Movies like Secrets of the City (1955)
The best movies like Secrets of the City (1955) are The Safety of Objects (2002), Advantageous (2015) and They Drive by Night (1940). If Secrets of the City hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBomb City (2017)7.1/10 from 294 votes
- NewestKoroviy Val (2026)Released 2026
- In GermanNur die Sehnsucht bleibt (1976)Also in German
The Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdvantageous (2015)
In a near-future city where soaring opulence overshadows economic hardship, Gwen and her daughter, Jules, do all they can to hold on to their joy, despite the instability surfacing in their world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThey Drive by Night (1940)
Joe and Paul Fabrini are Wildcat, or independent, truck drivers who have their own small one-truck business. The Fabrini boys constantly battle distributors, rivals and loan collectors, while trying to make a success of their transport company.
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 thisHardball (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 thisNight Always Comes (2025)
Facing eviction in a city her family can no longer afford, a woman plunges into a desperate and increasingly dangerous all-night search to raise $25,000.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDalíland (2022)
In 1973, a young gallery assistant goes on a wild adventure behind the scenes as he helps aging genius Salvador Dali prepare for a big show in New York.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Beaver (2011)
Suffering from a severe case of depression, toy company CEO Walter Black begins using a beaver hand puppet to help him open up to his family. With his father seemingly going insane, adolescent son Porter pushes for his parents to get a divorce.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this40 Acres (2025)
Hailey Freeman and her family are the last descendants of African American farmers who settled in rural Canada after the Civil War. In a famine-decimated near future, they now struggle to safeguard their farm, as they make one last stand against a vicious militia hell-bent on taking their 40 Acres.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (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 thisAdulthood (2008)
After serving six years for killing his schoolmate, a young man learns that someone is out for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Trials of Cate McCall (2013)
In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDisgrace (2008)
Disgrace is the story of a South African professor of English who loses everything: his reputation, his job, his peace of mind, his good looks, his dreams of artistic success, and finally even his ability to protect his cherished daughter. After having an affair with a student, he moves to the Eastern Cape, where he gets caught up in a mess of post-apartheid politics.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlex of Venice (2015)
After her stay-at-home husband leaves her, a workaholic lawyer finds that she is not completely up to the tasks of caring for her young son, ailing father and household all by herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisStrange Weather (2016)
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisEl 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 thisHoly Lands (2019)
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBomb City (2017)
An ongoing feud between punk rockers and a more affluent clique in a small Texas town leads to a hate crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKisses (2008)
Two kids, Dylan and Kylie, run away from home on Christmas Day and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWind Over the City (1996)
In a small, poor town, a young worker falls in love with an actress from a traveling theater troupe and tries to keep her close, dreaming and working hard to rebuild a new town while the troupe increasingly faces decline and the end of its run.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Nur die Sehnsucht bleibt (1976)
Early short film by Wolfgang Büld
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Netto (2005)
Follows the lives of an unemployed drunk and his son as they struggle to adapt to each other.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Explosion (1974)
Engineer Ilir wants to drill for oil in an area in which there exists no data from previous researchers. Faced with disagreement from his colleague, as well as the lack of experience, he is determined to finish the job.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Blues (2022)
'Blues' is a portrait. Ernest Angermüller, a talented young mime artist who became a quadriplegic after a car accident, and Roza Misiewicz, a young Polish immigrant who works as a carer in France. 'Blues' is the story of their meeting, their memories and a fragmented picture of their desires and dreams as young adults in the making.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
La Lunareja (1946)
Adapted from “Las Tradiciones Peruanas” by Ricardo Palma.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Where the Bullets Go (2024)
When a young boy shoots at a bird and misses, he embarks on a search to find where the bullet went.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Track (1970)
A successful doctor comes into conflict with his friends and family and is slowly driven towards suicide.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Kiss Me in the Dark (1959)
Lula's father Abdel Hamid loses his wallet. Hussain finds it, and returns it to Abdel Hamid . Impressed by his honesty, Abdel Hamid gives him a job. Lola begins to woo him to forget her life with Aziz, and asks him to work for her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Koroviy Val (2026)
Simple sincerity, serenity, and a pleasant sadness. A weird guy misses a long-gone past and a future that never came to be.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Secrets of the City?
The closest matches to Secrets of the City are The Safety of Objects (2002), Advantageous (2015) and They Drive by Night (1940). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Secrets of the City?
Start with The Safety of Objects (2002), the closest match to Secrets of the City.
What is the highest-rated movie like Secrets of the City?
Bomb City (2017), rated 7.1/10 by 294 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Secrets of the City?
Koroviy Val (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like Secrets of the City?
Yes: Nur die Sehnsucht bleibt (1976) and Netto (2005).
How are movies similar to Secrets of the City chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Secrets of the City, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.