Movies like Genius Loci (2020)
The best movies like Genius Loci (2020) are Puparia (2021), Self (2024) and The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (2012). If Genius Loci hooked you with its animation and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026)8.8/10 from 312 votes
- NewestThe Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchI Lost My Body (2019)Also in French
Puparia (2021)
Something is about to change drastically, and the only thing to do is to witness it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSelf (2024)
A wooden puppet who desperately wants to fit in makes an ill-fated wish upon a star, sparking a journey of self-discovery.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & fantasy
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (2012)
After a hurricane levels his city, a young man wanders into a mysterious library where books literally come to life. This film won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 2012.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Old Man and the Sea (1999)
An old fisherman makes the biggest catch of his life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTimecode (2016)
Timecode is a 2016 Spanish live-action short film directed by Juanjo Giménez. Luna and Diego are the parking lot security guards. Diego does the night shift, and Luna works by day. One day, Luna's boss asks her to investigate a broken tail light. It won the Short Film Palme d'Or award at 69th annual Cannes Film Festival in 2016. It is also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 89th Academy Awards in 2017.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnimal Behaviour (2018)
Five animals meet regularly to discuss their inner angst in a group therapy session led by Dr. Clement, a canine psychotherapist. The group includes Lorraine, a leech who suffers from separation anxiety; Cheryl, a praying mantis who can’t seem to keep a man; Todd, a pig with an eating disorder; Jeffrey, a bird with guilt issues; and Linda, an obsessive-compulsive cat.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdult Swim's The Elephant (2025)
Crafted in three parts by four animation superstars, Adult Swim's The Elephant brings to life a very human journey of self-discovery in varied styles.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
I Lost My Body (2019)
A story of Naoufel, a young man who is in love with Gabrielle. In another part of town, a severed hand escapes from a dissection lab, determined to find its body again.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCryptozoo (2021)
Cryptozookeepers try to capture a Baku, a dream-eating hybrid creature of legend, and start wondering if they should display these beasts or keep them hidden and unknown.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Red Turtle (2016)
The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVincent (1982)
Young Vincent Malloy dreams of being just like Vincent Price and loses himself in macabre daydreams that annoy his mother.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Illusionist (2010)
A French illusionist travels to Scotland to work. He meets a young woman in a small village. Their ensuing adventure in Edinburgh changes both their lives forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Girl Without Hands (2016)
A poor miller gets tricked by the Devil and accidentally sells his daughter for a bit of gold. But Satan can't take her because she's too pure and has wept on her hands. So Satan orders the miller to cut her hands off. It's the beginning of the young girl's journey towards freedom.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Painting (2011)
Three characters living in an unfinished painting venture out into the real world in search of their creator to convince him to finish his work.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both fantasy & animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Christmas Carol (2020)
The radical new take on Dickens’ classic seeks both to exhume the original story’s gritty commentary on social inequality and the corrupting influence of greed, and to breathe new life into the lyricism of the original text by setting its scenes to extraordinary tableaux of modern dance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & animation
Away (2019)
After suffering a plane crash on a mysterious island, a young man embarks on an epic journey through forests, deserts and mountains trying to escape the shadow of a huge dark spirit.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Art of Happiness (2013)
Sergio driving a taxi in a white Naples overflowing sadness and garbage. Pouring rain leads her clients through the city trying to process the death of his brother, who started ten years earlier for Tibet and never returned. A pop singer, a recycler of fragments of life, a radio announcer, an old uncle, alternate seats on its bearing, each in its own way, a trace of his brother loved. Stubborn not to go over and get lost in an endless race, Sergio is overwhelmed by memories and the music produced in pairs with Alfredo, which in Buddhism and in its foundations had found the strength to cope with the disease. Those notes that he believed buried and laid to always return overbearing and demanding a soundboard that resonate and express his being sound. Putting his hand on the piano, Sergio Alfredo feel again, giving the past with the present and realizing itself in the feeling.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSita Sings the Blues (2008)
Utilizing the 1920s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, the epic Indian tale of exiled prince Ramayana and his bride Sita is mirrored by a spurned woman's contemporary personal life, and light-hearted but knowledgeable discussion of historical background by a trio of Indian shadow puppets.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Staggering Girl (2019)
Francesca, an Italian-American writer who lives in New York, must return to Rome to retrieve her aging mother. There, the ghosts of her childhood will come to her through her mother's art.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Girl Who Cried Pearls (2025)
A poor boy’s love for a girl whose tears turn to pearls leads him into a perilous bargain between love, greed, and survival.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026)
With Caine gone and the circus dark, the cast are left with only the mistakes and traumas of their pasts to keep them company. As the prospect of eternity closes in around them, they discover the truth about the Digital Circus and its history. Will they come to terms with what they uncover, or will they make... the other choice? Also, presumably at some point someone says something funny, because this ending can’t be THAT depressing, can it? A theatrical screening of episode 8 and the all new, hour-long episode 9.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBlancanieves (2012)
A black and white silent movie, based on the Snow White fairy tale, that is set in a romantic version of 1920s Seville and centered on a female bullfighter.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWaking Life (2001)
Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDC Showcase: Death (2019)
Vincent, an artist with unresolved inner demons, meets a mysterious girl who helps him come to terms with his creative legacy… and eventual death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Little Matchgirl (2006)
An animated short based on Hans Christian Andersen's tale about a poor young girl with a burning desire to find comfort and happiness in her life. Desperate to keep warm, the girl lights the matches she sells, and envisions a very different life for herself in the fiery flames filled with images of loving relatives, bountiful food, and a place to call home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStrings (2004)
The story of Prince Hal who sets out to avenge his dead father against the city's rivals, the Zeriths, little knowing it was his wicked uncle Nezo who is the real killer, with his own designs on the throne.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlind Vaysha (2016)
From the moment she was born, Vaysha was a very special girl. With her left eye she can only see into the past, and with her right she can only see the future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHilda and the Mountain King (2021)
When Hilda wakes up in the body of a troll, she must use her wits and courage to get back home, become human again — and save the city of Trolberg.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Maker (2011)
A strange creature races against time to make the most important and beautiful creation of his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHow to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019)
It's been ten years since the dragons moved to the Hidden World, and even though Toothless doesn't live in New Berk anymore, Hiccup continues the holiday traditions he once shared with his best friend. But the Vikings of New Berk were beginning to forget about their friendship with dragons. Hiccup, Astrid, and Gobber know just what to do to keep the dragons in the villagers' hearts. And across the sea, the dragons have a plan of their own...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Genius Loci?
The closest matches to Genius Loci are Puparia (2021), Self (2024) and The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (2012). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Genius Loci?
People who watched Genius Loci most often go on to Puparia (2021), Self (2024) and The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (2012).
What is the highest-rated movie like Genius Loci?
The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026), rated 8.8/10 by 312 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Genius Loci?
The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Genius Loci?
Yes: I Lost My Body (2019), The Red Turtle (2016) and The Illusionist (2010).
How are movies similar to Genius Loci chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Genius Loci, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.