Movies like Cycle of the Seasons (1996)
The best movies like Cycle of the Seasons (1996) are Seven Up! (1964), 4 Little Girls (1997) and Louis Theroux: Twilight of the Porn Stars (2012). If Cycle of the Seasons hooked you with its documentary and tv movie, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Cycle of the Seasons
Quick picks
- Highest ratedZeitgeist: Moving Forward (2011)7.0/10 from 246 votes
- NewestCome See Me in the Good Light (2025)Released 2025
Seven Up! (1964)
A group of British children aged 7 from widely ranging backgrounds are interviewed about a range of subjects. The filmmakers plan to re-interview them at 7 year intervals to track how their lives and attitudes change as they age.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this4 Little Girls (1997)
On September 15, 1963, a bomb destroyed a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls who were there for Sunday school. It was a crime that shocked the nation--and a defining moment in the history of the civil-rights movement. Spike Lee re-examines the full story of the bombing, including a revealing interview with former Alabama Governor George Wallace.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLouis Theroux: Twilight of the Porn Stars (2012)
In 1997, Louis Theroux made a documentary about the world of male porn performers in Los Angeles. 15 years later, he returns to find a business struggling with the deluge of free porn on the internet. Louis revisits some of the original programme's contributors as well as meeting the latest crop of porn performers dreaming of porn stardom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006)
Featuring never-before-seen footage, this documentary delivers a startling new look at the Peoples Temple, headed by preacher Jim Jones who, in 1978, led more than 900 members to Guyana, where he orchestrated a mass suicide via tainted punch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows (1998)
This documentary follows superstar Bret Hart during his last year in the WWF. The film documents the tensions that resulted in The Montreal Screwjob, one of the most controversial events in the history of professional wrestling, in which Vince McMahon, Shawn Micheals, and others, legitimately conspired behind the scenes to go against the script and remove Bret Hart as champion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDavid Bowie: Five Years (2013)
Featuring a wealth of previously unseen archive, this film looks at how Bowie continually evolved: from Ziggy Stardust to the Soul Star of Young Americans, to the ‘Thin White Duke’. It explores his regeneration in Berlin with the critically acclaimed album Heroes, his triumph with Scary Monsters and his global success with Let’s Dance. With interviews with all his closest collaborators, David Bowie - Five Years presents a unique account of why Bowie has become an ‘icon of our times’.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOne Life (2011)
One Life captures unprecedented and beautiful sequences of animal behaviour guaranteed to bring you closer to nature than ever before, as well as a second disc packed full of never before seen extras including an exclusive making of featurette narrated by Daniel Craig.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGod Grew Tired of Us (2006)
Filmmaker Christopher Quinn observes the ordeal of three Sudanese refugees -- Jon Bul Dau, Daniel Abul Pach and Panther Bior -- as they try to come to terms with the horrors they experienced in their homeland, while adjusting to their new lives in the United States.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCome See Me in the Good Light (2025)
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this35 Up (1991)
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHuman Flow (2017)
More than 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war, the greatest displacement since World War II. Filmmaker Ai Weiwei examines the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Over the course of one year in 23 countries, Weiwei follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretch across the globe, including Afghanistan, France, Greece, Germany and Iraq.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHarmontown (2014)
A comedic, brutally honest documentary following self-destructive TV writer Dan Harmon as he takes his live podcast on a national tour.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAs I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000)
A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this28 Up (1985)
Just two years away from turning 30, participants in Michael Apted's documentary series are facing serious questions of identity and purpose, wondering whether they've found their place in the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Crystal Calls - Making The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019)
Go behind the scenes with stars, puppeteers and creators as they bring Jim Henson's magical world of Thra back to life in a sweeping fantasy series.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCharlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin (2003)
Brilliant, long in-the-works story of the life and art of the world's greatest comedian and the cinema's first genius, Charlie Chaplin. Produced, written and directed by renowned film critic Richard Schickel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZeitgeist: Moving Forward (2011)
