Movies like Wave Boy (2015)
The best movies like Wave Boy (2015) are Blue Heron (2026), Summer Hours (2008) and Paradise (1991). If Wave Boy hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWonder (2017)8.1/10 from 8,465 votes
- NewestBlue Heron (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchSummer Hours (2008)Also in French
Blue Heron (2026)
A family of six's fresh start on 1990s Vancouver Island unravels as their youngest child, Sasha, witnesses the increasingly dangerous behavior of her older brother, Jeremy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSummer Hours (2008)
After the death of a septuagenarian woman, her three children deliberate over what to do with her estate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisThe Time of Secrets (2022)
Marseille, July 1905. Nearly a teenager, Marcel Pagnol embarks in his last summer vacation before high school and returns, at last, to his beloved hills in Provence. What begins as a summer of boyhood adventures becomes one of the first loves, and unearthed secrets.
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 thisReturn to the Blue Lagoon (1991)
In this sequel to the 1980 classic, two children are stranded on a beautiful island in the South Pacific. With no adults to guide them, the two make a simple life together and eventually become tanned teenagers in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAftersun (2022)
Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories fill the gaps between camcorder footages as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the troubled man she didn't.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPonette (1996)
After losing her mother in a car accident that leaves her with a broken arm, 4-year-old Ponette struggles with anguish and fear. Left by her father with a caring aunt and her children, Ponette grieves, secretly hoping her mother will somehow come back. Confused by the religious explanations provided by adults, and challenged by the cruel taunts of a few children at school, little Ponette must make her way through her emotional turmoil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Sense of an Ending (2017)
A man becomes haunted by his past and is presented with a mysterious legacy that causes him to re-think his current situation in life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Nest (2020)
Rory is an ambitious entrepreneur who brings his American wife and kids to his native country, England, to explore new business opportunities. After abandoning the sanctuary of their safe American suburban surroundings, the family is plunged into the despair of an archaic '80s Britain and their unaffordable new life in an English manor house threatens to destroy the family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Red Turtle (2016)
The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Fabelmans (2022)
Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Kindergarten Teacher (2018)
Lisa Spinelli is a Staten Island teacher who is unusually devoted to her students. When she discovers one of her five-year-olds is a prodigy, she becomes fascinated with the boy, ultimately risking her family and freedom to nurture his talent.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMunchausen (2013)
A mother, unable to confront the heartbreak of her son leaving for college, delays his departure by making him sick. Unfortunately, she goes too far.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLeave the World Behind (2023)
A family's getaway to a luxurious rental home takes an ominous turn when a cyberattack knocks out their devices—and two strangers appear at their door.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWonder (2017)
The story of August Pullman – a boy with facial differences – who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Grand Highway (1987)
Louis, a nine-year-old boy from Paris, spends his summer vacation in a small town in Brittany. His mother Claire has lodged him with her girlfriend Marcelle and her husband Pelo while she's having her second baby. There Louis makes friends with Martine, the ten-year- old girl next door, and learns from her about life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJuliette in Spring (2024)
Juliette goes back in her hometown to spend some time with her family. She finds herself between a loving but moody father, a New Age mother, a sister in the midst of an existential crisis, and a grandmother slowly losing her mind. Buried memories and family secrets rise to the surface in this sweet, tender and sometimes extravagant family portrait.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Me No More (2008)
Antoine Méliot is around 40 years old and has everything he needs to be happy: a beautiful wife, two adorable children, friends he can count on, a pretty house in the Yvelines and money. But one day he decides to ruin everything in one weekend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe House by the Sea (2017)
By a little bay near Marseille lies a picturesque villa owned by an old man. His three children have gathered by his side for his last days. It’s time for them to weigh up what they have inherited of their father’s ideals and the community spirit he created in this magical place. The arrival, at a nearby cove, of a group of boat people will throw these moments of reflection into turmoil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHot Flush (2025)
Elena, a social curator, is entering a new phase of her life as she approaches climacterium. As if it weren’t enough, Erik, a troubled teenager abandoned by his mother, who she mentors, misinterprets some of her gestures and initiates an unexpected sexual encounter in the office toilets. This moment throws them into existential crises, where they both find out their own inappropriate ways to cope. Will Elena pretend nothing happened, or will she finally face the world on her own terms?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Slope (2020)
Living in a village full of slopes can drive you mad. Those who have climbed them in the old-fashioned way are fully aware of that. What they don’t know is that their souls might have stuck around.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Fletcher Christian successfully leads a revolt against the ruthless Captain Bligh on the HMS Bounty. However, Bligh returns one year later, hell bent on revenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRespiro (2002)
Grazia is a free-spirited mother-of-three married to shy fisherman Pietro and living on the idyllic but isolated island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean Sea. She shows signs of manic depressive behavior — one moment she's laughing wildly and swimming half-naked in the sea, while the next she's curled in a ball on her bed. Out of her earshot, the adult members of her extended family vaguely discuss sending her to a facility of some sort in Northern Italy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEven If It Rains (2012)
As he sits on a present situation where his childhood's expiration date gives way to an uncertain adolescence, Agustín decides to create a small freedom spot far from his daily routine.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Olappeeppi (2016)
Olappeeppi portrays the story of an ordinary Malayali family and the changes in the socio-economic scene in Kerala from 1970's to the 2000's . As the name suggests, its about colours of the past, taking us to that era along with a boy named Unni and his grandmother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Final Day (2024)
Yadira, a creative young Cuban girl, struggles packing on her final day home. Embarking on an immigration journey alone, her suitcase feels too small to carry everything her heart holds.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Blues for Herold (2024)
A struggling young man secretly plays a magical trumpet that transports him from his desolate world into a colorful "bliss." When his younger brother discovers his secret, their relationship is put in jeopardy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Tokyo MER: Mobile Emergency Room - Nankai Mission (2025)
A massive volcanic eruption has occurred on a remote island in the southern seas, creating an unprecedented disaster. The Nankai MER members must go save everyone in the island.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Violettina (2016)
A transfixing, rarely-seen 16mm miniature made as part of Rohrwacher's opera production of La traviata in 2016.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Wave Boy?
The closest matches to Wave Boy are Blue Heron (2026), Summer Hours (2008) and Paradise (1991). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Wave Boy?
Start with Blue Heron (2026), the closest match to Wave Boy.
What is the highest-rated movie like Wave Boy?
Wonder (2017), rated 8.1/10 by 8,465 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Wave Boy?
Blue Heron (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Wave Boy?
Yes: Summer Hours (2008), The Time of Secrets (2022) and Ponette (1996).
How are movies similar to Wave Boy chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Wave Boy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.