Film

Liberal Arts

A 35-year-old professor returns to his liberal arts college for his mentor's retirement party and falls into an unexpected romance with a precocious student. Writer-director Josh Radnor crafts a tender, melancholic love letter to the college experience itself—the books, the conversations, the person you wish you'd become. It's quietly devastating about arrested development and the seductive myth that youth holds all the answers.

TMDb rating3.3

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Adventureland2009

Another smartly written story about arrested development and the people who make summer jobs feel like philosophy seminars. James C. Strouse captures that precise heartbreak of wanting to freeze time with someone impossible.

But It's shot through with genuine melancholy, not comedy. If you want laughs and lightness, this will feel too tender and wistful.

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The Perks of Being a Wallflower2012

Shares Liberal Arts' conviction that literature and friendship are redemptive, and that nostalgia is both beautiful and poisonous. Both films are unapologetically romantic about intellectual awakening.

But The earnestness can feel suffocating if you don't buy into its particular brand of sensitive-person sentiment. Some will find it precious.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower poster

Frances Ha2013

Another portrait of a person suspended between youth and adulthood, trying to make art and meaning from nothing. Noah Baumbach's black-and-white photography captures that same wistful, searching energy Radnor reaches for.

But It's deliberately shapeless and plotless in places. If you need narrative momentum, the wandering will frustrate you.

Frances Ha poster

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The Remains of the Day1993

Both films understand that the person you could have been is a ghost that haunts the person you become. Both suggest that the life not lived is sometimes more vivid than the one you're living.

An older man looks back at the romance and intellectual camaraderie he threw away for duty and propriety. Like Liberal Arts, it's a devastation about mistaking inhibition for principle, and the terrible cost of caution.

But It's a restrained British drama from 1993 with a deliberate pace. There's no wistful indie charm here—just quiet, English heartbreak and regret.

The Remains of the Day poster
More like this (8)

About a Boy2002

A single, emotionally stunted man in his thirties reconnects with his past through unlikely relationships. It has Liberal Arts' warmth about human connection and its gentle comedy about people who've stopped growing.

But The tone shifts between whimsy and earnestness in ways that don't always land. It can feel uneven in its emotional register.

About a Boy poster

The Way Back2010

Coming-of-age story told by two writers who understand that growing up is less about plot than it is about small moments of clarity. Captures that same feeling of being caught between selves.

But The ensemble cast sometimes dilutes the focus. You may find yourself wishing the film stayed with one character's perspective longer.

The Way Back poster

Obvious Child2014

Another smart, literary indie film about a woman figuring out what she actually wants instead of what she's supposed to want. Both films trust their audiences to sit with uncertainty and sadness.

But The humor is dry and conversational—if you prefer punchlines and comic structure, this will feel thin on laughs.

Obvious Child poster

Garden State2004

A man returns home to reassess his life and falls for someone who makes him question everything. Like Liberal Arts, it's genuinely interested in whether it's ever too late to start over.

But It's become a touchstone for a particular kind of indie film preciousness. Some viewers find it dated and self-indulgent in retrospect.

Garden State poster

Celeste & Jesse Forever2012

Two people in their thirties learning that they can't stay frozen in the moment they loved each other most. It shares Liberal Arts' sadness about how nostalgia can trap you.

But It's a gentle film—not much happens. If you need external conflict and stakes, the internal meditation won't be enough.

Celeste & Jesse Forever poster

Drinking Buddies2013

Another ensemble piece about people whose emotional lives are more interesting than their romantic ones, shot with genuine affection for conversation and friendship.

But It's largely improvised and formless. Without a clear narrative spine, it can feel like you're eavesdropping on people talking rather than watching a story.

Drinking Buddies poster

Rushmore1998

Both films see the college experience as spiritually significant rather than just a life stage. Both are about mentorship gone sideways, and the peculiar intimacy of people who share a passion for ideas.

Wes Anderson's most emotionally honest film, about a student and a teacher caught in a strange, impossible triangle. It's funny and careful and deeply concerned with what we owe to the people who inspire us.

But It's formally playful and deliberately artificial in a way that can feel distant. If you want naturalism and subtlety, Anderson's whimsy will get between you and the emotion.

Rushmore poster

L'Avventura1960

Both films trust that the absence of plot is not a failure but a feature. Both suggest that modern people are haunted by the possibility of depth—in themselves, in others, in the connections between them.

Michelangelo Antonioni's masterpiece about two people who fail to connect, set against beautiful Italian landscape. It's about ennui, the search for meaning, and whether romantic connection is even possible for certain kinds of people.

But It's from 1960, shot in long takes, deliberately slow. If you need plot, satisfaction, or reassurance from cinema, this will feel like watching paint dry for 145 minutes.

L'Avventura poster

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