Movies like Rodney (2009)
The best movies like Rodney (2009) are El Polaquito (2003), The Substitute (2022) and Under the Same Moon (2007). If Rodney 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
- NewestChiaroscuro (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishEl Polaquito (2003)Also in Spanish
El Polaquito (2003)
At age 13, a street kid known as "El Polaquito" makes his living mostly by singing tangos on Buenos Aires commuter trains. He falls in love with a 16 year old prostitute, also working for the Mafia controlling child exploitation in one of Argentina's busiest train stations. He tries to rescue her from this cruel life with no future. But to do so, he must confront the ruthless adult gang leaders, as well as the young kids who protect them, believing that this Mafia is truly their only option.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Substitute (2022)
Lucio, a prestigious university professor, takes the position of substitute teacher at a high school in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, where he grew up. Through tales, novels and poetry, he tries to distract his class from the harsh reality of their everyday lives. But soon, he must step out of his professional duties when Dilan, one of his students, is threatened by a local drug kingpin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 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 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 thisThe Wrath of God (2022)
Convinced the tragic deaths of her loved ones were orchestrated by a famous novelist she worked for, Luciana turns to a journalist to expose her truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExtraordinary Stories (2008)
X arrives in a small town and witnesses a violent act; Z takes the job of a dead manager and discovers that he had a notebook written in code and a map; H is hired to go down a river and investigate a series of mysterious monoliths built on the shore.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 thisLost in the Night (2023)
A young man from a small mining town embroils himself with a wealthy family with a dubious past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEnemigos (2025)
Chimo turns 18 years and comes from a humble and supportive family. Since childhood he was bullied and even today, while working multiple jobs and dreaming of starting his own business, he continues to face his bully: El Rubio. When Chimo has the opportunity for revenge, he never imagines what begins as an act of retaliation could turn into an unexpected friendship that'll change both their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisPrayers for the Stolen (2021)
Ana and her two best friends, Maria and Paula, navigate life in their oppressive countryside village. Whilst their families struggle in the poppy fields harvesting opium, the girls try to grow alongside the creeping terror of their cartel oppressors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKamchatka (2002)
In 1976, Argentina fell into the hands of a de facto government. Thousands of citizens are persecuted and kidnapped. This is the case of the parents of two children, who, knowing they are wanted, decide to hide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSky High (2020)
A commentary on Spanish society dressed as a thriller about the misadventures of a gang of young petty criminals after the real estate crash.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSin tetas no hay paraíso (2010)
Catalina is a young, beautiful girl living in extreme poverty with her brother Bayron and her mother Hilda. She becomes obsessed with getting breast implants to get social status and money. She leaves her boyfriend Albeira and becomes a prostitute for drug dealers. In this way she will enjoy all the luxuries that she lacks. Meanwhile, her ex-boyfriend Albeira and her mother Hilda begin a relationship behind her back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
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 thisViolet Perfume: Nobody Hears You (2001)
Yessica is a rebellious girl who forms an unlikely friendship with quiet schoolmate Miriam. Yessica's home life is ruled by her brutal stepfather and her amoral stepbrother, Jorge, while Miriam shares a calm, loving household with her mother. The girls' friendship is shattered after Jorge arranges to have one of his friends rape Yessica.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSin piedad (2025)
Under the relentless sun, a killer stalks through the mountains, where the innocence of a young couple becomes prey. With no shadows to hide their fate, the hunt is a macabre game in broad daylight, where fear is not hidden in the darkness, but burns with the rawness of the unperturbed noon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Coup de Grâce (2013)
A hostage situation gone bad. Jesús, an amateur thief, holds prisoner a group of clients, but nothing is what it seems. How far are we willing to go to survive?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Day Cut Short (2025)
As the day begins, a woman sets out to go about her routine, until she decides to take her children to the cemetery to see zombies. When she returns home, this interruption in her day will leave her with a strange and magical feeling.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Chiaroscuro (2025)
Argentine short film · Directed by Jeremías Sosa From Juan Agustín Maza University · Running time: [4 minutes] Filmed in Mendoza, with independent university production. Starring Tomás Palomo. Pre-established script provided by the department.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Promises (2015)
Self made millionaire Rolando Dominguez (Carlos Guerrero) could not resist the tempting pleasures that came with his success and now finds himself homeless, demented, and tormented by flashbacks of his regretful mistakes and broken promises to his missing son Rollie (Carlos Guerrero Jr.). Rolando struggles with his guilt as he faces the harsh reality that the fortune he worked for in his pursuit of happiness is the very thing that has destroyed his life... Meanwhile Detective Stevens (Steven Bauer - Scarface, Ray Donovan) has vowed to bring Rollie back home to his desperate mother Vanessa (Carmen Lopez) who’s six month agony has led her to question her faith while clinging on to the last bit of hope to see her son again.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Exact Shape of The Islands (2012)
For many, the name Malvinas/Falklands evokes an absurd war between England and Argentina in 1982. For Julieta Vitullo, the protagonist of this film, this tragic history becomes deeply personal 25 years later when she suffers a loss associated with her search to uncover that past, unfolding into a life-affirming struggle for renewal and rebirth. This film tells the story of two trips, one made in 2006 and the other in 2010. In the space between one trip and the next, between past and present, between the public and the private, between what can and cannot be told, the movie reflects on the possibilities of conveying extreme life experiences, presenting landscapes and sounds that suggest subtle contours of that shape, 'The Exact Shape of the Islands.'
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
We 3 (2011)
Three young people arrive from different parts of the country to go to college in Sao Paulo. On their first day there, a strange and intense attraction unites them. Together, they rent an apartment and begin living together, in close quarters. Sharing kisses and fond embraces. They exchange words of endearment with the naturalness of ordering a sandwich at a diner. They threaten to break up and the next moment they are all laughing together again. College days however soon come to an end and, with each having different paths to trail, separation is imminent. And consequently, their gestures, words and attitudes take on a new weight. Touching each other now takes on a new significance. Words of love are weighed down by consequences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Eternal Light (TBA)
The life and work of Guido Buffo, an artist and scientist whose passion for knowledge and art is intertwined with his love story with Leonor. Through a journey through key moments in his life, the short film explores his vision of the interconnection between art and science, as well as his profound love for his wife and daughter, who inspire him to build an enduring legacy: his chapel in the Córdoba mountains.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Beautiful Fantasy of Final Purpose (2020)
Floreal, an introspective young man, is forced to confront a past he tried hard to overcome. A past that involves his eccentric grandmother Amanqay and a power stone she left behind.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Rodney and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Rodney?
The closest matches to Rodney are El Polaquito (2003), The Substitute (2022) and Under the Same Moon (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Rodney?
Start with El Polaquito (2003), the closest match to Rodney.
What is the highest-rated movie like Rodney?
Under the Same Moon (2007), rated 8.0/10 by 378 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Rodney?
Chiaroscuro (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Rodney?
Yes: El Polaquito (2003), The Substitute (2022) and Under the Same Moon (2007).
How are movies similar to Rodney chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Rodney, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.