01
The Shipping News
Why this pick
Hallström again brings a wounded, quiet protagonist toward belonging, using a tactile coastal setting, patient storytelling, and a deeply humane sense of surrogate family.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1999 2h 6m USA
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
The Cider House Rules
Drama
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved The Cider House Rules, try these.
01
02
The Prince of Tides
Why this pick
Its expansive, literary melodrama similarly lets buried pain surface through compassionate relationships, balancing family damage, romance, and gradual emotional renewal.
03
Angela's Ashes
Why this pick
A child’s-eye account of hardship rendered with warmth rather than sentimentality; its period texture and resilient family bonds echo the tender gravity of Homer’s world.
04
Snow Falling on Cedars
Why this pick
For the same measured, handsome adaptation style: a morally serious community drama where memory, loyalty, and quiet compassion matter more than plot mechanics.
05
The Secret Life of Bees
Why this pick
A young person escaping an unsafe home finds an unconventional, nurturing household; it shares the film’s gentle Southern atmosphere and belief in chosen family.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
Homer Wells, an orphan, grows up in a Maine orphanage directed by kindly, avuncular Dr. Wilbur Larch. Homer is returned twice by foster parents; his first Foster Care thought he was too quiet and the second parents beat him. Dr. Larch is addicted to Diethyl ether and also secretly performs abortions for women. Conditions at the orphanage are very sparse, but the children are treated with love and respect, and they are like an extended family. Each night before they go to sleep, Dr. Larch says, "Goodnight you Princes of Maine, you Kings of New England!", as both encouragement and a kind of blessing.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Charlize Theron
Candy Kendall
Paul Rudd
Lt. Wally Worthington
Erykah Badu
Rose Rose
Kieran Culkin
Buster
Heavy D
Peaches
K. Todd Freeman
Muddy
Lonnie Farmer
Hero
Kathy Baker
Nurse Angela