Movies like Il Mare (2000)
The best movies like Il Mare (2000) are Heaven's Postman (2009), The Classic (2003) and Ditto (2000). If Il Mare hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBe With You (2018)8.1/10 from 231 votes
- NewestOnce We Were Us (2025)Released 2025
- In KoreanHeaven's Postman (2009)Also in Korean
Heaven's Postman (2009)
Jae-jun delivers letters to heaven from those who can't get over the loss of their loved ones. One day Ha-na, who writes to her late boyfriend, discovers Jae-jun's secret identity. He offers her a part-time job assisting him, and they set off on a 14-day journey.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & fantasy
The Classic (2003)
Ji-hae's friend is having problems expressing her feelings to the boy she loves, so she asks Ji-hae to write e-mails to him in her name. As the boy falls in love with her letters, Ji-hae discovers the story of her mother's romance which is remarkably similar to her own circumstances.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDitto (2000)
In this endearing supernatural love story spanning two decades, a university student finds himself communicating with a female classmate from the same school through an antique ham radio.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBe With You (2018)
Along with his young son, Ji-ho, Woo-jin misses his wife Soo-a, who died after promising to return a year later with the rainy season. Miraculously, they reunite with Soo-a when the rainy season comes around, but she has no memory of her husband and son whom she dearly loved.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisChristmas in August (1998)
It's a sweltering summer, but Jung-won, a terminally ill, thirty-something photographer, is already in the winter of his life when he begins a tentative romance with a young traffic cop who doesn't know about his condition. Is their relationship doomed before it even begins?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBecause I Love You (2017)
Lee Hyeong is a talented songwriter. He happens to connect people who are not good with love. Those include Hyeong-Gyeong who wants to become a singer, but she suffers from stage fright. Scully is a high school student. She helps Lee Hyeong's spirit. Chan-Young is a colleague of Lee Hyeong and he likes Hyeong-Gyeong, but in vain.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & fantasy
The Beauty Inside (2015)
Woo-jin, a furniture designer who wakes up in a different body every day, falls for Yi-soo, a woman he meets through his work.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both fantasy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Moment to Remember (2004)
A young couple's love is tested when Sun-jin is diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOne Fine Spring Day (2001)
A recording engineer falls for a radio announcer after they work together to capture sounds of the natural world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
Due to a genetic disorder, handsome librarian Henry DeTamble involuntarily zips through time, appearing at various moments in the life of his true love, the beautiful artist Clare Abshire.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOasis (2002)
A young man released from prison visits the widow of the man he killed drunk-driving and becomes infatuated with his cerebral palsy-stricken daughter.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFailan (2001)
After losing both her parents, Failan emmigrates to Korea to seek her only remaining relatives. Once she reaches Korea, she finds out that her relatives have moved to Canada well over a year ago. Desperate to stay and make a living in Korea, Failan is forced to have an arranged marriage through a match-making agency.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLucky Chan-sil (2020)
With the death of her long-time director, Chan-sil, a film producer, is now unemployed. While working as a cleaning lady at an actress' house, she meets a young man. Attracted to him, Chan-sil realises old anxieties are about to emerge: her already gone-youth, messed-up love life, and broken career.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & fantasy
Be with You (2004)
Takumi and his six-year-old son, Yuji, haven't come to terms with their wife and mother's death. One day, they meet a woman with an uncanny resemblance to her sheltering from the rain near their home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lake House (2006)
When architect Alex Wyler moves into an unusual glass house on stilts over a lake, he discovers a note from the previous tenant in the mailbox--but no one's lived in the house for years. He replies and soon discovers that he's corresponding with a doctor named Kate Forster. Their correspondence, only through the 'magical' mailbox, turns romantic and their paths cross in unexpected ways, but when they try to truly connect, danger looms. They must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary romance before it's too late.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIf Only (2004)
After his impetuous musician girlfriend, Samantha, dies in an accident shortly after they had a fight (and nearly broke up), Ian Wyndham, a grief-stricken British businessman living in London gets a chance to relive the day all over again, in the hope of changing the events that led up to her getting killed.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Werewolf Boy (2012)
