Movies like White Sun (2016)
The best movies like White Sun (2016) are Hounddog (2008), The Kindness of Strangers (2019) and The Girl in the Book (2015). If White Sun hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTenzing (2026)8.2/10 from 276 votes
- NewestTenzing (2026)Released 2026
Hounddog (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 thisThe Kindness of Strangers (2019)
Clara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to start over in New York. After the car towed away, the family meets Alice, who gets them into an emergency shelter. While stealing food at a Russian restaurant called ‘Winter Palace’, Clara meets Marc, who has been given the chance to help the old eatery regain its former glory. The ‘Winter Palace’ soon becomes a place of unexpected encounters between people who are all undergoing some sort of crisis and whom fate has now brought together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisEmbattled (2020)
The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlicka (2006)
Katy McLaughlin desires to work on her family's mountainside horse ranch, although her father insists she finish boarding school. Katy finds a mustang in the hills near her ranch. The headstrong 16 year old then sets her mind to tame a mustang and prove to her father she can run the ranch. But when tragedy happens, it will take all the love and strength the family can muster to restore hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
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 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 thisFive Minutes of Heaven (2009)
The story of former Ulster Volunteer Force member Alistair Little. Twenty-five years after Little killed Joe Griffin's brother, the media arrange an auspicious meeting between the two.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMammal (2016)
After Margaret, a divorcée living in Dublin, loses her teenage son, she develops an unorthodox relationship with Joe, a homeless youth. Their tentative trust is threatened by his involvement with a violent gang and the escalation of her ex-husband's grieving rage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGigi & Nate (2022)
A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 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 thisThe 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 thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYouth Without Youth (2007)
Professor of language and philosophy Dominic Matei is struck by lightning and ages backwards from 70 to 40 in a week, attracting the world and the Nazis. While on the run, the professor meets a young woman who has her own experience with a lightning storm. Not only does Dominic find love again, but her new abilities hold the key to his research.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Twelve Thousand (2020)
At 13 years old, Sona was sold from Nepal into forced-prostitution in India. She’s not the only one—an estimated 12,000 children are trafficked out of Nepal every year. The Twelve Thousand is a dramatic short film depicting the true story of one trafficked survivor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Roll No. 1 (2026)
A story of a boy struggling to fulfill his father's dream of winning a scholarship from the government.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Romeo & Muna (2018)
Muna and Ved make a bet which changes their lives forever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ishk Ishk Ishk (1974)
Dhun comes from a wealthy and talented family and desires to see the world on his own. He sets upon this travel and on his journey comes upon an inn called Five Daughters, run by Pahar. Deciding to stay there for a while, he meets Pahar's daughters and falls in love with Pooja. Pooja reciprocates his love and both hope to get married. Just when their marriage is being planned, Pooja's family comes to learn that Dhun and Pooja are related.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
High Road to China (1983)
A biplane pilot is saddled with a spoiled industrialist's daughter on a search for her missing father through Asia that eventually involves them in a struggle against a Chinese warlord.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBhuthan: The World’s Happiest Man (2025)
Bhutan: The World’s Happiest Man tells the story of Mr. Bishnu, an aging Bhutanese-American in Ohio, who dreams of returning to his homeland. After his unexpected death, his family faces a conflict over his final resting place, torn between past memories and present realities. This emotional drama explores themes of love, loss, and the search for belonging.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Tenzing (2026)
A determined man embarks on a high-stakes quest—and defies seemingly impossible odds—to fulfill his dream of being the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Shoes of a Little Girl (2019)
Junu, a 5 year old girl who has trouble learning left from right, is constantly asked by elders around her to wear her shoes correctly. Yet she cannot solve the problem. After being tricked to wear shoes the wrong way, she invents a new way of learning.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Gauthali (2026)
Child bride Gauthali overcomes abuse, loss, and discrimination through the power of education. Her determination to reclaim her future challenges deep-rooted traditions inspiring to stand against gender inequality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like White Sun?
The closest matches to White Sun are Hounddog (2008), The Kindness of Strangers (2019) and The Girl in the Book (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after White Sun?
Start with Hounddog (2008), the closest match to White Sun.
What is the highest-rated movie like White Sun?
Tenzing (2026), rated 8.2/10 by 276 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like White Sun?
Tenzing (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to White Sun chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside White Sun, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.