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R poster

Movies that feel likeR (2010)

Imprisoned for violent assault, Rune is placed in the hardcore ward, where his survival depends on quickly learning the prison's parallel world of rules, honor, and obligations.

If you loved R, the closest films we have are My Name Ain't Johnny (2008), Black Souls (2014) and Frozen River (2008). All three share R's gritty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Straight Time (1978).

🍅 91% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.1 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Tobias Lindholmgrittycontemplative
5 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Criterion Channel · Kino Film Collection

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See it on the Mood Map

If R hit the spot, these will too

My Name Ain't Johnny poster
My Name Ain't Johnny
2008 · dir. Mauro Lima
★ 7.2crime · drama

The same mix in both: grit, then stillness

The true story of João Guilherme Estrella ("Johnny"), a young middle-class bon vivant who became a big-time cocaine dealer in Rio de Janeiro in the early 1990s.

Black Souls poster
Black Souls
2014 · dir. Francesco Munzi
🍅 89%★ 6.8crime · drama

Gritty crime, and it commits to that

A former narcotics smuggler, now living peaceably in the Calabrian hills, is drawn back into his family’s drug-trade dynasty by his impetuous teenage son.

Frozen River poster
Frozen River
2008 · dir. Courtney Hunt
🍅 88%★ 7.1drama · crime

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

A financially strapped mother joins a Mohawk woman to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States.

A Touch of Sin poster
A Touch of Sin
2013 · dir. Jia Zhangke
🍅 95%★ 7.1crime · drama

Both lean on grit more than on crime

Four people in different provinces are driven to violent ends: An angry miner is enraged by corruption in his village. A migrant discovers the possibilities of owning a firearm. A receptionist is pushed beyond her limits by an abusive client. A young factory worker goes from one job to the next.

Green Fish poster
Green Fish
1997 · dir. Lee Chang-dong
★ 7drama · crime

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Returning home and finding his town drastically changed, a former soldier falls in with gangsters.

A Short Film About Killing poster
A Short Film About Killing
1988 · dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
🍅 91%★ 7.9crime · drama

One thread runs through both: prison

The difference: 22 years apart, and the 1980s show

Jacek climbs into the taxi driven by Waldemar, tells him to drive to a remote location, then brutally strangles him, seemingly without motive.

Into the Abyss poster
Into the Abyss
2011 · dir. Werner Herzog
🍅 92%★ 7.3documentary · crime

Crime approached the same way

The difference: Sits closer to documentary than R does

We do not know when and how we will die. Death Row inmates do. Werner Herzog embarks on a dialogue with Death Row inmates, asks questions about life and death and looks deep into these individuals, their stories, their crimes.

Straight Time poster
Straight Time
1978 · dir. Ulu Grosbard
🍅 82%★ 7.4crime · drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: prison

After being released on parole, a burglar attempts to go straight, get a regular job, and just go by the rules. He soon finds himself back in jail at the hands of a power-hungry parole officer.

7 Prisoners poster
7 Prisoners
2021 · dir. Alexandre Moratto
🍅 98%★ 7.1drama · crimeNetflix

The same drama instincts

An impoverished teen seeking to escape the clutches of a human trafficker must weigh living up to his moral code against his struggle to survive.

TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay - Away from Keyboard poster
★ 7.4documentary · crimeRent or buy

Crime of the same temperament

TPB AFK is a documentary about three computer addicts who redefined the world of media distribution with their hobby homepage The Pirate Bay. How did Tiamo, a beer crazy hardware fanatic, Brokep a tree hugging eco activist and Anakata – a paranoid hacker libertarian – get the White House to threaten the Swedish government with trade sanctions? TPB AFK explores what Hollywood’s most hated pirates go through on a personal level.

The Fool poster
The Fool
2014 · dir. Yury Bykov
🍅 93%★ 7.9drama

The drama is handled with the same confidence

The Fool is a movie about a simple plumber. An honest man, he is up against an entire system of corrupted bureaucrats. At stake are the lives of 800 inhabitants of an old dorm that is at risk of collapsing within the span of the night.

A Prophet poster
A Prophet
2009 · dir. Jacques Audiard
🍅 96%★ 7.8crime · drama

Cut from the same crime cloth

Sentenced to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena is alone in the world and can neither read nor write. On his arrival at the prison, he seems younger and more brittle than the others detained there. At once he falls under the sway of a group of Corsicans who enforce their rule in the prison. As the 'missions' go by, he toughens himself and wins the confidence of the Corsican group.

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