Movies like When the Light Breaks (2024)
The best movies like When the Light Breaks (2024) are Mr. Church (2016), The Miracle Season (2018) and Death of a Superhero (2011). If When the Light Breaks hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLoving Vincent (2017)8.0/10 from 2,676 votes
- NewestDrunken Noodles (2026)Released 2026
Mr. Church (2016)
A unique friendship develops when a little girl and her dying mother inherit a cook - Mr. Church. What begins as an arrangement that should only last six months, instead spans fifteen years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Miracle Season (2018)
After the tragic death of star volleyball player Caroline "Line" Found, a team of dispirited high school girls must band together under the guidance of their tough-love coach in hopes of winning the state championship!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDeath of a Superhero (2011)
A dying 15-year-old boy draws stories of an invincible superhero as he struggles with his mortality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMrs Lowry & Son (2019)
An intimate portrayal of the relationship between one of greatest artists of the 20th century, L.S. Lowry and his unhappy and controlling mother, Elizabeth, whom he lived with all his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCall Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLilting (2014)
A young man of Chinese-Cambodian descent dies, leaving behind his isolated mother and his lover of four years. Though the two don't share a language, they grow close through their grief.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAt Eternity's Gate (2018)
Famed but tormented artist Vincent van Gogh spends his final years in Arles, France, painting masterworks of the natural world that surrounds him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLoving Vincent (2017)
A young man arrives at the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist's final letter and ends up investigating his final days there.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThings We Lost in the Fire (2007)
A recent widow invites her husband's troubled best friend to live with her and her two children. As he gradually turns his life around, he helps the family cope and confront their loss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHeart of Champions (2021)
During their last year at an Ivy League college in 1999, a group of friends and crew teammates' lives are changed forever when an army vet takes over as coach of their dysfunctional rowing team.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Together Now (2020)
An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHello Sister, Goodbye Life (2006)
A college student must take care of her 7-year-old half sister after the death of their parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Human Voice (2020)
A woman watches time pass beside the suitcases of her ex-lover (who is supposed to come pick them up but never arrives) and a restless dog who doesn't understand that his master has abandoned him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Starling (2021)
A woman adjusting to life after a loss contends with a feisty bird that's taken over her garden — and a husband who's struggling to find a way forward.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSynecdoche, New York (2008)
A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHereafter (2010)
Three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — are touched by death in different ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBirth (2004)
It took Anna 10 years to recover from the death of her husband, Sean, but now she's on the verge of marrying her boyfriend, Joseph, and finally moving on. However, on the night of her engagement party, a young boy named Sean turns up, saying he is her dead husband reincarnated. At first she ignores the child, but his knowledge of her former husband's life is uncanny, leading her to believe that he might be telling the truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInteriors (1978)
When Eve, an interior designer, is deserted by her husband of many years, Arthur, the emotionally glacial relationships of the three grown-up daughters are laid bare. Twisted by jealousy, insecurity and resentment, Renata, a successful writer; Joey, a woman crippled by indecision; and Flyn, a budding actress; struggle to communicate for the sake of their shattered mother. But when their father unexpectedly falls for another woman, his decision to remarry sets in motion a terrible twist of fate…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWill Wants To Be A Giant Octopus (2026)
An isolated young black man leaves reality behind to become a giant Octopus.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Drunken Noodles (2026)
Over two summers, between city streets and forest paths, young art student Adnan has a series of unexpected intimate encounters.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Baraa (2019)
When the long-awaited dream dies, the reality begins to circle around us and encage us in the claustrophobic space of our fears and distorting anxiety.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Jane (2022)
When Olivia gets deferred from her dream college, she begins to spiral. In an attempt to regain control, she embarks on a social media-fueled rampage against those that stand in the way of her success. But as things escalate, she is forced to confront her darkest impulses in order to get ahead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMr. Misunderstood (2023)
When overwhelming expectations tower over him, Cecil must silence the doubt controlling him, while an aspiring film career slowly becomes the least of his worries. Written and directed by newcomer Aaron Fisher, Mr. Misunderstood takes a close look at the endless pressures that loom over one aspiring filmmaker's life, as he conveys the beautiful imperfection of our most human characteristics.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Cold Wind To... Blow The House Down (2022)
With their relationship on the rocks, David and Emily move to Halifax to catch a break from the pandemic and their monotonous routine. Upon meeting Emily's best friend Delilah and her local friend Meg, the already shaky groundwork of their relationship starts to fracture.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
It Chapter Two (2019)
27 years after overcoming the malevolent supernatural entity Pennywise, the former members of the Losers' Club, who have grown up and moved away from Derry, are brought back together by a devastating phone call.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlan's Autography (2024)
The successful writer Rick Brason faces a looming deadline, and he needs to find something to write about. When a close friend passes away, Rick must decide whether it is moral or not to write about his friend's life so soon after his passing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
We Are Bleach (TBA)
A multi-awarded 23 minute short film about pansexual punk rockers in a toxic relationship in London’s underground music scene
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Birthday Candles (TBA)
A lonely man named Tom goes through life, longing for someone to love him for once, all while facing his greatest challenge, his own mind.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like When the Light Breaks?
The closest matches to When the Light Breaks are Mr. Church (2016), The Miracle Season (2018) and Death of a Superhero (2011). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after When the Light Breaks?
Start with Mr. Church (2016), the closest match to When the Light Breaks.
What is the highest-rated movie like When the Light Breaks?
Loving Vincent (2017), rated 8.0/10 by 2,676 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like When the Light Breaks?
Drunken Noodles (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to When the Light Breaks chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside When the Light Breaks, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.