Movies like Shells (2022)
The best movies like Shells (2022) are Hounddog (2008), All Day and a Night (2020) and Eleanor the Great (2025). If Shells hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Shells
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat Maisie Knew (2013)7.1/10 from 466 votes
- NewestUphill (2026)Released 2026
Hounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 thisCall Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIron Jawed Angels (2004)
Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisCome Sunday (2018)
Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAnuja (2024)
When a brilliant nine-year-old working in a sweatshop gets a chance to attend school, she must make a difficult choice for her and her sister's future.
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 thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSalomé (2013)
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (1996)
A dramatization of the life of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (Don Cheadle), with a lot of factual based occurrences. A reformed junkie returns from prison to clean up his act and devote the rest of his life to the young kids of Harlem. 1996 was the 25th anniversary of the first tournament named after him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Congress (2013)
An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Short History of the Long Road (2019)
Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFruit of Paradise (1970)
An experimental retelling of the story of Adam and Eve which then progresses into an allegorical depiction of the loss of innocence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNothing Personal (2009)
Alone in her empty flat, from her window Anne observes the people passing by who nervously snatch up the personal belongings and pieces of furniture she has put out on the pavement. Her final gesture of taking a ring off her finger signals she is leaving her previous life in Holland behind. She goes to Ireland, where she chooses to lead a solitary, wandering existence, striding through the austere landscapes of Connemara. During her travels, she discovers a house that is home to a hermit, Martin.
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 thisBrother Mary (2021)
To understand a mysterious man in a Victorian gown who sings praises to God on the streets of contemporary Vancouver, we meet the people who claim to be closest to him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
One Last Shot (2026)
June and her friends give everything they've got to complete a movie for her college application project.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Monkey or Man (2022)
When a circus trio have a particularly disastrous show, Mandy the Acrobat must decide whether to run away from the circus, or to stay and help her friends.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Atlantis, 2003 (2018)
2003. Martin and Denisija, a young couple from Ukraine, are trying to get to Germany.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Dynamite Watcher (1963)
Three separate short stories by Jan Drda from the collection The Dumb Barricade: The Dynamite Watchman, Hatred and Traces.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
All My Life (2022)
The short musical All my life is a love story that takes place over many years. After 50 years, Maria arrives with her husband at the 50th-anniversary celebration of the choir she belonged to. It turns out that Jan, an old love from her 20s still has strong feelings towards her. Can true love survive all this time?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Uphill (2026)
Ambitious Madleen and carefree creative spirit Hugo embark on a symbolic journey up the mountain of success, exposing the tension between societal pressure and self-fulfillment. While Madleen strives to meet society’s expectations and achieve a high-status career, Hugo chooses to move through life at his own pace, guided by creativity rather than external expectations. The film invites the audience to reflect on the choices young adults face in a success-driven society and to question the decisions we make and the values we prioritize in life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mae (2021)
Mae and Gemma spend one last night together knowing that, in the morning, their relationship will be over. Mae struggles to get through to Gemma, who does everything to cling onto what she thinks is the perfect relationship. Through manipulation and seduction, the two women try to understand how what is tearing them apart is also what is keeping them together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Final Day (2024)
Yadira, a creative young Cuban girl, struggles packing on her final day home. Embarking on an immigration journey alone, her suitcase feels too small to carry everything her heart holds.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Shells and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Shells?
The closest matches to Shells are Hounddog (2008), All Day and a Night (2020) and Eleanor the Great (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Shells?
Start with Hounddog (2008), the closest match to Shells.
What is the highest-rated movie like Shells?
What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 466 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Shells?
Uphill (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Shells chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Shells, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.