Movies like The Water Cycle (1929)
The best movies like The Water Cycle (1929) are Elemental (2023), Naqoyqatsi (2002) and Anselm (2023). If The Water Cycle hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
The Water Cycle
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBaraka (1992)8.2/10 from 734 votes
- NewestAnselm (2023)Released 2023
- In GermanAnselm (2023)Also in German
Elemental (2023)
In a city where fire, water, land and air residents live together, a fiery young woman and a go-with-the-flow guy will discover something elemental: how much they have in common.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNaqoyqatsi (2002)
A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnselm (2023)
This unique cinematic experience dives deep into an artist’s work and reveals his life path, inspiration, and creative process. It explores his fascination with myth and history. Past and present are interwoven to diffuse the line between film and painting, allowing the audience to be completely immersed in the remarkable world of one of the greatest contemporary artists, Anselm Kiefer. Wim Wenders shot this unique portrait over the course of two years in stunning 3D.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKoyaanisqatsi (1983)
Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPowaqqatsi (1988)
An exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923)
When Marie St. Clair believes she has been jilted by her artist fiance Jean, she decides to leave for Paris on her own. After spending a year in the city as a mistress of the wealthy Pierre Revel, she is reunited with Jean by chance. This leaves her with the choice between a glamorous life in Paris, and the true love she left behind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCurve (2016)
Clinging to a smooth, curved surface high above a sentient abyss, a woman tries to cover the few feet back to safety without losing purchase and falling to her death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnthinkable (2010)
The government gets wind of a plot to destroy America involving a trio of nuclear weapons for which the whereabouts are unknown. It's up to a seasoned interrogator and an FBI agent to find out exactly where the nukes are.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBaraka (1992)
A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisVoyage of Time: The IMAX Experience (2016)
A celebration of the universe, displaying the whole of time, from its start to its final collapse. This film examines all that occurred to prepare the world that stands before us now: science and spirit, birth and death, the grand cosmos and the minute life systems of our planet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMountain (2017)
An epic cinematic and musical collaboration between SHERPA filmmaker Jennifer Peedom and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, that explores humankind's fascination with high places.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBusy Bodies (1933)
In this short film, Laurel and Hardy wage battle with inanimate objects, their co-workers, and the laws of physics during a routine work day at a sawmill.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFata Morgana (1972)
Shot under extreme conditions and inspired by Mayan creation theory, the film contemplates the illusion of reality and the possibility of capturing for the camera something which is not there. It is about the mirages of nature—and the nature of mirage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Day's Pleasure (1919)
A father takes his family for an outing, which turns out to be a ridiculous trial.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)
Nothing is as it seems when a woman experiencing misgivings about her new boyfriend joins him on a road trip to meet his parents at their remote farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Blue Umbrella (2013)
It is just another evening commute until the rain starts to fall, and the city comes alive to the sound of dripping rain pipes, whistling awnings and gurgling gutters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChronos (1985)
Carefully picked scenes of nature and civilization are viewed at high speed using time-lapse cinematography in an effort to demonstrate the history of various regions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDrew: The Man Behind the Poster (2013)
A documentary on legendary movie-poster artist Drew Struzan.
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 The Water Cycle?
The closest matches to The Water Cycle are Elemental (2023), Naqoyqatsi (2002) and Anselm (2023). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Water Cycle?
Start with Elemental (2023), the closest match to The Water Cycle.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Water Cycle?
Baraka (1992), rated 8.2/10 by 734 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Water Cycle?
Anselm (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like The Water Cycle?
Yes: Anselm (2023) and Fata Morgana (1972).
How are movies similar to The Water Cycle chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Water Cycle, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.



















