Movies like River Knows Fish Heart (2018)
The best movies like River Knows Fish Heart (2018) are Pure Country 2: The Gift (2010), Ruth & Boaz (2025) and Young at Heart (1954). If River Knows Fish Heart hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedYour Name Engraved Herein (2020)7.9/10 from 325 votes
- NewestYou, Fireworks, and Our Promise (2026)Released 2026
- In ChineseSpring Fever (2010)Also in Chinese
Pure Country 2: The Gift (2010)
Three angels bestow the gift of song to a young girl, who must follow a series of rules in order hold on to it during her rise to fame and fortune.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRuth & Boaz (2025)
A talented singer leaves the Atlanta music scene and starts over in small-town Tennessee, where she finds love and new purpose but can't escape the past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYoung at Heart (1954)
The lives and romances of three sisters in a musical family; the youngest daughter's life is complicated by the subsequent arrival of a charming composer and a cynical music arranger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Still Believe (2020)
The true-life story of Christian music star Jeremy Camp and his journey of love and loss that looks to prove there is always hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisListen to Your Heart (2010)
Struggling New York City singer/songwriter Danny falls in love with Ariana, a wealthy girl from Connecticut who tragically cannot hear the music she inspires him to write. After falling in love against the wishes of her controlling mother Victoria, Ariana becomes torn between hanging onto the shelter that Victoria provides and fighting for a love that, if given the chance, might just change her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpring Fever (2010)
Hired to spy on a philandering husband, Luo Haitao soon becomes entangled in a clandestine affair with the other man. Along with Luo's girlfriend, they succumb to the delirium of drunken nights, but how long can their tryst last?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYour Name Engraved Herein (2020)
In 1987, as martial law ends in Taiwan, Jia-han and Birdy fall in love amid family pressure, homophobia and social stigma.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisEternal Summer (2006)
Three high school students experience the perks and pitfalls of love in director Leste Chen’s sensitive tale of friendship and yearning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2023)
Two teenage Mexican-American loners in 1987 El Paso explore a new, unusual friendship and the difficult road to self-discovery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFire with Fire (1986)
A tough, street-smart kid serving a sentence in a state youth reformatory meets a beautiful, innocent girl studying at a nearby convent. When forbidden love blossoms between them, they must fight the prison authorities, their parents and the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTaurus (2022)
A rising but troubled musician searches for the inspiration to record one last song, pushing himself deep into the void.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
SnoozefestMovies like thisBattle of the Year (2013)
A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeartstopper Forever (2026)
It's a new school year for the Truham-Higgs gang. As Nick and Charlie's relationship deepens, their thoughts turn to life after the last bell rings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisClika (2026)
Aspiring small-town musician Chito is determined to make it big. When a clip of him performing one of his songs goes viral, he seizes the opportunity and pushes to carve out a place for himself in the new wave of Mexican-American music... and ultimately gets caught in a game more dangerous than anticipated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMy Policeman (2022)
In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAkron (2015)
Benny, a college freshman at the University of Akron, Ohio meets and falls for fellow freshman Christopher at a football game. With the support of their families and friends they embark on a new relationship. But a tragic event in the past involving their mothers soon comes to light and threatens to tear them apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEndless Love (2014)
A privileged girl and a charismatic boy's instant desire sparks a love affair made only more reckless by parents trying to keep them apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Best of Me (2014)
A pair of former high school sweethearts reunite after many years when they return to visit their small hometown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMo' Better Blues (1990)
Talented but self-centered trumpeter Bleek Gilliam is obsessed with his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo and Clarke. But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCoda (2020)
A famous pianist at the twilight of his career meets a free-spirited music critic who soon becomes his rock as his mental state deteriorates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKirepapa. (2008)
Chisato is a beautiful 35-year-old writer, who looks like 18, and the father of Riju, a cute 15-year-old boy. Chisato's hobby is to drive away all of Riju's friends because he thinks they want to corrupt his precious child, so he shows his good side to these boys while he poisons the cake he brings them with a smile; however, there is one guy, Shunsuke, who doesn't fall for the tricks. But is Shunsuke really aiming for Riju? Who is that mysterious writer Chisato loves so much? And why is Chisato convinced that Riju's friends want to take advantage of him?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
You, Fireworks, and Our Promise (2026)
The coming-of-age romance is set during the Nagaoka Festival Grand Fireworks Show, one of Japan's three major fireworks shows that draws several hundred thousand visitors to Niigata Prefecture every year. What connects Makoto (a Tokyo high school boy without social skills or self-confidence) and Aki (a popular high school girl and class president with beauty and talent) is a drawing of a fireworks display. At the mercy of the drawing's mystery and fate itself, the two have to make a choice in a limited amount of time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Love Bites (2025)
Just out of their teens, young men Liam and Anatole were in the throes of an exciting relationship- until they had fight, and Anatole disappeared. Liam can’t accept breakup. And, since his boyfriend doesn’t reply to his calls and text messages, Liam decides to follow him to a Halloween organized by one of Anatole’s friends to try find him. The wild night that ensues will test boys’ true feelings for each other, as well as force them to confront some hard inner truths once and for all.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)
Bizarre tale of sex, betrayal, and perversion at a military post.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLaw of Desire (1987)
Pablo, a successful film director, disappointed in his relationship with his young lover, Juan, concentrates in a new project, a monologue starring his transgender sister, Tina. Antonio, an uptight young man, falls possessively in love with the director and in his passion would stop at nothing to obtain the object of his desire.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
Two drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican Gigolo (1980)
Julian makes a lucrative living as an escort to older women in the Los Angeles area. He begins a relationship with Michelle, a local politician's wife, without expecting any pay. One of his clients is murdered and Detective Sunday begins pumping him for details on his different clients, something he is reluctant to do considering the nature of his work. Julian begins to suspect he's being framed. Meanwhile Michelle begins to fall in love with him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mousetrap (2016)
Baptiste is a gay man who can't stop dreaming about a woman who works at a local pub. His desire for her makes him go on a journey that he could had never imagined.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I Am Curious Gay (1970)
On his 21st birthday, Davy wanders into a gay bar and meets the man of his dreams.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Tidal Time (2018)
After a boat accident where he puts his son Flavio’s life at risk, fisherman Capudemazza decides to never go fishing again. Ten years later a discovery about his son awakens a feeling in him that had been buried.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like River Knows Fish Heart and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like River Knows Fish Heart?
The closest matches to River Knows Fish Heart are Pure Country 2: The Gift (2010), Ruth & Boaz (2025) and Young at Heart (1954). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after River Knows Fish Heart?
Start with Pure Country 2: The Gift (2010), the closest match to River Knows Fish Heart.
What is the highest-rated movie like River Knows Fish Heart?
Your Name Engraved Herein (2020), rated 7.9/10 by 325 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like River Knows Fish Heart?
You, Fireworks, and Our Promise (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like River Knows Fish Heart?
Yes: Spring Fever (2010), Your Name Engraved Herein (2020) and Eternal Summer (2006).
How are movies similar to River Knows Fish Heart chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside River Knows Fish Heart, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.