NoBadPicks Logo
US

Movies Like Joyland (What to Watch After)

Loved Joyland, will enjoy these picks that questions the purpose and weight of our choices while maintaining targets the intellect with complex, multi-layered ideas. Carefully balances character depth with narrative flow makes this a deeper look into what makes these stories stick.

Mood Breakdown
Runtime Cluster

Standard feature-length experiences.

Viewer Fit

Best for fans of who appreciate concise storytelling.

Top Picks

Of an Age
6.6

Of an Age

2023

A Serbian ballroom dancer experiences an unexpected and intense 24-hour romance with a friend's older brother.

Shall We Dance?
6.4

Shall We Dance?

2004

A bored estate lawyer spots a beautiful woman in the window of a ballroom dance studio. He secretly starts taking dancing lessons to be near her, and then over time discovers how much he loves dancing. His wife, meanwhile, has hired a private detective to find out why he has started coming home late smelling of perfume.

Five Dances
6.3

Five Dances

2013

A gifted young dancer arrives in New York City and joins the downtown contemporary dance world. With talent to burn, he soon must choose between his responsibility to his broken family in the Midwest, and forging a life and career for himself.

The World Unseen
7.1

The World Unseen

2007

A drama centered on two women who engage in a dangerous relationship during South Africa's apartheid era.

Bootmen
6.3

Bootmen

2000

Sean Odkin loves to dance—much to his fathers distain. When the woman he loves cannot return his love, he goes in search of the only thing that can make him whole again—dancing.

Blue Valentine
7.0

Blue Valentine

2010

Dean and Cindy live a quiet life in a modest neighborhood. They appear to have the world at their feet at the outset of the relationship. However, his lack of ambition and her retreat into self-absorption cause potentially irreversible cracks in their marriage.

Elena Undone
6.9

Elena Undone

2010

The wife of a pastor who preaches against homosexuality embarks on an affair with a female writer.

Making Love
6.8

Making Love

1982

A perfect typical LA couple find their happily-ever-after life broken when the husband confronts his long-repressed attraction for other men.

More Movies Like Joyland

Strictly Ballroom
6.6

Strictly Ballroom

1992

Brave new steps put Scott's career in jeopardy. With a new partner and determination, can he still succeed?

Moonlight Mile
6.3

Moonlight Mile

2002

As he copes with the death of his fiancee along with her parents, a young man must figure out what he wants out of life.

Cowboys
6.2

Cowboys

2020

Troy and his young transgender son Joe are on the run from his conservative mother in the Montana wilderness, with a detective in hot pursuit.

My First Summer
8.0

My First Summer

2020

Isolated on a remote property, 16-year-old Claudia finds her world transformed when a spirited girl named Grace wanders into her garden.

Footloose
6.7

Footloose

1984

When teenager Ren and his family move from big-city Chicago to a small town in the West, he's in for a real case of culture shock after discovering he's living in a place where music and dancing are illegal.

Departure
6.4

Departure

2016

An English mother and her teenage son spend a week preparing the sale of their remote holiday house in the South of France. Fifteen-year-old Elliot struggles with his dawning sexuality and an increasing alienation from his mother, Beatrice. She in turn is confronted by the realisation that her marriage to his father, Philip, has grown loveless and the life she knows is coming to an end. When an enigmatic local teenager, Clément, quietly enters their lives, both mother and son are compelled to confront their desires and, finally, each other.

The Object of My Affection
5.8

The Object of My Affection

1998

A pregnant New York social worker begins to develop romantic feelings for her gay best friend, and decides she'd rather raise her child with him, much to the dismay of her overbearing boyfriend.

45 Years
6.6

45 Years

2015

There is just one week until Kate Mercer's 45th wedding anniversary and the planning for the party is going well. But then a letter arrives for her husband. The body of his first love has been discovered, frozen and preserved in the icy glaciers of the Swiss Alps. By the time the party is upon them, five days later, there may not be a marriage left to celebrate.

Imagine Me & You
7.6

Imagine Me & You

2006

During her wedding ceremony, Rachel notices Luce in the audience and feels instantly drawn to her. The two women become close friends, and when Rachel learns that Luce is a lesbian, she realizes that despite her happy marriage to Heck, she is falling for Luce. As she questions her sexual orientation, Rachel must decide between her stable relationship with Heck and her exhilarating new romance with Luce.

Bitter Moon
7.1

Bitter Moon

1992

A passenger on a cruise ship develops an irresistible infatuation with an eccentric paraplegic's wife.

Not Easily Broken
6.3

Not Easily Broken

2009

A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.

My Policeman
7.6

My Policeman

2022

In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.

Why These Movies Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with Joyland (2022): Romance and Drama themes, similar narrative structure, and comparable emotional depth. NoBadPicks uses a combination of TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface films most likely to resonate with fans of Joyland.

See full details for Joyland (2022)

Expand Your Discovery