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Like Stars on Earth poster

Movies that feel likeLike Stars on Earth (2007)

Ishaan Awasthi is an eight-year-old whose world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate. Colours, fish, dogs, and kites don't seem important to the adults, who are much more interested in things like homework, marks, and neatness. Ishaan cannot seem to get anything right in class; he is then sent to boarding school, where his life changes forever.

If you loved Like Stars on Earth, the closest films we have are Departures (2008), Swades (2004) and In America (2003). All three share Like Stars on Earth's contemplative and hopeful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is A Short Film About Love (1988).

🍅 93% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Aamir Khancontemplativehopeful
7 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu

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If Like Stars on Earth hit the spot, these will too

Departures poster
Departures
2008 · dir. Yojiro Takita
🍅 80%★ 8drama

One thread runs through both: hopeful

Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.

Swades poster
Swades
2004 · dir. Ashutosh Gowariker
🍅 90%★ 8.2dramaNetflix

Contemplative and hopeful in the same breath

A successful Indian scientist returns home to his village to take his nanny back to America with him, and in the process rediscovers his roots.

In America poster
In America
2003 · dir. Jim Sheridan
🍅 90%★ 7.7drama

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

A family of Irish immigrants adjusts to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.

Awakenings poster
Awakenings
1990 · dir. Penny Marshall
🍅 81%★ 7.8drama

Both lean on hope more than on drama

Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a shy research physician, uses an experimental drug to "awaken" the catatonic victims of a rare disease. Leonard is the first patient to receive the controversial treatment. His awakening, filled with awe and enthusiasm, proves a rebirth for Sayer too, as the exuberant patient reveals life's simple but unutterably sweet pleasures to the introverted doctor.

Hope poster
Hope
2013 · dir. Lee Joon-ik
★ 8.2drama

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

After 8-year-old So-won narrowly survives a brutal sexual assault, her family labors to help her heal while coping with their own rage and grief.

Moneyball poster
Moneyball
2011 · dir. Bennett Miller
🍅 94%★ 7.6dramaHulu

Both run hopeful where it counts

The story of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to put together a baseball team on a budget, by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players.

Astral City: A Spiritual Journey poster
Astral City: A Spiritual Journey
2010 · dir. Wagner de Assis
★ 6.5drama

The drama is handled with the same confidence

The selfish Dr. André Luiz dies and awakes in the limbo called "Umbral". After a painful period in the gruesome swamp, he is rescued and brought in a white light to "Nosso Lar" (meaning "Our Home"). He finds a place of harmony, where people live in peace awaiting

The Blind Side poster
The Blind Side
2009 · dir. John Lee Hancock
🍅 65%★ 7.6drama

Drama of the same temperament

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.

Creed poster
Creed
2015 · dir. Ryan Coogler
🍅 95%★ 7.6dramaPrime VideoHulu

Cut from the same drama cloth

The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.

Mohabbatein poster
Mohabbatein
2000 · dir. Aditya Chopra
★ 7.1drama · romanceNetflix

The same preoccupation in both: teachers and students

The difference: Sits closer to romance than Like Stars on Earth does

At a prestigious all-male university, three friends seek love outside of the school grounds; at the same time, a newly-hired music teacher seeks to befriend and loosen up the militantly strict headmaster.

Fearless poster
Fearless
2006 · dir. Ronny Yu
🍅 73%★ 7.5drama · action

Both play drama straight

The difference: Leans harder into action than Like Stars on Earth does

After going through a series of tragic events in his life, martial arts master Huo Yuanjia returns to Tianjin and must fight four international soldiers, in order to safeguard his nation's pride.

A Short Film About Love poster
A Short Film About Love
1988 · dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
🍅 95%★ 8.1drama · romance

Both keep coming back to the same thing: hopeful

19-year-old Tomek whiles away his lonely life by spying on his opposite neighbour Magda through binoculars. She's an artist in her mid-thirties, and appears to have everything - not least a constant stream of men at her beck and call. But when the two finally meet, they discover that they have a lot more in common than appeared at first sight...

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The best-reviewed films that share Like Stars on Earth’s defining feeling.