Movies like September (2003)
The best movies like September (2003) are Worth (2021), Dear Zoe (2022) and Bastard Out of Carolina (1996). If September hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
September
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAlice in the Cities (1974)7.7/10 from 367 votes
- NewestGoodbye June (2025)Released 2025
- In GermanSomeday We'll Tell Each Other Everything (2023)Also in German
Worth (2021)
Kenneth Feinberg, a powerful D.C. lawyer appointed Special Master of the 9/11 Fund, fights off the cynicism, bureaucracy, and politics associated with administering government funds and, in doing so, discovers what life is worth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDear Zoe (2022)
Tess enlists her biological father – a lovable slacker from the wrong side of the tracks – and the charming juvenile delinquent next door to help her come to grips with the death of her little sister.
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 thisHungry Hearts (2015)
The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlight 93 (2006)
Flight 93 is a 2006 made-for-TV film, directed by Peter Markle, which chronicles the events aboard United Airlines Flight 93 during the September 11 attacks. It premiered January 30, 2006 on the A&E Network and was re-broadcast several times throughout 2006. The film focused heavily on eight passengers, namely Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett, Jeremy Glick, Lauren Grandcolas, Donald Greene, Nicole Miller, and Honor Elizabeth Wainio. It features small appearances from many other passengers, namely Donald Peterson and his wife, Jean, and also from flight attendant Sandra Bradshaw.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Good Neighbor (2022)
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCall Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEffie Gray (2014)
A look at the mysterious relationship between Victorian art critic John Ruskin and his teenage bride Effie Gray.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sound of Silence (2019)
A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 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 thisSomeday We'll Tell Each Other Everything (2023)
Set in a warm summer in 1990 in former East Germany, it follows a young woman who begins a relationship with a charismatic farmer who is twice her age.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAlice in the Cities (1974)
German journalist Philip Winter has a case of writer’s block when trying to write an article about the United States. He decides to return to Germany, and while trying to book a flight, encounters a German woman and her nine year old daughter Alice doing the same. The three become friends (almost out of necessity) and while the mother asks Winter to mind Alice temporarily, it quickly becomes apparent that Alice will be his responsibility for longer than he expected.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe German Lesson (2019)
In a small North German village a drama played out during and shortly after the Second World War about duty versus individual conscience and morality.
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 thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Pumpkin Eater (1964)
Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Soldier's Star (2006)
A Russian guitarist was enlisted in 1984 in the Afghan war. Imprisoned, he will meet an Afghan musician and a French journalist.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Time We Killed (2004)
The Time We Killed portrays the inner life of a writer unable to leave her Brooklyn apartment on the brink of the US invasion of Iraq. Robyn Taylor tries to kick her growing agoraphobia by re-imagining her past and contemplating world events of the present. As Robyn begins to overcome the amnesia that afflicted her as an adolescent, she fears coming down with “the amnesia of the American people”.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008)
When a series of bombs explode in train stations throughout Mumbai, a disparate group of locals are affected in different ways. Thomas, who sells tea, meets Rupali, a reporter coping with the death of her fiancé. Meanwhile, Suresh, who is struggling with financial woes, begins to be overly suspect of all Muslims. For Sunil, a policeman working on the case, there is frustration at realizing his corrupt boss is still on the take.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
A year after his father's death, Oskar, a troubled young boy, discovers a mysterious key he believes was left for him by his father and embarks on a scavenger hunt to find the matching lock.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLes Cowboys (2015)
Drama about a father and son who set out to find their missing daughter/sister with the help of an American headhunter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hamburg Cell (2004)
A fictionalized account of the September 11 hijackers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mausam (2011)
A war, religious conflicts, and misunderstandings create obstacles for a couple of different faiths.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Son of No One (2011)
A rookie cop is assigned to the 118 Precinct in the same district where he grew up. The Precinct Captain starts receiving letters about two unsolved murders that happened many years ago in the housing projects when the rookie cop was just a kid. These letters bring back bad memories and old secrets that begin to threaten his career and break up his family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Unidentified (2008)
At once gritty and whimsical, The Unidentified follow Estlin, a passionate young journalist scraping by in New York City. As his frustration with his entry-level job at a local newspaper peaks, his disgruntled best friend, Brooke, leaves Brooklyn for Ohio. Set adrift, Estlin falls for Sophie, an elusive artist with an optimistic view on life. But as their romance blossoms, his high ideals and dogged pursuit of truth come into conflict with her tightly guarded secrets. The film is an exploration of idealism and apathy in today's youth culture and the vestiges of the social consciousness of the 1960s. In a climactic scene shot at a real anti-war protest in Washington D.C., Estlin must come to terms with what has been lost, what still remains and where he must go from here.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
AmericanEast (2008)
Summer in L.A., it's hot. Homeland Security has set the threat level at red; they're searching for several Arabs alleged to be terrorists. Mustafa, an Egyptian immigrant who runs a falafel shop, comes to the FBI's attention; they investigate him. He has other problems: his young teen son no longer wants to be a Muslim; his sister, a nurse, objects to Mustafa arranging her marriage to a cousin from Egypt. She has a non-Arab suitor of her own. Omar, an employee of Mustafa, is a struggling actor who doesn't want to play only terrorists. Mustafa hopes to open a real restaurant and has a potential partner in Sam, a Jew, whose family objects. What is the price of the American dream?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like September?
The closest matches to September are Worth (2021), Dear Zoe (2022) and Bastard Out of Carolina (1996). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after September?
Start with Worth (2021), the closest match to September.
What is the highest-rated movie like September?
Alice in the Cities (1974), rated 7.7/10 by 367 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like September?
Goodbye June (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like September?
Yes: Someday We'll Tell Each Other Everything (2023), Alice in the Cities (1974) and The German Lesson (2019).
How are movies similar to September chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside September, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.