Movies like About the Living (2001)
The best movies like About the Living (2001) are Mr. Church (2016), This Is Where I Leave You (2014) and Louder Than Bombs (2015). If About the Living hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMagnolia (1999)7.7/10 from 4,232 votes
- NewestLove of Your Life (2026)Released 2026
Mr. 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 thisThis Is Where I Leave You (2014)
When their father passes away, four grown, world-weary siblings return to their childhood home and are requested -- with an admonition -- to stay there together for a week, along with their free-speaking mother and a collection of spouses, exes and might-have-beens. As the brothers and sisters re-examine their shared history and the status of each tattered relationship among those who know and love them best, they reconnect in hysterically funny and emotionally significant ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLouder Than Bombs (2015)
Three years after his wife, acclaimed photographer Isabelle Reed, dies in a car crash, Gene keeps everyday life going with his shy teenage son, Conrad. A planned exhibition of Isabelle’s photographs prompts Gene's elder son, Jonah, to return to the house he grew up in — and for the first time in a very long time, the father and the two brothers are living under the same roof.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHere (2024)
An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLa Bamba (1987)
Los Angeles teenager Ritchie Valens becomes an overnight rock 'n' roll success in 1958, thanks to a love ballad called "Donna" that he wrote for his girlfriend. But as his star rises, Valens has conflicts with his jealous brother, Bob, and becomes haunted by a recurring nightmare of a plane crash just as he begins his first national tour alongside Buddy Holly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove of Your Life (2026)
After a chance encounter sparks a sweeping romance, Maya's future is suddenly upended, sending her on an unexpected journey to love and live again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisManchester by the Sea (2016)
After his older brother passes away, Lee Chandler is forced to return home to care for his 16-year-old nephew. There he is compelled to deal with a tragic past that separated him from his family and the community where he was born and raised.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Evening Star (1996)
Continuing the story of Aurora Greenway in her latter years. After the death of her daughter, Aurora struggled to keep her family together, but has one grandson in jail, a rebellious granddaughter, and another grandson living just above the poverty line.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMothers' Instinct (2024)
Housewives Alice and Celine are best friends and neighbours who seem to have it all. However, when a tragic accident shatters the harmony of their lives, guilt, suspicion and paranoia begin to unravel their sisterly bond.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip (2025)
Eleven-year-old Alexander and his family embark on a dream Spring Break vacation to Mexico City only to have all their plans go terribly wrong when they discover a cursed idol.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Royal Tenenbaum and his wife Etheline had three children and then they separated. All three children are extraordinary --- all geniuses. Virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums was subsequently erased by two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster. Most of this was generally considered to be their father's fault. "The Royal Tenenbaums" is the story of the family's sudden, unexpected reunion one recent winter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSecret Beyond the Door (1947)
After a whirlwind romance in Mexico, a beautiful heiress marries a man she barely knows with hardly a second thought. She finds his New York home full of his strange relations, and macabre rooms that are replicas of famous murder sites. One locked room contains the secret to her husband's obsession, and the truth about what happened to his first wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Remember Mama (1948)
Norwegian immigrant Marta Hanson keeps a firm but loving hand on her household of four children, a devoted husband and a highly-educated lodger who reads great literature to the family every evening. Through financial crises, illnesses and the small triumphs of everyday life, Marta maintains her optimism and sense of humor, traits she passes on to her aspiring-author daughter, Katrin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWaves (2019)
A controlling father’s attempts to ensure that his two children succeed in high school backfire after his son experiences a career-ending sports injury. Their familial bonds are eventually placed under severe strain by an unexpected tragedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMagnolia (1999)
On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll Good Things (2010)
Newly-discovered facts, court records and speculation are used to elaborate the true love story and murder mystery of the most notorious unsolved murder case in New York history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Girl (1991)
