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Dead Poets Society poster

Movies that feel likeDead 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.

If you loved Dead Poets Society, the closest films we have are Mud (2013), The Florida Project (2017) and Malena (2000). All three share Dead Poets Society'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).

🍅 85% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.1 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Peter Weircontemplativewarmwistful
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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See it on the Mood Map

If Dead Poets Society hit the spot, these will too

Mud poster
Mud
2013 · dir. Jeff Nichols
🍅 97%★ 7.3drama

Boys learning about loyalty and love from a flawed grown-up

The difference: Southern-river danger — a fugitive, not a classroom

Two teenage boys find a fugitive hiding out on an island in the Mississippi River and help him reunite with his lover and escape an avenging family and their armed posse.

The Florida Project poster
The Florida Project
2017 · dir. Sean Baker
🍅 96%★ 7.6drama

Childhood wonder persisting right beside adult failure

The difference: No inspiring mentor — the adults are barely holding on

The story of a precocious six year-old and her ragtag group of friends whose summer break is filled with childhood wonder, possibility and a sense of adventure while the adults around them struggle with hard times.

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

Coming of age shaped by watching, longing and a harsh world

The difference: Erotic fixation and wartime cruelty — not a gentle memory

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.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower poster
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
2012 · dir. Stephen Chbosky
🍅 85%★ 7.9dramaPrime Video

Being taken in by people who make school feel survivable

The difference: Trauma sits closer to the surface, and no mentor stands at the center

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1991. High school freshman Charlie is a wallflower, always watching life from the sidelines, until two senior students, Sam and her stepbrother Patrick, become his mentors, helping him discover the joys of friendship, music and love.

Stand by Me poster
Stand by Me
1986 · dir. Rob Reiner
🍅 89%★ 8.1drama · adventure

Boyhood friendship remembered as the thing that made you who you are

The difference: Rambling and rural, funnier and rougher, with no adult guiding it

After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four boys decide to go see the body. Gordie, Vern, Chris, and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, but they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys' adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.

Rebel Without a Cause poster
Rebel Without a Cause
1955 · dir. Nicholas Ray
🍅 91%★ 7.6drama

Young men straining against every authority handed to them

The difference: Raw fifties anguish — rebellion without a wise guide

After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems. While searching for some stability, Stark forms a bond with a disturbed classmate, Plato, and falls for local girl Judy. However, Judy is the girlfriend of neighborhood tough, Buzz. When Buzz violently confronts Jim and challenges him to a drag race, the new kid's real troubles begin.

The 400 Blows poster
The 400 Blows
1959 · dir. François Truffaut
🍅 99%★ 8dramaMax

Common ground: growing up

The difference: Takes it somewhere less warm than Dead Poets Society does

For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures.

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

Both land stillness and wistfulness at once

The difference: Made in the 2010s, in a different era of the craft

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.

Y Tu Mamá También poster
Y Tu Mamá También
2001 · dir. Alfonso Cuarón
🍅 90%★ 7.7drama · romance

A trip that teaches two friends who they really are

The difference: Sexually frank and unsentimental — no poetry-class idealism

In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.

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

One thread runs through both: 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

Drama built on wistfulness, twice over

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.

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The best-reviewed films that share Dead Poets Society’s defining feeling.