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Movies that feel like The Tree of Life (2011)

If you loved The Tree of Life, the closest films we have are Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), Finding Neverland (2004) and Before I Fall (2017). All three share The Tree of Life's contemplative and dreamlike feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 9 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Paramount Plus Premium and Criterion Channel and others, checked against today's data.

The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father. Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.

πŸ… 86% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 6.8 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Terrence Malickcontemplativedreamlike

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If The Tree of Life hit the spot, these will too

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives poster
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
2010 Β· dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
πŸ… 90%β˜… 6.7drama Β· fantasy

Contemplative where it counts, dreamlike underneath

Suffering from acute kidney failure, Boonmee has chosen to spend his final days surrounded by his loved ones in the countryside. Surprisingly, the ghost of his deceased wife appears to care for him, and his long lost son returns home in a non-human form. Contemplating the reasons for his illness, Boonmee treks through the jungle with his family to a mysterious hilltop caveβ€”the birthplace of his first life.

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Finding Neverland poster
Finding Neverland
2004 Β· dir. Marc Forster
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.6drama Β· fantasy

One thread runs through both: parents and children

During a writing slump, playwright J.M. Barrie meets a widow and her four children, all young boysβ€”who soon become an important part of Barrie’s life and the inspiration that lead him to create his masterpiece. Peter Pan.

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Before I Fall poster
Before I Fall
2017 Β· dir. Ry Russo-Young
πŸ… 64%β˜… 6.4drama Β· fantasy

Contemplative drama in both cases

Samantha Kingston has everything. Then, everything changes. After one fateful night, she wakes up with no future at all. Trapped into reliving the same day over and over, she begins to question just how perfect her life really was.

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The Tale of The Princess Kaguya poster
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya
2013 Β· dir. Isao Takahata
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8animation Β· drama Β· fantasy

Dreamlike fantasy, and it commits to that

The difference: Sits closer to animation than The Tree of Life does

Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthrals all who encounter her. But, ultimately, she must confront her fate.

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Minari poster
Minari
2021 Β· dir. Lee Isaac Chung
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.4drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of this new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.

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There Will Be Blood poster
There Will Be Blood
2007 Β· dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
πŸ… 91%β˜… 8.2drama

Both are built on the same subject: brothers and sisters

Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview's motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.

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The Greatest Showman poster
The Greatest Showman
2017 Β· dir. Michael Gracey
πŸ… 56%β˜… 7.5drama

Fantasy with a pulse of dream logic, in both cases

The difference: Critics were much harder on this one

The story of American showman P.T. Barnum, founder of the circus that became the famous traveling Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

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Immortals poster
Immortals
2011 Β· dir. Tarsem Singh
πŸ… 50%β˜… 6fantasy Β· action Β· drama

Both know what they want from drama

Theseus is a mortal man chosen by Zeus to lead the fight against the ruthless King Hyperion, who is on a rampage across Greece to obtain a weapon that can destroy humanity.

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Tokyo Story poster
Tokyo Story
1953 · dir. Yasujirō Ozu
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8.1drama

The same preoccupation in both: parents and children

The difference: 58 years apart, and the 1950s show

The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.

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The Lovely Bones poster
The Lovely Bones
2009 Β· dir. Peter Jackson
πŸ… 31%β˜… 6.6fantasy Β· drama

Both are working the same pair: afterlife, tree

After being brutally murdered, 14-year-old Susie Salmon watches from heaven over her grief-stricken family -- and her killer. As she observes their daily lives, she must balance her thirst for revenge with her desire for her family to heal.

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The Seventh Seal poster
The Seventh Seal
1957 Β· dir. Ingmar Bergman
πŸ… 93%β˜… 8.1fantasy Β· drama

Cut from the same fantasy cloth

When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof and his wife, Mia, and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.

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Russian Ark poster
Russian Ark
2002 Β· dir. Aleksandr Sokurov
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.2drama Β· fantasy Β· history

Drama of the same temperament

A ghost and a French marquis wander through the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, encountering scenes from many different periods of its history.

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In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share The Tree of Life’s defining feeling.