Movies like The Riddle of Lumen (1972)
The best movies like The Riddle of Lumen (1972) are The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), Me and My Pal (1933) and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983). If The Riddle of Lumen hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedOnce Upon a Time in the West (1968)8.3/10 from 5,134 votes
- NewestRose of Nevada (2026)Released 2026
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMe and My Pal (1933)
On the morning of his wedding to oil baron Peter Cucumber's daughter, Ollie receives a jigsaw puzzle from Stan as a wedding gift. The boys soon become absorbed in the puzzle. A taxi driver, butler, policeman and messenger boy join in as well.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)
Life's questions are 'answered' in a series of outrageous vignettes, beginning with a staid London insurance company which transforms before our eyes into a pirate ship. Then there's the National Health doctors who try to claim a healthy liver from a still-living donor. The world's most voracious glutton brings the art of vomiting to new heights before his spectacular demise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Brave Little Toaster (1987)
A group of dated appliances, finding themselves stranded in a summer home that their family had just sold, decide to seek out their eight year old 'master'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVincent (1982)
Young Vincent Malloy dreams of being just like Vincent Price and loses himself in macabre daydreams that annoy his mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOur Wife (1931)
Oliver is making plans to marry his sweetheart Dulcy with Stan as his best man, but the plans are thwarted when Dulcy's father sees a picture of Ollie and forbids the marriage. The couple plan to elope, and run away to a Justice of the Peace. After typical Laurel and Hardy blundering, they manage to sneak the girl away from her father's house.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOverboard (1987)
Heiress Joanna Stayton hires carpenter Dean Proffitt to build a closet on her yacht—and refuses to pay him for the project when it's done. But after Joanna accidentally falls overboard and loses her memory, Dean sees an opportunity to get even.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPolaroid (2019)
High school loner Bird Fitcher has no idea what dark secrets are tied to the mysterious Polaroid vintage camera she stumbles upon, but it doesn't take long to discover that those who have their picture taken meet a tragic end. Bird and her friends must survive one more night as they race to solve the mystery of the haunted Polaroid before it kills them all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
Two rock-'n-rolling teens, on the verge of failing their class, set out on a quest to make the ultimate school history report after being presented with a time machine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEnemy (2014)
A mild-mannered college professor discovers a look-alike actor and delves into the other man's private affairs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCube (1998)
A group of strangers find themselves trapped in a maze-like prison. It soon becomes clear that each of them possesses the peculiar skills necessary to escape, if they don't wind up dead first.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow High (2001)
Jamal and Silas, two ordinary guys who smoke something magical, pass their college entrance exams with flying colors and end up at Harvard. Ivy League ways are strange but Silas and Jamal take it in a stride -- until their supply of supernatural smoke runs dry. That's when they have to start living by their wits and rely on their natural resources to make the grade.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRose of Nevada (2026)
When a fishing boat, the Rose of Nevada, lost with all hands 30 years ago, mysteriously reappears in the old harbour of a forgotten Cornish village, for those who remember, it’s surely a sign. The boat must go out to sea again and maybe then the luck of the devastated village will turn. Young father Nick and enigmatic newcomer Liam join captain Murgey, and they head to sea. But when they return, satisfied with their haul, something is amiss – they’ve slipped back in time, and the villagers greet them as if they are the original crew.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBe My Cat: A Film for Anne (2015)
An aspiring Romanian filmmaker goes to horrific extremes to convince Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway to star in his film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)
Nothing is as it seems when a woman experiencing misgivings about her new boyfriend joins him on a road trip to meet his parents at their remote farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTim's Vermeer (2013)
Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer manage to paint so photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography? Spanning a decade, Jenison's adventure takes him to Holland, on a pilgrimage to the North coast of Yorkshire to meet artista David Hockney, and eventually even to Buckingham Palace. The epic research project Jenison embarques on is as extraordinary as what he discovers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEve's Bayou (1997)
Summer heats up in rural Louisiana beside Eve’s Bayou, 1962, as the Batiste family tries to survive the secrets they’ve kept and the betrayals they’ve endured.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Forgotten (2004)
Telly Paretta is a grieving mother struggling to cope with the loss of her 9-year-old son. She is stunned when her psychiatrist reveals that she has created nine years of memories about a son she never had. But when she remembers a man who had a similar experience, Telly embarks on a search to prove her son's existence, and her sanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Irishman: In Conversation (2019)
Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino in conversation about The Irishman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDough and Dynamite (1914)
Pierre and Jacques are working as waiters at a restaurant where the cooks go on strike. When the two are forced to work as bakers, the striking cooks put dynamite in the dough, with explosive results.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCalifornia's Golden Beginning (1948)
A description and enactment of the discovery of gold by James Marshall, and the role played by John Sutter. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Colorfilm (1965)
A joyous, chaotic and colorful romp through nature; A psychedelic dance troupe rehearses in a studio.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
M*A*S*H (1970)
One of the world's most acclaimed comedies, M*A*S*H focuses on three Korean War Army surgeons brilliantly brought to life by Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt and Elliott Gould. Though highly skilled and deeply dedicated, they adopt a hilarious, lunatic lifestyle as an antidote to the tragedies of their Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and in the process infuriate Army bureaucrats. Robert Duvall, Gary Burghoff and Sally Kellerman co-star as a sanctimonious Major, an other-worldly Corporal, and a self-righteous yet lusty nurse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Town (1944)
The Town was a short propaganda film produced by the Office of War Information in 1945. It presents an idealized vision of American life, shown in microcosm by Madison, Indiana. It was created primarily for exhibition abroad, to provide international audiences a more well-rounded view of America, and was therefore produced in more than 20 translations. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
A Grand Day Out (1990)
Wallace and Gromit have run out of cheese, and this provides an excellent excuse for the duo to take their holiday to the moon, where, as everyone knows, there is ample cheese.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Wrong Trousers (1993)
Wallace rents out Gromit's former bedroom to a penguin, who takes up an interest in the techno trousers created by Wallace. However, Gromit later learns that the penguin is a wanted criminal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Close Shave (1996)
Wallace's whirlwind romance with the proprietor of the local wool shop puts his head in a spin, and Gromit is framed for sheep-rustling in a fiendish criminal plot.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGod Respects Us When We Work, But Loves Us When We Dance (1968)
Les Blank's poetic documentation of 1967's Los Angeles Easter Sunday Love-In.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
As the railroad builders advance unstoppably through the Arizona desert on their way to the sea, Jill arrives in the small town of Flagstone with the intention of starting a new life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisZorba the Greek (1964)
An uptight English writer traveling to Crete on a matter of business finds his life changed forever when he meets the gregarious Alexis Zorba.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Riddle of Lumen?
The closest matches to The Riddle of Lumen are The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), Me and My Pal (1933) and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Riddle of Lumen?
Start with The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), the closest match to The Riddle of Lumen.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Riddle of Lumen?
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), rated 8.3/10 by 5,134 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Riddle of Lumen?
Rose of Nevada (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Riddle of Lumen?
Yes: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), Me and My Pal (1933) and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983).
How are movies similar to The Riddle of Lumen chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Riddle of Lumen, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.