Movies Like Waterland
If you liked Waterland (1992), a drama and mystery movie directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, 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
Steve (2025)
★ 6.3/10Also dramaOver one intense day, the devoted head teacher of a last-chance reform school strives to keep his students in line while facing pressures of his own.
- 2
Freedom Writers (2007)
★ 7.9/10Also dramaA young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.
- 3
The Substitute 2: School's Out (1998)
★ 6.5/10Also mysteryWhen teacher Randall Thomasson is killed during a carjacking, an unexpected visitor shows up at his funeral - his estranged brother, Karl Thomasson. An ex-Green Beret turned mercenary, Karl signs on as a new substitute…
- 4
The Physician (2013)
★ 7.3/10Also dramaEngland, 1021: Born in a miserable mining town, Robert Cole swears to become a physician and vanquish disease and death. His harsh path of many years, a quest for knowledge besieged by countless challenges and…
- 5
A Dry White Season (1989)
★ 6.7/10Also dramaDuring the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
- 6
Rememory (2017)
★ 6.1/10Also drama and mysteryThe widow of a wise professor stumbles upon one of his inventions that's able to record and play a person's memory.
- 7
Jasper Jones (2017)
★ 6.4/10Also drama and mysteryFourteen-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.
- 8
Cracks (2009)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and mysteryJealousy flares after the headmistress of an elite boarding school for girls becomes obsessed with a new student.
- 9
The Marsh King's Daughter (2023)
★ 6.4/10Also mysteryHelena, a woman living a seemingly ordinary life, hides a dark secret—her father is the infamous 'Marsh King', the man who kept her and her mother captive in the wilderness for years. After a lifetime of trying to…
- 10
Around the Bend (2004)
★ 5.9/10Also dramaA tale of four generations of men, all of whom have had their offspring at a young age: a great-grandfather, a grandfather, a father in his twenties and a son who is about 7 years old. When the oldest member passes…
- 11
Peacock (2010)
★ 6.1/10Also drama and mysteryA minor train accident in rural Nebraska gradually unveils a mystery involving the town's reclusive bank clerk.
- 12
Unknown (2006)
★ 6.2/10Also mysteryFive men wake up in a locked-down warehouse with no memory of who they are. They are forced to figure out who is good and who is bad to stay alive.
- 13
Hillbilly Elegy (2020)
★ 6.7/10Also dramaAn 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.
- 14
The Wonder (2022)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and mysteryHaunted by her past, a nurse travels from England to a remote Irish village in 1862 to investigate a young girl's supposedly miraculous fast.
- 15
The Lost Bus (2025)
★ 7/10Also dramaA determined father risks everything to rescue a dedicated teacher and her students from a raging wildfire.
- 16
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)
★ 7/10Also drama and mystery13-year-old Rynn Jacobs lives in a New England beach town. Whenever the landlady inquires after Rynn's father, she claims that he's not available. But when the landlady's son, Frank, won't leave Rynn alone, she teams…
- 17
12 Mighty Orphans (2021)
★ 7.2/10Also dramaHaunted by his mysterious past, a devoted high school football coach leads a scrawny team of orphans to the state championship during the Great Depression and inspires a broken nation along the way.
- 18
Goodbye June (2025)
★ 6.5/10Also dramaFour siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
- 19
My Friend Dahmer (2017)
★ 6.5/10Also dramaJeffrey Dahmer struggles with a difficult family life as a young boy. During his teenage years he slowly transforms, edging closer to the serial killer he was to become.
- 20
Brave the Dark (2025)
★ 6.7/10Also dramaWhen Mr. Deen discovers one of his students has been living out of his car and thrown into jail, he decides to bail him out. Determined to curb Nate’s self-destructive behavior, Deen quickly discovers a host of dark…