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Movies Like The Surface of Things

If you liked The Surface of Things (2017), a drama movie directed by Nancy Biniadaki, 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. 1The Girl in the Book

    The Girl in the Book (2015)

    ★ 5.8/10Also drama

    The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.

  2. 2Hounddog

    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.

  3. 3The River

    The River (1984)

    ★ 6.4/10Also drama

    Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from…

  4. 4Man with No Past

    Man with No Past (2025)

    ★ 6.5/10Also drama

    Waking up in an unfamiliar city, a man with no memory must confront the mysteries of his own identity. However, his desperate search to uncover the past pits him against a powerful enemy, leading to a showdown that…

  5. 5The Young One

    The Young One (1960)

    ★ 7/10Also drama

    A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.

  6. 6Bastard Out of Carolina

    Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)

    ★ 7.1/10Also drama

    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…

  7. 7The Truth About Emanuel

    The Truth About Emanuel (2013)

    ★ 6/10Also drama

    A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.

  8. 8Hunting Season

    Hunting Season (2025)

    ★ 7.4/10Also drama

    When a reclusive survivalist and his daughter rescue a mysterious, wounded woman from a river, they become entangled in a deadly web of violence and revenge, forcing them to confront a brutal criminal to survive.

  9. 9Landscape in the Mist

    Landscape in the Mist (1988)

    ★ 7.6/10Also drama

    Two Greek children embark on a journey to search for their father, who supposedly lives in Germany.

  10. 10Charm City Kings

    Charm City Kings (2020)

    ★ 7.8/10Also drama

    Mouse 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…

  11. 11Skin

    Skin (2009)

    ★ 6.4/10Also drama

    Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.

  12. 12F.I.S.T.

    F.I.S.T. (1978)

    ★ 6.5/10Also drama

    Johnny Kovak joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local chapter in the 1930s and works his way up in the organization. As he climbs higher and higher his methods become more ruthless and finally senator Madison starts…

  13. 13Salomé

    Salomé (2013)

    ★ 6.1/10Also drama

    After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé…

  14. 14Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl

    Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)

    ★ 7.2/10Also drama

    Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even…

  15. 15Bobby 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.

  16. 16SAS: Red Notice

    SAS: Red Notice (2021)

    ★ 5.8/10Also drama

    An off-duty SAS soldier, Tom Buckingham, must thwart a terror attack on a train running through the Channel Tunnel. As the action escalates on the train, events transpire in the corridors of power that may make the…

  17. 17Hardball

    Hardball (2001)

    ★ 6.5/10Also drama

    An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.

  18. 18In Too Deep

    In Too Deep (1999)

    ★ 6.4/10Also drama

    Drug lord Dwayne Gittens rules Cincinnati with an iron fist. No wonder he's known as "God" on the streets. Determined to break Gittens' stranglehold on the city is undercover cop Jeffrey Cole. But as Cole takes on an…

  19. 19Outlaws - For Greater Glory

    Outlaws - For Greater Glory (2012)

    ★ 7/10Also drama

    A chronicle of the Cristeros War (1926-1929), which was touched off by a rebellion against the Mexican government's attempt to secularize the country.

  20. 20Kisses

    Kisses (2008)

    ★ 7.1/10Also drama

    Two kids, Dylan and Kylie, run away from home on Christmas Day and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.

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