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Return poster

Movies that feel likeReturn (2011)

Back from a tour of duty, Kelli struggles to find her place in her family and the rust-belt town she no longer recognizes.

If you loved Return, the closest films we have are Treeless Mountain (2009), The Dog (2013) and We Live in Public (2009). All three share Return's contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Brainstorm (2001).

🍅 83% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.1 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Liza Johnsoncontemplative
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Shudder · Fandor

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See it on the Mood Map

If Return hit the spot, these will too

Treeless Mountain poster
Treeless Mountain
2009 · dir. So Yong Kim
🍅 86%★ 7drama

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

A Korean woman leaves her two young daughters with her sister-in-law to search for their estranged father.

The Dog poster
The Dog
2013 · dir. François Keraudren
🍅 93%★ 6.7documentary

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

The difference: Sits closer to documentary than Return does

In 1972, John Wojtowicz attempted to rob a Brooklyn bank to pay for his lover’s sex-change operation. The story was the basis for the film Dog Day Afternoon. The Dog captures John, who shares his story for the first time in his own unique, offensive, hilarious and heartbreaking way. We gain a historic perspective on New York's gay liberation movement, in which Wojtowicz played an active role. In later footage, he remains a subversive force, backed by the unconditional love of his mother Terry, whose wit and charm infuse the film. How and why the bank robbery took place is recounted in gripping detail by Wojtowicz and various eyewitnesses.

We Live in Public poster
We Live in Public
2009 · dir. Ondi Timoner
🍅 80%★ 7.1documentary

Contemplative drama in both cases

In 1999, Internet entrepreneur Josh Harris recruits dozens of young men and women who agree to live in underground apartments for weeks at a time while their every movement is broadcast online. Soon, Harris and his girlfriend embark on their own subterranean adventure, with cameras streaming live footage of their meals, arguments, bedroom activities, and bathroom habits. This documentary explores the role of technology in our lives, as it charts the fragile nature of dot-com economy.

The Second Mother poster
The Second Mother
2015 · dir. Anna Muylaert
🍅 98%★ 7.8drama

Drama approached the same way

After leaving her daughter Jessica in a small town in Pernambuco to be raised by relatives, Val spends the next 13 years working as a nanny to Fabinho in São Paulo. She has financial stability but has to live with the guilt of having not raised Jessica herself. As Fabinho’s university entrance exams approach, Jessica reappears in her life and seems to want to give her mother a second chance. However, Jessica has not been raised to be a servant and her very existence will turn Val’s routine on its head. With precision and humour, the subtle and powerful forces that keep rigid class structures in place and how the youth may just be the ones to shake it all up.

Brainstorm poster
Brainstorm
2001 · dir. Laís Bodanzky
★ 7.7drama

Cut from the same drama cloth

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.

The Edge of Democracy poster
The Edge of Democracy
2019 · dir. Petra Costa
🍅 97%★ 7.3documentaryNetflix

Same era, same wavelength

A cautionary tale for these times of democracy in crisis—the personal and political fuse to explore one of the most dramatic periods in Brazilian history. With unprecedented access to Presidents Dilma Rousseff and Lula da Silva, we witness their rise and fall and the tragically polarized nation that remains.

Vesper poster
Vesper
2022 · dir. Kristina Buožytė
🍅 91%★ 6science fiction · drama · adventureRent or buy

Both know what they want from drama

After the collapse of Earth's ecosystem, Vesper, a 13-year-old girl struggling to survive with her paralyzed Father, meets a mysterious Woman with a secret that forces Vesper to use her wits, strength and bio-hacking abilities to fight for the possibility of a future.

Queen of Hearts poster
Queen of Hearts
2019 · dir. May el-Toukhy
🍅 97%★ 7drama

Drama in the same key

Anne, a brilliant and dedicated advocacy lawyer specialising in society’s most vulnerable, children and young adults, lives what appears to be the picture-perfect life with her doctor-husband, Peter, and their twin daughters. When her estranged teenage stepson, Gustav, moves in with them, Anne’s escalating desire leads her down a dangerous rabbit hole which, once exposed, unleashes a sequence of events destined to destroy her world.

I Am Sam poster
I Am Sam
2001 · dir. Jessie Nelson
🍅 35%★ 7.6drama

Drama of the same temperament

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

Sam, a neurodivergent man, has a daughter with a homeless woman who abandons them when they leave the hospital, leaving Sam to raise Lucy on his own. But as Lucy grows up, Sam's limitations as a parent start to become a problem and the authorities take her away. Sam convinces high-priced lawyer Rita to take his case pro bono and in turn teaches her the value of love and family.

Confessions of a Brazilian Call Girl poster
Confessions of a Brazilian Call Girl
2011 · dir. Marcus Baldini
★ 6.2dramaRent or buy

Both play drama straight

Rachel is a girl, adopted by an upper middle class family, who rebelled at 17 and left her family and studies at a traditional college in Sao Paulo to become a sexy call girl. Shortly after starting work, she decided to write a blog about her experiences. Since some clients thought she looked like a surfer she adopted the name "Surfistinha" which means little surfer girl.

The Ides of March poster
The Ides of March
2011 · dir. George Clooney
🍅 84%★ 7.1drama

The same drama instincts

Dirty tricks stand to soil an ambitious young press spokesman's idealism in a cutthroat presidential campaign where 'victory' is relative.

Shame poster
Shame
2011 · dir. Steve McQueen
🍅 79%★ 7.2drama

The drama is handled with the same confidence

Brandon, a thirty-something man living in New York, eludes intimacy with women but feeds his deepest desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his younger sister temporarily moves into his apartment, stirring up bitter memories of their shared painful past, Brandon's life, like his fragile mind, gets out of control.

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