Movies like Summer on the Frontline: A Boy's Story (2015)
The best movies like Summer on the Frontline: A Boy's Story (2015) are Hounddog (2008), The River (1984) and Across the Tracks (1991). If Summer on the Frontline: A Boy's Story hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMillennium Actress (2002)7.9/10 from 1,114 votes
- NewestService Oath (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseGoyokin (1969)Also in Japanese
Hounddog (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 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 thisAcross the Tracks (1991)
When Billy returns from reform school he has to attend a different high school at the other side of town. He tries to start with a clean slate but his old rival doesn't make it easy on him and his buddy Louie tries to make him go astray again. His brother Joe, quite the opposite of Billy, is a good runner and determined to win a track scholarship. He suggests Billy to join his school's track team, which pits the two brothers against each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisAll Together Now (2020)
An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBattleground (1949)
Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoyokin (1969)
A guilt-haunted samurai warrior attempts to stop a massacre taking place.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSleeping Dogs (1978)
Recluse Smith is drawn into a revolutionary struggle between guerrillas and right-wingers in New Zealand. Implicated in a murder and framed as a revolutionary conspirator, Smith tries to maintain an attitude of non-violence while caught between warring factions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Road Dance (2022)
A young girl lives in the Outer Hebrides in a small village in the years just before WWI. Isolated and hard by the shore, her life takes a dramatic change when a terrible tragedy befalls her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmpire of the Sun (1987)
Jamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the camp together. Even though he is separated from his parents and in a hostile environment, Jamie maintains his dignity and youthful spirit, providing a beacon of hope for the others held captive with him.
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 thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarefoot Gen 2 (1986)
Three years after the Hiroshima bombing, a teenager helps a group of orphans to survive and find their new life.
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 thisSummer Ghost (2021)
An urban legend says that lighting fireworks at an abandoned airfield will beckon the "summer ghost," a spirit that can answer any question. Three teenagers, Tomoya, Aoi, and Ryo, each have their own reason to show up one day. When a ghost named Ayane appears, she reveals she is only visible to those "who are about to touch their death." Compelled by the ghost and her message, Tomoya begins regularly visiting the airfield to uncover the true purpose of her visits.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHead Full of Honey (2018)
A young girl tries to help her grandfather, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, navigate his increasing forgetfulness, and ends up going on a remarkable adventure with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHereafter (2010)
Three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — are touched by death in different ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrue Grit (1969)
The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, 'Rooster' Cogburn because he has 'true grit', and a reputation of getting the job done.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
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 thisBlind Willow, Sleeping Woman (2023)
A lost cat, a giant talkative frog and a tsunami help a bank employee without ambition, his frustrated wife and a schizophrenic accountant to save Tokyo from an earthquake and find a meaning to their lives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Crossed Destinies - A Short Film About Climate Change (2023)
A papercut stopmotion animation in which human Travelers from 2053 travel 30 years into the past to warn "foundlings" of the future that awaits them. The story follows Jonah and his Traveler, learning about the possible chaotic future that could happen if such measures are not applied.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
My Child (2009)
harming drama set in a rural area of post-war Iran. This heartwarming story follows a thoughtful young woman who serves as a leader to the community and a seemingly naive young man who is smitten with a local girl. The film observes their customs and traditions in the tranquil setting of their natural environment. Despite the irreparable damage to their lives due to the war, the villagers remain warm-hearted and kind to those they encounter. The past haunts their lives, but their hearts remain pure and strong in war torn times.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Murder in Pacot (2014)
In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, a middle-aged Port-au-Prince couple come face to face with the stark contradictions of Haitian society when they are forced to rent out their villa to a foreign aid worker and his enterprising local girlfriend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Tinā (2025)
A woman grieving her daughter's death in the Christchurch earthquakes, becomes a substitute teacher at an elite private school. Unexpectedly, she discovers students lacking guidance and care, prompting her to provide inspiration and support.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Millennium Actress (2002)
Documentary filmmaker Genya Tachibana has tracked down the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, who mysteriously vanished at the height of her career. When he presents her with a key she had lost and thought was gone forever, the filmmaker could not have imagined that it would not only unlock the long-held secrets of Chiyoko’s life... but also his own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBEYOND SIGHT (2025)
In Beyond Sight, Dália is a teenager desperate to belong, even if it means adopting the cruel prejudices of her toxic group of friends. But when an unexpected accident leaves her blind, Dália finds herself on the other side of the judgment she once inflicted. Struggling to adapt, she crosses paths with a mysterious doctor who offers her a chance to regain her sight—through an experimental substance that promises not just vision, but a transformation into her best self: Zoe.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The China Syndrome (1979)
While doing a series of reports on alternative energy sources, opportunistic reporter Kimberly Wells witnesses an accident at a nuclear power plant. Wells is determined to publicize the incident, but soon finds herself entangled in a sinister conspiracy to keep the full impact of the incident a secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisService Oath (2026)
A member of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, Lieutenant Kasuga, was assigned to the earthquake-stricken area. Though he had lost his wife and young daughter in the tsunami, Kasuga concealed his own grief and devoted himself entirely to his mission. At an evacuation shelter, he encountered a boy named Kazuki Yoshimura, who had also lost his family and shut his heart. As Kazuki quietly observed the Self-Defense Forces at work, he eventually began to help people around him as well. Two people who met at the depths of despair decided to believe in hope and began to move forward. A story of “rebirth”, arising from loss.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Single8 (2023)
Summer 1978. High schooler Kurita is inspired by Star Wars, and films a spaceship scene on a 8mm camera together with his friend Ozawa. When the class is discussing a project for their school festival, Kurita's suggestion to make an SF movie ends up winning. Together with their movie fan classmate Sasaki, the boys start to plan a movie and manage to convince Yamashita, the prettiest girl in class, to star as the heroine. Over the summer vacation, the four shoot their movie, "Time Reverse", where an alien spaceship arrives on Earth to turn back time in order to save mankind from itself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Summer on the Frontline: A Boy's Story?
The closest matches to Summer on the Frontline: A Boy's Story are Hounddog (2008), The River (1984) and Across the Tracks (1991). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Summer on the Frontline: A Boy's Story?
Start with Hounddog (2008), the closest match to Summer on the Frontline: A Boy's Story.
What is the highest-rated movie like Summer on the Frontline: A Boy's Story?
Millennium Actress (2002), rated 7.9/10 by 1,114 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Summer on the Frontline: A Boy's Story?
Service Oath (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Summer on the Frontline: A Boy's Story?
Yes: Goyokin (1969), Barefoot Gen 2 (1986) and Summer Ghost (2021).
How are movies similar to Summer on the Frontline: A Boy's Story chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Summer on the Frontline: A Boy's Story, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.