Movies like To Catch a Glimpse (1997)
The best movies like To Catch a Glimpse (1997) are My Mom Jayne (2025), Maternal Instinct (2026) and Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008). If To Catch a Glimpse hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)8.1/10 from 621 votes
- NewestMaternal Instinct (2026)Released 2026
My 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 thisMaternal 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
In 2001, Andrew Bagby, a medical resident, is murdered not long after breaking up with his girlfriend. Soon after, when she announces she's pregnant, one of Andrew's many close friends, Kurt Kuenne, begins this film, a gift to the child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisExtremis (2016)
A purely observational non-fiction film that takes viewers into the ethically murky world of end-of-life decision making in a public hospital.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me (2023)
From the heights of her modeling fame to her tragic death, this documentary reveals Anna Nicole Smith through the eyes of the people closest to her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Realms of the Unreal (2004)
In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.
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 thisDirected by John Ford (1971)
A documentary about the life and films of director John Ford.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDeliver Us from Evil (2006)
Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHarry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction (2013)
An impressionistic portrait of the iconic actor Harry Dean Stanton comprised of intimate moments, film clips from some of his 250 films and his renditions of American folk songs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 thisThe Curious Birth of Benjamin Button (2009)
A documentary about the making of David Fincher's 2008 film THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. Virtually every element in the evolution of the Fincher's film is documented here, from the project's attachment to numerous other directors during the 1990s, to its shoot in 2006 and 2007 in New Orleans, to its complex, CGI-intensive postproduction process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke (2019)
This investigation examines the mysterious shooting of soul icon Sam Cooke, whose death silenced one of the most vital voices in the civil rights movement.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFuck (2006)
A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeart of a Dog (2015)
Musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother and her beloved dog.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTo Kill a Tiger (2023)
Ranjit, a farmer in India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the victim of a brutal gang rape. His decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStories We Tell (2012)
Canadian actress and filmmaker Sarah Polley investigates certain secrets related to her mother, interviewing a group of family members and friends whose reliability varies depending on their implication in the events, which are remembered in different ways; so a trail of questions remains to be answered, because memory is always changing and the discovery of truth often depends on who is telling the tale.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlack Sheep (2018)
After the high-profile killing of Damilola Taylor, Cornelius' family move out of London. But when they discover their new town is run by racists, Cornelius takes a drastic step to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe In Between (2024)
Following the death of her brother, filmmaker Robie Flores returns to her hometown Eagle Pass on the Texas/Mexico border, wanting to turn back time. She collides with unruly experiences of adolescence – quinceañeras, Rio Grande river excursions, teen makeovers and beyond – that invite her to soak up the details of the home her brother adored and she ignored. What emerges is a playful dance between a personal and collective coming-of-age portrait of kids on the border and Robie herself as she rediscovers the possibilities of joy in the aftermath of grief.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Moments of Resistance (2019)
Widerstandsmomente (Moments of Resistance) carries voices, writings, and objects from the anti-Nazi resistance into the present. Politically engaged women of today respond to historical resistance and make links to current events. A line is drawn from what was before and what is today to what might be: a society based on solidarity without discrimination or exclusion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Wisdom of Trauma (2021)
One in five Americans are diagnosed with mental illness every year. Suicide is the second most common cause of death in the US for youth aged 15-24, and kills over 800,000 people globally per year. Drug overdose kills 81,000 in the US annually. The autoimmune disorder epidemic affects 24 million people in the US alone. What is going on? The interconnected epidemics of anxiety, chronic illness and substance abuse are, according to Dr. Gabor Maté, normal - but not in the way you might think.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Johanna Dohnal - Visionary of Feminism (2020)
Johanna Dohnal, whose political career spans three decades, was one of the very first explicitly feminist politicians in Europe. As a member of the Austrian socialist government and the first Austrian minister for Women’s Affairs from 1990 to 1994, Dohnal was responsible for founding Austria’s first women’s refuge as well as criminalizing of marital rape. Yet her legacy remains yet to be discovered and re-examined. DIE DOHNAL makes a first step, and it makes Dohnal come alive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Video Blues (2019)
Emma reviews old tapes on VHS, which show faded family memories of those distant 80s, when she was still a child. While recalling the trips to the coast and the children's laughter, she tries to recompose pieces of a story that he never fully understood, joining the pieces of a forgotten puzzle to discover that things were not what they seemed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
So long, Good Times (2022)
You only die once. A film about the life of a corpse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
After the Death (2022)
After I died from suicide, I was punished for this deadly sin, to live alone in the spirit world deep in the sea, but He gave me a chance to redeem my sin by shooting a film of a philanthropist's afterlife to ask and get the merits, I've been waiting for overly time to see a philanthropist's spirit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Words Fly Back to the Black Earth (2025)
A calling inhabits the blank pages, unfolding a secret writing of hers. The unseen written traces seep from the murmuring land, pushing through fragmented voices to become new forms, beings made material. Framed as a dialogue with my grandmother, this film explores an alternative form of personal writing by Chinese women in political shifts, absent and abundant. The 'blank' becomes an image, carrying a search for agency; of land transformed and of women unheard. By breaking down linguistic structures, the film opens a space for imagining, reading, and performing, allowing for emergence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Women Composers (1976)
Female composers' names are mentioned throughout history.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Drinking a Monster in the parking lot of the clinic where I was born that is now a funeral home (2024)
A woman returns to the site of her birth, which is now a funeral home. She drinks a white monster energy drink.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Like To Catch a Glimpse and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like To Catch a Glimpse?
The closest matches to To Catch a Glimpse are My Mom Jayne (2025), Maternal Instinct (2026) and Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after To Catch a Glimpse?
Start with My Mom Jayne (2025), the closest match to To Catch a Glimpse.
What is the highest-rated movie like To Catch a Glimpse?
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008), rated 8.1/10 by 621 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like To Catch a Glimpse?
Maternal Instinct (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like To Catch a Glimpse?
Yes: My Mom Jayne (2025), Maternal Instinct (2026) and Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008).
How are movies similar to To Catch a Glimpse chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside To Catch a Glimpse, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.