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Movies like Life Itself

Key Features:
Interconnected stories, Multi-generational, Romance, Tragedy, Family, Personal journey, Unexpected twists, Love and loss, New York City
Tone:
serious, dramatic, earnest
Target Audience:
Fans of emotional dramas, Viewers interested in stories about family, Those who appreciate interconnected narratives, People who enjoy films about lifes journey
Emotional Arc:
Joy → Loss → Hope

Life Itself

2018-09-21
Life Itself Poster - Find Similar Movies

As a young New York couple goes from college romance to marriage and the birth of their first child, the unexpected twists of their journey create reverberations that echo over continents and through lifetimes.

Genres
Drama, Romance
Cast
Oscar Isaac, Olivia Wilde, Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas, Samuel L. Jackson, Olivia Cooke, Mandy Patinkin, Jean Smart, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Laia Costa
Crew
Dan Fogelman, Dan Fogelman
Rating
7.198(597 votes)
Life ItselfLife Itself
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Here
Here(2024)
6.543

An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.



Kidz
Kidz(2020)
5.9

Sara and Nicola are married and in love. Their lives seem to be perfect: they have an angelic six-year-old daughter, thriving careers and a stable marriage. The birth of their second child, which disrupts the family balance, leads to tragicomic scenarios.



Playing by Heart
6.579

In a vibrant tapestry of love and longing, nine interconnected souls navigate romance and heartbreak in L.A., where passions collide and truths unfold, revealing that the heart's desires often lead us where we least expect.



Mother and Child
6.589

The lives of three women have a commonality: adoption. Karen is a physical therapist who regrets that, as a teenager, she gave up her daughter for adoption. Elizabeth was an adopted child and is now a successful lawyer, but her personal life lacks warmth. Lucy and her husband have failed to conceive and now hope to adopt a baby to make their family complete.



Private Life
6.9

Richard and Rachel, a couple in the throes of infertility, try to maintain their marriage as they descend deeper and deeper into the insular world of assisted reproduction and domestic adoption.



Life As We Know It
6.903

After a disastrous first date for caterer Holly and network sports director Messer, all they have in common is a dislike for each other and their love for their goddaughter Sophie. But when they suddenly become all Sophie has in this world, Holly and Messer must set their differences aside. Juggling careers and social calendars, they'll have to find common ground while living under the same roof.



Once Around
6

Renata Bella feels like a failure at life and career. But when Renata attends a seminar on selling real estate, she finally finds True Love. Sam Sharpe, while a top-notch, successful salesman, is much older than Renata. She is swept away by his excessively flamboyant style and irrepressible nature. The very traits she finds romantic, however, lead to repeated conflict with her family, especially her beloved father Joe, leaving Renata trapped in the middle.



Human Capital
7.5

The destinies of two families are irrevocably tied together after a cyclist is hit off the road by a jeep in the night before Christmas Eve.



Fathers and Daughters

A Pulitzer-winning writer grapples with being a widower and father after a mental breakdown, while, 27 years later, his grown daughter struggles to forge connections of her own.



Person to Person
5.173

Follows a variety of New York characters as they navigate personal relationships and unexpected problems over the course of one day.



Restless
Restless(2011)
6.506

Two outsiders, both shaped by the circumstances that have brought them together, forge a deep and lasting love.



Uncertainty
5.486

Every choice has a consequence. But what if the flip of a coin could trigger two separate but parallel destinies? Bobby and Kate are a young New York couple at a crossroads whose lives are about to take very different directions. A seemingly ordinary July 4th is cleaved in two by the flip of a coin. One path leads them to gentle discoveries about family, loss and each other on a visit to Brooklyn, and the other plunges them into an urban nightmare of pursuit, suspense and murder in Manhattan.



Third Person
5.885

An acclaimed novelist struggles to write an analysis of love in one of three stories, each set in a different city, that detail the beginning, middle and end of a relationship.



Mass
Mass(2021)
7.4

Two couples meet for a painful and raw conversation in the aftermath of a violent tragedy.



An Unexpected Love
6.3

It tells the story of Marcos and Ana, who have been married for more than 25 years, but enter into an existential crisis that leads them to separate. The life of singles seems fascinating and exciting at first, but soon it also becomes monotonous for her and nightmarish for him.



