Movies like The Big Sister (1916)
The best movies like The Big Sister (1916) are Gigi & Nate (2022), Omaha (2025) and Won't Back Down (2012). If The Big Sister hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Unforgivable (2021)7.4/10 from 2,174 votes
- NewestGoodbye June (2025)Released 2025
Gigi & Nate (2022)
A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdopt a Highway (2019)
Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisImperial Dreams (2014)
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 thisThe Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLorelei (2020)
A man is released from prison after 15 years. He reunites with his high school girlfriend, now a single mother of three. What follows is a lyrical take on love, regret and second chances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParked (2010)
Fred Daly returns to Ireland with nowhere to live but his car. Then dope-smoking 21-year-old Cathal parks beside him, and brightens up his lonely world. Encouraged by Cathal, Fred meets attractive music teacher Jules. Growing closer, these three outsiders are set on a course that will change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisThe Good Neighbor (2022)
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
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 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 thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Unforgivable (2021)
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMan with No Past (2025)
Waking up in an unfamiliar city, a man with no memory must confront the mysteries of his own identity. However, his desperate search to uncover the past pits him against a powerful enemy, leading to a showdown that ultimately reveals the truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Third Ingredient (1917)
Hetty Pepper (a discharged department store worker) and Cecilie (a starving miniature-painter) try to make a beef and potato stew in a low-rent New York apartment building. While they have the meat and the potatoes, they desperately need an onion to tie the meal together—which serves as a metaphor for the human connection and grace needed to complete their lives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
April Showers (1923)
Danny O'Rourke is the son of a police officer who was killed in the line of duty. Eager to join the police force, Danny fails his exams. The failure causes him to neglect his sweetheart Maggie, whose father is a police lieutenant. His attentions turn instead towards society girl Miriam Welton. When Danny’s sister, Shannon, is arrested for shoplifting, Danny turns to boxing to save her. He works his way towards the championship but discovers the final bought has been rigged. Danny fights anyhow and he is beaten, but it is discovered that a mistake had been made on his exams and he actually was eligible to join the police force after all. Considered a lost film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Case of Lena Smith (1929)
A peasant girl goes to great lengths to protect her child in 19th century Vienna. The film is considered lost, and only four minutes of footage are known to remain.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Big Fight (1930)
Based on the David Belasco stage production of the Max Marcin play in which heavyweight-champion Jack Dempsey played the role of the fighter, Tiger: This "behind-the-scenes look of a heavyweight-championship fight" looks much like all of the other boxing films in which the Champ gets involved in a frame-up and is asked to take a dive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Glory of Yolanda (1917)
A Russian peasant girl becomes a member of the Imperial Ballet.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Enlighten Thy Daughter (1917)
Lillian Stevens was raised without care, attention, or education on the ways of the world. When she becomes pregnant by the reckless Harold Winthrop, her mother takes her to an abortionist. Harold then falls for Ruth Stevens, raised by an attentive and loving mother, who is not so easily taken advantage of.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Gypsy Trail (1915)
Gypsy Willie Buckland recalls to his friend why he and his wife return each year to that same spot to hear the chimes in the village church. In his youth he and little gypsy maid Jane were friends and sweethearts. When Willie’s father died, he went to the city where he met "The Painted Woman," spending his last cent on her, but they had genuinely fallen in love and he promises to stay with the woman, who is fatally ill, until she dies. Penniless and ill, he wanders out into the street and thence to the meadows, where he is found by Jane and nursed back to health. Fearing his love may not be true, she tells him that if he finds her wherever she may wander, one year from that date, that she will believe him and marry him. A long weary year passes when he arrives in that very village just as the chimes are ringing, and there he finds Jane. His story finished, Buckland points to Jane and their children with a happy smile.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Lullaby (1924)
Tony is sentenced to be hanged for the murder of his friend, Pietro, whom he found seducing his bride, Felipa, and she is sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment as an accessory. Born in prison, her child is taken from her at the age of three and is adopted by the judge, now governor, who sentenced the parents.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Two Shall Be Born (1924)
As he lies dying, Count Florian Zuleski of Poland, the head of a committee working for perpetual peace among European nations, entrusts his daughter, Mayra, with the dangerous mission of delivering some important documents to New York. Arriving in the United States, Mayra is unable to establish contact with the Polish representative and goes to live with her aunt. She soon meets Brian Kelly, who is working as a traffic cop after being disinherited by his irate millionaire father for not entering into a marriage of convenience with patrician Janet Van Wyck.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Big Sister?
The closest matches to The Big Sister are Gigi & Nate (2022), Omaha (2025) and Won't Back Down (2012). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Big Sister?
Start with Gigi & Nate (2022), the closest match to The Big Sister.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Big Sister?
The Unforgivable (2021), rated 7.4/10 by 2,174 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Big Sister?
Goodbye June (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Big Sister?
Yes: Gigi & Nate (2022), Omaha (2025) and Won't Back Down (2012).
How are movies similar to The Big Sister chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Big Sister, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.