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The Wizard of Lies poster

Movies that feel likeThe Wizard of Lies (2017)

A look behind the scenes at Bernie Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme, how it was perpetrated on the public and the trail of destruction it left in its wake, both for the victims and Madoff's family.

If you loved The Wizard of Lies, the closest films we have are A Touch of Sin (2013), Black Souls (2014) and 7 Prisoners (2021). All three share The Wizard of Lies' gritty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is R (2010).

🍅 73% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Barry Levinsongrittycontemplative
6 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Kino Film Collection · History Vault

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If The Wizard of Lies hit the spot, these will too

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

Both keep coming back to the same thing: a true story

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.

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

Gritty and contemplative in the same breath

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.

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

Gritty crime in both cases

The difference: Reviewed even better

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.

R poster
R
2010 · dir. Tobias Lindholm
🍅 91%★ 7.1crime · drama

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

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.

Amanda Knox poster
Amanda Knox
2016 · dir. Rod Blackhurst
🍅 82%★ 6.9documentary · crimeNetflix

Tv movie with a pulse of grit, in both cases

The difference: Leans harder into documentary than The Wizard of Lies does

This gripping, atmospheric documentary recounts the infamous trial, conviction and eventual acquittal of Seattle native Amanda Knox for the 2007 murder of a British exchange student in Italy.

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

Crime built on stillness, twice over

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

Loving Pablo poster
Loving Pablo
2017 · dir. Fernando León de Aranoa
🍅 33%★ 6.4crime · drama

Common ground: biography

The film chronicles the rise and fall of the world's most feared drug lord Pablo Escobar and his volatile love affair with Colombia's most famous journalist Virginia Vallejo throughout a reign of terror that tore a country apart.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile poster
🍅 54%★ 6.7drama · crimeNetflix

Both are built on the same subject: biography

A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.

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

Drama approached the same way

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.

Silenced poster
Silenced
2011 · dir. Hwang Dong-hyuk
🍅 100%★ 8dramaNetflix

The same preoccupation in both: a true story

Based on actual events that took place at Gwangju Inhwa School for the hearing-impaired, where young deaf students were the victims of repeated sexual assaults by faculty members over a period of five years in the early 2000s.

First Cow poster
First Cow
2020 · dir. Kelly Reichardt
🍅 95%★ 7.1drama · westernRent or buy

The same drama instincts

In the 1820s, a taciturn loner and skilled cook travels west to Oregon Territory, where he meets a Chinese immigrant also seeking his fortune. Soon the two team up on a dangerous scheme to steal milk from the wealthy landowner’s prized Jersey cow—the first, and only, in the territory.

3096 Days poster
3096 Days
2013 · dir. Sherry Hormann
★ 6.5drama

Both working the same drama territory

A young Austrian girl is kidnapped and held in captivity for eight years. Based on the real-life case of Natascha Kampusch.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Wizard of Lies’ defining feeling.