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Movies like Kes (1970)

The best movies like Kes (1970) are The Cement Garden (1993), How Green Was My Valley (1941) and Back Roads (2019). If Kes hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. The Cement Garden (1993)

    After the death of her husband, the mother of Julie, Jack, Sue and Tom begins to suffer from a mysterious illness. Aware that she is going to have to go into hospital she opens a bank account for the children, so that they can be financially self-sufficient and will be able to avoid being taken into care by the authorities. Unfortunately she also dies and Julie and Jack (the older, teenage children) decide to hide her body in the basement so that they can have free reign of their household. Soon Tom has taken to dressing as a girl whilst Sue has become increasingly reticent, confiding only to her diary, meanwhile Jack and Julie sense an attraction developing for each other. However Julie's new beau, Derek, threatens to unearth the many dark secrets within this family as he becomes increasingly suspicious of Jack.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  2. How Green Was My Valley (1941)

    Huw Morgan, the academically inclined youngest son in a proud family of Welsh coal miners, witnesses the tumultuous events of his young life during a period of rapid social change. At the dawn of the 20th-century, a miners' strike divides the Morgans: the sons demand improvements, and the father doesn't want to rock the boat.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  3. Back Roads (2019)

    A young man cares for his younger sisters after their mother is imprisoned for murdering their abusive father. When he strikes up an affair with a married woman, long-dormant family secrets bubble to the surface.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  4. Into the Forest (2016)

    In the not too distant future, two young women who live in a remote ancient forest discover the world around them is on the brink of an apocalypse. Informed only by rumor, they fight intruders, disease, loneliness & starvation.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  5. There Will Be Blood (2007)

    Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview's motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  6. We the Animals (2018)

    Manny, Joel and Jonah tear their way through childhood and push against the volatile love of their parents. As Manny and Joel grow into versions of their father and Ma dreams of escape, Jonah, the youngest, embraces an imagined world all his own.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  7. The Road (2009)

    A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and water. It is cold enough to crack stones and, when the snow falls, it is gray. Their destination is the warmer south, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  8. Foxcatcher (2014)

    The greatest Olympic Wrestling Champion brother team joins Team Foxcatcher led by multimillionaire sponsor John E. du Pont as they train for the 1988 games in Seoul - a union that leads to unlikely circumstances.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  9. A Simple Plan (1998)

    Captivated by the lure of sudden wealth, the quiet rural lives of two brothers erupt into conflicts of greed, paranoia and distrust when over $4 million in cash is discovered at the remote site of a downed small airplane. Their simple plan to retain the money while avoiding detection opens a Pandora's box when the fear of getting caught triggers panicked behavior and leads to virulent consequences.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  10. Neds (2010)

    NEDs (Non Educated Delinquents) is the story of a young man’s journey from prize-winning schoolboy to knife-carrying teenager. Struggling against the low expectations of those around him, John McGill changes from victim to avenger, scholar to NED, altar boy to glue sniffer. When he attempts to change back again, his new reality and recent past make conformity near impossible and violent self determination near inevitable.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  11. The Rover (2014)

    Ten years after a severe economic collapse in the western world, lawlessness reigns and life is cheap. Eric is a lone drifter, and his car is his only possession. When a gang steals it, Eric comes across the injured Rey, left behind by the car thieves. The pair form an unlikely and uneasy alliance.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  12. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

    After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems. While searching for some stability, Stark forms a bond with a disturbed classmate, Plato, and falls for local girl Judy. However, Judy is the girlfriend of neighborhood tough, Buzz. When Buzz violently confronts Jim and challenges him to a drag race, the new kid's real troubles begin.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  13. The Skeleton Twins (2014)

    Estranged twins Maggie and Milo coincidentally cheat death on the same day, prompting them to reunite and confront the reasons their lives went so wrong. As the twins' reunion reinvigorates them, they realize the key to fixing their lives may just lie in repairing their relationship.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. This Boy's Life (1993)

