Movies like Whistling...1985 (1986)
The best movies like Whistling...1985 (1986) are Cameraperson (2016), One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 (2026) and They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018). If Whistling...1985 hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Fabelmans (2022)7.6/10 from 2,941 votes
- NewestOne Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 (2026)Released 2026
Cameraperson (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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 (2026)
An inside look at the years of effort and craft that went into the final installment of the Duffer Brothers' generation-defining series.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThey'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018)
As his life comes to its end, famous Hollywood director Orson Welles puts it all on the line at the chance for renewed success with the film The Other Side of the Wind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAs I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000)
A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisReality (2023)
Augusta, Georgia, United States, June 3, 2017. After running some errands, Reality Winner returns home, where she is approached by two men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLife in a Day (2011)
A documentary shot by filmmakers all over the world that serves as a time capsule to show future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWoody Allen: A Documentary (2011)
An intense portrait of the iconic filmmaker, writer, actor, comedian and musician Woody Allen: his life, family and friends; his writing and directing habits, and his relationship with performers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReal Life (1979)
A pushy, narcissistic filmmaker persuades a Phoenix family to let him and his crew film their everyday lives, in the manner of the ground-breaking PBS series "An American Family".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Girl Like Her (2015)
Sophomore year has been a nightmare for Jessica Burns. Relentlessly harassed by her former friend Avery Keller, Jessica doesn't know what she did to deserve the abuse from one of South Brookdale High's most popular and beautiful students. But when a shocking event changes both of their lives, a documentary film crew, a hidden digital camera, and the attention of a reeling community begin to reveal the powerful truth about A Girl Like Her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Suicide (2009)
After declaring that he's going to film himself committing suicide for a school project, Archie videotapes his surprising interactions with worried family members, interested classmates, unreliable medical experts and the hottest girl in school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisModern Romance (1981)
A film editor breaks up with his girlfriend, unsure if he is in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHow High (2001)
Jamal and Silas, two ordinary guys who smoke something magical, pass their college entrance exams with flying colors and end up at Harvard. Ivy League ways are strange but Silas and Jamal take it in a stride -- until their supply of supernatural smoke runs dry. That's when they have to start living by their wits and rely on their natural resources to make the grade.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVal (2021)
For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood's most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors, has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing (2004)
Documentary about the art of film editing. Clips are shown from many groundbreaking films with innovative editing styles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisArt School Confidential (2006)
Starting from childhood attempts at illustration, the protagonist pursues his true obsession to art school. But as he learns how the art world really works, he finds that he must adapt his vision to the reality that confronts him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJim & Andy: The Great Beyond - Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton (2017)
Through the lens of his stunningly immersive performance as Andy Kaufman, Jim Carrey ponders the meaning of life, reality, identity and career.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSymbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968)
In Manhattan's Central Park, a film crew directed by William Greaves is shooting a screen test with various pairs of actors. It's a confrontation between a couple: he demands to know what's wrong, she challenges his sexual orientation. Cameras shoot the exchange, and another camera records Greaves and his crew. Sometimes we watch the crew discussing this scene, its language, and the process of making a movie. Is there such a thing as natural language? Are all things related to sex? The camera records distractions - a woman rides horseback past them; a garrulous homeless vet who sleeps in the park chats them up. What's the nature of making a movie?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLevel 16 (2018)
The teenage girls of Vestalis Academy are meticulously trained in the art of being “clean girls,” practicing the virtues of perfect femininity. But what exactly are they being trained for? Vivien intends to find out.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fabelmans (2022)
Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Whistling...1985?
The closest matches to Whistling...1985 are Cameraperson (2016), One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 (2026) and They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Whistling...1985?
Start with Cameraperson (2016), the closest match to Whistling...1985.
What is the highest-rated movie like Whistling...1985?
The Fabelmans (2022), rated 7.6/10 by 2,941 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Whistling...1985?
One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Whistling...1985?
The closest matches are in other languages.
How are movies similar to Whistling...1985 chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Whistling...1985, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.