Movies like Neon Bull (2016)
The best movies like Neon Bull (2016) are Mars One (2022), Pacarrete (2019) and Once Upon a Time in Rio (2008). If Neon Bull hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Second Mother (2015)8.0/10 from 808 votes
- NewestThe Rogue's Trial (2024)Released 2024
Mars 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 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
Once Upon a Time in Rio (2008)
Situated just above the awe-inspiring Ipanema beach in Rio is the Cantagalo slum. Every day, floods of Cantagalo residents make their way down the mountain, only to disappear into their surroundings as part of the invisible working-class that cleans apartments, works in restaurants, and sells food along the scenic, sun-drenched shores. Young Dé (Thiago Martins) is just such a man. Dé lives with his mother Bernadette (Cyria Coentro) in a cramped Cantagalo apartment, selling hot dogs on the beach in order to make the rent. His brother Beto was killed when Dé was just a young boy, and his adopted brother Carlão (Rocco Pitanga) has been jailed for a robbery that he didn't commit. One day, while working on the beach, Dé meets Nina (Vitória Frate). Nina is the only child of a successful lawyer named Evandro (Paulo César Grande), who's none to happy to discover that his daughter is dating a member of the lower class. How...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAugust Winds (2014)
Shirley has left the big city to live in a small seaside town and look after her elderly grandmother. She drives a tractor on a local coconut plantation, loves rock music and wants to be a tattoo artist. She feels trapped in the tiny coastal village. She is involved with Jeison, who also works on the coconut farm and who free dives for lobster and octopus in his spare time.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Brainstorm (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 thisRust (2018)
Tati and Renet were already trading pics, videos and music by their cellphones and on the last school trip they started making eye contact. However, what could be the beginning of a love story becomes the end.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLoveling (2018)
On the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Irene has only a few days to overcome her anxiety and renew her strength before sending her eldest son out into the world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Futuro 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 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 thisLove for Sale (2006)
In northern Brazil, Hermila patiently waits for her husband. However, he has abandoned her. Sexy, restless and resolute, she raffles off "a night in paradise" with herself. This beautifully-shot portrait doesn't shy away from the burdens of a young scarred woman, but it also celebrates her courage to live according to her own rules.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Second Mother (2015)
After leaving her daughter Jessica in a small town in Pernambuco to be raised by relatives, Val spends the next 13 years working as a nanny to Fabinho in São Paulo. She has financial stability but has to live with the guilt of having not raised Jessica herself. As Fabinho’s university entrance exams approach, Jessica reappears in her life and seems to want to give her mother a second chance. However, Jessica has not been raised to be a servant and her very existence will turn Val’s routine on its head. With precision and humour, the subtle and powerful forces that keep rigid class structures in place and how the youth may just be the ones to shake it all up.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMango Yellow (2002)
The lives of a macho butcher, his wife, a lonely waitress, a sadist and a flophouse manager intersect in Recife, Brazil.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisCinema, Aspirins and Vultures (2005)
1942, in the middle of Northeastern Brazil, two very different men meet along the road: Johan, an aspirin salesman avoiding the German draft, and Ranulpho, a rural Brazilian seeking escape from the drought.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisTattoo (2013)
Paulete, the star of a daring theater group, is visited by his military brother-in-law, the young Fininha. A torrid relationship arises between the two, and now the soldier must deal with the prevailing repression during the Brazilian military dictatorship.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Man of the Year (2003)
Maiquél has lost a bet and dyed his hair blond. This seemingly innocuous event triggers a head-on collision with destiny in which he goes from nobody to hero to outlaw — all in 24 hours.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dead and the Others (2019)
Denying his duty and in order to escape a crucial process of becoming a shaman, Ihjãc runs away to the city. Far from his people and culture, he faces the reality of being an indigenous in contemporary Brazil.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The 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 thisBefore I Forget (2017)
At 80, Polidoro decides to demolish the stability of his comfortable life as a retired judge and become owner of a strip club.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Shine Your Eyes (2020)
A Nigerian musician travels to Brazil to search for his estranged brother, who is living a life very different than the one his family thought.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Once Upon a Time Veronica (2012)
Veronica, a young woman, lives in Recife, one of the most violent cities in Brazil. Her life is filled with fleeting love affairs and passing romances. As her father feels his death approaching, he asks a favor: that she finds true love before he passes away.
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 thisLast Stop 174 (2008)
Sandro was a boy who loved to sing rap, to kiss, to stare the statue of Christ the Redeemer and dreamed to go visit Copacabana. Growing up on streets, the story culminates at the infamous episode of 12th June 2000, when Sandro hijacked bus 174.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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
The Clown (2011)
The life of the owners of Circus Esperança, Puro Sangue e Pangaré, father and son, who plays two clowns. At a certain point, Pangaré starts showing tiredness and sadness for being an unhappy clown.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNeighboring Sounds (2012)
An independent private security firm arrives at a middle-class neighborhood in Recife, Brazil.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSocrates (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 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
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Neon Bull?
The closest matches to Neon Bull are Mars One (2022), Pacarrete (2019) and Once Upon a Time in Rio (2008). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Neon Bull?
People who watched Neon Bull most often go on to Mars One (2022), Pacarrete (2019) and Once Upon a Time in Rio (2008).
What is the highest-rated movie like Neon Bull?
The Second Mother (2015), rated 8.0/10 by 808 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Neon Bull?
The Rogue's Trial (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Neon Bull chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Neon Bull, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.