Dad
Dad(1989)
6.385

A busy executive learns during a meeting that his mother may be dying and rushes home to her side. He ends up being his father's caretaker and becomes closer to him than ever before. Estranged from his own son, the executive comes to realize what has been missing in his own life.



In a Relationship
5.733

Long-term couple Owen and Hallie are breaking up—or maybe not?—and just as their relationship reaches a turning point, Matt and Willa embark on a romance of their own.



Life During Wartime

Friends, family, and lovers struggle to find love, forgiveness, and meaning in an almost war-torn world riddled with comedy and pathos.



C'est la vie
5.491

Five women are about to give birth. They do not know each other, are not alike, but will find themselves in the same maternity to live the best day of their lives. The first contractions at birth, the film traces their journey, between laughter and tears.



Husbands and Wives

When their best friends announce that they're separating, a professor and his wife discover the faults in their own marriage.



Unexpected
5.709

An inner-city high school teacher discovers she is pregnant at the same time as one of her most promising students and the two develop an unlikely friendship while struggling to navigate their unexpected pregnancies.



Rabbit Hole
6.665

Life for a happy couple is turned upside down after their young son dies in an accident.



Superheroes
7.185

The story of a loving couple who struggles to keep its relationship alive against the inescapable passing of time, told in a nonlinear way over the course of ten years in their lives.



The Greatest
6.218

Teenagers Rose and Bennett were in love, and then a car crash claimed Bennett's life. He left behind a grieving mother, father and younger brother, and Rose was left all alone. She has no family to turn to for support, so when she finds out she's pregnant, she winds up at the Brewer's door. She needs their help, and although they can't quite admit it, they each need her so they can begin to heal.



Love, Wedding, Marriage

A happy newlywed marriage counselor's views on wedded bliss get thrown for a loop when she finds out her parents are getting divorced.



Mother's Day
6

Sandy is a stressed-out, single mom who learns that her ex-husband is marrying a younger woman. Her friend Jesse's parents don't know that she has a family or that her sister, Gabi is married to a woman. Jesse's friend, Kristin, is juggling motherhood of a toddler, a patient boyfriend who keeps proposing, and searching for her biological mother. Bradley is a widower who's trying to raise two daughters on his own, while Miranda is too busy with her career to worry about children. When their respective problems intersect and start coming to a head, the Mother's Day holiday takes on a special meaning for all.



Nine Lives
6

Captives of the very relationships that define and sustain them, nine women resiliently meet the travails and disappointments of life.



6 Years
6 Years(2015)
5.424

A young couple bound by a seemingly ideal love, begins to unravel as unexpected opportunities spin them down a volatile and violent path and threaten the future they had always imagined.



Eduardo and Monica
7.7

On an unusual day, a series of coincidences lead Eduardo to meet Monica at a party. A curiosity is aroused between the two and, despite not being alike, they fall madly in love. In 1980s Brasília, their love needs to mature and learn to overcome differences.



Babel
Babel(2006)
7.167

Tragedy strikes a married couple vacationing in the Moroccan desert, which jumpstarts an interlocking story involving four different families.



Akron
Akron(2015)
7.2

Benny, a college freshman at the University of Akron, Ohio meets and falls for fellow freshman Christopher at a football game. With the support of their families and friends they embark on a new relationship. But a tragic event in the past involving their mothers soon comes to light and threatens to tear them apart.



Human Capital
5.67

Ian begins a relationship with Drew's daughter, who works in the financial sector. The couple gets involved in a tragic accident that will change their lives forever. At the same time, the accident has a major impact on both their families who, despite the class difference, cross paths.



Marriage Story
7.7

A stage director and an actress struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal extremes.



With Every Heartbeat

After they meet at their parent's engagement party, Mia and Frida are intrigued by and attracted to one another, despite Mia's own upcoming engagement to Tim. Mia must decide whether to continue her life with Tim or to follow her heart with Frida.



Love at First Child

Gabriell is a single mother, her 17-year-old daughter Claire is pregnant, however the child's father Simon has no desire to be involved with his future baby. When Gabrielle takes matters into her own hands and asks Simon's father Ange for help, an unexpected relationship begins.



Boyhood
Boyhood(2014)
7.491

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.



