Movies like Daniel (2009)
The best movies like Daniel (2009) are Anuja (2024), The Enforcer (2022) and Bastard Out of Carolina (1996). If Daniel hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat Maisie Knew (2013)7.1/10 from 465 votes
- NewestEleanor the Great (2025)Released 2025
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 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 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 thisThe 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Congress (2013)
An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.
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 thisHands 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurina (2022)
A teenage girl decides to replace her controlling father with his wealthy foreign friend during a weekend trip to the Adriatic Sea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
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 thisBobby 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
SnoozefestMovies like thisDC Showcase: Death (2019)
Vincent, an artist with unresolved inner demons, meets a mysterious girl who helps him come to terms with his creative legacy… and eventual death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 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 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 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 Christmas Shoes (2002)
Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second, lawyer Robert Layton and his wife Kate are slowly drifting apart and the matter comes to a head during Christmas when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Neighbor (2022)
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisWon'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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Joke (2010)
A bunch of friends are celebrating the birthday of one of them when they decide to play a joke on him. None of them could imagine the consequences that would befall them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Angst & Flesh (2019)
Elena loves Abel, she is drowning on the anguish of being, her subconscious manifests her urges; during the funeral misfortune sets in. Laceration and calm, devotion and fear, angst and flesh.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Dog (2017)
When Albin lands a much-wanted acting job, he doesn't hesitate to make it his top priority in life. But he's still not clear about what the job entails.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Success (2018)
Nils works with a comedy talk-show but doesn’t get the respect that he thinks he deserves. At a pitch meeting one of his ideas gets stolen by his colleague, Fabian. Everyone loves the idea, but no one except Nils realizes the fact that Fabian stole it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Ambulance Man (2005)
The Ambulance Man is a story about a paramedic who faces a difficult time at home, as he lives with an abusive partner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Amour Océan (2022)
Jeanne, 17, enjoys the last days of summer before getting back to high school. One morning, with her little sister Camille, they decide to run away from the police station where they live with their father to see the ocean one last time. On the beach, Jeanne meets a young surfer. He’s handsome, she’s intrigued. Jeanne feels a strange desire invading her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Suppietij (1991)
The extremities of a middle-class being ramble on, reflecting poetically on the wretchedness of moderation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
De Civitate Rei (1993)
Costante dies and leaves his wife Torella his computer discovery. Torella entrusts the disk to her husband’s friend Gervasio, a lazy man scorned by his family. Twenty years later, Torella tries to get back the disk but Gervasio, who has become rich thanks to the discovery, agrees to go to court over it and comes away the winner. He therefore summons divine misfortune: he loses his third son, suffocated by wealth; kills his wife in a blind rage; and is executed by his first-born son who, after a violent panic attack and reckoning with his conscience, chooses life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Fiorenzo (1995)
A man is sick and he doesn’t show himself. Three people don’t go to visit him and they show themselves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Cat's Eye (2025)
A woman visits a personal stretcher, only to have unexpected objects pulled out of her body. A near silent witness statement to the reopening of invisible wounds in an abstract pursuit of healing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Daniel?
The closest matches to Daniel are Anuja (2024), The Enforcer (2022) and Bastard Out of Carolina (1996). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Daniel?
Start with Anuja (2024), the closest match to Daniel.
What is the highest-rated movie like Daniel?
What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 465 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Daniel?
Eleanor the Great (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Daniel chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Daniel, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.