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Movies that feel like Past Lives (2023)

If you loved Past Lives, the closest films we have are 20th Century Girl (2022), The Way He Looks (2014) and A Silent Voice: The Movie (2016). All three share Past Lives' contemplative and romantic feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 9 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.

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.

🍅 95% Rotten Tomatoes7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Celine Songcontemplativeromantictenderwarmwistful

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If Past Lives hit the spot, these will too

20th Century Girl poster
20th Century Girl
2022 · dir. Bang Woo-ri
🍅 86%7.4romance · drama

Both are built on the same subject: friendship

In 1999, a teen girl keeps close tabs on a boy in school on behalf of her deeply smitten best friend – then she gets swept up in a love story of her own.

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

One thread runs through both: friendship

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.

A Silent Voice: The Movie poster
A Silent Voice: The Movie
2016 · dir. Naoko Yamada
8.2animation · drama · romance

Both land stillness and romance at once

The difference: Leans harder into animation than Past Lives does

Shouya Ishida starts bullying the new girl in class, Shouko Nishimiya, because she is deaf. But as the teasing continues, the rest of the class starts to turn on Shouya for his lack of compassion. When they leave elementary school, Shouko and Shouya do not speak to each other again... until an older, wiser Shouya, tormented by his past behaviour, decides he must see Shouko once more. He wants to atone for his sins, but is it already too late...?

Flavors of Youth poster
Flavors of Youth
2018 · dir. Joshua
🍅 83%6.6animation · romance · drama

The same mix in both: tenderness, then warmth

The rigorous city life of China, while bustling and unforgiving, contains the everlasting memories of days past. Three stories told in three different cities, follow the loss of youth and the daunting realization of adulthood. Though reality may seem ever changing, unchangeable are the short-lived moments of one's childhood days. A plentiful bowl of noodles, the beauty of family and the trials of first love endure the inevitable flow of time, as three different characters explore the strength of bonds and the warmth of cherished memories. Within the disorder of the present world, witness these quaint stories recognize the comfort of the past, and attempt to revive the neglected flavors of youth.

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

Drama with a pulse of wistfulness, in both cases

The difference: 22 years apart, and the 2000s show

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.

Challengers poster
Challengers
2024 · dir. Luca Guadagnino
🍅 88%7drama · romance

Common ground: interracial marriage

The difference: Missing the wistfulness of Past Lives

Tennis player turned coach Tashi has taken her husband, Art, and transformed him into a world-famous Major champion. To jolt him out of his recent losing streak, she signs him up for a "Challenger" event — close to the lowest level of pro tournament — where he finds himself standing across the net from his former best friend and Tashi's former boyfriend.

5 Centimeters per Second poster
5 Centimeters per Second
2007 · dir. Makoto Shinkai
7.4animation · romance · drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: childhood friends

Three moments in Takaki's life: his relationship with Akari and their forced separation; his friendship with Kanae, who is secretly in love with him; the demands and disappointments of adulthood, an unhappy life in a cold city.

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

The same city underneath both: New York City

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

The Garden of Words poster
The Garden of Words
2013 · dir. Makoto Shinkai
7.4animation · drama · romance

Contemplative romance, and it commits to that

Takao, who is training to become a shoemaker, skipped school and is sketching shoes in a Japanese-style garden. He meets a mysterious woman, Yukino, who is older than him. Then, without arranging the times, the two start to see each other again and again, but only on rainy days. They deepen their relationship and open up to each other. But the end of the rainy season soon approaches.

The Souvenir poster
The Souvenir
2019 · dir. Joanna Hogg
🍅 90%6.4drama · romance

The same preoccupation in both: semi autobiographical

A shy but ambitious film student falls into an intense, emotionally fraught relationship with a charismatic but untrustworthy older man.

I Want You poster
I Want You
2012 · dir. Fernando González Molina
6.7drama · romance

Romantic drama in both cases

After two years away, Hache returns to Barcelona seeking a fresh start. Falling for Gin while facing unresolved feelings for Babi, he must confront love, loss, and who he's becoming.

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

One thread runs through both: nostalgia

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.

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The best-reviewed films that share Past Lives’ defining feeling.