The Life List
6.98

When her mother sends her on a quest to complete a teenage bucket list, a young woman uncovers family secrets, finds romance — and rediscovers herself.



The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

A sprawling drama centered on five key days in a family's life.



Valentine's Day
5.924

Intertwining couples and singles in Los Angeles break-up and make-up based on the pressures and expectations of Valentine's Day.



In America
7.17

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



Stockholm, Pennsylvania

A young woman is returned home to her biological parents after living with her abductor for 17 years.



3 Generations
6.362

A teenager transitions from female to male, and his family must come to terms with that fact.



Prime
Prime(2005)
6

A career driven professional from Manhattan is wooed by a young painter, who also happens to be the son of her psychoanalyst.



The Roses
The Roses(2025)
6.801

Life seems easy for picture-perfect couple Ivy and Theo: successful careers, a loving marriage, great kids. But beneath the façade of their supposed ideal life, a storm is brewing – as Theo's career nosedives while Ivy's own ambitions take off, a tinderbox of fierce competition and hidden resentment ignites.



You People
5.636

A new couple and their families reckon with modern love amid culture clashes, societal expectations and generational differences.



Isabelle
Isabelle(2019)
5.134

A young couple's dream of starting a family shatters as they descend into the depths of paranoia and must struggle to survive an evil presence that wants nothing more than their very own lives.



Impossible Things
8.4

After the death of her abusive husband, Matilde finds her new best friend in Miguel, her young, insecure, and disoriented neighbor.



Storytelling
6.5

College and high school serve as the backdrop for two stories about dysfunction and personal turmoil.



Birth
Birth(2004)
6

It took Anna 10 years to recover from the death of her husband, Sean, but now she's on the verge of marrying her boyfriend, Joseph, and finally moving on. However, on the night of her engagement party, a young boy named Sean turns up, saying he is her dead husband reincarnated. At first she ignores the child, but his knowledge of her former husband's life is uncanny, leading her to believe that he might be telling the truth.



The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them

A New York couple's relationship is tested after the loss of their child. This film is the wide-released combination of the original two :him and :her volumes that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.



The Namesake
6.7

After moving from Calcutta to New York, members of the Ganguli family maintain a delicate balancing act between honoring the traditions of their native India and blending into American culture. Although parents Ashoke and Ashima are proud of the sacrifices they make to give their children opportunities, their son Gogol strives to forge his own identity without forgetting his heritage.



Spoiler Alert
7.009

Journalist Michael Ausiello embarks on a rollercoaster ride of emotions when Kit Cowan, his partner of 14 years, is diagnosed with terminal cancer.



The Other Way Around

After 15 years as a couple, Ale and Alex decide to throw a party to celebrate their separation, leaving their loved ones perplexed.



Ricordi?
Ricordi?(2019)
7.265

A long love story, seen through the memories of one young couple. The journey through the years of two individuals, united, divided, happy, unhappy, deeply in love, or in love with others, in a single stream of emotions and shades of feeling. Over the course of the film, he learns that love can indeed last, while she learns to live with nostalgia.



Origin
Origin(2023)
6.631

While investigating the global phenomenon of caste and its dark influence on society, a journalist faces unfathomable personal loss and uncovers the beauty of human resilience.



The Life Ahead
6.7

In seaside Italy, a Holocaust survivor with a daycare business takes in a 12-year-old street kid who recently robbed her.



Loving
Loving(2017)
5.112

Laura and Carlos love each other as if every day was the last, and perhaps that first love intensity is what will tear them apart a year later.



Sad Movie
Sad Movie(2005)
6.5

These intertwining stories about romance and separation follow a firefighter who can't find the right time to propose, a shy theme park worker who falls for an artist, an estranged mother and son, and a man seeking to regain his lost love.



My Life
My Life(1993)
6.691

It seems that Bob Jones has everything a man could want, namely a fulfilling job and a beautiful, pregnant wife, Gail. But Bob's life is turned upside-down when he is diagnosed with cancer and given four months to live -- not even enough time to see his first child's birth. To cleanse himself of demons in his remaining days, Bob makes a video diary, hoping to pass along some wisdom to his future child. Along the way, he discovers a lot about himself.



Hope
Hope(2019)
6.9

Together for 20 years, a couple that has grown apart over time receives difficult news that will impact the entire family. As they try to make sense of the changes, they end up rediscovering their love for one another.



