feelsalike.com

Movies that feel like We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

If you loved We Need to Talk About Kevin, the closest films we have are The Wave (2008), Locke (2014) and A Hijacking (2012). All three share We Need to Talk About Kevin's contemplative and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 7 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV and others, checked against today's data.

After her son Kevin commits a horrific act, troubled mother Eva reflects on her complicated relationship with her disturbed son as he grew from a toddler into a teenager.

🍅 74% Rotten Tomatoes7.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Lynne Ramsaycontemplativetense
See it on the map

When is We Need to Talk About Kevin streaming? →

If We Need to Talk About Kevin hit the spot, these will too

The Wave poster
The Wave
2008 · dir. Dennis Gansel
🍅 67%7.6drama · thriller

Common ground: violence in schools

A school teacher discusses types of government with his class. His students find it too boring to repeatedly go over national socialism and believe that dictatorship cannot be established in modern Germany. He starts an experiment to show how easily the masses can become manipulated.

Feels alike?
Locke poster
Locke
2014 · dir. Steven Knight
🍅 91%7.1drama · thriller

One thread runs through both: pregnancy

Ivan Locke has worked hard to craft a good life for himself. Tonight, that life will collapse around him. On the eve of the biggest challenge of his career, Ivan receives a phone call that sets in motion a series of events that will unravel his family, job, and soul.

Feels alike?
A Hijacking poster
A Hijacking
2012 · dir. Tobias Lindholm
🍅 96%7.1thriller · drama

The same preoccupation in both: murder

Tensions are high after a Danish freighter is captured and held for ransom by Somali pirates, leading to weeks of high-stakes negotiations – and an escalating potential for explosive violence.

Feels alike?
You Were Never Really Here poster
You Were Never Really Here
2017 · dir. Lynne Ramsay
🍅 89%6.7crime · drama · thriller

Lynne Ramsay working the same nerve twice

The difference: Leans further into crime

A traumatized veteran, unafraid of violence, tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, Joe's nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered—leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening.

Feels alike?
The Experiment poster
The Experiment
2001 · dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel
🍅 72%7.7drama · thriller

Contemplative and tense in the same breath

20 volunteers agree to take part in a seemingly well-paid experiment advertised by the university. It is supposed to be about aggressive behavior in an artificial prison situation. A journalist senses a story behind the ad and smuggles himself in among the test subjects. They are randomly divided into prisoners and guards. What seems like a game at the beginning soon turns into bloody seriousness.

Feels alike?
A Wednesday! poster
A Wednesday!
2008 · dir. Neeraj Pandey
8.1drama · thriller

Contemplative drama in both cases

Prakash Rathod, a retired police commissioner recounts the most memorable case of his career wherein he was informed about a bomb scare in Mumbai by an ordinary commoner.

Feels alike?
Hard Candy poster
Hard Candy
2006 · dir. David Slade
🍅 67%7drama · thriller

Thriller with a pulse of tension, in both cases

Hayley’s a smart, charming teenage girl. Jeff’s a handsome, smooth fashion photographer. An Internet chat, a coffee shop meet-up, an impromptu fashion shoot back at Jeff’s place. Jeff thinks it’s his lucky night. He’s in for a surprise.

Feels alike?
The Place poster
The Place
2017 · dir. Paolo Genovese
7drama · thriller

Drama built on stillness, twice over

The fates of an apparently random group of strangers who each come into contact with a mysterious figure who they believe possesses the power to grant any wish, in return for which they must carry out a task he assigns them.

Feels alike?
Tunnel poster
Tunnel
2016 · dir. Kim Seong-hun
🍅 100%6.8thriller · drama

Both lean on tension more than on thriller

The difference: Reviewed even better

A man is on his way home when the poorly constructed tunnel he is driving through collapses, leaving him trapped leaving himself for the unexpected whilst emergency services struggle to help.

Feels alike?
Zero Dark Thirty poster
Zero Dark Thirty
2012 · dir. Kathryn Bigelow
🍅 91%7.4thriller · drama

Both working the same drama territory

A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L. Team 6 in May, 2011.

Feels alike?
Cell 211 poster
Cell 211
2009 · dir. Daniel Monzón
🍅 98%7.6action · thriller · drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: flashback

The difference: Played as action first

The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot -- the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal.

Feels alike?
To Kill a Man poster
To Kill a Man
2014 · dir. Alejandro Fernández Almendras
6.3thriller · drama

Both play thriller straight

Jorge is a peaceful hard-working man who seeks a simple, quiet life for himself and his family. One day, he is mugged and humiliated by a gang of thugs led by Kalule, a delinquent from his neighborhood. This event infuriates his son as much for Jorge’s meek acceptance as for the act itself. The son, looking for retribution, ends up getting himself shot. Kalule is sent to jail and when he gets out 18 months later, begins a campaign of terror against Jorge and his family. The authorities do nothing, so Jorge decides to take matters into his own hands.

Feels alike?

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies →

The best-reviewed films that share We Need to Talk About Kevin’s defining feeling.