Movies like The Second Mother (2015)
The best movies like The Second Mother (2015) are The Wonders (2014), Casa Grande (2014) and Central Station (1998). If The Second Mother hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedCentral Station (1998)8.1/10 from 1,093 votes
- NewestVitória (2025)Released 2025
The Wonders (2014)
In the Tuscan countryside, a family of traditional honey farmers struggles to make ends meet. The household consists of only daughters—four of them—led by the eldest, Gelsomina, who takes on the responsibilities of the family. When a small boy is sent to stay with them for rehabilitation, their routine is disrupted. As financial troubles threaten their home, Gelsomina sees an opportunity in a reality TV contest searching for 'Italy’s Most Traditional Family.' Willing to expose their secluded life for the prize money, she clashes with her father’s rigid ways in a bid to secure their future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCasa Grande (2014)
As a privileged teenager living in an affluent suburb of Rio de Janeiro, Jean has little to worry about beyond games, grades and girls. But as his overbearing father drags the family into debt, Jean is forced into a change of lifestyle which opens his eyes to the world beyond his 'casa grande' - not least that of the feisty, mixed-race firecracker Luiza. Cultures, classes and generations collide in this engrossing coming-of-age drama from Brazil.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCentral Station (1998)
An emotional journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCity of Men (2007)
Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAquarius (2016)
Clara, a vibrant former music critic and widow with flowing tresses is the only remaining apartment owner in a beautiful older building targeted for demolition by ruthless luxury high-rise developers. Clara proves to be a force to be reckoned with as she thwarts the builders plans to kick her out of the apartment.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMars One (2022)
A middle-class Black family in Brazil copes with the election of a far-right extremist president. The mother believes that she's cursed after an unexpected encounter, while her husband puts all of his hopes into their son's soccer career.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Year My Parents Went on Vacation (2006)
A boy is left alone in a Jewish neighborhood in the year of 1970, where both world cup and dictatorship happen in Brazil.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRoma (2018)
In 1970s Mexico City, two domestic workers help a mother of four while her husband is away for an extended period of time.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJust Like Our Parents (2017)
Rosa is in her late 30s, a child of the 1970s with divorced parents. She lives with her own family in São Paulo. Overwhelmed by an eruption of individual passions, lies and the expectations of three generations, she tries to discover who she really is.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAraby (2018)
André, a teenager, lives in an industrial town in Brazil near an old aluminum factory. One day, a factory worker, Cristiano, suffers an accident. Asked to go to Cristiano’s house to pick up clothes and documents, André stumbles on a notebook, and it’s here that Araby begins — or, rather, transforms. As André reads from the journal entries, we are plunged into Cristiano’s life, into stories of his wanderings, adventures, and loves.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisToll (2023)
Suellen is a toll booth attendant who starts using her job to help a gang of thieves steal watches from people driving to the coast. But only for a noble cause: to send her son to an expensive gay conversion workshop.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Neon Bull (2016)
Iremar works at the rodeo in North East of Brazil. From his home, the truck he uses to transport the animals, he dreams of a future in the region's booming clothing industry.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrainstorm (2001)
Neto is a middle class teenager living a normal life. After his father finds a marijuana cigarette on his pocket, he is sent to a mental institution, where he gets to know a completely absurd and inhumane reality in which people are devoured by a corrupt and cruel system.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPacarrete (2019)
Russas, a small town in northeastern Brazil, is the home of Pacarrete, a grumpy retired dance teacher who dreams of getting a big shot and starring at a dance spectacle for the whole town to see. She's close to fulfilling that dream, but not without overcoming a few impediments along the way.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Elis (2016)
The film tells the story of the energetic and pulsating singer Elis Regina since her arrival in Rio de Janeiro at age 19 until her tragic and early death. Despite all the difficulties, success comes fulminant and the life of Elis Regina gained national and international recognition, becoming undoubtedly considered today the greatest Brazilian singer of all time.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFuturo Beach (2014)
Donato fails in his attempt to save a drowning man, and meets one of the man's friends. He decides to start his life over, but pieces of his past keep coming after him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCarandiru (2003)
When a doctor decides to carry out an AIDS prevention program inside Latin America’s largest prison: the Casa de Detenção de São Paulo – Carandiru, he meets the future victims of one of the darkest days in Brazilian history.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHour of the Star (1986)
Macabéa has just moved to the big city after her aunt, who raised her, died. She gets a job as a typist and moves into a boarding house with three other women. In her spare time, she listens to a radio station called Time; on Sundays, she likes to ride the metro. Then she meets Olímpico, a northeasterner like herself, who has dreams of becoming a congressman.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Movie of My Life (2017)