Parenthood
6.672

The story of the Buckman family and friends, attempting to bring up their children. They suffer/enjoy all the events that occur: estranged relatives, the 'black sheep' of the family, the eccentrics, the skeletons in the closet, and the rebellious teenagers.



Love Story
6.8

Harvard Law student Oliver Barrett IV and music student Jennifer Cavilleri share a chemistry they cannot deny - and a love they cannot ignore. Despite their opposite backgrounds, the young couple put their hearts on the line for each other. When they marry, Oliver's wealthy father threatens to disown him. Jenny tries to reconcile the Barrett men, but to no avail.



My Life Without Me
6.069

A fatally ill mother with only two months to live creates a list of things she wants to do before she dies without telling her family of her illness.



Young Adult
5.8

A divorced writer from the Midwest returns to her hometown to reconnect with an old flame, who's now married with a family.



Past Lives
7.718

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.



It's Complicated
6.5

Ten years after their divorce, Jane and Jake Adler unite for their son's college graduation and unexpectedly end up sleeping together. But Jake is married, and Jane is embarking on a new romance with her architect. Now, she has to sort out her life—just when she thought she had it all figured out.



My Family
My Family(1995)
7.444

Traces over three generations an immigrant family's trials, tribulations, tragedies, and triumphs. Maria and Jose, the first generation, come to Los Angeles, meet, marry, face deportation all in the 1930s. They establish their family in East L.A., and their children Chucho, Paco, Memo, Irene, Toni, and Jimmy deal with youth culture and the L.A. police in the '50s. As the second generation become adults in the '60s, the focus shifts to Jimmy, his marriage to Isabel (a Salvadorian refugee), their son, and Jimmy's journey to becoming a responsible parent.



About Alex
6.082

When a group of old college friends reunite over a long weekend after one of them attempts suicide, old crushes and resentments shine light on their life decisions, and ultimately push friendships and relationships to the brink.



The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her

Told from the woman's perspective, the story of a couple trying to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone.



Julieta
Julieta(2016)
6.982

The film spans 30 years in Julieta’s life from a nostalgic 1985 where everything seems hopeful, to 2015 where her life appears to be beyond repair and she is on the verge of madness.



Fatherhood
7.508

A widowed new dad copes with doubts, fears, heartache and dirty diapers as he sets out to raise his daughter on his own. Inspired by a true story.



Fireflies in the Garden

The semi-autobiographical story centers on the complexities of love and commitment in a family torn apart when faced with an unexpected tragedy.



Mammoth
Mammoth(2009)
6.1

While on a trip to Thailand, a successful American businessman tries to radically change his life. Back in New York, his wife and daughter find their relationship with their live-in Filipino maid changing around them. At the same time, in the Philippines, the maid's family struggles to deal with her absence.



10 Years
10 Years(2012)
5.828

A group of friends reunite ten years after their high-school graduation.



Siblings
Siblings(2025)
7.195

Irene lives in Rome. When her mother ask to, she go back to Rimini, her hometown, to take care of her autistic brother, Omar. She soon discover that Omar knows very well what to expect from the future, but in order to achieve his dreams, he need to be independent, which is why Irene begins a tender crash course to teach him adult life.



Jack & Sarah
6.718

Jack always lands on his feet. He lands on his feet when he marries the beautiful Sarah. He lands on his feet when he buys a luxurious new home. However, when Sarah goes into labour, he takes a tumble down the stairs and lands on his head. When he comes around he discovers he is the proud father of a baby girl, but deficient in the spouse department to the tune of 1.



It Runs in the Family

This is the story of a dysfunctional New York family, and their attempts to reconcile



Breathe In
5.9

When a foreign exchange student arrives in a small upstate New York town, she challenges the dynamics of her host family's relationships and alters their lives forever.



You've Got This
7.9

An ad creative and a successful exec have a great marriage — until he wants to be a dad just as her star is rising. Then he brings someone new home.



Love Affair
5.4

Ex-football star Mike Gambril meets Terry McKay on a flight to Sydney, which is forced to land on a small atoll. They become romantic on board a ship sent to take them to a larger island. They agree to meet in New York three months later to see if the attraction is real. One shows up but the other doesn't. However, a chance meeting brings them together again.



