Movies like Lorenzo's Oil (1992)
The best movies like Lorenzo's Oil (1992) are Dad (1989), Miracles from Heaven (2016) and Extraordinary Measures (2010). If Lorenzo's Oil hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGladiator (2000)8.2/10 from 21,858 votes
- NewestThe Swedish Torpedo (2024)Released 2024
Dad (1989)
A busy executive learns during a meeting that his mother may be dying and rushes home to her side. He ends up being his father's caretaker and becomes closer to him than ever before. Estranged from his own son, the executive comes to realize what has been missing in his own life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiracles from Heaven (2016)
When Christy discovers her 10-year-old daughter Anna has a rare, incurable disease, she becomes a ferocious advocate for her daughter’s healing as she searches for a solution. After Anna has a freak accident and falls three stories, a miracle unfolds in the wake of her dramatic rescue that leaves medical specialists mystified, her family restored and their community inspired.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisExtraordinary Measures (2010)
Working-class father John Crowley is finally on the fast track to corporate success when his two young children are diagnosed with Pompe disease—a condition that prevents the body from breaking down sugar. With the support of his wife, John ditches his career and teams with unconventional specialist, Dr. Robert Stonehill to found a bio-tech company and develop a cure in time to save the lives of his children. As Dr. Stonehill works tirelessly to prove the theories that made him the black sheep of the medical community, a powerful bond is forged between the two unlikely allies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Emerald Forest (1985)
For ten years, engineer Bill Markham has searched tirelessly for his son Tommy who disappeared from the edge of the Brazilian rainforest. Miraculously, he finds the boy living among the reclusive Amazon tribe who adopted him. This is when Bill's adventure truly begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJames White (2015)
James White is a troubled twentysomething trying to stay afloat in a frenzied New York City. As he retreats further into a hedonistic lifestyle, his mother's battle with a serious illness faces a series of setbacks that force him to assume more responsibility. With the pressure on him mounting, James must find new reserves of strength or risk imploding completely.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJohn Q (2002)
John Quincy Archibald is a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it. Therefore, he decides to take a hospital full of patients hostage until the hospital puts his son's name on the donor's list.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLamb (2015)
In the wake of a collapsed marriage and his father's death, David Lamb hopes to regain his own sense of goodness by focusing his attention on Tommie, an awkward and unpopular 11-year-old girl. Convinced he can help her avoid a destiny of apathy and emptiness, David takes her on a road trip from Chicago to the Rockies to initiate her into the beauty of the mountain wilderness. The journey shakes them in ways neither expects.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Judge (2014)
A successful lawyer returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Glass Castle (2017)
A young girl is raised in a dysfunctional family constantly on the run from the FBI. Living in poverty, she comes of age guided by her drunkard, ingenious father who distracts her with magical stories to keep her mind off the family's dire state, and her selfish, nonconformist mother who has no intention of raising a family, along with her younger brother and sister, and her other older sister. Together, they fend for each other as they mature in an unorthodox journey that is their family life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Zoe (2019)
Isabelle, a geneticist recovering from a toxic marriage, is raising her only daughter, Zoe, with her contentious ex-husband. Zoe means everything to her mother and so when tragedy strikes the fractured family, Isabelle travels to Russia in seeking the help of a world-renowned fertility physician who Isabelle believes can help bring back her little girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017)
An African-American woman becomes an unwitting pioneer for medical breakthroughs when her cells are used to create the first immortal human cell line in the early 1950s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sunchaser (1996)
A young half-Navajo convict dying of cancer forces a yuppie doctor to drive him to a magic healing lake.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove You to Death (2019)
Inspired by a true story, this film tells the shocking tale of a mother and daughter who are nothing like they seem, their tumultuous relationship ending in a brutal murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
A highly intelligent chimpanzee named Caesar has been living a peaceful suburban life ever since he was born. But when he gets taken to a cruel primate facility, Caesar decides to revolt against those who have harmed him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnbreakable (2000)
An ordinary man makes an extraordinary discovery when a train accident leaves his fellow passengers dead — and him unscathed. The answer to this mystery could lie with the mysterious Elijah Price, a man who suffers from a disease that renders his bones as fragile as glass.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009)
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story is a movie based on the life story of world-renowned neurosurgeon Ben Carson from 1961 to 1987.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLord of the Flies (1963)
