Movies Like In the Heat of the Sun
If you liked In the Heat of the Sun (1994), a drama and romance movie directed by Jiang Wen, 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
Summer Palace (2007)
★ 7.4/10Also drama and romanceYu Hong leaves her home village and starts university in Beijing, where she develops a consuming and compulsive relationship with another student. The student riots from 1989 then ensue and take a toll on their lives.
- 2
Lan Yu (2001)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and romanceA love story between a country boy in Beijing to study and a wealthy businessman set against the backdrop of the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident.
- 3
Ashes in the Snow (2018)
★ 6.4/10Also drama and romanceThe coming-of-age tale of 16-year-old Lina Vilkas who is deported to Siberia amid Stalin's reign of terror in the Baltic region during WWII. An aspiring artist, she secretly documents her harrowing journey with her…
- 4
My Fault: London (2025)
★ 7.4/10Also drama and romance18-year-old Noah moves from America to London, with her mother who's recently fallen in love with William, a wealthy British businessman. Noah meets William’s son, bad-boy Nick, and soon discovers there is an…
- 5
Breath (2017)
★ 6.6/10Also dramaA pair of teenagers in Western Australia looking to escape the monotony of life in a small town take up surfing lessons from a guy named Sando.
- 6
Call Me by Your Name (2017)
★ 8.1/10Also romance and dramaIn the summer of 1983, a 17-year-old Elio spends his days in his family's villa in Italy. One day Oliver, a graduate student, arrives to assist Elio's father, a professor of Greco-Roman culture. Soon, Elio and Oliver…
- 7
The Hate U Give (2018)
★ 8.1/10Also dramaRaised in a poverty-stricken slum, a 16-year-old girl named Starr now attends a suburban prep school. After she witnesses a police officer shoot her unarmed best friend, she's torn between her two very different worlds…
- 8
The Vanishing of Sidney Hall (2018)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and romanceOver the course of 12 years, and three stages of life, Sidney Hall falls in love, writes the book of a generation and then disappears without a trace.
- 9
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
★ 7.8/10Also dramaPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1991. High school freshman Charlie is a wallflower, always watching life from the sidelines, until two senior students, Sam and her stepbrother Patrick, become his mentors, helping him…
- 10
Love Me Love Me (2026)
★ 6.1/10Also romance and dramaAfter her brother's death, June moves to Milan for a fresh start, finding comfort in Will, the perfect honor student at her new international school. But when his troubled best friend James—hiding a dangerous life in…
- 11
Marked Men: Rule + Shaw (2025)
★ 6.7/10Also romance and dramaShaw Landon has loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule, a fiery-tempered rebel tattoo artist, doesn’t have time for a good girl pre-med student like Shaw — even if she’s the only one who can see…
- 12
American Pastoral (2016)
★ 6.2/10Also dramaSet in postwar America, a man watches his seemingly perfect life fall apart as his daughter's new political affiliation threatens to destroy their family.
- 13
Charm City Kings (2020)
★ 7.8/10Also dramaMouse desperately wants to join The Midnight Clique, the infamous Baltimore dirt bike riders who rule the summertime streets. When Midnight’s leader, Blax, takes 14-year-old Mouse under his wing, Mouse soon finds…
- 14
Chemical Hearts (2020)
★ 7.3/10Also drama and romanceWhen a hopelessly romantic high school senior falls for a mysterious new classmate, it sets them both on an unexpected journey that teaches them about love, loss, and most importantly themselves.
- 15
Maria's Lovers (1984)
★ 6/10Also drama and romanceA World War II prisoner returns home to his childhood sweetheart. However, back home, he discovers that he has to compete to win her love.
- 16
The Strawberry Statement (1970)
★ 5.9/10Also drama and romanceA college student joins a group of revolutionaries to meet girls but ends up committed to their goals.
- 17
White Palace (1990)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and romanceMax Baron is a Jewish advertising executive in his 20s who's still getting over the death of his wife. Nora Baker is a 40-something diner waitress who enjoys the wilder side of life. Mismatched or not, their attraction…
- 18
My Policeman (2022)
★ 7.5/10Also drama and romanceIn the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when…
- 19
Escape from Pretoria (2020)
★ 7.2/10Also dramaSouth Africa, 1978. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee, two white political activists from the African National Congress imprisoned by the apartheid regime, put a plan in motion to escape from the infamous Pretoria Prison.
- 20
Jasper Jones (2017)
★ 6.4/10Also dramaFourteen-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.