Movies like Life Is Beautiful (1979)
The best movies like Life Is Beautiful (1979) are I'm Not a Killer (2019), Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1987) and Palermo - Milan One Way (1996). If Life Is Beautiful hooked you with its thriller and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Godfather (1972)8.7/10 from 23,970 votes
- NewestIslands (2025)Released 2025
- In ItalianI'm Not a Killer (2019)Also in Italian
I'm Not a Killer (2019)
One livid dawn, a cold and damp wind blows as a man walks alone through the darkness. Deputy Police Superintendent Francesco Prencipe is on his way to meet his best friend, Judge Giovanni Mastropaolo whom he hasn't seen for almost two years. The men drive for two hours and exchange but a few words. Later that morning, the Judge is found dead, a single gunshot wound to his head. Francesco is the last person who saw him and his fingerprints are the only ones found in the house. But is he the murderer?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChronicle of a Death Foretold (1987)
This suspenseful Italian crime drama is set in a Colombian river town and chronicles the series of events that led up to murder. Based on a novel by distinguished author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the tale begins in the present as a middle-aged doctor returns to the village after a twenty-year absence to investigate the murder that occurred just before he left.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPalermo - Milan One Way (1996)
A mob accountant accepts to be witness for the prosecution at a trial involving Mafia higher-ups. Seven cops are tasked with escorting him and his family alive from Sicily to the courtroom in the North, but it won't be easy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Escort (1993)
The film shows the difficulties of an honest, imperiled judge and his bodyguard of four men, trying to clean up a Sicilian town. Corrupt local politicians, working hand-in-hand with the Mafia, will stop at nothing to prevent exposure of their rackets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIslands (2025)
In this twisty thriller, a tennis coach at a tropical resort finds himself at the center of a missing persons mystery. Tom teaches tennis during the day and parties at night. When an enigmatic tourist arrives, Tom is unable to shake the feeling he has met her before. Tension and attraction grow, until her husband disappears, and the police suspect Tom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Site (2022)
A group of officers based in a labyrinthine top-secret prison must fight for their lives against Hatchet, a brilliant and infamous high-value detainee. When he escapes, his mysterious and deadly agenda has far reaching and dire consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Boss (1973)
A hitman finds himself embroiled in the middle of a Mafia war between the Sicilians and the Calabrians.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBest of the Best 2 (1993)
In an underground fight club, blackbelt Travis Brickley is killed after losing to the evil martial arts master Brakus. Travis' death is witnessed by Walter Grady, the son of his best friend Alex Grady. Alex and his partner, Tommy Lee, vow to avenge their friend's death by defeating Brakus and shutting down the fight club.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNick of Time (1995)
An ordinary man is suddenly forced into a plot to kill a politician in exchange for his kidnapped daughter's freedom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe International (2009)
An interpol agent and an attorney are determined to bring one of the world's most powerful banks to justice. Uncovering money laundering, arms trading, and conspiracy to destabilize world governments, their investigation takes them from Berlin, Milan, New York and Istanbul. Finding themselves in a chase across the globe, their relentless tenacity puts their own lives at risk.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Virtuoso (2021)
Danger, deception and murder descend upon a sleepy town when a professional assassin accepts a new assignment from his enigmatic boss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Killer (2024)
Zee is a feared contract killer known as "the Queen of the Dead," but when she refuses to murder a young blind woman, she finds herself hunted both by criminal colleagues and a determined police detective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLast Night of Amore (2023)
On the night before retirement, police lieutenant Amore is called to investigate the off-duty death of his longtime partner, who fell prey of an illegal scheme Amore himself was secretly part of.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisConfessions of a Police Captain (1971)
A police captain arranges the release of a criminally insane prisoner, who soon winds up dead. When the District Attorney takes on the case, he uncovers corruption in the department and vows to take down the man who's responsible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisViolent Naples (1976)
Inspector Betti (Maurizio Merli) is transferred to Naples and immediately after his arrival receives a warm welcome from The Commandante (Barry Sullivan), the city's crime lord. Betti then goes on a personal mission against corruption and organized crime, and tries to force the syndicate out of town with any means necessary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAngel of Evil (2010)
