Movies like East Side Story (1987)
The best movies like East Side Story (1987) are On Falling (2025), Urchin (2025) and Happy-Go-Lucky (2008). If East Side Story hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBoyz n the Hood (1991)7.6/10 from 2,397 votes
- NewestUrchin (2025)Released 2025
On Falling (2025)
Aurora, a Portuguese migrant, works as an order picker in a warehouse in Edinburgh, Scotland. Caught between the walls of a huge distribution centre and the solitude of her own room, Aurora tries to seize every opportunity to resist the alienation and isolation that threaten her identity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUrchin (2025)
Mike, a rough sleeper in London, is trapped in a cycle of self-destruction as he attempts to turn his life around. Along the way, he encounters unexpected chances for a fresh start.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHappy-Go-Lucky (2008)
A look at a few chapters in the life of Poppy, a cheery, colorful, North London schoolteacher whose optimism tends to exasperate those around her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Dinner with Andre (1981)
Wally, a struggling playwright and actor, reluctantly agrees to catch up with his old friend Andre, a theater director who disappeared several years prior in order to travel the world. Meeting at a posh Manhattan restaurant, the two share life stories, anecdotes and philosophical musings over the course of an evening meal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNight Always Comes (2025)
Facing eviction in a city her family can no longer afford, a woman plunges into a desperate and increasingly dangerous all-night search to raise $25,000.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSix Minutes to Midnight (2020)
Summer 1939. Influential families in Nazi Germany have sent their daughters to a finishing school in an English seaside town to learn the language and be ambassadors for a future looking National Socialist. A teacher there sees what is coming and is trying to raise the alarm. But the authorities believe he is the problem.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPaid in Full (2002)
Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch, goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing cocaine for Lulu. Via lucky breaks and solid interpersonal skills, Ace moves to the top of the Harlem drug world. Of course, unfaithful employees and/or rivals conspire to bring about Ace's fall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMeantime (1983)
A working-class family in London's East End is struggling to stay afloat during the recession under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's premiership. Only the mother Mavis is working; father Frank and the couple's two sons Colin, a timid, chronically shy individual and Mark, an outspoken, headstrong young man, are on the dole. This situation is contrasted by the presence of Mavis's sister Barbara, and her husband John, whose financial and social loftiness appears to be a comfortable facade over the unspoken soreness of a lackluster marriage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrooklyn (1994)
From Spike Lee comes this vibrant semi-autobiographical portrait of a school-teacher, her stubborn jazz-musician husband and their five kids living in '70s Brooklyn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)
Jimmie Fails dreams of reclaiming the Victorian home his grandfather built in the heart of San Francisco. Joined on his quest by his best friend Mont, Jimmie searches for belonging in a rapidly changing city that seems to have left them behind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCity of Hope (1991)
This gritty inner-city film follows various people living in a troubled New Jersey setting, most notably Nick Rinaldi, a disillusioned contractor who has been helped along his whole life by his wealthy father. Other characters in this ensemble drama about urban conflict and corruption include Asteroid, an unstable homeless person, and Wynn, an idealistic young politician.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThey Live (1988)
A lone drifter stumbles upon a unique pair of sunglasses that reveal aliens are systematically gaining control of the Earth by masquerading as humans and lulling the public into submission.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBedlam (1946)
London, 1761. St. Mary's of Bethlehem, a sinister madhouse, is visited by wealthy people who enjoy watching the patients confined there as if they were caged animals. Nell Bowen, one of the visitors, is horrified by the deplorable living conditions of the unfortunate inhabitants of this godforsaken place, better known as Bedlam.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLiving (2022)
London, 1953. Mr. Williams, a veteran civil servant, is an important cog within the city's bureaucracy as it struggles to rebuild in the aftermath of World War II. Buried under paperwork at the office and lonely at home, his life has long felt empty and meaningless. Then a devastating medical diagnosis forces him to take stock, and to try and grasp some fulfilment before it passes permanently beyond reach.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove, Honour and Obey (2000)
Jonny dreams of leaving his dead-end job as a courier. Through his childhood best friend, nephew of the notorious crime lord Ray Kreed, he wins his way into the toughest gang in North London. Hungry for action, Jonny sparks a feud between Ray's gang and a rival firm in South London headed by drug kingpin Sean and his lieutenant Matthew.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoyz n the Hood (1991)
Three friends growing up in South Central Los Angeles navigate a neighborhood plagued by violence, unemployment, and crime, each responding differently to the harsh realities of street life. As tragedy strikes close to home, their friendship, choices, and hopes for a better future are put to the ultimate test.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Home at the End of the World (2004)
Three friends form a bond over the year, Johnathan is gay, Clare is straight and Bobby is neither, instead he loves the people he loves. As their lives go on there is tension and tears which culminate in a strong yet fragile friendship between the three.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKeeping Up with the Joneses (2016)
An ordinary suburban couple finds it’s not easy keeping up with the Joneses – their impossibly gorgeous and ultra-sophisticated new neighbors – especially when they discover that Mr. and Mrs. “Jones” are covert operatives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoiling Point (2021)
A head chef balances multiple personal and professional crises at a popular restaurant in London.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFloat (2024)
Waverly thought she had her future figured out: she’d start her medical residency in Toronto after a summer visit to her parents in Taipei. When her plans suddenly change, she makes an impulsive detour to a small Canadian town where she meets local lifeguard Blake. After he saves her from nearly drowning at a beach party, Blake offers to teach Waverly to swim, and as the lessons continue, the two unexpectedly find themselves falling in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like East Side Story?
The closest matches to East Side Story are On Falling (2025), Urchin (2025) and Happy-Go-Lucky (2008). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after East Side Story?
Start with On Falling (2025), the closest match to East Side Story.
What is the highest-rated movie like East Side Story?
Boyz n the Hood (1991), rated 7.6/10 by 2,397 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like East Side Story?
Urchin (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like East Side Story?
Yes: On Falling (2025), Urchin (2025) and Happy-Go-Lucky (2008).
How are movies similar to East Side Story chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside East Side Story, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.