Movies like Empire of the Moon (1991)
The best movies like Empire of the Moon (1991) are In the Realms of the Unreal (2004), Heart of a Dog (2015) and Beyoncé: Life Is But a Dream (2013). If Empire of the Moon hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Empire of the Moon
Quick picks
- Highest ratedKaty Perry: Part of Me (2012)7.1/10 from 295 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 · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHeart of a Dog (2015)
Musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother and her beloved dog.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeyoncé: Life Is But a Dream (2013)
Life Is But a Dream is a HBO documentary about the life of US singer Beyoncé Knowles during the years 2011 and 2012 and on the recording of her fifth album. The film was directed by Beyoncé herself. The film shows Beyoncé from intimate moments of her pregnancy to behind the scenes and rehearsals of the main concerts of that time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCameraperson (2016)
As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What emerges is an elegant meditation on the relationship between truth and the camera frame, as Johnson transforms scenes that have been presented on Festival screens as one kind of truth into another kind of story—one about personal journey, craft, and direct human connection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaking 'The Shining' (1980)
Directed and edited by Stanley Kubrick's daughter Vivian Kubrick, this film offers a look behind the scenes during the making of The Shining.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies 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 · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove, Gilda (2018)
Diaries, audiotapes, videotapes and testimonials from friends and colleagues offer insight into the life and career of Gilda Radner -- the beloved comic and actress who became an icon on Saturday Night Live.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHarry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction (2013)
An impressionistic portrait of the iconic actor Harry Dean Stanton comprised of intimate moments, film clips from some of his 250 films and his renditions of American folk songs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTo Be Takei (2014)
Over seven decades, actor and activist George Takei journeyed from a World War II internment camp to the helm of the Starship Enterprise, and then to the daily news feeds of five million Facebook fans. Join George and his husband, Brad, on a wacky and profound trek for life, liberty, and love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKaty Perry: Part of Me (2012)
Giving fans unprecedented access to the real life of the music sensation, Katy Perry: Part of Me exposes the hard work, dedication and phenomenal talent of a girl who remained true to herself and her vision in order to achieve her dreams. Featuring rare behind-the-scenes interviews, personal moments between Katy and her friends, and all-access footage of rehearsals, choreography, Katy’s signature style and more, Katy Perry: Part of Me reveals the singer’s unwavering belief that if you can be yourself, then you can be anything.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTake Your Pills (2018)
In a hypercompetitive world, drugs like Adderall offer students, athletes, coders and others a way to do more -- faster and better. But at what cost?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShirkers (2018)
In 1992, teenager Sandi Tan shot Singapore's first indie road movie with her enigmatic American mentor Georges – who then vanished with all the footage. Twenty years later, the 16mm film is recovered, sending Tan, now a novelist in Los Angeles, on a personal odyssey in search of Georges' vanishing footprints.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisReMastered: Tricky Dick & The Man in Black (2018)
This documentary chronicles Johnny Cash's 1970 visit to the White House, where Cash's emerging liberal ideals clashed with Richard Nixon's policies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Decline of Western Civilization Part III (1998)
A musical study of Los Angeles in the late 90s, where homeless teens roam the streets and profess to live a punk lifestyle of music, drugs, and flouting authority.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAquaman: Heroines of Atlantis (2019)
Amber Heard and Nicole Kidman discuss their characters Mera and Atlanna.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPublic Speaking (2011)
Martin Scorsese’s portrait of writer and social commentator Fran Lebowitz, celebrated for her sharp wit and observations on modern life. Filmed at New York’s Waverly Inn and intercut with archival footage and interviews, the documentary captures Lebowitz’s distinctive worldview through her spontaneous monologues and public appearances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGirl Rising (2013)
Nine filmmakers each profile a young girl from a different part of the world to weave a global tapestry of youth in the 21st century.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (2016)
An intimate portrait of Hollywood royalty featuring Debbie Reynolds, Todd Fisher, and Carrie Fisher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe War Room (1993)
A behind-the-scenes documentary about the Clinton for President campaign, focusing on the adventures of spin doctors James Carville and George Stephanopoulos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove, Marilyn (2013)
