Best movies like The Swimmer
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Neddy Merrill has been away for most of the summer. He reappears at a friend's pool. As they talk, someone notices that there are pools spanning the entire valley. He decided to jog from pool to pool to swim the whole valley. As he stops in each pool his interactions tell his life story.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, serious, surreal, depressing, philosophical, realistic, stylized, cult classic, bleak
Best tv shows and movies like The Swimmer (1968):
Similar in 75%
The Exchange (2011)
Plot Summary:
A family man becomes obsessed with looking at his own life out of context.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 327
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, Germany
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, atmospheric, serious, contemplative, realistic, weird
Similar in 86%
Urbania (2000)
Plot Summary:
Charlie takes an odyssey through grief during a fall weekend in New York City. His encounters are planned and chance: with a homeless man who sleeps by his building, with a friend who's dying, with the couple who lives (and noisily loves) in the flat above him, with a bartender and a one-night-stand he follows home, and with a tattooed stranger whom he seeks out and befriends. Along the way, Charlie inhabits a city full of moments of violence and of stories and legends: a kidney thief, a microwaved poodle, a rat in a hot dog bun, a baby left on a car top, a tourist's toothbrush, needles in public-phone change slots. Charlie lives and tells his own stories. What caused his melancholy?.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, psychological, surreal, talky, sexy, heartbreaking, melancholic, disturbing, stylized, tense
Similar in 87%
Steppenwolf (1974)
Plot Summary:
In the bourgeois circles of Europe after the Great War, can anything save the modern man? Harry Haller, a solitary intellectual, has all his life feared his dual nature of being human and being a beast. He's decided to die on his 50th birthday, which is soon. He's rescued from his solipsism by the mysterious Hermine, who takes him dancing, introduces him to jazz and to the beautiful and whimsical Maria, and guides him into the hallucinations of the Magic Theater, which seem to take him into Hell. Can humour, sin, and derision lead to salvation?.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Switzerland, UK, France, Italy, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: surreal, existential, philosophical, depressing, manga, esoteric, cult classic, independent film, mystic, psychological
Similar in 85%
All God's Children Can Dance (2008)
Plot Summary:
In Korea Town Los Angeles, a young man, Kengo, believes he's the son of God - that's what his mother told him since he was a young boy. He spends his days working his dead-end job and figuring out his complex feelings for his girlfriend until, one day, he sees a one-eared man who could be his father and decides to follow him around Los Angeles.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 309
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, atmospheric, realistic, stylized, contemplative, independent film, art house
Similar in 90%
The Man Who Sleeps (1974)
Plot Summary:
In this French tour-de-force a young student decides to have no more interaction with the world than is needed to minimally sustain life. His increasingly automaton-like behavior is coupled with a strange clarity of insight about the world around him. His inner musings as he wanders the luminous streets of Paris are narrated in the form of an unwritten diary by Ludmila Mikael.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Tunisia
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: art house, experimental, existential, surreal, contemplative, depressing, poetic, philosophical, artsy, anthology
Similar in 80%
The Night (1961)
Plot Summary:
A married couple attend a bourgeois party and wade through the stifling strain that long-term marriage has imposed upon them.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: cerebral, art house, erotic, black and white, neorealism, atmospheric, realistic, contemplative, stylized, sexual
Similar in 81%
Red Desert (1964)
Plot Summary:
Amid the modern wastelands and toxic factories of Italy, wife and mother Giuliana (Monica Vitti) desperately tries to conceal her tenuous grip on reality from those around her, especially her successful yet neglectful husband, Ugo (Carlo Chionetti). Ugo's old pal, Corrado (Richard Harris), shows up in town on a business trip and is more sensitive to Giuliana's anxieties. They begin an affair, but it does little to quell Giuliana's existential fears, and her mental state rapidly deteriorates.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, atmospheric, realistic, serious, poetic, philosophical, neorealism, existential, contemplative
Similar in 84%
Nostalgia (1983)
Plot Summary:
The Russian poet Andrei Gorchakov, accompanied by guide and translator Eugenia, is traveling through Italy researching the life of an 18th-century Russian composer. In an ancient spa town, he meets the lunatic Domenico, who years earlier had imprisoned his own family in his house for seven years to save them from the evils of the world. Seeing some deep truth in Domenico's act, Andrei becomes drawn to him. In a series of dreams, the poet's nostalgia for his homeland and his longing for his wife, his ambivalent feelings for Eugenia and Italy, and his sense of kinship with Domenico become intertwined.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, Soviet Union
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, philosophical, art house, cerebral, contemplative, poetic, black and white, visual, mind twisting, emotional
Similar in 76%
The Fire Within (1963)
Plot Summary:
Alain Leroy is a recovering alcoholic who decides to end his life, but first decides to visit his friends in Paris one last time, in an attempt at finding a reason to continue living.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: philosophical, depressing, art house, independent film, existential, bleak, touching, sad, anthology, powerful
Similar in 87%
Last Summer (1969)
Plot Summary:
During summer vacation on Fire Island, three young people--a girl and two guys--become so close that they form a sort-of threesome. When an uncool girl tries to infiltrate the trio's newly found relationship, they construct an elaborate plot that has violent results.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: disturbing, slasher, controversial, sexual, spooky, independent film, psychological, sincere, serious, realistic
Similar in 76%
Zabriskie Point (1970)
Plot Summary:
An epic portrait of late Sixties America, as seen through the portrayal of two of its children: anthropology student Daria (who's helping a property developer build a village in the Los Angeles desert) and dropout Mark (who's wanted by the authorities for allegedly killing a policeman during a student riot).
