Movies like Written on the Sky (2018)
The best movies like Written on the Sky (2018) are M. Butterfly (1993), The Road Home (1999) and Taipei Story (1985). If Written on the Sky hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Written on the Sky
Quick picks
- Highest ratedA Brighter Summer Day (1991)8.2/10 from 417 votes
- NewestThe Life of Chuck (2025)Released 2025
- In ChineseThe Road Home (1999)Also in Chinese
M. Butterfly (1993)
In 1960s China, French diplomat Rene Gallimard falls in love with opera singer Song Liling – but Song is not at all who Gallimard thinks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Road Home (1999)
Prompted by the death of his father and the grief of his mother, a man recalls the story of how they met in flashback.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTaipei Story (1985)
A young woman urgently seeks to navigate the maze of contemporary Taipei and find a future. She hopes that her boyfriend Lung is the key to the future, but Lung is stuck in a past that combines baseball and traditional loyalty that leads him to squander his nest egg bailing her father out of financial trouble.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Brighter Summer Day (1991)
A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLust for Life (1956)
An intense and imaginative artist, revered Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh possesses undeniable talent, but he is plagued by mental problems and frustrations with failure. Supported by his brother, Theo, the tormented Van Gogh eventually leaves Holland for France, where he meets volatile fellow painter Paul Gauguin and struggles to find greater inspiration.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShaolin Temple (1982)
The Tang emperor is betrayed by one of his generals, who installs himself as emperor in the East Capital. The son of one of his slave workers escapes to the Shaolin Temple, learns kung fu, and sets out to kill the traitor who killed his father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHorns (2013)
In the aftermath of his girlfriend's mysterious death, a young man awakens to strange horns sprouting from his temples.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Life of Chuck (2025)
In this extraordinary story of an ordinary man, Charles 'Chuck' Krantz experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained in all of us.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMeet Joe Black (1998)
Bill Parrish has it all - success, wealth and power. Days before his 65th birthday, he receives a visit from a mysterious stranger, Joe Black, who soon reveals himself as Death. In exchange for extra time, Bill agrees to serve as Joe's earthly guide. But will he regret his choice when Joe unexpectedly falls in love with Bill's beautiful daughter Susan?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll the Bright Places (2020)
Two teens facing personal struggles form a powerful bond as they embark on a cathartic journey chronicling the wonders of Indiana.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChristine (2016)
In 1974, television reporter Christine Chubbuck struggles with depression and professional frustrations as she tries to advance her career.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStealing Home (1988)
Billy Wyatt, a former high school and minor-league baseball player, receives a telephone call from his mother revealing that his former child-sitter, and later in his teens, his first love, Katie Chandler, has died. Wyatt returns home to deal with this tragedy, reminiscing over his childhood growing up with his father, Katie, and best friend Alan Appleby.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHarold and Maude (1971)
A deadpan young man obsessed with death meets an eccentric septuagenarian who teaches him to live life to the fullest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAutumn in New York (2000)
Will Keane, a Manhattan restaurateur, is content with his playboy lifestyle until he meets Charlotte Fielding, a free-spirited young woman. Together the pair pursue a passionate affair that forces them both to reevaluate what they want out of life, even as fate threatens to steal away their future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Single Man (2009)
Set in Los Angeles in 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, is the story of a British college professor who dwells on the past and cannot see his future. We follow him through a single day, where a series of events and encounters ultimately lead him to decide if there is a meaning to life after the death of his long time partner, Jim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMr. Harrigan's Phone (2022)
Craig, a young boy living in a small town befriends an older, reclusive billionaire, Mr. Harrigan. The two form a bond over books and an iPhone, but when the man passes away the boy discovers that not everything dead is gone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJames Dean (2001)
The man behind the legend and a knowing look at 1950s Hollywood are revealed in this dynamic biopic of the meteoric star whose troubled life echoed his gut-grabbing performances in East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUncle Frank (2020)
In 1973, when Frank Bledsoe and his 18-year-old niece Beth take a road trip from Manhattan to Creekville, South Carolina for the family patriarch's funeral, they're unexpectedly joined by Frank's lover Walid.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFourteen Hours (1951)
A young man, morally destroyed by his parents not loving him and by the fear of being not capable to make his girlfriend happy, rises on the ledge of a building with the intention of committing suicide. A policeman makes every effort to argue him out of it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHereafter (2010)
Three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — are touched by death in different ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Written on the Sky?
The closest matches to Written on the Sky are M. Butterfly (1993), The Road Home (1999) and Taipei Story (1985). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Written on the Sky?
Start with M. Butterfly (1993), the closest match to Written on the Sky.
What is the highest-rated movie like Written on the Sky?
A Brighter Summer Day (1991), rated 8.2/10 by 417 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Written on the Sky?
The Life of Chuck (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like Written on the Sky?
Yes: The Road Home (1999), Taipei Story (1985) and A Brighter Summer Day (1991).
How are movies similar to Written on the Sky chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Written on the Sky, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.