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The Yellow Sea poster

Movies that feel likeThe Yellow Sea (2010)

A Korean man in China takes an assassination job in South Korea to make money and find his missing wife. But when the job is botched, he is forced to go on the run from the police and the gangsters who paid him.

If you loved The Yellow Sea, the closest films we have are The Silence (2010), Neighboring Sounds (2012) and Easy Money (2010). All three share The Yellow Sea'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 Hyena (2015).

🍅 88% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Na Hong-jincontemplativetensegritty
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Peacock Premium

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See it on the Mood Map

If The Yellow Sea hit the spot, these will too

The Silence poster
The Silence
2010 · dir. Baran bo Odar
🍅 87%★ 6.9crime · thriller · drama

Both land stillness and tension at once

13-year-old Sinikka vanishes on a hot summer night. Her bicycle is found in the exact place where a girl was killed 23 years ago. The dramatic present forces those involved in the original case to face their past.

Neighboring Sounds poster
Neighboring Sounds
2012 · dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho
🍅 91%★ 7.1thriller · drama · crime

Drama built on grit, twice over

An independent private security firm arrives at a middle-class neighborhood in Recife, Brazil.

Easy Money poster
Easy Money
2010 · dir. Daniel Espinosa
🍅 85%★ 6.7drama · thriller · crime

Contemplative thriller, and it commits to that

When JW becomes a drug runner in order to maintain his double life, his fate becomes tied to two other men: Jorge, a fugitive on the run from both the Serbian mafia and the police, and mafia enforcer Mrado, who is on the hunt for Jorge.

Hyena poster
Hyena
2015 · dir. Gerard Johnson
🍅 78%★ 6.2crime · drama · thriller

Common ground: murder

Good policing doesn't necessarily mean doing everything by the book. But as the business of crime in London turns to favour the Albanians and Turks, how does a "good" policeman survive?

Red Rock West poster
Red Rock West
1993 · dir. John Dahl
🍅 95%★ 7crime · thriller

Both are built on the same subject: murder

The difference: Easier on the stillness than The Yellow Sea

When a promised job for Texan Michael fails to materialize in Wyoming, Mike is mistaken by Wayne to be the hitman he hired to kill his unfaithful wife, Suzanne. Mike takes full advantage of the situation, collects the money, and runs. During his getaway, things go wrong, and soon get worse when he runs into the real hitman, Lyle.

36th Precinct poster
36th Precinct
2004 · dir. Olivier Marchal
🍅 100%★ 7.1crime · drama · thriller

Crime with a pulse of tension, in both cases

In Paris, two cops are competing for the vacant job of chief of police, in the middle of the search for a gang of violent thieves. The movie is directed by Olivier Marchal, a former police officer who spent 12 years with the French police before creating this story, taken in part from real events of the 1980s.

The Unjust poster
The Unjust
2010 · dir. Ryoo Seung-wan
★ 6.5crime · thrillerNetflix

Both lean on grit more than on thriller

An honest cop has to compromise with his principles when he is told to find a scapegoat for a high-profile serial killer case in exchange for a big promotion.

Holy Spider poster
Holy Spider
2022 · dir. Ali Abbasi
🍅 82%★ 7.3thriller · drama · crime

Contemplative drama in both cases

A journalist descends into the dark underbelly of the Iranian holy city of Mashhad as she investigates the serial killings of sex workers by the so called "Spider Killer", who believes he is cleansing the streets of sinners.

The Hypnotist poster
The Hypnotist
2012 · dir. Lasse Hallström
★ 5.6crime · drama · thriller

A 2010s answer to the same itch

After a young woman and her parents are murdered by a killer determined to wipe out the entire family, Detective Inspector Joona Linna works with a psychiatrist to hypnotize the son who narrowly escaped death in order to find the one surviving daughter before the murderer does.

The Wild Goose Lake poster
The Wild Goose Lake
2019 · dir. Diao Yinan
🍅 91%★ 6.7crime · drama · thriller

Different title, same corner of the shelf

A gangster ends up making a mistake that causes every gun on both sides of the law to point at him. While on the run, he comes across a mysterious woman who might get him out of trouble or make things worse.

The Outlaws poster
The Outlaws
2017 · dir. Kang Yun-sung
🍅 92%★ 7.2action · crime · thrillerPrime Video

The same two preoccupations: police, and korean chinese

The difference: Leans harder into action than The Yellow Sea does

In Chinatown, law and order is turned upside down when a trio of feral Chinese gangsters arrive, start terrorizing civilians, and usurping territory. The beleaguered local gangsters team up with the police, lead by the badass loose cannon Ma Seok-do, to bring them down. Based on a true story.

Mystery Road poster
Mystery Road
2013 · dir. Ivan Sen
🍅 91%★ 6.7thriller · crime · dramaPrime VideoPeacock

Both working the same thriller territory

A murdered girl is found under a bridge on a remote road and indigenous detective Jay Swan gets the case. Jay finds that no-one is that interested in solving the murder of an indigenous teenager and he is forced to work alone.

In the mood for more contemplative?

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