movielex
movie
L
ex

Movies like Showing Up

Key Features:
Artists life, Art, Art, Creative process, Relationship dynamics, Family relationships, Friendship, Everyday life, Personal struggles, Career ambition, Indie film, Character study
Tone:
restrained, earnest
Target Audience:
Art enthusiasts, Indie film aficionados, Viewers interested in character-driven stories, Those who appreciate slice-of-life narratives
Emotional Arc:
Anxiety → Acceptance

Showing Up

2023-04-07
Showing Up Poster - Find Similar Movies

In the days leading up to a possibly career-changing exhibition, a sculptor navigates her relationships with family, friends, and colleagues.

Genres
Comedy, Drama
Cast
Michelle Williams, Hong Chau, Maryann Plunkett, John Magaro, André 3000, Amanda Plummer, Matt Malloy, Heather Lawless, James LeGros, Denzel Rodriguez
Crew
Kelly Reichardt, Jonathan Raymond, Kelly Reichardt
Rating
5.8(111 votes)
Showing UpShowing Up
Select exactly what you are looking for


Ellie Parker
5

Ellie Parker, an aspiring actress from Australia, lives a hectic Hollywood lifestyle, perpetually trying to land the role that will elevate her career. Living with her lothario musician boyfriend, Justin, Ellie is far from happy, finding support primarily from her friend Sam. But when Ellie meets Chris after a minor traffic accident, she sees new potential for both romance and her life in general.



Stand Up Girl
6.5

Lila, grows up in the high-rises of the Marolles in Brussels. Along with her sister and her friends, she dreams of becoming a dancer and revolutionising the world of hip-hop. While her friends stay in Brussels, Lila leaves everything - comfort, family - behind to go to Paris, where she is certain her persistence will pay off. Except that life in Paris quickly takes an unexpected turn. The woman who dreamed of being a choreographer ends up as a lap dancer in a rap video, and that’s only the beginning of her disillusionment. After a chance meeting with a drama teacher, she bears her heart and soul on stage and begins doing stand-up. This time, her unusual dedication leads her to find her calling. However, she still has to fight one final battle: convincing her father that she has made the right choice.



Pecker
Pecker(1998)
6.073

A Baltimore teenager who picks up a second-hand camera starts snapping his way to stardom, soon turning into a nationwide sensation, with a fateful choice between his life and his art.



Falling Up
5.291

A nursing student forced to quit school for family reasons winds up taking a job as a doorman in an elite apartment building in New York City, where he sparks to one of his residents.



Straight Up
6.852

Todd is a hyper-articulate, obsessive compulsive gay twentysomething whose fear of dying alone leads him to a baffling conclusion: he might not be gay after all. When he meets Rory, a whip-smart struggling actress with her own set of insecurities, the two forge a relationship that’s all talk and no sex.



Adult World
6.041

Amy, a naive college graduate who believes she's destined to be a great poet, begrudgingly accepts a job at a sex shop while she pursues a mentorship with reclusive writer Rat Billings.



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.



Junebug
Junebug(2005)
6.5

On the way to meet with an independent artist in the South, newlywed art dealer Madeleine is convinced by her husband, George, that they should stop to meet his family in North Carolina. Madeleine's affluent lifestyle clashes with the family, but she befriends George's wide-eyed and pregnant sister-in-law, Ashley, who is nearing her due date. Through the family, Madeleine gains greater insight into George's character.



Shortcomings
6

When his girlfriend leaves for New York City on a 3-month-long internship, a strongly opinionated Berkeley arthouse movie theater manager begins exploring life as a bachelor.



Same Kind of Different as Me

International art dealer Ron Hall must befriend a dangerous homeless man in order to save his struggling marriage to his wife, a woman whose dreams will lead all three of them on the journey of their lives.



Frances Ha
7.3

An aspiring dancer moves to New York City and becomes caught up in a whirlwind of flighty fair-weather friends, diminishing fortunes and career setbacks.



