Movies like The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (2013)
The best movies like The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (2013) are The Girl in the Book (2015), Call Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013) and The Carpetbaggers (1964). If The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Trials of Cate McCall (2013)6.4/10 from 321 votes
- NewestEleanor the Great (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseTokyo Family (2013)Also in Japanese
The Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisCall Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Carpetbaggers (1964)
Jonas Cord is a disagreeable young tycoon who's building planes, directing films, and catting around on the corporate make in 1930s Hollywood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGigi & Nate (2022)
A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWaiting for Anya (2020)
During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSky (2016)
A woman embarks on a journey alone across the United States after fleeing from her violent husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMindwalk (1991)
On the French island of Mont Saint-Michel, Jack, a failed presidential candidate, Tom, a poet and Sonia, a physicist, engage in an intellectual conversation about politics, philosophy and life over the course of a single day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Dinner with Hervé (2018)
An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pumpkin Eater (1964)
Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Visit (1964)
Carla Zachanassian had a child by Serge Miller as a teenager. When Serge refused to marry her, she was driven out of town. By her own wit and cunning, she has returned as a multi-millionaire for a visit. The town lays out the red carpet expecting big things from Carla, only to learn that her sole purpose is to see Serge Miller killed...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPlunder Road (1957)
A spectacular heist starts to unravel as the crooks take it on the lam.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Trials of Cate McCall (2013)
In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Congress (2013)
An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTokyo Family (2013)
An elderly couple journey to Tokyo to visit their grown children, only to find them preoccupied and self-involved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlack Gold (1947)
A Native American man trains a horse for the Kentucky Derby.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Boat (2009)
Lives are changed and friendships tested when two bottom-feeding smugglers are ordered to kidnap the daughter of a wealthy Korean businessman and bring her to Japan. The duo has sacrificed so much for their respective families - now is their big chance to get even with the system.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Last Romantic Lover (1978)
The romance between a lion tamer and a liberated girl.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Magnificent Obsession (1954)
Reckless playboy Bob Merrick crashes his speedboat, requiring emergency attention from the town’s only resuscitator while a local hero, Dr. Phillips, dies waiting for the life-saving device. Merrick then tries to right his wrongs with the doctor’s widow, Helen, falling in love with her in the process.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Little Sweet Pea (2013)
It isn't easy to find a dream to chase when you're young, but Mugiko has one: she can't wait to become an anime voice actress. Saving up for classes while she works part time in a manga store, she lives with her older, gambler brother after her father's death. When the mother she never knew turns up out of nowhere and moves in, it only causes irritation for the aspiring otaku. But when her mother just as quickly disappears, it leaves Mugiko (or "Sweet Pea") searching for answers, bringing her back to her mother's hometown to discover what happened to her mother's own dream.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Aurat (1940)
Radha is a resolute mother, who strives hard against poverty and a lecherous money lender to feed her two sons who grew up with contrasting temperament.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
La carne e l'anima (1945)
This melodrama was directed by an émigré Russian from a story by Corrado Alvaro and Emanuele Caracciolo. The latter was murdered by the Nazis in the Fosse Ardeatine massacre, before the film’s post-war release. Featuring Miranda and Girotti prior to neo-realist stardom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Love Knot (1995)
Olga is a young pharmacist whο lives in the country in Chania, Crete in a confine and claustrophobic environment. Married and the mother of a child she will one day fir herself face to face with her childhood sweetheart, Lefteris who has returned to his place of birth after a long absence, full of ambitions... They both share a tragic sec without, however, confessing, it to each other: they are brother and sister from a different mother. It was the reason they had broken up when they were in love. But now it is not just Olga who goes after Lefteris but Vicky, a young woman who is the complete opposite of his old love. What would love be if it couldn't waste a man!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Retract (2017)
The unemployed performance artist Gritt struggles to make sense, as she moves below the successful surface of Oslo.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Twixt Love and Ambition (1912)
A falling-out between a man and his ambitious wife results in their splitting up and moving far apart. She pursues a career as an actress, taking their son with her to Europe. Alone, they are miserable and they reminisce nostalgically for when they were together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up?
The closest matches to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up are The Girl in the Book (2015), Call Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013) and The Carpetbaggers (1964). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up?
Start with The Girl in the Book (2015), the closest match to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up?
The Trials of Cate McCall (2013), rated 6.4/10 by 321 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up?
Eleanor the Great (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up?
Yes: Tokyo Family (2013) and My Little Sweet Pea (2013).
How are movies similar to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.