Movies like Going to Heaven (2015)
The best movies like Going to Heaven (2015) are Dad (1989), Prisoner's Daughter (2023) and You Will Die at Twenty (2020). If Going to Heaven hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPersepolis (2007)7.9/10 from 2,277 votes
- NewestThe Thing with Feathers (2025)Released 2025
Dad (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 thisPrisoner's Daughter (2023)
Released from prison with terminal cancer, Max tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter and the grandson he’s never known. When his daughter’s abusive, drug-addicted ex-husband reappears, Max’s violent past comes back to haunt them all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou Will Die at Twenty (2020)
Shortly after Muzamil was born, the village's holy man predicts that he will die at age 20. Muzamil's father can't stand the curse and leaves home. Sakina raises her son as a single mother, overly protective. One day, Muzamil turns 19.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAround the Bend (2004)
A tale of four generations of men, all of whom have had their offspring at a young age: a great-grandfather, a grandfather, a father in his twenties and a son who is about 7 years old. When the oldest member passes away, the trio heads out on the road together in the Southwest to search out an old family secret that connects to their past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTowelhead (2008)
A young Arab-American girl struggles with her sexual obsession, a bigoted Army reservist, and her strict father during the Gulf War.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shack (2017)
A grieving man receives a mysterious, personal invitation to meet with God at a place called 'The Shack'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Thing with Feathers (2025)
Following the death of his wife, a young father's hold on reality crumbles, and a strange presence begins to stalk him from the shadowy recesses of the apartment he shares with his two young sons.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat They Had (2018)
A woman must fly back to her hometown when her Alzheimer's-stricken mother wanders into a blizzard. The return home forces her to confront her past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOrdinary Angels (2024)
Inspired by the incredible true story of a hairdresser who single-handedly rallies an entire community to help a widowed father save the life of his critically ill young daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSons and Lovers (1960)
The son of a working-class British mining family has dreams of pursuing an art career, but when he strikes up an affair with an older, married woman from the town it enrages his kind but possessive mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEnd of the Road (2022)
Recently widowed mom Brenda fights to protect her family during a harrowing road trip when a murder and a missing bag of cash plunge them into danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisEve's Bayou (1997)
Summer heats up in rural Louisiana beside Eve’s Bayou, 1962, as the Batiste family tries to survive the secrets they’ve kept and the betrayals they’ve endured.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBabel (2006)
Tragedy strikes a married couple vacationing in the Moroccan desert, which jumpstarts an interlocking story involving four different families.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDon't Make Me Go (2022)
A terminally ill man and his teenage daughter embark on a road trip from California to New Orleans for his 20th college reunion. While there, he secretly hopes she can reunite with the mother who left them long ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl in the Park (2007)
A mother, enduringly traumatized by the disappearance of her three-year old daughter 15 years ago, has cut herself off from her ex-husband and son. However, when a troubled young woman with a checkered past enters her life, old psychic wounds painfully resurface, as does the illogical and increasingly irrational hope that the young woman may be the daughter she lost so long ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (2003)
Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with "Old Dan" and "Little Ann."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Woman (2018)
A young grandmother in a small Pennsylvania town raises her daughter's child after the girl disappears. All the while, a desperate search for her continues.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI'll Be Home for Christmas (2016)
Jackie Foster, a dynamic Assistant District Attorney and single mom, is looking forward to wrapping up her latest case and spending Christmas with Gracie, her adorable and precocious, eight-year old daughter. But when Jackie’s estranged dad, Jack , a gruff retired police officer, unexpectedly shows up at her door, they will be forced to confront old wounds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Graffiti (1973)
A couple of high school graduates spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAparajito (1956)
Apu and his family have moved away from the country to live in the bustling holy city of Benares. As he progresses from wide-eyed child to intellectually curious teenager, eventually studying in Kolkata, we witness his academic and moral education, as well as the growing complexity of his relationship with his mother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIrina Palm (2007)
Maggie, a quiet retiring grandmother, finds herself helpless as her grandson’s health deteriorates. When one last chance appears, but money is desperately short, Maggie acts to raise the cash in a fashion that surprises everyone but her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnche il riccio respira (TBA)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Big (1988)
When a young boy makes a wish at a carnival machine to be big, he wakes up the following morning to find that it has been granted and his body has grown older overnight, but he is still the same 13-year-old boy inside. Now he must learn how to cope with the unfamiliar world of grown-ups, including getting a job and having his first romantic encounter with a woman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBad Timing (1982)
Nancy Savoca’s second student film follows two twelve-year olds, Bobby (Joey D’Arelli) and Denise (Kelly Cinnante) who run away to Hollywood. They land at an open mic night in a New Jersey bar where Bobby’s aunt and uncle (once aspiring actors) lay out the realities of life as a working actor. The film was inspired by performers Savoca met while making her first student film, most notably William DaPrato. Filled with wry humor and quiet revelations about the pursuit of artistic dreams, Bad Timing also features Marianne Leone and the on-screen debut of future Academy Award winner Chris Cooper.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Paranoid Park (2007)
A teenage skateboarder becomes suspected of being connected with a security guard who suffered a brutal death in a skate park called "Paranoid Park".
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPersepolis (2007)
In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Silent Landscape (2003)
Hamid is an Iranian teenage boy whose sexuality brings him into conflict with his family's Muslim beliefs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
It's a Nice Night (2022)
Ollie’s best friend, Bunny, is moving away. As they spend what feels like their very last day together, reminiscing on the past and reliving their childhoods, they get caught in a cycle of arguments and prolonged silences. With Bunny’s help, Ollie slowly grasps what it means to move on.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Going to Heaven and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Going to Heaven?
The closest matches to Going to Heaven are Dad (1989), Prisoner's Daughter (2023) and You Will Die at Twenty (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Going to Heaven?
Start with Dad (1989), the closest match to Going to Heaven.
What is the highest-rated movie like Going to Heaven?
Persepolis (2007), rated 7.9/10 by 2,277 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Going to Heaven?
The Thing with Feathers (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Going to Heaven chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Going to Heaven, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.