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Movies Like Speak Like a Child

If you liked Speak Like a Child (1998), a drama movie directed by John Akomfrah, 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. 1Eleanor the Great

    Eleanor the Great (2025)

    ★ 6.8/10Also drama

    94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.

  2. 2Mammal

    Mammal (2016)

    ★ 6.3/10Also drama

    After Margaret, a divorcée living in Dublin, loses her teenage son, she develops an unorthodox relationship with Joe, a homeless youth. Their tentative trust is threatened by his involvement with a violent gang and the…

  3. 3What Maisie Knew

    What Maisie Knew (2013)

    ★ 7.1/10Also drama

    In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new…

  4. 4Hounddog

    Hounddog (2008)

    ★ 6.5/10Also drama

    A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.

  5. 5Gracie

    Gracie (2007)

    ★ 6.2/10Also drama

    A teenager faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer.

  6. 6Gigi & Nate

    Gigi & Nate (2022)

    ★ 7.6/10Also drama

    A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.

  7. 7Goodbye June

    Goodbye June (2025)

    ★ 6.5/10Also drama

    Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.

  8. 8Home Run

    Home Run (2013)

    ★ 6.2/10Also drama

    A pro ball player with a substance abuse problem is forced into rehab in his hometown, finding new hope when he gets honest about his checkered past, and takes on coaching duties for a misfit Little League team

  9. 9Hands of Stone

    Hands of Stone (2016)

    ★ 6.6/10Also drama

    The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.

  10. 1020th Century Women

    20th Century Women (2016)

    ★ 7.3/10Also drama

    In 1979 Santa Barbara, California, Dorothea Fields is a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie, at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the…

  11. 11Girl in the Box

    Girl in the Box (2016)

    ★ 6.7/10Also drama

    The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.

  12. 12Flow

    Flow (1996)

    ★ 7.7/10Also drama

    A filmmaker talks about his work and love life with an unseen friend behind the camera. We also watch four of his short films.

  13. 13Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius

    Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)

    ★ 5.9/10Also drama

    The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.

  14. 14Won't Back Down

    Won't Back Down (2012)

    ★ 6.2/10Also drama

    Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for…

  15. 15From Straight A's to XXX

    From Straight A's to XXX (2017)

    ★ 5.9/10Also drama

    When a change of circumstances leaves Miriam unable to pay her college tuition, she makes a surprising decision: to start performing in adult films, using the pseudonym Belle Knox. Miriam lies to her family and her…

  16. 16Here

    Here (2024)

    ★ 6.5/10Also drama

    An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.

  17. 17Bird

    Bird (2024)

    ★ 7.2/10Also drama

    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.

  18. 18Cardboard Boxer

    Cardboard Boxer (2016)

    ★ 6.5/10Also drama

    Gentle and broken, a homeless man fights others on video for money but soon finds comfort in an unlikely friend and the lost diary of a young girl.

  19. 19Inside I'm Dancing

    Inside I'm Dancing (2004)

    ★ 7.4/10Also drama

    Michael is a 24-year-old who has cerebral palsy and long-term resident of the Carrigmore Residential Home for the Disabled, run by the formidable Eileen. His life is transformed when the maverick Rory O'Shea moves in.

  20. 20Resurrecting the Champ

    Resurrecting the Champ (2007)

    ★ 6.3/10Also drama

    Up-and-coming sports reporter rescues a homeless man ("Champ") only to discover that he is, in fact, a boxing legend believed to have passed away. What begins as an opportunity to resurrect Champ's story and escape the…

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