Movies Like Lives in the Sands

If you liked Lives in the Sands (1999), a movie directed by Nguyễn Thanh Vân, 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
It Ends with Us (2024)
★ 6.9/10
When a woman's first love suddenly reenters her life, her relationship with a charming, but abusive neurosurgeon is upended, and she realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for…
2
Miss Saigon: 25th Anniversary Performance (2016)
★ 8/10
The epic love story tells the tragic tale of young Vietnamese bar girl Kim, orphaned by war, who falls in love with American GI Chris — but their lives are torn apart by the fall of Saigon.
3
The Quiet American (2002)
★ 6.6/10
Cynical British journalist Fowler falls in love with a young Vietnamese woman but is dismayed when a naïve U.S. official also begins vying for her attention. In retaliation, Fowler informs the communists that the…
4
Les Misérables (2012)
★ 7.3/10
An adaptation of the successful stage musical based on Victor Hugo's classic novel set in 19th-century France. Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The…
5
Persuasion (1995)
★ 7.2/10
In early 19th-century England, dire financial straits reacquaint the aristocratic Anne Elliot with her wealthy ex-fiance Frederick Wentworth. The two must choose between either putting the past behind them or listening…
6
Never Let Me Go (2010)
★ 6.8/10
As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy spend their childhood at an idyllic and secluded English boarding school. As they grow into adults, they must come to terms with the complexity and strength of their love for one…
7
Look Back in Anger (1959)
★ 6.7/10
A disillusioned, angry university graduate comes to terms with his grudge against middle-class life and values.
8
Brooklyn (2015)
★ 7.3/10
In 1950s Ireland and New York, young Eilis Lacey has to choose between two men and two countries.
9
Persuasion (2007)
★ 7.2/10
Anne Elliot was once in love with Frederick Wentworth, a commander in the Royal Navy who was rejected by her snobby parents eight years ago. When the family hits hard times and are forced to rent out their mansion to…
10
The Roses (2025)
★ 6.6/10
Life seems easy for picture-perfect couple Ivy and Theo: successful careers, a loving marriage, great kids. But beneath the façade of their supposed ideal life, a storm is brewing – as Theo's career nosedives while…
11
The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
★ 7.7/10
Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson for four days in the 1960s.
12
The Rules of Attraction (2002)
★ 6.2/10
The incredibly spoiled and overprivileged students of Camden College are a backdrop for an unusual love triangle between a drug dealer, a virgin and a bisexual classmate.
13
Jacknife (1989)
★ 6.4/10
A conflict develops between a troubled Vietnam veteran and the sister he lives with when she becomes involved romantically with the army buddy who reminds him of the tragic battle they both survived.
14
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (2023)
★ 6.3/10
After a Vietnamese woman dies in a car crash in Saigon, her brother-in-law and her young son transport her body back to the former’s hometown in rural Vietnam, where they plan to give her a funeral.
15
Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan (2019)
★ 6.8/10
Vietnam War, 1966. Australia and New Zealand send troops to support the United States and South Vietnamese in their fight against the communist North. Soldiers are very young men, recruits and volunteers who have never…
16
The Deer Hunter (1978)
★ 8/10
Three steelworkers enlist in the army and are sent to Vietnam, one leaving behind a rushed marriage, the others a shared love. What they encounter during the war changes their lives forever.
17
Cyrano (2021)
★ 6.3/10
A man ahead of his time, Cyrano de Bergerac dazzles whether with ferocious wordplay at a verbal joust or with brilliant swordplay in a duel. But, convinced that his appearance renders him unworthy of the love of a…
18
Apocalypse Now (1979)
★ 8.3/10
At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret…
19
Two for the Road (1967)
★ 7/10
Architect Mark Wallace and his wife, Joanna, travel to France to meet with an affluent client. While there, they reflect on their first decade of marriage -- memories of when they first met, of courtship, and of road…
20
Days of Heaven (1978)
★ 7.5/10
In 1916, a Chicago steel worker accidentally kills his supervisor and flees to the Texas panhandle with his girlfriend and little sister to work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic farmer.