Movies like What We Wished We Could Be (2024)
The best movies like What We Wished We Could Be (2024) are Anuja (2024), The Neighbors' Window (2019) and Curfew (2012). If What We Wished We Could Be 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
- NewestEleanor the Great (2025)Released 2025
Anuja (2024)
When a brilliant nine-year-old working in a sweatshop gets a chance to attend school, she must make a difficult choice for her and her sister's future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Neighbors' Window (2019)
The story of a middle-aged woman with small children whose life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCurfew (2012)
At the lowest point of his life, Richie gets a call from his estranged sister asking him to look after his nine-year old niece, Sophia, for a few hours.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHungry Hearts (2015)
The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisInseparable (2007)
When young dad, Joe, discovers he's dying, drifter Charlie is given a unique opportunity to turn his life around. A story of family, identity and starting again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Corner in Wheat (1909)
On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe River (1984)
Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.
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 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 thisFast Girls (2012)
A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome Run (2013)
A pro ball player with a substance abuse problem is forced into rehab in his hometown, finding new hope when he gets honest about his checkered past, and takes on coaching duties for a misfit Little League team
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 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 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 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 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 thisCome Sunday (2018)
Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFrancis (2013)
Francis is a short story written by american novelist Dave Eggers. This is the story of a young boy growing up in the suburbs of chicago. He spent his vacations in Quetico Provincial Park, up on the border of Minnesota and Canada. But he won't be going back any day soon, not after what happened to a girl called Francis Brandywine.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Breaking the Circles (2012)
Milena, a successful photographer from Macedonia decides to visit Prague and surprise her secret lover. Instead of a warm welcome, Milena faces the emptiness of the city. Most of the time she is alone thinking of their relationship and waiting for her mystique lover to appear. The city slowly drives her into a paranoid journey in which she is forced to face her greatest wishes, desires and fears. Her life is spinning in circles. Alone and desperate, she decides to break that circle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Spin (2003)
It’s the time of sexual awakening and everything is in a state of flux. A game of spin-the-bottle sets off a chain reaction and, afterwards, nothing is quite same again. An adrenaline-charged tale about what it’s like to be a teenager.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
When Jesse Was Born (2005)
Tragedy strikes a comedic blue collar family as they welcome their third son into the world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Denko (1993)
An African mother will do just about anything to protect her child. Bilaly is a simple peasant who is blind. He wants to “know” a woman before he dies, but try as his mother might, she cannot find someone to oblige. She finally gets an idea – an idea that completely stuns the village.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
True North (2016)
A girl in a mechanics workshop meets a submarine captain who owns a magical compass. The compass is not functioning, so he asks her to fix it. It turns out that the compass has showed him the way to the treasure he sought the whole time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Unremarkable (2016)
A journey of a woman's body who is shot and killed on a vacation with her family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Cutlass (2007)
When Robin's daughter Lacy wants to buy an expensive guitar, Robin reminisces about the days when she was a teenager, asking her dad for her first car, an Olds Cutlass Supreme.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Trap (2007)
Maggie's friends have planned a surprise birthday party (despite it being a month away). During the party, Maggie realizes there's more to it then that.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Umbrella (2023)
With divorce on the horizon, a couple find out that a lunch meeting with the wife’s attorney is about to get very gruesome. Based on the story "Lunch at the Gotham Café" by Stephen King.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like What We Wished We Could Be?
The closest matches to What We Wished We Could Be are Anuja (2024), The Neighbors' Window (2019) and Curfew (2012). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after What We Wished We Could Be?
Start with Anuja (2024), the closest match to What We Wished We Could Be.
What is the highest-rated movie like What We Wished We Could Be?
What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 466 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like What We Wished We Could Be?
Eleanor the Great (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like What We Wished We Could Be?
Yes: Anuja (2024), The Neighbors' Window (2019) and Curfew (2012).
How are movies similar to What We Wished We Could Be chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside What We Wished We Could Be, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.