Movies like Year Zero
The best movies like Year Zero (2004) are Dancer in the Dark (2000), Blindness (2008) and Adam (2020). If Year Zero hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedIt's a Wonderful Life (1946)8.3/10 from 5,150 votes
- NewestMarty Supreme (2025)Released 2025
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her young son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life becomes increasingly difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlindness (2008)
When a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdam (2020)
A hard-living salesman becomes a quadriplegic after an accident.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSight (2023)
Ming Wang is an impoverished Chinese prodigy who flees Communist China to become a pioneering eye surgeon in America. When tasked with restoring the sight of an orphan in India, who was blinded by her stepmother, Wang must confront the trauma of living through the violent uprising in his youth, the Cultural Revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRemember (2015)
With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with dementia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBullet (1996)
A tough, Jewish ex-con just released from prison crosses a powerful drug dealer and former prison rival in his return to a life of crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFathers and Daughters (2015)
A Pulitzer-winning writer grapples with being a widower and father after a mental breakdown, while, 27 years later, his grown daughter struggles to forge connections of her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
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 thisPenthouse North (2013)
After losing her sight while working as a photojournalist in Afghanistan, Sara Frost, now reclusive, lives quietly in a New York penthouse with her boyfriend, until a smooth but sadistic criminal looking for a hidden fortune enters her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Machinist (2004)
Trevor, an insomniac lathe operator, experiences unusual occurrences at work and home. A strange man follows him everywhere, but no one else seems to notice him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Red Sea Diving Resort (2019)
Sudan, East Africa, 1980. A team of Israeli Mossad agents plans to rescue and transfer thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. To do so, and to avoid raising suspicions from the inquisitive and ruthless authorities, they establish as a cover a fake diving resort by the Red Sea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarty Supreme (2025)
Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 Miracle Worker (2000)
Devoted teacher Anne Sullivan leads deaf, blind and mute Helen Keller out of solitude and helps integrate her into the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIt's a Wonderful Life (1946)
George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisI, Daniel Blake (2016)
A 59-year-old carpenter recovering from a heart attack befriends a single mother and her two kids as they navigate the impersonal, Kafkaesque benefits system. With equal amounts of humour, warmth and despair, the journey is heartfelt and emotional until the end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSalomé (2013)
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKisses (2008)
Two kids, Dylan and Kylie, run away from home on Christmas Day and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGreta (2019)
A young woman returns a lonely widow’s lost purse, leading to an unlikely relationship between the two — until the young woman discovers the widow might not be all that she seems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShe Is Alive (2016)
At the one side of the inner yard lives a mother, who is left alone by her husband, with a little boy and his sister. At the other side lives a wife with her husband, a geologist in pension, who has suffered a heavy stroke and now lives at the edge between life and death. These two women are trying to find ways to deal with their loneliness. The mother is desperately trying to find a man, and she becomes addicted of latinoamerican sope operas. On the other hand, the wife is trying to die along with her husband, and she's trying to kill every bit of sensuality left in her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Maktub (2017)
Steve & Chuma , two criminals are the sole survivors of a terrorist attack at a restaurant in Jerusalem. They decide to change their ways and become flesh and blood angels. They go on a journey of wish fulfilment for people who write requests on paper and put between the sacred stones of the Wailing Wall.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
11-year-old Akeelah Anderson has a way with words. After winning her schoolwide spelling bee, she decides to enter the competition, despite her classmates' derision and the antipathy of her mother Tanya. Thanks to the efforts of her teacher Dr. Larabee, she reaches the finals. As she gets to know her fellow competitors, Akeelah realizes that coming first isn't everything in life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTyler Perry's The Family That Preys (2008)
Wealthy socialite Charlotte Cartwright and her dear friend Alice Pratt, a working class woman of high ideals, have enjoyed a lasting friendship throughout several decades. Recently, their lives have become mired in turmoil as their adult children’s extramarital affairs, unethical business practices, and a dark secret threaten to derail family fortunes and unravel the lives of all involved. Charlotte and Alice decide to take a breather from it all by making a cross-country road trip in which they rediscover themselves and possibly find a way to save their families from ruin.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou Can Count on Me (2000)
A single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely-seen younger brother returns to town.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisProof (1991)
Martin, a young blind photographer, is divided between his friendship with restaurant worker Andy and the exclusive love that Celia—who is terribly jealous of this new friendship—has for him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Could Never Be Your Woman (2007)
A mother falls for a younger man while her daughter falls in love for the first time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHow Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)
Through good times and bad, Stella and Delilah have always had each other. Now, Stella's so busy building a life that she's forgotten how to really live. But Delilah is about to change all that. What starts as a quick trip to Jamaica, ends as an exhilarating voyage of self discovery as Stella learns to open her heart and find love – even if it's with a man 20 years her junior.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisIn Name Only (1939)
A wealthy man falls for a widow but is locked into a loveless marriage with a woman who has contrived to convince his parents she is the ideal wife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnspeakable (2017)
A single mum receives an anonymous text message, claiming her new boyfriend is having an inappropriate relationship with her 11 year old daughter. Over one weekend the accusation fractures the relationship between the couple.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Year Zero and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Year Zero?
The closest matches to Year Zero are Dancer in the Dark (2000), Blindness (2008) and Adam (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Year Zero?
Start with Dancer in the Dark (2000), the closest match to Year Zero.
What is the highest-rated movie like Year Zero?
It's a Wonderful Life (1946), rated 8.3/10 by 5,150 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Year Zero?
Marty Supreme (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Year Zero chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Year Zero, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.