Movies like Light Matter (2018)
The best movies like Light Matter (2018) are Dog Star Man (1965), Our Wife (1931) and Daddio (2024). If Light Matter hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDon't Think Twice (2016)6.4/10 from 429 votes
- NewestPhenomena (2026)Released 2026
Dog Star Man (1965)
Described as a "cosmological epic" and "creation myth", Dog Star Man illustrates the odyssey of a bearded woodsman climbing through a snow-covered mountain with his dog to chop down a tree. While doing so, he witnesses various mystical visions with various recurring imagery such as a woman, child, nature, and the cosmos while making his ascent.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOur Wife (1931)
Oliver is making plans to marry his sweetheart Dulcy with Stan as his best man, but the plans are thwarted when Dulcy's father sees a picture of Ollie and forbids the marriage. The couple plan to elope, and run away to a Justice of the Peace. After typical Laurel and Hardy blundering, they manage to sneak the girl away from her father's house.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDaddio (2024)
A woman taking a cab ride from JFK airport engages in a conversation with the driver about the important relationships in their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Soup (1992)
An aspiring young filmmaker gets involved with an eccentric gangster for the financing of his first film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOliver the Eighth (1934)
Barbershop owners Stan and Ollie answer an ad in the newspaper from a wealthy widow looking for a husband. Ollie only mails in his response and is invited to the widow's mansion. Stan discovers his unmailed letter and insists on tagging along. At the mansion, the widow's creepy butler informs them that the woman is crazy. She was once jilted by an Oliver and now her hobby is marrying Olivers and then slitting their throats. Now the boys must figure out how to escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPerfect Day (1929)
Two families embark on a pleasant Sunday picnic but manage to run into a variety of issues with their temperamental automobile. Each incident requires repeated exits and reboardings by Laurel, Hardy, their wives and grouchy, gout-ridden Uncle Edgar.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThicker Than Water (1935)
Oliver's in trouble with his wife after missing a payment on their furniture, having given the money to Stanley, who used it instead to pay Mrs. Hardy for his room and board. At Stan's suggestion Ollie then withdraws the couple's savings from the bank to pay for the furniture and inadvertently pays virtually the whole amount at an auction for a grandfather clock which is soon crushed under a passing truck. Mrs Hardy then unintentionally causes serious injuries to Ollie requiring him to be rushed to hospital for a blood transfusion. The doctor conscripts Stan to be the unwilling blood donor. Problems occur with the transfusion and when Stan and Ollie leave the hospital they appear to have morphed into each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMe and My Pal (1933)
On the morning of his wedding to oil baron Peter Cucumber's daughter, Ollie receives a jigsaw puzzle from Stan as a wedding gift. The boys soon become absorbed in the puzzle. A taxi driver, butler, policeman and messenger boy join in as well.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDough and Dynamite (1914)
Pierre and Jacques are working as waiters at a restaurant where the cooks go on strike. When the two are forced to work as bakers, the striking cooks put dynamite in the dough, with explosive results.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmbrace the Panda: Making Turning Red (2022)
A feature length documentary about the all-women team at the helm of Pixar's original feature, Turning Red. With unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to Director Domee Shi and her core leadership crew, this story shines a light on the powerful professional and personal journeys that brought this incredibly comical, utterly relatable, and deeply heartfelt story to the screen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001)
In New York City, the lives of a lawyer, an actuary, a house-cleaner, a professor, and the people around them intersect as they ponder order and happiness in the face of life's cold unpredictability.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJoker: Put on a Happy Face (2020)
Featuring interviews with filmmakers and industry legends, discover the origins and evolution of The Joker, and learn why The Clown Prince of Crime is universally hailed as the greatest comic-book supervillain of all time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMy Wife's Relations (1922)
Buster and a woman are mistakenly married and her initially unfriendly family begins to treat him nicely when they come to believe he has a large inheritance awaiting him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShanghaied (1915)
A shipowner intends to scuttle his ship on its last voyage to get the insurance money. Charlie, a tramp in love with the owner's daughter, is grabbed by the captain and promises to help him shanghai some seamen. The daughter stows away to follow Charlie. Charlie assists in the galley and attempts to serve food during a gale.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarvel's Behind the Mask (2021)
