Movies Like The Small Town

If you liked The Small Town (1997), a drama movie directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 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
About Dry Grasses (2023)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
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…
2
Fatima (2020)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
In 1917, outside the parish of Fátima, Portugal, a 10-year-old girl and her two younger cousins witness multiple visitations of the Virgin Mary, who tells them that only prayer and suffering will bring an end to World…
3
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.
4
Outside In (2018)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
An ex-con struggling to readjust to life in his small town forms an intense bond with his former high-school teacher.
5
The Bookshop (2017)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Set in a small English town in 1959, a woman decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop, a decision which becomes a political minefield.
6
White Angel (2007)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
The film is a love story. However, it is not a story about the love between two people, but rather a story about the love and affection that a group of people feel for life and for each other. The film depicts all…
7
Paper Lives (2021)
★ 8/10Also drama
In the streets of Istanbul, ailing waste warehouse worker Mehmet takes a small boy under his wing and must soon confront his own traumatic childhood.
8
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.
9
Appaloosa (2008)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
Two friends hired to police a small town that is suffering under the rule of a rancher find their job complicated by the arrival of a young widow.
10
Intrusion (2021)
★ 6/10Also drama
When a husband and wife move to a small town, a home invasion leaves the wife traumatized and suspicious that those around her might not be who they seem.
11
I Saw the Sun (2009)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
In the southeast region of Turkey, the Kurdish family of Altun lives in a small mountainside village plagued by a 25-year war that makes their daily lives a hellish struggle. As the war intensifies, the family is…
12
The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
★ 7/10Also drama
Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.
13
Holy Lands (2019)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
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…
14
Sand Castle (2017)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Set during the occupation of Iraq, a squad of U.S. soldiers try to protect a small village.
15
Affliction (1998)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
A small town policeman must investigate a suspicious hunting accident. The investigation and other events result in him slowly disintegrating mentally.
16
Mean Dreams (2016)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
When two youngsters meet and fall for each other, they must go on the run from the girl's corrupt father, who is also the sheriff of the town.
17
Daddy Longlegs (2010)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
After months of living a solitary existence, Lenny, 34, picks up his kids from school. Every year he spends a couple of weeks with his sons Sage, 9, and Frey, 7. Lenny hosts his kids within a midtown studio apartment…
18
Light It Up (1999)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
On a winter day in a southside Queens high school, events collide and six students are suddenly in an armed standoff with the NYPD. At the school, classrooms freeze, teachers come and go, resources are scant.
19
The Kindness of Strangers (2019)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
Clara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to start over in New York. After the car towed away, the family meets Alice, who gets them into an emergency shelter…
20
Prancer (1989)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Jessica, the daughter of an impoverished apple farmer, still believes in Santa Claus. So when she comes across a reindeer with an injured leg, it makes perfect sense to her to assume that it is Prancer, who had fallen…