Movies Like Learning Not to Drown

If you liked Learning Not to Drown, a movie directed by Prithvi Raj Karreddula, 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
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
★ 7.6/10
Ricky is a defiant young city kid who finds himself on the run with his cantankerous foster uncle in the wild New Zealand bush. A national manhunt ensues, and the two are forced to put aside their differences and work…
2
Labor Day (2013)
★ 7.1/10
Two strangers are drawn together under incredible circumstances. What starts as an unforeseen encounter over a long holiday weekend soon becomes a second chance love story.
3
Jasper Jones (2017)
★ 6.4/10
Fourteen-year-old Charlie's life changes when Jasper takes his help to dispose of the body of his girlfriend, Laura. He decides to look for the murderer and falls in love with Laura's younger sister.
4
Safe Haven (2013)
★ 7.2/10
A young woman with a mysterious past lands in Southport, North Carolina where her bond with a widower forces her to confront the dark secret that haunts her.
5
Gone Girl (2014)
★ 7.9/10
With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.
6
The Dog Stars (2026)
★ 6.9/10
After the world's population has been ravaged by a pandemic, a man lives a lonesome existence in a Colorado airplane hangar with his dog and a dour gunman he has befriended. When a mysterious transmission comes through…
7
Changeling (2008)
★ 7.6/10
Los Angeles, 1928. When single mother Christine Collins leaves for work, her son vanishes without a trace. Five months later, the police reunite mother and son. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her…
8
A Simple Favor (2018)
★ 6.6/10
Stephanie, a dedicated mother and popular vlogger, befriends Emily, a mysterious upper-class woman whose son Nicky attends the same school as Miles, Stephanie's son. When Emily asks her to pick Nicky up from school and…
9
The Magic of Belle Isle (2012)
★ 7/10
In an effort to tap into his original talent, a wheelchair-bound author moves to a rural town, where he befriends a single mother and her three kids, who help reignite his passion for writing.
10
Every Secret Thing (2014)
★ 6.2/10
One clear summer day in a Baltimore suburb, a baby goes missing from her front porch. Two young girls serve seven years for the crime and are released into a town that hasn't fully forgiven or forgotten. Soon, another…
11
Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
★ 7.3/10
A woman reports that her young daughter is missing, but there seems to be no evidence that she ever existed.
12
Young and Innocent (1937)
★ 6.5/10
When a young writer is falsely accused of murdering a famous actress, he escapes custody and joins forces with the daughter of a police constable to prove his innocence.
13
The Whisper Man (2026)
★ 6.8/10
When his young son vanishes, a widower enlists help from his estranged father, a retired detective who put away the serial killer now linked to the case.
14
Mystic River (2003)
★ 7.7/10
The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them suffers a family tragedy.
15
Train Dreams (2025)
★ 7.3/10
A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.
16
Dog Gone (2023)
★ 6.2/10
When his beloved dog goes missing, a young man embarks on an incredible search with his parents to find him and give him life-saving medication.
17
She Rides Shotgun (2025)
★ 7/10
Newly released from prison and marked for death by unrelenting enemies, Nate must now protect his estranged 11-year-old daughter, Polly, at all costs. With scant resources and no one to trust, Nate and Polly forge a…
18
Hillbilly Elegy (2020)
★ 6.7/10
An urgent phone call pulls a Yale Law student back to his Ohio hometown, where he reflects on three generations of family history and his own future.
19
Boy A (2008)
★ 7.1/10
Freed after a lengthy term in a juvenile detention center, convicted child killer Jack Burridge finds work as a deliveryman and begins dating co-worker Michelle. While out on the road one day, Jack notices a distressed…
20
Prisoners (2013)
★ 8.1/10
After his six-year-old daughter is abducted, a desperate father takes justice into his own hands when he loses faith in the detective leading the investigation, setting both men on a collision course as the search…