Movies like The Old Oak (2023)
The best movies like The Old Oak (2023) are Mr. Church (2016), Sweetness in the Belly (2019) and I, Daniel Blake (2016). If The Old Oak hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedIt's a Wonderful Life (1946)8.3/10 from 5,157 votes
- NewestThe Absence of Eden (2024)Released 2024
Mr. Church (2016)
A unique friendship develops when a little girl and her dying mother inherit a cook - Mr. Church. What begins as an arrangement that should only last six months, instead spans fifteen years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSweetness in the Belly (2019)
Orphaned in Africa as a child, Lilly escapes to England as a refugee, fleeing civil war in Ethiopia. Lost in this cold new world, Lilly embraces the immigrant community in London, attempting to reunite people with their scattered families. But as her friend Amina discovers, Lilly's mission isn't purely selfless: a passionate lost love affair is revealed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI, Daniel Blake (2016)
A 59-year-old carpenter recovering from a heart attack befriends a single mother and her two kids as they navigate the impersonal, Kafkaesque benefits system. With equal amounts of humour, warmth and despair, the journey is heartfelt and emotional until the end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Good Lie (2014)
A young refugee of the Sudanese Civil War who wins a lottery for relocation to the United States with three other lost boys. Encountering the modern world for the first time, they develop an unlikely friendship with a brash American woman assigned to help them, but the young man struggles to adjust to this new life and his feelings of guilt about the brother he left behind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe River (1984)
Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Beautiful Game (2024)
A group of advocates to end homelessness organize an annual tournament for homeless people to compete in a series of football matches known as The Homeless World Cup.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIt's a Wonderful Life (1946)
George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRobin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
Nobleman crusader Robin of Locksley breaks out of a Jerusalem prison with the help of Moorish fellow prisoner Azeem and travels back home to England. But upon arrival he discovers his dead father in the ruins of his family estate, killed by the vicious sheriff of Nottingham, Robin and Azeem join forces with outlaws Little John and Will Scarlett to save the kingdom from the sheriff's villainy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Together Now (2020)
An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Long, Hot Summer (1958)
Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHope and Glory (1987)
A middle-aged man recalls his childhood growing up in and around London during World War II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSecond Best (1994)
The difficult relationship between a british postal officer and his adoptive son.
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 thisIn This World (2003)
Torn straight from the headlines, Michael Winterbottom's compelling and prescient 'In This World' follows young Afghan Jamal and his older cousin Enayat as they embark on a hazardous overland trip from their refugee camp at Peshawar, north-west Pakistan. Entering Turkey on foot through a snowy, Kurdish-controlled pass, the pair again take their lives into their hands and face suffocation when they are locked in a freight container on a ship bound for Italy. From there they plan to travel on to Paris, the Sangatte refuge centre and ultimately asylum in London.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Christmas Gift from Bob (2020)
James Bowen finds himself the target of an animal welfare investigation that threatens to take away his beloved cat, Bob, at Christmas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hours (2002)
The story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings and their fears. Their stories intertwine, and finally come together in a surprising, transcendent moment of shared recognition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThis Happy Breed (1944)
A chronicle of the lives of the Gibbons family, from shortly after the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Street Cat Named Bob (2016)
James Bowen, a homeless busker and recovering drug addict, has his life transformed when he meets a stray ginger cat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIt's a Free World... (2007)
Working-class Angie, sacked from a recruitment agency for bad public behaviour, teams up with her flatmate to run a similar business from their kitchen. With immigrants desperate for work, the opportunities are considerable, particularly for two girls so in tune with these times.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThis Sporting Life (1963)
In early 1960s Northern England, Frank Machin is mean, tough and ambitious enough to become an immediate star in the rugby league team run by local employer Weaver.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAbout a Boy (2002)
Will Freeman is a good-looking, smooth-talking bachelor whose primary goal in life is avoiding any kind of responsibility. But when he invents an imaginary son in order to meet attractive single moms, Will gets a hilarious lesson about life from a bright, but hopelessly geeky 12-year-old named Marcus. Now, as Will struggles to teach Marcus the art of being cool, Marcus teaches Will that you're never too old to grow up.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLost in Translation (2003)
Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDead Poets Society (1989)
At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBoys Don't Cry (1999)
A young transgender man explores his gender identity and searches for love in rural Nebraska.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA History of Violence (2005)
An average family is thrust into the spotlight after the father commits a seemingly self-defense murder at his diner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHotel Rwanda (2004)
Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEdward Scissorhands (1990)
A small suburban town receives a visit from a castaway unfinished science experiment named Edward.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDancer in the Dark (2000)
Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her young son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life becomes increasingly difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Absence of Eden (2024)
An ICE Agent struggling with the moral dilemmas of border security and an undocumented woman fighting to escape a ruthless cartel cross paths and work together to save the life of an innocent girl.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Sheets Must Be Silk (2011)
A young photographer doesn't know it, but he is about to take one of the worlds beloved photos. During the course of the evening, two people find love encapsulated in a moment. But love like this was never meant to be, unless it is captured forever in time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Old Oak?
The closest matches to The Old Oak are Mr. Church (2016), Sweetness in the Belly (2019) and I, Daniel Blake (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Old Oak?
Start with Mr. Church (2016), the closest match to The Old Oak.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Old Oak?
It's a Wonderful Life (1946), rated 8.3/10 by 5,157 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Old Oak?
The Absence of Eden (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Old Oak?
Yes: Mr. Church (2016), Sweetness in the Belly (2019) and I, Daniel Blake (2016).
How are movies similar to The Old Oak chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Old Oak, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.