Movies like How Is It to Dream? (1983)
The best movies like How Is It to Dream? (1983) are Insiang (1976), Metro Manila (2013) and Butterfly on a Wheel (2007). If How Is It to Dream? hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedOthello (1951)7.4/10 from 226 votes
- NewestGoodbye June (2025)Released 2025
Insiang (1976)
A story about the life of a young girl living with her mother in the slums of Manila, which becomes unbearable when her mother's young boyfriend moves in with them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMetro Manila (2013)
Looking for a brighter future in metropolitan Manila, Oscar Ramirez and his family leave their miserable life in the rice terraces of Banaue, in the northern Philippines. In the sweltering capital, where all kind of perils lurk in every corner, Oscar catches a lucky break when he is offered a steady work for an armored truck company and the senior officer Ong takes him under his wing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisButterfly on a Wheel (2007)
A sociopathic kidnapper methodically pushes a desperate pair of parents to their absolute breaking point.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoodbye June (2025)
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAcrimony (2018)
Faithful wife Melinda, who is tired of standing by her devious husband Robert, is enraged when it becomes clear she has been betrayed. That's when she lost it, and now she cannot let it go.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOthello (1951)
Manipulated by his jealous ensign Iago, the Moorish general Othello is driven to believe that his new wife Desdemona is unfaithful, setting in motion a chain of deception, jealousy, and violence that leads to tragedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDream Lover (1994)
Not long after they cross paths at an art gallery, architect Ray Reardon and hypnotically sensual Lena are married with children. But as strange incidents occur, Ray begins to realize he may not really know the woman he married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMadame X (1966)
Holly Parker, the wife of a wealthy diplomat, is compromised by the accidental death of a man who has been romantically pursuing her. She is forced by her mother-in-law to assume a new identity in order to save the reputation of her husband and infant son. She wanders the world, trying to forget her heartbreak with the aid of alcohol and unsavory men. Eventually returning to the city of her downfall, she murders a blackmailer who threatens to expose her past. Amazingly, Holly is represented at her murder trial by her now adult son, who has become a public defender. In the hope of protecting her family, she refuses to reveal her real name and is known to the court as "Madame X".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisManila in the Claws of Light (1975)
Julio, a young fisherman from a provincial village, descends into social alienation as he arrives in Manila to search for his loved one.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
Dr. Steven Murphy is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who presides over a spotless household with his wife and two children. Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin, a fatherless teen who insinuates himself into the doctor's life in gradually unsettling ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrothers (2009)
When his helicopter goes down during his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan, Marine Sam Cahill is presumed dead. Back home, brother Tommy steps in to look over Sam’s wife, Grace, and two children. Sam’s surprise homecoming triggers domestic mayhem.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOne & Two (2015)
In an isolated farmhouse, located in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by a mysterious wooden wall, Zac and Eva, two siblings gifted with extraordinary abilities, endure every day the wrath of their strict father while witnessing how a cruel sickness lurks their beloved mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisXiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath and the Maiden (1994)
A political activist is convinced that her guest is a man who once tortured her for the government.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Question of Faith (2017)
When Tragedy Strikes three Families, their Destiny forces them on a coverging path and mercy as the challenges of their fate could also resurrect their beliefs
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDie My Love (2025)
After inheriting a remote Montana house, Jackson moves there from New York with his partner Grace, and the couple soon welcome a child. As Jackson becomes increasingly absent and rural isolation sets in, Grace struggles with loneliness, creative frustration, and unresolved emotional wounds. What begins as an attempt at renewal gradually turns into an intense psychological descent, placing strain on their relationship and exposing the fragile balance between love, identity, and motherhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWoman of Straw (1964)
Anthony Richmond schemes to get the fortune of his tyrannical, wheelchair-using tycoon uncle Charles Richmond by persuading Maria, a nurse he employs, to marry him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdulterers (2016)
On a steamy New Orleans afternoon, Sam Deuprey decides to surprise his beautiful wife, Ashley, for their anniversary and comes home early. But Ashley is not alone in the bedroom. She and her lover, Damien are about to learn how far a jealous husband will go.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAir Force (1943)
The crew of an Air Force bomber arrives in Pearl Harbor in the aftermath of the Japanese attack and is sent on to Manila to help with the defense of the Philippines.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShe's Dating the Gangster (2014)
Seventeen-year-old Athena Dizon unwittingly plays a trick on resident heartthrob and bad boy Kenji de los Reyes. All of a sudden, she finds herself pretending to be his girlfriend to make an ex jealous; however, she falls in love with him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPlus. Minus. (2019)
Told in reverse chronological order, an aspiring drag queen creates a world out of desolated motel rooms with the guy he met online.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ang Pirata (2013)
A story of greedy businessman on how they make their own money.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
When the Waves Are Gone (2023)
One of the Philippines' top investigators, Lieutenant Hermes Papauran, faces a deep moral crossroads. As a firsthand witness of the murderous anti-drug campaign conducted by his force, his anxiety and guilt triggers a severe skin disease, and his healing process is fraught by his dark past.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Diary ng Panget (2014)
A young woman takes a job as a personal maid for a rich young man. The pair do not get along, but soon due to their classmates' games of love, their relationship grows more complicated than before.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Rapture of Fe (2009)
Fe returns home to the Philippines after several years of working overseas, her job a victim of global economic shifts. Fe is initially greeted with affection by her husband Dante, but he has a long history of domestic violence fueled by rage and long-term impotence, and Fe quickly discovers her time away has not changed him. Dante works in a factory making baskets, and Fe soon joins him there; she becomes the lover of Arturo, the man who manages the basket company, but while Arturo treats her well, he's still under the thumb of his father who owns the factory. Meanwhile, an unknown admirer sends her parcels of strange black fruit on a regular basis. Torn between two men who cannot give her what she needs and wants, Fe's frustration leads to take desperate steps to establish her independence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Heneral Paua (1956)
Out of our glorious historical past comes this story of a Chinese General who unselfishly gave everything to help the Philippine Revolution.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Lupang Kayumanggi (1955)
The motion picture that will make you proud you are a Filipino.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Naked Weapon (2002)
A mysterious woman, known as Madame M, kidnaps forty pre-teen girls and transports them to a remote island to train them as the most deadly assassins. CIA operative Jack Chen follows the case for 6 years with no leads, but when a series of assassinations begin to occur, Jack suspects that Madame M is back in business.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like How Is It to Dream??
The closest matches to How Is It to Dream? are Insiang (1976), Metro Manila (2013) and Butterfly on a Wheel (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after How Is It to Dream??
Start with Insiang (1976), the closest match to How Is It to Dream?.
What is the highest-rated movie like How Is It to Dream??
Othello (1951), rated 7.4/10 by 226 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like How Is It to Dream??
Goodbye June (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to How Is It to Dream? chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside How Is It to Dream?, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.