Movies Similar to The Waves

City of God(2002)

In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighborhood, while José “Zé” Pequeno is an ambitious drug dealer diving into a dangerous life of crime.

8.4

My Salinger Year(2020)

A college grad takes a clerical job working for the literary agent of the renowned, reclusive writer J.D. Salinger.

6.3

Nowhere(1997)

In Los Angeles, a colorful assortment of bohemians try to make sense of their intersecting lives. The moody Dark Smith, his bisexual girlfriend, her lesbian lover and their shy gay friend plan on attending the wildest party of the year. But they'll only make it if they can survive the drug trips, suicides, trysts, mutilations and alien abductions that occur as one surreal day unfolds.

6.8

Dead Poets Society(1989)

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 headmaster.

8.3

Rebel Without a Cause(1955)

After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems. While searching for some stability, Stark forms a bond with a disturbed classmate, Plato, and falls for local girl Judy. However, Judy is the girlfriend of neighborhood tough, Buzz. When Buzz violently confronts Jim and challenges him to a drag race, the new kid's real troubles begin.

7.5

The Outsiders(1983)

When two poor Greasers, Johnny and Ponyboy, are assaulted by a vicious gang, the Socs, and Johnny kills one of the attackers, tension begins to mount between the two rival gangs, setting off a turbulent chain of events.

7.2

The Wanderers(1979)

The streets of the Bronx are owned by '60s youth gangs where the joy and pain of adolescence is lived. Philip Kaufman tells his take on the novel by Richard Price about the history of the Italian-American gang ‘The Wanderers.’

7.0

Stand by Me(1986)

After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four Oregon boys decide to go see the body. On the way, Gordie, Vern, Chris and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, as they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys' adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.

7.9

Aparajito(1956)

Apu and his family have moved away from the country to live in the bustling holy city of Benares. As he progresses from wide-eyed child to intellectually curious teenager, eventually studying in Kolkata, we witness his academic and moral education, as well as the growing complexity of his relationship with his mother.

7.9

Almost Famous(2000)

In 1973, 15-year-old William Miller's unabashed love of music and aspiration to become a rock journalist lands him an assignment from Rolling Stone magazine to interview and tour with the up-and-coming band, Stillwater.

7.5

Closely Watched Trains(1966)

At a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, a bumbling dispatcher’s apprentice longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him, this young man embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of frustration, eroticism, and adventure within his sleepy backwater depot.

7.2

American Graffiti(1973)

A couple of high school graduates spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college.

7.0

What She Likes(2022)

An emotional coming-of-age drama centered around Andou Jun, a gay student who is not out. He accepts a confession from his fujoshi classmate Miura Sae and they start dating. However, Jun is also seeing Makoto, but fails to tell Sae about his male lover.

6.5

Unexpected Journey(2017)

Lasse is an old racist who has lives in an apartment block filled with a selection of refugees and immigrants. Kamal is a 16-year old boy who's fed up in his life in Finland, and dreams of moving to Nairobi to live with his father. Only problem is that he doesn't have the money to buy the ticket.

6.3

Cairn(2008)

Cairn is a dark film on adolescence in which the main character Johan (11) faces a moral dilemma after having started playing a seemingly innocent prank. The story unfolds on a l level in the turbulent transition between childhood and adulthood.

7.4

The Fabelmans(2022)

Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.

7.6

A quien cierra los ojos(2022)

In the microcosm of a private school, the latent traumas of adults coexist with the teenager’s wild search for identity. From somewhere on its walls, travelers could glimpse suggestive ports, but no one finds enough energy to leave the trip. The fruits of the past lay roots that imprison and immobilize those who close their eyes as salvation.

6.0

Ìjọ̀gbọ̀n(2023)

Four teenagers from a rural village in South West Nigeria stumble upon a pouch of uncut diamonds — but before long, others come looking for the bounty.

6.6

It's Raining in the House(2024)

Under a scorching sun, seventeen-year-old Purdey and his fifteen-year-old brother Makenzy are left to fend for themselves. While Purdey cleans houses in a hotel complex, Makenzy makes some money by stealing tourists. Between the recklessness of adolescence and the harshness of adulthood, they will have to support each other in this heartbreakingly sweet journey, which seems to be the last summer of their youth.

5.1

The Tin Drum(1979)

Oskar Matzerath is a very unusual boy. Refusing to leave the womb until promised a tin drum by his mother, Agnes, Oskar is reluctant to enter a world he sees as filled with hypocrisy and injustice, and vows on his third birthday to never grow up. Miraculously, he gets his wish. As the Nazis rise to power in Danzig, Oskar wills himself to remain a child, beating his tin drum incessantly and screaming in protest at the chaos surrounding him.

6.9