Movies Like Paper Trails

If you liked Paper Trails, a movie directed by Sari Braithwaite, 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
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…
2
42 Up (1999)
★ 7.6/10
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
3
The Tale (2018)
★ 7.1/10
An investigation into one woman’s memory as she‘s forced to re-examine her first sexual relationship and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.
4
The Girl in the Book (2015)
★ 5.8/10
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
5
Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me (2023)
★ 6.1/10
From the heights of her modeling fame to her tragic death, this documentary reveals Anna Nicole Smith through the eyes of the people closest to her.
6
Hounddog (2008)
★ 6.5/10
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
7
My Mom Jayne (2025)
★ 8/10
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and…
8
Strange Weather (2016)
★ 5.9/10
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.
9
Love & Sex (2000)
★ 6.2/10
When her rather explicit copy is rejected, magazine journalist Kate is asked by her editor to come up with an article on loving relationships instead, and to do so by the end of the day. This gets Kate thinking back…
10
The Outrun (2024)
★ 6.8/10
Fresh out of rehab, Rona returns to the Orkney Islands—a place both wild and beautiful, right off the Scottish coast. Now 29 and after more than a decade of living life on the edge in London, where she both found and…
11
Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025)
★ 6.2/10
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
12
Holy Lands (2019)
★ 6.1/10
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife…
13
Nothing Like a Dame (2018)
★ 6.8/10
BBC Arena's documentary on the Dames of British Theatre and film featuring Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright on screen together for the first time as they reminisce over a long summer weekend…
14
Maria by Callas (2017)
★ 7.4/10
Told through performances, TV interviews, home movies, family photographs, private letters and unpublished memoirs, the film reveals the essence of an extraordinary woman who rose from humble beginnings in New York…
15
Call Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
★ 7/10
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
16
Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)
★ 6.6/10
A veteran actress comes face-to-face with an uncomfortable reflection of herself when she agrees to take part in a revival of the play that launched her career 20 years earlier.
17
The Souvenir: Part II (2021)
★ 6.4/10
In the aftermath of her tumultuous relationship with a charismatic and manipulative older man, Julie begins to untangle her fraught love for him in making her graduation film, sorting fact from his elaborately…
18
Lucky Them (2013)
★ 6/10
More interested in partying and flirting with young musicians than work, veteran rock journalist Ellie Klug has one last chance to prove her value to her magazine’s editor: a no-stone-unturned search to discover what…
19
Just Before I Go (2015)
★ 6.4/10
Ted Morgan has been treading water for most of his life. After his wife leaves him, Ted realizes he has nothing left to live for. Summoning the courage for one last act, Ted decides to go home and face the people he…
20
The Safety of Objects (2002)
★ 6.5/10
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband…