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Boyhood poster

Movies that feel likeBoyhood (2014)

The film tells a story of a divorced couple trying to raise their young son. The story follows the boy for twelve years, from first grade at age 6 through 12th grade at age 17-18, and examines his relationship with his parents as he grows.

If you loved Boyhood, the closest films we have are City of God (2002), A Bronx Tale (1993) and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010). All three share Boyhood's contemplative and wistful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (2024).

🍅 97% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Richard Linklatercontemplativewistfulgritty
10 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Disney Plus · Paramount Plus Essential

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If Boyhood hit the spot, these will too

City of God poster
City of God
2002 · dir. Fernando Meirelles
🍅 91%★ 8.6drama · crimeParamount+

The same preoccupation in both: growing up

The difference: Leans harder into crime than Boyhood does

In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighborhood, while José “Zé” Pequeno is an ambitious drug dealer diving into a dangerous life of crime.

A Bronx Tale poster
A Bronx Tale
1993 · dir. Robert De Niro
🍅 97%★ 7.8drama · crime

Both land stillness and wistfulness at once

The difference: 21 years apart, and the 1990s show

Set in the Bronx during the tumultuous 1960s, an adolescent boy is torn between his honest, working-class father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss. Complicating matters is the youngster's growing attraction - forbidden in his neighborhood - for a beautiful black girl.

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within poster
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
2010 · dir. José Padilha
🍅 91%★ 8drama · action · crime

One thread runs through both: nostalgic

After a bloody invasion of the BOPE in the High-Security Penitentiary Bangu 1 in Rio de Janeiro to control a rebellion of interns, the Lieutenant-Colonel Roberto Nascimento and the second in command Captain André Matias are accused by the Human Right Aids member Diogo Fraga of execution of prisoners. Matias is transferred to the corrupted Military Police and Nascimento is exonerated from the BOPE by the Governor.

Biutiful poster
Biutiful
2010 · dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu
🍅 66%★ 7.4dramaNetflix

Both keep coming back to the same thing: nostalgic

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

This is a story of a man in free fall. On the road to redemption, darkness lights his way. Connected with the afterlife, Uxbal is a tragic hero and father of two who's sensing the danger of death. He struggles with a tainted reality and a fate that works against him in order to forgive, for love, and forever.

The Straight Story poster
The Straight Story
1999 · dir. David Lynch
🍅 95%★ 8dramaDisney+

Common ground: family

The difference: Takes it somewhere less gritty than Boyhood does

Retired farmer and widower Alvin Straight learns one day that his estranged brother Lyle has suffered a severe stroke. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. He then has the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.

Leave No Trace poster
Leave No Trace
2018 · dir. Debra Granik
🍅 100%★ 7.1drama

Both are built on the same subject: growing up

A father and daughter live a perfect but mysterious existence in Forest Park, a beautiful nature reserve near Portland, Oregon, rarely making contact with the world. But when a small mistake tips them off to authorities, they are sent on an increasingly erratic journey in search of a place to call their own.

The Hand of God poster
The Hand of God
2021 · dir. Paolo Sorrentino
🍅 83%★ 7.3dramaNetflix

Contemplative drama in both cases

In 1980s Naples, an awkward teen struggling to find his place experiences heartbreak and liberation after he's inadvertently saved from a freak accident by football legend Diego Maradona.

How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies poster
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
2024 · dir. Pat Boonnitipat
🍅 98%★ 7.9dramaNetflix

Wistful drama, and it commits to that

M, a university dropout low on money and luck, volunteers to take care of his terminally ill grandmother, in the hope of pocketing an inheritance.

Malena poster
Malena
2000 · dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
🍅 54%★ 7.4drama

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

12-year-old Renato experiences three significant events on the same day: the beginning of the Second World War, getting a bike, and witnessing the arrival of the gorgeous Malèna. Through his eyes, we see the curse of beauty and loneliness of Malena, whose husband is presumed dead, and, through his soul, we see his love for her.

Mommy poster
Mommy
2014 · dir. Xavier Dolan
🍅 89%★ 8drama

Both run wistful where it counts

A peculiar neighbor offers hope to a recent widow who is struggling to raise a teenager who is unpredictable and, sometimes, violent.

The Shadow's Edge poster
The Shadow's Edge
2025 · dir. Larry Yang
🍅 82%★ 7action · crime · drama

A streak of grit through both

Macau Police brings the tracking expert police officer out of retirement to help catch a dangerous group of professional thieves.

The Fabelmans poster
The Fabelmans
2022 · dir. Steven Spielberg
🍅 92%★ 7.5dramaPeacock

Common ground: high school

Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.

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The best-reviewed films that share Boyhood’s defining feeling.