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Movies that feel like Raise the Red Lantern (1991)

If you loved Raise the Red Lantern, the closest films we have are Evil (2003), The Sacrifice (1986) and Taste of Cherry (1997). All three share Raise the Red Lantern'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 Netflix, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video and others, checked against today's data.

In 1920s China, 19-year-old Songlian becomes a concubine of a powerful lord and is forced to compete with his three wives for the privileges gained.

🍅 97% Rotten Tomatoes8.1 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Zhang Yimoucontemplative

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If Raise the Red Lantern hit the spot, these will too

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

Both are built on the same subject: oppression

The difference: Critics were much harder on this one

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.

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The Sacrifice poster
The Sacrifice
1986 · dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
🍅 88%7.9drama

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

Alexander, a journalist, philosopher and retired actor, celebrates a birthday with friends and family when it is announced that nuclear war has begun.

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Taste of Cherry poster
Taste of Cherry
1997 · dir. Abbas Kiarostami
🍅 82%7.7drama

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

A middle-aged Tehranian man, Mr. Badii is intent on killing himself and seeks someone to bury him after his demise. Driving around the city, the seemingly well-to-do Badii meets with numerous people, including a Muslim student, asking them to take on the job, but initially he has little luck. Eventually, Badii finds a man who is up for the task because he needs the money, but his new associate soon tries to talk him out of committing suicide.

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The Whales of August poster
The Whales of August
1987 · dir. Lindsay Anderson
🍅 64%7.1drama

Contemplative drama in both cases

Two aged sisters reflect on life and the past during a late summer day in Maine.

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Brainstorm poster
Brainstorm
2001 · dir. Laís Bodanzky
7.7drama

Both working the same drama territory

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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You Can Count on Me poster
You Can Count on Me
2000 · dir. Kenneth Lonergan
🍅 95%7.5drama

Both play drama straight

A single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely-seen younger brother returns to town.

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Ulee's Gold poster
Ulee's Gold
1997 · dir. Victor Nuñez
🍅 94%7drama

Drama in the same key

Third-generation Florida beekeeper Ulee Jackson may have gotten out of Vietnam alive, but he left a part of himself behind. Now he methodically tends his bees, carefully provides for his two grandchildren and keeps his emotions at bay. But when a long-buried secret threatens Ulee's business and family, he is forced to break through his emotional walls and confront the terror of his wounded spirit.

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

Drama of the same temperament

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

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Ida poster
Ida
2013 · dir. Paweł Pawlikowski
🍅 95%7.4drama

The same preoccupation in both: tragedy

The difference: 22 years apart, and the 2010s show

In 1960s Poland, young novitiate Anna is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a family secret dating back to the years of the German occupation.

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The Son's Room poster
The Son's Room
2001 · dir. Nanni Moretti
🍅 85%7.3drama

Cut from the same drama cloth

A psychoanalyst and his family go through profound emotional trauma when their son dies in a scuba diving accident.

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Carandiru poster
Carandiru
2003 · dir. Héctor Babenco
🍅 68%7.6drama

Both know what they want from drama

When a doctor decides to carry out an AIDS prevention program inside Latin America’s largest prison: the Casa de Detenção de São Paulo – Carandiru, he meets the future victims of one of the darkest days in Brazilian history.

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Chak De! India poster
Chak De! India
2007 · dir. Shimit Amin
🍅 90%8.1drama

The same drama instincts

A team of rag-tag girls with their own agenda form Team India competing for international fame in field hockey. Their coach, the ex-men's Indian National team captain, returns from a life of shame after being unjustly accused of match fixing in his last match. Can he give the girls the motivation required to win, while dealing with the shadows of his own past?

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The best-reviewed films that share Raise the Red Lantern’s defining feeling.