Movies like Emptiness Can Hold Things (2017)
The best movies like Emptiness Can Hold Things (2017) are In the Realms of the Unreal (2004), The Shift (2023) and Koyaanisqatsi (1983). If Emptiness Can Hold Things hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks
- Highest ratedBaraka (1992)8.2/10 from 735 votes
- NewestFrida (2024)Released 2024
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 thisThe Shift (2023)
Following a tense encounter with a mysterious stranger with otherworldly powers, a man finds himself banished to a parallel, tyrannical Earth, where he fights to get back to the woman he loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKoyaanisqatsi (1983)
Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisVanya on 42nd Street (1994)
An uninterrupted rehearsal of Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' plays out by a company of actors. The setting: their run-down theater with an unusable stage and crumbling ceiling. The play is shown act by act with the briefest of breaks to move props or for refreshments. The lack of costumes, real props and scenery is soon forgotten.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVoyage of Time: The IMAX Experience (2016)
A celebration of the universe, displaying the whole of time, from its start to its final collapse. This film examines all that occurred to prepare the world that stands before us now: science and spirit, birth and death, the grand cosmos and the minute life systems of our planet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001)
In New York City, the lives of a lawyer, an actuary, a house-cleaner, a professor, and the people around them intersect as they ponder order and happiness in the face of life's cold unpredictability.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarina Abramović: The Artist Is Present (2012)
Performance artist Marina Abramovic prepares for a major retrospective of her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMiss You Already (2015)
The friendship between two life-long girlfriends is put to the test when one starts a family and the other falls ill.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFinding Love in Mountain View (2020)
After learning she's been entrusted to take care of her deceased cousin's children, an architect is torn between focusing on her career and honoring her cousin's wish.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEnd of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (2003)
A years-in-the-making documentary on the legendary punk band the Ramones. Through a mixture of archival footage, archival and new interviews with all members of the band's various lineups, and new interviews with a number of their contemporaries, the film traces the peaks and valleys the band experienced over the course of its 20-plus year career before disbanding in 1995.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBaraka (1992)
A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Belly of an Architect (1987)
Stourley Kracklite, a driven, detail-obsessed architect, travels from America to Rome with his much younger wife, Louisa, to oversee an architectural homage to a personal hero, 18th-century master builder Etienne-Louis Boullée. En route by train, Stourley and Louisa conceive a much-wanted child — but Stourley's obsession with his wife's expanding belly, her perceived infidelity, and his own recurrent bouts of abdominal pain reach epic and dangerous proportions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouston, We Have a Problem! (2016)
The cold war, the space race, and NASA’s moon landing are landmark events that defined an era. But they are also fodder for conspiracy theories. In Houston, We Have a Problem! filmmaker Žiga Virc adds new material to the discussion on both fronts. This intriguing docu-fiction explores the myth of the secret multi-billion-dollar deal behind America’s purchase of Yugoslavia’s clandestine space program in the early 1960s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStardust Memories (1980)
While attending a retrospect of his work, a filmmaker recalls his life and his loves: the inspirations for his films.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNothing Like a Dame (2018)
BBC Arena's documentary on the Dames of British Theatre and film featuring Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright on screen together for the first time as they reminisce over a long summer weekend in a house Joan once shared with Sir Laurence Olivier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fountainhead (1949)
An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to conform to popular standards.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoman Polanski: A Film Memoir (2012)
An interview with film director Roman Polanski conducted during his period of house arrest, discussing his life and work.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrida (2024)
An intimately raw and magical journey through the life, mind, and heart of iconic artist Frida Kahlo. Told through her own words for the very first time — drawn from her diary, revealing letters, essays, and print interviews — and brought vividly to life by lyrical animation inspired by her unforgettable artwork.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Super (1991)
Louie Kritski is a heartless landlord who has been so negligent in keeping up his ghetto apartment that he is threatened with jail time. The judge gives him another option -- he must live in his rat-infested hell hole until he brings it up to liveable standards.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Emptiness Can Hold Things?
The closest matches to Emptiness Can Hold Things are In the Realms of the Unreal (2004), The Shift (2023) and Koyaanisqatsi (1983). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Emptiness Can Hold Things?
Start with In the Realms of the Unreal (2004), the closest match to Emptiness Can Hold Things.
What is the highest-rated movie like Emptiness Can Hold Things?
Baraka (1992), rated 8.2/10 by 735 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Emptiness Can Hold Things?
Frida (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Emptiness Can Hold Things?
Yes: In the Realms of the Unreal (2004), The Shift (2023) and Koyaanisqatsi (1983).
How are movies similar to Emptiness Can Hold Things chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Emptiness Can Hold Things, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.



















