Films and TV shows that feel like Stick Season by Noah Kahan
A bittersweet, self-lacerating homesickness for a small town you can't quite leave or love, wrapped in bare-branch gloom and wry honesty.
- Manchester by the Sea (2016): A man haunted by grief and regret is pulled back to a cold New England town he can't escape.
- Good Will Hunting (1997): Working-class New England roots and the fear of leaving or staying shape a wounded young man.
- Mystic River (2003): Old neighborhood ties and buried pain hang over a gray, tight-knit community.
- Ethan Frome (1993): Stifling winter isolation in a small New England town traps people in regret.
- Gilmore Girls (2000): The Stars Hollow autumn setting gives a gentler take on small-town belonging and family tangles.
- Mare of Easttown (2021): Everyone knows everyone in a worn-down small town full of grief, regret and stubborn loyalty.
- Nebraska (2013): A quiet, faded-landscape road trip back home, full of family strain and wry tenderness.
- Dawson's Creek (1998): Small-town yearning and messy young relationships play out under overcast coastal skies.