An unexpected phone call brings an elderly woman to her childhood country cottage, and memories of an orphan boy she knew 47 years ago come flooding back to her.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaundy Thursday (2006)
Yu-jeong is suicidal, yet she reluctantly goes to prison for volunteer work. There, she meets a prisoner who is waiting for death penalty. The two quickly fall in love despite their differences, yet they do not have much time.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Sassy Girl (2001)
A young man’s world is turned upside down when a female force of nature takes his life by storm in this outrageous and uplifting ode to true love.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhat Dreams May Come (1998)
After Chris Nielsen dies in a car accident, he is guided through the afterlife by his spirit guide, Albert. His new world is beautiful and can be whatever Chris imagines. Even his children are there. But, when his wife, Annie, commits suicide and is sent to hell, Chris ignores Albert's warnings and journeys there to save her. Upon arrival, Chris finds that rescuing Annie will be more difficult than he'd imagined.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEvening (2007)
As Constance (Natasha Richardson) and Nina (Toni Collette) gather at the deathbed of their mother, Ann (Vanessa Redgrave), they learn for the first time that their mother lived an entire other lifetime during one evening 50 years ago. In vivid flashbacks, the young Ann (Claire Daines) spends one night with a man named Harris (Patrick Wilson), who was the love of her life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisForget Me Not (2015)
Takashi Hayama is a third year high school student. He falls in love with Azusa Oribe at first sight and they begin to date. One day, Azusa tells Takashi "people who meet me, forget about me several hours later." Takashi doesn't believe Azusa, but by chance he realizes that he forgot about Azusa. So he won't forget Azusa, Takashi begins to leave a note for himself and Azusa.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Dream (2008)
In the aftermath of a car crash, a man discovers his dreams are tied to a stranger's sleepwalking.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOnce We Were Us (2025)
Seoul, 2008. On a bus heading to their hometown, fate brings Eun-ho and Jeong-won together, sparking an unlikely friendship. While battling a bustling and weary city life, they find themselves sharing lofty dreams and a love that comes to feel extraordinary. But, eventually, the harsh realities of life lead them to part ways. Over a decade after the separation, the two unexpectedly reunite on a flight back to Korea, where they reflect on their lost time.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Once in a Summer (2006)
An assistant to a TV producer, eager to stay off his bad side, promises to convince her former professor, a famous but reclusive academic, to appear on their show, which helps locate long-lost persons. Who does grey-haired Professor Yun Suk-young want to see again more than anything? The answer to that question lies decades in the past.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTune in for Love (2019)
During the 1990s, hardworking Mi-soo and optimistic Hyun-woo meet at a bakery and fall in love while exchanging stories on a radio station, but while their paths keep crossing, the timing never seems to work out.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWindstruck (2004)
Kyung-jin, a police officer who finds herself chasing down a suspected bag-snatcher on her day off. However, the man she catches turns out to be Myungwoo, a passer-by who was himself trying to apprehend the real criminal.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlways (2011)
A former boxer turned parking lot attendant finds hope in the love of the blind telemarketer who walks into his booth one day.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMan in Love (2014)
Tae-il lives a fast life as low level thug. He then learns that he has a terminal illness and not much time left to live. Then, for the first time in his life, he falls in love.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSliding Doors (1998)
Helen, a London ad executive, is fired from her job and rushes out to catch a train, but, as she runs down, her life suddenly splits off. In one version she catches the train; in the second, she misses it. Her whole life changes in that one second, and the rest of the film depicts what happens in each scenario.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Il Mare?
The closest matches to Il Mare are Heaven's Postman (2009), The Classic (2003) and Ditto (2000). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Il Mare?
People who watched Il Mare most often go on to Heaven's Postman (2009), The Classic (2003) and Ditto (2000).
What is the highest-rated movie like Il Mare?
Be With You (2018), rated 8.1/10 by 231 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Il Mare?
Once We Were Us (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like Il Mare?
Yes: Heaven's Postman (2009), The Classic (2003) and Ditto (2000).
How are movies similar to Il Mare chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Il Mare, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.