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Movies like The Cycle (2010)

The best movies like The Cycle (2010) are What Maisie Knew (2013), El Chicano (2019) and Brotherly Love (2015). If The Cycle hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. What Maisie Knew (2013)

    In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  2. El Chicano (2019)

    A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  3. Brotherly Love (2015)

    West Philadelphia basketball star Sergio Taylor deals with the pressures of fame while his brother and sister have their own issues with ambition.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  4. The Young One (1960)

    A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  5. Vanya on 42nd Street (1994)

    An uninterrupted rehearsal of Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' plays out by a company of actors. The setting: their run-down theater with an unusable stage and crumbling ceiling. The play is shown act by act with the briefest of breaks to move props or for refreshments. The lack of costumes, real props and scenery is soon forgotten.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  6. The Nest (2020)

    Rory is an ambitious entrepreneur who brings his American wife and kids to his native country, England, to explore new business opportunities. After abandoning the sanctuary of their safe American suburban surroundings, the family is plunged into the despair of an archaic '80s Britain and their unaffordable new life in an English manor house threatens to destroy the family.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  7. Sergio (2020)

    A sweeping drama set in the chaotic aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq, where the life of top UN diplomat Brazilian Sérgio Vieira de Mello hangs in the balance during the most treacherous mission of his career.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  8. Inside I'm Dancing (2004)

    Michael is a 24-year-old who has cerebral palsy and long-term resident of the Carrigmore Residential Home for the Disabled, run by the formidable Eileen. His life is transformed when the maverick Rory O'Shea moves in.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  9. A Question of Faith (2017)

    When Tragedy Strikes three Families, their Destiny forces them on a coverging path and mercy as the challenges of their fate could also resurrect their beliefs

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  10. Mindwalk (1991)

    On the French island of Mont Saint-Michel, Jack, a failed presidential candidate, Tom, a poet and Sonia, a physicist, engage in an intellectual conversation about politics, philosophy and life over the course of a single day.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  11. Kisses (2008)

    Two kids, Dylan and Kylie, run away from home on Christmas Day and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  12. All Day and a Night (2020)

    While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  13. Skin (2009)

    Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  14. Three Christs (2017)

    Dr. Alan Stone breaks new ground for treatment of the mentally ill through an experiment on three paranoid schizophrenic patients who believe they are Jesus Christ.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  15. The Kindness of Strangers (2019)

    Clara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to start over in New York. After the car towed away, the family meets Alice, who gets them into an emergency shelter. While stealing food at a Russian restaurant called ‘Winter Palace’, Clara meets Marc, who has been given the chance to help the old eatery regain its former glory. The ‘Winter Palace’ soon becomes a place of unexpected encounters between people who are all undergoing some sort of crisis and whom fate has now brought together.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  16. Hounddog (2008)

    A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  17. Hungry Hearts (2015)

    The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  18. Home (2021)

    An ex-felon returns home from prison and must confront the demons of his past.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. Cardboard Boxer (2016)

    Gentle and broken, a homeless man fights others on video for money but soon finds comfort in an unlikely friend and the lost diary of a young girl.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  20. The Color of Friendship (2000)

    Mahree Bok lives on a farm in South Africa. Her father is a policeman who cannot hide his joy when activist Steve Biko is caught by the South African authorities. Piper Dellums is the daughter of a US congressman from California and who lives in a nice home in Washington DC. When Mahree is chosen to spend a semester at the Dellums' house, she doesn't expect that her host family would be black. Nor do her hosts suspect that she is not a black South African.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  21. The April Chill (2010)

    The story of a Soviet military serviceman and a male Georgian dancer. An anti-violence film about the awakening of human instinct in an invader

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  22. The Secret of Wendel Samson (1966)

    A young man's struggle with his sexuality overtakes his life, driving him deep into his subconscious where guilt and fears of physicality chase him still further. Cornered by an intangible terror, he realises he must either break out or break down.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  23. Claus von Wagner - Theorie der feinen Menschen I (2012)

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  24. Claus von Wagner - Theorie der feinen Menschen II (2012)

    Epic story of betrayal, family and money. Basically a bit like The Sopranos. Only in live action. As if Shakespeare had completed an internship at Deutsche Bank and written a comedy out of despair. People born before 1977 simply replace Sopranos with Dallas.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  25. Entre lui et moi (2013)

    Guillaume is getting ready to meet his wife in the maternity ward where she has just given birth. But an unexpected phone call plunges him back into bitter childhood memories: his father, whom he has not seen for years, wants nothing more than to see his daughter-in-law and the newborn child.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  26. Padam... (2006)

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  27. The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (1895)

    A short film depicting the execution of Mary, Queen of the Scots. Mary is brought to the execution block and made to kneel down with her neck over it. The executioner lifts his axe ready to bring it down. After that frame Mary has been replaced by a dummy. The axe comes down and severs the head of the dummy from the body. The executioner picks up the head and shows it around for everyone else to see. One of the first camera tricks to be used in a movie.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  28. White Night (2010)

    Explores a fleeting moment between two strangers, revealing their brief connection in a hyper real fantasy.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  29. The Accountant (2001)

    The O'Dell farm is on the rocks. A non-traditional accountant comes with a variety of ways to save the farm.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  30. With a Piece of Chalk (2012)

    A young boy called Justen, who went through doleful past, discoveres a way to change his situation greatly.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Like The Cycle and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like The Cycle?

The closest matches to The Cycle are What Maisie Knew (2013), El Chicano (2019) and Brotherly Love (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after The Cycle?

Start with What Maisie Knew (2013), the closest match to The Cycle.

What is the highest-rated movie like The Cycle?

Inside I'm Dancing (2004), rated 7.4/10 by 243 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like The Cycle?

Home (2021) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like The Cycle?

Yes: What Maisie Knew (2013), El Chicano (2019) and Brotherly Love (2015).

How are movies similar to The Cycle chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Cycle, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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