    When a son and mother move to Seattle in hopes for a better life, the mother meets a seemingly polite man. Things go south when the man turns out to be abusive, endangering their lives. As the mother struggles to maintain hope in an impossible situation, the son has plans to escape.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  15. My Own Private Idaho (1991)

    Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  16. Hellion (2014)

    When motocross and heavy metal obsessed, 13-year-old Jacob's delinquent behavior forces CPS to place his little brother Wes with his aunt, Jacob and his emotionally absent father must finally take responsibility for their actions and each other in order to bring Wes home.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  17. Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)

    Working-class British housewife Myra Savage reinvents herself as a medium, holding seances in the sitting room of her home with the hidden assistance of her under-employed, asthmatic husband, Billy. In an attempt to enhance her credibility as a psychic, Myra hatches an elaborate, ill-conceived plot to kidnap a wealthy couple's young daughter so that she can then help the police "find" the missing girl.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  18. Room (2015)

    Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  19. The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)

    In 1920s Ireland young doctor Damien O'Donovan prepares to depart for a new job in a London hospital. As he says his goodbyes at a friend's farm, British Black and Tans arrive, and a young man is killed. Damien joins his brother Teddy in the Irish Republican Army, but political events are soon set in motion that tear the brothers apart.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  20. You Can Count on Me (2000)

    A single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely-seen younger brother returns to town.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  21. Pelle the Conqueror (1987)

    In the late 19th century, two Swedish emigrants, Lasse Karlsson and his son Pelle, arrive on the Danish island of Bornholm hoping to find work on a farm and save enough money to travel to the United States of America.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  22. Mask (1985)

    A significantly deformed but highly intelligent teenage boy and his biker gang mother attempt to live as normal a life as possible under the circumstances.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  23. Mystic Pizza (1988)

    Three teenage girls come of age while working at a pizza parlor in Mystic, Connecticut.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

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  24. Touching the Void (2003)

    The true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' disastrous and nearly-fatal mountain climb of 6,344m Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  25. Evil (2003)

    Stockholm, in the 1950s. Erik is expelled from the local school for getting into one brawl too many. To protect Erik from his violent stepfather’s reaction to his expulsion, Erik's mother arranges for Erik to spend a year at Stjärnsberg Boarding School, the only school willing to accept him. This is Erik's last chance to graduate to Upper School and he promises his mother, for his and her sake, to do all he can to stay out of trouble.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  26. Chungking Express (1994)

    Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal server at a late-night restaurant.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  27. Beneath the Surface (TBA)

    Beneath the Surface introduces readers to the story of the wealthy Kingsley family of Southern California. At the center of the action are the power-hungry children of an aging billionaire, who prove unprepared for a storm of deceptions and ruthless family ambition, while out on a weekend voyage.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  28. Bloody Crayons (2017)

    A group of friends goes to an island for a short film project when they are attacked by a mysterious killer after playing a game of bloody crayons.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  29. Audition (2000)

    Seven years after the death of his wife, widower Shigeharu seeks advice on how to find a new wife from a colleague. Taking advantage of their position as a film company, they stage an audition. Interviewing a series of women, Shigeharu is enchanted by the quiet Asami. But soon things take a twisted turn as Asami isn’t what she seems to be.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  30. Freeway (1996)

    Following the arrest of her mother, Ramona, young Vanessa Lutz decides to go in search of her estranged grandmother. On the way, she is given a ride by school counselor Bob Wolverton. During the journey, Lutz begins to realize that Bob is the notorious I-5 Killer and manages to escape by shooting him several times. Wounded but still very much alive, Bob pursues Lutz across the state in this modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

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Like Kes and something else?

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

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Kes?

The closest matches to Kes are The Cement Garden (1993), How Green Was My Valley (1941) and Back Roads (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Kes?

Start with The Cement Garden (1993), the closest match to Kes.

What is the highest-rated movie like Kes?

There Will Be Blood (2007), rated 8.1/10 by 7,877 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Kes?

Back Roads (2019) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like Kes?

Yes: The Cement Garden (1993), How Green Was My Valley (1941) and Back Roads (2019).

How are movies similar to Kes chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Kes, 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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