Movies like Lift Off (2020)
The best movies like Lift Off (2020) are The Etruscan Smile (2018), And When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007) and The Music Never Stopped (2011). If Lift Off hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Lift Off
Quick picks
- Highest ratedOctober Sky (1999)7.7/10 from 1,529 votes
- NewestMy Father's Shadow (2025)Released 2025
The Etruscan Smile (2018)
Rory MacNeil, a rugged old Scotsman, reluctantly leaves his beloved isolated Hebridean island and travels to San Francisco to seek medical treatment. Moving in with his estranged son, Rory sees his life transformed through a newly found bond with his baby grandson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnd When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007)
The story of a son's conflicting memories of his dying father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Music Never Stopped (2011)
Henry struggles to bond with his estranged son, Gabriel, who suffers from a brain tumor that prevents him from forming new memories. With Gabriel unable to shed the beliefs and interests that caused their physical and emotional distance, Henry must learn to embrace his son's choices and try to connect with him through music.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAd Astra (2019)
The near future, a time when both hope and hardships drive humanity to look to the stars and beyond. While a mysterious phenomenon menaces to destroy life on planet Earth, astronaut Roy McBride undertakes a mission across the immensity of space and its many perils to uncover the truth about a lost expedition that decades before boldly faced emptiness and silence in search of the unknown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDaddy Longlegs (2010)
After months of living a solitary existence, Lenny, 34, picks up his kids from school. Every year he spends a couple of weeks with his sons Sage, 9, and Frey, 7. Lenny hosts his kids within a midtown studio apartment in New York. During these two weeks, he must figure out if he wants to act as their father or be their friend. Ultimately, their trip upstate results in complete lawlessness taking over their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Beautiful Country (2004)
After reuniting with his mother in Ho Chi Minh City, a family tragedy causes Binh to flee from Viet Nam to America. Landing in New York, Binh begins a road trip to Texas, where his American father is said to live.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPaperhouse (1988)
A young girl lost in the loneliness and boredom of reality finds solace in an ill boy, whom she can visit in a surreal dream world that she drew in her school composition book.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOctober Sky (1999)
The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisMy Father's Shadow (2025)
Two young brothers explore Lagos with their estranged father during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis, witnessing both the city's magnitude and their father's daily struggles as political unrest threatens their journey home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMost (2003)
A poetic and powerful story of a father forced to choose between love and duty.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Son (2022)
A successful lawyer, with a new wife and infant, agrees to care for his teenage son from a previous marriage after his ex-wife becomes concerned about the boy's wayward behavior.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMagnolia (1999)
On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFirstborn (1984)
Because he's the oldest, Jake has been the man of the house, since his parents divorce. When Mom starts seeing Sam, who always seems to be trying some new way to get rich quick, and declares he's the man of the house now, Jake puts up with it. Until he discovers Sam's illegal activities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJames White (2015)
James White is a troubled twentysomething trying to stay afloat in a frenzied New York City. As he retreats further into a hedonistic lifestyle, his mother's battle with a serious illness faces a series of setbacks that force him to assume more responsibility. With the pressure on him mounting, James must find new reserves of strength or risk imploding completely.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fabelmans (2022)
Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTransfusion (2023)
Ryan Logan, a former Special Forces operative, is battling to cope with life after the loss of his wife. He is thrusted into the criminal underworld to keep his only son from being taken from him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisThe Last Mimzy (2007)
Two siblings begin to develop special talents after they find a mysterious box of toys, and soon their parents and even their teacher are drawn into a strange new world – and find a task ahead of them that is far more important than any of them could imagine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLast Ride (2009)
A young boy travels across Australia with his father, who's wanted by the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLegends of the Fall (1994)
In early 20th-century Montana, Col. William Ludlow lives on a ranch in the wilderness with his sons, Alfred, Tristan, and Samuel. Eventually, the unconventional but close-knit family are bound by loyalty, tested by war, and torn apart by love, as told over the course of several decades in this epic saga.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHasta encontrarte (2013)
Javier chats online with a girl called sofi_dark, a mysterious girl who indulges in a subtle game of perversions. As the relationship grown, he wants to meet her in person. He begins to desperately look for her through the city, until a series of photographs that he discovers on the Internet disrupts his plans.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Born under unusual circumstances, Benjamin Button springs into being as an elderly man in a New Orleans nursing home and ages in reverse. Twelve years after his birth, he meets Daisy, a child who flits in and out of his life as she grows up to be a dancer. Though he has all sorts of unusual adventures over the course of his life, it is his relationship with Daisy, and the hope that they will come together at the right time, that drives Benjamin forward.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWeaver's Crossing (2015)
Tension flares between Sheriff Henry Turner and his son Jason after Henry loses his job and Jason takes over. A local writer chronicles the heart warming tale.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Crossroads (2015)
After the death of his wife, a father finds out his son is gay and confronts him leading to devastating consequences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mutt (2023)
Over the course of a single hectic day in New York City, three people from Feña's past are thrust back into his life: his foreign father, his straight ex-boyfriend, and his 13-year old half-sister. Having lost touch since transitioning from female to male, Feña must navigate the new dynamics of these old relationships while tackling the day-to-day challenges that come with living a life in-between.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Takva: A Man's Fear of God (2006)
Humble and introvert Muharrem lives in a solitary and meager existence of a prayer and sexual abstinence adhering strictly to the most severe Islamic doctrines.His extraordinary devotion attracts the attention of the leader of a rich and powerful Istanbul religious group and he offers him an administrative post as a rent collector for their numerous properties. Muharrem's new job throws him into the modern outside world he has successfully avoided for so long. He soon witnesses conflict attitude toward alcohol consumption and goodwill.He notices that he himself has become proud, domineering and even dishonest.To make matters worse, Muharrem's inner peace is unnerved by the tormenting image of seductive woman who tempts him in his dreams,both night and day.With the balance of his devotion now upset,his fear of God begins to eat away at his senses.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMartian Child (2007)
A recently-widowed science fiction writer considers whether to adopt a hyper-imaginative 6-year-old abandoned and socially-rejected boy who says he's really from Mars.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan on Fire (1957)
Bitter over their divorce, a wealthy businessman prevents his ex-wife from seeing their child. She then takes him to custody court and a judge tries to determine what will be best for the child.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Astronaut Farmer (2007)
Texan Charles Farmer left the Air Force as a young man to save the family ranch when his dad died. Like most American ranchers, he owes his bank. Unlike most, he's an astrophysicist with a rocket in his barn - one he's built and wants to take into space. It's his dream. The FBI puts him under surveillance when he tries to buy rocket fuel, and the FAA stalls him when he files a flight plan – but Charles is undeterred.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Lift Off?
The closest matches to Lift Off are The Etruscan Smile (2018), And When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007) and The Music Never Stopped (2011). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Lift Off?
Start with The Etruscan Smile (2018), the closest match to Lift Off.
What is the highest-rated movie like Lift Off?
October Sky (1999), rated 7.7/10 by 1,529 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Lift Off?
My Father's Shadow (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Lift Off?
Yes: The Etruscan Smile (2018), And When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007) and The Music Never Stopped (2011).
How are movies similar to Lift Off chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Lift Off, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.