feelsalike.comSign in
Manderlay poster

Movies that feel likeManderlay (2005)

In 1933, a young woman and her father discover an Alabama plantation whose inhabitants live as if slavery had never been abolished. Feeling a sense of duty to those behind the heavy gates, she stays to liberate the people and see them through their first harvest. With four of her father's colleagues and a lawyer, she faces the daunting task of resurrecting the place known as Manderlay.

If you loved Manderlay, the closest films we have are Main Hoon Na (2004), Summer Hours (2008) and Treeless Mountain (2009). All three share Manderlay's contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Ulee's Gold (1997).

🍅 50% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.2 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Lars von Triercontemplative
7 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Paramount Plus Premium · Criterion Channel

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Stream it:MUBI ↗
See it on the Mood Map

When is Manderlay streaming? →

If Manderlay hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Dogville (2003)

Main Hoon Na poster
Main Hoon Na
2004 · dir. Farah Khan
★ 7.1dramaNetflix

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

An army major goes undercover as a college student. His mission is both professional and personal: to protect his general's daughter from a radical militant, and to find his estranged half-brother.

Summer Hours poster
Summer Hours
2008 · dir. Olivier Assayas
🍅 94%★ 7.1drama

Contemplative drama in both cases

The difference: Reviewed even better

After the death of a septuagenarian woman, her three children deliberate over what to do with her estate.

Treeless Mountain poster
Treeless Mountain
2009 · dir. So Yong Kim
🍅 86%★ 7drama

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

A Korean woman leaves her two young daughters with her sister-in-law to search for their estranged father.

You Can Count on Me poster
You Can Count on Me
2000 · dir. Kenneth Lonergan
🍅 95%★ 7.5dramaParamount+

Drama of the same temperament

A single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely-seen younger brother returns to town.

Brainstorm poster
Brainstorm
2001 · dir. Laís Bodanzky
★ 7.7drama

The drama is handled with the same confidence

Neto is a middle class teenager living a normal life. After his father finds a marijuana cigarette on his pocket, he is sent to a mental institution, where he gets to know a completely absurd and inhumane reality in which people are devoured by a corrupt and cruel system.

Chak De! India poster
Chak De! India
2007 · dir. Shimit Amin
🍅 90%★ 8.1dramaNetflix

Both play drama straight

A team of rag-tag girls with their own agenda form Team India competing for international fame in field hockey. Their coach, the ex-men's Indian National team captain, returns from a life of shame after being unjustly accused of match fixing in his last match. Can he give the girls the motivation required to win, while dealing with the shadows of his own past?

Ulee's Gold poster
Ulee's Gold
1997 · dir. Victor Nuñez
🍅 94%★ 7drama

Drama approached the same way

Third-generation Florida beekeeper Ulee Jackson may have gotten out of Vietnam alive, but he left a part of himself behind. Now he methodically tends his bees, carefully provides for his two grandchildren and keeps his emotions at bay. But when a long-buried secret threatens Ulee's business and family, he is forced to break through his emotional walls and confront the terror of his wounded spirit.

Rams poster
Rams
2015 · dir. Grímur Hákonarson
🍅 95%★ 7.2drama

Both working the same drama territory

In a secluded valley in Iceland, Gummi and Kiddi live side by side, tending to their sheep. Their ancestral sheep-stock is considered one of the country’s best and the two brothers are repeatedly awarded for their prized rams who carry an ancient lineage. Although they share the land and a way of life, Gummi and Kiddi have not spoken to each other in four decades. When a lethal disease suddenly infects Kiddi’s sheep, the entire valley comes under threat. The authorities decide to cull all the animals in the area to contain the outbreak. But Gummi and Kiddi don’t give up so easily – and each brother tries to stave off the disaster in his own fashion: Kiddi by using his rifle and Gummi by using his wits.

The Son's Room poster
The Son's Room
2001 · dir. Nanni Moretti
🍅 85%★ 7.3drama

The same drama instincts

A psychoanalyst and his family go through profound emotional trauma when their son dies in a scuba diving accident.

Carandiru poster
Carandiru
2003 · dir. Héctor Babenco
🍅 68%★ 7.6dramaRent or buy

Drama in the same key

When a doctor decides to carry out an AIDS prevention program inside Latin America’s largest prison: the Casa de Detenção de São Paulo – Carandiru, he meets the future victims of one of the darkest days in Brazilian history.

Clergy poster
Clergy
2018 · dir. Wojtek Smarzowski
★ 7.3drama

Cut from the same drama cloth

The fate of three Catholic priests were linked together through tragic events a few years back. Every year, on the anniversary of the catastrophe, they gather to celebrate their survival of the tragedy. Lisowski works at a curia in a big city, building his career while dreaming of the Vatican. Standing in his way, Mordowicz, the archbishop, a luxurious church dignitary who is making use of his political connections to build the largest sanctuary in Poland. Trybus, is a parish priest and often submits to human weaknesses. Kukuła also is not doing well. Despite his passion for faith, he is losing the trust of his flock. Soon, through new tragic events, the paths of the three priests will cross again.

Through the Olive Trees poster
Through the Olive Trees
1994 · dir. Abbas Kiarostami
🍅 89%★ 7.7drama

Both are drama through and through

When the actor in a scene for his film Life And Nothing More… has to quit, a film director casts another man for the part. However, complications arise since the man and the woman who was cast for the scene know each other.

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies →

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