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Flee poster

Movies that feel likeFlee (2021)

Recounted mostly through animation to protect his identity, Amin looks back over his past as a child refugee from Afghanistan as he grapples with a secret he’s kept hidden for 20 years.

If you loved Flee, the closest films we have are Nuts! (2016), The Painting (2011) and Vernon, Florida (1981). All three share Flee's whimsical feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Grey Gardens (1976).

🍅 98% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussencontemplativewhimsical
7 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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See it on the Mood Map

If Flee hit the spot, these will too

Nuts! poster
Nuts!
2016 · dir. Penny Lane
🍅 94%★ 7.1documentary · animationRent or buy

The same mix in both: stillness, then whimsy

The true story of John Romulus Brinkley, a small-town Kansas doctor who discovers in 1917 that he can cure impotence by transplanting goat testicles into men. And that’s just the tipping point in this stranger-than-fiction tale. With the balls of a P.T. Barnum, the gonads of goats, and the wishful dreams of flaccid men, Brinkley amassed a fortune, was almost elected Governor of Kansas, invented junk mail and the infomercial, and built the world’s most powerful radio station. By the time all of the twists and turns of Brinkley’s story are revealed, Nuts! certainly earns its title.

The Painting poster
The Painting
2011 · dir. Jean-François Laguionie
🍅 82%★ 7.3fantasy · animation

Animation with a pulse of whimsy, in both cases

The difference: Takes it somewhere less contemplative than Flee does

Three characters living in an unfinished painting venture out into the real world in search of their creator to convince him to finish his work.

Vernon, Florida poster
Vernon, Florida
1981 · dir. Errol Morris
🍅 100%★ 7documentary

Contemplative documentary in both cases

The difference: 40 years apart, and the 1980s show

Early Errol Morris documentary intersplices random chatter he captured on film of the genuinely eccentric residents of Vernon, Florida. A few examples? The preacher giving a sermon on the definition of the word "Therefore," and the obsessive turkey hunter who speaks reverentially of the "gobblers" he likes to track down and kill.

Grey Gardens poster
Grey Gardens
1976 · dir. Ellen Giffard
🍅 95%★ 7.5documentaryMax

Both lean on stillness more than on documentary

The difference: Made in the 1970s, in a different era of the craft

Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. The women reveal themselves to be misfits with outsized, engaging personalities. Much of the conversation is centered on their pasts, as mother and daughter now rarely leave home.

A Cat in Paris poster
A Cat in Paris
2010 · dir. Jean-Loup Felicioli
🍅 83%★ 6.9animation · comedy

Animation built on whimsy, twice over

The difference: Trades the stillness of Flee for an angle of its own

A thrilling mystery that unfurls in the alleys and on the rooftops of the French capital, Paris, over the course of one adventurous evening.

White Snake poster
White Snake
2019 · dir. Amp Wong
🍅 70%★ 7romance · animation · fantasy

The same animation instincts

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

One day a young woman named Blanca is saved by Xuan, a snake catcher from a nearby village. As they set off an a journey to discover her real identity, the pair develop feelings for each other.

Ronal the Barbarian poster
Ronal the Barbarian
2011 · dir. Kresten Vestbjerg Andersen
★ 6.5animation · adventure · fantasy

The animation is handled with the same confidence

The difference: Leans harder into adventure than Flee does

Ronal is a young barbarian with low self-esteem, the polar opposite of all the muscular barbarians in his village. He's a real wuss. However, as fate would have it, responsibility for the tribe's survival falls on Ronal's scrawny shoulders, when the evil Lord Volcazar raids the village and abducts every living barbarian with the exception of Ronal, who is forced to go on a perilous quest to save his enslaved clan and thwart Volcazar’s plot to rule the world.

Ne Zha poster
Ne Zha
2019 · dir. Jiao Zi
🍅 88%★ 7.3animation · fantasy · adventurePrime VideoPeacock

Animation in the same key

A young boy is born as the reincarnation of a demonic power, into a society that hates and fears him. Destined by prophecy to bring destruction to the world, Nezha must choose between good and evil to see if he can change his fate.

Tales from Earthsea poster
Tales from Earthsea
2006 · dir. Goro Miyazaki
★ 6.3animation · fantasy · adventureMax

Animation of the same temperament

As crops dwindle and dragons reappear, mankind stands on the verge of total chaos. Lord Archmage Sparrowhawk, a powerful wizard, and Arren, a troubled young prince, search for the force behind this mysterious imbalance that threatens to destroy the land of Earthsea.

Big Fish & Begonia poster
Big Fish & Begonia
2016 · dir. Liang Xuan
🍅 94%★ 7animation · adventure · fantasyRent or buy

Both play animation straight

Beyond the human realm, there is a magical race of beings who control the tides and the changing of the seasons. One of these beings, a young girl named Chun, seeks something more—she wants to experience the human world! At sixteen, she finally gets her chance and transforms into a dolphin in order to explore the world that has her fascinated. But she soon discovers that it's a dangerous place and nearly gets killed in a vortex. Luckily, her life is spared when a young boy sacrifices himself to save her. Moved by his kindness and courage, she uses magic to bring him back to life only to learn that this power comes at a serious price. On a new adventure, she’ll have to make her own sacrifices in order to protect his soul until it is ready to return to the human world.

Secret Magic Control Agency poster
Secret Magic Control Agency
2021 · dir. Alexey Tsitsilin
★ 6.2animation · comedy · fantasyNetflix

Both know what they want from animation

The Secret Magic Control Agency sends its two best agents, Hansel and Gretel, to fight against the witch of the Gingerbread House.

Checkered Ninja poster
Checkered Ninja
2018 · dir. Thorbjørn Christoffersen
★ 7.1animation · comedy · adventurePrime Video

Both working the same animation territory

A possessed Ninja doll teams up with a teenage boy to avenge the murder of a poor child factory worker.

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The best-reviewed films that share Flee’s defining feeling.