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The Straight Story poster

Movies that feel likeThe Straight Story (1999)

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.

If you loved The Straight Story, the closest films we have are Biutiful (2010), Malena (2000) and The Hand of God (2021). All three share The Straight Story'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 House of Hummingbird (2019).

🍅 95% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. David Lynchcontemplativewistful
11 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If The Straight Story hit the spot, these will too

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

Common ground: nostalgic

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

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.

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

The same mix in both: stillness, then wistfulness

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

The same preoccupation in both: family relationships

The difference: 22 years apart, and the 2020s show

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

One thread runs through both: family relationships

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.

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

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

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.

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

Drama with a pulse of wistfulness, in both cases

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

Contemplative drama in both cases

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.

Boyhood poster
Boyhood
2014 · dir. Richard Linklater
🍅 97%★ 7.9dramaNetflix

Both keep coming back to the same thing: family

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.

House of Hummingbird poster
House of Hummingbird
2019 · dir. Kim Bora
🍅 98%★ 7.4dramaPrime Video

A streak of wistfulness through both

14-year-old Eun-hee moves through life like a hummingbird searching for a taste of sweetness wherever she may find it. Ignored by her parents and abused by her brother, she finds her escape by roaming the neighborhood with her best friend, going on adventures, and exploring young love.

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

Drama approached the same way

The difference: Sits closer to crime than The Straight Story does

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.

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

Both play drama straight

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

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

Both are built on the same subject: melancholy

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.

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