feelsalike.comSign in
Short Term 12 poster

Movies that feel likeShort Term 12 (2013)

Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, helps at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.

If you loved Short Term 12, the closest films we have are The Celebration (1998), Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008) and Lilya 4-ever (2002). All three share Short Term 12's contemplative and melancholy feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is City of Men (2007).

🍅 98% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Destin Daniel Crettoncontemplativemelancholygritty
7 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Paramount Plus Essential

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

See it on the Mood Map

When is Short Term 12 streaming? →

If Short Term 12 hit the spot, these will too

The Celebration poster
The Celebration
1998 · dir. Thomas Vinterberg
🍅 91%★ 8drama

Common ground in both: child abuse and parents and children

The family of a wealthy businessman gather to celebrate his 60th birthday. During the course of the party, his eldest son presents a speech that reveals a devastating secret that turns the night into a battle of truth and denial.

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father poster
🍅 94%★ 8.5documentary · crimePrime Video

Both keep coming back to the same thing: pregnancy

The difference: Sits closer to documentary than Short Term 12 does

In 2001, Andrew Bagby, a medical resident, is murdered not long after breaking up with his girlfriend. Soon after, when she announces she's pregnant, one of Andrew's many close friends, Kurt Kuenne, begins this film, a gift to the child.

Lilya 4-ever poster
Lilya 4-ever
2002 · dir. Lukas Moodysson
🍅 84%★ 7.8drama · crime

Contemplative and melancholy in the same breath

In a struggling post-Soviet community, Lilya a teenage girl is abandoned when her mother moves to the United States with her boyfriend. Facing neglect and poverty, she meets Andrei, who offers her a job in Sweden, giving her hope for a better life — and a journey that will change everything.

City of Men poster
City of Men
2007 · dir. Paulo Morelli
🍅 74%★ 7.2dramaParamount+

Common ground: parents and children

The difference: Trades the grit of Short Term 12 for an angle of its own

Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.

Silent Heart poster
Silent Heart
2014 · dir. Bille August
★ 7.1drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Three generations of a family gather over a weekend. The sisters Sanne and Heidi have accepted their terminally-ill mother’s desire to die before her disease worsens; but, as the weekend progresses, their mother's decision becomes harder and harder to deal with, and old conflicts come to the surface.

Nobody Knows poster
Nobody Knows
2004 · dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
🍅 92%★ 8drama

Melancholy drama, and it commits to that

In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.

Drive My Car poster
Drive My Car
2021 · dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
🍅 97%★ 7.5dramaRent or buy

Contemplative drama in both cases

Yusuke Kafuku, a stage actor and director, still unable, after two years, to cope with the loss of his beloved wife, accepts to direct Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he meets Misaki, an introverted young woman, appointed to drive his car. In between rides, secrets from the past and heartfelt confessions will be unveiled.

Cool Hand Luke poster
Cool Hand Luke
1967 · dir. Stuart Rosenberg
🍅 100%★ 8drama · crime

Both work the same grit

The difference: 46 years apart, and the 1960s show

When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.

Central Station poster
Central Station
1998 · dir. Walter Salles
🍅 94%★ 8drama

The shared currency is melancholy

An emotional journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

Taste of Cherry poster
Taste of Cherry
1997 · dir. Abbas Kiarostami
🍅 82%★ 7.7dramaMax

The drama is handled with the same confidence

A middle-aged Tehranian man, Mr. Badii is intent on killing himself and seeks someone to bury him after his demise. Driving around the city, the seemingly well-to-do Badii meets with numerous people, including a Muslim student, asking them to take on the job, but initially he has little luck. Eventually, Badii finds a man who is up for the task because he needs the money, but his new associate soon tries to talk him out of committing suicide.

21 Grams poster
21 Grams
2003 · dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu
🍅 80%★ 7.6drama · crime · thriller

One thread runs through both: suicide attempt

Paul Rivers, an ailing mathematician lovelessly married to an English émigré; Christina Peck, an upper-middle-class suburban housewife and mother of two girls; and Jack Jordan, a born-again ex-con, are brought together by a terrible accident that changes their lives.

Jackie poster
Jackie
2016 · dir. Pablo Larraín
🍅 87%★ 6.6drama

Both know what they want from drama

An account of the days of First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, in the immediate aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963.

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies →

The best-reviewed films that share Short Term 12’s defining feeling.