Movies like In the Intense Now (2017)
The best movies like In the Intense Now (2017) are South of the Border (2009), Sidney (2022) and The Edge of Democracy (2019). If In the Intense Now hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedO.J.: Made in America (2016)8.4/10 from 271 votes
- NewestKWAIDAN (2022)Released 2022
South of the Border (2009)
A road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media's misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSidney (2022)
This revealing documentary honors the legendary Sidney Poitier—iconic actor, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Featuring interviews with Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Halle Berry, and more.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Edge of Democracy (2019)
A cautionary tale for these times of democracy in crisis—the personal and political fuse to explore one of the most dramatic periods in Brazilian history. With unprecedented access to Presidents Dilma Rousseff and Lula da Silva, we witness their rise and fall and the tragically polarized nation that remains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisO.J.: Made in America (2016)
A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBest of Enemies (2015)
A documentary about the legendary series of nationally televised debates in 1968 between two great public intellectuals, the liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr. Intended as commentary on the issues of their day, these vitriolic and explosive encounters came to define the modern era of public discourse in the media, marking the big bang moment of our contemporary media landscape when spectacle trumped content and argument replaced substance. Best of Enemies delves into the entangled biographies of these two great thinkers, and luxuriates in the language and the theater of their debates, begging the question, "What has television done to the way we discuss politics in our democracy today?"
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDeliver Us from Evil (2006)
Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMarina Abramović: The Artist Is Present (2012)
Performance artist Marina Abramovic prepares for a major retrospective of her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
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 thisThe U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006)
A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCuba and the Cameraman (2017)
This revealing portrait of Cuba follows the lives of Fidel Castro and three Cuban families affected by his policies over the last four decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Class of ‘92 (2013)
A detailing of the rise to prominence and global sporting superstardom of six supremely talented young Manchester United football players (David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil and Gary Neville). The film covers the period 1992-1999, culminating in Manchester United's European Cup triumph.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSalinger (2013)
An in-depth investigation into the private world of the American writer J. D. Salinger (1919-2010), who lived most of his life behind the impenetrable wall of a self-imposed seclusion: how his dramatic experiences during World War II influenced his life and work, his relationships with very young women, his obsessive writing methods, his many literary secrets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCapital in the Twenty-First Century (2019)
Film adaptation of French economist Thomas Piketty's ground-breaking global bestseller of the same name: an eye-opening journey through wealth and power.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJoshua: Teenager vs. Superpower (2017)
When the Chinese Communist Party backtracks on its promise of autonomy to Hong Kong, teenager Joshua Wong decides to save his city. Rallying thousands of kids to skip school and occupy the streets, Joshua becomes an unlikely leader in Hong Kong and one of China’s most notorious dissidents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSeduced and Abandoned (2013)
SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVampir Cuadecuc (1972)
An atmospheric essay, which is an alternative version of Count Dracula, a film directed by Jess Franco in 1970; a ghostly narration between fiction and reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisI Am Not Your Negro (2017)
Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck creates a meditation on what it means to be Black in the United States.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Accountant of Auschwitz (2018)
Oskar Gröning, known as the "Accountant of Auschwitz," was charged with the murder of 300,000 Jews. When he took the stand in 2015, at the age of 94, his trial made headlines worldwide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaria by Callas (2017)
Told through performances, TV interviews, home movies, family photographs, private letters and unpublished memoirs, the film reveals the essence of an extraordinary woman who rose from humble beginnings in New York City to become a glamorous international superstar and one of the greatest artists of all time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPersonal Che (2007)
A documentary that explores the myth behind the truth. Different people around the globe reinterpret the legend of Che Guevara at will: from the rebel living in Hong Kong fighting Chinese domination, to the German neonazi preaching revolution and the Castro-hating Cuban. Their testimonies prove that the Argentinian revolutionary's historical impact reverberates still. But like with all legends, each sees what he will, in often contradictory perspectives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
69, année pandémique (2020)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
De Gaulle, l'homme à abattre (2020)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Moravia, Beautiful Land (2015)
This experimental Western horror film set in the Moravian region of Slovácko offers a new take on the legend of Saint Wenceslas. Against the backdrop of a shabby folk festival, the mythical prince Boleslav, a zombie from a wine cellar, battles his brother Wenceslas over the nature of Czech statehood and a plate of tomato soup.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Morava, krásná zem II (2016)
The second part of the endless series about Moravia offers an even darker descent into the soul of Moravia, which is, however, intoxicating like a slightly delirious state after a sip of wine and chewing on a clod of mother earth. A visually distracting journey focused on the undercurrents of Moravian identity, whose echoes even Friedrich Nietzsche would not want to hear...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Make Moravia Great Again (2020)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Art as a Weapon (2014)
Street art, creativity and revolution collide in this beautifully shot film about art’s ability to create change. The story opens on the politically charged Thailand/Burma border at the first school teaching street art as a form of non-violent struggle. The film follows two young girls (Romi & Yi-Yi) who have escaped 50 years of civil war in Burma to pursue an arts education in Thailand. Under the threat of imprisonment and torture, the girls use spray paint and stencils to create images in public spaces to let people know the truth behind Burma's transition toward "artificial democracy." Eighty-two hundred miles away, artist Shepard Fairey is painting a 30’ mural of a Burmese monk for the same reasons and in support of the students' struggle in Burma. As these stories are inter-cut, the film connects these seemingly unrelated characters around the concept of using art as a weapon for change.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Camp Century: The Hidden City Beneath the Ice (2020)
How in 1959, during the heat of the Cold War, the government of the United States decided to create a secret military base located in the far north of Greenland: Camp Century, almost a real town with roads and houses, a nuclear plant to provide power and silos to house missiles aimed at the Soviet Union.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Last Book (2019)
The film focuses on the exciting life journey of Swiss writer Katharina Zimmermann. She follows her husband on a mission to the jungle in Indonesia where she raises their four children and five foster children and lives through the military coup. Back in Switzerland Katharina discovers her voice and finds her path. Now, at eighty, she is writing her life story. Yet suddenly she faces another battle because her publisher is threatening to let her go.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like In the Intense Now?
The closest matches to In the Intense Now are South of the Border (2009), Sidney (2022) and The Edge of Democracy (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after In the Intense Now?
Start with South of the Border (2009), the closest match to In the Intense Now.
What is the highest-rated movie like In the Intense Now?
O.J.: Made in America (2016), rated 8.4/10 by 271 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like In the Intense Now?
KWAIDAN (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to In the Intense Now chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside In the Intense Now, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.