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The Holy Mountain poster

Movies that feel likeThe Holy Mountain (1973)

The Alchemist assembles together a group of people from all walks of life to represent the planets in the solar system. The occult adept's intention is to put his recruits through strange mystical rites and divest them of their worldly baggage before embarking on a trip to Lotus Island. There they ascend the Holy Mountain to displace the immortal gods who secretly rule the universe.

If you loved The Holy Mountain, the closest films we have are Network (1976), Force Majeure (2014) and The Square (2017). All three share The Holy Mountain's contemplative and darkly funny feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Ruling Class (1972).

🍅 85% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Alejandro Jodorowskycontemplativedarkly funnydreamlike
9 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Brew

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If The Holy Mountain hit the spot, these will too

Network poster
Network
1976 · dir. Sidney Lumet
🍅 90%★ 8drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: satire

The difference: Trades the dream logic of The Holy Mountain for an angle of its own

When veteran anchorman Howard Beale is forced to retire his 25-year post because of his age, he announces to viewers that he will kill himself during his farewell broadcast. Network executives rethink their decision when his fanatical tirade results in a spike in ratings.

Force Majeure poster
Force Majeure
2014 · dir. Ruben Östlund
🍅 94%★ 7.2dramaRent or buy

The same mix in both: stillness, then dark humor

The difference: 41 years apart, and the 2010s show

While holidaying in the French Alps, a Swedish family deals with acts of cowardliness as an avalanche breaks out.

The Square poster
The Square
2017 · dir. Ruben Östlund
🍅 85%★ 7.1dramaPrime Video

Both are built on the same subject: satire

A prestigious Stockholm museum's chief art curator finds himself in times of both professional and personal crisis as he attempts to set up a controversial new exhibit.

The Great Beauty poster
The Great Beauty
2013 · dir. Paolo Sorrentino
🍅 91%★ 7.7dramaMax

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

Jep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.

About Endlessness poster
About Endlessness
2019 · dir. Roy Andersson
🍅 95%★ 6.8drama · fantasy · comedyRent or buy

Common ground: surrealism

The difference: Sits closer to fantasy than The Holy Mountain does

A reflection on human life in all its beauty and cruelty, its splendor and banality, guided by a Scheherazade-esque narrator. Inconsequential moments have the same significance as historical events. Simultaneously an ode and a lament, presents a kaleidoscope of all that is eternally human, an infinite story of the vulnerability of existence.

O Lucky Man! poster
O Lucky Man!
1973 · dir. Lindsay Anderson
🍅 82%★ 7.6comedy · music · fantasy

The same preoccupation in both: surreal

An ambitious coffee salesman has a series of improbable and ironic adventures seemingly designed to challenge his naive idealism.

Ace in the Hole poster
Ace in the Hole
1951 · dir. Billy Wilder
🍅 88%★ 8drama

Darkly funny drama in both cases

An arrogant reporter exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to revitalize his career.

The Ruling Class poster
The Ruling Class
1972 · dir. Peter Medak
🍅 83%★ 7.2comedy · dramaMax

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

When the Earl of Gurney dies in a cross-dressing accident, his schizophrenic son, Jack, inherits the Gurney estate. Jack is not the average nobleman; he sings and dances across the estate and thinks he is Jesus reincarnated. Believing that Jack is mentally unfit to own the estate, the Gurney family plots to steal Jack's inheritance. As their outrageous schemes fail, the family strives to cure Jack of his bizarre behavior, with disastrous results.

American Beauty poster
American Beauty
1999 · dir. Sam Mendes
🍅 87%★ 8.3drama

Both sit in the same darkly funny register

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.

Persona poster
Persona
1966 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 91%★ 8dramaMax

Both run dreamlike where it counts

A young nurse, Alma, is put in charge of Elisabeth Vogler: an actress who is seemingly healthy in all respects, but will not talk. As they spend time together, Alma speaks to Elisabeth constantly, never receiving any answer.

Tokyo Story poster
Tokyo Story
1953 · dir. Yasujirō Ozu
🍅 100%★ 8.1dramaMax

The shared currency is dream logic

The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.

A Serious Man poster
A Serious Man
2009 · dir. Ethan Coen
🍅 89%★ 7comedy · dramaPrime Video

A streak of dream logic through both

It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him. He scrambles to find a semblance of meaning as he loses control of nearly every aspect of his life.

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