Movies like A Lesson Before Dying (1999)
The best movies like A Lesson Before Dying (1999) are Holy Lands (2019), The House on Carroll Street (1988) and Skin (2009). If A Lesson Before Dying hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedChaplin (1992)7.4/10 from 1,267 votes
- NewestMary (2024)Released 2024
Holy 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 House on Carroll Street (1988)
A reporter, fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, takes a part-time job as companion to an old lady. While working she overhears a noisy argument in the neighboring house, being conducted largely in German and involving her HUAC prosecutor. She begins to investigate, enlisting the help of the FBI Agent initially detailed to surveil her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Visit (1964)
Carla Zachanassian had a child by Serge Miller as a teenager. When Serge refused to marry her, she was driven out of town. By her own wit and cunning, she has returned as a multi-millionaire for a visit. The town lays out the red carpet expecting big things from Carla, only to learn that her sole purpose is to see Serge Miller killed...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTalhotBlond (2012)
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Caveman's Valentine (2001)
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim the death is accidental. Romulus is convinced the man was murdered by a prominent art photographer but how can he prove he's right when everyone thinks he's insane?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisAdopt a Highway (2019)
Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.
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 thisTrumbo (2015)
The career of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo is halted by a witch hunt in the late 1940s when he defies the anti-communist HUAC committee and is blacklisted.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMary (2024)
A miraculous conception. A merciless king. A murderous pursuit. Mary's journey to give birth to Jesus unfolds in this biblical coming-of-age epic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll the Way (2016)
Lyndon B. Johnson's amazing 11-month journey from taking office after JFK's assassination, through the fight to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act and his own presidential campaign, culminating on the night LBJ is actually elected to the office – no longer the 'accidental President.'
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDoubt (2008)
In 1964 Bronx, two Catholic school nuns question the new priest's ambiguous relationship with a troubled African-American student.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHurry Sundown (1967)
A ruthless Southern opportunist tries to buy his cousin's land, and when thwarted, brings several tragedies to the lives of his loved ones.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRiot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Saw the Light (2016)
Singer and songwriter Hank Williams rises to fame in the 1940s, but alcohol abuse and infidelity take a toll on his career and marriage to fellow musician Audrey Mae Williams.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisChaplin (1992)
An aged Charlie Chaplin narrates his life to his autobiography's editor, including his rise to wealth and comedic fame from poverty, his turbulent personal life and his run-ins with the FBI.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWild in the Streets (1968)
Musician Max Frost lends his backing to a Senate candidate who wants to give 18-year-olds the right to vote, but he takes things a step further than expected. Inspired by their hero's words, Max's fans pressure their leaders into extending the vote to citizens as young as 15. Max and his followers capitalize on their might by bringing new issues to the fore, but, drunk on power, they soon take generational warfare to terrible extremes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967)
Lena, aged twenty, wants to know all she can about life and reality. She collects information on everyone and everything, storing her findings in an enormous archive. She experiments with relationships, political activism, and meditation. Meanwhile, the actors, director and crew are shown in a humorous parallel plot about the making of the film and their reactions to the story and each other. Nudity, explicit sex, and controversial politics kept this film from being shown in the US while its seizure by Customs was appealed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAnd the Children Shall Lead (1985)
Mississippi in the early '60s is the setting for this story of a 12-year-old African-American girl who, along with her white friends, tries to ease increasing racial tensions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Animal Farm (2021)
Award-winning political playwright Tatty Hennessy (A Hundred Words for Snow, F*Off) adapts George Orwell’s classic as an allegory for our own times exploring themes of revolution, the price of sovereignty and power with humour and sharp wit. When the downtrodden animals of a farm overthrow their master to run the show themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of independence and equality. But gradually a cunning, ruthless élite among them start to take control. Soon the other animals discover that they are not all as equal as they thought, and find themselves hopelessly ensnared as one form of tyranny is replaced with another and independence isn’t what they were promised it would be Directed with playful invention by Ed Stambollouian (Pinter at the Pinter, West End), this Made in Northampton production, in association with Kneehigh Theatre, will star Britain’s best young performing talent from the 2020 National Youth Theatre REP Company.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Devil Rider (2013)
Choi Moon Bok is the Devil Rider, a messenger that's so fast that no enemy can catch him as he rides through their camps. During the years of the Manchu War, lords of the court gather to try and call upon scattered soldiers to mount a counterattack against the Manchu army. In order to do this they need a messenger that can ride fast and escape enemy hands. The Devil Rider is just the man but his wife is due to give birth on the night of his departure. He sacrifices being there with her to do his duty for his country. He manages to ride through the enemy, but it's all in vain. His wife dies in labor and the king has already signed peace negotiations with the Manchus. This story takes place 14 years after these events as a cunning and powerful woman named Seoyeon tries to enact revenge for her father's death. She needs the Devil Rider to carry out..
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Lula, the Son of Brazil (2010)
The true story of a working class boy who moves to the nation's financial capital at a young age and becomes one the most influential politicians in Brazilian history.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Insect Woman (1963)
A woman, Tome, is born to a lower class family in Japan in 1918. The title refers to an insect, repeating its mistakes, as in an infinite circle. Imamura, with this metaphor, introduces the life of Tome, who keeps trying to change her poor life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
After her anti-fascist professor father is dismissed, Yukie navigates love, political repression, and wartime upheaval—ultimately forging her own path in pre- and post-WWII Japan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMargaret (2009)
A detailed and compelling portrait of one of the most formidable characters in British politics as she faces her final days in power. The year is 1990 and Margaret Thatcher's support within the government is wavering - her hold on the premiership hangs in the balance. Then, long-serving politician Sir Geoffrey Howe resigns over Thatcher's attitude to Europe. His resignation speech sparks a chain of events that leads to the overthrow of Britain's first woman prime minister. This modern dramatic tragedy illustrates the strengths and fatal flaws of this iconic woman more clearly than ever before and reveals how the very aspects of her character that helped her secure power are the ones that ensured her downfall. Drama starring Lindsay Duncan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Royal Night Out (2015)
The re-imagining of VE Day in 1945, when Princess Elizabeth and her sister, Margaret were allowed out from Buckingham Palace for the night to join in the celebrations, and encounter romance and danger.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Lesson Before Dying?
The closest matches to A Lesson Before Dying are Holy Lands (2019), The House on Carroll Street (1988) and Skin (2009). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Lesson Before Dying?
Start with Holy Lands (2019), the closest match to A Lesson Before Dying.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Lesson Before Dying?
Chaplin (1992), rated 7.4/10 by 1,267 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Lesson Before Dying?
Mary (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like A Lesson Before Dying?
Yes: Holy Lands (2019), The House on Carroll Street (1988) and Skin (2009).
How are movies similar to A Lesson Before Dying chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Lesson Before Dying, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.