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Movies like Instructions for the Boat (2024)

The best movies like Instructions for the Boat (2024) are The Girl in the Book (2015), Hounddog (2008) and The Trials of Cate McCall (2013). If Instructions for the Boat hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. The 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

  2. Hounddog (2008)

    A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  3. The Trials of Cate McCall (2013)

    In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  4. The Truth About Emanuel (2013)

    A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  5. Strange Weather (2016)

    Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

  6. The Safety of Objects (2002)

    In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  7. Everybody’s Everything (2019)

    The story of artist Lil Peep from his birth in Long Island and meteoric rise as a genre blending pop star & style icon, to his death due to an accidental opioid overdose in Arizona at just 21 years of age.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  8. Good Luck (2014)

    After several behavior problems, teenager John is admitted to a psychiatric clinic by his family. There he meets Judith, for who he soon falls in love. The problem is that she does not have long to live and they know it. This shall not prevent the emergence of a great romance in the clinic.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  9. Call 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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  10. Nightwatching (2007)

    An extravagant, exotic and moving look at Rembrandt's romantic and professional life, and the controversy he created by the identification of a murderer in the painting The Night Watch.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  11. Lucky Them (2013)

    More interested in partying and flirting with young musicians than work, veteran rock journalist Ellie Klug has one last chance to prove her value to her magazine’s editor: a no-stone-unturned search to discover what really happened to long lost rock god, Matt Smith, who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend. Teaming up with an eccentric amateur documentary filmmaker, Ellie hits the road in search of answers.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  12. Brand Upon the Brain! (2007)

    After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  13. Reaching for the Moon (2013)

    In 1951, New York poet Elizabeth Bishop travels to Rio de Janeiro to visit Mary, a college friend. The shy Elizabeth is overwhelmed by Brazilian sensuality. She is the antithesis to Mary’s dashing partner, architect Lota de Macedo Soares. Mary is jealous, but unconventional Lota is determined to have both women at all costs. This eternal triangle plays out against the backdrop of the military coup of 1964. Bishop’s moving poems are at the core of a film which lushly illustrates a crucial phase in the life of this influential Pulitzer prize-winning poet.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. In 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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  15. Endings, Beginnings (2020)

    An artist dumps her longtime boyfriend, but her attempt to take a break from dating ends when she quickly finds herself in two passionate romances.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  16. My Brilliant Career (1979)

    A young woman who is determined to maintain her independence finds herself at odds with her family who wants her to tame her wild side and get married.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  17. Dolls (1987)

    A precocious girl, her nasty parents, two punk-rock losers and a weak-kneed salesman inadvertently become the guests of two ghoulish senior citizens in their dark, haunted mansion.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  18. Factory Girl (2006)

    In the mid-1960s, wealthy debutant Edie Sedgwick meets artist Andy Warhol. She joins Warhol's famous Factory and becomes his muse. Although she seems to have it all, Edie cannot have the love she craves from Andy, and she has an affair with a charismatic musician, who pushes her to seek independence from the artist and the milieu.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. The Goldfinch (2019)

    A boy in New York is taken in by a wealthy family after his mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In a rush of panic, he steals 'The Goldfinch', a painting that eventually draws him into a world of crime.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  20. Mr. Turner (2014)

    Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper bears an unrequited love for him.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this

Like Instructions for the Boat and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Instructions for the Boat?

The closest matches to Instructions for the Boat are The Girl in the Book (2015), Hounddog (2008) and The Trials of Cate McCall (2013). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Instructions for the Boat?

Start with The Girl in the Book (2015), the closest match to Instructions for the Boat.

What is the highest-rated movie like Instructions for the Boat?

Everybody’s Everything (2019), rated 8.4/10 by 311 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Instructions for the Boat?

Endings, Beginnings (2020) is the most recent release on this list.

How are movies similar to Instructions for the Boat chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Instructions for the Boat, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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