Movies like The glimmer of tears (2026)
The best movies like The glimmer of tears (2026) are Skater Girl (2021), Where the Red Fern Grows (2003) and Greyfriars Bobby (1961). If The glimmer of tears hooked you with its drama and family, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Lion King (1994)8.3/10 from 20,405 votes
- NewestMatèl (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishTótem (2023)Also in Spanish
Skater Girl (2021)
Prerna, a teenager growing up in rural India, comes of age when she’s introduced to the sport of skateboarding. As a result, she has to fight the odds to follow her dreams and compete in the national championship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (2003)
Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with "Old Dan" and "Little Ann."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGreyfriars Bobby (1961)
In Scotland 1865, An old shepherd and his little Skye terrier go to Edinburgh. But when the shepherd dies of pneumonia, the dog remains faithful to his master, refuses to be adopted by anyone, and takes to sleeping on his master's grave in the Greyfriars kirkyard, despite a caretaker with a "no dogs" rule. And when Bobby is taken up for being unlicensed, it's up to the children of Edinburgh and the Lord Provost to decide what's to be done.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCanvas (2020)
After a heartbreaking loss, a grandfather struggling to reclaim his passion for painting finds the inspiration to create again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlicka (2006)
Katy McLaughlin desires to work on her family's mountainside horse ranch, although her father insists she finish boarding school. Katy finds a mustang in the hills near her ranch. The headstrong 16 year old then sets her mind to tame a mustang and prove to her father she can run the ranch. But when tragedy happens, it will take all the love and strength the family can muster to restore hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & 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 & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Believe (2019)
A 9 year old boy experiences God's power in a supernatural way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHeidi (2005)
Swiss girl Adelheid 'Heidi' is orphaned young. Aunt Detie brings her to grandpa Alp and his wife, who live isolated in the Alps since his murder charge. Heidi soon takes to the wild country, especially accompanying young goatherd Peter. Grandpa refuses to send her to school in the city, but aunt Detie returns and forces him to give in. She's sent to a posh lady in Frankfurt, where she'll be a companion for crippled daughter Clara after school hours.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Second Chance (2011)
A young girl and her coach overcome adversity to make their way into the National Australian Gymnastics Squad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Little Prince(ss) (2021)
When Gabriel, a 7-year-old Chinese kid who loves ballet, becomes friends with Rob, another Chinese kid from school, Rob’s dad gets suspicious about Gabriel's feminine behavior and decides to intervene.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Second Chance: Rivals! (2019)
As Maddy takes on coaching a team of young twelve-year-old gymnasts, she faces up to intense city versus country rivalry, racism, cyberbullying and her own self-doubt but eventually takes the challenge head on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlue Miracle (2021)
To save their cash-strapped orphanage, a guardian and his kids partner with a washed-up boat captain for a chance to win a lucrative fishing competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLa luna (2012)
A young boy comes of age in the most peculiar of circumstances. Tonight is the very first time his Papa and Grandpa are taking him to work. In an old wooden boat they row far out to sea, and with no land in sight, they stop and wait. A big surprise awaits the boy as he discovers his family's most unusual line of work. Should he follow the example of his Papa, or his Grandpa? Will he be able to find his own way in the midst of their conflicting opinions and timeworn traditions?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Book of Life (2014)
The journey of Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. Before choosing which path to follow, he embarks on an incredible adventure that spans fantastical worlds where he must face his greatest fears.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family
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 thisTótem (2023)
In a bustling Mexican household, seven-year-old Sol is swept up in a whirlwind of preparations for the birthday party for her father, Tona, led by her mother, aunts, and other relatives. As the day goes on, building to an event both anticipated and dreaded, Sol begins to understand the gravity of the celebration this year and watches as her family does the same.
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 thisBrand Upon the Brain! (2007)
After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSanjay's Super Team (2015)
SANJAY'S SUPER TEAM follows the daydream of a young Indian boy, bored with his father's religious meditation, who imagines "a kind of ancient, Hindu version of The Avengers," with the gods appearing like superheros.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lion King (1994)
Young lion prince Simba, eager to one day become king of the Pride Lands, grows up under the watchful eye of his father Mufasa; all the while his villainous uncle Scar conspires to take the throne for himself. Amid betrayal and tragedy, Simba must confront his past and find his rightful place in the Circle of Life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBy the Wayside (2012)
Four friends (a background actor, a documentarian, a homeless musician, and a virgin) descend into a life-awakening 24 hours that involve excess drinking, prostitutes, a sage-like lounge singer and psychedelic drugs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Son In The Barbershop (2015)
A teenager overhears a phone call and inserts himself into the father-son story behind it. As this strange 'conversation' develops, two separately wounded lives slowly wind into a double helix of pain, regret, and filial love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Matèl (2025)
A young man living a monotonous life finds his boredom interrupted when he encounters a group of boys while working at a pedalo rental place.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Those Were the Days (1996)
Those Were the Days is a Hong Kong Drama starring Eric Tsang
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Treasure Planet (2002)
When space galleon cabin boy Jim Hawkins discovers a map to an intergalactic "loot of a thousand worlds," a cyborg cook named John Silver teaches him to battle supernovas and space storms on their journey to find treasure.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll These Small Moments (2019)
A teenage boy's infatuation with a woman he sees on the bus further complicates his already tumultuous adolescence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Tree of Life (2011)
The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father. Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRakugo Story (2011)
Haruki Masato is a shy youth who gets swept away when he happens upon a rakugo performance. He knocks on the door of rakugo master Imadoka Shoroku in Tokyo’s old downtown and somehow gets taken on as a disciple, and embarks on a path to become a rakugo comedian under the name of Imadoka Koharu.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I Want to Deliver Your Voice (2017)
The story focuses on high school girl Nagisa Yukiai who lives in a seaside town. She has believed her grandmother's story that spirits dwell in words and they are called "kotodama" (word spirit). One day, she strays into a mini FM station that has not been used for years. As an impulse of the moment, she tries to talk like a DJ using the facility. But her voice accidentally broadcasted reaches someone she has never expected.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The glimmer of tears?
The closest matches to The glimmer of tears are Skater Girl (2021), Where the Red Fern Grows (2003) and Greyfriars Bobby (1961). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The glimmer of tears?
Start with Skater Girl (2021), the closest match to The glimmer of tears.
What is the highest-rated movie like The glimmer of tears?
The Lion King (1994), rated 8.3/10 by 20,405 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The glimmer of tears?
Matèl (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like The glimmer of tears?
Yes: Tótem (2023).
How are movies similar to The glimmer of tears chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The glimmer of tears, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.