Little Boxes
6.1

It's the summer before 6th grade, and Clark is the new-in-town biracial kid in a sea of white. Discovering that to be cool he needs to act 'more black,' he fumbles to meet expectations, while his urban intellectual parents Mack and Gina also strive to adjust to small-town living. Equipped for the many inherent challenges of New York, the tight-knit family are ill prepared for the drastically different set of obstacles that their new community presents, and soon find themselves struggling to understand themselves and each other in this new suburban context.



High Art
High Art(1998)
6.182

When Syd, a young editor at an influential art magazine, becomes involved with her neighbor, a drug-addicted lesbian photographer, both seek to exploit each other for their respective careers while slowly falling in love with each other.



Cherry Pop
5.2

When Zaza, headliner of a weekly drag show, 'CHERRY POP', refuses to come out of her dressing room, all hell breaks loose backstage. A young newcomer, The Cherry, is hiding a huge secret from the girls while getting ready for his debut performance.



Endings, Beginnings
6.058

An artist dumps her longtime boyfriend, but her attempt to take a break from dating ends when she quickly finds herself in two passionate romances.



The Stand In
5.3

When ordered to serve a year in rehab, actress Candy hires her on-set stand-in to take her place. The unassuming woman flips the script and steals her identity, career and boyfriend in this hilarious comedy about trading places.



Raising Helen
6.1

Helen Harris has a glamorous, big-city life working for one of New York's hottest modeling agencies. But suddenly her free-spirited life gets turned upside down when she must chose between the life she's always loved, and the new loves of her life!



Standing Up, Falling Down

An unlikely friendship kindles between a struggling stand-up comedian from L.A. — forced to move back home to Eastern Long Island with his tail between his legs — and a tragically flawed, but charming and charismatic, alcoholic dermatologist. Discovering to be kindred spirits, each helps the other find healing, in addition to the confidence to face the "failures" in their lives.



Rachel Getting Married

A young woman who has been in and out from rehab for the past 10 years returns home for the weekend for her sister's wedding.



Goodrich
Goodrich(2024)
6.315

Andy Goodrich's life is upended when his wife enters a rehab program, leaving him on his own with their young kids. Goodrich leans on his daughter from his first marriage, Grace, as he ultimately evolves into the father Grace never had.



Meet Bill
Meet Bill(2007)
6.1

A mild-mannered bank executive mentors a teenage con artist and tries to make a career change as a doughnut merchant.



The Hollars
6.297

Aspiring New York City artist John Hollar returns to his Middle America hometown on the eve of his mother’s brain surgery. Joined by his girlfriend, eight months pregnant with their first child, John is forced to navigate the crazy world he left behind.



Wendy and Lucy
6.835

A near-penniless drifter's journey to Alaska in search of work is interrupted when she loses her dog while attempting to shoplift food for it.



All About Nina
5.918

Nina Geld's passion and talent have made her a rising star in the comedy scene, but she's an emotional mess offstage. When a new professional opportunity coincides with a romantic one, she is forced to confront her own deeply troubled past.



Results
Results(2015)
5.048

Two mismatched personal trainers' lives are upended by the actions of a new, wealthy client.



Certain Women
6

Three strong-willed women strive to forge their own paths amidst the wide-open plains of the American Northwest: a lawyer forced to subdue a troubled client; a wife and mother whose plans to construct her dream home reveal fissures in her marriage; and a lonely ranch hand who forms an ambiguous bond with a young law student.



Opening Night
7.6

Actress Myrtle Gordon is a functioning alcoholic who is a few days from the opening night of her latest play, concerning a woman distraught about aging. One night a car kills one of Myrtle's fans who is chasing her limousine in an attempt to get the star's attention. Myrtle internalizes the accident and goes on a spiritual quest, but fails to finds the answers she is after. As opening night inches closer and closer, fragile Myrtle must find a way to make the show go on.



Lying and Stealing
5.9

Hoping to leave his criminal lifestyle behind him, a successful art thief teams up with a sexy con woman to pull off the ultimate heist and set himself free.



Columbus
Columbus(2017)
7.103

When a renowned architecture scholar falls suddenly ill during a speaking tour, his son Jin finds himself stranded in Columbus, Indiana - a small Midwestern city celebrated for its many significant modernist buildings. Jin strikes up a friendship with Casey, a young architecture enthusiast who works at the local library.



