Movies like The Thrifty Angel (2026)
The best movies like The Thrifty Angel (2026) are Buddha Mountain (2011), The Girl in the Book (2015) and Goodbye June (2025). If The Thrifty Angel hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedA Christmas Carol (1984)7.5/10 from 445 votes
- Newest26F Seeking Friend (2026)Released 2026
- In ChineseBuddha Mountain (2011)Also in Chinese
Buddha Mountain (2011)
In Chengdu, China, a retired female opera singer named Master Chang takes in a trio of young tenants into her boarding home. The tenants include a rock singer and a college student who has run away from home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisGoodbye June (2025)
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisLighting Up the Stars (2022)
Having been released after serving his sentence, a funeral director accidentally crosses paths with a girl which brings about an unexpected change in his attitude towards life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisParadise (1991)
A 10-year-old boy spends a summer in the country with a childless couple and a precocious girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHoly Lands (2019)
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.
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 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 thisUpstream (2024)
A moment of impulsiveness turns Gao Zhilei into a "stay-at-home" individual, but he never expected his life to take a turn in the opposite direction. A series of changes compel him to take on his responsibilities as the head of the family. When life's burdens hit hard, he must confront himself and start anew.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. Church (2016)
A unique friendship develops when a little girl and her dying mother inherit a cook - Mr. Church. What begins as an arrangement that should only last six months, instead spans fifteen years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlex of Venice (2015)
After her stay-at-home husband leaves her, a workaholic lawyer finds that she is not completely up to the tasks of caring for her young son, ailing father and household all by herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Taste of Honey (1961)
While out to avoid spending time with her narcissistic and promiscuous mother, sixteen-year-old Jo has a brief affair that leaves her pregnant and abandoned. When her mother remarries, Jo's only support becomes her friend Geoffrey, a homosexual.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 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 thisBig World (2024)
Liu Chunhe, suffering from cerebral palsy, bravely breaks through the shackles of body and mind to realize the dream stage for his grandmother, while trying to find the coordinates of his own life. After experiencing a summer transformation, he finally embarked on a new journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisI Believe in Unicorns (2015)
Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sound of Silence (2019)
A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisOh Brother, Oh Sister! (2014)
Since their parents died at an early age, Susumu and Yoriko have lived together. Susumu is now 33-years-old and Yoriko is 40-years-old. Both of them have yet to marry. They are like most siblings and they rely on each other. One day, Susumu and Yoriko receive a letter that is sent to the wrong address.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
26F Seeking Friend (2026)
After posting on Reddit looking for a best friend, a lonely, socially awkward woman interviews a series of potential new friends.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Pathless (2023)
A poetic translation of the universal feeling at one's unknown next step. It connects to the overwhelming periods of doubtful thoughts yet resilient ambition one may encounter. A visual and aural combination of fear yet fearlessness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Scrooge (1935)
Ebenezer Scrooge, the ultimate Victorian miser, hasn't a good word for Christmas, though his impoverished clerk Cratchit and nephew Fred are full of holiday spirit. In the night, Scrooge is visited by spirits of the past, present, and future.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Christmas Carol (1984)
Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMudlove (2019)
A chance spark in a cafe sends two lovers into a surreal mud wrestling ring where they must find a common rhythm while their friends demand a fight.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Saint Valentine (2026)
A lonesome, quick-witted media student is spurred on by his best friend to pursue his crush before Valentine's Day. Saint Valentine blends comedy and drama in a heartfelt story about courage and overcoming the fear of rejection.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Nino (2025)
Nino is a young man on a journey to reconnect with the world and himself in the streets of Paris, following the suggestion of his doctors. In three days, he will face a major challenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Thrifty Angel?
The closest matches to The Thrifty Angel are Buddha Mountain (2011), The Girl in the Book (2015) and Goodbye June (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Thrifty Angel?
Start with Buddha Mountain (2011), the closest match to The Thrifty Angel.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Thrifty Angel?
A Christmas Carol (1984), rated 7.5/10 by 445 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Thrifty Angel?
26F Seeking Friend (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like The Thrifty Angel?
Yes: Buddha Mountain (2011), Lighting Up the Stars (2022) and Upstream (2024).
How are movies similar to The Thrifty Angel chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Thrifty Angel, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.