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Movies that feel like Departures (2008)

If you loved Departures, the closest films we have are The Blind Side (2009), Moneyball (2011) and Creed (2015). All three share Departures's contemplative and hopeful feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 10 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, YouTube TV and TNT and others, checked against today's data.

Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.

🍅 80% Rotten Tomatoes8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Yojiro Takitacontemplativehopeful

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If Departures hit the spot, these will too

The Blind Side poster
The Blind Side
2009 · dir. John Lee Hancock
🍅 66%7.6drama

Both land stillness and hope at once

The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.

Feels alike?
Moneyball poster
Moneyball
2011 · dir. Bennett Miller
🍅 94%7.6drama

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

The story of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to put together a baseball team on a budget, by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players.

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Creed poster
Creed
2015 · dir. Ryan Coogler
🍅 95%7.6drama

Hopeful drama, and it commits to that

The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.

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A Few Good Men poster
A Few Good Men
1992 · dir. Rob Reiner
🍅 85%7.7drama

Both keep circling back to mortality

When cocky military lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee and his co-counsel, Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, are assigned to a murder case, they uncover a hazing ritual that could implicate high-ranking officials such as shady Col. Nathan Jessep.

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Rocky poster
Rocky
1976 · dir. John G. Avildsen
🍅 93%8.1drama

Both trade on stillness more than on being drama

The difference: 32 years apart, and the 1970s show

Rocky Balboa is a Philadelphia club fighter who seems to be going nowhere. But when a stroke of fate puts him in the ring with a world heavyweight champion, Rocky knows that it's his one shot at the big time — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go the distance and come out a winner!

Feels alike?
Million Dollar Baby poster
Million Dollar Baby
2004 · dir. Clint Eastwood
🍅 90%8.1drama

The same preoccupation in both: mortality

The difference: Missing the hope of Departures

Despondent over a painful estrangement from his daughter, trainer Frankie Dunn isn't prepared for boxer Maggie Fitzgerald to enter his life. But Maggie's determined to go pro and to convince Dunn and his cohort to help her.

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The Pursuit of Happyness poster
The Pursuit of Happyness
2006 · dir. Gabriele Muccino
🍅 67%8drama

The same drama instincts

A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career.

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The Social Network poster
The Social Network
2010 · dir. David Fincher
🍅 96%7.8drama

Drama approached the same way

In 2003, Harvard undergrad and computer programmer Mark Zuckerberg begins work on a new concept that eventually turns into the global social network known as Facebook. Six years later, Mark is one of the youngest billionaires ever, but his unprecedented success leads to both personal and legal complications when he ends up on the receiving end of two lawsuits, one involving his former friend.

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The Help poster
The Help
2011 · dir. Tate Taylor
🍅 75%8.1drama

Cut from the same drama cloth

Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson is an African-American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family's struggles with money and her desperate need for jobs; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is a young white woman who has recently moved back home after graduating college to find out her childhood maid has mysteriously disappeared. These three stories intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around "the help"; yet they are always kept at a certain distance because of racial lines.

Feels alike?
Seven Pounds poster
Seven Pounds
2008 · dir. Gabriele Muccino
🍅 26%7.6drama

Both are drama through and through

The difference: Critics were much harder on this one

An IRS agent with a fateful secret embarks on an extraordinary journey of redemption by forever changing the lives of seven strangers.

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The Fighter poster
The Fighter
2010 · dir. David O. Russell
🍅 91%7.8drama

Both are drama through and through

Boxer "Irish" Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world light welterweight title. His Rocky-like rise was shepherded by half-brother Dicky, a boxer-turned-trainer who rebounded in life after nearly being KO'd by drugs and crime.

Feels alike?
Crash poster
Crash
2005 · dir. Paul Haggis
🍅 73%7.7drama

The same drama instincts

In post-Sept. 11 Los Angeles, tensions erupt when the lives of a Brentwood housewife, her district attorney husband, a Persian shopkeeper, two cops, a pair of carjackers and a Korean couple converge during a 36-hour period.

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In the mood for more contemplative?

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The best-reviewed films that share Departures's defining feeling.