Movies like The City (1999)
The best movies like The City (1999) are In America (2003), Cabrini (2024) and Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001). If The City hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedA Million Miles Away (2023)7.6/10 from 564 votes
- NewestTatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 Part 2 (2025)Released 2025
In America (2003)
A family of Irish immigrants adjusts to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCabrini (2024)
Italian immigrant Francesca Cabrini arrives in 1889 New York City and is greeted by disease, crime, and impoverished children. Cabrini sets off on a daring mission to convince the hostile mayor to secure housing and healthcare for society's most vulnerable. With broken English and poor health, Cabrini uses her entrepreneurial mind to build an empire of hope unlike anything the world had ever seen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001)
In New York City, the lives of a lawyer, an actuary, a house-cleaner, a professor, and the people around them intersect as they ponder order and happiness in the face of life's cold unpredictability.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Namesake (2007)
The American-born son of Indian immigrants strives to fit in among his fellow New Yorkers despite his family's unwillingness to let go of their traditional ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGood Day, Ramon (2013)
After five failed attempts to go to the United States, 18-year-old Ramón decides to look for a friend’s aunt in Germany, but never finds her. With no papers or money, and without knowing the language, he barely survives living on the street until he meets Ruth, an old retired nurse who doesn’t speak Spanish. Beyond language barriers and prejudices, they discover that solidarity and humanity make life bearable.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCall Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSaint Judy (2018)
The true story of immigration attorney Judy Wood and how she singlehandedly changed the U.S. law of asylum to save women's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlow (1996)
A filmmaker talks about his work and love life with an unseen friend behind the camera. We also watch four of his short films.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 thisShelter (2014)
Hannah and Tahir fall in love while homeless on the streets of New York. Shelter explores how they got there, and as we learn about their pasts we realize they need each other to build a future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisA Million Miles Away (2023)
The life of engineer and former NASA astronaut José M. Hernández, the first migrant farmworker to go to space.
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 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 thisAvalon (1990)
A Polish-Jewish family comes to the U.S. at the beginning of the twentieth century. There, the family and their children try to make themselves a better future in the so-called promised land.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Eyez on Me (2017)
All Eyez on Me chronicles the life and legacy of Tupac Shakur, including his rise to superstardom as a hip-hop artist, actor, poet and activist, as well as his imprisonment and prolific, controversial time at Death Row Records. Against insurmountable odds, Tupac rose to become a cultural icon whose career and persona both continue to grow long after his passing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight Always Comes (2025)
Facing eviction in a city her family can no longer afford, a woman plunges into a desperate and increasingly dangerous all-night search to raise $25,000.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrooklyn Rules (2007)
Brooklyn, 1985. With the mob world as a backdrop, three life-long friends struggle with questions of love, loss and loyalty.
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 thisTexas Heart (2016)
A California lawyer, hiding out in a small Texas town while on the run from the mob, risks exposure when he decides to defend a local man he believes innocent of murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
John Cranko (2024)
The gifted, charismatic artist John Cranko moves to the Swabian province from London, where he is attacked for his homosexuality, and after many crises becomes the great sensation as the new pop star of the arts: the Stuttgart Ballet Miracle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The First Issue (2019)
The First Issue is composed of five short films created between 2016 and 2018: "The Designated Driver", "Let's Get Divorced", "Ambivalently Yours", " Sorry", and "The Congressman".
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bad Bridgets (TBA)
When a mysterious letter offering escape leads a young Irish woman to 19th-century New York, she is pulled into the unruly world of the Bridgets, where mayhem follows in her wake.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mexican Men (2016)
Who’s up for a sensual, seductive trip with some of the hottest Latin men that have ever graced the Silver Screen? ‘Mexican Men’ collects five of the most accomplished gay shorts from one of the homes of groundbreaking queer cinema. From short encounters, emerging love stories and deeply touching connections, these short films are sure to stir the heart... and body. Includes: Atmosphere [Atmósfera] (2010); To Live [Vivir] (2003); Tremulous [Trémulo] (2015); Wandering Clouds [Nubes flotantes] (2014); Young Man on the Bar Masturbating with Rage and Nerve [Muchacho en la barra se masturba con rabia y osadía] (2015).
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ofrandā (2023)
Ina, an introverted 11-year-old immigrant, finds herself captivated by Petra, a new classmate coming from the same country as her. Faced with the newcomer’s indifference towards her, Ina embarks on a desperate quest for connection in a world oscillating between dream and reality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 Part 2 (2025)
An animated anthology adapting four early manga stories by Tatsuki Fujimoto: Mermaid Rhapsody, Woke-Up-as-a-Girl Syndrome, Nayuta of the Prophecy, and Sisters. A boy befriends a mermaid, a teenager awakens in a changed body, a brother protects his feared sister, and two sisters confront jealousy through art.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Flesh and Sand (2017)
Based on true accounts, the superficial lines between subject and bystander are blurred and bound together, allowing individuals to walk in a vast space and thoroughly live a fragment of the refugees' personal journeys.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 Part 1 (2025)
Four early manga stories by Tatsuki Fujimoto are brought to life in this animated anthology: A Couple Clucking Chickens Were Still Kickin' in the Schoolyard, Sasaki Stopped a Bullet, Love Is Blind, and Shikaku. From an alien-occupied Earth to an assassin hired by an immortal vampire, these tales explore young love, violence and unexpected bonds.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
House Shoes (2027)
An unexpected package reunites three generations of Turkish shoemakers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The City?
The closest matches to The City are In America (2003), Cabrini (2024) and Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The City?
Start with In America (2003), the closest match to The City.
What is the highest-rated movie like The City?
A Million Miles Away (2023), rated 7.6/10 by 564 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The City?
Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 Part 2 (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The City?
Yes: In America (2003), Cabrini (2024) and Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001).
How are movies similar to The City chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The City, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.