Movies like When I Wallowed in a Bowl of Sunshine (2021)
The best movies like When I Wallowed in a Bowl of Sunshine (2021) are Naqoyqatsi (2002), Paterson (2016) and Love, Marilyn (2013). If When I Wallowed in a Bowl of Sunshine hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPast Lives (2023)7.7/10 from 2,551 votes
- NewestNocturne in White (2026)Released 2026
Naqoyqatsi (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 thisPaterson (2016)
A week in the life of Paterson, a poet bus driver, and his wife Laura, a very creative artist, who live in Paterson, New Jersey, hometown of many famous poets and artists.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove, Marilyn (2013)
Using the book 'Fragments', which collects Marilyn Monroe's poems, notes and letters, and with participation from the Arthur Miller and Truman Capote estates who have contributed more material, each of the actresses will embody the legend at various stages in her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPast Lives (2023)
After decades apart, childhood friends Nora and Hae Sung are reunited in New York for one fateful weekend as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Believe in Unicorns (2015)
Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath of a Superhero (2011)
A dying 15-year-old boy draws stories of an invincible superhero as he struggles with his mortality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Girl (1991)
Vada Sultenfuss is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. She is also in love with her English teacher, and joins a poetry class over the summer just to impress him. Thomas J., her best friend, is "allergic to everything", and sticks with Vada despite her hangups. When Vada's father hires Shelly, and begins to fall for her, things take a turn to the worse...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025)
Sarah and David are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present... and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSafe (1995)
Carol White, a Los Angeles housewife in the late 1980s, comes down with a debilitating illness with no clear diagnosis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisAnother Year (2010)
During a year, a very content couple approaching retirement are visited by friends and family less happy with their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMr. Church (2016)
A unique friendship develops when a little girl and her dying mother inherit a cook - Mr. Church. What begins as an arrangement that should only last six months, instead spans fifteen years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between (2022)
Clare and Aidan make a pact to break up before college — no regrets, no broken hearts. But will one epic goodbye date offer them a last chance at love?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll My Life (2020)
It was a chance meeting started by one of Sol’s friends trying to chat up Jennifer. However, in the end, it was those two who hit it off. Sol enjoyed Jen’s smile, her effort, and how silly she could be. Jen enjoyed Sol’s cooking, his athleticism, and that he would join her in fun moments. As you can imagine, love bloomed, and things got serious. Jen’s investment in Sol led to her pushing him to follow his dreams and even move in to save money. Sol’s investment in Jen well, it led to him proposing. But what started as a liver tumor grew into full-on cancer, so with a diagnosis of 6 months to live, Sol and Jennifer try to make the best of it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAvatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 (2022)
An inside look at one of the most anticipated movie sequels ever with James Cameron and cast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUpstream Color (2013)
A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the lifecycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Love Song for Latasha (2019)
A dreamlike conversation with the past and the present, reimagining Latasha Harlins' story by excavating intimate memories shared by those who loved her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWatching the Detectives (2007)
Neil, a self-proclaimed film geek and owner of Gumshoe video, has always been content to live vicariously through his favorite films noir. But when he meets Violet, a real-life femme fatale, his mundane world gets turned upside down and the line between reality and the movies quickly begins to blur.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret: Dare to Dream (2020)
A widow with three children hires a handyman to fix her house during a major storm. When not doing home repairs, he shares his philosophy of believing in the power of the universe to deliver what we want.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWood Mountain Poems (1978)
In this short documentary, Canadian poet Andrew Suknaski introduces us to Wood Mountain, the south central Saskatchewan village he calls home. In between musings on his poetry, which is tinged with nostalgia and the vast loneliness of the plains, the poet discusses the area’s multicultural background and Native heritage, as well as the customs and stories of these various ethnic groups.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Esse poema vai se chamar: A gente tem mania de só olhar pra frente (2022)
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Hop Along Hang On (2021)
Rose the rabbit seeks her way home in this poetic story of reclamation, recovery, and reconciliation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
What's Up with Cinta? (2002)
A popular high school girl strains her relationship with her close-knit clique when she begins falling for a reclusive, lower-class schoolmate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPond, Fish (2020)
Qingyan Yu confronts confusion and self-identity problems as she gets to the point where romance starts to take place in her adolescence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Bad Poet (2021)
1936. Giovanni Comini, the youngest Federal in Fascist Italy, is summoned to Rome for a delicate mission: to surveil aging national poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, whose increasingly restless behavior Mussolini fears could damage his alliance with Nazi Germany. However, after spending time with D'Annunzio, Comini finds himself torn between loyalty to the Party and his fascination with the poet, who will put his burgeoning career at risk.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNocturne in White (2026)
An office worker drifts through a nameless government building that runs experiments on humans. As repetition begins to distort her reality, she becomes overwhelmed by the guilt and the sneaking suspicion that she may also be a subject of experimentation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Poet and the Boy (2017)
Trapped in routine, a Jeju poet finds himself drawn to a boy—and to emotions he’s never dared name.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
No Regret (1993)
Five gay Black men who are HIV-positive discuss how they are battling the double stigmas surrounding their infection and homosexuality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Aladyn (2011)
Aladyn was one of those men who dedicated himself body and soul to experiencing poetry. He was born in Barinas and died in Mérida, Venezuela.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like When I Wallowed in a Bowl of Sunshine?
The closest matches to When I Wallowed in a Bowl of Sunshine are Naqoyqatsi (2002), Paterson (2016) and Love, Marilyn (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after When I Wallowed in a Bowl of Sunshine?
Start with Naqoyqatsi (2002), the closest match to When I Wallowed in a Bowl of Sunshine.
What is the highest-rated movie like When I Wallowed in a Bowl of Sunshine?
Past Lives (2023), rated 7.7/10 by 2,551 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like When I Wallowed in a Bowl of Sunshine?
Nocturne in White (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to When I Wallowed in a Bowl of Sunshine chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside When I Wallowed in a Bowl of Sunshine, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.