Movies Like Trade Tattoo (1937)

Trade Tattoo is a 1937 animation film from Len Lye with a MovieMagicScore of 5.9/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Atman and Stellar.

Animation

Atman

1975

ĀTMAN is a visual tour-de-force based on the idea of the subject at the centre of the circle created by camera positions (480 such positions). Shooting frame-by-frame the filmmaker set up an increasingly rapid circular motion. ĀTMAN is an early Buddhist deity often connected with destruction; the Japanese aspect is stressed by the devil mask of Hangan, from the Noh, and by using both Noh music and the general principle of acceleration often associated with Noh drama.

6.7

MagicScore

Stellar

1993

This is a hand-painted film which has been photographically step-printed to achieve various effects of brief fades and fluidity-of-motion, and makes partial use of painted frames in repetition (for "close-up" of textures). The tone of the film is primarily dark blue, and the paint is composed (and rephotographed microscopically) to suggest galactic forms in a space of stars.

6.4

MagicScore

Love

2024

A strange wire-fingered homunculus navigates through his dreams of different faces and faces, traversing a subliminal and endless variety. They are all different faces, but all have huge eyes that are questioned as to what keeps them apart, perhaps left broken by an impossible love.

6.4

MagicScore

Early Abstractions

1965

Early Abstractions is a collection of seven short animated films created by Harry Everett Smith between 1939 and 1956. Each film is between two and six minutes long, and is named according to the chronological order in which it was made. The collection includes Numbers 1–5, 7, and 10.

6.2

MagicScore

Boogie-Doodle

1941

An animation film, made without the use of a camera, in which "boogie" played by Albert Ammons and "doodle" drawn by Norman McLaren combine to make a rhythmic, brightly colored film experiment. The main title is in eight languages.

6.0

MagicScore

Fuji

1974

A live action footage of a smiling, bespectacled (presumably) Western tourist set against the familiar cadence of an accelerating train revving up as it leaves the station sets the mesmerizing tone for the film's abstract panoramic survey of an Ozu-esque Japanese landscape of electrical power lines, passing trains, railroad tracks, and the gentle slope of obliquely peaked, uniform rooflines as Breer distills the essential geometry of Mount Fuji into a collage of acute angles and converging (and bifurcating) lines .

5.7

MagicScore

Mothlight

1963

Seemingly at random, the wings and other bits of moths and insects move rapidly across the screen. Most are brown or sepia; up close, we can see patterns within wings, similar to the veins in a leaf. Sometimes the images look like paper cutouts, like Matisse. Green objects occasionally appear. Most wings are translucent. The technique makes them appear to be stuck directly to the film.

5.7

MagicScore

Eye Myth

1967

After the title, a white screen gives way to a series of frames suggestive of abstract art, usually with one or two colors dominating and rapid change in the images. Two figures emerge from this jungle of color: the first, a shirtless man, appears twice, coming into focus, then disappearing behind the bursts and patterns of color, then reappearing; the second figure appears later, in the right foreground. This figure suggests someone older, someone of substance. The myth? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

5.4

MagicScore

House

1958

An experimental short film by Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica.

5.2

MagicScore

#10

Blazes

1961

100 basic images switching positions for 4000 frames.

4.7

MagicScore

#11

(NULL)

2013

An unknown girl breaks out of her daily grind by undergoing an intense audio-visual trip.

8.1

MagicScore

#12

Possibly in Michigan

1983

A musical horror story about two young women who are stalked through a shopping mall by a cannibal. He follows them home, and here the victims become the aggressors.

7.6

MagicScore

#13

Bramayugam

2024

A folk singer in 17th-century Kerala discovers a mansion. Inside, he encounters an enigmatic cook and a powerful master, setting in motion a chain of events that changes his life.

7.5

MagicScore

#14

Happy End

1967

A dark comedy about a murder and its consequences presented in a backwards manner, where death is actually a rebirth. The film starts with an "execution" of the main protagonist and goes back to explore his previous actions and motivations.

7.5

MagicScore

#15

House

1977

Hoping to find a sense of connection to her late mother, Gorgeous takes a trip with her friends to visit her aunt's ancestral house in the countryside. The girls soon discover that there is more to the old house than meets the eye.

7.3

MagicScore

#16

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One

1968

In Manhattan's Central Park, a film crew directed by William Greaves is shooting a screen test with various pairs of actors. It's a confrontation between a couple: he demands to know what's wrong, she challenges his sexual orientation. Cameras shoot the exchange, and another camera records Greaves and his crew. Sometimes we watch the crew discussing this scene, its language, and the process of making a movie. Is there such a thing as natural language? Are all things related to sex? The camera records distractions - a woman rides horseback past them; a garrulous homeless vet who sleeps in the park chats them up. What's the nature of making a movie?

7.0

MagicScore

#17

Cobweb

2023

In the 1970s, Director Kim is obsessed by the desire to re-shoot the ending of his completed film Cobweb, but chaos and turmoil grip the set with interference from the censorship authorities, and the complaints of actors and producers who can't understand the re-written ending. Will Kim be able to find a way through this chaos to fulfill his artistic ambitions and complete his masterpiece?

6.6

MagicScore

#18

Don't Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever

2025

In this documentary, wealthy entrepreneur Bryan Johnson puts his body and fortune on the line to defy aging and extend his life beyond all known limits.

6.3

MagicScore

#19

Prelude: Dog Star Man

1962

A creation myth realized in light, patterns, images superimposed, rapid cutting, and silence. A black screen, then streaks of light, then an explosion of color and squiggles and happenstance. Next, images of small circles emerge then of the Sun. Images of our Earth appear, woods, a part of a body, a nude woman perhaps giving birth. Imagery evokes movement across time. Part of the Dog Star Man series of experimental films.

6.1

MagicScore

#20

Our Trip to Africa

1966

Originally commissioned by an Austrian couple in 1961 to photograph a travel diary documenting their wild game hunt, Kubelka shot three hours of film and recorded fourteen hours of audio. Over the next few years, Kubelka toiled in the editing bay, producing a work charged with intricate, ironic brutality.

5.8

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Trade Tattoo?

The top films similar to Trade Tattoo by MovieMagicScore are Atman (6.7), Stellar (6.4), Love (6.4). Each shares animation themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Trade Tattoo worth watching?

Trade Tattoo holds a MovieMagicScore of 5.9/10 from 28 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Trade Tattoo?

Trade Tattoo (1937) is a animation film directed by Len Lye.

Where can I find more recommendations like Trade Tattoo?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more animation recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Atman Movies like Stellar Movies like Love Movies like Early Abstractions Movies like Boogie-Doodle Movies like Fuji

About movies like Trade Tattoo

This ranked list pairs Trade Tattoo (1937), a animation film from Len Lye, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap. Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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