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Movies that feel like Malena (2000)

If you loved Malena, the closest films we have are Cinema Paradiso (1988), Leave No Trace (2018) and Biutiful (2010). All three share Malena's contemplative and wistful feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 12 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video and others, checked against today's data.

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.

🍅 54% Rotten Tomatoes7.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Giuseppe Tornatorecontemplativewistful

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If Malena hit the spot, these will too

Cinema Paradiso poster
Cinema Paradiso
1988 · dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
🍅 90%8.5drama · romance

The same hand behind both of them: Giuseppe Tornatore

The difference: Reviewed even better

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.

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Leave No Trace poster
Leave No Trace
2018 · dir. Debra Granik
🍅 100%7.1drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: growing up

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.

Feels alike?
Biutiful poster
Biutiful
2010 · dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu
🍅 66%7.4drama

Contemplative where it counts, wistful underneath

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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Like Father, Like Son poster
Like Father, Like Son
2013 · dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
🍅 86%7.8drama

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

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.

Feels alike?
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies poster
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
2024 · dir. Pat Boonnitipat
🍅 98%7.9drama

Common ground: growing up

The difference: Made in the 2020s, in a different era of the craft

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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Boyhood poster
Boyhood
2014 · dir. Richard Linklater
🍅 97%7.9drama

Wistful drama, and it commits to that

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.

Feels alike?
Mysterious Skin poster
Mysterious Skin
2005 · dir. Gregg Araki
🍅 86%7.6drama

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.

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Rebel Without a Cause poster
Rebel Without a Cause
1955 · dir. Nicholas Ray
🍅 91%7.6drama

Both work the same wistfulness

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.

Feels alike?
The 400 Blows poster
The 400 Blows
1959 · dir. François Truffaut
🍅 99%8drama

Drama approached the same way

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.

Feels alike?
House of Hummingbird poster
House of Hummingbird
2019 · dir. Kim Bora
🍅 98%7.4drama

Both are drama through and through

14-year-old Eun-hee moves through life like a hummingbird searching for a taste of sweetness wherever she may find it. Ignored by her parents and abused by her brother, she finds her escape by roaming the neighborhood with her best friend, going on adventures, and exploring young love.

Feels alike?
The Straight Story poster
The Straight Story
1999 · dir. David Lynch
🍅 95%8drama · adventure

Both play drama straight

The difference: Leans harder into adventure than Malena does

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.

Feels alike?
Mud poster
Mud
2013 · dir. Jeff Nichols
🍅 97%7.3drama

Drama in the same key

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.

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In the mood for more contemplative?

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