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: road movie, serious, surreal, atmospheric, realistic, political, contemplative, stylized, erotic, psychedelic
Similar in 81%
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014)
Plot Summary:
In the massive city of Tokyo, Kumiko, a twenty-nine year old, lives in utter solitude. She works a dreadful, dead-end job under an awful boss, is intimidated by her well-off peers, and nagged incessantly by her overbearing mother who is exasperated by the fact that her daughter is not married or even in a relationship. The only joys in her life come from a grainy VHS tape – an American film in which a man buries a satchel of money in the snowy Midwestern plains - and her beloved pet rabbit, Bunzo. Kumiko is somehow convinced that this treasure is real, and obsesses over its discovery. With a hand-stitched treasure map and a quixotic spirit, Kumiko embarks on an incredible journey over the Pacific and through the frozen Minnesota wilderness to uncover a purported fortune.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: depressing, surreal, art house, melancholic, emotional, atmospheric, touching, serious, road movie, bleak
Similar in 85%
3 Backyards (2010)
Plot Summary:
An executive, a housewife and a youngster spend a day in their Long Island suburban town during the course of one curious autumn day afternoon.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 753
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, serious, tense, sincere, gloomy, independent film, psychological thriller, psycho film
Similar in 89%
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
Plot Summary:
A driver and a mechanic travel around the United States hopping from drag strip to drag strip in a 1955 Chevy Bel-Air coupe. They race for money, betting with their competitors. The pair gain a young and talkative female stowaway. Along the way they unintentionally attract a well-to-do drifter driving a new Pontiac GTO. This older man, looking for attention, antagonizes their efforts.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: road movie, meditative, atmospheric, grindhouse, disturbing, serious, realistic, cult classic, existential, independent film
Similar in 79%
Winter Light (1963)
Plot Summary:
A Swedish pastor fails a loving woman, a suicidal fisherman and God.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: philosophical, psychological, depressing, art house, emotional, black and white, cerebral, christian film, spiritual, existential
Similar in 79%
Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)
Plot Summary:
The film follows one day in the lives of the Tyrone family, each member is troubled and has been damaged by alcohol and/or drugs. In addition, they have issues with each other that lead to fights and an inability to reconcile completely with one another.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 174 min
Plot tags: tense, depressing, talky, psychological, serious, realistic, grim, clever, retro, spiritual
Similar in 85%
The Trip (1967)
Plot Summary:
Paul Groves, a television commercial director, is in the midst of a personality crisis. His wife Sally has left him and he seeks the help of his friend John, a self-styled guru who's an advocate of LSD. Paul asks John to be the guide on his first "trip". John takes Paul to a "freak-out" at his friend Max's pad. Splitting the scene, they score some acid from Max and return to John's split-level pad with an indoor pool. Paul experiences visions of sex, death, strobe lights, flowers, dancing girls, witches, hooded riders, a torture chamber, and a dwarf. He panics but John tells him to "go with it, man." Would you trust John?.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, psychedelic, psychological, surreal, grindhouse, cult classic, psychotronic, captivating, mind bending, mysterious
Similar in 83%
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Plot Summary:
A drop-out from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil-rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: road movie, serious, realistic, thought provoking, captivating, cynical, cerebral, cult classic, philosophical, existential
Similar in 86%
Paris, Texas (1984)
Plot Summary:
A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 115000
Genere: Drama
Country: West Germany, France, UK, USA
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: road movie, surreal, touching, atmospheric, emotional, bleak, lyrical, visual, philosophical, art house
Similar in 90%
The Sunset Limited (2011)
Plot Summary:
Based on the play of the same name by Pulitzer Prize Winner Cormac McCarthy, this searing two-character drama mixes humor and pathos while examining the relationship between strangers who are brought together by desperate circumstances. Set in a New York tenement apartment, the story focuses on two very different men - a deeply religious black ex-con who thwarts the suicide attempt of an asocial white college professor who tried to throw himself in front of an oncoming subway train, 'The Sunset Limited.' As the one attempts to connect on a rational, spiritual and emotional level, the other remains steadfast in his hard-earned despair. Locked in a philosophical debate, both passionately defend their personal credos and try to convert the other.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: talky, philosophical, minimal cast, thought provoking, psychological, bleak, intellectual, intense, serious, cerebral
