Movies like Purple City (2023)
The best movies like Purple City (2023) are Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience (2016), The Art of Getting By (2011) and Totally F***ed Up (1994). If Purple City hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGuillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)8.0/10 from 3,524 votes
- NewestOrwell: 2+2=5 (2025)Released 2025
Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience (2016)
A celebration of the universe, displaying the whole of time, from its start to its final collapse. This film examines all that occurred to prepare the world that stands before us now: science and spirit, birth and death, the grand cosmos and the minute life systems of our planet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Art of Getting By (2011)
George, a lonely and fatalistic teen who's made it all the way to his senior year without ever having done a real day of work, is befriended by Sally, a popular but complicated girl who recognizes in him a kindred spirit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTotally F***ed Up (1994)
Gay, alienated Los Angeles teens have a hard time as their parents kick them out of their homes, they don’t have money, their lovers cheat, and they are harassed by gay-bashers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBenjamin (2019)
Benjamin, a rising star filmmaker, is on the brink of premiering his difficult second film No Self at the London Film Festival when Billie, his hard drinking publicist, introduces him to a mesmeric French musician called Noah.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDestino (2003)
Short film to a song of love lost and rediscovered, a woman sees and undergoes surreal transformations. Her lover's face melts off, she dons a dress from the shadow of a bell and becomes a dandelion, ants crawl out of a hand and become Frenchmen riding bicycles. Not to mention the turtles with faces on their backs that collide to form a ballerina, or the bizarre baseball game.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJim & Andy: The Great Beyond - Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton (2017)
Through the lens of his stunningly immersive performance as Andy Kaufman, Jim Carrey ponders the meaning of life, reality, identity and career.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWelcome to Chechnya (2020)
This searing investigative work shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ program raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. Unfettered access and a remarkable approach to protecting anonymity exposes this under-reported atrocity–and an extraordinary group of people confronting evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMagazine Dreams (2025)
Aspiring bodybuilder Killian Maddox struggles to find human connection in an exploration of celebrity and violence. Nothing deters him from his fiercely protected dream of superstardom, not even the doctors who warn him of the permanent damage he causes to himself with his quest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman (2012)
John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam pay tribute to their late Monty Python colleague Graham Chapman in this hilarious, 3-D animated adaptation of Chapman's brazenly fictionalized life story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisWaking Life (2001)
Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGuillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)
During the rise of fascism in Mussolini's Italy, a wooden boy brought magically to life struggles to live up to his father's expectations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisOrwell: 2+2=5 (2025)
George Orwell was one of the most visionary authors of the 20th century, whose novels 1984 and Animal Farm foretold a chilling, authoritarian future. Acclaimed director Raoul Peck interweaves clips, readings from Orwell's diary, cinematic references, and modern-day footage to craft not only a portrait of the writer, but a fresh take on how prophetic his work has become.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Cowboy and the Frenchman (1988)
A grizzled, hard-of-hearing cowboy, Slim, and his two friends, Dusty and Pete, capture a mysterious, well-dressed Frenchman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Beach Boys (2024)
A celebration of the legendary band that revolutionized pop music, and the iconic, harmonious sound they created that personified the California dream, captivating fans for generations and generations to come.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInner Workings (2016)
This is the story of the internal struggle between a man's Brain—a pragmatic protector who calculates his every move, and his Heart—a free-spirited adventurer who wants to let loose.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince (1978)
Martin Scorsese spends an evening with larger-than-life raconteur Steven Prince—a former drug addict, road manager for Neil Diamond, and actor—as he recounts stories from his colorful life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSymbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968)
In Manhattan's Central Park, a film crew directed by William Greaves is shooting a screen test with various pairs of actors. It's a confrontation between a couple: he demands to know what's wrong, she challenges his sexual orientation. Cameras shoot the exchange, and another camera records Greaves and his crew. Sometimes we watch the crew discussing this scene, its language, and the process of making a movie. Is there such a thing as natural language? Are all things related to sex? The camera records distractions - a woman rides horseback past them; a garrulous homeless vet who sleeps in the park chats them up. What's the nature of making a movie?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Goldfinch (2019)
A boy in New York is taken in by a wealthy family after his mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In a rush of panic, he steals 'The Goldfinch', a painting that eventually draws him into a world of crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWorld of Tomorrow (2015)
A little girl is taken on a mind-bending tour of her distant future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOld Fashioned (2014)
A reformed frat boy opens an antique store in a college town and falls for the free-spirited girl who moves into the apartment above his shop. In time, this unlikely pair fall into a traditional courtship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Purple City?
The closest matches to Purple City are Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience (2016), The Art of Getting By (2011) and Totally F***ed Up (1994). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Purple City?
Start with Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience (2016), the closest match to Purple City.
What is the highest-rated movie like Purple City?
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022), rated 8.0/10 by 3,524 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Purple City?
Orwell: 2+2=5 (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Purple City?
Yes: Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience (2016), The Art of Getting By (2011) and Totally F***ed Up (1994).
How are movies similar to Purple City chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Purple City, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.