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Central Station poster

Movies that feel likeCentral Station (1998)

An emotional journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

If you loved Central Station, the closest films we have are Taste of Cherry (1997), City of Men (2007) and Nobody Knows (2004). All three share Central Station's contemplative and melancholy feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (1997).

🍅 94% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Walter Sallescontemplativemelancholy
10 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Paramount Plus Essential

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See it on the Mood Map

If Central Station hit the spot, these will too

Taste of Cherry poster
Taste of Cherry
1997 · dir. Abbas Kiarostami
🍅 82%★ 7.7dramaMax

Contemplative and melancholy in the same breath

A middle-aged Tehranian man, Mr. Badii is intent on killing himself and seeks someone to bury him after his demise. Driving around the city, the seemingly well-to-do Badii meets with numerous people, including a Muslim student, asking them to take on the job, but initially he has little luck. Eventually, Badii finds a man who is up for the task because he needs the money, but his new associate soon tries to talk him out of committing suicide.

City of Men poster
City of Men
2007 · dir. Paulo Morelli
🍅 74%★ 7.2dramaParamount+

Common ground: rio de janeiro

Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.

Nobody Knows poster
Nobody Knows
2004 · dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
🍅 92%★ 8drama

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.

I'm Still Here poster
I'm Still Here
2024 · dir. Walter Salles
★ 8.1drama · historyNetflix

Walter Salles directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Leans harder into history than Central Station does

A woman married to a former politician during the 1971 military dictatorship in Brazil is forced to reinvent herself and chart a new course for her family after a violent and arbitrary act.

Three Colors: Blue poster
Three Colors: Blue
1993 · dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
🍅 98%★ 7.8dramaMax

Drama with a pulse of melancholy, in both cases

The wife of a famous composer survives a car accident that kills her husband and daughter. Now alone, she shakes off her old identity and explores her newfound freedom but finds that she is unbreakably bound to other humans, including her husband’s mistress, whose existence she never suspected.

Places in the Heart poster
Places in the Heart
1984 · dir. Robert Benton
🍅 90%★ 7.4drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

In 1935 rural Texas, recently widowed Edna Spaulding struggles to survive with two small children, a farm to run, and very little money in the bank - not to mention a deadly tornado and the unwelcome presence of the Ku Klux Klan. Edna is aided by her beautician sister, Margaret; a blind boarder, Mr. Will; and a would-be thief, Moze, who decides to teach Edna how to plant and harvest cotton.

Autumn Sonata poster
Autumn Sonata
1978 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 85%★ 8.1dramaMax

The shared currency is melancholy

The difference: 20 years apart, and the 1970s show

After a seven-year absence, Charlotte Andergast travels to Sweden to reunite with her daughter Eva. The pair have a troubled relationship: Charlotte sacrificed the responsibilities of motherhood for a career as a classical pianist. Over an emotional night, the pair reopen the wounds of the past. Charlotte gets another shock when she finds out that her mentally impaired daughter, Helena, is out of the asylum and living with Eva.

Silent Heart poster
Silent Heart
2014 · dir. Bille August
★ 7.1drama

The drama is handled with the same confidence

Three generations of a family gather over a weekend. The sisters Sanne and Heidi have accepted their terminally-ill mother’s desire to die before her disease worsens; but, as the weekend progresses, their mother's decision becomes harder and harder to deal with, and old conflicts come to the surface.

Magnolia poster
Magnolia
1999 · dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
🍅 82%★ 8dramaMax

The same drama instincts

On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story.

Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist poster
🍅 92%★ 7.5documentary

Contemporaries, and it shows

The story of Robert Flanagan, a man who was born with cystic fibrosis and told he wouldn't live past 20, who through a unique odyssey of masochism, art and love found a way to live decades past his expiration date.

Drive My Car poster
Drive My Car
2021 · dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
🍅 97%★ 7.5dramaRent or buy

Drama approached the same way

Yusuke Kafuku, a stage actor and director, still unable, after two years, to cope with the loss of his beloved wife, accepts to direct Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he meets Misaki, an introverted young woman, appointed to drive his car. In between rides, secrets from the past and heartfelt confessions will be unveiled.

Winter Light poster
Winter Light
1963 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 77%★ 8drama

Cut from the same drama cloth

A Swedish pastor fails a loving woman, a suicidal fisherman and God.

In the mood for more contemplative?

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