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Movies that feel like The Return (2003)

If you loved The Return, the closest films we have are Innocence (2005), The White Ribbon (2009) and Winter's Bone (2010). All three share The Return's contemplative and twisty feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 7 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Hulu, MUBI and ARROW and others, checked against today's data.

Two young brothers in contemporary Russia are reunited with a father they know only from an old photograph after his sudden return from a long absence. With their mother’s reluctant consent, they set out on a remote trip that quickly becomes an uneasy test of authority, trust, and masculinity. As the journey moves deeper into the wilderness, the fragile bonds between father and sons are pushed to their limits.

7.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Andrey Zvyagintsevcontemplativetwisty

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If The Return hit the spot, these will too

Innocence poster
Innocence
2005 · dir. Lucile Hadžihalilović
🍅 71%6.8drama · mystery

The same mix in both: stillness, then twists

At a peculiar all-girls academy, new arrivals, including Iris, are delivered in coffins. Guided by enigmatic teachers, the students dance through enchanted woods by day, while the night unveils sinister lessons that blur innocence and awakening.

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The White Ribbon poster
The White Ribbon
2009 · dir. Michael Haneke
🍅 85%7.8drama · mystery

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

An aged tailor recalls his life as the schoolteacher of a small village in Northern Germany that was struck by a series of strange events in the year leading up to WWI.

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Winter's Bone poster
Winter's Bone
2010 · dir. Debra Granik
🍅 94%7.1drama · mystery

Twisty mystery in both cases

After discovering her father put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared, 17-year-old Ree Dolly must confront the local criminal underworld and the harsh Ozark wilderness in order to to track down her father and save her family.

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

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

The difference: Leans harder into thriller than The Return does

Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The sergeant is the shooter, but the lead investigator, a Swiss-Korean woman, receives differing accounts from the two sides.

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12 poster
12
2007 · dir. Nikita Mikhalkov
🍅 76%7.5crime · drama · mystery

Mystery with a pulse of twists, in both cases

The difference: Sits closer to crime than The Return does

A loose remake of “12 Angry Men”, “12” is set in contemporary Moscow where 12 very different men must unanimously decide the fate of a young Chechen accused of murdering his step-father, a Russian army officer. Consigned to a makeshift jury room in a school gymnasium, one by one each man takes center stage to confront, connect, and confess while the accused awaits a verdict and revisits his heartbreaking journey through war in flashbacks.

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

The drama is handled with the same confidence

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.

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Brick poster
Brick
2006 · dir. Rian Johnson
🍅 79%7.1drama · mystery · crime

Mystery of the same temperament

A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.

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The Third Murder poster
The Third Murder
2017 · dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
🍅 87%6.7drama · mystery · crime

Drama in the same key

A lawyer tasked with defending a robbery-and-murder suspect begins developing doubts about what truly happened.

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After Dark, My Sweet poster
After Dark, My Sweet
1990 · dir. James Foley
🍅 80%6.5crime · drama · mystery

Both know what they want from mystery

Three desperados try to kidnap a wealthy child in hope of turning their lives around.

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Mother poster
Mother
2009 · dir. Bong Joon Ho
🍅 96%7.7crime · drama · mystery

The same drama instincts

A mother lives quietly with her son. One day, a girl is brutally killed, and the boy is charged with the murder. Now, it's his mother's mission to prove him innocent.

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Marjorie Prime poster
Marjorie Prime
2017 · dir. Michael Almereyda
🍅 89%6.3drama · mystery · science fiction

Mystery approached the same way

A service which creates holographic projections of late family members allows an elderly woman to spend time with a younger version of her deceased husband.

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The Secret in Their Eyes poster
The Secret in Their Eyes
2009 · dir. Juan José Campanella
🍅 89%8.2mystery · thriller · drama

Cut from the same drama cloth

Hoping to put to rest years of unease concerning a past case, retired criminal investigator Benjamín begins writing a novel based on the unsolved mystery of a newlywed’s rape and murder. With the help of a former colleague, judge Irene, he attempts to make sense of the past.

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In the mood for more contemplative?

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