Movies like The Waxing and Waning of Life (2023)
The best movies like The Waxing and Waning of Life (2023) are A Million Little Pieces (2019), Postcards from the Edge (1990) and Bigger (2018). If The Waxing and Waning of Life hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTrainspotting (1996)8.0/10 from 10,837 votes
- NewestDìdi (弟弟) (2024)Released 2024
- In JapaneseUnder the Open Sky (2021)Also in Japanese
A Million Little Pieces (2019)
A young drug-addled writer approaching the bottom of his descent submits to two months of agonizing detox at a treatment center in Minnesota.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPostcards from the Edge (1990)
A substance-addicted actress tries to look on the bright side even as she's forced to move back in with her mother to avoid unemployment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBigger (2018)
The inspirational tale of the grandfathers of the fitness movement as we now know it, Joe & Ben Weider. Battling anti-Semitism, racism and extreme poverty, the brothers beat all odds to build an empire & inspire future generations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnder the Open Sky (2021)
Mikami, an ex-yakuza of middle age with most of his life in prison, gets released after serving 13 years of sentence for murder. Hoping to find his long lost mother, from whom he was separated as a child, he applies for a TV show and meets a young TV director Tsunoda. Meanwhile, he struggles to get a proper job and fit into society. His impulsive, adamant nature and ingrained beliefs cause friction in his relationship with Tsunoda and those who want to help him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTrainspotting (1996)
Heroin addict Mark Renton stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends --Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Tommy. He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane, along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can't escape the life he left behind as Begbie and Sick Boy come knocking.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBeautiful Boy (2018)
After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDìdi (弟弟) (2024)
In 2008, during the last month of summer before high school begins, an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy learns what his family can't teach him: how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEasy Money (1983)
To inherit his mother-in-law's colossal fortune, a hard living gambling addict must change his unhealthy ways before it gets the best of him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrother (2000)
A Japanese Yakuza gangster's deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother's gang.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Souvenir (2019)
A shy but ambitious film student falls into an intense, emotionally fraught relationship with a charismatic but untrustworthy older man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Wish (2011)
Twelve-year-old Koichi, who has been separated from his brother Ryunosuke due to his parents' divorce, hears a rumor that the new bullet trains will precipitate a wish-granting miracle when they pass each other at top speed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo Exit (2022)
Stranded at a rest stop in the mountains during a blizzard, a recovering addict discovers a kidnapped child hidden in a car belonging to one of the people inside the building which sets her on a terrifying struggle to identify who among them is the kidnapper.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFoxcatcher (2014)
The greatest Olympic Wrestling Champion brother team joins Team Foxcatcher led by multimillionaire sponsor John E. du Pont as they train for the 1988 games in Seoul - a union that leads to unlikely circumstances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Outrun (2024)
Fresh out of rehab, Rona returns to the Orkney Islands—a place both wild and beautiful, right off the Scottish coast. Now 29 and after more than a decade of living life on the edge in London, where she both found and lost love, Rona attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. As she reconnects with the dramatic landscape where she grew up, memories of her traumatic childhood merge with more recent challenging events that have set her on the path to recovery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCarolina (2003)
A young woman escapes her wildly eccentric family in search for a life of normalcy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisPrisoner's Daughter (2023)
Released from prison with terminal cancer, Max tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter and the grandson he’s never known. When his daughter’s abusive, drug-addicted ex-husband reappears, Max’s violent past comes back to haunt them all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Basketball Diaries (1995)
A high school basketball player’s life turns upside down after free-falling into the harrowing world of drug addiction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOldboy (2013)
A man has only three and a half days and limited resources to discover why he was imprisoned in a nondescript room for 20 years without any explanation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThree Violent People (1956)
A rancher, his shady bride and his one-armed brother fight amid carpetbaggers in Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this6 Balloons (2018)
Over the course of one night, a woman drives across LA with her heroin addict brother in search of a detox center, with his two-year-old daughter in tow.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Waxing and Waning of Life?
The closest matches to The Waxing and Waning of Life are A Million Little Pieces (2019), Postcards from the Edge (1990) and Bigger (2018). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Waxing and Waning of Life?
Start with A Million Little Pieces (2019), the closest match to The Waxing and Waning of Life.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Waxing and Waning of Life?
Trainspotting (1996), rated 8.0/10 by 10,837 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Waxing and Waning of Life?
Dìdi (弟弟) (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like The Waxing and Waning of Life?
Yes: Under the Open Sky (2021), Brother (2000) and I Wish (2011).
How are movies similar to The Waxing and Waning of Life chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Waxing and Waning of Life, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.