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Movies that feel like You Were Never Really Here (2017)

If you loved You Were Never Really Here, the closest films we have are We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), Leave No Trace (2018) and Side Effects (2013). All three share You Were Never Really Here'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, Amazon Prime Video and Peacock Premium and others, checked against today's data.

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.

🍅 89% Rotten Tomatoes6.7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Lynne Ramsaygrittycontemplativetensewistful
Stream it:Prime Video
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If You Were Never Really Here hit the spot, these will too

We Need to Talk About Kevin poster
We Need to Talk About Kevin
2011 · dir. Lynne Ramsay
🍅 74%7.4drama · thriller

The same hand behind both of them: Lynne Ramsay

The difference: Without the same grit

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.

Feels alike?
Leave No Trace poster
Leave No Trace
2018 · dir. Debra Granik
🍅 100%7.1drama

Both are working the same pair: post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd), teenage girl

A father and daughter live a perfect but mysterious existence in Forest Park, a beautiful nature reserve near Portland, Oregon, rarely making contact with the world. But when a small mistake tips them off to authorities, they are sent on an increasingly erratic journey in search of a place to call their own.

Feels alike?
Side Effects poster
Side Effects
2013 · dir. Steven Soderbergh
🍅 82%7.1thriller · crime · drama

Both rooted in New York City

A woman turns to prescription medication as a way of handling her anxiety concerning her husband's upcoming release from prison.

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Hyena poster
Hyena
2015 · dir. Gerard Johnson
🍅 78%6.2crime · drama · thriller

The same two preoccupations: murder, and drugs

Good policing doesn't necessarily mean doing everything by the book. But as the business of crime in London turns to favour the Albanians and Turks, how does a "good" policeman survive?

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Good Time poster
Good Time
2017 · dir. Josh Safdie
🍅 91%7.3crime · thriller · drama

The same preoccupation in both: drugs

After a botched bank robbery lands his younger brother in prison, Connie Nikas embarks on a twisted odyssey through New York City's underworld to get his brother Nick out of jail.

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The Shadow's Edge poster
The Shadow's Edge
2025 · dir. Larry Yang
🍅 82%7.1action · crime · drama

Gritty and contemplative in the same breath

The difference: Played as action first

Macau Police brings the tracking expert police officer out of retirement to help catch a dangerous group of professional thieves.

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A Walk Among the Tombstones poster
A Walk Among the Tombstones
2014 · dir. Scott Frank
🍅 68%6.5crime · drama · mystery

Both are built on the same subject: murder

The difference: Leans further into mystery

Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.

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We Own the Night poster
We Own the Night
2007 · dir. James Gray
🍅 57%6.8drama · crime · thriller

Tense crime, and it commits to that

The difference: Critics were much harder on this one

A New York nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian mafia hitmen.

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Elite Squad: The Enemy Within poster
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
2010 · dir. José Padilha
🍅 91%8drama · action · crime

Both lean on wistfulness more than on drama

After a bloody invasion of the BOPE in the High-Security Penitentiary Bangu 1 in Rio de Janeiro to control a rebellion of interns, the Lieutenant-Colonel Roberto Nascimento and the second in command Captain André Matias are accused by the Human Right Aids member Diogo Fraga of execution of prisoners. Matias is transferred to the corrupted Military Police and Nascimento is exonerated from the BOPE by the Governor.

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Killing Them Softly poster
Killing Them Softly
2012 · dir. Andrew Dominik
🍅 74%6.2crime · thriller

Common ground: hotel

Jackie Cogan is an enforcer hired to restore order after three dumb guys rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse.

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The Devil All the Time poster
The Devil All the Time
2020 · dir. Antonio Campos
🍅 65%7.1crime · drama · thriller

Thriller built on grit, twice over

In Knockemstiff, Ohio and its neighboring backwoods, sinister characters converge around young Arvin Russell as he fights the evil forces that threaten him and his family.

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Promising Young Woman poster
Promising Young Woman
2020 · dir. Emerald Fennell
🍅 90%7.5thriller · crime · drama

Contemplative crime in both cases

A young woman, traumatized by a tragic event in her past, seeks out vengeance against those who crossed her path.

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The best-reviewed films that share You Were Never Really Here’s defining feeling.