Movies like Mechanical (2023)
The best movies like Mechanical (2023) are All That Breathes (2022), Indie Game: The Movie (2012) and The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari (2022). If Mechanical hooked you with its thriller and documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Rescue (2021)8.0/10 from 285 votes
- NewestFlesh Impact (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishTo the Sea (2010)Also in Spanish
All That Breathes (2022)
Against the darkening backdrop of New Delhi's apocalyptic air and escalating violence, two brothers devote their lives to protecting one casualty of the turbulent times: the bird known as the black kite.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIndie Game: The Movie (2012)
Follows the dramatic journeys of video game developers as they create and release their games to the world. It's about making video games, but at its core, it's about the creative process, and exposing yourself through your work.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari (2022)
A close examination of the Whakaari / White Island volcanic eruption of 2019 in which 22 lives were lost, the film viscerally recounts a day when ordinary people were called upon to do extraordinary things, placing this tragic event within the larger context of nature, resilience, and the power of our shared humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this#AnneFrank. Parallel Stories (2019)
One single Anne Frank moves us more than the countless others who suffered just as she did but whose faces have remained in the shadows-Primo Levi. The Oscar®-winning Helen Mirren will introduce audiences to Anne Frank's story through the words in her diary. The set will be her room in the secret refuge in Amsterdam, reconstructed in every detail by set designers from the Piccolo Theatre in Milan. Anne Frank this year would have been 90 years old. Anne's story is intertwined with that of five Holocaust survivors, teenage girls just like her, with the same ideals, the same desire to live: Arianna Szörenyi, Sarah Lichtsztejn-Montard, Helga Weiss and sisters Andra and Tatiana Bucci. Their testimonies alternate with those of their children and grandchildren.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOperation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal (2021)
An examination that goes beyond the celebrity-driven headlines and dives into the methods used by Rick Singer, the man at the center of the shocking 2019 college admissions scandal, to persuade his wealthy clients to cheat an educational system already designed to benefit the privileged.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 11th Hour (2007)
A look at the state of the global environment including visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet's ecosystems. Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R. James Woolse
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTitan: The OceanGate Submersible Disaster (2025)
OceanGate's Titan tourist submersible imploded in 2023 on a deep-sea dive to the Titanic. This documentary details how a bold vision ended in tragedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Social Dilemma (2020)
This documentary-drama hybrid explores the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTo the Sea (2010)
Before leaving for Rome with his mother, five year old Natan is taken by his father, Jorge, on an epic journey to the pristine Chinchorro reef off the coast of Mexico. As they fish, swim, and sail the turquoise waters of the open sea, Natan discovers the beauty of his Mayan heritage and learns to live in harmony with life above and below the surface, as the bond between father and son grows stronger before their inevitable farewell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFraming John DeLorean (2019)
A documentary interspersed with acted scenes, this portrait of John DeLorean covers the brilliant but tragically flawed automaker's rise to stardom and shocking down fall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBobby Fischer Against the World (2011)
The first documentary feature to explore the tragic and bizarre life of the late chess master Bobby Fischer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBowling for Columbine (2002)
This is not a film about gun control. It is a film about the fearful heart and soul of the United States, and the 280 million Americans lucky enough to have the right to a constitutionally protected Uzi. From a look at the Columbine High School security camera tapes to the home of Oscar-winning NRA President Charlton Heston, from a young man who makes homemade napalm with The Anarchist's Cookbook to the murder of a six-year-old girl by another six-year-old. Bowling for Columbine is a journey through the US, through our past, hoping to discover why our pursuit of happiness is so riddled with violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLead Me Home (2021)
Poignant stories of homelessness on the West Coast of the US frame this cinematic portrait of a surging humanitarian crisis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rescue (2021)
The enthralling, against-all-odds story that transfixed the world in 2018: the daring rescue of twelve boys and their coach from deep inside a flooded cave in Northern Thailand.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDreams of a Life (2011)
A filmmaker sets out to discover the life of Joyce Vincent, who died in her bedsit in North London in 2003. Her body wasn't discovered for three years, and newspaper reports offered few details of her life - not even a photograph.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBully (2011)
