Movies Similar to The Act of Reading

Adolescents(2020)

Emma and Anaïs are best friends and yet everything in their life seems to set them apart, their social backgrounds but also their personalities. From the age of thirteen to eighteen, Adolescentes follows the two teenagers during these years where radical transformations and first times punctuate daily life. Through their personal stories, the film offers a rare portrait of France and its recent history.

7.4

Jeff Weise: My Personal Documentary(2010)

Documentary about the Red Lake school shooting and its perpetrator, Jeff Weise.

0.0

Permission to Exist(2020)

In just sixty years, South Korea went from being one of the poorest countries on the Asian continent to having the 12th largest economy in the entire world. Every year, it is measured that Korean students have some of the highest test scores and a higher rate of acceptance into Ivy League schools compared to all other nations. But on the flip side, South Korea also has one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world, the highest gender pay gap of all developed countries, and the highest plastic surgery rate per capita. Always expected to receive top scores and constantly bombarded by media and messages that seem to demand nothing short of visual “perfection,” how do these individuals come to accept and learn to love themselves as they are?

0.0

The First Class(2023)

An intimate verité film that follows students and educators at a groundbreaking new high school in Memphis. Their inspiring journey shows what learning can look like—and accomplish—when a city comes together to rethink what high school can be.

0.0

American Teen(2008)

A documentary on seniors at a high school in a small Indiana town and their various cliques.

6.4

In My Own Words(2017)

The raw, heartfelt and often funny journey of adult Aboriginal students and their teachers as they discover the transformative power of reading and writing for the first time.

0.0

Resolved(2007)

The fascinating complexity of high school debate gives way to a portrait of the equally complex racial and class bias of American education in Greg Whiteley's riveting documentary.

7.2

Namaste Nepal(2009)

American high school students from the privileged Silicon Valley travel to Manang, Nepal in this documentary about how travel and life experiences can change personal perceptions. Together with a group of Manangi high schoolers, the students expand their cultural knowledge and experience a slice of life as a citizen of the globe.

10.0

My So-Called High School Rank(2022)

A deep dive into the lives of high school students in three radically disparate communities as they navigate the pressures around college while staging a musical, until seismic events upend their dreams and expectations.

6.0

More than a Game(2008)

This documentary follows NBA superstar LeBron James and four of his talented teammates through the trials and tribulations of high school basketball in Ohio and James' journey to fame.

7.2

We Did It on a Song(2014)

This film tells the stormy tale of a group of friends from Boulogne-sur-Mer, a French town hit by the financial crisis. A year between dreams and disillusion, imagined by teenagers from a working or middle class background, with songs that regularly add poetry, laughter, and emotion to reality.

5.9

Frontrunners(2008)

A documentary on the competition for student body president at New York's Stuyvesant High School. As the notoriously competitive school's election draws near, the campaign becomes a microcosm for the nation at large, with race, gender and appearance vying for attention with real issues.

6.4

Science Fair(2018)

Filmmakers follow nine high school students from around the globe as they compete at an international science fair. Facing off against 1,700 of the smartest teens from 78 countries, only one will be named Best in Fair.

7.2

Going Varsity in Mariachi(2023)

A year in the life of an underdog competitive high school mariachi band in the Texas borderlands.

0.0

Burroughs: The Movie(1984)

An exploration of Burroughs’ life story, as told by Burroughs himself along with many of his contemporaries, including Allen Ginsberg, Brion Gysin, Francis Bacon, Herbert Huncke, Patti Smith, Terry Southern, and William Burroughs Jr.

7.1

Freakonomics(2010)

Some of the world's most innovative documentary filmmakers will explore the hidden side of everything.

6.2

Paper Tigers(2015)

Follows a year in the life of an alternative high school that has radically changed its approach to disciplining its students, becoming a promising model for how to break the cycles of poverty, violence and disease that affect families.

7.7

From Paseo To Pembroke: Kansas City's Golden Age(2021)

From Paseo to Pembroke is a Kansas City documentary retrospective on the golden age of high school basketball. From '88 to '98—from the Dotte all the way to Raytown. Told by the era's premier coaches, players and media personalities.

9.0

Seventeen(1983)

In their final year at Muncie's Southside High School, a group of seniors hurtles toward maturity with a combination of joy, despair, and an aggravated sense of urgency. They are also learning a great deal about life, both in and out of school, and not what school officials think they are teaching.

6.0

Mr. Football

After an urban Catholic High School football team comes together to win a state championship, tragedy strikes. A star player is killed and two of his teammates are charged with his murder. Based on the true story of the Cleveland, Ohio Benedictine football team's 2004 season.

0.0