Movies like Melanie (2016)
The best movies like Melanie (2016) are Van Gogh: Painted with Words (2010), All That Breathes (2022) and Life in a Day (2011). If Melanie hooked you with its documentary and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Melanie
Quick picks
- Highest ratedIndie Game: The Movie (2012)7.5/10 from 512 votes
- NewestDe Drill - Liefde voor muziek, haat voor elkaar (2025)Released 2025
- In GermanLindenberg! Mach dein Ding (2020)Also in German
Van 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 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 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 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 thisLindenberg! Mach dein Ding (2020)
Long before his big stage breakthrough in 1973 in Hamburg, and 4.4 million records sold, the rock musician Udo Lindenberg from the Westphalian province, the man with the long hair and the hat, had many adventures. Before it all started, he moved from the remoteness of Gronau to Hamburg, where he met Paula, who was not his great love, but was quite a hottie. When the team of three was complete with Steffi Stephan, the idea of founding a band developed. But the road to get there was a long one: he drummed as a jazz drummer in bands, had a highly dangerous performance in a US military base in the middle of the Libyan desert and always believed in making it to the very top.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 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 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 thisRyan (2004)
Centres on Canadian animator Ryan Larkin, who in later years lived on skid row in Montreal following a history of drug and alcohol abuse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Complete History of My Sexual Failures (2008)
The egocentric documentary-maker Chris Waitt traces his romantic ineptitude and sexual impotence through awkward interviews with irate ex-girlfriends and stunts involving S&M parlours, Harley Street doctors and Viagra overdoses. The results are often hilarious, sometimes moving and speak directly to the hapless paramour in all of us.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisCrazy Love (2007)
Filmmaker Dan Klores examines the strange love affair of Burt Pugach and Linda Riss. Pugach is a successful attorney in 1950s New York when he meets much-younger Riss. The pair date, but Riss breaks off contact with Pugach upon learning his claims of divorce are false. Discovering that Riss was engaged to another man, Pugach hires some men to throw lye in her face, and he serves 14 years in prison for the crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisThe Circle (2014)
A young teacher in Zurich in the 1950s falls in love with a transvestite star but is torn between his bourgeois existence and his commitment to homosexuality. He joins a gay organization that is eventually seen as the pioneer of gay emancipation in Europe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 thisTrainwreck: Poop Cruise (2025)
An engine fire leaves 4,000 passengers stranded at sea without power and plumbing in this wild documentary about the infamous "poop cruise" of 2013.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTarnation (2003)
Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more -- culled from 19 years of his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Social Dilemma (2020)
This documentary-drama hybrid explores the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStairway to Earth (TBA)
In present day Leiden, Jan and Luiza share a single night at a summer music festival in Poland — an impulsive moment of passion that was never intended to last. Weeks later, they awkwardly reunite at a Netherlands clinic, where Luiza has made an appointment to terminate the unexpected pregnancy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask (1996)
Explores the life and work of the psychoanalytic theorist and activist Frantz Fanon who was born in Martinique, educated in Paris and worked in Algeria. Examines Fanon's theories of identity and race, and traces his involvement in the anti-colonial struggle in Algeria and throughout the world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary & drama
Rocciatori ed Aquile (1942)
Presented as a kind of docu-fiction, the film shows training maneuvers by the young mountaineers of the Scuola Centrale Militare di Alpinismo (Military School of Mountaineering). Differents groups of rock climbers ascend the Winkler Tower and Torre del Vajolet. While ascending one of the towers, one of the climbers is attacked by an eagle that makes him fall and leaves him hanging on the rope. The film, produced in 1942 by the Instituto Nazionale Luce at the end of the Italian Fascist regime, was awarded in the Mostra Internazionale del Cinema di Venezia.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary & drama
Silence of the Tides (2020)
The passage of time is spellbinding in this cinematic tour de force about the Wadden Sea. A film that inhales and exhales along with the tides as it explores the fragile relationship between man and nature.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Eindeloos Gepest - Het Verhaal van Nora, Tren en Anne-Ruth (2024)
Three young people look back on their plague past and the dark valley in which they ended up. They dare to talk openly about how they found the resilience to turn their lives around.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
My new friends from ward three (2024)
Frans Bromet ends up in the Reade rehabilitation clinic in Amsterdam after a brain haemorrhage. He soon picks up his camera and films his roommates and healthcare staff. Frans discovers how important intensive guidance is. But the bond with his fellow sufferers is also greater than expected. When he hears of upcoming budget cuts, his concerns grow about the future of the institution and therefore also about the rehabilitation process of the clients.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Loves Spell (2021)
Treyvon has everything, well almost everything. He's got the fast car, good city job, model looks - even a good sense of humor, and yep - a body to die for. The only thing missing is that one special somebody. Ever since he embarrassed a young woman who asked him for a date, his love life has been cursed. Now, over 15 years later, he is trying to break the spell.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
The Secret of HEMA (2012)
This documentary takes an economic perspective, painting a candid picture of how the Dutch chain store HEMA has had to adapt to modern times and globalization to continue as a major player on the highly competitive retail market. It's all about expansion, even as far as China. But do foreign countries really need quintessentially Dutch concepts such as uniform pricing, the classic HEMA smoked sausages and timeless ladies' dresses? Chinese filmmaker Yan Ting Yuen, who came to the Netherlands at the age of six, followed the passionate CEO for a year, trying to find out what makes HEMA so unique. It turns out to be about more than just smoked sausages, as shown by the success of the new stores in France, where customers stuff their baskets with coffee mugs and Dutch syrup waffles.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
MOLOCH (TBA)
A film about AI and a girl catching up.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
De Drill - Liefde voor muziek, haat voor elkaar (2025)
Three young drill rappers fight for respect in a world where words and weapons blur the line between music and violence. Their world feels like war, a battle that is barely comprehensible to outsiders. In candid conversations, Realest, Takerisk and Gogetter explain how feuds arise, escalate and sometimes literally bring them to the edge of the abyss.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Melanie?
The closest matches to Melanie are Van Gogh: Painted with Words (2010), All That Breathes (2022) and Life in a Day (2011). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Melanie?
Start with Van Gogh: Painted with Words (2010), the closest match to Melanie.
What is the highest-rated movie like Melanie?
Indie Game: The Movie (2012), rated 7.5/10 by 512 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Melanie?
De Drill - Liefde voor muziek, haat voor elkaar (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like Melanie?
Yes: Lindenberg! Mach dein Ding (2020) and The Circle (2014).
How are movies similar to Melanie chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Melanie, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.