Movies like Where the Sun Shines Bright (2026)
The best movies like Where the Sun Shines Bright (2026) are Omaha (2025), Mary (2024) and I Never Sang for My Father (1970). If Where the Sun Shines Bright hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAmerican Beauty (1999)8.0/10 from 13,548 votes
- NewestGoodbye June (2025)Released 2025
- In ChineseThe Piano in a Factory (2011)Also in Chinese
Omaha (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 thisMary (2024)
A miraculous conception. A merciless king. A murderous pursuit. Mary's journey to give birth to Jesus unfolds in this biblical coming-of-age epic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Never Sang for My Father (1970)
A man living in the towering shadow of his aging father finds it difficult to start a new chapter in his life by marrying his girlfriend and moving to California.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 thisGigi & 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 thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
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 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 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 Piano in a Factory (2011)
To fight for custody of his daughter who loves playing the piano, a steel factory worker decides to forge a piano from scratch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (2020)
In the Chinese town of Fuyang, four brothers go about their day-to-day lives, their destinies shaped by love and challenges.
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 this1 Chance 2 Dance (2014)
When a 17-year old aspiring dancer is uprooted in her high school senior year, she finds herself divided between two boys, and she will have one last shot at making her dream a reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInside I'm Dancing (2004)
Michael is a 24-year-old who has cerebral palsy and long-term resident of the Carrigmore Residential Home for the Disabled, run by the formidable Eileen. His life is transformed when the maverick Rory O'Shea moves in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDear Zoe (2022)
Tess enlists her biological father – a lovable slacker from the wrong side of the tracks – and the charming juvenile delinquent next door to help her come to grips with the death of her little sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (1974)
Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red-bone coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in life as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with his dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisBlack Dog (2024)
Released from jail, Lang returns to his hometown in Northwest China. As part of a dog patrol tasked with clearing stray dogs before the 2008 Olympics, he bonds with a black stray. The two lonely souls embark on a new journey together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisAmerican Beauty (1999)
Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMermaids (1990)
Fifteen-year-old Charlotte Flax is tired of her wacky mom moving their family to a different town any time she feels it is necessary. When they move to a small Massachusetts town and Mrs. Flax begins dating a shopkeeper, Charlotte and her 9-year-old sister, Kate, hope that they can finally settle down. But when Charlotte's attraction to an older man gets in the way, the family must learn to accept each other for who they truly are.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHasta encontrarte (2013)
Javier chats online with a girl called sofi_dark, a mysterious girl who indulges in a subtle game of perversions. As the relationship grown, he wants to meet her in person. He begins to desperately look for her through the city, until a series of photographs that he discovers on the Internet disrupts his plans.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Edge of Seventeen (1999)
1984, Sandusky, Ohio. A naive 17-year-old navigates heartbreak and self-expression as he explores his sexuality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChiquita (2023)
Briana has just turned 12 and notices that her friends are starting to like boys, which triggers insecurities about her own personal and bodily development. She is confronted with various situations that make her feel seen by others, after a frank conversation about her insecurities with her older sister, Briana realizes that growing up doesn't mean not being herself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
After discovering his high school crush can't date until her brash older sister does, a lovesick teen enlists a bad-boy classmate to woo her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)
A headstrong young teacher in a private school in 1930s Edinburgh ignores the curriculum and influences her impressionable 12-year-old charges with her over-romanticized worldview.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lens Within Me (TBA)
A film student from Long Island, who cut his dying father’s cough out of the home movies at thirteen, spends four years filming everyone but himself — until one festival slot, a rival’s film, and the footage he’s been cutting force him to choose between the safe version and the true one.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
After School (2015)
Fifteen year-old Jack is forced to come face-to-face with his growing romantic feelings for his best friend Danny.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Boogie Nights (1997)
In 1977, an idealistic porn producer and his promising protege try to catch up with the end of an era before their never-ending party collides with cold, hard reality.
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 Where the Sun Shines Bright?
The closest matches to Where the Sun Shines Bright are Omaha (2025), Mary (2024) and I Never Sang for My Father (1970). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Where the Sun Shines Bright?
Start with Omaha (2025), the closest match to Where the Sun Shines Bright.
What is the highest-rated movie like Where the Sun Shines Bright?
American Beauty (1999), rated 8.0/10 by 13,548 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Where the Sun Shines Bright?
Goodbye June (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like Where the Sun Shines Bright?
Yes: The Piano in a Factory (2011), Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (2020) and Black Dog (2024).
How are movies similar to Where the Sun Shines Bright chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Where the Sun Shines Bright, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.