Movies like The Gardener (2016)
The best movies like The Gardener (2016) are The Young One (1960), A Better Life (2011) and The Secret Garden (1993). If The Gardener hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedIf Anything Happens I Love You (2020)7.7/10 from 1,029 votes
- NewestMexicali (2026)Released 2026
The 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 thisA Better Life (2011)
An Indigenous Latino American gardener in East L.A. struggles to keep his son away from gangs and immigration agents while traveling across town to perform landscaping work for the city's wealthy landowners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret Garden (1993)
A young British girl born and reared in India loses her neglectful parents in an earthquake. She is returned to England to live at her uncle's castle. Her uncle is very distant due to the loss of his wife ten years before. Neglected once again, she begins exploring the estate and discovers a garden that has been locked and forgotten. Aided by one of the servants' boys, she begins restoring the garden, and eventually discovers some other secrets of the manor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIf Anything Happens I Love You (2020)
Grieving parents journey through an emotional void as they mourn the loss of a child after a tragic school shooting.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFarming (2018)
Based on the writer/director's childhood, FARMING tells the story of a young Nigerian boy, 'farmed out' by his parents to a white British family in the hope of a better future. Instead, he becomes the feared leader of a white skinhead gang.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCanvas (2020)
After a heartbreaking loss, a grandfather struggling to reclaim his passion for painting finds the inspiration to create again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMexicali (2026)
A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret Garden (2020)
Mary Lennox is born in India to wealthy British parents who never wanted her. When her parents suddenly die, she is sent back to England to live with her uncle. She meets her sickly cousin, and the two children find a wondrous secret garden lost in the grounds of Misselthwaite Manor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParadise (1991)
A 10-year-old boy spends a summer in the country with a childless couple and a precocious girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
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 Neighbors' Window (2019)
The story of a middle-aged woman with small children whose life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Experiment (2010)
20 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn Fire (2023)
Inspired by true and harrowing events, an ordinary man finds his world suddenly torn apart as devastating wildfires rip through the surrounding countryside. With precious moments ticking by, he must flee with his son and pregnant wife if they have any hope of surviving the rapid forces of mother nature.
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 thisJanet Planet (2024)
In rural Western Massachusetts, 11-year-old Lacy spends the summer of 1991 at home, enthralled by her own imagination and the attention of her mother, Janet. As the months pass, three visitors enter their orbit, all captivated by Janet.
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 thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
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 thisI’m Not Your F***ing Stereotype (2019)
As a Muslim girl from Southern Thailand, Maryam falls prey to racism in school. She begins spiralling into an identity crisis, and starts resenting her name, religion and birthdate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Mirror/Mirror The (2022)
A socially awkward teen gets caught between a changing friendship and a life-altering discovery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Her Royal Escape to Love (2005)
Photoplay and Direction by Charles Busch
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bien parecidas (2021)
María allows Cecilia to dye her hair while they wait for Agustín's rehabilitation therapy to finish. This simple fact will change the way mother and daughter perceive their relationship and help them cope with the difficult time they are experiencing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Malaisant (2022)
Esther, a highly anxious 23-year-old, has accepted a second date with Romeo, her colleague at the Temple de la Gaufre.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Honeymoon (2016)
Lucy and Johanna are on their honeymoon. Johanna is partially, and Lucy profoundly, deaf. They arrive at a B&B where they are greeted by a sullen landlady. A seemingly insignificant disagreement silently turns into a hurtful argument, as the noise of the weir dominates the background.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Lightrapping (2016)
Gustave is a photographer who makes pictures of nude male bodies in public spaces in São Paulo. One night, Pedro goes with him, without yet knowing whether he will be part of the project. This vast city will be witness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Scatterbrains (2022)
For some women to gain freedom, they must forget to remember.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Oasis (2014)
After her husband dies, Nieves inherits his job as the super of a decaying apartment complex in New York City. But the job becomes more difficult than she anticipated when she discovers a disturbing secret in one of the units.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I Cannot Sleep (2016)
Claudio and Riccardo are forced to share the same apartment and bedroom when their divorced parents decide to live together. But they soon find out that they can be more than brothers. By overcoming their fears and prejudice of the people, they will be free to live as they desire.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The Gardener and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Gardener?
The closest matches to The Gardener are The Young One (1960), A Better Life (2011) and The Secret Garden (1993). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Gardener?
Start with The Young One (1960), the closest match to The Gardener.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Gardener?
If Anything Happens I Love You (2020), rated 7.7/10 by 1,029 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Gardener?
Mexicali (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Gardener chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Gardener, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.