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Movies that feel like Like Stars on Earth (2007)

If you loved Like Stars on Earth, the closest films we have are Like Father, Like Son (2013), Departures (2008) and Hope (2013). All three share Like Stars on Earth's contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 7 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, Criterion Channel and AMC+ and others, checked against today's data.

Ishaan Awasthi is an eight-year-old whose world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate. Colours, fish, dogs, and kites don't seem important to the adults, who are much more interested in things like homework, marks, and neatness. Ishaan cannot seem to get anything right in class; he is then sent to boarding school, where his life changes forever.

πŸ… 93% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 8.3 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Aamir Khancontemplativewistfulhopeful

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If Like Stars on Earth hit the spot, these will too

Like Father, Like Son poster
Like Father, Like Son
2013 Β· dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
πŸ… 86%β˜… 7.8drama

The same two preoccupations: parents and children, and father

The difference: None of the hope Like Stars on Earth is built on

Ryota Nonomiya is a successful businessman driven by money. He learns that his biological son was switched with another child after birth. He must make a life-changing decision and choose his true son or the boy he raised as his own.

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Departures poster
Departures
2008 Β· dir. Yojiro Takita
πŸ… 80%β˜… 8drama

One thread runs through both: hopeful

Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.

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Hope poster
Hope
2013 Β· dir. Lee Joon-ik
β˜… 8.2drama

Both land stillness and hope at once

After 8-year-old So-won narrowly survives a brutal sexual assault, her family labors to help her heal while coping with their own rage and grief.

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In America poster
In America
2003 Β· dir. Jim Sheridan
πŸ… 90%β˜… 7.7drama

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

A family of Irish immigrants adjusts to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.

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

Both keep coming back to the same thing: father

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.

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Mohabbatein poster
Mohabbatein
2000 Β· dir. Aditya Chopra
β˜… 7.1drama Β· romance

The same preoccupation in both: teachers and students

The difference: Sits closer to romance than Like Stars on Earth does

At a prestigious all-male university, three friends seek love outside of the school grounds; at the same time, a newly-hired music teacher seeks to befriend and loosen up the militantly strict headmaster.

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

Drama with a pulse of wistfulness, in both cases

The difference: Critics were much harder on this one

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.

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Swades poster
Swades
2004 Β· dir. Ashutosh Gowariker
πŸ… 90%β˜… 8.2drama

Both lean on hope more than on drama

A successful Indian scientist returns home to his village to take his nanny back to America with him, and in the process rediscovers his roots.

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A Short Film About Love poster
A Short Film About Love
1988 Β· dir. Krzysztof KieΕ›lowski
πŸ… 95%β˜… 8.1drama Β· romance

Common ground: hopeful

19-year-old Tomek whiles away his lonely life by spying on his opposite neighbour Magda through binoculars. She's an artist in her mid-thirties, and appears to have everything - not least a constant stream of men at her beck and call. But when the two finally meet, they discover that they have a lot more in common than appeared at first sight...

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

Both are built on the same subject: jealousy

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.

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My Name Is Khan poster
My Name Is Khan
2010 Β· dir. Karan Johar
πŸ… 87%β˜… 7.9drama Β· romance

Both run contemplative where it counts

Rizwan Khan, a Muslim from the Borivali section of Mumbai, has Asperger's syndrome. He marries a Hindu single mother, Mandira, in San Francisco. After 9/11, Rizwan is detained by authorities at LAX who treat him as a terrorist because of his condition and his race.

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

Both sit in the same wistful register

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.

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In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share Like Stars on Earth’s defining feeling.