Movies like Bornéo (2024)
The best movies like Bornéo (2024) are A Dog Year (2009), Bye Bye Morons (2020) and Ride Away (2025). If Bornéo hooked you with its comedy and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBye Bye Morons (2020)7.2/10 from 980 votes
- NewestSee The Sea (2025)Released 2025
- In FrenchBye Bye Morons (2020)Also in French
A Dog Year (2009)
Jon Katz is close to burnout. He's a writer with writer's block; his wife has left for her sister's because he's emotionally distant; he rarely answers his phone. A kennel sends him a border collie that's undisciplined because of abuse. Despite a series of mishaps, Jon decides to keep trying with the dog, and he rents a dilapidated farm house to give the dog room to run. A local handyman refers Jon to a woman who might be able to help him train the dog. Reluctantly, Jon gives her a try. Is the dog the problem, or the owner?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBye Bye Morons (2020)
When 43-year-old hairdresser Suze Trappet finds out that she's seriously ill, she decides to go looking for a child she was forced to abandon when she was only 15. On her madcap bureaucratic quest she crosses paths with JB, a 50-year-old man in the middle of a burnout, and Mr. Blin, a blind archivist prone to overenthusiasm. The unlikely trio set off on a hilarious and poignant helterskelter journey across the city in search of Suze's long-lost child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRide Away (2025)
From the Atlantic to the Black Sea, Mathias and Philippe, two old friends, embark on a bicycle journey that Mathias’s son made before his tragic death. The two men ride through the ordeals with tenderness, humor and emotion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAn Indian Tale (2017)
The life of two men changed unexpectedly when Ajith, an Indian sailor who was robbed and lost everything, appears out of nowhere in front of Pierre, a single and grumpy Frenchman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisHooking Up (2020)
Bailey and Darla embark upon a misguided and mutually deceitful form of therapy, one in which they must drive across the country, re-enacting Darla's colorful history as a sex addict. As their true motivations for the road trip come to light, the unlikely pair force one another to confront their issues, discovering that there might actually be more to love than just sex.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNew Biz in the Hood (2019)
Fred Bartel is the charismatic boss of a trendy Parisian communication agency, Happy Few. After a heated tax audit, he was forced by the administration to relocate overnight his company in La Courneuve. Fred and his team meet Samy, a young suburb who will quickly propose to teach them the rules and practices to adopt in this new environment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisSee The Sea (2025)
A young boy who gradually loses sight goes on a getaway vacation with his divorced parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFour Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987)
Two young girls meet, Reinette from the countryside and Mirabelle from Paris, and decide to take a flat together in Paris where they attend University. Four successive stories about their daily lives illustrate the very different views, characters and relation to the world of these two friends.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlice and the Mayor (2019)
The mayor of Lyon, Paul Théraneau, is in a delicate position. After 30 years in politics, he is running out of ideas and is faced with a feeling of existential emptiness. To overcome this, Paul hires a young and brilliant philosopher, Alice Heimann. Then follows a dialogue between two diametrically opposed personalities who will turn their certainties upside down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Own Love Song (2010)
A wheelchair-bound singer and her best friend embark on a roadtrip to Memphis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJust to Be Sure (2017)
Erwan, a strapping Breton who clears mines for a living, is shaken when he discovers that his father is not his father. Despite his affection for the man who raised him, he quietly sets out to find his biological father, and succeeds in locating Joseph, an endearing old codger he takes a liking to. Just when things look settled, another unexpected “bomb” hits Erwan in the form of Anna, an elusive nymph.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJim's Story (2024)
Aymeric runs into Florence, a former coworker, one evening in Saint-Claude in the Haut-Jura. She is six months pregnant and single. When she gives birth to Jim, Aymeric is there. They spend happy years together until Christophe, Jim's biological father, shows up... It could be the start of a melodrama, it's also the start of an odyssey into fatherhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Love Lost (2023)
A single father, Étienne, is preparing for his daughter Rosa to leave home, but his life is upended when he sees his long-lost wife, Valérie, on TV, forcing a confrontation with the past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLulu in the Nude (2013)
After a job interview gone wrong, Lulu sets sail leaving her husband and three children behind. But being an adventurer is easier said than done.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIt Runs in the Family (2003)
This is the story of a dysfunctional New York family, and their attempts to reconcile
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKitchen Brigade (2022)
