Movies like The Bright Day (2013)
The best movies like The Bright Day (2013) are A Separation (2011), Fireworks Wednesday (2006) and Ten (2002). If The Bright Day hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedClose-Up (1990)8.0/10 from 474 votes
- NewestTatami (2024)Released 2024
A Separation (2011)
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision – to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisFireworks Wednesday (2006)
Rouhi, a young bride-to-be, is hired as a maid for an affluent family in Tehran. Upon arriving, she is suddenly thrust into an explosive domestic conflict. The wife is convinced her husband is having an affair and enlists Rouhi as a spy, to follow her husband, and confirm her suspicions. What Rouhi discovers, however, threatens not only their marriage but her own future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTen (2002)
A visual social examination in the form of ten conversations between a driving woman and her various pick-ups and hitchhikers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWomen Without Men (2009)
Against the tumultuous backdrop of Iran's 1953 CIA-backed coup d'état, the destinies of four women converge in a beautiful orchard garden, where they find independence, solace and companionship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wind Will Carry Us (1999)
Irreverent city engineer Behzad comes to a rural Kurdish village in Iran to keep vigil for a dying relative. In the meanwhile the film follows his efforts to fit in with the local community and how he changes his own attitudes as a result.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Stoning of Soraya M. (2009)
In 1986 Iran, Sahebjam, whose car breaks down in a remote village, enters into a conversation with Zahra, who relays to him the story about her niece, Soraya, whose arranged marriage to an abusive tyrant ended in tragedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNot Without My Daughter (1991)
An American woman, trapped in Islamic Iran by her brutish husband, must find a way to escape with her daughter as well.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSister My Sister (1994)
A true story of shocking violence catapults a picturesque little town into history. The close sibling relationship between the two maids takes on a new dimension as their overbearing employer discovers a sexual fever between the two sisters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAbout Elly (2009)
The mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCircumstance (2011)
A wealthy Iranian family struggles to contain a teenager's growing sexual rebellion and her brother's newfound conservatism.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisArgo (2012)
As the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, a CIA 'exfiltration' specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Love Song for Bobby Long (2004)
A headstrong young woman returns to New Orleans after the death of her estranged mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTehran Taboo (2017)
The lives of three strong-willed women and a young musician cross paths in Tehran’s schizophrenic society where sex, adultery, corruption, prostitution and drugs coexist with strict religious law. In this bustling modern metropolis, avoiding prohibition has become an everyday sport and breaking taboos can be a means of personal emancipation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlbert Nobbs (2011)
Albert Nobbs struggles to survive in late 19th century Ireland, where women aren't encouraged to be independent. Posing as a man, so she can work as a butler in Dublin's most posh hotel, Albert meets a handsome painter and looks to escape the lie she has been living.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Salesman (2016)
Forced out of their apartment due to dangerous works on a neighboring building, Emad and Rana move into a new flat in the center of Tehran. An incident linked to the previous tenant will dramatically change the young couple’s life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisClose-Up (1990)
This fiction-documentary hybrid uses a sensational real-life event—the arrest of a young man on charges that he fraudulently impersonated the well-known filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf—as the basis for a stunning, multilayered investigation into movies, identity, artistic creation, and existence, in which the real people from the case play themselves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTatami (2024)
Iranian female judokas Leila and her coach Maryam, travel to the Judo World Championship, intent on bringing home Iran’s first gold medal. Midway through the Judo World Championships, they receive an ultimatum from the Islamic Republic ordering Leila to fake an injury and lose, or she will be branded a traitor of the state. With her own and her family’s freedom at stake, Leila is faced with an impossible choice: comply with the Iranian regime as her coach Maryam implores her to do, or fight on, for the gold.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Song of Sparrows (2008)
When an ostrich-rancher focuses on replacing his daughter's hearing aid, which breaks right before crucial exams, everything changes for a struggling rural family in Iran. Karim motorbikes into a world alien to him - incredibly hectic Tehran, where sudden opportunities for independence, thrill and challenge him. But his honor and honesty, plus traditional authority over his inventive clan, are tested, as he stumbles among vast cultural and economic gaps between his village nestled in the desert, and a throbbing international metropolis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHoly Spider (2022)
A journalist descends into the dark underbelly of the Iranian holy city of Mashhad as she investigates the serial killings of sex workers by the so called "Spider Killer", who believes he is cleansing the streets of sinners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Ceiling (2018)
On the brink of divorce a middle aged man, Olavi, retreats to his cabin by the lake. After a few days he finds that the ceiling has come down making him unable to stand up straight. His friend Tuomas arrives and insists that something has to be done whereas Olavi is content with the limited space.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Simple Story (1978)
A middle-aged woman leaves her partner and drifts back to her ex-husband, while the lives of her middle class friends intersect with her own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (2014)
The trial story of Viviane Amsalem's five year fight to obtain her divorce in front of the only legal authority competent for divorce cases in Israel, the Rabbinical Court.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Two jobless Americans convince a prospector to travel to the mountains of Mexico with them in search of gold. But the hostile wilderness, local bandits, and greed all get in the way of their journey.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Night of the Hunter (1955)
In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTara Road (2005)
A grieving Connecticut mother temporarily switches houses with a woman in Dublin, Ireland.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisGirl with a Pearl Earring (2003)
This film, adapted from a work of fiction by author Tracy Chevalier, tells a story about the events surrounding the creation of the painting "Girl With A Pearl Earring" by 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. A young peasant maid working in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer becomes his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this54 (1998)
When the mastermind behind New York's infamous Studio 54 disco plucks young Shane from the sea of faces clamoring to get inside his club, he not only gets his foot in the door, but lands a coveted job behind the bar — and a front-row ticket to the most legendary party on the planet!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisJourney to Italy (1954)
Married for eight years with no children, Brits Katherine and Alex Joyce are driving to Italy, their ultimate destination just outside of Naples to sell the villa they have just inherited from his uncle, the villa where they will be staying during their time there. On the drive, they come to the realization that this trip marks the first time that they have truly been alone together, and as such don't really know one another in the true sense.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFaces of Void (2022)
An Internet Scammer who intermittently questions his morals, attains the opportunity to fraud an elderly woman. Despite this being his largest scam, after learning more about the woman it becomes his most difficult.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The Bright Day and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Bright Day?
The closest matches to The Bright Day are A Separation (2011), Fireworks Wednesday (2006) and Ten (2002). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Bright Day?
Start with A Separation (2011), the closest match to The Bright Day.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Bright Day?
Close-Up (1990), rated 8.0/10 by 474 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Bright Day?
Tatami (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Bright Day chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Bright Day, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.