A documentary special that explores the power of identity behind the iconic superheroes we know and love today. These legendary Marvel creations and stories have not only reflected the world outside our window – they have become a reflection of our own identities and who we truly are.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDon't Think Twice (2016)
An improv group deals with several crises, including the loss of their lease and one member hitting the big time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013)
86-year-old Irving Zisman is on a journey across America with the most unlikely companion: his 8 year-old grandson, Billy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Woman (1915)
Mother, father and daughter go to the park. The women doze off on a bench while the father plays a hide-and-seek game with a girl, blindfolded. Charlie leads him into a lake. Both dozing ladies on the bench fall for Charlie and invite him for dinner. The father returns home with a friend. Charlie rushes upstairs and dresses like a woman, shaving his mustache. Both men fall for Charlie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeau Hunks (1931)
Stan and Ollie join the French Foreign Legion after Ollie's sweetheart rejects him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVery Nice, Very Nice (1961)
Arthur Lipsett's first film is an avant-garde blend of photography and sound. It looks behind the business-as-usual face we put on life and shows anxieties we want to forget. It is made of dozens of pictures that seem familiar, with fragments of speech heard in passing and, between times, a voice saying, "Very nice, very nice." The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLost Mind (TBA)
Lost Mind is an experimental short film, written and directed by Lucas Donnat, that explores the perception of time and memory through the staging of a man's death. The film questions the boundary between reality and imagination. Here, time is no longer linear: the past becomes the memory of a future, and the future becomes the altered continuation of a past already rewritten. Currently in production.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
A garden of shadows (2025)
A film-poem about shadows and light. Available on YouTube
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Lux Æterna: The Art of Filmmaking (2019)
An experimental shortfilm in line with "Lux Æterna", showcasing the footage from Cecil B. DeMille's "King of the Kings". A voiceover pronunces word "Relax" in a hypnotic tone, which was Lux Æterna's working title. It was shown only once in Paris at L'Étrange Festival, at the opening of "Lux Æterna".
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Fish Out of Water (2024)
Through poetry and visuals to symbolize the breaking psyche someone experiences in everyday life, follow this journey of daily mental health struggles.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Phenomena (2026)
A psychedelic odyssey into the fabric of the universe, guided by a filmmaker’s immersive practical experiments that transcend into a deeply hypnotic audio-visual experience of awe and human connection to the natural world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Orka (1997)
STEINA: “My background is in music. For me, it is the sound that leads me into the image. Every image has its own sound and in it I attempt to capture something flowing and living. I apply the same principle to art as to playing the violin: with the same attitude of continuous practice, the same concept of composition.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Death of a Slut (2024)
Liam, crippled by his fear of intimacy, remedies his hunger for touch through trips to the beach where he fantasizes a life of connection. His voyeuristic daydream is challenged by a young man, Brayden, who decides to pursue him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
La Suture (2000)
An attic, a giant sewing needle and an anti-gravity fairy tale of sibling rivalry. Three sisters fight over who gets the biggest phallus in this post-feminist animation-infused playground by media artist Michelle Handelman. If Hans Christian Anderson got a sex change, surfed the porn sites, and hung with the freaky girls, his stories would look like this.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Garden Cadences (2024)
Jone is ready to fly. She finds herself at the beginning of something new, but before she moves on, there needs to be a closure. Jone is one of Mollies, the queer-feminist collective that had been living for a decade at a trailer park next to Ostkreuz, Berlin.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Light Matter?
The closest matches to Light Matter are Dog Star Man (1965), Our Wife (1931) and Daddio (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Light Matter?
Start with Dog Star Man (1965), the closest match to Light Matter.
What is the highest-rated movie like Light Matter?
Don't Think Twice (2016), rated 6.4/10 by 429 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Light Matter?
Phenomena (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Light Matter chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Light Matter, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.