Good on Paper
5.6

After years of putting her career ahead of love, stand-up comic Andrea Singer has stumbled upon the perfect guy. On paper, he checks all the boxes, but is he everything he appears to be?



The Unexpected Love

Juanito moved to New York to succeed as an actor. Years have gone by but success has not come his way and now he takes an odd jobs to survive. One day he is visited by his apparently successful cousin. However, their life together will discover the reality behind each of them.



American Fiction
7.283

A novelist fed up with the establishment profiting from "Black" entertainment uses a pen name to write a book that propels him into the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.



Family
Family(2018)
6.5

Kate Stone is career-focused with a brash attitude that keeps relationships at an arm's length. When her estranged brother calls asking her to baby-sit her tween niece Maddie, Kate reluctantly agrees to help. But baby-sitting overnight unexpectedly turns into a week, and Kate's life spins into chaos. As Maddie reveals stories of being bullied and of wanting to run away and be a Juggalo, the two form a unique bond.



Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her

In California, a group of women struggle with personal problems as their paths intertwine in unexpected ways. Dr. Elaine Keener, the sole caretaker for her aging mother, turns to tarot card reader Christine for spiritual aid. Christine grapples with her own angst due to her lover's debilitating illness. Meanwhile, a bank manager deals with an unwanted pregnancy, two sisters pursue romantic interests and a housewife gets back into the dating game.



Set It Up
Set It Up(2018)
6.92

Two overworked and underpaid assistants come up with a plan to get their bosses off their backs by setting them up with each other.



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.



I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Nothing is as it seems when a woman experiencing misgivings about her new boyfriend joins him on a road trip to meet his parents at their remote farm.



Dean
Dean(2016)
5.812

A comedy about loss, grief, and the redemptive power of love. Dean is a NY illustrator who falls hard for an LA woman while trying to prevent his father from selling the family home in the wake of his mother's death.



Matchstick Men
7.005

A phobic con artist and his protege are on the verge of pulling off a lucrative swindle when the con artist's teenage daughter arrives unexpectedly.



Adult Beginners
5.4

A young, hipster entrepreneur crashes and burns on the eve of his company’s big launch. With his entire life in disarray, he leaves Manhattan to move in with his estranged pregnant sister, brother-in-law and three year-old nephew in the suburbs — only to become their manny. Faced with real responsibility, he may finally have to grow up — but not without some bad behavior first.



The Innocence
6.373

Lis is a teenager whose dream is to become a circus artist and leave her hometown, even if she knows that to do it she’ll have to fight her side against her parents. It’s summer and she spends her days playing with her friends and flirting with her boyfriend, a few years older than herself. The lack of privacy and the neighbours’ gossip force Lis to keep their relationship secret so that her parents won’t find out. A relationship which change her live forever.



Nurse Betty
6.1

What happens when a person decides that life is merely a state of mind? If you're Betty, a small-town waitress and soap opera fan from Fair Oaks, Kansas, you refuse to believe that you can't be with the love of your life just because he doesn't really exist. After all, life is no excuse for not living. Traumatized by a savage event, Betty enters into a fugue state that allows -- even encourages -- her to keep functioning... in a kind of alternate reality.



Elephant
Elephant(2003)
7

Several ordinary high school students go through their daily routine as two others prepare for something more malevolent.



Tiny Furniture
5.641

After graduating from film school, Aura returns to New York to live with her photographer mother, Siri, and her sister, Nadine, who has just finished high school. Aura is directionless and wonders where to go next in her career and her life. She takes a job in a restaurant and tries unsuccessfully to develop relationships with men, including Keith, a chef where she works, and cult Internet star Jed.



Peeples
Peeples(2013)
5.6

Hoping to propose to his upper-crust girlfriend, Wade Walker crashes her family's annual reunion and lands in a face-off with her dad.



Paint
Paint(2023)
5.479

Carl Nargle, Vermont’s #1 public television painter, is convinced he has it all: a signature perm, custom van, and fans hanging on his every stroke… until a younger, better artist steals everything (and everyone) Carl loves.



Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present

Performance artist Marina Abramovic prepares for a major retrospective of her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.



What to Expect When You're Expecting

Challenges of impending parenthood turn the lives of five couples upside down. Two celebrities are unprepared for the surprise demands of pregnancy; hormones wreak havoc on a baby-crazy author, while her husband tries not to be outdone by his father, who's expecting twins with his young trophy wife; a photographer's husband isn't sure about his wife's adoption plans; a one-time hook-up results in a surprise pregnancy for rival food-truck owners.



Obvious Child
6.5

An immature, newly unemployed comic must navigate the murky waters of adulthood after her fling with a graduate student results in an unplanned pregnancy.



The Broken Hearts Gallery

Lucy is a young gallery assistant who collects mementos from her relationships. She discovers that she must let go of her past to move forward, and comes up with a lovely, artistic way to help herself and others who have suffered heartbreak.



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.



Presence
Presence(2025)
6.093

A couple and their children move into a seemingly normal suburban home. When strange events occur, they begin to believe there is something else in the house with them. The presence is about to disrupt their lives in unimaginable ways.



Punchline
Punchline(1988)
5.469

Lilah Krytsick is a mother and housewife who's always believed she could be a stand-up comedian. Steven Gold is an experienced stand-up seemingly on the cusp of success. When the two meet, they form an unlikely friendship, and Steven tries to help the untried Lilah develop her stage act. Despite the objections of her family and some very wobbly beginnings, Lilah improves, and soon she finds herself competing with Steven for a coveted television spot.



Hooking Up
6.266

Bailey and Darla embark upon a misguided and mutually deceitful form of therapy, one in which they must drive across the country, re-enacting Darla's colorful history as a sex addict. As their true motivations for the road trip come to light, the unlikely pair force one another to confront their issues, discovering that there might actually be more to love than just sex.



The Visitor
7.128

A college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.



Zoom
Zoom(2016)
5.8

A multi-dimensional interface between a comic book artist, a novelist, and a film director. Each lives in a separate reality but authors a story about one of the others.



Which Brings Me to You

Two romantic burnouts, Jane and Will, are immediately drawn to each other at a mutual friend’s wedding. After a disastrous hookup in the coatroom, the two spend the next 24 hours together, trading candid confessions of messy histories and heartbreak, on the off chance that this fling might be the real thing.



Paper Man
Paper Man(2009)
6.31

A coming-of-middle-age comedy that chronicles the unlikely friendship between failed author Richard Dunne and a Long Island teen who teaches him a thing or two about growing up, all under the disapproving eye of his long-suffering wife and his imaginary Superhero friend.



Ready to Mingle
6.759

A wannabe bride seeks professional help to find a husband and in the process finds herself.



The Art of Getting By

George, a lonely and fatalistic teen who's made it all the way to his senior year without ever having done a real day of work, is befriended by Sally, a popular but complicated girl who recognizes in him a kindred spirit.



The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

An estranged family gathers together in New York for an event celebrating the artistic work of their father.



Problemista
6.871

Alejandro is an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador, struggling to bring his unusual ideas to life in New York City. As time on his work visa runs out, a job assisting an erratic art-world outcast becomes his only hope to stay in the country and realize his dream.



Fitting In
6.672

A teenage girl gets diagnosed with a reproductive condition that upends her plans to have sex and propels her into exploring unusual methods to have a sex life, challenging her relationships with everyone in her life, but most importantly, herself.



The Painting
7

Three characters living in an unfinished painting venture out into the real world in search of their creator to convince him to finish his work.



Ice Sculpture Christmas

After starting her first job at a country club restaurant, Callie’s passions for cooking and ice sculpting are met with romance and Christmas spirit when a childhood friend enters her into the club’s annual Christmas ice sculpting competition without her knowledge.



Kelly & Cal
6.2

Punk-rocker turned suburban mom, Kelly, is nostalgic for a life she can no longer have and uncertain of a future she doesn’t yet fit in. Seventeen-year-old Cal is frustrated at his lack of control over the hand he's been dealt. When the two strike up an unlikely friendship, it's the perfect spark needed to thrust them both back to life.



