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The Coldest Game poster

Movies that feel likeThe Coldest Game (2019)

Warsaw, Poland, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962. Josh Mansky, a troubled math genius and former US chess champion, is recruited to hold a dangerous public match against the Soviet champion, while playing the deadly game of espionage hidden in the darkest shadows of a hostile territory.

If you loved The Coldest Game, the closest films we have are Breaking Surface (2020), The Hater (2020) and A Hijacking (2012). All three share The Coldest Game's contemplative and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is A Wednesday! (2008).

🍅 17% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.2 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Łukasz Kośmickicontemplativetense
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · ARROW

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See it on the Mood Map

If The Coldest Game hit the spot, these will too

Breaking Surface poster
Breaking Surface
2020 · dir. Joachim Hedén
🍅 100%★ 6.1drama · thrillerPrime Video

Both are built on the same subject: affectation

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

Two Swedish/Norwegian half sisters go on a winter diving trip in Northern Norway, when they get trapped after a rockslide.

The Hater poster
The Hater
2020 · dir. Jan Komasa
🍅 87%★ 7.1drama · thrillerRent or buy

Contemplative where it counts, tense underneath

A duplicitous young man finds success in the dark world of social media smear tactics — but his virtual vitriol soon has violent real-life consequences.

A Hijacking poster
A Hijacking
2012 · dir. Tobias Lindholm
🍅 96%★ 7.1thriller · drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Tensions are high after a Danish freighter is captured and held for ransom by Somali pirates, leading to weeks of high-stakes negotiations – and an escalating potential for explosive violence.

Animals poster
Animals
2026 · dir. Ben Affleck
★ 7.1thriller · dramaNetflix

Tense thriller in both cases

When the son of an L.A. mayoral candidate is kidnapped, he and his wife have a few hours to come up with the ransom payment. With most of their money spent on his political campaign, they have to get their hands dirty and expose a side of their lives they never intended to see the light of day.

Tunnel poster
Tunnel
2016 · dir. Kim Seong-hun
🍅 100%★ 6.8thriller · dramaPrime Video

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

A man is on his way home when the poorly constructed tunnel he is driving through collapses, leaving him trapped leaving himself for the unexpected whilst emergency services struggle to help.

Red Dot poster
Red Dot
2021 · dir. Alain Darborg
🍅 75%★ 5.5thriller · dramaNetflix

Both lean on tension more than on thriller

On a hiking trip to rekindle their marriage, a couple find themselves fleeing for their lives in the unforgiving wilderness from an unknown shooter.

To Kill a Man poster
To Kill a Man
2014 · dir. Alejandro Fernández Almendras
★ 6.3thriller · drama

Drama of the same temperament

Jorge is a peaceful hard-working man who seeks a simple, quiet life for himself and his family. One day, he is mugged and humiliated by a gang of thugs led by Kalule, a delinquent from his neighborhood. This event infuriates his son as much for Jorge’s meek acceptance as for the act itself. The son, looking for retribution, ends up getting himself shot. Kalule is sent to jail and when he gets out 18 months later, begins a campaign of terror against Jorge and his family. The authorities do nothing, so Jorge decides to take matters into his own hands.

Loving Adults poster
Loving Adults
2022 · dir. Barbara Topsøe-Rothenborg
★ 6.5thrillerNetflix

Both play thriller straight

The difference: Takes it somewhere less contemplative than The Coldest Game does

The thin line between love and hate turns deadly when a wife discovers her husband’s affair — and they both take extreme measures to get what they want.

Fall 2: Deadpoint poster
Fall 2: Deadpoint
2026 · dir. Michael Spierig
🍅 53%★ 5.7thrillerRent or buy

Thriller approached the same way

On a perilous climb across Thailand's Mount Kwan, two climbers become trapped thousands of feet above the ground, where vertigo-inducing heights, sheer exposure, and impossible odds turn every moment into a fight for survival.

A Wednesday! poster
A Wednesday!
2008 · dir. Neeraj Pandey
★ 8.1drama · thriller

Both working the same drama territory

Prakash Rathod, a retired police commissioner recounts the most memorable case of his career wherein he was informed about a bomb scare in Mumbai by an ordinary commoner.

The Place poster
The Place
2017 · dir. Paolo Genovese
★ 7drama · thriller

The drama is handled with the same confidence

The fates of an apparently random group of strangers who each come into contact with a mysterious figure who they believe possesses the power to grant any wish, in return for which they must carry out a task he assigns them.

Nowhere poster
Nowhere
2023 · dir. Albert Pintó
★ 6.3thriller · dramaNetflix

The same thriller instincts

A young pregnant woman named Mia escapes from a country at war by hiding in a maritime container aboard a cargo ship. After a violent storm, Mia gives birth to the child while lost at sea, where she must fight to survive.

In the mood for more contemplative?

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