Movies like Mariel Waits (2017)
The best movies like Mariel Waits (2017) are A Mouthful of Air (2021), Hungry Hearts (2015) and Bastard Out of Carolina (1996). If Mariel Waits hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedUnder the Same Moon (2007)8.0/10 from 378 votes
- NewestEleanor the Great (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishThe Corpse of Anna Fritz (2015)Also in Spanish
A Mouthful of Air (2021)
Julie is a new mom and children's book author, who escapes into the bright Crayola-colored world of her creation in order to leave behind the darkness caused by her post-partum depression.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 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 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 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 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 Corpse of Anna Fritz (2015)
Anna Fritz is a beautiful and famous actress. Suddenly her body is found in a hotel and the news of her death goes around the planet. The young, shy caretaker Pau works at the hospital where they carried the body of Anna Fritz. He and his friends decide to take pictures of the body of Anna Fritz. They decide they could make love to her and nobody would know. They are in front of Anna Fritz ... and can do with it what they want.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNotes for My Son (2020)
Battling terminal cancer, a woman writes a one of a kind notebook about life, death and love for her son to remember her by. Based on a true story.
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 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 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 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 thisFast 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCardboard Boxer (2016)
Gentle and broken, a homeless man fights others on video for money but soon finds comfort in an unlikely friend and the lost diary of a young girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCome Sunday (2018)
Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisUnder the Same Moon (2007)
Tells the parallel stories of nine-year-old Carlitos and his mother, Rosario. In the hopes of providing a better life for her son, Rosario works illegally in the U.S. while her mother cares for Carlitos back in Mexico.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMindwalk (1991)
On the French island of Mont Saint-Michel, Jack, a failed presidential candidate, Tom, a poet and Sonia, a physicist, engage in an intellectual conversation about politics, philosophy and life over the course of a single day.
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 thisThe 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Light Between Oceans (2016)
A lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of Western Australia raise a baby they rescue from an adrift rowboat.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlood Dried Hands (2024)
A reluctant serial killer grapples with his base desires and longs for his own death, as a small town Detective closes in on his trail to stop the killing spree while dealing with her own debilitating trauma.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Rite (2011)
Seminary student Michael Kovak reluctantly attends exorcism school at the Vatican. While he’s in Rome, Michael meets an unorthodox priest who introduces him to the darker side of his faith, uncovering the devil’s reach even to one of the holiest places on Earth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFREYA (2020)
A young woman attempts to regain control of her body in a future where social media and the State operate as one.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
It Rains on Our Love (1946)
A young couple, penniless, break into a summer cottage; the owner offers to rent to them but he has ulterior motives. By living together, the lovers must face their pasts and contend with the meddling neighbors and authorities.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBehind Closed Doors (2026)
Marie, a young doctor, experienced a miscarriage four months ago. Unable to grieve, the marriage to her French husband Jude starts to break apart. But when her parents pay them an unexpected visit, the world which Marie has built for herself so carefully starts to crumble.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Coming SoonMovies like thisThe Devil's Maze (1929)
While visiting her friend, Barbara Carlton, Frances Mildmay spends the day fox-hunting and ends up fogbound in the 'Devil's Maze' with Barbara's husband, James. When the pair lodge overnight at an inn, the innkeeper convinces James to seduce Frances. Unbeknownst to them, another family friend, Derek Riffington, is also staying at the inn and becomes aware of the liaison. But, by the time James discovers Frances is pregnant, Derek has gone missing in the Far East - leading James to suggest that, when the child is born, she should accuse Derek of having been the father.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Avalanche (TBA)
Underemployed and reeling from a recent miscarriage, a comedy writer's life is getting less funny by the minute. When she lands a meeting that could turn it all around she has to choose: tell the truth or go for the laugh? A poignant comedy based on a true story.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Fly-Tipping (2023)
Margot's overwhelming experience of miscarriage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Mariel Waits?
The closest matches to Mariel Waits are A Mouthful of Air (2021), Hungry Hearts (2015) and Bastard Out of Carolina (1996). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Mariel Waits?
Start with A Mouthful of Air (2021), the closest match to Mariel Waits.
What is the highest-rated movie like Mariel Waits?
Under the Same Moon (2007), rated 8.0/10 by 378 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Mariel Waits?
Eleanor the Great (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Mariel Waits?
Yes: The Corpse of Anna Fritz (2015), Notes for My Son (2020) and Under the Same Moon (2007).
How are movies similar to Mariel Waits chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Mariel Waits, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.