Movies like Joel (2018)
The best movies like Joel (2018) are Like Dandelion Dust (2009), Ema (2019) and What Maisie Knew (2013). If Joel hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedUnder the Same Moon (2007)8.0/10 from 378 votes
- NewestRogue Agent (2022)Released 2022
- In SpanishEma (2019)Also in Spanish
Like Dandelion Dust (2009)
Rip Porter is sentenced to seven years in prison for beating his wife, Wendy. When he is released, he discovers that Wendy gave up their child, and the privileged Campbell family adopted him. The two families are soon in a legal battle for the child they both love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEma (2019)
Ema is a magnetic and impulsive dancer in a reggaeton troupe. Her toxic marriage to choreographer Gastón is beyond repair, following a decision to give up on their adopted child Polo. She sets out on a mission to get him back, not caring who she’ll need to fight, seduce or destroy to make it happen.
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 thisThe Pumpkin Eater (1964)
Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Home of Our Own (1993)
In 1960s Los Angeles an energetic widow and her six children try to make a dream of theirs come true: to have a home of their own. They leave L.A. and head for the countryside, all the while facing numerous difficulties and obstacles during their journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlex of Venice (2015)
After her stay-at-home husband leaves her, a workaholic lawyer finds that she is not completely up to the tasks of caring for her young son, ailing father and household all by herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAmong Wolves (2010)
Entre lobos (Among Wolves) tells the remarkable story of a poor country boy named Marcos, who at the age of 7 is handed over to his father's employer, a rich landowner, who in turn delivers him to a life of labor with a hermetic goatherd in an isolated valley. The old man, who lives in a cave, is unused to human company and at first seems not very interested in having a live-in apprentice. The boy, who was abused by his parents, is frightened and equally aloof initially. Despite this, the shepherd begins teaching Marcos how to herd the goats, as well as how to care for himself and how to survive in the wilderness by trapping and fishing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNowhere Special (2020)
John, a 35-year-old window cleaner, has dedicated his life to bringing up his 4-year-old son, Michael, after the child's mother left them soon after giving birth. When John is given only a few months left to live, he attempts to find a new, perfect family for Michael, determined to shield him from the terrible reality of the situation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSecrets & Lies (1996)
After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense, a successful black optometrist, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to Cynthia, a working class white woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnder the Same Moon (2007)
Tells the parallel stories of nine-year-old Carlitos and his mother, Rosario. In the hopes of providing a better life for her son, Rosario works illegally in the U.S. while her mother cares for Carlitos back in Mexico.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 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 thisOut in the Open (2019)
A boy escaped from home, listening, crouched in the depths of his hiding place, the cries of the men who seek him. When the game passes, what remains before him is an infinite and arid plain that he must cross if he wants to get away definitively from what has made him flee. His steps will intersect with those of a pastor and, from that moment, nothing will be the same for either of them.
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 thisA Mouthful of Air (2021)
Julie is a new mom and children's book author, who escapes into the bright Crayola-colored world of her creation in order to leave behind the darkness caused by her post-partum depression.
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 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 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 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 King of Havana (2015)
Recently escaped from reformatory, Reinaldo struggles to get by in the streets of Havana in the late 90s, one of the worst decades for Cuban society. Hopes, disillusionment, rum, good humor and above all hunger, accompany him in his wanderings, until he meets Magda and Yunisleidy, survivors like himself. In one or the other's arms, he will try to escape the material and moral misery surrounding him, living love, passion, tenderness and uninhibited sex to the limit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThen She Found Me (2007)
A New York schoolteacher experiences a midlife crisis when, in quick succession, her husband leaves, her adoptive mother dies, and her biological mother, an eccentric talk show host, materializes and turns her life upside down as she begins a courtship with the father of one of her students.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy Life Partner (2014)
My Life Partner deals with the deep and intricate emotional relationship between two men. The movie narrates the story of two friends-turned-lovers, Richard and Kiran, who were both born and brought up in different cultural backgrounds. Issues crop up when they plan to add a baby to their lives, reinforcing their mutual bond as the Indian law does not allow a man to adopt a child on his own. To find a way around this, Richard, who is a bisexual, marries an orphan, Pavithra. Their life goes topsy-turvy, when Pavithra discovers Richard and Kiran's relationship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Peaches (2005)
This is the story of teenage girl Steph, who is brought up by her fiery aunt Jude after her pregnant mother Jass and Vietnamese father are killed in a car crash. The arrival of her late mother's diary reveals the colorful, sexy secrets of Jude and the foreman Alan that allow Steph to reinvent her vision of the world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
In Her Place (2015)
A wealthy couple seeks to secretly adopt the unborn child of an impoverished and troubled rural teenager, in this slow-burning and ultimately shocking drama from writer-director Albert Shin.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Clean, Shaven (1995)
Peter Winter is a young schizophrenic who is desperately trying to get his daughter back from her adoptive family. He attempts to function in a world that, for him, is filled with strange voices, electrical noise, disconcerting images, and jarringly sudden emotional shifts. During his quest, he runs afoul of the law and an ongoing murder investigation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMoment of Truth: A Child Too Many (1993)
Patty Nowakowski already has three children, but decides to be a surrogate mother. Fully confident of being able to give up her baby, she is nonetheless stunned when she discovers that she is expecting twins, and the couple for whom she is pregnant will only accept one child, provided it is female.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Sugarland Express (1974)
Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Jean gets Clovis out of jail, and the two steal their son from his foster home, in addition to taking a highway patrolman hostage. As a massive dragnet starts to pursue them across Texas, the couple become unlikely folk heroes and even start to bond with the captive policeman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMartian Child (2007)
A recently-widowed science fiction writer considers whether to adopt a hyper-imaginative 6-year-old abandoned and socially-rejected boy who says he's really from Mars.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDaisy Winters (2017)
An eleven year-old girl's unconventional yet deeply loving relationship with her mother is harshly broken. Along her journey, including her quest to discover her father, she learns how to embrace every moment with determination and unrelenting self-confidence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Blind Side (2009)
The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like Joel and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Joel?
The closest matches to Joel are Like Dandelion Dust (2009), Ema (2019) and What Maisie Knew (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Joel?
Start with Like Dandelion Dust (2009), the closest match to Joel.
What is the highest-rated movie like Joel?
Under the Same Moon (2007), rated 8.0/10 by 378 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Joel?
Rogue Agent (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Joel?
Yes: Ema (2019), Among Wolves (2010) and Under the Same Moon (2007).
How are movies similar to Joel chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Joel, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.