just Charlie (2017).

How are movies similar to Making Maya chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Making Maya, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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