Movies like Paradise Now: The Living Theater in Amerika (1969)
The best movies like Paradise Now: The Living Theater in Amerika (1969) are The God Who Wasn't There (2005), All That Breathes (2022) and Van Gogh: Painted with Words (2010). If Paradise Now: The Living Theater in Amerika hooked you with its documentary and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks
- Highest ratedIndie Game: The Movie (2012)7.5/10 from 512 votes
- NewestAfter Death (2023)Released 2023
The God Who Wasn't There (2005)
Did Jesus exist? This film starts with that question, then goes on to examine Christianity as a whole.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll That Breathes (2022)
Against the darkening backdrop of New Delhi's apocalyptic air and escalating violence, two brothers devote their lives to protecting one casualty of the turbulent times: the bird known as the black kite.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVan Gogh: Painted with Words (2010)
A drama-documentary presented by Alan Yentob, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role. Every word spoken by the actors in this film is sourced from the letters that Van Gogh sent to his younger brother Theo, and of those around him. What emerges is a complex portrait of a sophisticated, civilised and yet tormented man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this20,000 Days on Earth (2014)
A semi-fictionalized documentary about a day in the life of Australian musician Nick Cave's persona.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee (2016)
The strange story of John McAfee, who went from millionaire software mogul to yogi, Kurtz-like jungle recluse to potential murderer, and most recently a prospective presidential candidate for the American Libertarian Party.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTen Minutes Older: The Trumpet (2002)
Ten Minutes Older is a 2002 film project consisting of two compilation feature films entitled The Trumpet and The Cello. The project was conceived by the producer Nicolas McClintock as a reflection on the theme of time at the turn of the Millennium. Fifteen celebrated film-makers were invited to create their own vision of what time means in ten minutes of film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarvel Studios: Assembling a Universe (2014)
A look at the story behind Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, featuring interviews and behind-the-scenes footage from all of the Marvel films, the Marvel One-Shots and "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLife in a Day (2011)
A documentary shot by filmmakers all over the world that serves as a time capsule to show future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIndie Game: The Movie (2012)
Follows the dramatic journeys of video game developers as they create and release their games to the world. It's about making video games, but at its core, it's about the creative process, and exposing yourself through your work.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAfter Death (2023)
Based on real near-death experiences, the afterlife is explored with the guidance of New York Times bestselling authors, medical experts, scientists and survivors who shed a light on what awaits us.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAntarctica: A Year on Ice (2013)
Filling the giant screen with stunning time-lapse vistas of Antarctica, and detailing year-round life at McMurdo and Scott Base, Anthony Powell’s documentary is a potent hymn to the icy continent and the heavens above.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeyond the Edge (2013)
A 3D feature film about Sir Edmund Hillary's monumental and historical ascent of Mt. Everest in 1953 - an event that stunned the world and defined a nation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDerek DelGaudio's In & of Itself (2020)
Storyteller and Conceptual Magician Derek DelGaudio attempts to understand the illusory nature of identity and answer the deceptively simple question 'Who am I?'
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Devil on Trial (2023)
Explore the first – and only – time “demonic possession” has officially been used as a defense in a U.S. murder trial. Including firsthand accounts of alleged devil possession and a shocking murder, this extraordinary story forces reflection on our fear of the unknown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Arbor (2010)
The lives of the late Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar and Lorraine, one of her daughters, and the community of Bradford, in the 30 years since the 18-year-old Andrea penned a play about growing up in the community titled "The Arbor".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCollapse (2009)
From the acclaimed director of American Movie, the documentary follows former Los Angeles police officer turned independent reporter Michael Ruppert. He recounts his career as a radical thinker and spells out his apocalyptic vision of the future, spanning the crises in economics, energy, environment and more.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTyson (2008)
Director James Toback takes an unflinching, uncompromising look at the life of Mike Tyson--almost solely from the perspective of the man himself. TYSON alternates between the controversial boxer addressing the camera and shots of the champion's fights to create an arresting picture of the man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeep Water (2006)
DEEP WATER is the stunning true story of the fateful voyage of Donald Crowhurst, an amateur yachtsman who enters the most daring nautical challenge ever – the very first solo, non-stop, round-the-world boat race.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBobby Fischer Against the World (2011)