Manam
Manam(2014)
7.071

A married couple die in an accident, leaving behind a son. As he grows up and becomes successful, he comes across reincarnations of his father and mother as youngsters, and vows to bring them back together.



The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him

Told from the man's perspective, the story of a couple trying to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone.



Laurel Canyon
5.977

When an uptight young man and his fiancée move into his libertine mother's house, the resulting clash of life attitudes shakes everyone up.



Elena
Elena(2013)
7.279

Petra heads to New York in search of her older sister after a long time of being separated. They are both movie actresses and heirs of the wounds of the Brazilian dictatorship. But Petra has only a few clues: home movies, newspaper clippings, a diary...



That's Life
6

Margherita is a 14 year old living in Milano, who shares everything with her friends. They discuss clothes, music, school and that first kiss. A delightful coming-of-age film in which the here and now is all that really matters. Where every little thing is so very important and where feelings sometimes bubble over. In your teens, there’s no room for anything but friendship and love.



It's Not You, It's Me
7.345

Javier se ha casado con María, el amor de su vida, y ahora lo único que desea es estar feliz con ella el resto de su vida, pero el destino se la quita poco después de la boda. Ahora Javier está enredado en sus emociones: ¿cómo aceptará la muerte de su mujer para encontrar nuevamente el amor?



Fasten Your Seatbelts

Elena and Antonio seem not to be made for each other. They are too different in terms of character, life choices, worldview, and the way they relate to others. They are total opposites. However, they are overwhelmed by a mutual attraction they're trying hard to avoid; but to which they succumb to.



Babes
Babes(2024)
5.979

After getting pregnant from a one-night stand, a single woman leans on her married best friend and mother of two to guide her through gestation and beyond.



Despite Everything

Sara, Lucía, Sofía and Claudia are sisters, 4 modern women with very different personalities, who come together at their mother's funeral, after which they discover the man they've all called "dad" throughout their lives is not really their father. They embark on a quest to discover who their real fathers are, discovering more about themselves, their mother, and their lives.



Girl in Progress
5.6

As single mom Grace juggles work, bills, and her affair with a married doctor, her daughter, Ansiedad, plots a shortcut to adulthood after finding inspiration in the coming-of-age stories she's reading for school.



Leila
Leila(2011)
6

Gab has a well-ordered life: a fiancée, a wealthy family. Leïla, who struggles to juggle her studies, odd jobs, and a brother to support, does not allow herself to live her own life... When Gab meets Leïla, it is a clash of worlds, the beginning of a great love story that will collide violently with reality.



Our Friend
7.1

After learning that his terminally ill wife has six months to live, a man welcomes the support of his best friend who moves into their home to help out.



People, Places, Things

Will Henry is a newly single graphic novelist balancing being a parent to his young twin daughters and teaching a classroom full of college students, all the while trying to navigate the rich complexities of new love and letting go of the woman who left him.



Fanfic
Fanfic(2023)
6.96

Two high school students form an intense connection as they navigate the challenges of discovering and expressing their truest selves.



Life, and Nothing More…

After the earthquake of Guilan, a film director and his son travel to the devastated area to search for the actors from the movie the director made there a few years previously. In their search, they see how people who have lost everything in the earthquake still have hope and try to live life to the fullest.



Conversations with Other Women

Reunited at a wedding after many years, former lovers again feel the pull of a mutual attraction neither is willing to admit. Escaping the reception for the privacy of a hotel room, the unnamed pair explore the choices of the past that led them to the present.



French Women
5.757

A story about 11 girls living in Paris. Each of them has its own problems: career, love life, children. Every girl has their complexes and virtues. They always look elegant, hiding their inner feelings. Will they reach all the goals and overcome all their difficulties?



The Vow
The Vow(2012)
7.235

Happy young married couple Paige and Leo are, well, happy. Then a car accident puts Paige into a life-threatening coma. Upon awakening she has lost the previous five years of memories, including those of her beloved Leo, her wedding, a confusing relationship with her parents, or the ending of her relationship with her ex-fiance. Despite these complications, Leo endeavors to win her heart again and rebuild their marriage.



It's Only the End of the World

Louis, a terminally ill writer, returns home after a long absence to tell his family that he is dying.

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