Movies Like While There is hope, There is Life

If you liked While There is hope, There is Life (1911), a movie directed by Joseph W. Smiley, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Hard Luck (1921)
★ 6.9/10
A down on his luck young man makes several attempts at committing suicide but fails them too. He then finds himself becoming more confident through a series of petty adventures, to such an extent that this becomes his…
2
Wildflower (2023)
★ 7.4/10
The story of Bea Johnson from birth to graduation as she navigates life with an intellectually disabled parent and an extended family who can't quite agree on the best way to help.
3
On the Count of Three (2022)
★ 6.4/10
Val has reached a place where he feels the only way out is to end things. But he considers himself a bit of a failure—his effectiveness lacking—so he figures he could use some help. As luck would have it, Val’s best…
4
Before I Fall (2017)
★ 7/10
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…
5
Love Story (1970)
★ 6.8/10
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…
6
The Hours (2002)
★ 7.2/10
The story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings and their fears. Their stories intertwine, and finally come together…
7
The Kissing Booth 2 (2020)
★ 7.6/10
With college decisions looming, Elle juggles her long-distance romance with Noah, changing relationship with bestie Lee and feelings for a new classmate.
8
A Very Jonas Christmas Movie (2025)
★ 6.2/10
Kevin, Nick, and Joe Jonas face a series of escalating obstacles as they struggle to make it from London to New York in time to spend Christmas with their families.
9
Saltburn (2023)
★ 6.9/10
Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family's sprawling…
10
Your Friends & Neighbors (1998)
★ 5.8/10
Restless and unhappy, two couples get caught up in infidelity and deception. Barry is a sullen businessman married to Mary, a writer who is unsatisfied with their relationship. Mary begins an affair with Jerry, a smug…
11
The Double (2014)
★ 6.5/10
An awkward office drone becomes increasingly unhinged after a charismatic and confident look-alike takes a job at his workplace and seduces the woman he desires.
12
The Kid (1921)
★ 8.1/10
A tramp cares for a boy after he's abandoned as a newborn by his mother. Later the mother has a change of heart and aches to be reunited with her son.
13
Love Me Love Me (2026)
★ 6.1/10
After her brother's death, June moves to Milan for a fresh start, finding comfort in Will, the perfect honor student at her new international school. But when his troubled best friend James—hiding a dangerous life in…
14
The Discovery (2017)
★ 6.3/10
In the near future, due to a breakthrough scientific discovery by Dr. Thomas Harbor, there is now definitive proof of an afterlife. While countless people have chosen suicide to reset their existence, others try to…
15
Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)
★ 7.1/10
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as…
16
Margin Call (2011)
★ 6.9/10
Set in the high-stakes world of the financial industry, involving the key players at an investment firm during one perilous 24-hour period in the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis. An entry-level analyst…
17
The Experiment (2010)
★ 6.4/10
20 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.
18
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
★ 7.6/10
Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, Susanna Kaysen's prescribed "short rest" from a psychiatrist she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice's Wonderland, where she struggles with the…
19
Help! (1965)
★ 6.9/10
An obscure Eastern cult that practices human sacrifice pursues Ringo after he unknowingly puts on a ceremonial ring (that, of course, won't come off). On top of that, a pair of mad scientists, members of Scotland Yard…
20
Living (2022)
★ 7/10
London, 1953. Mr. Williams, a veteran civil servant, is an important cog within the city's bureaucracy as it struggles to rebuild in the aftermath of World War II. Buried under paperwork at the office and lonely at…