Movies like Notes for My Son (2020)
The best movies like Notes for My Son (2020) are A Normal World (2020), Deaf (2025) and Rest in Peace (2024). If Notes for My Son hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMe Before You (2016)7.9/10 from 13,714 votes
- NewestGoodbye June (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishA Normal World (2020)Also in Spanish
A Normal World (2020)
Ernesto learns that his mother has passed and yet worse that they plan to bury her in a graveyard. Determined to fulfill his late mum's wishes, he plans to steal the coffin.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Deaf (2025)
Angela's deafness raises concerns during her pregnancy regarding connecting with her daughter. Post-delivery, partner Héctor supports her as she learns to mother in a society lacking adequate accommodations for the hearing-impaired.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRest in Peace (2024)
A debt-ridden father takes advantage of an unforeseen situation to disappear and live off the grid under a false identity. But a chance event occurs and the temptation to want to know his family resurfaces.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy Sister's Keeper (2009)
Sara and Brian live an idyllic life with their young son and daughter. But their family is rocked by sudden, heartbreaking news that forces them to make a difficult and unorthodox choice in order to save their baby girl's life. The parents' desperate decision raises both ethical and moral questions and rips away at the foundation of their relationship. Their actions ultimately set off a court case that threatens to tear the family apart, while revealing surprising truths that challenge everyone's perceptions of love and loyalty and give new meaning to the definition of healing.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGoyo (2024)
A young autistic museum guide lives by a strict routine — until he falls in love with his coworker and must confront a whirlwind of new, intense emotions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this37 Seconds (2019)
Yuma, a 23-year-old comic book artist with profound cerebral palsy, has been emotionally stunted by her well-meaning but overprotective mother. As she begins to seek independence and sexual awakening on her own terms, she discovers an unexpected path to love and forgiveness.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlone (1999)
Maria has just moved into a decaying flat in a poor neighbourhood. She left her family in the countryside because she could no longer stand her father's authority. Pregnant by a man who refuses to see her, Maria gets by as a cleaning-woman. When her father is brought to the city for an operation, her mother moves into her flat.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStill Alice (2014)
Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children, is a renowned linguistics professor who starts to forget words. When she receives a devastating diagnosis, Alice and her family find their bonds tested.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOrdinary Love (2019)
An extraordinary look at the lives of a middle-aged couple in the midst of the wife's breast cancer diagnosis.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sea Inside (2004)
Ramón Sampedro is a ship mechanic and part-time poet left a quadriplegic following a diving accident. Ramón fought for 30 years for the legal right to end his own life. He develops close relationships with his long-term lawyer Julia and his friend Rosa, who tries to convince him that his life is worth living. Despite his situation, Ramón manages to inspire those around him to live life to the fullest.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLife as a House (2001)
When a man is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he takes custody of his misanthropic teenage son, for whom quality time means getting high, engaging in small-time prostitution, and avoiding his father.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWit (2001)
A renowned professor is forced to reassess her life when she is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisElena Knows (2023)
As her Parkinson's disease progresses, a woman leads a relentless investigation into finding those responsible for the sudden death of her daughter.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeart of the Matter (2022)
Andie is a cardiologist who is devastated by the accidental death of a patient. As she and his grieving mother overcome their sorrow through forgiveness, they learn that acceptance leads to hope.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
...First Do No Harm (1997)
When Lori Reimuller learns that her young son Robbie has epilepsy, she first trusts the judgment of the hospital staff in how best to bring it under control. As Robbie's health slides radically downhill, however, she becomes frustrated and desperate, and so does her own research into the existing literature on treatments. When she decides to try an alternative treatment called the Ketogenic Diet, devised long ago by a doctor from Johns Hopkins, she is met with narrow-minded resistance from Robbie's doctor, who is prepared to take legal action to prevent Lori from removing him from the hospital.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaspalomas (2025)
After breaking up with his partner, 76 year-old Vicente leads life the way he likes it in Maspalomas: he spends his days lying in the sun, partying, and looking for pleasure. An unexpected accident obliges him to return to San Sebastián and to the daughter he abandoned years ago. Vicente will have to live in a retirement home where he finds himself driven back into the closet and to conceal a part of himself that he thought was long resolved. In this new environment, Vicente must ask himself if he has enough time left to make his peace with others… and with himself.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fault in Our Stars (2014)
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a patient named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLucca's World (2025)
Determined to help her son, who has cerebral palsy, Bárbara takes her family to India for an experimental treatment.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBreathe (2017)
Based on the true story of Robin, a handsome, brilliant and adventurous man whose life takes a dramatic turn when polio leaves him paralyzed.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMe Before You (2016)
Lou Clark, a directionless 26-year-old from the English countryside, takes a job at the local castle as a caregiver and companion to a wealthy young banker, Will Traynor. Wheelchair-bound from an accident two years prior, the once adventurous Will has all but given up — that is until Lou determines to show him that life is worth living.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLife Feels Good (2013)
Mateusz is an intelligent, romantic young man tragically trapped inside his own body, suffering from severe cerebral palsy that makes speech and controlled movement nearly impossible. Born into a loving family, Mateusz’s protected world is shattered when circumstances place him in an institution where he is misunderstood and mistreated. Featuring an astonishing, virtuoso lead performance, Life Feels Good beautifully recounts the true story of one man’s extraordinary efforts to endure in the face of impossible odds.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Giant (2016)
A film about Rikard, age 30. He is autistic and severely disfigured. He lives in a home for disabled people. He was separated from his mother as a three-year-old, and this continues to torment him today. To deal with life's trials, Rikard escapes into a fantasy world in which he's a 50-meter-tall giant.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Romería (2025)
With her mother's diary in hand, Marina's search for official documents for university leads her to her biological family on the Atlantic coast. What starts as an administrative quest reveals long-buried family secrets.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAre We Lost Forever (2020)
One morning it is over. For Hampus it is a relief to break up from their destructive relationship, while Adrian is devastated. Will he be able to survive without the love of his life, or is there a way of somehow getting him back?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSundays (2025)
When Ainara announces that she wants to become a nun, chaos arises in her family. Is this a genuine desire or has she been influenced by the religious staff at her school? Or is this life-changing decision due to her father’s inattention and her mother’s absence?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrange Weather (2016)
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 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 thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoodbye June (2025)
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Notes for My Son?
The closest matches to Notes for My Son are A Normal World (2020), Deaf (2025) and Rest in Peace (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Notes for My Son?
People who watched Notes for My Son most often go on to A Normal World (2020), Deaf (2025) and Rest in Peace (2024).
What is the highest-rated movie like Notes for My Son?
Me Before You (2016), rated 7.9/10 by 13,714 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Notes for My Son?
Goodbye June (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Notes for My Son?
Yes: A Normal World (2020), Deaf (2025) and Rest in Peace (2024).
How are movies similar to Notes for My Son chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Notes for My Son, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.