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Movies like Before Mars (2016)

The best movies like Before Mars (2016) are Anuja (2024), Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004) and The River (1984). If Before Mars hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Anuja (2024)

    When a brilliant nine-year-old working in a sweatshop gets a chance to attend school, she must make a difficult choice for her and her sister's future.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  2. Bobby 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

  3. The River (1984)

    Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  4. The Neighbors' Window (2019)

    The story of a middle-aged woman with small children whose life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  5. Flicka (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

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  6. The 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 this
  7. A Corner in Wheat (1909)

    On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  8. Hands 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

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  9. Won't Back Down (2012)

    Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  10. Vesper (2022)

    After the collapse of Earth's ecosystem, Vesper, a 13-year-old girl struggling to survive with her paralyzed Father, meets a mysterious Woman with a secret that forces Vesper to use her wits, strength and bio-hacking abilities to fight for the possibility of a future.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  11. Pimp (2018)

    An urban love story set on the hard streets of the Bronx. A struggling female pimp, named Wednesday, grows up learning the game from her dad. Once he's gone she's left to look out for her prostitute mother and girlfriend Nikki.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  12. Meltdown: Days of Destruction (2006)

    Despite scientist Nathan's warnings, his boss continues an experiment meant as publicity for his satellite firm: exploding an asteroid. Instead it splits, and the major piece, the size of Iceland, changes course to earth. It is deflected but so close that it shift our course closer to the sun, causing rapid extreme heating, hopefully only mid-term. Nathan warns his sister, TV journalist Carly, and she her lover, police detective Tom. He brings his unruly daughter Kim, her ex-con lover C.J. and her mother, nurse Bonnie, when Nathan offers a flight to a friend's Arctic weather station. Tom takes charge of a dangerous trip to the airport, as everywhere on earth things catch fire and people fight for water, transport and sheer looting.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  13. The Enforcer (2022)

    A noir thriller set in Miami, the film follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cyber sex trafficking, putting a young runaway he’s befriended at risk. He sacrifices everything to save the young girl from the deadly organization he’s spent his life building.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  14. Fast Girls (2012)

    A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  15. Brotherly 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 this
  16. 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

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  17. Hungry 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

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  18. Eleanor 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

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  19. The 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

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  20. Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003)

    Based on a true story. Liz Murray is a young girl who is taken care of by her loving, but drug-addicted parents. Liz becomes homeless at 15 and after a tragedy comes upon her, she begins her work to finish high school.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  21. Don't be late, Myra (2024)

    Ten-year old Myra is forced to walk home alone, dodging men harassing her on the streets of Lahore. Soon things escalate in this thriller where a sinister turn quietly awaits her.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  22. Dilution (2025)

    Dilution is an experimental short film that explores the transit between resistance and (di)ssolution, between holding and releasing and a path towards obsessive repetition. They are layers, exposed pores, matter that oscillates between remaining or disappearing. The sound is not a background, but a puncture: friction, tearing, water that drags what still persists. A sensorial testimony of what refuses to vanish completely.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  23. Thule (2011)

    In 1962, a group of young men, stationed at a remote Air Force base, band together to undergo a dangerous mission to retrieve mail lost in the frozen landscape of Greenland.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  24. Meatoo (2019)

    A naive actor auditions for a film which could launch his career. The things he's asked to do make him more and more uncomfortable, until a choice remark from the director makes him see red.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  25. Olve (2019)

    Olve follows the story of HIM, a young Nigerian kid who's just moved to London. One day when going to pick up some milk for his mum he bumps into Nikki and falls head over heels, the only problem is that they don't speak the same Language. Olve is a short film about Isolation, love, language and... Jay Jay Okocha.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  26. Daydreaming So Vividly About Our Spanish Holidays (2022)

    Hungry for sun, light and warmth, a group of teenagers embark on a dream trip to the Balearic Islands.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  27. Peregrine (2023)

    When a boy is pushed by his Father to steal a rare Peregrine egg, he finds strength in the natural world to stand up to his Father and experiences his first sense of freedom.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  28. Love You More (2008)

    Two teenagers are drawn together by the Buzzcocks' single 'Love You More' during the summer of 1978.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  29. Dear Chickens (2018)

    When a stubborn old man and a fretful teenaged girl are forced to share a hospital room, an unexpected friendship forms over their hatred of fake cheerfulness and bad hospital food.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  30. Savage Fire (2017)

    In the city of Cajamar, in the middle of ruined nature, lonely characters deal with the police, rodeos and mysterious fires.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Like Before Mars and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Before Mars?

The closest matches to Before Mars are Anuja (2024), Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004) and The River (1984). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Before Mars?

Start with Anuja (2024), the closest match to Before Mars.

What is the highest-rated movie like Before Mars?

The Enforcer (2022), rated 7.0/10 by 533 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Before Mars?

Eleanor the Great (2025) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like Before Mars?

Yes: Anuja (2024), Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004) and The River (1984).

How are movies similar to Before Mars chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Before Mars, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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