Movies like Children of Secret (2002)
The best movies like Children of Secret (2002) are Yellow Letters (2026), About Dry Grasses (2023) and İstanbul Tales (2005). If Children of Secret hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPaper Lives (2021)8.0/10 from 426 votes
- NewestYellow Letters (2026)Released 2026
Yellow Letters (2026)
The marriage of Derya and Aziz is under pressure after losing their jobs because of state arbitrariness and moving to Istanbul to live with Aziz's parents. They and their 13-year-old daughter Ezgi have to redefine their way of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAbout Dry Grasses (2023)
A young art teacher hopes to be transferred to Istanbul after completing his mandatory duty in a remote village school in Anatolia. After accusations of inappropriate contact with a student surface, his hopes of escape fade and he descends further into an existential crisis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisİstanbul Tales (2005)
Five interconnected stories set in modern-day Istanbul based on the fairytales Snow White, Cinderella, Pied Piper, Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Tale of Three Sisters (2019)
A stagnant and gloomy village in the 1980s. Reyhan, Nurhan, and Havva, three sisters were sent to town as 'besleme' (foster child and maid). Since they fail their foster parents for different reasons, they are sent back to their father's house in their poor village. Deprived of their dreams of a better life, they try to hold on to each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPaper Lives (2021)
In the streets of Istanbul, ailing waste warehouse worker Mehmet takes a small boy under his wing and must soon confront his own traumatic childhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSibel (2019)
25-year-old Sibel lives with her father and sister in a secluded village in the mountains of Turkey’s Black Sea region. Sibel is a mute, but she communicates by using the ancestral whistled language of the area.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCharm City Kings (2020)
Mouse desperately wants to join The Midnight Clique, the infamous Baltimore dirt bike riders who rule the summertime streets. When Midnight’s leader, Blax, takes 14-year-old Mouse under his wing, Mouse soon finds himself torn between the straight-and-narrow and a road filled with fast money and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this10 Days of a Curious Man (2024)
When a young woman goes missing in Istanbul, a jaded writer gets tangled up in a deadly chain of events as he sets out to find her—and a good story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTyler Perry's Duplicity (2025)
High-powered attorney Marley faces her most personal case yet when she is tasked with uncovering the truth behind the murder of her best friend Fela’s husband. With the help of her boyfriend – a former cop turned private investigator – Marley’s search for what really happened leads her down a treacherous maze of deception and betrayal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this1 Chance 2 Dance (2014)
When a 17-year old aspiring dancer is uprooted in her high school senior year, she finds herself divided between two boys, and she will have one last shot at making her dream a reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Parts You Lose (2019)
An unlikely friendship unfolds between a young deaf boy, Wesley, and a fugitive criminal who takes refuge in an abandoned barn on the family’s rural North Dakota farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWalkaway Joe (2020)
A young boy named Dallas goes on a search for his pool-hustling father after he abandons their family. Dallas is determined to bring his father home when he meets Joe Haley, a drifter wrestling with a past he'd rather forget, who feels responsible for Dallas' safety and reluctantly takes him in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
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 thisColdwater (2013)
A teenage boy is sent to a juvenile reform facility in the wilderness. As we learn about the tragic events that sent him there, his struggle becomes one for survival with the inmates, counselors, and the retired war colonel in charge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Neighbor (2022)
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bandit (1996)
The film tells the story of a group of bandits captured in the Cudi Mountains 35 years ago. All of them have died, either from illness or vendettas; only Baran (Şener Şen) survives. After serving his 35-year sentence, Baran is released from Viranşehir Prison and learns that his birthplace is now submerged under the waters of a dam. Ceren Ana (Zübeyde Erden) tells him about the past. Baran is imprisoned because of the betrayal of his old friend Berfo (Kamran Usluer). Berfo stole the bandits gold, bought his childhood love Keje (Sermin Hürmeriç) from her father, and fled to Istanbul. While Baran is searching for Keje, he encounters a young man named Cumali (Uğur Yücel). These two men find solace in each other to avoid being swept away by the storms of the big city. And in this world where violence, betrayal, passion, boundless love and hatred intertwine, they try to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisImperial Dreams (2014)
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlues (2022)
'Blues' is a portrait. Ernest Angermüller, a talented young mime artist who became a quadriplegic after a car accident, and Roza Misiewicz, a young Polish immigrant who works as a carer in France. 'Blues' is the story of their meeting, their memories and a fragmented picture of their desires and dreams as young adults in the making.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A+ Life (1999)
A man struggles with his responsibities to his father and his desire for true love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Tales of the Bizarre: 2022 Fall Special (2022)
As part of the long-running anthology series, which began in 1990, this special features a collection of mysterious and thought-provoking stories. Episode Summaries: 1. "Love Triangle with My Ex" Mika's ex-boyfriend reappears in her life as a robot, complicating her current relationship. 2. "The Concierge" A single mother moves into a new apartment where a mysterious concierge begins to fulfill her every wish with unsettling consequences. 3. "Waga-sama" A workaholic CEO returns to his hometown and encounters a strange boy tied to his childhood and eerie events. 4. "Wait a Minute!" A man’s love confession is interrupted by two versions of his crush from the future, causing chaos.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Are They Still Shooting? (1993)
Boja has escaped the bloodshed at home and lives in the Big Apple, while his brother Mile is in the middle of the fighting. Boja writes long letters to his brother, who does not reply. Miles' girlfriend Moshinka has also made it to America and she is attracted to Boja, even though she is a staunch pacifist and he longs to take part in the fighting by smuggling weapons back to Croatia.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Maginot Line (TBA)
A very stressed young woman is dismayed to find herself behaving like her own mother, with whom she has an extremely combative relationship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
On the Road (2018)
A thief while fleeing from the police becomes a witness to an accident.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Limbo (TBA)
Unwilling to process a near-fatal car accident, an overworked director arrives late to the set of his horror film to find that most of the crew has left. Determined to complete the film, he and the remaining crew find out that his trauma from the accident refuses to let him go that easily.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Phantom (2023)
Connor has been going through a tough time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Grieve (2023)
A man engulfed in the suffocating grip of loss finds his life fragmented. Struggling to navigate through his emotional fog, his mother suggests a retreat to her cabin – but an ancient entity that thrives on sorrow has taken root. The New England winter punctuates this love letter to creeping horror and slow cinema.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Children of Secret and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Children of Secret?
The closest matches to Children of Secret are Yellow Letters (2026), About Dry Grasses (2023) and İstanbul Tales (2005). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Children of Secret?
Start with Yellow Letters (2026), the closest match to Children of Secret.
What is the highest-rated movie like Children of Secret?
Paper Lives (2021), rated 8.0/10 by 426 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Children of Secret?
Yellow Letters (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Children of Secret chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Children of Secret, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.