Movies like By the Sea (2015)
The best movies like By the Sea (2015) are Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), The Safety of Objects (2002) and Nothing in Return (2015). If By the Sea hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBreakthrough (2019)7.6/10 from 1,164 votes
- NewestSurviving Hurricane Otis (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishNothing in Return (2015)Also in Spanish
Bastard 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 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 thisNothing in Return (2015)
One summer, Dario flees the hellish environment of his home. Luismi, unconditional friend, a poor devil with pretensions of winning, and Antonia, an old woman who collects abandoned his motorcar furniture, become his new family. Three generations living together in a city too big to be alone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisThe House of Flowers: The Movie (2021)
The De La Mora siblings concoct a mischievous plan to break into their old family home to retrieve a hidden treasure of significant importance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLand and Shade (2015)
Alfonso is an old farmer who has returned home to tend to his son, who is gravely ill. He rediscovers his old house, where the woman who was once his wife still lives, with his daughter-in-law and grandson. The landscape that awaits him resembles a wasteland. Vast sugar cane plantations surround the house, producing perpetual clouds of ash. 17 years after abandoning them, Alfonso tries to fit back in and save his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStomp the Yard (2007)
After the death of his younger brother, a troubled 19-year-old street dancer from Los Angeles is able to bypass juvenile hall by enrolling in the historically black, Truth University in Atlanta, Georgia. But his efforts to get an education and woo the girl he likes are sidelined when he is courted by the top two campus fraternities, both of which want and need his fierce street-style dance moves to win the highly coveted national step show competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisImperial Dreams (2014)
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSurviving Hurricane Otis (2026)
Two estranged brothers struggle to survive Hurricane Otis in Acapulco, where their bond and courage turn adversity into hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Short History of the Long Road (2019)
Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 thisKisses (2008)
Two kids, Dylan and Kylie, run away from home on Christmas Day and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrotherly Love (2015)
West Philadelphia basketball star Sergio Taylor deals with the pressures of fame while his brother and sister have their own issues with ambition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisThe King of Havana (2015)
Recently escaped from reformatory, Reinaldo struggles to get by in the streets of Havana in the late 90s, one of the worst decades for Cuban society. Hopes, disillusionment, rum, good humor and above all hunger, accompany him in his wanderings, until he meets Magda and Yunisleidy, survivors like himself. In one or the other's arms, he will try to escape the material and moral misery surrounding him, living love, passion, tenderness and uninhibited sex to the limit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Locket (1946)
A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBreakthrough (2019)
Tragedy strikes when a woman named Joyce's son falls through the ice on a frozen lake and is trapped underwater for over 15 minutes. After being rushed to the hospital, the 14-year-old boy continues to fight for his life as Joyce, her husband and their pastor stay by his bedside and pray for a miracle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMinor Chronicle (2025)
In a town south of Mexico City, the director relives the moment his father fell ill during the second wave of the coronavirus.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Counterparts (2007)
Teacher Anne and policeman Georg are thought of as the perfect couple. However, appearances are deceptive: one of them is covered with scars and bruises. But which one is the abuser?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
When Jesse Was Born (2005)
Tragedy strikes a comedic blue collar family as they welcome their third son into the world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dark Blue (2002)
Set during the Rodney King riots, a robbery homicide investigation triggers a series of events that will cause a corrupt LAPD officer to question his tactics.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Gangster (2007)
Loosely based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina, who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War, before being detained by a task force led by Newark Detective Richie Roberts.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Outlaw Jesse James is rumored to be the 'fastest gun in the West'. An eager recruit into James' notorious gang, Robert Ford eventually grows jealous of the famed outlaw and, when Robert and his brother sense an opportunity to kill James, their murderous action elevates their target to near mythical status.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo Ghosts on Good Street (2026)
Four siblings on the verge of coming-of-age try to build their independent lives without losing the bonds that connect them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Astronaut Farmer (2007)
Texan Charles Farmer left the Air Force as a young man to save the family ranch when his dad died. Like most American ranchers, he owes his bank. Unlike most, he's an astrophysicist with a rocket in his barn - one he's built and wants to take into space. It's his dream. The FBI puts him under surveillance when he tries to buy rocket fuel, and the FAA stalls him when he files a flight plan – but Charles is undeterred.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOutbound (2024)
A bedraggled young wanderer lives in a desolate world in complete isolation until reviewing their past choices forces them to call for help.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like By the Sea?
The closest matches to By the Sea are Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), The Safety of Objects (2002) and Nothing in Return (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after By the Sea?
Start with Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), the closest match to By the Sea.
What is the highest-rated movie like By the Sea?
Breakthrough (2019), rated 7.6/10 by 1,164 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like By the Sea?
Surviving Hurricane Otis (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like By the Sea?
Yes: Nothing in Return (2015), The House of Flowers: The Movie (2021) and Land and Shade (2015).
How are movies similar to By the Sea chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside By the Sea, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.