Movies Like An Island Drifts

If you liked An Island Drifts (2022), a movie directed by Vivian Ip, 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
The Emperor's Club (2002)
★ 7.1/10
William Hundert is a passionate and principled Classics professor who finds his tightly-controlled world shaken and inexorably altered when a new student, Sedgewick Bell, walks into his classroom. What begins as a…
2
Bad Apples (2026)
★ 6.9/10
A struggling primary school teacher is forced to take drastic action because of a foul-mouthed, violent student, and uncovers how her community will turn a blind eye to the most outrageous events to preserve harmony…
3
Steve (2025)
★ 6.4/10
Over one intense day, the devoted head teacher of a last-chance reform school strives to keep his students in line while facing pressures of his own.
4
Dismissed (2017)
★ 6.5/10
A straight-edged teacher finds trouble when an honors student is willing to do anything to get an A.
5
Dead Poets Society (1989)
★ 8.3/10
At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern…
6
Mārama (2026)
★ 6.3/10
1859. When a young Māori woman is summoned from New Zealand to North Yorkshire, she uncovers her horrific colonial heritage and is compelled to confront and destroy the titled Englishman who devastated her family.
7
Miller's Girl (2024)
★ 6.3/10
A talented young writer embarks on a creative odyssey when her teacher assigns a project that entangles them both.
8
Whiplash (2013)
★ 7.8/10
A ferocious, bullying music teacher teaches a dedicated student.
9
Cheaters (2000)
★ 6.3/10
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.
10
Overboard (1987)
★ 6.9/10
Heiress Joanna Stayton hires carpenter Dean Proffitt to build a closet on her yacht—and refuses to pay him for the project when it's done. But after Joanna accidentally falls overboard and loses her memory, Dean sees…
11
Good Advice (2001)
★ 5.9/10
An investment banker loses everything and must discover what's really important in life.
12
The Vanishing of Sidney Hall (2018)
★ 6.7/10
Over the course of 12 years, and three stages of life, Sidney Hall falls in love, writes the book of a generation and then disappears without a trace.
13
Fist Fight (2017)
★ 6/10
When one school teacher gets the other fired, he is challenged to an after-school fight.
14
Whiplash (2014)
★ 8.4/10
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.
15
Fist of Legend (1994)
★ 7.5/10
Chen returns to his school when he finds out that his martial arts teacher has died. When he learns that his school students are harassed by some hooligans, he gears himself up to save them.
16
The Ron Clark Story (2006)
★ 7.6/10
Passionate and innovative teacher Ron Clark leaves his small hometown to teach in one of Harlem's toughest schools. But to break through to the students, he must use unconventional methods, including his…
17
Pretty Persuasion (2005)
★ 5.8/10
A 15-year-old girl incites chaos among her friends and a media frenzy when she accuses her drama teacher of sexual harassment.
18
The Pelican Brief (1993)
★ 6.6/10
A law student's theory about the recent deaths of two Supreme Court justices embroils her in a far-reaching web of murder, corruption, and greed.
19
Bad Sister (2015)
★ 6.6/10
As a top student at St. Adeline's Catholic Boarding School, Zoe senses that something is not quite right about the school's new nun-- a sense proven to be true when it is revealed the "good' nun is an imposter with a…
20
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.