Movies like Joyful Mystery (2021)
The best movies like Joyful Mystery (2021) are Fast Girls (2012), The Christmas Shoes (2002) and I Believe in Unicorns (2015). If Joyful Mystery hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)7.3/10 from 326 votes
- NewestParece amor? (2026)Released 2026
- In MalayalamTrance (2020)Also in Malayalam
Fast 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 thisThe Christmas Shoes (2002)
Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second, lawyer Robert Layton and his wife Kate are slowly drifting apart and the matter comes to a head during Christmas when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Believe in Unicorns (2015)
Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrand Upon the Brain! (2007)
After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Color of Friendship (2000)
Mahree Bok lives on a farm in South Africa. Her father is a policeman who cannot hide his joy when activist Steve Biko is caught by the South African authorities. Piper Dellums is the daughter of a US congressman from California and who lives in a nice home in Washington DC. When Mahree is chosen to spend a semester at the Dellums' house, she doesn't expect that her host family would be black. Nor do her hosts suspect that she is not a black South African.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNational Theatre Live: Hamlet (2015)
As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father's death but paralyzed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow Sarah Got Her Wings (2015)
Good Samaritan Sarah Fitzpatrick has a fatal accident just before Christmas, and finds herself in the lobby before the gates of Heaven. Certain that she will be let in, she is shocked to find that her name is not on the reservation list. However, she is granted the chance to return to Earth as an "angel in training" with the requirement to help a soul in need. Sarah has the 12 days before Christmas to secure her place on the list leaving her in the race for her after-life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHere (2024)
An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSunshine State (2002)
A woman and her new husband returns to her hometown roots in coastal northern Florida, and must deal with family, business, and encroaching real estate development.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fugitive (1947)
Anti-Catholic and anti-cleric policies in the Mexican state of Tabasco lead the revolutionary government to persecute the state's last remaining priest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTrance (2020)
A disheartened motivational speaker gets hired by a corporate to become a preacher until his live stint on television puts him and his service under the scanner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIratta (2023)
After a cop is found dead, a policeman's investigation sparks a chilling search for the truth connected to his estranged twin and their fraught past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLady Driver (2020)
When a rebellious teen embarks on a solo summer journey to connect with her roots, she finds herself in a new world, geared up for the ride of her life, and discovers she had the drive in her all along.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHello Sister, Goodbye Life (2006)
A college student must take care of her 7-year-old half sister after the death of their parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bridge Part 2 (2016)
The second-half of the movie picks up in the present day, seven years later, with Ryan returning home from being on the road touring as a professional singer and Molly working at her father's corporation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Locket (1946)
A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTraces of Grief (2024)
Shell-shocked Barbara must face up to the loss of a dear companion after a tragic accident. Her best friend Klara and husband Torsten devise a plan to thaw Barbara's heart, after she reminisces about the incident, the funeral, and happier times. Will she agree to the suggestions of her nearest and dearest? Can grief turn into hope?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Esta Isla (2025)
Bebo, a teenager from a coastal Puerto Rican town, lives with his brother in a public housing complex. They fish for a living, but growing desperation drives them to illegal dealings that promise easy money. When a job goes wrong and blood is spilled, Bebo flees with Lola, a wealthy girl seeking to escape her troubled reality. As they navigate the labyrinthine mountains, they encounter remnants of a fading way of life, contrasting with the violence that follows them. As hitmen close in, Bebo must confront his choices and decide if redemption is possible, or if the sea will be their final escape.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Poem of the Wind (2024)
Bharani, an emerging theatre artist is subjected to the stereotypical ways of masculinity from his childhood but the mere femininity inside him confuses his stand on what society expects out of him. The film charts the three stages of Bharani’s life from his childhood to old age following the regrets he attains during the final stages of his life. Inspired by Charles Bukowski’s poem “Blue Bird”
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Pain Through Lyric (2025)
Set against the backdrop of the vibrant yet tumultuous streets, this romantic street drama weaves the lives of two artists; Lyric, scarred by a tragedy of the heart and Da Creepa, masked with the despair of circumstances that comes from displaced loyalty. They embark on a journey where bonds are forged, hidden pains resurface, and poetry serves as a bridge between hearts. Take this journey with these two artists as a chance encounter sparks a romance between Lyric and Da Creepa that neither were anticipating.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
1984 (2023)
In a bleak and oppressive totalitarian society ruled by Big Brother, personal freedoms are nonexistent and surveillance is constant. Art is mocked and destroyed, and imagination is considered a serious illness. In this grim world, a brilliant mathematician engages in a forbidden romance with a colleague and learns about a secret resistance. He is faced with a choice - to join or betray it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Fires (2023)
Having lived illegally in Canada for the past eight years, Danny Gallagher returns to his family home in rural Donegal. He spends his days isolated, seeking to make sense of the bruises left by his past by recording an audio tape for a person that he no longer knows. Only when the tape is finished, and the house is cleared, can he finally move on.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Fiz Amizade com um Fantasma (2024)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Joyful Mystery?
The closest matches to Joyful Mystery are Fast Girls (2012), The Christmas Shoes (2002) and I Believe in Unicorns (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Joyful Mystery?
Start with Fast Girls (2012), the closest match to Joyful Mystery.
What is the highest-rated movie like Joyful Mystery?
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980), rated 7.3/10 by 326 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Joyful Mystery?
Parece amor? (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Malayalam movies like Joyful Mystery?
Yes: Trance (2020) and Iratta (2023).
How are movies similar to Joyful Mystery chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Joyful Mystery, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.