Madeline's Madeline
5.857

Madeline has become an integral part of a prestigious physical theater troupe. When the workshop's ambitious director pushes the teenager to weave her rich interior world and troubled history with her mother into their collective art, the lines between performance and reality begin to blur. The resulting battle between imagination and appropriation rips out of the rehearsal space and through all three women's lives.



She Came to Me
6.1

Composer Steven Lauddem is plagued by a creative block which leaves him unable to finish the score for his big comeback opera. When his former therapist-turned-wife Patricia suggests he rekindle his creativity by getting lost in the city, Steven sets out in search of inspiration. His epiphany comes after he meets a spirited woman named Katrina and discovers his life has much more potential than he bargained for, or ever could have imagined.



Ghostlight
7.1

When a construction worker unexpectedly joins a local theater's production of Romeo and Juliet alongside his estranged teenage daughter, the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life.



Knocked Up
6.3

A slacker and a career-driven woman accidentally conceive a child after a one-night stand. As they try to make the relationship work, they must navigate the challenges of parenthood and their differences in lifestyle and maturity.



Paranoid Park
6.5

A teenage skateboarder becomes suspected of being connected with a security guard who suffered a brutal death in a skate park called "Paranoid Park".



Waking Up in Reno
4.9

Candy and Lonnie Earl are just crazy about each other. The problem: she's married to Roy and he's married to Darlene. So far it's been a secret affair. But that's about to change, because this foursome is driving cross-country and headed for some big surprises.



See You In Valhalla
5.262

After the bizarre death of her brother, Johana Burwood must return home after four years, to face her strange siblings, her out of touch father and her very touchy past.



Maria into Life
5.899

Maria is a cleaning lady, who is reserved, shy and clumsy. When she is assigned to the School of Fine Arts, she meets Hubert, the school's whimsical guardian. There she discovers a fascinating place where freedom, creativity and daring reign.



I'll See You in My Dreams

A sudden loss disrupts Carol’s orderly life, propelling her into the dating world for the first time in 20 years. Finally living in the present tense, she finds herself swept up in not one, but two unexpected relationships that challenge her assumptions about what it means to grow old.



Little
Little(2019)
6.9

Jordan Sanders, a take-no-prisoners tech mogul, wakes up one morning in the body of her 13-year-old self right before a do-or-die presentation. Her beleaguered assistant April is the only one in on the secret that her daily tormentor is now trapped in an awkward tween body, just as everything is on the line.



Tallulah
Tallulah(2016)
6.7

Desperate to be rid of her toddler, a dissatisfied Beverly Hills housewife hires a stranger to babysit and ends up getting much more than she bargained for.



The Change-Up
6.2

Lifelong friends Dave and Mitch are envious of the other's life. Mitch thinks Dave has it all: a beautiful, loving family and a high-paying job at a prestigious law firm. But Dave thinks Mitch’s stress-free playboy life without obligation or consequence is the real dream come true. One fateful drunken night, they both admit that they wish they had the other’s life while peeing in a fountain when lightning strikes. The next morning, they wake up, hungover, in each other’s bodies! With time not on their side, Mitch and Dave comically struggle to avoid completely destroying each other’s lives before they can find a way to get their old ones back.



Blindspotting
7.341

Collin must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning. He and his troublemaking childhood best friend, Miles, work as movers, and when Collin witnesses a police shooting, the two men’s friendship is tested as they grapple with identity and their changed realities in the rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood they grew up in.



Terri
Terri(2011)
6.325

Terri, a pajama-clad, disaffected high school student learns how to engage the world with the help of Mr. Fitzgerald, his assistant principal.



Art School Confidential

Starting from childhood attempts at illustration, the protagonist pursues his true obsession to art school. But as he learns how the art world really works, he finds that he must adapt his vision to the reality that confronts him.



The Pick-up Artist
5.6

A womanizer meets his match when he falls for the daughter of a gambling addict who is in debt to the mob.



Genesis
Genesis(1998)
6.1

A sculptor is traumatized by the death of his wife in a car accident. He builds a sculpture in her memory. As the lifelike sculpture begins to bleed through the cracks of clay, the sculptor's flesh mutates and crumbles away...