The sierras of southern Brazil, 1963. The son of an French man and a Brazilian woman, Tony is a young man with a profound love of cinema and poetry. After graduating from college he returns to his small town in rural Brazil, to find out that his father had left for good, back to France. Tony then looks for the company of his fathers friends in search of information and references of a lost male role-model. He becomes a school teacher and a male figure to kids, in an attempt to provide them with something he lacks himself. A series of developments lead him to a surprising final lead on his fathers' whereabouts and reasons for leaving.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAngels of the Sun (2006)
In Northeastern Brazil, twelve-year-old Maria is sold to have a better life as a housemaid. However, Maria is resold and sent to a brothel in the Amazon gold fields and put to work by the despicable Saraiva.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStolen Dreams (2009)
Jessica, Sabrina and Daiane have dreams, just like all young people of any social class or place in the world. They live in a low-income neighborhood in the periphery of Rio de Janeiro and find in prostitution a way to survive and satisfy their consumer desires. However, even faced with the trials of absolute uncertainty and lack of hope, Jessica, Sabrina and Daiane insist on loving, having fun and planning their future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisI'd Receive the Worst News from Your Beautiful Lips (2011)
In a remote part of the Amazon, a traveling photographer has an intense affair with a preacher's wife, but secrets from her past threaten to ruin them both.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Father’s Chair (2012)
Theo is living the good life in an upscale Brazilian neighborhood. He’s a hardworking doctor, husband, and father. However, Theo has chosen his career over his family, and little by little he discovers that his world is crumbling around him. His beloved mentor and surrogate father is dying, and his wife announces that she wants a divorce. Yet nothing prepares him for the day when he comes home to discover that his 15-year-old son, Pedro, has disappeared. Theo takes to the road in search of his son. In a journey that leads him throughout Brazil, Theo discovers what really matters to him. Searching for his missing son, Theo finds himself.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Rogue's Trial (2024)
After 20 years missing, João Grilo returns to Taperoá to join his old friend Chicó and, after his story of resurrection spreads, he is disputed as an electoral candidate by the two most powerful politicians in the city.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Is It Worth? (2005)
Free adaptation of Machado de Assis's short story "Pai Contra Mãe", having some of Nireu Cavalcanti's 18th Century chronicles as inspiration, the film traces parallels between life in during the slavery period and in modern Brazil.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Socrates (2018)
After his mother's sudden death, Socrates, a 15-year-old living on the margins of São Paulo's coast, must survive on his own while coming to terms with his grief.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisConfessions of a Brazilian Call Girl (2011)
Rachel is a girl, adopted by an upper middle class family, who rebelled at 17 and left her family and studies at a traditional college in Sao Paulo to become a sexy call girl. Shortly after starting work, she decided to write a blog about her experiences. Since some clients thought she looked like a surfer she adopted the name "Surfistinha" which means little surfer girl.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVitória (2025)
Nina is an elderly woman who lives alone and feels distressed by the increasing violence in her neighborhood. Amidst conflicts with her neighbors, she decides to film the movement of drug traffickers from her window, hoping to assist the police. After months of recording suspicious activities, her initiative attracts the attention of a journalist, who approaches Nina and offers to support her in her mission.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEstômago: A Gastronomic Story (2008)
In a dog-eat-dog world, Raimundo Nonato has found an alternative way to move ahead: he cooks. No matter what social strata this deceptively innocent young man inhabits, he hones his skills and sharpens his knives—and then he falls in love. Jorge's nimble comic fable provides a smartly constructed gastronomic allegory for ambition and survival.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisInvisible Life (2019)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1950. In the conservative home of the Gusmão family, Eurídice and Guida are two inseparable sisters who support each other. While Guida can share with her younger sister the details of her romantic adventures, Eurídice finds in her older sister the encouragement she needs to pursue her dream of becoming a professional pianist.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Second Mother?
The closest matches to The Second Mother are The Wonders (2014), Casa Grande (2014) and Central Station (1998). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Second Mother?
People who watched The Second Mother most often go on to The Wonders (2014), Casa Grande (2014) and Central Station (1998).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Second Mother?
Central Station (1998), rated 8.1/10 by 1,093 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Second Mother?
Vitória (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Second Mother chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Second Mother, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.