Vada Sultenfuss is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. She is also in love with her English teacher, and joins a poetry class over the summer just to impress him. Thomas J., her best friend, is "allergic to everything", and sticks with Vada despite her hangups. When Vada's father hires Shelly, and begins to fall for her, things take a turn to the worse...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRevenge (1990)
Michael ‘Jay’ Cochran has just left the Navy after 12 years and he's not quite sure what he's going to do, except that he knows he wants a holiday. He decides to visit Tiburon Mendez, a powerful but shady Mexican businessman who he once flew to Alaska for a hunting trip. Arriving at the Mendez mansion in Mexico, he is immediately surprised by the beauty and youth of Mendez’s wife, Miryea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRegretting You (2025)
Morgan Grant and her daughter Clara explore what's left behind after a devastating accident reveals a shocking betrayal and forces them to confront family secrets, redefine love, and rediscover each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBounce (2000)
Buddy Amaral, a successful and self-absorbed Los Angeles advertising executive, switches airline tickets with a stranger just before boarding a long-delayed flight so that he might enjoy an overnight fling with a pretty Dallas businesswoman. When the plane goes down, killing all aboard, Buddy's guilt soon turns into an alcohol problem. As part of his 12-step program, Buddy seeks atonement and decides to seek out the woman he thinks he's left a widow.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisDe ida y vuelta (2001)
After working for three years in the USA, Filiberto returns to his home town in Mexico. A proud man, he is searching for the recognition that will give him a new position in life. However, he finds that things have changed. His mother is dead, and Luis, his best friend, is married to his ex-girlfriend. Filiberto gets involved in the town’s disputes over a water spring.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Carina (2014)
Carina is 8 and likes rock & roll. Her life changes completely when she believes that her new teacher is the same woman she saw in a her father’s erotic magazine.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Esta canción de amor es para Fátima (2014)
Domingo is in love with his classmate, Fatima. To conquer her, he is determined to buy a mp3 player; a difficult task in the middle of Mexico´s Zapotec mountain side. On his quest he meets 'Charal', an alcoholic homeless man that decides to help him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Desterrados (2014)
Andrés returns home on the occasion of his mother’s death. As he is reunited with his family, he discovers a new conflict which, once revealed, will force him to decide if he will stay and face it or run away again in order to save himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Sleepwalker (2014)
Simón, Jorgito and Paula, do nothing but wait for a hard breakup to end to get on with their lives. Paula’s ex-husband wants to come back home, but something opens their eyes to a brand new day.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Pulque Song (2003)
Portrait of daily life and its inhabitants at the pulquería “La Pirata”. A homage to all those who drink pulque, to ranchera music, to the “barrio” and to pulque.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Gone Missing - Old John's Final Journey (2014)
A non-fiction film about three friends seeking traces of an old "gringo" who went to die in the jungle of Guatemala. Starting out from the guesthouse in Mexico City where he was seen for the last time, we follow his journey south. New characters appear along the way, people he could have known who share their visions of life and death. The search takes on a life of its own, and leads us deeper into the unknown...
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Spring (2014)
Elba is an introverted and lonely fourteen year old teenager that lives with Fernanda, her older sister. The sisters don't get along and their mother is abset. Fernanda decides to runaway, but before she does Elba reaches out to her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Plastic (2015)
Ana and Leo, are marked since childhood by a sudden event: the suicide of their father. Separately, they take life as they can, without removing the feeling that anything can become as disposable as plastic.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Roma (2008)
A train enters a soap factory. Inside it, hidden travellers, immigrants. One of them gets out of the train. In the factory she finds relief, help, solidarity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Like About the Living and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like About the Living?
The closest matches to About the Living are Mr. Church (2016), This Is Where I Leave You (2014) and Louder Than Bombs (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after About the Living?
Start with Mr. Church (2016), the closest match to About the Living.
What is the highest-rated movie like About the Living?
Magnolia (1999), rated 7.7/10 by 4,232 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like About the Living?
Love of Your Life (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like About the Living?
Yes: Mr. Church (2016), This Is Where I Leave You (2014) and Louder Than Bombs (2015).
How are movies similar to About the Living chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside About the Living, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.