Movies like Shell
If Shell hooked you with its drama, these are the films to watch next. Every pick says why it matches.
Around the Bend (2004)
A tale of four generations of men, all of whom have had their offspring at a young age: a great-grandfather, a grandfather, a father in his twenties and a son who is about 7 years old. When the oldest member passes away, the trio heads out on the road together in the Southwest to search out an old family secret that connects to their past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like this20th Century Women (2016)
In 1979 Santa Barbara, California, Dorothea Fields is a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie, at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women – Abbie, a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields' home and Julie, a savvy and provocative teenage neighbour – to help with Jamie's upbringing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMagnolia (1999)
On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 thisThe Etruscan Smile (2018)
Rory MacNeil, a rugged old Scotsman, reluctantly leaves his beloved isolated Hebridean island and travels to San Francisco to seek medical treatment. Moving in with his estranged son, Rory sees his life transformed through a newly found bond with his baby grandson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Make Me Go (2022)
A terminally ill man and his teenage daughter embark on a road trip from California to New Orleans for his 20th college reunion. While there, he secretly hopes she can reunite with the mother who left them long ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDear Frankie (2004)
Nine-year-old Frankie and his single mum Lizzie have been on the move ever since Frankie can remember, most recently arriving in a seaside Scottish town. Wanting to protect her deaf son from the truth that they've run away from his father, Lizzie has invented a story that he is away at sea on the HMS Accra. Every few weeks, Lizzie writes Frankie a make-believe letter from his father, telling of his adventures in exotic lands. As Frankie tracks the ship's progress around the globe, he discovers that it is due to dock in his hometown. With the real HMS Accra arriving in only a fortnight, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth or finding the perfect stranger to play Frankie's father for just one day...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Own Private Idaho (1991)
In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," 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 thisJoy Ride (2001)
Three young people on a road trip from Colorado to New Jersey talk to a trucker on their CB radio, then must escape when he turns out to be a psychotic killer.
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 thisBroken (2012)
Three suburban English families' lives intertwine with tragic consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThirteen (2003)
When 13-year-old Tracy befriends Evie, the most popular girl in school, her life is turned upside down as Evie introduces her to a world of sex, drugs, and money. But it isn’t long before Tracy’s new lifestyle begins to take a heavy toll on her and her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrange Weather (2016)
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThis 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 thisLila & Eve (2015)
Lila, a grief-stricken mother reeling from her son’s murder, attends a support group where she meets Eve, who urges her to take matters into her own hands to track down her son’s killers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Outrun (2024)
Fresh out of rehab, Rona returns to the Orkney Islands—a place both wild and beautiful, right off the Scottish coast. Now 29 and after more than a decade of living life on the edge in London, where she both found and lost love, Rona attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. As she reconnects with the dramatic landscape where she grew up, memories of her traumatic childhood merge with more recent challenging events that have set her on the path to recovery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJulien Donkey-Boy (1999)
Undiagnosed, untreated and generally untethered schizophrenic Julien lives with his pregnant younger sister, anorexic aspiring wrestler brother, sympathetic grandmother, and severely depressed and abusive German father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHow 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe 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 thisMeus 15 Anos: O Filme (2017)
A shy student suddenly becomes the center of attention when she wins a huge birthday party that she never asked for.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBegyulladva (TBA)
An upbeat generational film, rich in both comedic and dramatic elements, and a twisted coming-of-age story set in a unique and unique environment. His young protagonist refuses to accept what society in an industrial town has to offer and expects of him, so he rebels by staying outside and finding his own way, pushing himself into ever steeper and more illegal situations.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
B-Happy (2004)
A determined teenager must rely on her own wits when her fractured family abandons her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Snack Shack (2024)
Inseparable best friends AJ and Moose decide to run the local pool's snack shack after their plan to sell home-brewed beer goes down the drain. Things take a turn when they meet Brooke, an effortlessly cool lifeguard who puts their big plans, and friendship, at risk.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Hand Beneath the Snow (2022)
Fabian, a fisherman from the beaches of northern Mexico, spends his days working on a boat under the sun, but his life takes a turn when terrible news arrive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
That's My Man (1947)
A poor young man is finally able to achieve his dream of running a horse at the track, but when he starts becoming successful, he begins to lose sight of what mattered to him before.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Nameless (2023)
A conflict between son and mother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Saturday Church (2018)
Ulysses is a shy and effeminate boy who finds himself coping with new responsibilities as man of the house after the death of his father. Living alongside his mother, younger brother, and conservative aunt, Ulysses is also struggling with questions about his gender identity. He finds an escape by creating a world of fantasy filled with dance and music. Ulysses' journey takes a turn for the better when he finds a vibrant transgender community.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Clerks III (2022)
After narrowly surviving a massive heart attack, Randal enlists his old friend Dante to help him make a movie immortalizing their youthful days at the little convenience store that started it all.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbbaiare non è soltanto una cosa da cani. (2024)
A lost young man searching for direction loses a dog but encounters a mysterious woman who pulls him deeper into the shadows of the night.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Shell?
The closest matches to Shell are Around the Bend, 20th Century Women, Magnolia.
How are movies similar to Shell chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Shell, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.
Are there English movies like Shell?
Yes: Around the Bend, 20th Century Women, Magnolia.