feelsalike.comSign in
A Bronx Tale poster

Movies that feel likeA Bronx Tale (1993)

Set in the Bronx during the tumultuous 1960s, an adolescent boy is torn between his honest, working-class father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss. Complicating matters is the youngster's growing attraction - forbidden in his neighborhood - for a beautiful black girl.

If you loved A Bronx Tale, the closest films we have are City of God (2002), Boyhood (2014) and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010). All three share A Bronx Tale's contemplative and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is A Brighter Summer Day (1991).

🍅 97% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Robert De Nirocontemplativegrittywistful
10 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Disney Plus

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

See it on the Mood Map

When is A Bronx Tale streaming? →

If A Bronx Tale hit the spot, these will too

City of God poster
City of God
2002 · dir. Fernando Meirelles
🍅 91%★ 8.6drama · crime

Common ground: gangster

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.

Boyhood poster
Boyhood
2014 · dir. Richard Linklater
🍅 97%★ 7.9dramaNetflix

Contemplative where it counts, gritty underneath

The difference: 21 years apart, and the 2010s show

The film tells a story of a divorced couple trying to raise their young son. The story follows the boy for twelve years, from first grade at age 6 through 12th grade at age 17-18, and examines his relationship with his parents as he grows.

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within poster
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
2010 · dir. José Padilha
🍅 91%★ 8drama · action · crime

Drama built on wistfulness, twice over

The difference: Leans harder into action than A Bronx Tale does

After a bloody invasion of the BOPE in the High-Security Penitentiary Bangu 1 in Rio de Janeiro to control a rebellion of interns, the Lieutenant-Colonel Roberto Nascimento and the second in command Captain André Matias are accused by the Human Right Aids member Diogo Fraga of execution of prisoners. Matias is transferred to the corrupted Military Police and Nascimento is exonerated from the BOPE by the Governor.

The Straight Story poster
The Straight Story
1999 · dir. David Lynch
🍅 95%★ 8dramaDisney+

Contemplative crime, and it commits to that

The difference: Takes it somewhere less gritty than A Bronx Tale does

Retired farmer and widower Alvin Straight learns one day that his estranged brother Lyle has suffered a severe stroke. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. He then has the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.

Malena poster
Malena
2000 · dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
🍅 54%★ 7.4drama

Drama with a pulse of wistfulness, in both cases

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

12-year-old Renato experiences three significant events on the same day: the beginning of the Second World War, getting a bike, and witnessing the arrival of the gorgeous Malèna. Through his eyes, we see the curse of beauty and loneliness of Malena, whose husband is presumed dead, and, through his soul, we see his love for her.

A Brighter Summer Day poster
A Brighter Summer Day
1991 · dir. Edward Yang
🍅 100%★ 8.2crime · drama · romance

Gritty crime in both cases

The difference: Sits closer to romance than A Bronx Tale does

A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.

Biutiful poster
Biutiful
2010 · dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu
🍅 66%★ 7.4dramaNetflix

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

This is a story of a man in free fall. On the road to redemption, darkness lights his way. Connected with the afterlife, Uxbal is a tragic hero and father of two who's sensing the danger of death. He struggles with a tainted reality and a fate that works against him in order to forgive, for love, and forever.

Leave No Trace poster
Leave No Trace
2018 · dir. Debra Granik
🍅 100%★ 7.1drama

Wistful crime, and it commits to that

A father and daughter live a perfect but mysterious existence in Forest Park, a beautiful nature reserve near Portland, Oregon, rarely making contact with the world. But when a small mistake tips them off to authorities, they are sent on an increasingly erratic journey in search of a place to call their own.

The Hand of God poster
The Hand of God
2021 · dir. Paolo Sorrentino
🍅 83%★ 7.3dramaNetflix

Drama of the same temperament

In 1980s Naples, an awkward teen struggling to find his place experiences heartbreak and liberation after he's inadvertently saved from a freak accident by football legend Diego Maradona.

How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies poster
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
2024 · dir. Pat Boonnitipat
🍅 98%★ 7.9dramaNetflix

Cut from the same drama cloth

M, a university dropout low on money and luck, volunteers to take care of his terminally ill grandmother, in the hope of pocketing an inheritance.

Rebel Without a Cause poster
Rebel Without a Cause
1955 · dir. Nicholas Ray
🍅 91%★ 7.6drama

Both are built on the same subject: parents and children

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.

The 400 Blows poster
The 400 Blows
1959 · dir. François Truffaut
🍅 99%★ 8dramaMax

Drama in the same key

For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures.

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies →

The best-reviewed films that share A Bronx Tale’s defining feeling.