Movies like Clipping: Splendor & Misery (2016)
The best movies like Clipping: Splendor & Misery (2016) are Captain EO (1986), Space Is the Place (1974) and Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003). If Clipping: Splendor & Misery hooked you with its science fiction and music, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedInterstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003)7.8/10 from 548 votes
- NewestThe Assessment (2025)Released 2025
Captain EO (1986)
Captain EO and his crew journey to a dark, mechanical world to deliver a gift to the tyrannical Supreme Leader, using the power of music and dance to transform her realm from darkness into light.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & music
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSpace Is the Place (1974)
Sun Ra and his Solar Myth Arkestra return to Earth after several years in space. Ra proclaims himself "the alter-destiny", meets with inner-city youths and battles with the devil himself to save the black race.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & music
SnoozefestMovies like thisInterstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003)
Four talented alien musicians are kidnapped by a record producer who disguises them as humans. Shep, a space pilot in love with bass player Stella, follows them to Earth. Reprogrammed to forget their real identities and renamed The Crescendolls, the group quickly becomes a huge success playing soulless corporate pop. At a concert, Shep manages to free all the musicians except Stella, and the band sets out to rediscover who they really are — and to rescue Stella.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPress Play (2022)
Laura and Harrison have the picture-perfect romance built on the foundation of a shared love of music. After a deadly accident, Laura gets the chance to save the love of her life when she discovers that their mixtape can transport her back in time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIf I Can't Have Love, I Want Power (2021)
Featuring music from her fourth studio album produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, this evocative film experience stars Halsey as the young and pregnant Queen Lila, who wrestles with the manipulative chokehold of love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGuava Island (2019)
Deni Maroon, a musician and dock worker is determined to pull off a music festival against the interests of the local factory owner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Quiet Place (2018)
A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEnemy Mine (1985)
A soldier from Earth crashlands on an alien world after sustaining battle damage. Eventually he encounters another survivor, but from the enemy species he was fighting; they band together to survive on this hostile world. In the end the human finds himself caring for his enemy in a completely unexpected way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIndustrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted (1990)
After her boyfriend ends their relationship, the dreamself of a heartbroken woman floats through the air over an industrial wasteland singing ballads of love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdvantageous (2015)
In a near-future city where soaring opulence overshadows economic hardship, Gwen and her daughter, Jules, do all they can to hold on to their joy, despite the instability surfacing in their world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 · both music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCold Souls (2009)
Paul is agonising over his interpretation of 'Uncle Vanya' and, paralysed by anxiety, stumbles upon a solution via a New Yorker article about a high-tech company promising to alleviate suffering by extracting souls. He enlists their services—only to discover that his soul is the shape and size of a chickpea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStarman (1984)
When an alien takes the form of a young widow's husband and asks her to drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona, the government tries to stop them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Assessment (2025)
In a climate change-ravaged world, a utopian society optimizes life, including parenthood assessments. A successful couple faces scrutiny by an evaluator over seven days to determine their fitness for childbearing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEraserhead (1977)
First-time father Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Handmaid's Tale (1990)
In a dystopian, polluted right-wing religious tyranny, a young woman is put in sexual slavery on account of her now rare fertility.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMelancholia (2011)
Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Island (2005)
In 2019, Lincoln Six-Echo is a resident of a seemingly "Utopian" but contained facility. Like all of the inhabitants of this carefully-controlled environment, Lincoln hopes to be chosen to go to The Island — reportedly the last uncontaminated location on the planet. But Lincoln soon discovers that everything about his existence is a lie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Zero Theorem (2013)
A computer hacker's goal to discover the reason for human existence continually finds his work interrupted thanks to the Management; this time, they send a teenager and lusty love interest to distract him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Giver (2014)
In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMysterious Island (1941)
Based on Verne's book The Mysterious Island, five POWs escape from a camp in a balloon during the Civil War and crash-land on an uninhabited island in the Pacific. Trying to settle with their lives they find someone is helping them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Merzbow: Live at Middle East Cafe Boston 21 Sep 1990 (1993)
Live concert recorded at the Middle East cafe in Boston, MA on September 21, 1990.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Merzbow: Live July 5th, 1995 (1996)
Live concert recorded at Brückenkopf in Mainz, Germany on July 5, 1995.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Merzbow: Live in Germany 1996 (2001)
Live concert recorded on the MS Stubnitz in Rostock, Germany on April 6, 1996.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Remind Me Why I Came Here (2017)
It's time the times met each other over & over.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Rakka (2017)
A story of broken humanity following the invasion of a technologically superior alien species. Bleak, harrowing, and unrelenting, the humans must find enough courage to go on fighting.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKinda Cool to Expend This Much Drool (2017)
Don't ask me why, but I feel we're about to cry trying.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Ruminative Meditations (2017)
Say Om as you reach home only to realize you never really left/stopped saying Om.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Wasteland (2021)
Follows the quiet day of a lonely young girl who tries to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Capricorn One (1977)
In order to protect the reputation of the American space program, a team of NASA administrators turn the first Mars mission into a phony Mars landing. Under threat of harm to their families the astronauts play their part in the deception on a staged set in a deserted military base. But once the real ship returns to Earth and burns up on re-entry, the astronauts become liabilities. Now, with the help of a crusading reporter, they must battle a sinister conspiracy that will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Clipping: Splendor & Misery?
The closest matches to Clipping: Splendor & Misery are Captain EO (1986), Space Is the Place (1974) and Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Clipping: Splendor & Misery?
Start with Captain EO (1986), the closest match to Clipping: Splendor & Misery.
What is the highest-rated movie like Clipping: Splendor & Misery?
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003), rated 7.8/10 by 548 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Clipping: Splendor & Misery?
The Assessment (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Clipping: Splendor & Misery?
Yes: Captain EO (1986), Space Is the Place (1974) and Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003).
How are movies similar to Clipping: Splendor & Misery chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Clipping: Splendor & Misery, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.