Best movies like A Dirty Carnival
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Byung-du is a 29-year-old career criminal, working for the middle-rank enforcer Sang-chul. Burdened with a terminally ill mother and taking care of younger siblings, Byung-du is feeling financial pressure as a substitute patriarch. When the big boss President Hwang is cornered by a corrupt prosecutor, Byung-du volunteers for a whack job and wins the big man's trust.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, captivating, suspenseful, tense, bleak, realistic, neo noir, sincere, suspense
Best tv shows and movies like A Dirty Carnival (2006):
Similar in 83%
Once Upon a Time in High School: The Spirit of Jeet Kune Do (2004)
Plot Summary:
A model student transfers to the notorious Jungmoon High School known for its severe corporal punishment by teachers and power struggles between school gangs.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama, History
Country: South Korea
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, suspenseful, exciting, rough, realistic, uplifting, biting, suspense
Similar in 80%
A Company Man (2012)
Plot Summary:
A contract killing organization is managed like a normal company. Hyung-do who regards killing as nothing more than repetitious routine is working for this company. A man loyal to his company and accepted as the firm’s best killer, Hyung-do one day starts feeling doubts about his job and decides to quit his job for a woman he is in love with. Instantly, he is under the threat of being hunted down by his former colleagues.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, psychological, brutal, suspense, crime drama, realistic
Similar in 86%
Crows Zero (2007)
Plot Summary:
The students of Suzuran High compete for the King of School title. An ex-graduate yakuza is sent to kill the son of a criminal group, but he can't make himself to do it as he reminds him of his youth.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime
Country: Japan
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, captivating, semi serious, dorama, epic, manga, anime, action packed, serious
Similar in 75%
Rough Cut (2008)
Plot Summary:
Gang-pae is #2 gangster in his organization who longs to become an actor. Su-ta is a superstar actor who takes on the role of a gangster in an action movie called Rough Cut. When another actor leaves the set due to Su-tas violent ways, the production is on the verge of shutting down. Su-ta asks Gang-pae, whom he met by chance, to play alongside him in the movie in order to save the production.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, rough, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 76%
Gangnam Blues (2015)
Plot Summary:
A "gangster noir" set in the 1970s, when Gangnam, Seoul goes under development. Political powers and darker organizations collide as they seek to grab control of the influential and exclusive area.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, erotic, sexy, suspense, rough, suspenseful, serious
Similar in 87%
The Death Collector (1976)
Plot Summary:
A kid from the neighborhood goes to work for the Mafia as a collector.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 972
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: suspense, grindhouse, crime drama, independent film, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, poliziottesco
Similar in 85%
Outrage (2010)
Plot Summary:
The story begins with Sekiuchi, boss of the Sannokai, a huge organized crime syndicate controlling the entire Kanto region, issuing a stern warning to his lieutenant Kato and right-hand man Ikemoto, head of the Ikemoto-gumi. Kato orders Ikemoto to bring the unassociated Murase-gumi gang in line, and he immediately passes the task on to his subordinate Otomo, who runs his own crew. The tricky jobs that no-one wants to do always end up in Otomo’s lap.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, cynical, rough, realistic, bloody, psychological, sincere, neo noir, disturbing
Similar in 90%
A Better Tomorrow (2010)
Plot Summary:
A Korean remake of the John Woo Classic. One brother is a criminal. One brother is a cop. Both will fight to the death.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, suspenseful, serious, suspense, heroic, crime drama, neo noir, fast
Similar in 83%
Friend 2 (2013)
Plot Summary:
A sequel to Kwak Kyeong-taek's "Friend" in 2001, "Friends 2" is about three men who are gangsters based in the background of the year 1963 and 2010.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 631
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, South Korea
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, suspense, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2007)
Plot Summary:
Former Yakuza underling Kiryu Kazuma, who has recently been released from prison after a lengthy incarceration, and is trying to piece his life together and distance himself from his Yakuza past. Unfortunately Kiryu's problems slowly escalate as he is pursued by a former associate, the baseball bat-wielding psycho Majima Goro who has a grudge to settle with Kiryu.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan, South Korea
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, captivating, suspense, heroic, crime drama, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 80%
