Best movies like On Top of the Whale
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies similar to On Top of the Whale? Offer your familiarity to guide others to tv shows and films you've already viewed that might appeal to them too. Support expanding the assembly of people recommending videos to one another. We encourage your participation!
Plot Summary:
A parody of anthropology, linguistics, and cultural imperialism. The film follows an unlikely team of linguists into the wilds of an ersatz Patagonia to study the last speakers of a dying language. That language apparently consists of a single word, which therefore means everything.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 246
Genere: Fantasy, Mystery
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: avant garde
Best tv shows and movies like On Top of the Whale (1982):
Similar in 88%
Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (1997)
Plot Summary:
Peter Glahn is released after years of incarceration as a political prisoner and is now returning to his homeland, the mythical Mandragora where the sun never sets. On board the ship home, he meets the mysterious Juliana Kossel who vanishes after stealing his heart. Once he arrives on the island, he goes to the family ostrich farm run by his sister Amelia. He finds Amelia living with a farmhand named Cain Ball who fears that Peter's return will endanger the agreement he made with Amelia that will see him inherit the farm. Amelia has since fallen for the vain Dr. Isaac Solti who controls the island and has a hold on both Zephyr Eccles, the widow of a local fisherman, and Juliana, Peter's dream girl from the ship. Solti's true obsession is a recently discovered statue of Venus that possesses strange powers. All the characters meet at Solti's lab where the sexual tensions erupt.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 957
Genere: Fantasy, Mystery, Romance
Country: Canada
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychedelic, experimental, avant garde, independent film, exciting, atmospheric, mind bending, offbeat, serious
Similar in 79%
An Ambiguous Report About the End of the World (1997)
Plot Summary:
Set over a two-decade period in a tiny Central European village, this drama not only chronicles a couple's tragic star-crossed love, it also serves as a metaphor for the tragedy of lost traditions. After opening in the snowy wilds as two people spectacularly die, the story jumps back 20 years as young Verona prepares to marry. Unfortunately, voracious wolves descend upon the ceremony and all but Verona and her courageous 10-year-old brother-in-law Goran, who saves her, perish. That day, Verona gives birth to Veronika and promptly betroths her daughter to the heroic Goran. A decade passes and on Veronika's 10th birthday, her engagement to Goran is formally announced at a big party. Festivities halt when a troupe of female circus performers and their sly employer Madina show up. Veronika soon finds herself more interested in Madina's young son Michal than she is in the adult Goran. Meanwhile, the worldly Madina attempts to adjust to life in an old-fashioned village.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 356
Genere: Fantasy, Mystery
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia
Duration: 154 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
Mid-Century (2022)
Plot Summary:
A husband and wife's weekend in a mid-century modern vacation rental turns deadly when the husband discovers the owner is a psychopath with a backyard of buried secrets and designs on his wife.
IMDB Rating: 3.3
IMDB Votes: 986
Genere: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: suspense, slasher horror
Similar in 86%
The Arrival of Joachim Stiller (1976)
Plot Summary:
The film tells the story of Freek Groenevelt and Simone Marijnissen whose lives are taken over by Joachim Stiller.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 392
Genere: Mystery
Country: Netherlands, Belgium
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
Tales of the Supernatural (2014)
Plot Summary:
This film consists of six supernatural tales linked together by a demon that is intent on collecting human souls. The Demon banished to Earth by The Devil performs unholy rituals that releases the souls of the damned.
IMDB Rating: 2.6
IMDB Votes: 147
Genere: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: anthology, psychological thriller
Similar in 83%
Tezuka's Barbara (2019)
Plot Summary:
Barbara is an adult-orientated fantasy tale filled with love and the occult from Osamu Tezuka's reimagining of "The Tales of Hoffmann". Its story deals with the erotic and bizarre experiences of a famous novelist called Yosuke Mikura whose life is tossed upside down by a mysterious girl named "Barbara".