A presentation of a case for a needed transition out of the current socioeconomic monetary paradigm which governs the entire world society. This subject matter will transcend the issues of cultural relativism and traditional ideology and move to relate the core, empirical 'life ground' attributes of human and social survival, extrapolating those immutable natural laws into a new sustainable social paradigm called a 'Resource-Based Economy'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSouth of the Border (2009)
A road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media's misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Mom Jayne (2025)
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like this21 Up (1977)
After another 7 year wait, director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born children from Seven Up! and 7 Plus Seven. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIt Was Hot That Day: A Jandiman Story (2024)
Enduring 28 days of relentless construction labor, Frank struggles to prep a house for painting amidst Phoenix's scorching pandemic summer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Only Ghosts in the Waves (2025)
Enrico Naso is an undertaker in Lampedusa. Constantly confronted with the death that lurks everywhere on this remote rock in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Enrico has chosen life, immersing us in what it means to be human.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
My Life in the Serengeti (2014)
Born in Indonesia to Victor Raoul Baron von Lawick and Isabella Sophia Baroness van Ittersum, he developed an early love for animals. He determined that film would be his medium to capture the stunning images of the Serengeti for all animal lovers. Animal researcher Jane Goodall was his wife and collaborator for many years. They wrote and produced many films together. Hugo van Lawick lived and worked on the African plains for more than thirty years. Join van Lawick on his many small and large adventures through the Serengeti, where animals play the leading role. Van Lawick received eight Emmys and numerous other awards for his extraordinary films.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Death of the Serpent God (2014)
This film begins, so to speak, where ‘Vol spécial’ left off. The reality of migration bears its teeth: Following a scuffle, 20-year-old Koumba from France is sent back to the place where she was raised – Senegal. She returns to the lost village of her ancestors hysterical, argumentative and unproductively rebellious. Now the mother of a toddler, she continues to come to terms with the two cultures; the outcome is unforeseeable, as is the outcome of this cinematic long-term observation. The risk of its failure due to its protagonist is palpable. But Koumba’s fascinating metamorphosis is also obvious, her body and character have taken on a more harmonious nature. All hope is not lost.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Ritorno a casa (1980)
The film explores the reasons for emigrating from Italy and describes the feeling of being a stranger in one's own country after many years in Switzerland. It is the sequel to Emigrazione.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Big Cats: Fast and Dangerous (2012)
The vast savannah of the Serengeti. A large part of the genus Panthera lives here. Better known as the "actual big cat". They are among the largest cat species on earth. Among them is the lion, the true predator beneath the vast African sky. 'The King of Africa', male specimens of which weigh up to 270 kg, captured in breathtaking images that show the fascinating world of the big cats. Funny, tragic and spectacular recordings also document the fastest animal in the world, the cheetah, follow leopards on your trail and experience the first days of a black panther.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Sursum Corda, amore (2025)
This intimate letter from a migrant grandson about his Italian grandmother, also a migrant, unites in a trip to Italy the portrait of Venezuelan migration as a vital legacy of the European post-war period and the current crisis that has led the South American country to the largest exodus the continent has ever known.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Antonico: Por Onde Andam os Migrantes Nordestinos? (TBA)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Ice Age Footprints (2022)
Thousands of footprints stretch for miles across New Mexico’s White Sands National Park, capturing moments when Ice Age humans encountered now-extinct beasts, including enormous ground sloths and mammoths. What can these footprints reveal about the peopling of the Americas and what life was like at the end of the last Ice Age?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Cycle of the Seasons?
The closest matches to Cycle of the Seasons are Seven Up! (1964), 4 Little Girls (1997) and Louis Theroux: Twilight of the Porn Stars (2012). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Cycle of the Seasons?
Start with Seven Up! (1964), the closest match to Cycle of the Seasons.
What is the highest-rated movie like Cycle of the Seasons?
Zeitgeist: Moving Forward (2011), rated 7.0/10 by 246 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Cycle of the Seasons?
Come See Me in the Good Light (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Cycle of the Seasons?
Yes: Seven Up! (1964), 4 Little Girls (1997) and Louis Theroux: Twilight of the Porn Stars (2012).
How are movies similar to Cycle of the Seasons chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Cycle of the Seasons, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.