Bad Blood (2010)
Plot Summary:
When the boss of a ruling Hong Kong triad is arrested and executed in China for counterfeiting money, mayhem ensues as the mob's leading contenders circle the throne.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 597
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: captivating, exciting, bleak, tense, bloody, crime drama, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
Friend (2001)
Plot Summary:
The film follows the lives of four childhood friends: Joon-seok, the leader, whose father is a powerful mob boss; Dong-su, whose father is an undertaker; class clown Jung-ho; and Sang-taek, an exemplary student. The story is the director's experience about his friends, a semi-autobiography set in his hometown, Busan. When it was released it was the highest-grossing Korean movie of all time.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, captivating, suspenseful, inspirational, crime drama, bleak, realistic
Similar in 80%
Monga (2010)
Plot Summary:
Set in the 1980s, “Monga” centers on five boys (Mosquito, Monk, Dragon, White Monkey and A-Lan) who join the "Gang of Princes" who are tired of being pushed around. As the "Gang of Princes" rise in stature, they come into conflict with other gangs jealous of their rising power.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, exciting, serious, captivating, heroic, hood, rough, bleak, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
Company (2002)
Plot Summary:
Mallik is a henchman of Aslam Bhai, a Mumbai underworld kingpin. He inducts local hothead Chandu into the gang, and the two of them soon form a formidable faction within the gang, eventually displacing Aslam. As the empire grows, however, the two of them start drifting apart.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: India
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, neo noir, realistic, offbeat, entertaining, experimental, captivating, cult film
Similar in 89%
West 32nd (2007)
Plot Summary:
When John Kim, an ambitious young lawyer, takes on a pro bono case to exonerate a fourteen-year-old boy from a first degree murder charge, he finds a world he never knew existed in the underbelly of Manhattan - the Korean underworld.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 534
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea, USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, captivating, psychological, suspense, crime drama, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 81%
Election (2005)
Plot Summary:
A drama-thriller centered on a democratic election within an organized crime society.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: suspense, rough, captivating, suspenseful, neo noir, bloody, crime drama, tense, serious, realistic
Similar in 87%
New World (2013)
Plot Summary:
An undercover cop has his loyalties tested when the boss of the corporate gang he's spent years infiltrating dies.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, neo noir, suspenseful, realistic, captivating, serious, intense, rough, psychological
Similar in 81%
The Yellow Sea (2010)
Plot Summary:
The region where the borders of North Korea, China, and Russia come together, forms a sort of modern day wild west, where more than half of the population relies on illegal activity in order to survive. In Yanbian, on the Chinese side of the border, Gu-nam wiles away his days driving a cab and spends his nights getting drunk and gambling. His wife went to Seoul to work and send back money, but it’s been months since he has heard from her. When local crime lord Myun offers to erase Gu-nam’s debts in exchange for a contract killing in Seoul, Gu-nam reluctantly accepts.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea, Hong Kong, USA
Duration: 157 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, serious, rough, bleak, neo noir, suspense, disturbing, psychological thriller, sincere
Similar in 86%
A Bittersweet Life (2005)
Plot Summary:
Kim Sun-woo is an enforcer and manager for a hotel owned by a cold, calculative crime boss, Kang who assigns Sun-Woo to a simple errand while he is away on a business trip; to shadow his young mistress, Heesoo, for fear that she may be cheating on him with another, younger man, with the mandate that he must kill them both if he discovers their affair.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: suspense, bleak, psychological, tense, atmospheric, exciting, serious, brutal, neo noir, bloody
Similar in 88%
Beyond Outrage (2012)
Plot Summary:
As the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West. What started as an internal strife in Outrage has now become a nationwide war in Outrage Beyond.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, realistic, psychological, noir, neo noir, bloody, hood, crime thriller
Similar in 76%
Honor (2006)
Plot Summary:
In a world where street gangs collide with the law, neighborhood friends, Raymond and Gabriel, must decide which side of the battle to join. This will be the ultimate fight - the one for power, family, and HONOR.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 594
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, suspense, crime drama, psychological, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
