Movies like Light of a Burning Moth (2020)
The best movies like Light of a Burning Moth (2020) are The Goodbye Girl (1977), Frankie & Alice (2010) and Ballet Shoes (2008). If Light of a Burning Moth hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMy First Summer (2020)8.0/10 from 290 votes
- NewestThe Rule of Jenny Pen (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseLike Someone in Love (2012)Also in Japanese
The Goodbye Girl (1977)
After being dumped by her live-in boyfriend, an unemployed dancer and her 10-year-old daughter are reluctantly forced to live with a struggling off-Broadway actor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrankie & Alice (2010)
A drama centered on a go-go dancer with multiple personality disorder who struggles to remain her true self and begins working with a psychotherapist to uncover the mystery of the inner ghosts that haunt her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBallet Shoes (2008)
An unusual explorer named Gum and his kindly niece adopt three orphans -- Pauline, Petrova and Posy -- and raise them as sisters in 1930s London. But the girls must fend for themselves when Gum doesn't return from one of his adventures. Together, they nurture their passions for acting, aviation and ballet in this charming TV adaptation of Noel Streatfield's novel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStoker (2013)
Following her father Richard's death in an unexplained road accident, reclusive teenager India Stoker withdraws further into the quiet rural life she shares with her emotionally disturbed mother Evie. But her curiosity is stirred when her mysterious uncle Charlie, who she has never met, suddenly arrives unannounced. Told that the darkly charismatic Charlie will now be staying at the house, India's initial well-founded distrust of her uncle's motivations begins to waver as she finds herself becoming ever more deeply entranced by his sinister charms.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLimelight (1952)
A fading music hall comedian tries to help a despondent ballet dancer learn to walk and to again feel confident about life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBrand Upon the Brain! (2007)
After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Jazz Singer (1927)
A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer. This is the first full length feature film to use synchronized sound, and is the original film musical.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl in the Park (2007)
A mother, enduringly traumatized by the disappearance of her three-year old daughter 15 years ago, has cut herself off from her ex-husband and son. However, when a troubled young woman with a checkered past enters her life, old psychic wounds painfully resurface, as does the illogical and increasingly irrational hope that the young woman may be the daughter she lost so long ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968)
Singer is a deaf-mute whose small world brings him in contact with a young girl, Mick, who cherishes a seemingly hopeless dream of becoming a concert pianist. At first hostile, Mick soon becomes friends with Singer, hoping to enlarge his small world. Three other central characters come to Singer for help also, each of them seeing in him a powerful force.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Rule of Jenny Pen (2025)
Confined to a secluded rest home and trapped within his stroke-ridden body, a former Judge must stop an elderly psychopath who employs a child's puppet to abuse the home's residents with deadly consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSightless (2020)
After an attack renders her blind, Ellen withdraws from the world to recover. But soon she plunges into paranoia, unable to convince anyone that her assailant has returned to terrorize her by hiding in plain sight.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Your Eyes (2014)
Two seemingly unconnected souls from different corners of the United States make a telepathic bond that allows them to see, hear, and feel the other's experiences, creating a connection that cannot be broken.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Tales of Hoffmann (1951)
A melancholy poet reflects on three women he loved and lost in the past: a mechanical performing doll, a Venetian courtesan, and the consumptive daughter of a celebrated composer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy First Summer (2020)
Isolated on a remote property, 16-year-old Claudia finds her world transformed when a spirited girl named Grace wanders into her garden.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDon't Let Go (2019)
A detective suffering from a personal loss receives a call from his recently deceased niece. Being able to communicate across time, the two work together to try and stop the crime before it occurs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMao’s Last Dancer (2009)
At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he falls in love with an American woman. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet and as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDead Again (1991)
In 1949, composer Roman Strauss is executed for the murder of his wife. In 1990s Los Angeles, a detective comes across a mute amnesiac woman who is somehow linked to the Strauss murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn a World... (2013)
An underachieving vocal coach is motivated by her father, the king of movie-trailer voice-overs, to pursue her aspirations of becoming a voice-over star. Amidst pride, sexism and family dysfunction, she sets out to change the voice of a generation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLike Someone in Love (2012)
An old man and a young woman meet in Tokyo. She knows nothing about him, he thinks he knows her. He welcomes her into his home, she offers him her body. But the web that is woven between them in the space of twenty four hours bears no relation to the circumstances of their encounter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWakefield (2017)
A man's nervous breakdown causes him to leave his wife and live in his attic for several months.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Light of a Burning Moth?
The closest matches to Light of a Burning Moth are The Goodbye Girl (1977), Frankie & Alice (2010) and Ballet Shoes (2008). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Light of a Burning Moth?
Start with The Goodbye Girl (1977), the closest match to Light of a Burning Moth.
What is the highest-rated movie like Light of a Burning Moth?
My First Summer (2020), rated 8.0/10 by 290 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Light of a Burning Moth?
The Rule of Jenny Pen (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Light of a Burning Moth?
Yes: Like Someone in Love (2012).
How are movies similar to Light of a Burning Moth chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Light of a Burning Moth, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.