Movies Like Dreaming of a Dream

If you liked Dreaming of a Dream (2026), a movie directed by Alpan Esen and Ahmet Rıfat Şungar, 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
Paperhouse (1988)
★ 6.5/10
A young girl lost in the loneliness and boredom of reality finds solace in an ill boy, whom she can visit in a surreal dream world that she drew in her school composition book.
2
The Spectacular Now (2013)
★ 6.7/10
Sutter, a popular party animal, unexpectedly meets the introverted Aimee after waking up on a stranger's lawn. As Sutter deals with the problems in his life and Aimee plans for her future beyond school, an unexpected…
3
Love, Rosie (2014)
★ 7.8/10
Since the moment they met at age 5, Rosie and Alex have been best friends, facing the highs and lows of growing up side by side. A fleeting shared moment, one missed opportunity, and the decisions that follow send…
4
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
★ 7.2/10
A timid magazine photo manager who lives life vicariously through daydreams embarks on a true-life adventure when a negative goes missing.
5
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.
6
The Lost City (2022)
★ 6.4/10
Reclusive author Loretta Sage writes about exotic places in her popular adventure novels that feature a handsome cover model named Alan. While on tour promoting her new book with Alan, Loretta gets kidnapped by an…
7
Dorian Gray (2009)
★ 6/10
Seduced into the decadent world of Lord Henry Wotton, handsome young aristocrat Dorian Gray becomes obsessed with maintaining his youthful appearance, and commissions a special portrait that will weather the winds of…
8
Art School Confidential (2006)
★ 6.1/10
Starting from childhood attempts at illustration, the protagonist pursues his true obsession to art school. But as he learns how the art world really works, he finds that he must adapt his vision to the reality that…
9
Sidelined: The QB and Me (2025)
★ 6.4/10
Dallas, a burdened but headstrong dancer, is determined to get into the best dance school in the country—her late mother’s alma mater. However, that dream is suddenly derailed when the cheeky yet secretly grieving…
10
About Dry Grasses (2023)
★ 7.6/10
A young art teacher hopes to be transferred to Istanbul after completing his mandatory duty in a remote village school in Anatolia. After accusations of inappropriate contact with a student surface, his hopes of escape…
11
Breath (2017)
★ 6.6/10
A 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.
12
Anywhere but Here (1999)
★ 6.1/10
Single mother Adele August is bad with money, and even worse when it comes to making decisions. Her straight-laced daughter, Ann, is a successful high school student with Ivy League aspirations. When Adele decides to…
13
Wish You Were Here (1987)
★ 6.4/10
In a staid English seaside town after the Second World War, young Lynda grows up with her widowed father and younger sister. Rebellious Lynda has been swearing constantly from an early age. At sixteen, she becomes more…
14
Bird (2024)
★ 7.2/10
12-year-old Bailey lives with her single dad Bug and brother Hunter in a squat in North Kent. Bug doesn’t have much time for his kids, and Bailey, who is approaching puberty, seeks attention and adventure elsewhere.
15
Aftersun (2022)
★ 7.7/10
Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories fill the gaps between camcorder footages as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with…
16
Wonderstruck (2017)
★ 6.1/10
The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection.
17
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)
★ 7/10
Nancy Stokes, a retired schoolteacher, is pretty sure she has never had good sex. Now that her husband has died, she is determined to take a tour of sexual vistas that until now she has only imagined. She even has a…
18
Ali G: Who Iz I? (2026)
★ 5.8/10
After twenty years spent "chillin', tokin' and bonin'", Ali G is shocked to discover that his long-term girlfriend, Julie, is 8 months pregnant. Faced with an extra mouth to feed, he gets off his batty and heads to…
19
MirrorMask (2005)
★ 6.4/10
In a fantasy world of opposing kingdoms, a 15-year old girl must find the fabled MirrorMask in order to save the kingdom and get home.
20
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)
★ 7.1/10
Two teenagers trapped in an endless time loop set out to find all the tiny things that make that one day perfect.