Antikiller (2002)
Plot Summary:
Former criminal investigator, Major Korenev, nicknamed Fox is released from prison. He has been detained there as a result of planted incriminating evidence of unlawful investigation techniques. Setting accounts with Shaman - a big criminal boss, who ordered the evidence planted and also with his former colleagues was not a part of Korenev's agenda. As he returns to Moscow he finds a new world ruled by underworld bosses, criminal clans fighting each other and utter chaos on the desperately keeping appearances streets of Russian capital. Facing death of his friends, Major Korenev decides to re-install law and order using some unorthodox methods that are only relevant in 21st century Russia.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime
Country: Russia
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, exciting, suspenseful, rough, tense, captivating, bleak, neo noir
Similar in 78%
Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time (2012)
Plot Summary:
A corrupted customs officer, Choi Ik-hyeon, faces losing his job. Then, his life turns around as he meets ganster Choi Hyeong-bae who has connection with the Yakuza. They quickly form a partnetship; Hyeong-bae helps Ik-hyeon set up a business with the money from drug trafficking while Ik-hyeon lobbies for his partner Hyeong-bae. As the government declares war on crime, however, their partnership begins to crack.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, rough, realistic, crime drama, captivating, suspense, noir, neo noir
Similar in 87%
Real Gangsters (2013)
Plot Summary:
Real Gangsters tells the story of the Lo Giacamo family, one of the most successful crime syndicates in New York City. Run by cousins Vincent Lo Giacamo and Jack Lo Giacamo, Real Gangsters shows how these two men maintain control of their dangerous extended family and volatile business ventures by very different means.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, captivating, cynical, rough, independent film
Similar in 83%
Easy Money III: Life Deluxe (2013)
Plot Summary:
JW now lives in exile and is more than ever determined to find out what happened to his missing sister Camilla. Every trace leads him to the world of organized crime in Stockholm. Jorge is about to do his last score - the largest robbery in Swedish history. But during the complicated preparations he meets a woman from his past - Nadja. Martin Hägerström is chosen to go undercover into the Serbian mafia, in order to get its notorious boss Radovan Krajnic behind bars. When an assassination attempt is made on Radovan, his daughter Natalie is pulled into the power struggle within the Serbian mafia.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Sweden
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, rough, realistic, suspenseful, captivating, suspense, non-linear
Similar in 75%
Election 2 (2006)
Plot Summary:
As election time nears, current Triad chairman Lok (Simon Yam) faces competition from his godsons. At the same time, Jimmy (Louis Koo) looks to increase his business relations with mainland China.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, tense, rough, captivating, realistic, suspense, neo noir, bloody, stylized
Similar in 82%
Gangster Land (2017)
Plot Summary:
The story of America's most famous mobsters and their rise to power. Examine Al Capone's ascension through the eyes of his second in command, “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, stylized, tense, atmospheric, rough, captivating, realistic
Similar in 90%
Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema (2008)
Plot Summary:
This South African movie tracks the rise of a once-petty criminal to the heights of the criminal underworld. After cutting his teeth on hijacking, before moving onto bigger game, an ambitious man hits a setback when most of his gang are shot.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: South Africa
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, hood, social, crime drama, epic
Similar in 76%
The Man from Nowhere (2010)
Plot Summary:
His only friend called him 'the man from nowhere'... Taesik, a former special agent becomes a loner after losing his wife in a miserable accident and lives a bitter life running a pawnshop. He only has a few customers and a friend named Somi, a little girl next door. As Taesik spends more and more time with Somi, he gets attached to her. Then Somi is kidnapped by a gang, and as Taesik tries to save Somi by becoming deeply associated with the gang his mysterious past is revealed.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 74000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, brutal, exciting, touching, emotional, neo noir, bleak, suspense, harsh
Similar in 87%
Infernal Affairs II (2003)
Plot Summary:
In this prequel to Mou gaan dou (2002), Chan Wing Yan has just become an undercover cop in the triads while Lau Kin Ming joins the police force. Both the triads and the police find an enemy in a rival crime boss.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong, Singapore, China
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: suspense, neo noir, exciting, tense, rough, suspenseful, realistic, crime drama, psychological, bloody