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The Celebration poster

Movies that feel likeThe Celebration (1998)

The family of a wealthy businessman gather to celebrate his 60th birthday. During the course of the party, his eldest son presents a speech that reveals a devastating secret that turns the night into a battle of truth and denial.

If you loved The Celebration, the closest films we have are Short Term 12 (2013), Lilya 4-ever (2002) and Taste of Cherry (1997). All three share The Celebration's contemplative and melancholy feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Places in the Heart (1984).

πŸ… 91% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 8 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Thomas Vinterbergcontemplativemelancholygritty
10 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max Β· Amazon Prime Video Β· Paramount Plus Essential

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If The Celebration hit the spot, these will too

Short Term 12 poster
Short Term 12
2013 Β· dir. Destin Daniel Cretton
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.9dramaPrime Video

Common ground in both: child abuse and parents and children

Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, helps at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.

Lilya 4-ever poster
Lilya 4-ever
2002 Β· dir. Lukas Moodysson
πŸ… 84%β˜… 7.8drama Β· crime

The same preoccupation in both: suicide

The difference: Sits closer to crime than The Celebration does

In a struggling post-Soviet community, Lilya a teenage girl is abandoned when her mother moves to the United States with her boyfriend. Facing neglect and poverty, she meets Andrei, who offers her a job in Sweden, giving her hope for a better life β€” and a journey that will change everything.

Taste of Cherry poster
Taste of Cherry
1997 Β· dir. Abbas Kiarostami
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.7dramaMax

One thread runs through both: depression

The difference: Trades the grit of The Celebration for an angle of its own

A middle-aged Tehranian man, Mr. Badii is intent on killing himself and seeks someone to bury him after his demise. Driving around the city, the seemingly well-to-do Badii meets with numerous people, including a Muslim student, asking them to take on the job, but initially he has little luck. Eventually, Badii finds a man who is up for the task because he needs the money, but his new associate soon tries to talk him out of committing suicide.

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father poster
πŸ… 94%β˜… 8.5documentary Β· crimePrime Video

Both keep coming back to the same thing: parents and children

In 2001, Andrew Bagby, a medical resident, is murdered not long after breaking up with his girlfriend. Soon after, when she announces she's pregnant, one of Andrew's many close friends, Kurt Kuenne, begins this film, a gift to the child.

Central Station poster
Central Station
1998 Β· dir. Walter Salles
πŸ… 94%β˜… 8drama

The same mix in both: stillness, then melancholy

An emotional journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

Nobody Knows poster
Nobody Knows
2004 Β· dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
πŸ… 92%β˜… 8drama

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.

Cool Hand Luke poster
Cool Hand Luke
1967 Β· dir. Stuart Rosenberg
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8drama Β· crime

Gritty drama in both cases

The difference: 31 years apart, and the 1960s show

When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.

City of Men poster
City of Men
2007 Β· dir. Paulo Morelli
πŸ… 74%β˜… 7.2dramaParamount+

Drama with a pulse of melancholy, in both cases

Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.

Places in the Heart poster
Places in the Heart
1984 Β· dir. Robert Benton
πŸ… 90%β˜… 7.4drama

Common ground: racism

In 1935 rural Texas, recently widowed Edna Spaulding struggles to survive with two small children, a farm to run, and very little money in the bank - not to mention a deadly tornado and the unwelcome presence of the Ku Klux Klan. Edna is aided by her beautician sister, Margaret; a blind boarder, Mr. Will; and a would-be thief, Moze, who decides to teach Edna how to plant and harvest cotton.

Magnolia poster
Magnolia
1999 Β· dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
πŸ… 82%β˜… 8dramaMax

Both are built on the same subject: daughter

On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story.

Three Colors: Blue poster
Three Colors: Blue
1993 Β· dir. Krzysztof KieΕ›lowski
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.8dramaMax

Both work the same stillness

The wife of a famous composer survives a car accident that kills her husband and daughter. Now alone, she shakes off her old identity and explores her newfound freedom but finds that she is unbreakably bound to other humans, including her husband’s mistress, whose existence she never suspected.

Lantana poster
Lantana
2001 Β· dir. Ray Lawrence
πŸ… 90%β˜… 7.2crime Β· drama Β· mystery

Both keep coming back to the same thing: infidelity

Plagued with grief over the murder of her daughter, Valerie Somers suspects that her husband John is cheating on her. When Valerie disappears, Detective Leon Zat attempts to solve the mystery of her absence. A complex web of love, sex and deceit emerges -- drawing in four related couples whose various partners are distrustful and suspicious about each other's involvement.

In the mood for more contemplative?

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