Movies like Waiting Sunrise (2023)
The best movies like Waiting Sunrise (2023) are Stardust Memories (1980), Malcolm & Marie (2021) and Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991). If Waiting Sunrise hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Waiting Sunrise
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)7.9/10 from 447 votes
- NewestBlue Heron (2026)Released 2026
- In KoreanThe Day He Arrives (2011)Also in Korean
Stardust Memories (1980)
While attending a retrospect of his work, a filmmaker recalls his life and his loves: the inspirations for his films.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMalcolm & Marie (2021)
As a filmmaker and his girlfriend return home from his movie premiere, smoldering tensions and painful revelations push them toward a romantic reckoning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)
A chronicle of the production problems — including bad weather, actors' health, war near the filming locations, and more — which plagued the filming of Apocalypse Now, increasing costs and nearly destroying the life and career of Francis Ford Coppola.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Day He Arrives (2011)
A film director who no longer makes films arrives in Seoul to meet a close friend. When the friend doesn't show up, he wanders the city aimlessly for three days, grabbing drinks and meeting women, with each day playing out like a version of the last.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHollywood Ending (2002)
Woody Allen stars as Val Waxman, a two-time Oscar winner turned washed-up, neurotic director in desperate need of a comeback. When it comes, Waxman finds himself backed into a corner: Work for his ex-wife Ellie or forfeit his last shot. Is Val blinded by love when he opts for the reconnect? Is love blind when it comes to Ellie's staunch support? Literally and figuratively, the proof is the picture.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPast Lives (2023)
After decades apart, childhood friends Nora and Hae Sung are reunited in New York for one fateful weekend as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLiving in Oblivion (1995)
Low-budget independent filmmaker Nick Reve tries to keep everything together as his production is plagued with an insecure actress, a megalomaniac star, a pretentious beret-wearing director of photography, and lousy catering.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWaking Sleeping Beauty (2010)
By the mid-1980s, the fabled animation studios of Walt Disney had fallen on hard times. The artists were polarized between newcomers hungry to innovate and old timers not yet ready to relinquish control. These conditions produced a series of box-office flops and pessimistic forecasts: maybe the best days of animation were over. Maybe the public didn't care. Only a miracle or a magic spell could produce a happy ending. Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairy tale. It's the true story of how Disney regained its magic with a staggering output of hits - "Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast ," "Aladdin," "The Lion King," and more - over a 10-year period.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSoulmate (2023)
When Mi-so and Ha-eun first meet in childhood, their lives become instantly intertwined, forming a bond surrounded by happiness and naivety. But as adulthood arrives, alone and together, they are forced to deal with sadness, anger, grief, growth, and most of all, love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSometimes I Think About Dying (2024)
Fran likes to think about dying. It brings sensation to her quiet life. When she makes the new guy at work laugh, it leads to more: a date, a slice of pie, a conversation, a spark. The only thing standing in their way is Fran herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSouth Park: Post COVID: The Return of COVID (2021)
If Stan, Kyle and Cartman could just work together, they could go back in time to make sure Covid never happened. But traveling back to the past seems to be the easy answer until they meet Victor Chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOrange County (2002)
Shaun Brumder is a local surfer kid from Orange County who dreams of going to Stanford to become a writer and to get away from his dysfunctional family household. Except Shaun runs into one complication after another, starting when his application is rejected after his dim-witted guidance counselor sends in the wrong form.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue (1993)
Against a plain, unchanging blue screen, a densely interwoven soundtrack of voices, sound effects and music attempt to convey a portrait of Derek Jarman's experiences with AIDS, both literally and allegorically, together with an exploration of the meanings associated with the colour blue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this2036: Nexus Dawn (2017)
Niander Wallace introduces a new line of "perfected" replicants called the Nexus 9, seeking to get the prohibition on replicants repealed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRental Family (2025)
An American actor in Tokyo struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese 'rental family' agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. As he immerses himself in his clients' worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlue Heron (2026)
A family of six's fresh start on 1990s Vancouver Island unravels as their youngest child, Sasha, witnesses the increasingly dangerous behavior of her older brother, Jeremy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012)
Two high school students become stranded on a tropical island and must rely on each other for survival. They learn more about themselves and each other while falling in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTake Care of My Cat (2001)
When one girl from five close school friends moves to Seoul after school is over, the other four try and deal with the loss of her moving and them drifting apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991)
Sue Ellen Crandell is a teenager eagerly awaiting her mother's summer-long absence. While the babysitter looks after her rambunctious younger siblings, Sue Ellen can party and have fun. But then the babysitter abruptly dies, leaving the Crandells short on cash. Sue Ellen finds a sweet job in fashion by lying about her age and experience on her résumé. But, while her siblings run wild, she discovers the downside of adulthood
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAntiviral (2012)
Syd March is employed at a clinic that sells injections of live viruses harvested from sick celebrities to obsessed fans. When he becomes infected with the disease that kills super sensation Hannah Geist, Syd becomes a target for collectors and rabid fans. He must unravel the mystery surrounding her death before he suffers the same fate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Waiting Sunrise?
The closest matches to Waiting Sunrise are Stardust Memories (1980), Malcolm & Marie (2021) and Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Waiting Sunrise?
Start with Stardust Memories (1980), the closest match to Waiting Sunrise.
What is the highest-rated movie like Waiting Sunrise?
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991), rated 7.9/10 by 447 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Waiting Sunrise?
Blue Heron (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like Waiting Sunrise?
Yes: The Day He Arrives (2011), Soulmate (2023) and Take Care of My Cat (2001).
How are movies similar to Waiting Sunrise chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Waiting Sunrise, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.