Cathy is a sous-chef wanting to open a restaurant. With financial difficulties, Cathy accepts a job at a shelter for young migrants. At first she hates the job then her passion for cuisine starts to change children's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCésar (1936)
Leaping forward twenty years, the trilogy continues with the death of Fanny's husband, Panisse, and the discovery of her secret by her son, Césariot. The young man resolves to track down his biological father, Marius, whose life has been fraught with calamity and poverty.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnder the Stars of Paris (2021)
Christine’s life has not been easy lately. Her lonely routine is divided between free food banks distributions and wandering the streets. On a cold winter night she founds Suli, an 8-year-old Eritrean boy, sobbing in front of her shelter. Christine understands that he is lost and has been separated from his mother. Bounded by their marginal condition, they embark together on an emotional journey to find Suli’s mother in the underground world of Paris...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIt Must Be Heaven (2019)
Filmmaker Elia Suleiman travels to different cities and finds unexpected parallels to his homeland of Palestine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSubUrbia (1997)
A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sleeping Dictionary (2003)
In the 1930s, British officer John Truscott journeys to a remote village in colonial Malaysia to educate and Westernize the local Iban population. There, he's introduced to the lovely Selima. In keeping with tradition, Selima is assigned to sleep with Truscott and teach him the native language and customs. But when they fall in love, both colonists and natives object to their plans to marry.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Virgin of Borneo (1959)
Asun, a young man from the Dayak jungle tribe ventures out of the forest and gets lost. He is rescued by Malay villagers, and befriends one of their sons, Noor. Years go by, and the two of them remain friends. Noor, by now the head of his village, sets off on a long jungle trip with Asun. Unfortunately, they are attacked by Iban warriors, who capture Noor and take him to their village, where they intend to cut his head off during a sacrificial ritual.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Three Came Home (1950)
Borneo, 1941, during World War II. When the Japanese occupy the island, American writer Agnes Newton Keith is separated from her husband and imprisoned with her son in a prison camp run by the enigmatic Colonel Suga.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Echoes from the Minaret (1968)
The first-ever Bruneian film, a government-sponsored film on repentance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Borneo - Insel der Schönheit, Leidenschaft und Dämonie (1952)
Documentary about Borneo, the island of beauty, passion and demons
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Inyaah (Jungle Goddess) (1934)
Two white explorers, American Tom Dawes and Scotsman Sandy Kemp, travel to the Dyak villages of Borneo, where they hear stories of a primitive, remote tribe, that is ruled by a "white goddess." Intrigued, Tom and Sandy travel upriver to the village and are captured by the hostile tribesmen. Because they have entered a sacred place, the men are sentenced to death, but are saved when they hear a woman's voice say that they are to be made blood brothers of the Dyaks.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Tawai: A Voice from the Forest (2017)
Explorer Bruce Parry visits nomadic tribes in Borneo and the Amazon in hope to better understand humanity's changing relationship with the world around us.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Farewell to the King (1989)
An American soldier who escapes the execution of his comrades by Japanese soldiers in Borneo during WWII becomes the leader of a personal empire among the headhunters in this war story told in the style of Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling. The American is reluctant to rejoin the fight against the Japanese on the urging of a British commando team but conducts a war of vengeance when the Japanese attack his adopted people.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZombie Infection - Belaban Hidup (2021)
In the forbidden forest of Borneo, the indigenous Dayak people's village is attacked by zombies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Orangutans: The Great Ape Escape (2013)
Leonora is no ordinary orangutan, she is a pioneer. With her three year old son in her arms, she is about to set off on an epic journey back to the wild - the great ape escape. It is a long way from what she is used to. After being orphaned as a baby, she has spent the majority of her life in a rescue centre. She is leaving behind 600 other orangutans, all of whom are relying on her for their chance at freedom. If Leonora can make it, they could too.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Like Bornéo and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Bornéo?
The closest matches to Bornéo are A Dog Year (2009), Bye Bye Morons (2020) and Ride Away (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Bornéo?
Start with A Dog Year (2009), the closest match to Bornéo.
What is the highest-rated movie like Bornéo?
Bye Bye Morons (2020), rated 7.2/10 by 980 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Bornéo?
See The Sea (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Bornéo?
Yes: Bye Bye Morons (2020), Ride Away (2025) and An Indian Tale (2017).
How are movies similar to Bornéo chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Bornéo, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.