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Columbus poster

Movies that feel likeColumbus (2017)

When a renowned architecture scholar falls suddenly ill during a speaking tour, his son Jin finds himself stranded in Columbus, Indiana - a small Midwestern city celebrated for its many significant modernist buildings. Jin strikes up a friendship with Casey, a young architecture enthusiast who works at the local library.

If you loved Columbus, the closest films we have are Corpus Christi (2019), Sweet Bean (2015) and The Wind Will Carry Us (1999). All three share Columbus' contemplative and cozy feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Vernon, Florida (1981).

πŸ… 96% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.2 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Kogonadacontemplativecozy
7 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video Β· Criterion Channel Β· Kino Film Collection

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See it on the Mood Map

If Columbus hit the spot, these will too

Corpus Christi poster
Corpus Christi
2019 Β· dir. Jan Komasa
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.7drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: small town life

A pious 20-year-old juvenile delinquent is sent to work at a sawmill in a small town; on arrival, he dresses up as a priest and accidentally takes over the local parish. The arrival of this young, charismatic preacher is an opportunity for the local community to begin the healing process after a tragedy that happened a year prior.

Sweet Bean poster
Sweet Bean
2015 Β· dir. Naomi Kawase
πŸ… 84%β˜… 7.4drama

Both land stillness and comfort at once

The master of a dorayaki pastry store hires a 76-year-old woman whose talents attract customers from all over. But she's hiding a troubling secret. Life's joys are found in the little details, and no matter what may be weighing you down, everyone loves a good pastry.

The Wind Will Carry Us poster
The Wind Will Carry Us
1999 Β· dir. Abbas Kiarostami
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.4drama

One thread runs through both: small town life

Irreverent city engineer Behzad comes to a rural Kurdish village in Iran to keep vigil for a dying relative. In the meanwhile the film follows his efforts to fit in with the local community and how he changes his own attitudes as a result.

The Judge poster
The Judge
2014 Β· dir. David Dobkin
πŸ… 49%β˜… 7.4dramaPrime Video

Drama built on stillness, twice over

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

A successful lawyer returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder.

Diary of a Country Priest poster
Diary of a Country Priest
1951 Β· dir. Robert Bresson
πŸ… 95%β˜… 7.7drama

Cozy drama in both cases

The difference: Made in the 1950s, in a different era of the craft

An inexperienced, sickly priest shows up in the rural French community of Ambricourt, where he joins the community's clergy. But the locals don't take kindly to the priest, and his ascetic ways and unsociable demeanor make him an outcast. During Bible studies at the nearby girls school, he is continually mocked by his students. Then his attempt to intervene in a family feud backfires into a scandal. His failures, compounded with his declining health, begin to erode his faith.

Kes poster
Kes
1970 Β· dir. Ken Loach
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.9dramaPrime Video

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence.

Housekeeping poster
Housekeeping
1987 Β· dir. Bill Forsyth
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.2comedy Β· drama

Both run cozy where it counts

The difference: Leans harder into comedy than Columbus does

In the Pacific Northwest during the 1950s, two young sisters whose mother has abandoned them wind up living with their Aunt Sylvie, whose views of the world and its conventions don't quite live up to most people's expectations.

Rio Bravo poster
Rio Bravo
1959 Β· dir. Howard Hawks
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.9western Β· drama

Both know what they want from drama

The difference: Sits closer to western than Columbus does

A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.

The White Balloon poster
The White Balloon
1995 Β· dir. Jafar Panahi
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.6drama Β· family

Drama of the same temperament

Several people try to take advantage of a little girl's innocence to hustle money her mom gave to her to buy a goldfish with.

Vernon, Florida poster
Vernon, Florida
1981 Β· dir. Errol Morris
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7documentary

A 1980s answer to the same itch

Early Errol Morris documentary intersplices random chatter he captured on film of the genuinely eccentric residents of Vernon, Florida. A few examples? The preacher giving a sermon on the definition of the word "Therefore," and the obsessive turkey hunter who speaks reverentially of the "gobblers" he likes to track down and kill.

Testament poster
Testament
1983 Β· dir. Lynne Littman
πŸ… 90%β˜… 6.9drama Β· science fiction

Drama approached the same way

It's just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks β€” many suffer radiation poisoning β€” the Wetherly family tries to survive.

The Magnificent Ambersons poster
The Magnificent Ambersons
1942 Β· dir. Orson Welles
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.6drama Β· romance

The drama is handled with the same confidence

The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share Columbus’ defining feeling.