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Searching poster

Movies that feel likeSearching (2018)

After David Kim's 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a local investigation is opened and a detective is assigned to the case. But 37 hours later and without a single lead, David decides to search the one place no one has looked yet, where all secrets are kept today: his daughter's laptop.

If you loved Searching, the closest films we have are Rojo (2018), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and Joint Security Area (2000). All three share Searching's contemplative and twisty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Kahaani (2012).

🍅 92% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.6 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Aneesh Chagantycontemplativetwistytense
7 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu

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If Searching hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Searching for Sugar Man (2012)

Rojo poster
Rojo
2018 · dir. Benjamín Naishtat
🍅 96%★ 6.3drama · mystery · thriller

One thread runs through both: disappearance

A small town in an Argentinian province, 1975. The life of Claudio, a successful lawyer, gets complicated when he has a stupid quarrel with a stranger in a crowded restaurant.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy poster
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2011 · dir. Tomas Alfredson
🍅 84%★ 7drama · thriller · mystery

Contemplative and twisty in the same breath

George Smiley, the aging master spy of the Cold War and once heir apparent to Control, is brought back out of retirement to flush out a top level mole within the Circus. Smiley must travel back through his life and murky workings of the Circus to unravel the net spun by his nemesis Karla 'The Sandman' of the KGB and reveal the identity of the mole before he disappears.

Joint Security Area poster
Joint Security Area
2000 · dir. Park Chan-wook
🍅 88%★ 7.7drama · thriller · mystery

Drama built on tension, twice over

Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The lead investigator (Lee Young-ae) receives differing accounts from the two sides.

The Hidden Face poster
The Hidden Face
2011 · dir. Andrés Baiz
★ 7.3thriller · mystery

Both keep coming back to the same thing: disappearance

The difference: Trades the stillness of Searching for an angle of its own

A Spanish orchestra conductor deals with the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend.

The Firm poster
The Firm
1993 · dir. Sydney Pollack
🍅 77%★ 6.9drama · mystery · thrillerMaxParamount+

Contemplative mystery, and it commits to that

The difference: 25 years apart, and the 1990s show

Mitch McDeere is a young man with a promising future in Law. About to sit his Bar exam, he is approached by 'The Firm' and made an offer he doesn't refuse. Seduced by the money and gifts showered on him, he is totally oblivious to the more sinister side of his company. Then, two Associates are murdered. The FBI contact him, asking him for information and suddenly his life is ruined. He has a choice - work with the FBI, or stay with the Firm. Either way he will lose his life as he knows it. Mitch figures the only way out is to follow his own plan...

Kahaani poster
Kahaani
2012 · dir. Sujoy Ghosh
🍅 100%★ 8.1mystery · thriller

Both lean on twists more than on thriller

Pregnant and alone in the city of Kolkata, a woman begins a relentless search for her missing husband, only to find that nothing is what it seems.

The Village poster
The Village
2004 · dir. M. Night Shyamalan
🍅 43%★ 6.6drama · mystery · thrillerHulu

Drama with a pulse of tension, in both cases

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

When a willful young man tries to venture beyond his sequestered Pennsylvania hamlet, his actions set off a chain of chilling incidents that will alter the community forever.

The Name of the Rose poster
The Name of the Rose
1986 · dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud
🍅 74%★ 7.7drama · thriller · mysteryPrime Video

Contemplative mystery in both cases

14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence; which is considerable.

The Ghost Writer poster
The Ghost Writer
2010 · dir. Roman Polanski
🍅 84%★ 7.2thriller · mysteryPrime VideoStarz

Twisty thriller, and it commits to that

A writer stumbles upon a long-hidden secret when he agrees to help former British Prime Minister Adam Lang complete his memoirs on a remote island after the politician's assistant drowns in a mysterious accident.

Unbreakable poster
Unbreakable
2000 · dir. M. Night Shyamalan
🍅 71%★ 7.3thriller · drama · mystery

A 2000s answer to the same itch

An ordinary man makes an extraordinary discovery when a train accident leaves his fellow passengers dead — and him unscathed. The answer to this mystery could lie with the mysterious Elijah Price, a man who suffers from a disease that renders his bones as fragile as glass.

Exam poster
Exam
2009 · dir. Stuart Hazeldine
🍅 61%★ 6.7thriller · mystery

Both are mystery through and through

Eight talented candidates have reached the final stage of selection to join the ranks of a mysterious and powerful corporation. Entering a windowless room, where an armed guard keeps watch, they are given 80 minutes to answer one simple question.

Bad Times at the El Royale poster
Bad Times at the El Royale
2018 · dir. Drew Goddard
🍅 75%★ 7.1thriller · mystery · crime

Thriller of the same temperament

The difference: Sits closer to crime than Searching does

Lake Tahoe, 1969. Seven strangers, each one with a secret to bury, meet at El Royale, a decadent motel with a dark past. In the course of a fateful night, everyone will have one last shot at redemption.

In the mood for more contemplative?

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