Similar in 86%
Another Woman (1988)
Plot Summary:
Marion is a woman who has learned to shield herself from her emotions. She rents an apartment to work undisturbed on her new book, but by some acoustic anomaly she can hear all that is said in the next apartment in which a psychiatrist holds his office. When she hears a young woman tell that she finds it harder and harder to bear her life, Marion starts to reflect on her own life. After a series of events she comes to understand how her unemotional attitude towards the people around her affected them and herself.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, meditative, talky, depressing, serious, independent film, controversial, thinking, contemplative
Similar in 77%
Faces (1968)
Plot Summary:
An old married man leaves his wife for a younger woman. Shortly after, his ex-wife also begins a relationship with a younger partner.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: intense, art house, black and white, independent film, talky, biting, existential, visually stunning, aesthetic, psychological
Similar in 85%
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
Plot Summary:
Desperate characters stake their fortune on a Depression-era dance marathon.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: depressing, atmospheric, emotional, disturbing, bleak, talky, serious, captivating, gloomy, cynical
Similar in 89%
Winter Sleep (2014)
Plot Summary:
Aydin, a retired actor, owns a small hotel in central Anatolia with his young wife Nihal and his sister Necla, who is coping with her recent divorce. During the winter, snow covers the ground and boredom brings the return of old memories, pushing Aydin to flee….
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 55000
Genere: Drama
Country: Turkey, France, Germany
Duration: 196 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, philosophical, art house, meditative, independent film, lyrical, serious, realistic, cerebral, contemplative
Similar in 87%
The Great Beauty (2013)
Plot Summary:
Jep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 96000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: philosophical, art house, visually stunning, stylized, breathtaking, visually appealing, visual, absurd, cerebral, talky
Similar in 85%
Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001)
Plot Summary:
The lives of a lawyer, an actuary, a housecleaner, a professor, and the people around them intersect as they ponder order and happiness in the face of life's cold unpredictability.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: philosophical, psychological, bleak, meditative, depressing, touching, serious, contemplative, existential, cerebral
Similar in 77%
The Ice Storm (1997)
Plot Summary:
In the weekend after thanksgiving 1973 the Hoods are skidding out of control. Benjamin Hood reels from drink to drink, trying not to think about his trouble at the office. His wife, Elena, is reading self help books and losing patience with her husband's lies. Their son, Paul, home for the holidays, escapes to the city to pursue an alluring rich girl from his prep school. Young, budding nymphomaniac, Wendy Hood roams the neighborhood, innocently exploring liquor cabinets and lingerie drawers of her friends' parents, looking for something new. Then an ice storm hits, the worst in a century.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 59000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, France
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: depressing, realistic, intense, visually appealing, existential, cerebral, visual, bleak, emotional, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Interiors (1978)
Plot Summary:
A look at a dysfunctional family dominated by the controlling madness of its matriarch, Eve. Her reluctant husband and their three daughters make doomed efforts to cope with Eve's demands, while also trying to get on with their own lives. But, all bets are off when an ebullient stranger enters the picture.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, realistic, melancholic, touching, depressing, heartbreaking, emotional, disturbing, serious
Similar in 83%
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Plot Summary:
A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 97000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: philosophical, psychological, depressing, surreal, mindfuck, confusing, art house, absurd, mind bending, cult classic
Similar in 82%
American Beauty (1999)
Plot Summary:
Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 12000000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: melancholic, thought provoking, dark comedy, sexual, cerebral, dramatic, sexy, black comedy, tragicomedy, cynical