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Movies that feel like Nanook of the North (1922)

If you loved Nanook of the North, the closest films we have are The Right of Youth (1911), How Green Was My Valley (1941) and Drunken Angel (1948). All three share Nanook of the North's contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 7 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Criterion Channel and others, checked against today's data.

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

🍅 100% Rotten Tomatoes7.6 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Robert Flahertycontemplative
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If Nanook of the North hit the spot, these will too

The Right of Youth
1911 · dir. August Blom
6.6drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Court huntsman, Søtoft, is courting his daughter Else’s lady-in-waiting, Miss Engelke. That’s why it’s a bit of a punch in the stomach when, late one evening, he discovers his son Ove in close contact with her. Chamberlain von Plessen, who had been gossiping to Søtoft and is himself spying on the young couple, is going to set fire to the room they’re in. The hurt Søtoft wants to leave the young couple to their cruel fate – that is until he discovers that it’s not Engelke, but his daughter Else, who is trapped in the flames with her brother. (Stumfilm.dk)

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How Green Was My Valley poster
How Green Was My Valley
1941 · dir. John Ford
🍅 93%7.7drama

Documentary with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

Huw Morgan, the academically inclined youngest son in a proud family of Welsh coal miners, witnesses the tumultuous events of his young life during a period of rapid social change. At the dawn of the 20th-century, a miners' strike divides the Morgans: the sons demand improvements, and the father doesn't want to rock the boat.

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Drunken Angel poster
Drunken Angel
1948 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 94%7.6drama

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

The difference: 26 years apart, and the 1940s show

In postwar Tokyo, a blunt, alcohol-soaked doctor diagnoses a swaggering young yakuza with tuberculosis, forging an uneasy bond that’s tested when the gangster’s ruthless former boss returns and drags him back toward the swampy underworld he can’t escape.

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Hamlet poster
Hamlet
1948 · dir. Laurence Olivier
🍅 96%7.6drama

Both know what they want from drama

Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, Sir Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet continues to be the most compelling version of Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy. Olivier is at his most inspired—both as director and as the melancholy Dane himself—as he breathes new life into the words of one of the world’s greatest dramatists.

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Germany, Year Zero poster
Germany, Year Zero
1948 · dir. Roberto Rossellini
🍅 96%7.8drama

Drama in the same key

In the ruins of post-WWII Berlin, a twelve-year-old boy is left to his own devices in order to help provide for his family.

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The Overnighters poster
The Overnighters
2014 · dir. Jesse Moss
🍅 97%7.4drama · documentary

The same documentary instincts

Desperate, broken men chase their dreams and run from their demons in the North Dakota oil fields. A local Pastor's decision to help them has extraordinary and unexpected consequences.

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Late Spring poster
Late Spring
1949 · dir. Yasujirō Ozu
🍅 100%8.2drama

Drama of the same temperament

Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.

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Brainstorm poster
Brainstorm
2001 · dir. Laís Bodanzky
7.7drama

The drama is handled with the same confidence

Neto is a middle class teenager living a normal life. After his father finds a marijuana cigarette on his pocket, he is sent to a mental institution, where he gets to know a completely absurd and inhumane reality in which people are devoured by a corrupt and cruel system.

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Ordet poster
Ordet
1955 · dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
🍅 100%8.2drama

Both play drama straight

The three sons of devout Danish farmer Morten have widely disparate religious beliefs. Youngest son Anders shares his father's religion, but eldest son Mikkel has lost his faith, while middle child Johannes has become delusional and proclaims that he is Jesus Christ himself. When Mikkel's wife, Inger goes into a difficult childbirth, everyone's beliefs are put to the test.

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Invisible Life poster
Invisible Life
2019 · dir. Karim Aïnouz
🍅 94%7.7drama

Cut from the same drama cloth

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1950. In the conservative home of the Gusmão family, Eurídice and Guida are two inseparable sisters who support each other. While Guida can share with her younger sister the details of her romantic adventures, Eurídice finds in her older sister the encouragement she needs to pursue her dream of becoming a professional pianist.

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Clergy poster
Clergy
2018 · dir. Wojtek Smarzowski
7.3drama

Both are drama through and through

The fate of three Catholic priests were linked together through tragic events a few years back. Every year, on the anniversary of the catastrophe, they gather to celebrate their survival of the tragedy. Lisowski works at a curia in a big city, building his career while dreaming of the Vatican. Standing in his way, Mordowicz, the archbishop, a luxurious church dignitary who is making use of his political connections to build the largest sanctuary in Poland. Trybus, is a parish priest and often submits to human weaknesses. Kukuła also is not doing well. Despite his passion for faith, he is losing the trust of his flock. Soon, through new tragic events, the paths of the three priests will cross again.

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Sansho the Bailiff poster
Sansho the Bailiff
1954 · dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
🍅 100%8.4drama

Drama approached the same way

In 11th-century feudal Japan, following the exile of an idealistic governor, his wife and children are separated by slave traders; the children, Zushio and Anju, are sold into brutal servitude under the cruel bailiff Sansho.

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The best-reviewed films that share Nanook of the North’s defining feeling.