Using the book 'Fragments', which collects Marilyn Monroe's poems, notes and letters, and with participation from the Arthur Miller and Truman Capote estates who have contributed more material, each of the actresses will embody the legend at various stages in her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPetey & Ginger (2012)
When the global economy collapses the only true victors are those that weren't invited to the boom. Petey plays in a band and works in a pornography warehouse; Ginger works the night shift in a bar. From opposite coasts of the country, the two provide their personal takes on individual vs. collective crisis, together weaving a narrative that exposes a wasteland of shattered economic dreams, unfulfilled social promises and a bleak reality that only music and friendship can float freely above.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Hauntology of the Retrodromomania (2021)
Hauntology of the Retrodromomania is an essayistic motion picture, a locomotory legwork, a deambulatory non-rural land survey, a casual journeying in a punctual dissertation around the phenomenon of the nostalgic feeling, discoursing on a late capitalistic landscape of social emotions, which are of yore, yet coloured of the postmodern tint of pixelated neo-noir, a socio-philosophical flâneur’s trip in critical theory escorted by the spirits of French post-structuralists. For a Sociology of Nostalgia revisited.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Mountain (2017)
An epic cinematic and musical collaboration between SHERPA filmmaker Jennifer Peedom and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, that explores humankind's fascination with high places.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBuddha Wild: Monk in a Hut (2008)
Buddhist monks open up about the joys and challenges of living out the precepts of the Buddha as a full-time vocation. Controversies swirling within modern monastic Buddhism are examined, from celibacy and the role of women to racism and concerns about the environment.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Mavericks (2019)
In this posthumous film, shot in Montreal in 2013 and completed by Michka Saäl’s colleagues and friends, the filmmaker salutes the beauty of Montreal and its people. From the back alleys of the Plateau to artists’ apartments, from a passionate recycling advocate to a queen of the night, everyday heroes are the subject of this final film. They are humble folk, faithful to their personal ethical sense, determined to make the world more beautiful. They are true adventurers, especially as seen by Michka Saäl.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Declutter (2017)
One Saturday morning, filmmaker Madison Thomas has a revelation: she’s just like her mother. As she thinks about a friend going through tough times, she feels the sudden urge to clean. Through the scrubbing and wiping and rinsing, Madison's thoughts drift to her mother — and her obsessive need to tidy. Madison’s mother survived a traumatic childhood: her own mother never reconciled what she went through at residential school. Cleaning offers moments of control that she didn’t have as a child. She’s fought hard, against all odds, to become a strong woman. They say trauma is in the genes, that it’s passed from one generation to the next. But strength is inherited too. Through rituals as simple as spending time together and smudging, Madison and her mother are beginning to mend the cycle of pain in their family. Declutter is an intimate look into a private moment between mother and daughter and the strength that carries them both.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Attacking the Devil: Harold Evans and the Last Nazi War Crime (2014)
Before the internet. Before social media. Before breaking news. The victims of Thalidomide had to rely on something even more extraordinary to fight their corner: Investigative journalism. This is the story of how Harold Evans fought and won the battle of his and many other lives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Speech: Using Your Voice (1950)
An educational short film about correct speaking methods.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Lucie et Maintenant (2007)
In May of 1982 Julio Cortázar, the Argentinean writer and his companion in life, Carol Dunlop set out in their VW bus on a journey along the highway from Paris to Marseille that, for each of them, was to be their final one. Twenty-five years later, Océane Madelaine and Jocelyn Bonnerave set out to undertake the journey again.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Homestretch (2014)
Three homeless teenagers brave Chicago winters, the pressures of high school, and life alone on the streets to build a brighter future.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Empire of the Moon?
The closest matches to Empire of the Moon are In the Realms of the Unreal (2004), Heart of a Dog (2015) and Beyoncé: Life Is But a Dream (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Empire of the Moon?
Start with In the Realms of the Unreal (2004), the closest match to Empire of the Moon.
What is the highest-rated movie like Empire of the Moon?
Katy Perry: Part of Me (2012), rated 7.1/10 by 295 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Empire of the Moon?
Frida (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Empire of the Moon?
Yes: In the Realms of the Unreal (2004), Heart of a Dog (2015) and Beyoncé: Life Is But a Dream (2013).
How are movies similar to Empire of the Moon chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Empire of the Moon, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.