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 275
Genere: Fantasy, Mystery
Country: Japan, UK, Germany
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 75%
The Show (2020)
Plot Summary:
A man goes on a mission to locate a stolen artifact for a client, which leads him to a haunted town full of vampires, sleeping beauties, and Voodoo gangsters.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, disturbing, psychedelic, surreal, neo noir, dark fantasy, british noir
Similar in 80%
The Lost Domain (2005)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1973 during the coup d'etat in Chile, Max recalls his encounters in London during Worl War II with French aviator Antoine, a childhood hero he first met in his native country one morning in 1932 and who initiated him to the wonders of aviation.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 109
Genere: Drama, Fantasy
Country: France, Italy, Romania, Spain
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
In Passing (2011)
Plot Summary:
In Passing is a collaboration between seven different filmmakers from around the world in response to Jesse Richards' 2008 Remodernist Film Manifesto.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 30
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: USA, Ireland, Netherlands
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: anthology, inspirational, experimental, avant garde
Similar in 84%
Luminous Procuress (1971)
Plot Summary:
A series of erotic vignettes and sexual imagery (mostly of the gay variety) are presented courtesy of The Cockettes (a gay/drag performance art ensemble of late 60s/early 70s San Francisco).
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 152
Genere: Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: avant garde, dark, explicit, aesthetic, transgressive, homoerotic, underground film, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 85%
The Man Without a Map (1968)
Plot Summary:
A private detective is hired to find a missing man by his wife. While his search is unsuccessful, the detective's own life begins to resemble the man for whom he is searching.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 594
Genere: Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: neo noir, surreal, absurd, detective, avant garde
Similar in 77%
Love Torn in a Dream (2000)
Plot Summary:
Raul Ruiz's Love Torn in a Dream is introduced with a fake newsreel, taking place in postwar France, in which the cast of the film meet with the producer, who explains the film's complex weave of nine narratives. A diagram in which each story is represented by a letter of the alphabet explicates the intertwining of the nine tales. As the producer explains each actor's role, the film begins. The stories, rooted in folklore, bump up against each other as the film leaps back and forth in time.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 370
Genere: Drama, Fantasy
Country: France, Portugal, Chile
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: semi serious, enigmatic, offbeat, humorous, avant garde, art house, baroque
Similar in 86%
Dreamwood (1972)
Plot Summary:
Dreamwood narrates the oniric quest of a modern argonaut in a mysterious island located somewhere on the borders of the unconscious.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 155
Genere: Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: anthology, experimental, avant garde, independent film
Similar in 87%
At Night All the Cats Are Black (2022)
Plot Summary:
A crew is shooting a libertine costume film in the countryside when Valentin, the director, suddenly disappears. While the local police investigates, the film shoot continues but takes an odd turn. Robin, the cameraman and director’s lover, follows a promise and reaches the Mexican Pacific.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 90
Genere: Fantasy
Country: Switzerland
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: avant garde, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 77%
Go Away, Ultramarine (2019)
Plot Summary:
An island in Japan is the site for the dumped and the refuse. Nanakusa and Yu who were childhood and school friends meet on this island that is called Kaiden, a scary name that only refers to things not normal or earthly. The reunited friends strike a bargain and are soon involved in cases most would not dare be involved in or become entangled in.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 120
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: crying
Similar in 89%
Crumbs (2015)
Plot Summary:
Our figurine sized supermen hero embarks on an epic surreal journey that will take him across the Ethiopian post apocalyptic landscape in search of a way to get on the hovering spacecraft that for years has become a landmark in the skies.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 746
Genere: Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Spain, Ethiopia, Finland
Duration: 68 min
Plot tags: surreal, avant garde, indie film, weird
Similar in 79%
Mayday (2021)
Plot Summary:
Ana is transported to a dreamlike and dangerous land where she joins an army of girls engaged in a never-ending war. Even though she finds strength in this exhilarating world, she realizes that she's not the killer they want her to be, and times running out for her to get home.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, surreal, anamorphic
Similar in 85%
The Cursed: Dead Man’s Prey (2021)
Plot Summary:
A teenage girl who has the ability to bring death by using Hanja (Chinese characters), names, photos, and belongings; and a just social issues reporter, fighting against the massive evil hidden behind an IT conglomerate. The film for the series "The Cursed".