Mall
Mall(2014)
4.696

Malcom's done with his life. Only the noise of Crystal Meth gives him a reason to keep going - everything else it has long regardless. Equipped with a bag full of weapons and self-made bombs, he makes his way to the nearby mall to really stir things up. On his personal war campaign, he not only changes his life radically, but also the fate of other people who are in the wrong place at the same time: a teenager whose favorite pastime is smoking pot in his dreary existence, a housewife, where their best days have been left behind, a greedy businessman whose only desire is to increase his wealth and a depressed pervert.



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.



Christmas Wonderland

Heidi, who initially left her small town of Pleasant Valley with the dream of one day becoming a successful painter, has put her own art on hold to excel as an art gallery curator. Now, a week before the gallery’s big Christmas party, she must return home to watch her niece and nephew. She comes face to face with her high school love, Chris, now a teacher, and offers to help him find a new last-minute location for the Christmas dance.



2 Minutes of Fame
6.6

An up-and-coming stand-up comic moves to L.A. to pursue a film career after video clips of his act make him an online sensation.



Ten Inch Hero
7

Four friends search for love and happiness while working at a California sandwich shop.



Real Women Have Curves

In East Los Angeles, an 18-year-old struggles between her ambitions of going to college and the desires of her domineering mother for her to get married, have children, and oversee the small, rundown family-owned textile factory.



Derek DelGaudio's In & of Itself

Storyteller and Conceptual Magician Derek DelGaudio attempts to understand the illusory nature of identity and answer the deceptively simple question 'Who am I?'



Mon Heroine
6.2

A young girl from Rouen dreams about directing movies with Julia Roberts. Overprotected by her mother, she hopes to join a prestigeous cinema school in New York City, but nothing happens as expected, and her dreams are cruelly broken. Denying her fate, she leaves France to New York City, with her nutty-aunt's help, dreaming to give her screenplay to Julia Roberts herself.



Inside Out
7.9

When 11-year-old Riley moves to a new city, her Emotions team up to help her through the transition. Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness work together, but when Joy and Sadness get lost, they must journey through unfamiliar places to get back home.



City Island
6.941

The Rizzos, a family who doesn't share their habits, aspirations, and careers with one another, find their delicate web of lies disturbed by the arrival of a young ex-con brought home by Vince, the patriarch of the family, who is a corrections officer in real life, and a hopeful actor in private.



Here and Now
5.29

On the eve of a major performance, singer Vivienne receives life-altering news that causes her to reevaluate her priorities. Crisscrossing the busy streets of New York City, she tries to balance her upcoming tour, family, and friends. Through interaction with her overbearing mother, Jeanne, her long-time manager, Ben, and her ex-husband, Nick, Vivienne strives to make peace with the decisions and sacrifices she's made along the way.



The Square
6.75

A prestigious Stockholm museum's chief art curator finds himself in times of both professional and personal crisis as he attempts to set up a controversial new exhibit.



Being Maria
6.4

A young, struggling actress lands her dream role in a film by an emerging Italian director, starring alongside an American superstar. What begins as her big breakthrough quickly turns into a living hell.



3 Women
3 Women(1977)
7.098

Two co-workers, one a vain woman and the other an awkward teenager, share an increasingly bizarre relationship after becoming roommates.



Validation
7.2

A cheerful parking attendant considers it his job to do more than validate parking. He wants to validate the customers themselves, delivering compliments about their appearances and the inner qualities behind them. Everyone who comes up to him with a ticket walks away validated as a worthwhile human being. Soon, the parking attendant becomes so popular that people line up for validation...



Chaotic Ana
5.977

Ana, a teenager artist, is raised in Ibiza by her German father Klaus in a naturalist lifestyle. She meets Justine, who invites her to move to Madrid and get an artistic education and financial support. Ana befriends Linda, meets the problematic Said, a Saharawi youngster, and later she is hypnotized by Anglo, who opens a door to her memories and past lives.

AboutPrivacy PolicyTerms of ServiceContact Us