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The Keeper of Lost Causes poster

Movies that feel likeThe Keeper of Lost Causes (2013)

Denmark, 2013. Police officers Carl Mørck and Hafez el-Assad, sole members of Department Q, which is focused on closing cold cases, investigate the disappearance of politician Merete Lynggaard, vanished when she and her brother were traveling aboard a ferry five years ago.

If you loved The Keeper of Lost Causes, the closest films we have are Insomnia (1997), The Naked City (1948) and The Girl in the Fog (2017). All three share The Keeper of Lost Causes' tense and twisty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Colors of Evil: Red (2024).

🍅 70% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.2 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Mikkel Nørgaardtensetwistygrittyatmospheric
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If The Keeper of Lost Causes hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: The Absent One (2014) · A Conspiracy of Faith (2016) · The Purity of Vengeance (2018)

Insomnia poster
Insomnia
1997 · dir. Erik Skjoldbjærg
🍅 95%★ 7.2thriller · crime · mysteryPrime Video

The same preoccupation in both: nordic noir

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

Detectives Jonas and Erik are called to the midnight sun country of northern Norway to investigate a recent homicide, but their plan to arrest the killer goes awry, and Jonas mistakenly shoots Erik. The suspect escapes, and a frightened Jonas pins Erik's death on the fugitive. Jonas continues to pursue the killer as he seeks to protect himself; however, his mounting guilt and the omnipresent sun plague him with an insomnia that affects his sanity.

The Naked City poster
The Naked City
1948 · dir. Jules Dassin
🍅 85%★ 7.5crime · mystery · thrillerMax

Tense where it counts, twisty underneath

The difference: 65 years apart, and the 1940s show

After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.

The Girl in the Fog poster
The Girl in the Fog
2017 · dir. Donato Carrisi
🍅 75%★ 6.8mystery · thriller · crime

Both lean on grit more than on thriller

The difference: Goes its own way on the atmosphere

A gripping and chilling thriller that brings us to a hazy mountain village where an enigmatic detective is investigating the sudden disappearance of fifteen-year-old girl.

Marshland poster
Marshland
2014 · dir. Alberto Rodríguez
🍅 91%★ 7.2crime · mystery · thriller

One thread runs through both: disappearance

The Spanish Deep South, 1980. A series of brutal murders of adolescent girls in a remote and forgotten town bring together two disparate characters – both detectives in the homicide division – to investigate the cases.

The Big Sleep poster
The Big Sleep
1946 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 96%★ 7.9mystery · crime · thriller

Mystery with a pulse of atmosphere, in both cases

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

Shadow of a Doubt poster
Shadow of a Doubt
1943 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 100%★ 7.8thriller · mystery · crime

Tense crime in both cases

In sleepy Santa Rosa, restless young Charlie’s world brightens when her sophisticated Uncle Charlie arrives for a long visit. But as his behavior grows increasingly strange, she begins to suspect that her beloved uncle may be hiding a terrible secret—and that danger has quietly entered her home.

The Lady from Shanghai poster
The Lady from Shanghai
1947 · dir. Orson Welles
🍅 86%★ 7.5mystery · crime · thriller

Thriller built on twists, twice over

The difference: Played as drama first

A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.

Stray Dog poster
Stray Dog
1949 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 100%★ 7.8crime · drama · thriller

Gritty mystery, and it commits to that

A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.

The Killers poster
The Killers
1946 · dir. Robert Siodmak
🍅 97%★ 7.7crime · mystery · thriller

Both lean on atmosphere more than on crime

Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.

High and Low poster
High and Low
1963 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 97%★ 8.4drama · crime · thrillerMax

Tense thriller in both cases

A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.

Colors of Evil: Red poster
Colors of Evil: Red
2024 · dir. Adrian Panek
🍅 80%★ 6.4crime · thriller · mysteryNetflix

Twisty mystery, and it commits to that

When a girl's body is found on a beach in Poland's Tricity, a prosecutor teams up with the victim's mother on an impassioned quest for the truth.

Dark Passage poster
Dark Passage
1947 · dir. Delmer Daves
🍅 90%★ 7.5thriller · mystery

Same instincts, 66 years apart

A man convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison and works with a woman to try and prove his innocence.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Keeper of Lost Causes’ defining feeling.