Movies like Hearts and Bones (2019)
The best movies like Hearts and Bones (2019) are Don't Tell (2017), Breath (2017) and Friends and Strangers (2022). If Hearts and Bones hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedCivil War (2024)6.8/10 from 4,723 votes
- NewestCivil War (2024)Released 2024
Don't Tell (2017)
Based on true events that changed the law. This is the story of a survivor, Lyndal, a young woman sexually abused as an 11 year old while attending a prestigious school. Her courage to fight for justice is entrusted to a local lawyer determined to build a case and give Lyndal peace from her torment. With the help of his aspiring young associate and an enigmatic barrister, the lawyer and Lyndal find their way together.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Breath (2017)
A pair of teenagers in Western Australia looking to escape the monotony of life in a small town take up surfing lessons from a guy named Sando.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFriends and Strangers (2022)
Friends and Strangers follows two middle class wanderers in a dryly comic exploration of inner Sydney.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Charlie's Country (2013)
Blackfella Charlie is getting older, and he's out of sorts. The intervention is making life more difficult on his remote community, what with the proper policing of whitefella laws that don't generally make much sense, and Charlie's kin and ken seeming more interested in going along with things than doing anything about it. So Charlie takes off, to live the old way, but in doing so sets off a chain of events in his life that has him return to his community chastened, and somewhat the wiser.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStray (2018)
In a cold and remote landscape, two strangers struggle to repair their broken pasts. A young man is on parole after serving time for attempting to murder the man who killed his girlfriend in a hit and run. A woman is released from a psychiatric facility far from her homeland. These two damaged strangers cross paths in the mountains in winter and fall into a complex intimate relationship, putting to the test their capacity to trust and heal.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The Turning (2013)
Seventeen talented Australian directors from diverse artistic disciplines each create a chapter of the hauntingly beautiful novel by multi award-winning author Tim Winton. The linking and overlapping stories explore the extraordinary turning points in ordinary people’s lives in a stunning portrait of a small coastal community. As characters face second thoughts and regret, relationships irretrievably alter, resolves are made or broken, and lives change direction forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Healing (2014)
Viktor Kahdem is a man who has almost given up on life, sentenced to a low-security prison farm, a completely non-threatening environment where it is still felt that some individuals can be reformed. At Won Wron, Case Worker Matt Perry has established a unique program to rehabilitate broken men through giving them the responsibility for the rehabilitation of injured raptors - beautiful, fearsome proud eagles, falcons and owls. Against all odds, Matt takes on Viktor as his number one test case, introducing him to Yasmine, the majestic wedge tailed eagle with a 2 metre wingspan. If these two can tame each other, anything is possible.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
West of Sunshine (2018)
A father has less than a day to pay back a debt to a violent loan shark, while looking after his young son.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Strangerland (2015)
Newly arrived to a remote desert town, Catherine and Matthew are tormented by a suspicion when their two teenage children mysteriously vanish.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Journey Is the Destination (2016)
The inspiring life story of the late photojournalist, artist and activist Dan Eldon, who abandoned a comfortable life in London to document the struggle, heartbreak and hope of a war-torn and famine-ridden region of Africa.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Escape and Evasion (2019)
After his men are killed in Burma, a lone soldier returns home in search of solace. Hiding a dark secret and confronted by an unrelenting journalist, he's forced to face the ghosts of his past one last time.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Disclosure (2020)
Australian documentarian Emily and her journalist husband Danny are reeling from an allegation of abuse their 4-year-old daughter Natasha has made against a local politician's 9-year-old son, Ethan. Ethan’s parents, Joel and Bek, arrive unannounced at Emily and Danny's house, intent on convincing the couple that Natasha's allegation is a fabrication. Accusations, arguments, and the ultimate search for leverage turn their civil conversation into a vicious confrontation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Riot (2018)
A look at the 1970s Gay Rights Movement in Australia through the eyes of dedicated activist Lance Gowland. As Lance deals with his sexuality, he must also juggle work, family and relationships.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
52 Tuesdays (2014)
Sixteen-year-old Billie’s reluctant path to independence is accelerated when her mother reveals plans for gender transition, and their time together becomes limited to Tuesdays. This emotionally charged story of desire, responsibility, and transformation was filmed over the course of a year—once a week, every week, only on Tuesdays.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Limbo (2023)
