Movies Like Martina's Playhouse

If you liked Martina's Playhouse (1986), a movie directed by Peggy Ahwesh, 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
Lucky Them (2013)
★ 6/10
More interested in partying and flirting with young musicians than work, veteran rock journalist Ellie Klug has one last chance to prove her value to her magazine’s editor: a no-stone-unturned search to discover what…
2
The Trials of Cate McCall (2013)
★ 6.4/10
In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.
3
Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)
★ 7.1/10
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as…
4
Strange Weather (2016)
★ 5.9/10
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.
5
Hounddog (2008)
★ 6.5/10
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
6
Call Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
★ 7/10
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
7
I Believe in Unicorns (2015)
★ 6.7/10
Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.
8
Petals on the Wind (2014)
★ 6.6/10
This sequel to Flowers in the Attic picks up 10 years after Cathy, Chris and Carrie managed to escape Foxworth Hall.
9
The Girl in the Book (2015)
★ 5.8/10
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
10
The Safety of Objects (2002)
★ 6.5/10
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband…
11
Tuesday (2024)
★ 6.8/10
A mother and her teenage daughter must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird.
12
Holy Lands (2019)
★ 6.1/10
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife…
13
Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (2016)
★ 7.4/10
An intimate portrait of Hollywood royalty featuring Debbie Reynolds, Todd Fisher, and Carrie Fisher.
14
Heart of a Dog (2015)
★ 6.5/10
Musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother and her beloved dog.
15
In the Realms of the Unreal (2004)
★ 7.2/10
In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along…
16
Love, Marilyn (2013)
★ 6.5/10
Using the book 'Fragments', which collects Marilyn Monroe's poems, notes and letters, and with participation from the Arthur Miller and Truman Capote estates who have contributed more material, each of the actresses…
17
TalhotBlond (2012)
★ 6.3/10
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
18
Love & Sex (2000)
★ 6.2/10
When her rather explicit copy is rejected, magazine journalist Kate is asked by her editor to come up with an article on loving relationships instead, and to do so by the end of the day. This gets Kate thinking back…
19
A Dry White Season (1989)
★ 6.7/10
During 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.
20
My Mom Jayne (2025)
★ 7.9/10
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and…