Movies like A Film to Pass the Time
The best movies like A Film to Pass the Time are Maternal Instinct (2026), The Crash (2026) and Out of Thin Air (2017). If A Film to Pass the Time hooked you with its documentary and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedCobain: Montage of Heck (2015)7.6/10 from 773 votes
- NewestGajab Raat (2026)Released 2026
Maternal Instinct (2026)
Police pull over a woman who claims she just gave birth. But the baby — and the blood — aren't hers. Twisted lies unravel in this true-crime documentary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Crash (2026)
A teen slams her car into a building, killing her boyfriend and his friend. What seems like a tragic accident becomes a murder case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOut of Thin Air (2017)
Set within the stark Icelandic landscape, OUT OF THIN AIR examines the 1976 police investigation into the disappearance of two men in the early 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Mystery of D.B. Cooper (2020)
This documentary brings to life the stories of four people believed by their family and friends to be “DB Cooper,” a man who hijacked a 727 flying out of Seattle and jumped from the plane over the wilds of Washington State with a parachute and $200,000, never to be heard from again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVoyeur (2017)
Legendary journalist Gay Talese unmasks a motel owner who spied on his guests for decades. But his bombshell story soon becomes a scandal of its own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisCon Mum (2025)
A chef's life is upended when a jet-setting, champagne-sipping, hotel-hopping woman claims to be his long-lost mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDirty John: The Dirty Truth (2019)
John Meehan created a terrifying trap of seduction, deceit and betrayal for countless victims. The illuminating revelations into his backstory showcase a series of events that flipped switches to create a monster wired for psychopathy. Goffard exposes John’s troubled background that built the foundation for his ominous fantasy world of lies and manipulation. In addition to hearing the Newell family’s terrifying tale, John’s first wife Tonia Bales and her daughters Emily and Abigail Meehan speak out, along with other women from his past who were caught in his web of lies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisCrips and Bloods: Made in America (2009)
With a first-person look at the notorious Crips and Bloods, this film examines the conditions that have lead to decades of devastating gang violence among young African Americans growing up in South Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988)
An exploration of the heavy metal scene in Los Angeles, with particular emphasis on glam metal. It features concert footage and interviews of legendary heavy metal and hard rock bands and artists such as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Megadeth, Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne and W.A.S.P..
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrip Down, Rise Up (2021)
The feature documentary follows women of all walks of life, all ages and ethnic backgrounds, as they shed trauma, body image shame, sexual abuse and other issues locked in their bodies, and embark on a journey to reclaim themselves. The film also gives a rare window into the world of Pole artistry and expression.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKurt Cobain: About a Son (2007)
An intimate and moving meditation on the late musician and artist Kurt Cobain, based on more than 25 hours of previously unheard audiotaped interviews conducted with Cobain by noted music journalist Michael Azerrad for his book "Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana." In the film, Kurt Cobain recounts his own life - from his childhood and adolescence to his days of musical discovery and later dealings with explosive fame - and offers often piercing insights into his life, music, and times. The conversations heard in the film have never before been made public, and they reveal a highly personal portrait of an artist much discussed but not particularly well understood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Decline of Western Civilization Part III (1998)
A musical study of Los Angeles in the late 90s, where homeless teens roam the streets and profess to live a punk lifestyle of music, drugs, and flouting authority.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Toxic Love Story (2026)
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Half Measures: Creating the Final Season of Breaking Bad (2013)
A documentary about the making of season five of the acclaimed AMC series Breaking Bad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisVampir Cuadecuc (1972)
An atmospheric essay, which is an alternative version of Count Dracula, a film directed by Jess Franco in 1970; a ghostly narration between fiction and reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSeduced and Abandoned (2013)
SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story (2020)
After 16-year-old Cyntoia Brown is sentenced to life in prison, questions about her past, physiology and the law itself call her guilt into question.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
Hailed as one of the most innovative and intimate documentaries of all time, experience Kurt Cobain like never before in the only ever fully authorized portrait of the famed music icon. Academy Award nominated filmmaker Brett Morgen expertly blends Cobain's personal archive of art, music, never seen before movies, animation and revelatory interviews from his family and closest friends.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTupac: Resurrection (2003)
Home movies, photographs, and recited poetry illustrate the life of Tupac Shakur, one of the most beloved, revolutionary, and volatile hip-hop MCs of all time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Velvet Underground (2021)
Experience the iconic rock band's legacy in the first major documentary to tell their story. Directed with the era’s avant-garde spirit by Todd Haynes, this kaleidoscopic oral history combines exclusive interviews with dazzling archival footage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Days Later (2021)
A dystopian, post-modern retelling of the Easter story.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Gajab Raat (2026)
A corrupt, troubled cop's night spirals out of control when a reluctant act of mercy toward an injured girl pulls him into a deadly web of crime.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Nocturnal (2022)
A one minute short film showcasing the sights, sounds, and people that characterizes Singapore's nightlife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Vacuumin’ Around (2025)
A documentary about a person who cleans his room with a vacuum cleaner, filled with disasters and mishaps.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The American Sector (2020)
A documentary about the concrete sections of the Berlin Wall that have been acquired by institutions or individuals since 1989 and are now scattered across the USA. Cherished or abandoned, they have become silent witnesses to recent history.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Ali Ali (2025)
In a quiet Rajasthani village, young Ali clings to his cricket bat as his friends chase it. What starts as playful mischief reveals a film crew struggling to finish their shoot, blurring childhood and the fragile magic of cinema.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
AIPOKAMORHC (2025)
A unique visual interpretation of Tyler, the Creator's latest album, Chromakopia.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Truth or Consequences (2020)
Truth or Consequences is a speculative documentary about time and how we weave the past into the present and our possible future. Set in the small desert town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, the film takes place in the shadow of a nearby Spaceport and the commercial exploration of space. Through the lives of the people in town and a filmmaker from the future, the film explores progress, echoes of history, and how we each navigate a sense of loss, within ourselves and within a changing world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Mianhua Islet (2026)
The refracted gaze on Mianhua Islet, Taiwan's eastern de facto border, turns the concrete landscape of physical territory into a mirage of topography and politics. The fragmented image of the frontier reflects the ambivalent state of Taiwanese subjectivity. The camera slowly sweeps over the contour of the islet as if touching the country's body to ensure its existence. The ever-imaginary border that eludes, obscures, and fictionalizes the construction of a nation confronts us with its external mirrored image, as a subject and as a site, where the process and paradox of forming national subjectivity are materialized, embodied, and caught in a liminal space.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Trials and Initiation (2025)
Here is an actor, one who has been asked to dwell in the perilous gap between text and image. In the voids where traces of the past have been erased by an unknown error, she begins to assemble her own script.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Film to Pass the Time?
The closest matches to A Film to Pass the Time are Maternal Instinct (2026), The Crash (2026) and Out of Thin Air (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Film to Pass the Time?
Start with Maternal Instinct (2026), the closest match to A Film to Pass the Time.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Film to Pass the Time?
Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015), rated 7.6/10 by 773 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Film to Pass the Time?
Gajab Raat (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like A Film to Pass the Time?
Yes: Maternal Instinct (2026), The Crash (2026) and Out of Thin Air (2017).
How are movies similar to A Film to Pass the Time chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Film to Pass the Time, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.