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Citizen Kane poster

Movies that feel likeCitizen Kane (1941)

Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.

If you loved Citizen Kane, the closest films we have are Le Corbeau (1943), The Return (2003) and Winter's Bone (2010). All three share Citizen Kane's twisty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is And Then There Were None (1945).

🍅 99% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.2 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Orson Wellestwistycontemplative
9 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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If Citizen Kane hit the spot, these will too

Le Corbeau poster
Le Corbeau
1943 · dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot
🍅 97%★ 7.8mystery · drama · thriller

The same preoccupation in both: black and white

The difference: Sits closer to thriller than Citizen Kane does

Remy Germain is a doctor in a French town who becomes the focus of a vicious smear campaign, as letters accusing him of having an affair and performing unlawful abortions are mailed to village leaders. The mysterious writer, who signs each letter as "Le Corbeau" (The Raven) soon targets the whole town, exposing everyone's dark secrets.

The Return poster
The Return
2003 · dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev
★ 7.9drama · mystery

Twisty and contemplative in the same breath

The difference: Made in the 2000s, in a different era of the craft

Two young brothers in contemporary Russia are reunited with a father they know only from an old photograph after his sudden return from a long absence. With their mother’s reluctant consent, they set out on a remote trip that quickly becomes an uneasy test of authority, trust, and masculinity. As the journey moves deeper into the wilderness, the fragile bonds between father and sons are pushed to their limits.

Winter's Bone poster
Winter's Bone
2010 · dir. Debra Granik
🍅 94%★ 7.1drama · mysteryPrime Video

Mystery built on twists, twice over

After discovering her father put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared, 17-year-old Ree Dolly must confront the local criminal underworld and the harsh Ozark wilderness in order to to track down her father and save her family.

Innocence poster
Innocence
2005 · dir. Lucile Hadžihalilović
🍅 71%★ 6.8drama · mystery

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

At a peculiar all-girls academy, new arrivals, including Iris, are delivered in coffins. Guided by enigmatic teachers, the students dance through enchanted woods by day, while the night unveils sinister lessons that blur innocence and awakening.

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

The same hand behind both of them: Orson Welles

The difference: Leans harder into crime than Citizen Kane does

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

And Then There Were None poster
And Then There Were None
1945 · dir. René Clair
🍅 100%★ 7.3crime · drama · mysteryPrime Video

Both lean on twists more than on mystery

Ten strangers are summoned to a remote island and while they are waiting for the mysterious host to appear, a recording levels serious accusations at each of the guests. Soon they start being murdered, one by one. As the survivors try to keep their wits, they reach a disturbing conclusion: one of them must be the killer.

Rashomon poster
Rashomon
1950 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 98%★ 8.1crime · drama · mysteryMax

Contemplative drama in both cases

Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.

Ugetsu poster
Ugetsu
1953 · dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
🍅 100%★ 8.1fantasy · drama · mysteryMax

One thread runs through both: black and white

In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.

All the President's Men poster
All the President's Men
1976 · dir. Alan J. Pakula
🍅 95%★ 7.9drama · mystery · thriller

Two things both keep coming back to: newspaper and journalist

During the 1972 elections, two reporters' investigation sheds light on the controversial Watergate scandal that compels President Nixon to resign from his post.

Witness for the Prosecution poster
Witness for the Prosecution
1957 · dir. Billy Wilder
🍅 100%★ 8.4drama · mystery · crimePrime Video

Mystery in the same key

An ailing barrister is thrust back into the courtroom in what becomes one of the most unusual and eventful murder cases of the lawyer's career when he finds himself defending a man being tried for the murder of a socialite.

Anatomy of a Murder poster
Anatomy of a Murder
1959 · dir. Otto Preminger
🍅 100%★ 8crime · drama · mysteryPrime Video

Drama approached the same way

Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.

Saboteur poster
Saboteur
1942 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 81%★ 7.1thriller · mystery

Both play mystery straight

The difference: Easier on the stillness than Citizen Kane

Aircraft factory worker Barry Kane flees across the United States after he is wrongly accused of starting the fire that killed his best friend.

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