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Movies that feel like Border (2018)

If you loved Border, the closest films we have are Holy Spider (2022), Lilya 4-ever (2002) and 7 Prisoners (2021). All three share Border's contemplative and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 7 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, ARROW and Kino Film Collection and others, checked against today's data.

When a border guard with a sixth sense for identifying smugglers encounters the first person she cannot prove is guilty, she is forced to confront terrifying revelations about herself and humankind.

πŸ… 97% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Ali Abbasidreamlikecontemplativegritty

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If Border hit the spot, these will too

Holy Spider poster
Holy Spider
2022 Β· dir. Ali Abbasi
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.3thriller Β· drama Β· crime

The same hand behind both of them: Ali Abbasi

The difference: None of the dream logic Border is built on

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.

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Lilya 4-ever poster
Lilya 4-ever
2002 Β· dir. Lukas Moodysson
πŸ… 84%β˜… 7.8drama Β· crime

Both are built on the same subject: sweden

The difference: Missing the dream logic of Border

In a struggling post-Soviet community, Lilya a teenage girl is abandoned when her mother moves to the United States with her boyfriend. Facing neglect and poverty, she meets Andrei, who offers her a job in Sweden, giving her hope for a better life β€” and a journey that will change everything.

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7 Prisoners poster
7 Prisoners
2021 Β· dir. Alexandre Moratto
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.1drama Β· crime

Both land stillness and grit at once

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.

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Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives poster
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
2010 Β· dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
πŸ… 90%β˜… 6.7drama Β· fantasy

Dreamlike fantasy, and it commits to that

Suffering from acute kidney failure, Boonmee has chosen to spend his final days surrounded by his loved ones in the countryside. Surprisingly, the ghost of his deceased wife appears to care for him, and his long lost son returns home in a non-human form. Contemplating the reasons for his illness, Boonmee treks through the jungle with his family to a mysterious hilltop caveβ€”the birthplace of his first life.

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Black Souls poster
Black Souls
2014 Β· dir. Francesco Munzi
πŸ… 89%β˜… 6.8crime Β· drama

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

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.

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A Touch of Sin poster
A Touch of Sin
2013 Β· dir. Jia Zhangke
πŸ… 95%β˜… 7.1crime Β· drama

Both lean on grit more than on crime

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.

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Loving Pablo poster
Loving Pablo
2017 Β· dir. Fernando LeΓ³n de Aranoa
πŸ… 33%β˜… 6.4crime Β· drama

Contemplative drama in both cases

The difference: Reviewed a good deal more coolly

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.

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R poster
R
2010 Β· dir. Tobias Lindholm
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7.1crime Β· drama

Crime built on grit, twice over

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.

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Leviathan poster
Leviathan
2014 Β· dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.6drama Β· crime

Drama approached the same way

In a Russian coastal town, Kolya is forced to fight the corrupt mayor when he is told that his house will be demolished. He recruits a lawyer friend to help, but the man's arrival brings further misfortune for Kolya and his family.

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Frozen River poster
Frozen River
2008 Β· dir. Courtney Hunt
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.1drama Β· crime

Crime in the same key

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

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The Rider poster
The Rider
2018 Β· dir. ChloΓ© Zhao
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.4drama Β· western

Both know what they want from drama

The difference: Sits closer to western than Border does

Once a rising star of the rodeo circuit, and a gifted horse trainer, young cowboy Brady is warned that his riding days are over after a horse crushed his skull at a rodeo. In an attempt to regain control of his own fate, Brady undertakes a search for a new identity and what it means to be a man in the heartland of the United States.

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My Name Ain't Johnny poster
My Name Ain't Johnny
2008 Β· dir. Mauro Lima
β˜… 7.2crime Β· drama

The crime is handled with the same confidence

The true story of JoΓ£o Guilherme Estrella ("Johnny"), a young middle-class bon vivant who became a big-time cocaine dealer in Rio de Janeiro in the early 1990s.

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In the mood for more dreamlike?

all dreamlike movies β†’

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