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Movies that feel like La Strada (1954)

If you loved La Strada, the closest films we have are La Dolce Vita (1960), The Virgin Spring (1960) and East of Eden (1955). All three share La Strada's contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 8 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Criterion Channel and Shudder and others, checked against today's data.

When Gelsomina, a naïve young woman, is purchased from her impoverished mother by brutish circus strongman Zampanò to be his wife and partner, she loyally endures her husband's coldness and abuse as they travel the Italian countryside performing together. Soon Zampanò must deal with his jealousy and conflicted feelings about Gelsomina when she finds a kindred spirit in Il Matto, the carefree circus fool, and contemplates leaving Zampanò.

🍅 97% Rotten Tomatoes8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Federico Fellinicontemplativerelentlessromantic
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If La Strada hit the spot, these will too

La Dolce Vita poster
La Dolce Vita
1960 · dir. Federico Fellini
🍅 95%8comedy · drama

Both are Federico Fellini's work, and they rhyme

The difference: None of the relentlessness La Strada is built on

Episodic journey of journalist Marcello who struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure of Rome's elite social scene and the stifling domesticity offered by his girlfriend, all the while searching for a way to become a serious writer.

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The Virgin Spring poster
The Virgin Spring
1960 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 88%8drama · history

Both keep coming back to the same thing: revenge

The difference: Missing the romance of La Strada

Devout Christians Töre and Märeta send their only daughter, the virginal Karin, and their foster daughter, the unrepentant Ingeri, to deliver candles to a distant church. On their way through the woods, the girls encounter a group of savage goat herders who brutally rape and murder Karin as Ingeri remains hidden. When the killers unwittingly seek refuge in the farmhouse of Töre and Märeta, Töre plots a fitting revenge.

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East of Eden poster
East of Eden
1955 · dir. Elia Kazan
🍅 86%7.8drama

The same mix in both: stillness, then romance

In the Salinas Valley in and around World War I, Cal Trask feels he must compete against overwhelming odds with his brother for the love of their father. Cal is frustrated at every turn, from his reaction to the war, how to get ahead in business and in life, and how to relate to his estranged mother.

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Floating Weeds poster
Floating Weeds
1959 · dir. Yasujirō Ozu
🍅 96%7.9drama

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

A theater troupe master's visit with his old flame unintentionally sets off a chain of unexpected events with devastating consequences.

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Lady Vengeance poster
Lady Vengeance
2005 · dir. Park Chan-wook
🍅 76%7.5drama · thriller

The same preoccupation in both: prison

The difference: Leans harder into thriller than La Strada does

Released after being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 13 years, a woman begins executing her elaborate plan of retribution.

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Black Narcissus poster
Black Narcissus
1947 · dir. Michael Powell
🍅 100%7.7drama

Drama built on romance, twice over

A group of Anglican nuns, led by Sister Clodagh, are sent to a mountain in the Himalayas. The climate in the region is hostile and the nuns are housed in an odd old palace. They work to establish a school and a hospital, but slowly their focus shifts. Sister Ruth falls for a government worker, Mr. Dean, and begins to question her vow of celibacy. As Sister Ruth obsesses over Mr. Dean, Sister Clodagh becomes immersed in her own memories of love.

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Harakiri poster
Harakiri
1962 · dir. Masaki Kobayashi
🍅 100%8.6action · drama · history

Both are built on the same subject: revenge

The difference: Sits closer to action than La Strada does

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

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Fury poster
Fury
1936 · dir. Fritz Lang
🍅 95%7.8crime · drama · thriller

Both lean on relentlessness more than on drama

Joe, who owns a gas station along with his brothers and is about to marry Katherine, travels to the small town where she lives to visit her, but is wrongly mistaken for a wanted kidnapper and arrested.

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The Outfit poster
The Outfit
1973 · dir. John Flynn
🍅 86%7crime · drama

Both work the same relentlessness

A two-bit criminal takes on the Mafia to avenge his brother's death. Earl Macklin is a small time criminal who is released from prison after an unsuccessful bank robbery only to discover that a pair of gunmen killed his brother.

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The Lady Eve poster
The Lady Eve
1941 · dir. Preston Sturges
🍅 99%7.7comedy · romance

The shared currency is relentlessness

It's no accident when wealthy Charles falls for Jean. Jean is a con artist with her sights set on Charles' fortune. Matters complicate when Jean starts falling for her mark. When Charles suspects Jean is a gold digger, he dumps her. Jean, fixated on revenge and still pining for the millionaire, devises a plan to get back in Charles' life. With love and payback on her mind, she re-introduces herself to Charles, this time as an aristocrat named Lady Eve Sidwich.

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Lady Snowblood poster
Lady Snowblood
1973 · dir. Toshiya Fujita
🍅 100%7.6action · crime · drama

Both sit in the same contemplative register

A strikingly beautiful young woman is trained from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.

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Red River poster
Red River
1948 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 100%7.7western

Contemporaries, and it shows

Following the Civil War, headstrong rancher Thomas Dunson decides to lead a perilous cattle drive from Texas to Missouri. During the exhausting journey, his persistence becomes tyrannical in the eyes of Matthew Garth, his adopted son and protégé.

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