Movies like James
If James hooked you with its drama, these are the films to watch next. Every pick says why it matches.
Pretty Boy (2015)
Sean is taken to a motel and is given a prostitute for his 18th birthday by his father. He must sleep with her to "fix" his questionable homosexuality. "Pretty Boy" is a coming of age story of a young bullied teen, Sean, struggling with his sexuality and the hardships of high school. After his father finds some questionable magazines in his room, this devout Christian will go to any lengths to get his son to find the light and "perform" the way a man should. Sean is introduced to Katie, a prostitute that understands the stigmas of modern society and helps him see the true light that is within him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTo Sir, with Love (1967)
A British Guianese engineer starts a job as a high school teacher in London’s East End, where his uninterested and delinquent pupils are in desperate need of attention and care.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLean On Me (1989)
When principal Joe Clark takes over decaying Eastside High School, he's faced with students wearing gang colors and graffiti-covered walls. Determined to do anything he must to turn the school around, he expels suspected drug dealers, padlocks doors and demands effort and results from students, staff and parents. Autocratic to a fault, this real-life educator put it all on the line.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCracks (2009)
Jealousy flares after the headmistress of an elite boarding school for girls becomes obsessed with a new student.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisif.... (1968)
In an English boys' boarding school, social hierarchy reigns supreme and power remains in the hands of distanced and ineffectual teachers and callously vicious prefects in the Upper Sixth. Three Lower Sixth students, Wallace, Johnny and leader Mick Travis decide on a shocking course of action to redress the balance of privilege once and for all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrave the Dark (2025)
When Mr. Deen discovers one of his students has been living out of his car and thrown into jail, he decides to bail him out. Determined to curb Nate’s self-destructive behavior, Deen quickly discovers a host of dark secrets slowly tearing Nate apart. What began as a good deed becomes a desperate fight to save Nate from his own demons. As Nate spirals deeper into despair, Deen must decide how far he’s willing to go to save a kid on the brink of losing everything—even himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKidulthood (2006)
A day in the life of a group of troubled 15-year-olds growing up in west London.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTea and Sympathy (1956)
A sensitive young man recalls his time in boarding school when the only person who seemed compassionate towards him was his housemaster's wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisBlue Jean (2023)
Jean, a PE teacher, is forced to live a double life. When a new student arrives and threatens to expose her sexuality, Jean is pushed to extreme lengths to keep her job and her integrity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Swan (2023)
Two large, ignorant bullies ruthlessly pursue a small, brilliant boy in this young adult Roald Dahl short story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJoe Bell (2020)
The true story of a small town, working class father who embarks on a solo walk across the U.S. to crusade against bullying after his son is tormented in high school for being gay.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFace 2 Face (2017)
Over a series of video chats, a teenage outcast reaches out to his childhood friend, but finds that behind the veneer of popularity and a seemingly perfect life, she hides a disturbing secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Karate Kid (1984)
New Jersey teen Daniel LaRusso moves to Los Angeles with his mother, and soon strikes up a relationship with Ali. He quickly finds himself the target of bullying by a group of thugs, led by Ali's ex-boyfriend Johnny, who study karate at the Cobra Kai dojo under ruthless sensei John Kreese. Fortunately, Daniel befriends Mr. Miyagi, an unassuming repairman who just happens to be a martial arts master himself. Miyagi takes Daniel under his wing, training him in a more compassionate form of karate for self-defense and, later, preparing him to compete against the brutal Cobra Kai.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGiant Little Ones (2019)
Two popular teen boys, best friends since childhood, discover their lives, families, and girlfriends dramatically upended after an unexpected incident occurs on the night of a 17th birthday party.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Fabelmans (2022)
Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlame (2018)
A drama teacher's taboo relationship with an unstable student strikes a nerve in her jealous classmate, sparking a vengeful chain of events within their suburban high school that draws parallels to "The Crucible".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMoonlight (2016)
The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCheaters (2000)
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ron Clark Story (2006)
Passionate and innovative teacher Ron Clark leaves his small hometown to teach in one of Harlem's toughest schools. But to break through to the students, he must use unconventional methods, including his ground-breaking classroom rules, to help them reach their potential. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInvincible Summer (2024)
Sixteen-year-old Clément spends a hot summer evening home alone by the pool. Determined to lose his virginity, he swipes through guys’ profiles on Grindr.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Cabaret (1972)
Inside the Kit Kat Club of 1931 Berlin, starry-eyed singer Sally Bowles and an impish emcee sound the clarion call to decadent fun, while outside a certain political party grows into a brutal force.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBaleia (2022)
Jonas lives in a seaside town and has to deal with people leaving his town all the time. After his friend Giovanna has to move to the big city, Jonas isolates himself in his room taking turns between reading and watching with curiosity his neighbor, Gaspar, through the window. However, one day he hears a strange, incessant noise coming from his neighbor's house, a noise that seems to be being transmitted by a new girl in town, Sophia.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Passion of Remembrance (1986)
Co-directed by Blackwood and Julien, the first full-length feature film by Sankofa Film and Video offers a radical and necessary interrogation into what constitutes 'post-colonial' identity at a time of political and social restlessness in Britain. Set within an isolated desert landscape contrasted with recognizable scenes of the intensity of family life, this vanguard work demonstrates the richness and variety of the black experience; it is a poetic and hard-hitting commentary on the complexities of race, gender and sexuality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Perfect Image? (1989)
Two actresses take us through a series of 'raps' and sketches about what it means to be beautiful and black.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Beautiful Thing (1996)
During a long, hot summer on the Thamesmead Estate in Southeast London, three teenagers edge towards adulthood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWolf's Skin (2015)
After a long absence it is hard for Soo Min, a young mother and cello player to resume her place in the family. She feels she has to compete with her six-year-old daughter for her husband's love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
If the Photo Is Good (2015)
In a small town of France, Martin shares his everyday life between his family and the local brass band. At the fanfare, Francis disturbs his well-ordered life. To stop the impulses, Martin will try to go to the end of his fantasies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ioana (2015)
Young Romanian Adrian works as a hustler in Zurich's underground in order to get his sister Ioana out of Romania and to Zurich, where they can both have a better future.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Who Trains My Hands to War (TBA)
Founding a social Muay Thai project in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Mestre BG and his competitors face the adversities of an underfunded project and fight to win their place on the podium. The challenges intensify when one of the students, Raíssa Pacheco, secures a spot to compete in a South American championship in Uruguay.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like James and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like James?
The closest matches to James are Pretty Boy, To Sir, with Love, Lean On Me.
How are movies similar to James chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside James, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.
Are there English movies like James?
Yes: Pretty Boy, To Sir, with Love, Lean On Me.