Movies Like The Vanishing Family

If you liked The Vanishing Family (1986), a movie directed by Ruth C. Streeter, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Tongues Untied (1990)
★ 6.7/10
Marlon Riggs, with assistance from other gay Black men, especially poet Essex Hemphill, celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. The film intercuts footage of Hemphill reciting his poetry, Riggs…
2
C'mon C'mon (2021)
★ 7.1/10
Johnny and his young nephew forge a tenuous but transformational relationship when they embark on a cross-country trip to see life away from Los Angeles.
3
Mother's Day (2016)
★ 6/10
Three generations come together in the week leading up to Mother's Day.
4
Oliver Twist (1948)
★ 7.6/10
When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin…
5
The Thing with Feathers (2025)
★ 6.5/10
Following the death of his wife, a young father's hold on reality crumbles, and a strange presence begins to stalk him from the shadowy recesses of the apartment he shares with his two young sons.
6
Moonlight (2016)
★ 7.4/10
The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his…
7
Blended (2014)
★ 6.9/10
Recently divorced mom Lauren and widowed dad Jim let their friends push them into a blind date, which goes disastrously wrong. Unsurprisingly, neither wants to see the other ever again. However, fate intervenes when…
8
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)
★ 6.9/10
A suburban family chooses seemingly sweet Peyton Flanders as their newborn's nanny. Only much later does the infant's mother, Claire Bartel, realize Peyton's true intentions -- to destroy Claire and replace her in the…
9
James White (2015)
★ 6.6/10
James White is a troubled twentysomething trying to stay afloat in a frenzied New York City. As he retreats further into a hedonistic lifestyle, his mother's battle with a serious illness faces a series of setbacks…
10
Fierce People (2006)
★ 6.1/10
A massage therapist looking to overcome her addictions and reconnect with her son, whose father is an anthropologist in South America studying the Yanomani people, moves in with a wealthy ex-client in New Jersey.
11
20th Century Women (2016)
★ 7.3/10
In 1979 Santa Barbara, California, Dorothea Fields is a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie, at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the…
12
The Florida Project (2017)
★ 7.4/10
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.
13
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete (2013)
★ 7.2/10
Coming of age story about two inner city youths, who are left to fend for themselves over the summer after their mothers are taken away by the authorities.
14
Because I Said So (2007)
★ 5.8/10
In an effort to prevent family history from repeating itself, meddlesome mom Daphne Wilder attempts to set up her youngest daughter, Milly, with Mr. Right. Meanwhile, her other daughters try to keep their mom's good…
15
The Elephant Queen (2019)
★ 7.3/10
Embark on an epic journey of family, courage, and coming home in this feature-length documentary. Join Athena, the majestic matriarch, as she leads her elephant herd across an unforgiving African landscape filled with…
16
3 Men and a Baby (1987)
★ 6.2/10
Three bachelors find themselves forced to take care of a baby left by one of the guy's girlfriends.
17
Straight Outta Compton (2015)
★ 7.8/10
In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us…
18
Waiting to Exhale (1995)
★ 6.2/10
Cheated on, mistreated and stepped on, the women are holding their breath, waiting for the elusive "good man" to break a string of less-than-stellar lovers. Friends and confidants Vannah, Bernie, Glo and Robin talk it…
19
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980)
★ 7.3/10
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American…
20
Stomp the Yard (2007)
★ 7.2/10
After the death of his younger brother, a troubled 19-year-old street dancer from Los Angeles is able to bypass juvenile hall by enrolling in the historically black, Truth University in Atlanta, Georgia. But his…