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Finding yourself is about understanding who you are at a fundamental level. It requires asking yourself tough questions and learning to love and accept the answers no matter how uncomfortable they might be.
I’ve often written about the crucial importance of keeping ourselves immersed in inspiring works: stories, quotes, and other examples of the shared experience of finding yourself that so many of us find ourselves doing at some point in life.
Art has always provided a unique way for humans to connect over these shared experiences. Much like books, film provides an accessible and nearly ubiquitous medium through which humans can share stories and find ways to grow together.
Below are some of the most powerful movies about finding yourself released between 2000 and now. No matter where you are on your path to finding yourself, these films will provide powerful perspectives to help guide your way.
Movies about Finding Yourself
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Walter Mitty has spent his whole life daydreaming about a having a life of adventure that he’d always believed to be out of reach. Until one day, he decides the time has come to stop dreaming and start living.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 52% Critics Score, 71% Users Score
- Metacritic: 54/100 Critics Score, 7.5/10 Users Score
- IMDB: 7.3/10
Eat, Pray, Love (2010)
Elizabeth Gilbert leaves her busy, New York life and travels around the world to Italy, India, and Bali to discover purpose and true joy in her life.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 36% Critics Score, 42% Users Score
- Metacritic: 50/100 Critics Score, 4.9/10 Users Score
- IMDB: 5.8/10
Wild (2014)
When personal tragedy takes its toll, Cheryl Strayed sets out on a 1,100-mile solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail to find herself.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 88% Critics Score, 75% Users Score
- Metacritic: 76/100 Critics Score, 7.2/10 Users Score
- IMDB: 7.1/10
- 2 Academy Award Nominations
Into the Wild (2007)
Top student Christopher McCandless abandons his life of privilege and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness, finding himself in the process.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 83% Critics Score, 89% Users Score
- Metacritic: 73/100 Critics Score, 8.1/10 Users Score
- IMDB: 8.1/10
- 2 Academy Award Nominations
Call Me By Your Name (2017)
A powerful portrait of first love between an Italian university professor’s teenage son, played by the remarkable Timothée Chalamet, and his father’s American summer intern.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 94% Critics Score, 86% Users Score
- Metacritic: 93/100 Critics Score, 8.0/10 Users Score
- IMDB: 7.9/10
- 4 Academy Award Nominations (including 1 win)
RELATED: 50+ Call Me By Your Name Quotes about Love and Life
Boyhood (2014)
Boyhood is nothing short of remarkable. It’s easily one of the most ambitious films on this list. Shot over the course of 12 years (2001 to 2003), Boyhood is a one of a kind film that depicts the childhood of a boy between the ages of six to eighteen as the actor playing him literally grows up before our eyes. The storytelling is highly character-driven and extremely well done.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 97% Critics Score, 81% Users Score
- Metacritic: 100/100 Critics Score, 7.6/10 Users Score
- IMDB: 7.9/10
- 6 Academy Award Nominations (1 Win)
About Schmidt (2002)
Warren Schmidt is a newly minted retiree whose happiness has been all but eroded by life. He sets out on an epic journey to his estranged daughter’s wedding, and finds himself along the way.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 85% Critics Score, 74% Users Score
- Metacritic: 85/100 Critics Score, 7.5/10 Users Score
- IMDB: 7.1/10
- 2 Academy Award Nominations
Lost in Translation (2003)
A washed up American film star forms an unexpected bond with a young American woman whose paths cross during a movie shoot in Tokyo.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 95% Critics Score, 85% Users Score
- Metacritic: 89/100 Critics Score, 7.6/10 Users Score
- IMDB: 7.7/10
- 4 Academy Award Nominations (1 Win)
The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
Three formerly estranged brothers embark on an epic journey across India to find themselves and each other.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 69% Critics Score, 78% Users Score
- Metacritic: 67/100 Critics Score, 7.3/10 Users Score
- IMDB: 7.2/10
Garden State (2004)
Following his mother’s death, a young man returns to his family and hometown after having left it behind for over a decade.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 86% Critics Score, 88% Users Score
- Metacritic: 67/100 Critics Score, 8.7/10 Users Score
- IMDB: 7.4/10
Cast Away (2000)
After crash landing on a deserted island, a business executive undergoes a transformational journey of self discovery in this one-of-a-kind film.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 88% Critics Score, 84% Users Score
- Metacritic: 73/100 Critics Score, 7.1/10 Users Score
- IMDB: 7.8/10
- 2 Academy Award Nominations
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
The amazing true story of a struggling single father who finds himself homeless and puts everything at risk to join a competitive and unpaid stockbroker internship program.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 67% Critics Score, 87% Users Score
- Metacritic: 64/100 Critics Score, 7.1/10 Users Score
- IMDB: 8.0/10
- 1 Academy Award Nomination
Moonlight (2016)
An epic journey of self discovery involving race, sexuality, and identity told across three transformational moments in the life of a young man growing up in Miami.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 98% Critics Score, 79% Users Score
- Metacritic: 99/100 Critics Score, 7.1/10 Users Score
- IMDB: 7.4/10
- 8 Academy Award Nominations (3 Wins)
