Movies like Half-Light (2023)
The best movies like Half-Light (2023) are Mammal (2016), From Straight A's to XXX (2017) and American Beauty (1999). If Half-Light hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAmerican Beauty (1999)8.0/10 from 13,550 votes
- NewestKind Mother (2025)Released 2025
Mammal (2016)
After Margaret, a divorcée living in Dublin, loses her teenage son, she develops an unorthodox relationship with Joe, a homeless youth. Their tentative trust is threatened by his involvement with a violent gang and the escalation of her ex-husband's grieving rage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrom Straight A's to XXX (2017)
When a change of circumstances leaves Miriam unable to pay her college tuition, she makes a surprising decision: to start performing in adult films, using the pseudonym Belle Knox. Miriam lies to her family and her friends at school, keeping her double life a secret. But soon rumours spread and Miriam becomes the subject of vicious online attacks and unwanted attention. Miriam fights back: she talks to the media, saying her new line of work empowers her as a feminist. But her confident stand has unintended consequences. Miriam is shunned by her conservative family and her colleagues in the adult film world. One impulsive decision has quickly spiralled out of control - and Miriam's problems are just beginning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAmerican Beauty (1999)
Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHungry 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCareful What You Wish For (2015)
A guy gets more than he bargained for after entering into an affair with the wife of an investment banker. Soon, a suspicious death and substantial life insurance policy embroil him in a scandal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Short History of the Long Road (2019)
Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Human Voice (2020)
A woman watches time pass beside the suitcases of her ex-lover (who is supposed to come pick them up but never arrives) and a restless dog who doesn't understand that his master has abandoned him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIf Anything Happens I Love You (2020)
Grieving parents journey through an emotional void as they mourn the loss of a child after a tragic school shooting.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Corner in Wheat (1909)
On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisXiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKiller's Kiss (1955)
Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The two decide to skip town, but before they can, Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, and Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Adjuster (1991)
An uptight insurance man and his film-censor wife become a kinky couple's landlords.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Believe in Unicorns (2015)
Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFaces (1968)
Middle-aged suburban husband Richard abruptly tells his wife, Maria, that he wants a divorce. As Richard takes up with a younger woman, Maria enjoys a night on the town with her friends and meets a younger man. As the couple and those around them confront a seemingly futile search for what they've lost -- love, excitement, passion -- this classic American independent film explores themes of aging and alienation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHow to Have Sex (2023)
Three British teenage girls go on a rites-of-passage holiday—drinking, clubbing and hooking up, in what should be the best summer of their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Neighbors' Window (2019)
The story of a middle-aged woman with small children whose life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Taste of Honey (1961)
While out to avoid spending time with her narcissistic and promiscuous mother, sixteen-year-old Jo has a brief affair that leaves her pregnant and abandoned. When her mother remarries, Jo's only support becomes her friend Geoffrey, a homosexual.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMay December (2023)
Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Never Sang for My Father (1970)
A man living in the towering shadow of his aging father finds it difficult to start a new chapter in his life by marrying his girlfriend and moving to California.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShame (2011)
Brandon, a thirty-something man living in New York, eludes intimacy with women but feeds his deepest desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his younger sister temporarily moves into his apartment, stirring up bitter memories of their shared painful past, Brandon's life, like his fragile mind, gets out of control.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBEYOND SIGHT (2025)
In Beyond Sight, Dália is a teenager desperate to belong, even if it means adopting the cruel prejudices of her toxic group of friends. But when an unexpected accident leaves her blind, Dália finds herself on the other side of the judgment she once inflicted. Struggling to adapt, she crosses paths with a mysterious doctor who offers her a chance to regain her sight—through an experimental substance that promises not just vision, but a transformation into her best self: Zoe.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Walk to Remember (2002)
When the popular, restless Landon Carter is forced to participate in the school drama production, he falls in love with Jamie Sullivan, the daughter of the town's minister. Jamie has a "to-do" list for her life, as well as a very big secret she must keep from Landon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSouth of Heaven (2019)
When his boyfriend shows up unannounced, Elias' religious family learns their son's darkest secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Peregrine (2023)
When a boy is pushed by his Father to steal a rare Peregrine egg, he finds strength in the natural world to stand up to his Father and experiences his first sense of freedom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Kind Mother (2025)
An estranged mother arrives at the silent retreat that her daughter is attending. When the two women engage in an unusual - and fantastical - power struggle, limits are tested, generational trauma is brought to light, and together they must grapple with mortality and forgiveness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
My Friend Shokat (2018)
A young Persian-American boy takes matters into his own hands to save his pet goat from being eaten.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bugsy (1991)
New York gangster Ben 'Bugsy' Siegel takes a brief business trip to Los Angeles. A sharp-dressing womanizer with a foul temper, Siegel doesn't hesitate to kill or maim anyone crossing him. In L.A. the life, the movies, and most of all strong-willed Virginia Hill detain him while his family wait back home. Then a trip to a run-down gambling joint at a spot in the desert known as Las Vegas gives him his big idea.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDaughter (2016)
Daughter explores the way women are viewed in society by following three female characters on a Friday night out in St Kilda, who's lives become entwined and affected by an act of violence this fateful night. The award winning short film and an awareness project was inspired by the tragic murder cases of Jill Meagher in Brunswick and St Kilda's own Tracy Connelly, whose occupation as a sex worker was highlighted in the media, leading to her murder and personal story being sadly overshadowed. The main themes explored in the film are violence against women and victim blaming, shown through the eyes of three female leads, lead by Katherine Langford (13 Reasons Why) as Scarlett, Aisha Tara (Heartbreak High) as Jemma and Carolyn Rey as Alethea.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Lilies (2014)
On a lonely night, at an unnamed town, Charlotte sits in a diner after a long drive from the middle of-nowhere. As she drinks her cup of stale coffee and reminisces about her journey, the door suddenly opens, and in come her ex girlfriend, Cleo, with a new male lover.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Longing (2014)
When Michal finds out her husband Meir is having an affair with a man, her world collapses. Not only is she is forced to deal with sexual rejection from Meir, she also has to endure social rejection.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Half-Light?
The closest matches to Half-Light are Mammal (2016), From Straight A's to XXX (2017) and American Beauty (1999). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Half-Light?
Start with Mammal (2016), the closest match to Half-Light.
What is the highest-rated movie like Half-Light?
American Beauty (1999), rated 8.0/10 by 13,550 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Half-Light?
Kind Mother (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Half-Light?
Yes: Mammal (2016), From Straight A's to XXX (2017) and American Beauty (1999).
How are movies similar to Half-Light chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Half-Light, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.