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Frozen River poster

Movies that feel likeFrozen River (2008)

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

If you loved Frozen River, the closest films we have are 7 Prisoners (2021), My Name Ain't Johnny (2008) and R (2010). All three share Frozen River's contemplative and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Black Souls (2014).

🍅 88% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.1 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Courtney Huntcontemplativegritty
6 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Kino Film Collection

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See it on the Mood Map

If Frozen River hit the spot, these will too

7 Prisoners poster
7 Prisoners
2021 · dir. Alexandre Moratto
🍅 98%★ 7.1drama · crimeNetflix

One thread runs through both: human trafficking

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.

My Name Ain't Johnny poster
My Name Ain't Johnny
2008 · dir. Mauro Lima
★ 7.2crime · drama

Contemplative and gritty in the same breath

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

R poster
R
2010 · dir. Tobias Lindholm
🍅 91%★ 7.1crime · drama

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

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.

A Touch of Sin poster
A Touch of Sin
2013 · dir. Jia Zhangke
🍅 95%★ 7.1crime · drama

Crime built on grit, twice over

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.

Black Souls poster
Black Souls
2014 · dir. Francesco Munzi
🍅 89%★ 6.8crime · drama

Contemplative drama 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.

Green Fish poster
Green Fish
1997 · dir. Lee Chang-dong
★ 7drama · crime

Both lean on grit more than on crime

Returning home and finding his town drastically changed, a former soldier falls in with gangsters.

Into the Abyss poster
Into the Abyss
2011 · dir. Werner Herzog
🍅 92%★ 7.3documentary · crime

The crime is handled with the same confidence

The difference: Sits closer to documentary than Frozen River does

We do not know when and how we will die. Death Row inmates do. Werner Herzog embarks on a dialogue with Death Row inmates, asks questions about life and death and looks deep into these individuals, their stories, their crimes.

TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay - Away from Keyboard poster
★ 7.4documentary · crimeRent or buy

Crime of the same temperament

TPB AFK is a documentary about three computer addicts who redefined the world of media distribution with their hobby homepage The Pirate Bay. How did Tiamo, a beer crazy hardware fanatic, Brokep a tree hugging eco activist and Anakata – a paranoid hacker libertarian – get the White House to threaten the Swedish government with trade sanctions? TPB AFK explores what Hollywood’s most hated pirates go through on a personal level.

The Fool poster
The Fool
2014 · dir. Yury Bykov
🍅 93%★ 7.9drama

Both play drama straight

The Fool is a movie about a simple plumber. An honest man, he is up against an entire system of corrupted bureaucrats. At stake are the lives of 800 inhabitants of an old dorm that is at risk of collapsing within the span of the night.

Evil poster
Evil
2003 · dir. Mikael Håfström
🍅 68%★ 7.7drama

Drama in the same key

Stockholm, in the 1950s. Erik is expelled from the local school for getting into one brawl too many. To protect Erik from his violent stepfather’s reaction to his expulsion, Erik's mother arranges for Erik to spend a year at Stjärnsberg Boarding School, the only school willing to accept him. This is Erik's last chance to graduate to Upper School and he promises his mother, for his and her sake, to do all he can to stay out of trouble.

The Rider poster
The Rider
2018 · dir. Chloé Zhao
🍅 97%★ 7.4drama · westernRent or buy

The same drama instincts

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.

Gomorrah poster
Gomorrah
2008 · dir. Matteo Garrone
🍅 90%★ 7drama · crimePrime Video

Crime approached the same way

An inside look at Italy's modern-day crime families, the Camorra in Naples and Caserta. Based on a book by Roberto Saviano. Power, money and blood: these are the "values" that the residents of the Province of Naples and Caserta have to face every day. They hardly ever have a choice and are forced to obey the rules of the Camorra. Only a lucky few can even think of leading a normal life.

In the mood for more contemplative?

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