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Movies like The Long Years (1971)

The best movies like The Long Years (1971) are Lighting Up the Stars (2022), Hounddog (2008) and Hardball (2001). If The Long Years hooked you with its drama, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Lighting Up the Stars (2022)

    Having been released after serving his sentence, a funeral director accidentally crosses paths with a girl which brings about an unexpected change in his attitude towards life.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  2. Hounddog (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 this
  3. Hardball (2001)

    An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  4. One Second (2020)

    A movie fan escapes from a labour camp during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and strikes up a relationship with a homeless female vagabond.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  5. The Young One (1960)

    A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  6. Buddha Mountain (2011)

    In Chengdu, China, a retired female opera singer named Master Chang takes in a trio of young tenants into her boarding home. The tenants include a rock singer and a college student who has run away from home.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  7. The 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 this
  8. Brotherly Love (2015)

    West Philadelphia basketball star Sergio Taylor deals with the pressures of fame while his brother and sister have their own issues with ambition.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  9. The Sound of Silence (2019)

    A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  10. All Day and a Night (2020)

    While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  11. What Maisie Knew (2013)

    In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  12. Skin (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 this
  13. The Short History of the Long Road (2019)

    Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  14. Vanya on 42nd Street (1994)

    An uninterrupted rehearsal of Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' plays out by a company of actors. The setting: their run-down theater with an unusable stage and crumbling ceiling. The play is shown act by act with the briefest of breaks to move props or for refreshments. The lack of costumes, real props and scenery is soon forgotten.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  15. El Chicano (2019)

    A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  16. Chongqing Hot Pot (2016)

    When three friends open a hot pot restaurant in a former bomb shelter, they discover it’s linked by a single wall to the bank vault next door. While deciding to take the easy money or go to the police, they find out one of the bank’s employees is a former classmate and look to enlist her in deciding their future.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  17. Sergio (2020)

    A sweeping drama set in the chaotic aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq, where the life of top UN diplomat Brazilian Sérgio Vieira de Mello hangs in the balance during the most treacherous mission of his career.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  18. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977)

    A disturbed and institutionalized 16-year-old girl struggles between fantasy and reality.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  19. Imperial Dreams (2014)

    A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  20. Fast Girls (2012)

    A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this

Like The Long Years and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like The Long Years?

The closest matches to The Long Years are Lighting Up the Stars (2022), Hounddog (2008) and Hardball (2001). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after The Long Years?

Start with Lighting Up the Stars (2022), the closest match to The Long Years.

What is the highest-rated movie like The Long Years?

What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 466 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like The Long Years?

Lighting Up the Stars (2022) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there Chinese movies like The Long Years?

Yes: Lighting Up the Stars (2022), One Second (2020) and Buddha Mountain (2011).

How are movies similar to The Long Years chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Long Years, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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