Movies Like Dear Stranger

If you liked Dear Stranger (2025), a drama movie directed by Tetsuya Mariko, 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
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself…
2
The Gift (2015)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
Simon and Robyn are a young married couple whose life is going as planned until a chance run-in with Simon's high school acquaintance sends their world into a tailspin.
3
Breathe In (2013)
★ 5.9/10Also drama
When a foreign exchange student arrives in a small upstate New York town, she challenges the dynamics of her host family's relationships and alters their lives forever.
4
The Glass Castle (2017)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
A young girl is raised in a dysfunctional family constantly on the run from the FBI. Living in poverty, she comes of age guided by her drunkard, ingenious father who distracts her with magical stories to keep her mind…
5
Othello (1951)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
Manipulated by his jealous ensign Iago, the Moorish general Othello is driven to believe that his new wife Desdemona is unfaithful, setting in motion a chain of deception, jealousy, and violence that leads to tragedy.
6
John Q (2002)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
John Quincy Archibald is a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it. Therefore, he decides to take a…
7
For the Love of Jessee (2020)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
Doctor Luke Matthew's world comes crashing down when he loses the love of his life and becomes a father in the same night. When he hires Sage as the new nanny, they both begin to realize that the best form of medicine…
8
The Son (2022)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
A successful lawyer, with a new wife and infant, agrees to care for his teenage son from a previous marriage after his ex-wife becomes concerned about the boy's wayward behavior.
9
Miracles from Heaven (2016)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
When Christy discovers her 10-year-old daughter Anna has a rare, incurable disease, she becomes a ferocious advocate for her daughter’s healing as she searches for a solution. After Anna has a freak accident and falls…
10
Bigger Than Life (1956)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
A friendly, successful suburban teacher and father grows dangerously addicted to cortisone, resulting in his transformation into a household despot.
11
Midnight Special (2016)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
A father and son go on the run after the dad learns his child possesses special powers.
12
Losing Isaiah (1995)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Khaila Richards, a crack-addicted single mother, accidentally leaves her baby in a dumpster while high and returns the next day in a panic to find he is missing. In reality, the baby has been adopted by a warm-hearted…
13
The Child in Time (2018)
★ 5.8/10Also drama
A successful writer of children's books, Stephen Lewis is confronted with the unthinkable—he loses his only child, four-year-old Kate, in a supermarket. In one horrifying moment that replays itself over the years that…
14
The Fabelmans (2022)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him…
15
Nobody Knows (2004)
★ 8/10Also drama
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.
16
Boyhood (2014)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
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…
17
Dad (1989)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
A busy executive learns during a meeting that his mother may be dying and rushes home to her side. He ends up being his father's caretaker and becomes closer to him than ever before. Estranged from his own son, the…
18
The Emerald Forest (1985)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
For ten years, engineer Bill Markham has searched tirelessly for his son Tommy who disappeared from the edge of the Brazilian rainforest. Miraculously, he finds the boy living among the reclusive Amazon tribe who…
19
The Boy and the Beast (2015)
★ 7.9/10Also drama
Kyuta, a boy living in Shibuya, and Kumatetsu, a lonesome beast from Jutengai, an imaginary world. One day, Kyuta forays into the imaginary world and, as he's looking for his way back, meets Kumatetsu who becomes his…
20
The Book of Henry (2017)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
Susan, a single mother of two, works as a waitress in a small town. Her son, Henry, is an 11-year-old genius who not only manages the family finances but acts as emotional support for his mother and younger brother…