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Moods / wistful

Movies that feel wistful

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Golden-hour nostalgia. The past, lit kindly. Ranked by how strongly each film carries the mood, then by quality. Every film links to its kindred spirits.

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wistful films, best first

Boyhood poster
Boyhood
2014 Β· dir. Richard Linklater
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.9dramaNetflix

The film tells a story of a divorced couple trying to raise their young son. The story follows the boy for twelve years, from first grade at age 6 through 12th grade at age 17-18, and examines his relationship with his parents as he grows.

The 400 Blows poster
The 400 Blows
1959 Β· dir. FranΓ§ois Truffaut
πŸ… 99%β˜… 8dramaMax

For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures.

The Straight Story poster
The Straight Story
1999 Β· dir. David Lynch
πŸ… 95%β˜… 8dramaDisney+

Retired farmer and widower Alvin Straight learns one day that his estranged brother Lyle has suffered a severe stroke. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. He then has the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.

Aftersun poster
Aftersun
2022 Β· dir. Charlotte Wells
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.6dramaRent or buy

Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories fill the gaps between camcorder footages as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the troubled man she didn't.

Super 8 poster
Super 8
2011 Β· dir. J.J. Abrams
πŸ… 81%β˜… 7thriller Β· science fiction Β· mysteryParamount+Peacock

In late 1970s Ohio, a group of friends filming a homemade zombie movie witness a devastating train derailment. Soon after, their quiet town is gripped by unexplained disappearances, strange phenomena, and a growing sense of fear, as they uncover that something terrifying has been set loose.

Rebel Without a Cause poster
Rebel Without a Cause
1955 Β· dir. Nicholas Ray
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7.6drama

After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems. While searching for some stability, Stark forms a bond with a disturbed classmate, Plato, and falls for local girl Judy. However, Judy is the girlfriend of neighborhood tough, Buzz. When Buzz violently confronts Jim and challenges him to a drag race, the new kid's real troubles begin.

Only Yesterday poster
Only Yesterday
1991 Β· dir. Isao Takahata
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.6animation Β· dramaMax

In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Taeko contemplates the arc of her life, and wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self.

Leave No Trace poster
Leave No Trace
2018 Β· dir. Debra Granik
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.1drama

A father and daughter live a perfect but mysterious existence in Forest Park, a beautiful nature reserve near Portland, Oregon, rarely making contact with the world. But when a small mistake tips them off to authorities, they are sent on an increasingly erratic journey in search of a place to call their own.

The Hand of God poster
The Hand of God
2021 Β· dir. Paolo Sorrentino
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.3dramaNetflix

In 1980s Naples, an awkward teen struggling to find his place experiences heartbreak and liberation after he's inadvertently saved from a freak accident by football legend Diego Maradona.

City of God poster
City of God
2002 Β· dir. Fernando Meirelles
πŸ… 91%β˜… 8.6drama Β· crimeParamount+

In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighborhood, while JosΓ© β€œZé” Pequeno is an ambitious drug dealer diving into a dangerous life of crime.

Kes poster
Kes
1970 Β· dir. Ken Loach
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.9dramaPrime Video

Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence.

Dead Poets Society poster
Dead Poets Society
1989 Β· dir. Peter Weir
πŸ… 85%β˜… 8.1drama

At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.

How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies poster
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
2024 Β· dir. Pat Boonnitipat
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.9dramaNetflix

M, a university dropout low on money and luck, volunteers to take care of his terminally ill grandmother, in the hope of pocketing an inheritance.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower poster
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
2012 Β· dir. Stephen Chbosky
πŸ… 85%β˜… 7.9dramaPrime Video

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1991. High school freshman Charlie is a wallflower, always watching life from the sidelines, until two senior students, Sam and her stepbrother Patrick, become his mentors, helping him discover the joys of friendship, music and love.

Biutiful poster
Biutiful
2010 Β· dir. Alejandro G. IΓ±Γ‘rritu
πŸ… 66%β˜… 7.4dramaNetflix

This is a story of a man in free fall. On the road to redemption, darkness lights his way. Connected with the afterlife, Uxbal is a tragic hero and father of two who's sensing the danger of death. He struggles with a tainted reality and a fate that works against him in order to forgive, for love, and forever.

Superbad poster
Superbad
2007 Β· dir. Greg Mottola
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.6comedyParamount+

Two co-dependent high school seniors are forced to deal with separation anxiety after their plan to stage a booze-soaked party goes awry.

Malena poster
Malena
2000 Β· dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
πŸ… 54%β˜… 7.4drama

12-year-old Renato experiences three significant events on the same day: the beginning of the Second World War, getting a bike, and witnessing the arrival of the gorgeous Malèna. Through his eyes, we see the curse of beauty and loneliness of Malena, whose husband is presumed dead, and, through his soul, we see his love for her.

A Bronx Tale poster
A Bronx Tale
1993 Β· dir. Robert De Niro
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.8drama Β· crime

Set in the Bronx during the tumultuous 1960s, an adolescent boy is torn between his honest, working-class father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss. Complicating matters is the youngster's growing attraction - forbidden in his neighborhood - for a beautiful black girl.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off poster
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
1986 Β· dir. John Hughes
πŸ… 85%β˜… 7.8comedyParamount+

After high school slacker Ferris Bueller successfully fakes an illness in order to skip school for the day, he goes on a series of adventures throughout Chicago with his girlfriend Sloane and best friend Cameron, all the while trying to outwit his wily school principal and fed-up sister.

The Florida Project poster
The Florida Project
2017 Β· dir. Sean Baker
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.6drama

The story of a precocious six year-old and her ragtag group of friends whose summer break is filled with childhood wonder, possibility and a sense of adventure while the adults around them struggle with hard times.

Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train poster
β˜… 8.2animation Β· action Β· fantasyRent or buy

Tanjiro Kamado, joined with Inosuke Hashibira, a boy raised by boars who wears a boar's head, and Zenitsu Agatsuma, a scared boy who reveals his true power when he sleeps, boards the Infinity Train on a new mission with the Fire Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku, to defeat a demon who has been tormenting the people and killing the demon slayers who oppose it!

Almost Famous poster
Almost Famous
2000 Β· dir. Cameron Crowe
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7.9drama Β· musicParamount+

In 1973, a precocious 15-year-old aspiring rock journalist lands a dream assignment from Rolling Stone to tour with a rising rock band, embarking on a coming-of-age journey as he discovers the exhilarating and heartbreaking realities behind rock stardom.

Mud poster
Mud
2013 Β· dir. Jeff Nichols
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.3drama

Two teenage boys find a fugitive hiding out on an island in the Mississippi River and help him reunite with his lover and escape an avenging family and their armed posse.

Persepolis poster
Persepolis
2007 Β· dir. Marjane Satrapi
πŸ… 96%β˜… 8animation Β· drama

In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.

wistful + contemplative

all contemplative movies β†’

Quiet, patient, unhurried. Room left to think.

wistful + playful

all playful movies β†’

Light on their feet and having fun with the form. Pure pleasure to watch.

Sharp scripts, faster comebacks. Dialogue you'll quote for weeks.

wistful + romantic

all romantic movies β†’

The look across the room, the almost, the finally. Love stories done right.

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