Set in Italy in the 1970s, VALLANZASCA is the true story of the Italian underworld’s most infamous outlaw. A criminal by age 9, Renato Vallanzasca grew up to become the country’s most notorious mobster before the age of 27. Vallanzasca and his gang wrested control of the Milan underworld with a string of high profile robberies, kidnappings and murders. In the process, he captivated the public and earned the nickname ‘il bel Renè’ – for his devilish charm and handsome face. Arrested multiple times, his daring escapes from prison enraged the government, angered his rivals and fed his legend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this6 Bullets (2012)
An ex-mercenary known for finding missing children is hired by a mixed martial arts fighter whose daughter has been kidnapped.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Island (2023)
When his brother is killed, LAPD officer Mark leaves the city to return to the island he grew up on. Seeking answers and ultimately vengeance, he soon finds himself in a bloody battle with the corrupt tycoon who's taken over the island paradise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisS.W.A.T.: Under Siege (2017)
When a D.E.A. and S.W.A.T. cartel takedown ends in a shootout, S.W.A.T. Agent Travis Hall seizes a mysterious prisoner taking him into custody. Before long, the S.W.A.T. compound is under siege by wave-after-wave of assault teams attempting to recover the prisoner known as “The Scorpion” for the tattoo blazed across his back. When Travis discovers that his prisoner is a Secret Ops double agent planted within the cartel, it’s up to him and his expert S.W.A.T. team to keep “The Scorpion” and his billion dollar secrets safe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisStriking Distance (1993)
Demoted Pittsburgh cop Tom Hardy works river patrol while a serial killer targets women from his past, forcing him to conduct an unauthorized investigation to prove his innocence and expose a dirty cop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Godfather Part III (1990)
In the midst of trying to legitimize his business dealings in 1979 New York and Italy, aging mafia don, Michael Corleone seeks forgiveness for his sins while taking a young protege under his wing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Killing (1956)
Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. But when George tells his restless wife about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he works, she hatches a plot of her own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJackie Brown (1997)
Jackie Brown is a flight attendant who gets caught in the middle of smuggling cash into the country for her gunrunner boss. When the cops try to use Jackie to get to her boss, she hatches a plan — with help from a bail bondsman — to keep the money for herself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLucky Number Slevin (2006)
Slevin is mistakenly put in the middle of a personal war between the city’s biggest criminal bosses. Under constant watch, Slevin must try not to get killed by an infamous assassin and come up with an idea of how to get out of his current dilemma.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCharming Billy (1999)
Billy Starkman, just an average Midwestern every-man, wakes up one morning and decides to murder his family before taking up a sniper position on a water tower.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
The Godfather (1972)
Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Godfather Part II (1974)
In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Interpreter (2005)
After Silvia Broome, an interpreter at United Nations headquarters, overhears plans of an assassination, an American Secret Service agent is sent to investigate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good German (2006)
An American journalist arrives in Berlin just after the end of World War Two. He becomes involved in a murder mystery surrounding a dead GI who washes up at a lakeside mansion during the Potsdam negotiations between the Allied powers. Soon his investigation connects with his search for his married pre-war German lover.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisSin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)
Some of Sin City's most hard-boiled citizens cross paths with a few of its more reviled inhabitants.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Life Is Beautiful and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Life Is Beautiful?
The closest matches to Life Is Beautiful are I'm Not a Killer (2019), Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1987) and Palermo - Milan One Way (1996). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Life Is Beautiful?
Start with I'm Not a Killer (2019), the closest match to Life Is Beautiful.
What is the highest-rated movie like Life Is Beautiful?
The Godfather (1972), rated 8.7/10 by 23,970 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Life Is Beautiful?
Islands (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like Life Is Beautiful?
Yes: I'm Not a Killer (2019), Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1987) and Palermo - Milan One Way (1996).
How are movies similar to Life Is Beautiful chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Life Is Beautiful, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.