Movies like Barely Dreaming (2021)
The best movies like Barely Dreaming (2021) are The Shepherd (2023), Nine Days (2021) and Donovan's Echo (2011). If Barely Dreaming hooked you with its drama and fantasy, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWaking Life (2001)7.5/10 from 995 votes
- Newest40 Acres (2025)Released 2025
The Shepherd (2023)
On Christmas Eve, a fighter pilot on his way home becomes lost while flying over water and needs a miracle to land safely.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNine Days (2021)
A bureaucrat interviews five souls to decide which of them will be given a life on Earth. But he soon faces an existential challenge of his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDonovan's Echo (2011)
A series of uncanny déjà vu events force a man to re-examine his tragic past, memory, instinct, and future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll That Money Can Buy (1941)
Farmer Jabez Stone, about to lose his land, agrees to sell his soul to the devil, known as Mr. Scratch, who gives Jabez seven years to enjoy the fruits of his sale before he collects. Over that time, Jabez pays off his debts and helps many neighboring farmers, then becomes an advocate for the upstanding Sen. Daniel Webster. When Jabez's contract with Mr. Scratch concludes, he desperately turns to Webster to represent him in a trial for his soul.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHouse of Anubis: The Touchstone of Ra (2013)
The students of Anubis House are on the eve of their graduation when they encounter a new group of underclassmen and a mysterious stone that leads them on a quest to save the world from evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTuesday (2024)
A mother and her teenage daughter must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHorns (2013)
In the aftermath of his girlfriend's mysterious death, a young man awakens to strange horns sprouting from his temples.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWaking Life (2001)
Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Nines (2007)
A troubled actor, a television show runner, and an acclaimed videogame designer find their lives intertwining in mysterious and unsettling ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNorthfork (2003)
The year is 1955, and a great flood is coming to Northfork, Montana. A new hydroelectric dam is about to be installed in the mountains above the town, ready to submerge the valley in the name of progress. It is the responsibility of a six-man Evacuation Committee to relocate the townsfolk to higher ground. Most have duly departed, but a few stubborn stragglers remain – among them a priest caring for a sickly orphan, a boy whose fevered visions are leading him to believe he is a member of a roaming band of lost angels desperately searching for a way home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this40 Acres (2025)
Hailey Freeman and her family are the last descendants of African American farmers who settled in rural Canada after the Civil War. In a famine-decimated near future, they now struggle to safeguard their farm, as they make one last stand against a vicious militia hell-bent on taking their 40 Acres.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHereafter (2010)
Three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — are touched by death in different ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
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 & fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisRemember (2015)
With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with dementia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Caveman's Valentine (2001)
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim the death is accidental. Romulus is convinced the man was murdered by a prominent art photographer but how can he prove he's right when everyone thinks he's insane?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisI Am David (2003)
A 12-year-old boy manages to flee a Communist concentration camp on his own, through sheer will and determination. All he has in his possession is a loaf of bread, a letter to deliver to someone in Denmark, and a compass to help get him there.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Gold (2011)
On the Arabian Peninsula in the 1930s, two warring leaders come face to face. The victorious Nesib, Emir of Hobeika, lays down his peace terms to rival Amar, Sultan of Salmaah. The two men agree that neither can lay claim to the area of no man’s land between them called The Yellow Belt. In return, Nesib adopts Amar’s two boys Saleeh and Auda as a guarantee against invasion. Twelve years later, Saleeh and Auda have grown into young men. Saleeh, the warrior, itches to escape his gilded cage and return to his father’s land. Auda cares only for books and the pursuit of knowledge. One day, their adopted father Nesib is visited by an American from Texas. He tells the Emir that his land is blessed with oil and promises him riches beyond his wildest imagination. Nesib imagines a realm of infinite possibility, a kingdom with roads, schools and hospitals all paid for by the black gold beneath the barren sand. There is only one problem. The precious oil is located in the Yellow Belt.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Doctor (2011)
Dr. Martin Blake, who has spent his life looking for respect, meets an 18-year-old patient named Diane, suffering from a kidney infection, and gets a much-needed boost of self-esteem. However, when her health starts improving, Martin fears losing her, so he begins tampering with her treatment, keeping Diane sick and in the hospital right next to him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEnd of Sentence (2019)
Newly widowed Frank Fogle embarks on a journey to Ireland to scatter his late wife’s ashes. His estranged son, Sean, recently released from prison, agrees to join only when his father promises that they’ll never see each other again following the trip. After revelations surface about an old flame of Frank’s wife and a charming hitchhiker with plans of her own intervenes, father and son find themselves drawn together in unexpected ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJonathan (2018)
Jonathan is a young man with a strange condition that only his brother understands. But when he begins to yearn for a different life, their unique bond becomes increasingly tested.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Barely Dreaming?
The closest matches to Barely Dreaming are The Shepherd (2023), Nine Days (2021) and Donovan's Echo (2011). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Barely Dreaming?
Start with The Shepherd (2023), the closest match to Barely Dreaming.
What is the highest-rated movie like Barely Dreaming?
Waking Life (2001), rated 7.5/10 by 995 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Barely Dreaming?
40 Acres (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Barely Dreaming?
Yes: The Shepherd (2023), Nine Days (2021) and Donovan's Echo (2011).
How are movies similar to Barely Dreaming chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Barely Dreaming, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.