Movies like The Match Factory Girl (1990)
The best movies like The Match Factory Girl (1990) are Lights in the Dusk (2006), White Oleander (2002) and I Never Sang for My Father (1970). If The Match Factory Girl hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMass (2021)7.3/10 from 323 votes
- NewestCardboard Island (2026)Released 2026
Lights in the Dusk (2006)
Outcast by his co-workers and living alone, Koistinen is a security guard who works the night shift in a luxury shopping mall in Helsinki. But when icy blonde Mirja approaches him, the lonely Koistinen falls helplessly for her, unaware she is manipulating him for her criminal boyfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhite Oleander (2002)
A teenager journeys through a series of foster homes after her mother goes to prison for committing a crime of passion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Never Sang for My Father (1970)
A man living in the towering shadow of his aging father finds it difficult to start a new chapter in his life by marrying his girlfriend and moving to California.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Taste of Honey (1961)
While out to avoid spending time with her narcissistic and promiscuous mother, sixteen-year-old Jo has a brief affair that leaves her pregnant and abandoned. When her mother remarries, Jo's only support becomes her friend Geoffrey, a homosexual.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHelen (2009)
On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depression, Helen finds solace through her friendship with Mathilda, a kindred spirit struggling with bipolar disorder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Human Voice (2020)
A woman watches time pass beside the suitcases of her ex-lover (who is supposed to come pick them up but never arrives) and a restless dog who doesn't understand that his master has abandoned him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMother of Mine (2005)
1943: Nine-year-old Eero whose father is killed during the war is brought to Sweden to foster parents to his protection like thousands of other Finnish children. Eero feels lost, particularly as his foster mother Signe behaves very unfriendly. She was expecting a little girl and still mourns for her daughter who drowned in the sea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnother Woman (1988)
Marion is a woman who has learned to shield herself from her emotions. She rents an apartment to work undisturbed on her new book, but by some acoustic anomaly she can hear all that is said in the next apartment in which a psychiatrist holds his office. When she hears a young woman tell that she finds it harder and harder to bear her life, Marion starts to reflect on her own life. After a series of events she comes to understand how her unemotional attitude towards the people around her affected them and herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdopt a Highway (2019)
Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLosing Isaiah (1995)
Khaila Richards, a crack-addicted single mother, accidentally leaves her baby in a dumpster while high and returns the next day in a panic to find he is missing. In reality, the baby has been adopted by a warm-hearted social worker, Margaret Lewin, and her husband, Charles. Years later, Khaila has gone through rehab and holds a steady job. After learning that her child is still alive, she challenges Margaret for the custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMass (2021)
Two couples meet for a painful and raw conversation in the aftermath of a violent tragedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisChristmas Incorporated (2015)
Sometimes, life just seems to hand you exactly what you need – particularly at Christmastime. Riley is scraping bottom when she miraculously lands a job with a wealthy New York City entrepreneur. He’s a bad-boy socialite type who is poised to play Scrooge by closing one of his factories just before Christmas, which would devastate an entire town. It’s left to Riley to talk him out of it and turn him into a man of virtue rather than shame.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDad (1989)
A busy executive learns during a meeting that his mother may be dying and rushes home to her side. He ends up being his father's caretaker and becomes closer to him than ever before. Estranged from his own son, the executive comes to realize what has been missing in his own life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFather Mother Sister Brother (2025)
Estranged siblings reunite after years apart, forced to confront unresolved tensions and reevaluate their strained relationships with their emotionally distant parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Long Day Closes (1992)
Bud is a lonely and quiet boy whose moments of solace occur when he sits in rapture at the local cinema, watching towering and iconic figures on the movie screen. The movies give Bud the strength to get through another day as he deals with his oppressive school environment and his burgeoning homosexuality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisParked (2010)
Fred Daly returns to Ireland with nowhere to live but his car. Then dope-smoking 21-year-old Cathal parks beside him, and brightens up his lonely world. Encouraged by Cathal, Fred meets attractive music teacher Jules. Growing closer, these three outsiders are set on a course that will change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMadame X (1929)
A young, unfaithful wife and mother is thrown out by her cold, unforgiving husband, the Attorney General of France. She is barred from ever seeing her three year old son again despite her earnest attempts to make amends. For many years the mother seeks refuge overseas and in Absinthe. In the end, her son, a young and promising lawyer unknowingly defends her in court. Ruth Chatterton gives a marvelous performance in this early talkie in her portrayal of Madame X.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Real Steel (2011)
Charlie Kenton is a washed-up fighter who retired from the ring when robots took over the sport. After his robot is trashed, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son to rebuild and train an unlikely contender.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChristina's House (2000)
A teenage girl is plagued by bizarre occurrences and deaths related to her new home.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisReversal of Fortune (1990)
Wealthy Sunny von Bülow lies brain-dead, husband Claus guilty of attempted murder; but he says he's innocent and hires Alan Dershowitz for his appeal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCardboard Island (2026)
After a freak accident leaves a young man in a surreal limbo, he must team up with a talking puppet to map a mysterious island from fragments of memory — a journey that forces him to confront his deepest regrets, reclaim lost connections, and decide if life is worth finding his way back to.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Wind, in the Evening (2004)
Nightfall. Marco, a politician, is murdered while he is going home. Also Luca, a gay man, is going home, where his partner Paolo is waiting. But he is on the killer's way, and he is shot. Paolo dashes to the hospital but the doctor doesn't want to tell him anything because Paolo isn't a "real" relative. Luca dies. Paolo starts walking in the streets of the town, where his loneliness will be ever misunderstood. A barman tries to comfort him supposing he was discharged by his girlfriend. Luca's mother orders Paolo to leave the house. A guy takes Paolo to him's, looking for a partner in the night. Paolo runs away from everybody, also from his friend Francesca: she says she is understanding but she can't. While the dawn is coming, Paolo reads about the murders on the newspapers, and realizes that what happened was reality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bodies (2012)
A young writer for a newspaper's website becomes curious, then intrigued and finally obsessed with the strange behavior of the woman in the adjacent apartment.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Letters You Will Never Read (2023)
Oliver doesn't know how to deal with the fact that he is not with the girl he loves. So in desperation for coping with his feelings he starts to write letters in which he describes all the feelings and thoughts that he's trying to bury deep down.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
At Eternity's Gate (2018)
Famed but tormented artist Vincent van Gogh spends his final years in Arles, France, painting masterworks of the natural world that surrounds him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSomewhere (2010)
After withdrawing to the Chateau Marmont, a passionless Hollywood actor reexamines his life when his eleven-year-old daughter surprises him with a visit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Match Factory Girl?
The closest matches to The Match Factory Girl are Lights in the Dusk (2006), White Oleander (2002) and I Never Sang for My Father (1970). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Match Factory Girl?
Start with Lights in the Dusk (2006), the closest match to The Match Factory Girl.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Match Factory Girl?
Mass (2021), rated 7.3/10 by 323 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Match Factory Girl?
Cardboard Island (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Match Factory Girl chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Match Factory Girl, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.