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Cinema Paradiso poster

Movies that feel likeCinema Paradiso (1988)

A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.

If you loved Cinema Paradiso, the closest films we have are A Walk to Remember (2002), Devdas (2002) and Malena (2000). All three share Cinema Paradiso's contemplative and wistful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is A Brighter Summer Day (1991).

🍅 90% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Giuseppe Tornatorecontemplativeromantictenderwistful
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Hulu · AMC+

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If Cinema Paradiso hit the spot, these will too

A Walk to Remember poster
A Walk to Remember
2002 · dir. Adam Shankman
🍅 30%★ 7.3drama · romance

Common ground in both: growing up and nostalgic

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

When the popular, restless Landon Carter is forced to participate in the school drama production, he falls in love with Jamie Sullivan, the daughter of the town's minister. Jamie has a "to-do" list for her life, as well as a very big secret she must keep from Landon.

Devdas poster
Devdas
2002 · dir. Sanjay Leela Bhansali
★ 7.6drama · romance

Contemplative and romantic in the same breath

In 1900s India, Calcuttan zamindar Devdas Mukherjee — unable to marry his lover — takes up alcohol and the company of a courtesan to alleviate the pain.

Malena poster
Malena
2000 · dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
🍅 54%★ 7.4drama

Giuseppe Tornatore working the same nerve twice

The difference: Easier on the romance than Cinema Paradiso

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 Brighter Summer Day poster
A Brighter Summer Day
1991 · dir. Edward Yang
🍅 100%★ 8.2crime · drama · romance

Both keep coming back to the same thing: growing up

The difference: Sits closer to crime than Cinema Paradiso does

A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.

Blue Is the Warmest Color poster
Blue Is the Warmest Color
2013 · dir. Abdellatif Kechiche
🍅 88%★ 7.6romance · drama

Both land tenderness and wistfulness at once

The difference: Made in the 2010s, in a different era of the craft

Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself, finds herself.

Y Tu Mamá También poster
Y Tu Mamá También
2001 · dir. Alfonso Cuarón
🍅 90%★ 7.7drama · romance

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.

Little Women poster
Little Women
2019 · dir. Greta Gerwig
🍅 95%★ 7.8drama · romanceHulu

Romantic romance in both cases

Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.

The Virgin Suicides poster
The Virgin Suicides
2000 · dir. Sofia Coppola
🍅 80%★ 7.2drama · romance

Drama with a pulse of tenderness, in both cases

A group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents.

Call Me by Your Name poster
Call Me by Your Name
2017 · dir. Luca Guadagnino
🍅 95%★ 7.8romance · dramaNetflix

Both lean on wistfulness more than on romance

In the summer of 1983, a 17-year-old Elio spends his days in his family's villa in Italy. One day Oliver, a graduate student, arrives to assist Elio's father, a professor of Greco-Roman culture. Soon, Elio and Oliver discover a summer that will alter their lives forever.

The Way He Looks poster
The Way He Looks
2014 · dir. Daniel Ribeiro
🍅 93%★ 7.9drama · romance

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Leonardo is a blind teenager dealing with an overprotective mother while trying to live a more independent life. To the disappointment of his best friend, Giovana, he plans to go on an exchange program abroad. When Gabriel, a new student in town, arrives at their classroom, new feelings blossom in Leonardo making him question his plans.

2046 poster
2046
2004 · dir. Wong Kar-Wai
🍅 87%★ 7.4drama · science fiction · romance

Both lean on romance more than on romance

The difference: Leans harder into science fiction than Cinema Paradiso does

Women enter and exit a science fiction author's life over the course of a few years after the author loses the woman he considers his one true love.

The Best Offer poster
The Best Offer
2013 · dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
🍅 56%★ 7.7drama · romance · crime

Giuseppe Tornatore directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

Virgil Oldman is a world renowned antiques expert and auctioneer. An eccentric genius, he leads a solitary life, going to extreme lengths to keep his distance from the messiness of human relationships. When appointed by the beautiful but emotionally damaged Claire to oversee the valuation and sale of her family’s priceless art collection, Virgil allows himself to form an attachment to her – and soon he is engulfed by a passion which will rock his bland existence to the core.

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The best-reviewed films that share Cinema Paradiso’s defining feeling.