The first documentary feature to explore the tragic and bizarre life of the late chess master Bobby Fischer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOceans (2010)
An ecological drama/documentary, filmed throughout the globe. Part thriller, part meditation on the vanishing wonders of the sub-aquatic world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEmergency: The Living Theatre (1968)
a 32-minute color film by Gwen Brown, featuring precious footage of Living Theatre productions “Mysteries” and smaller pieces, “Paradise Now” and “Frankenstein.” “The fusion of Brown’s freewheeling direct cinema and the Living Theatre’s performance for revolutionary change (amidst the heydays of both) unite as a dynamic concoction of the era, yielding for the viewer a shifting terrain of both critical insight and ecstatic zeal, not as a vacant nostalgia for a pre-commodified radicality, but as tactical inspiration for future days.” – Andrew Wilson (Artist’s Access Television)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & documentary
Après la Passion selon Sade (1968)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Connection (1962)
Eight drug addicts are waiting for their connection in a New York apartment while a two-man documentary team films the proceedings. Things go out of control as the men grow increasingly nervous and the cameraman keeps recording.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Rite of Guerrilla Theater (1969)
Commissioned work by Julian Beck and members of The Living Theatre (featuring Beck and Judith Malina, co-founders of The Living Theatre, in performance) for broadcast on KQED-TV, San Francisco. The Dilexi Series represents a pioneering effort to present works created by artists specifically for broadcast.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Red Noir (2009)
A Buddhist anarchist detective thriller set in the shadows of the Lower East Side of New York City. Many greedy hands close a black market deal; a glamorous detective pursues a corporate agent with values containing danger; a rogue lab technician follows them with values containing hope; a chorus of anarchists brings sanity and peace to a world of strife and struggle. A drama of technology, erotics... and politics.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Connection (1959)
A professional recording of the official play. The play has a play-within-a-play format, with characters Jim Dunn as the "producer" and Jaybird as the "writer" attempting to stage a production about the underbelly of society using "real" addicts. Some of the addicts are jazz musicians. They all (except for the "producer", "writer", and two "photographers") have one thing in common: they are waiting for their drug dealer, their "connection". The dialogue of the characters is interspersed with jazz music.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Paradise Now (1970)
At least forty films have been made about the Living Theatre; it remained to the American underground filmmaker Sheldon Rochlin (previously responsible for the marvellous Vali) to make the 'definitive' film about one of the most famous of their works, Paradise Now, shot in Brussels and at the Berlin Sportpalast. Made on videotape, with expressionist colouring 'injected' by electronic means, this emerges as a hypnotic transmutation of a theatrical event into poetic cinema, capturing the ambiance and frenzy of the original. No documentary record could have done it justice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Brig (1964)
Jonas Mekas’s film captures The Living Theatre’s stage production of The Brig, an unflinching portrait of life inside a U.S. Marine Corps jail in Japan in 1957. Over the course of a single day, prisoners endure relentless drills, abuse, and dehumanization, exposing the brutality of military discipline with stark immediacy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Love and Anger (1969)
Five short stories with contemporary settings. In New York, people are indifferent to derelicts sleeping on sidewalks, to a woman's assault in front of an apartment building, and to a couple injured in a car crash. A man, stripped of his identity, dies in bed with actors expressing his agony. A cheerful, innocent young man walking a city street in a time of war pays a price for this innocence. A couple talks about cinema while it watches another couple talk of love and truth on the eve of one character's return to Cuba. Striking students take over a university classroom; an argument follows about revolution or incremental change.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Borderless (2019)
Chronicles the migrant crisis occurring in Europe and the consequences on both refugees and natives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Paradise Now: The Living Theater in Amerika?
The closest matches to Paradise Now: The Living Theater in Amerika are The God Who Wasn't There (2005), All That Breathes (2022) and Van Gogh: Painted with Words (2010). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Paradise Now: The Living Theater in Amerika?
Start with The God Who Wasn't There (2005), the closest match to Paradise Now: The Living Theater in Amerika.
What is the highest-rated movie like Paradise Now: The Living Theater in Amerika?
Indie Game: The Movie (2012), rated 7.5/10 by 512 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Paradise Now: The Living Theater in Amerika?
After Death (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Paradise Now: The Living Theater in Amerika?
Yes: The God Who Wasn't There (2005), All That Breathes (2022) and Van Gogh: Painted with Words (2010).
How are movies similar to Paradise Now: The Living Theater in Amerika chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Paradise Now: The Living Theater in Amerika, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.




