This year, over 5 million American kids will be bullied at school, online, on the bus, at home, through their cell phones and on the streets of their towns, making it the most common form of violence young people in this country experience. The Bully Project is the first feature documentary film to show how we've all been affected by bullying, whether we've been victims, perpetrators or stood silent witness. The world we inhabit as adults begins on the playground. The Bully Project opens on the first day of school. For the more than 5 million kids who'll be bullied this year in the United States, it's a day filled with more anxiety and foreboding than excitement. As the sun rises and school busses across the country overflow with backpacks, brass instruments and the rambunctious sounds of raging hormones, this is a ride into the unknown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Overnighters (2014)
Desperate, broken men chase their dreams and run from their demons in the North Dakota oil fields. A local Pastor's decision to help them has extraordinary and unexpected consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Basement (2024)
The village of Yahidne in northern Ukraine is coming back to life. Dogs are running around. Gardens and crops are green again. People support one another and families have reunited. In a movement of solidarity, local youth help rebuild what was devastated a year ago when Russian troops occupied the village imprisoning the villagers in the school's basement for a month. The villagers' attitudes alternate between their desire to move forward an remembering the horrors of the past. A heartwarming tribute to resilience and unity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary & drama
TAIBALE - Storia di una bambina salvata di Gianni Torres (2025)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary & drama
Afloat (2017)
'Afloat' is an experimental film that paints a portrait of Japanese performance artist: Ayumi Lanoire. The film opens as a telephone call between Ayumi and Person X, which meanders the audience through the various layers that make up her personas leading one to wonder whether she is in fact a myth or reality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Birds Changed Names And The World Turned Into Ice (2022)
Migrant families experience violence, but they also keep beautiful memories when they arrive in new lands. Fantastic and intimate stories, recalled from childhood, travel across time and space, magically intermingling with the help of the four elements and breaking the boundaries of cinema.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Somewhere After (2026)
In 2020, seven Australians shared their hopes, dreams and fears and chose a landscape to reflect their experience of isolation. Three years later, they listen back with vulnerability and humour, confronting the universal question: can we use difficult times to become who we hope to be?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Perseguida (1991)
A journalist Lorena and her friend photographer Raul decide to try to take an interview from influential politician Hermenegildo Parra. After several unsuccessful attempts they decide to break into his house and make some photos there but when they enter his cabinet they see him stabbed with the knife. The next day the newspaper announces his death and start to celebrate a big amount of sold copies but during the fiesta a phone calls and it was Mr.Parra "alive and kicking". After this scandal Lorena becomes pursued by some mysterious killers who want to take the negatives from her at any price. The solution of this mystery is very unexpected...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dinosaur Eggs in the Living Room (2011)
An old woman attends classes of digital photography and editing. It is not a late hobby, but a project undertaken with a clear aim in mind. Ragnhild Borgomanero wants to be able to preserve the memory of her deceased husband Guido, the biggest private collector of fossils in Latin America.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Si está en su memoria, podemos llevarle (2025)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Flesh Impact (2026)
A mysterious old woman auditions for a play at a small blackbox theater in New York City. As she describes her qualifications and her acting experience, secrets about her identity and the misconceptions about her life bubble to the surface.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Jack Fall (TBA)
The loss of Jack's wife Katie sends him into a deep depression. Having been through a similar loss, Jack's good friend Allen must now talk him back from the brink, with the help of a mysterious gift from the night sky...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
After Office Hours (1935)
A managing editor sends a socialite reporter to spy on her boyfriend, mixed up in murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Memorabilia (TBA)
Just like our memories, the stories we honor tonight were immortalized through a very unique vision of its creators. The winner takes it all.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Donde Crecen los Sauces (2026)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Mechanical?
The closest matches to Mechanical are All That Breathes (2022), Indie Game: The Movie (2012) and The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Mechanical?
Start with All That Breathes (2022), the closest match to Mechanical.
What is the highest-rated movie like Mechanical?
The Rescue (2021), rated 8.0/10 by 285 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Mechanical?
Flesh Impact (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Mechanical?
Yes: To the Sea (2010), The Birds Changed Names And The World Turned Into Ice (2022) and Perseguida (1991).
How are movies similar to Mechanical chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Mechanical, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.