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 292
Genere: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Country: South Korea
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: enigmatic, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 81%
Schizopolis (1996)
Plot Summary:
A man works for the unpleasant guru of a Scientology-like movement.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: surreal, experimental, black comedy, psychedelic, parody, confusing, cerebral, cult classic, mind bending, clever
Similar in 79%
Faust (2011)
Plot Summary:
Faust is a 2011 Russian film directed by Alexander Sokurov. Set in the 19th century, it is a free interpretation of the Faust legend and its literary adaptations by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Thomas Mann. The dialogue is in German. The film won the Golden Lion at the 68th Venice International Film Festival.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: Russia
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: contemplative, disturbing, atmospheric, bleak, serious, existential, fairy tale, philosophical, surreal, art house
Similar in 80%
Cemetery of Splendor (2015)
Plot Summary:
In a hospital, ten soldiers are being treated for a mysterious sleeping sickness. In a story in which dreams can be experienced by others, and in which goddesses can sit casually with mortals, a nurse learns the reason why the patients will never be cured, and forms a telepathic bond with one of them.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: Thailand, UK, Germany, France, Malaysia, South Korea, Mexico, USA, Norway
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: surreal, art house, enigmatic, romantic, scary, inspirational, philosophical, mind bending, psychedelic, mystic
Similar in 86%
Art of the Devil 2 (2005)
Plot Summary:
A group of high school friends reunite after two years when one of their fathers' committed suicide. They all spend the night at their friend's place. When darkness falls, strange things begin to happen to them one by one. It is as if someone is using the black arts on them in revenge for an act this group of friends committed together back at high school.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Country: Thailand
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: disturbing, suspense, scary, suspenseful, psychological, slasher, demonic, terrifying, serious
Similar in 85%
The Night Flier (1997)
Plot Summary:
Two investigative reporters for a tabloid magazine track down across country "The Night Flier", a serial killer who travels by private plane stalking victims in rural airports. One of the reporters, Richard Dees, begins to suspect that "the Night Flier could perhaps be a vampire".
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Country: USA, Italy
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: scary, suspense, splatter, suspenseful, surprise ending, slasher, surreal, anthology, psychological horror, tense
Similar in 75%
Anthem of a Teenage Prophet (2018)
Plot Summary:
A small town-teen predicts his friend’s death with startling accuracy and is labelled the “Prophet of Death.” One thing he didn’t see coming? Falling in love - with his best friend’s girl.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 578
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: Canada
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 88%
The Magicians (2010)
Plot Summary:
Little Ben, a great admirer of an illusionist, dreams of making magic, and convinces her father to have his own show. The downside is that the parent is quite clumsy and accidentally makes Ben"s partner dissapear. And the police does not much believe in the magic.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 422
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, feel good, humorous, light, serious, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Dagon (2001)
Plot Summary:
A boating accident off the coast of Spain sends Paul and his girlfriend Barbara to the decrepit fishing village of Imboca. As night falls, people start to disappear and things not quite human start to appear. Paul is pursued by the entire town. Running for his life, he uncovers Imboca's secret..they worship Dagon, a monstrous god of the sea...and Dagon's unholy offspring are on the loose.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Country: Spain
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: lovecraft, scary, atmospheric, suspense, surprise ending, suspenseful, satanic, tense, serious, dark
Similar in 80%
Comedy of Innocence (2000)
Plot Summary:
Today, Camille turns nine. He had sworn that on his 9th birthday he would show his parents the videos he was shooting on the side - the tail of a cat scampering away, a window, and a veiled woman's face - an intriguing picture... Later that day, Camille's mother, Ariane, meets up with her son in the park. The boy appears perturbed. He is leaning against a tree, eyes cast down. He says that now he wants to return to his "real home" and his "real mother.".
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 938
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, atmospheric, realistic, suspenseful, talky
Similar in 76%
Three Lives and Only One Death (1996)
Plot Summary:
Raoul Ruiz’s enthralling thriller is made up of four intertwining stories of bizarre occurrences in Paris featuring a man who was stolen away by fairies, a professor who becomes a tramp, the lovers who inherit a chateau – and the last tale that connects all that has gone before.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: France, Portugal
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: surreal, atmospheric, enigmatic, humorous, stylized, witty, dark comedy, manga, anthology, offbeat
Similar in 79%
The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (1978)
Plot Summary:
Two narrators, one seen and one unseen, discuss possible connections between a series of paintings. The on-screen narrator walks through three-dimensional reproductions of each painting, featuring real people, sometimes moving, in an effort to explain the series' significance.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France
Duration: 66 min
Plot tags: experimental, realistic, serious, captivating, stylized, mindfuck, philosophical, black and white, cult classic, atmospheric
Similar in 85%
Neverwas (2005)
Plot Summary:
Zach Riley (Aaron Eckhart) is a psychiatrist, who leaves a job at a prestigious university, to take up a job at the privately run mental institution, 'Millwood'. What he doesnt reveal at the time of his appointment is that this was the very place where his novelist father, T.L. Pierson (Nick Nolte), spent many years of his life.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: Canada
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, visual, fairy tale, crying, whimsical