Following a plane crash a group of schoolboys find themselves on a deserted island. They appoint a leader and attempt to create an organized society for the sake of their survival. Democracy and order soon begin to crumble when a breakaway faction regresses to savagery with horrifying consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMissing (2023)
When her mother disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June’s search for answers is hindered by international red tape. Stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, June creatively uses all the latest technology at her fingertips to try and find her before it’s too late.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNormal (2003)
A Midwestern husband and father announces his plan to have a sex change operation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rookie (2002)
Jim Morris never made it out of the minor leagues before a shoulder injury ended his pitching career twelve years ago. Now a married-with-children high-school chemistry teacher and baseball coach in Texas, Jim's team makes a deal with him: if they win the district championship, Jim will try out with a major-league organization. The bet proves incentive enough for the team, and they go from worst to first, making it to state for the first time in the history of the school. Jim, forced to live up to his end of the deal, is nearly laughed off the try-out field--until he gets onto the mound, where he confounds the scouts (and himself) by clocking successive 98 mph fastballs, good enough for a minor-league contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Jim's still got a lot of pitches to throw before he makes it to The Show, but with his big-league dreams revived, there's no telling where he could go.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn Amish Sin (2022)
Rachel is an Amish teen who refuses to obey her parent’s command that she marry the man who abused her as a child. When she attempts to run away, she is caught and sent to a “rehab” for Amish girls who don’t follow the rules
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mountaineers (1973)
The true story of a Czechoslovak mountaineering expedition that set out in 1969 to conquer one of the most challenging peaks in the Himalayas. In a semi-documentary manner, it depicts the men's harrowing journey, which is beset by problems with local guides, worsening weather, and growing rifts between them. In addition, news reaches the expedition leader of the tragic end of the Czechoslovak expedition to Hindukusha. Each of the six men must face their own problems and dilemmas, but the common goal of overcoming the difficult mountain brings them together. But will the desire to climb one of the world's most dangerous peaks be stronger than the cost of human life?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Hijacking of Flight 375 (2023)
Brazil, 1988. An unemployed tractor driver hijacks VASP flight 375 and orders commander Murilo to crash the plane on the Planalto Palace to kill the president - whom he considers guilty for the country's devastating economic crisis.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Blind (2023)
Long before Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson became a reality TV star, he fell in love with Miss Kay and started a family, but his demons threatened to tear their lives apart. Set in the backwoods swamps of 1960s Louisiana, 'The Blind' shares never-before-revealed moments in Phil's life as he seeks to conquer the shame of his past, ultimately finding redemption in an unlikely place. This stunning cinematic journey chronicles the love story that launched a dynasty, the turmoil that nearly brought it crashing down, and the hope that rose from the ashes to create a foundation for generations to come.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Swedish Torpedo (2024)
World War II is around the corner, but the only thing Sally Bauer can think of is the ocean. Her dream is to swim across the English Channel.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Abigail (2021)
A lonely and elderly widower struggles to come to terms with the loss of his wife and the circumstances surrounding her death. When he visits her grave, he encounters a little girl who shows him the path to healing and fills him with hope.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Italian for Beginners (2000)
Several lonely hearts in a semi-provincial suburb of a town in Denmark use a beginner's course in Italian as the platform to meet the romance of their lives. The film, which unspools the connections and family drama shared between the students, complies with several aesthetic principles of Dogme 95 movement.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGladiator (2000)
After the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, his devious son takes power and demotes Maximus, one of Rome's most capable generals who Marcus preferred. Eventually, Maximus is forced to become a gladiator and battle to the death against other men for the amusement of paying audiences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Conscience (2021)
Petrograd, Soviet Union, 1920s. Boris Letush, devastated by a personal tragedy, feels the need to put his conscience and his principles before the demands of the cruel system he serves, where law and justice are systematically ignored.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Lorenzo's Oil?
The closest matches to Lorenzo's Oil are Dad (1989), Miracles from Heaven (2016) and Extraordinary Measures (2010). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Lorenzo's Oil?
Start with Dad (1989), the closest match to Lorenzo's Oil.
What is the highest-rated movie like Lorenzo's Oil?
Gladiator (2000), rated 8.2/10 by 21,858 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Lorenzo's Oil?
The Swedish Torpedo (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Lorenzo's Oil?
Yes: Dad (1989), Miracles from Heaven (2016) and Extraordinary Measures (2010).
How are movies similar to Lorenzo's Oil chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Lorenzo's Oil, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.