Travis, a jaded detective, arrives in the remote outback town of Limbo to investigate the cold case murder of local Indigenous girl Charlotte Hayes 20 years ago. As truths about the murder begin to unfold, the detective gains a new insight into the unsolved case.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Exit (2019)
A dying father takes a road trip with his son to try to rebuild his relationship before he dies.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Bosch & Rockit (2022)
As Rockit grapples to understand why his Mum’s not coming home, he embarks on a magical holiday with his father, Bosch, only to discover they’re actually running from the law. Rockit finds a soulmate and then teenage love with Ash Ash, but it’s the ocean that gives him the security and calm he yearns from his parents. Ultimately Rockit is a boy nurtured and held by nature.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Hive (2021)
Fahrije’s husband has been missing since the war in Kosovo so she sets up her own small business to provide for her kids, but as she fights against a patriarchal society that does not support her, she faces a crucial decision: to wait for his return, or to continue to persevere.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlack and White (2002)
Australia, 1958. When a nine year old white girl is found murdered, police are quick to arrest illiterate Aborigine, Max Stuart. Under interrogation Max admits to the killing. With a legal system compromised by intimidation tactics, the skills of his two gifted but naïve defense lawyers are put to the test.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Too Late to Die Young (2019)
During a very dry summer in an isolated community far from the city. Sofia, Clara and Lucas face their first loves and fears, while preparing the New Year's party, without knowing that nature threatens them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Kidnapped (2021)
Savannah Duke-Morgan realizes her lifetime dream to bring her husband Brad and her five-year-old daughter Aria back to her birthplace on the Gold Coast of Australia until it turns into her worst nightmare when Aria goes missing from the resort’s Kidz Klub.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The Nest (2020)
Rory is an ambitious entrepreneur who brings his American wife and kids to his native country, England, to explore new business opportunities. After abandoning the sanctuary of their safe American suburban surroundings, the family is plunged into the despair of an archaic '80s Britain and their unaffordable new life in an English manor house threatens to destroy the family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAround the Block (2013)
A young Aboriginal boy is torn between his unexpected love of acting and the disintegration of his family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Flood (2019)
Wendy, a hardened immigration officer is offered a high-profile asylum case, judged on her ability to quickly and clinically reject applicants. Through her interrogation, she must uncover whether Haile is lying and has a more sinister reason for seeking asylum.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Undertow (2020)
A photojournalist, grieving the loss of her stillborn child, is drawn into an obsessive relationship with a pregnant teenager.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Sanctuary (2015)
Summer 1968. 14-year-old Wolfgang is deported from his family in the secluded Church Welfare Institution sanctuary. One thing is clear for Wolfgang: His yearning for freedom, he will not soon buried in the bog.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJasper Jones (2017)
Fourteen-year-old Charlie's life changes when Jasper takes his help to dispose of the body of his girlfriend, Laura. He decides to look for the murderer and falls in love with Laura's younger sister.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCivil War (2024)
In the near future, a group of war journalists attempt to survive while reporting the truth as the United States stands on the brink of civil war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bang Bang Club (2011)
In the early to mid '90s, when the South African system of apartheid was in its death throes, four photographers - Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek and João Silva - bonded by their friendship and a sense of purpose, worked together to chronicle the violence and upheaval leading up to the 1994 election of Nelson Mandela as president. Their work is risky and dangerous, potentially fatally so, as they thrust themselves into the middle of chaotic clashes between forces backed by the government (including Inkatha Zulu warriors) and those in support of Mandela's African National Congress.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDarfur (2009)
American journalists in Sudan are confronted with the dilemma of whether to return home to report on the atrocities they have seen, or to stay behind and help some of the victims they have encountered.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Hearts and Bones?
The closest matches to Hearts and Bones are Don't Tell (2017), Breath (2017) and Friends and Strangers (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Hearts and Bones?
People who watched Hearts and Bones most often go on to Don't Tell (2017), Breath (2017) and Friends and Strangers (2022).
What is the highest-rated movie like Hearts and Bones?
Civil War (2024), rated 6.8/10 by 4,723 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Hearts and Bones?
Civil War (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Hearts and Bones?
Yes: Don't Tell (2017), Breath (2017) and Friends and Strangers (2022).
How are movies similar to Hearts and Bones chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Hearts and Bones, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.