Best movies like The Thief
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
In 1946, a soldier fathers a child then dies before its birth. Jump to 1952: on a train, the child and his mother meet a handsome soldier who makes a play for her. She accepts. Posing as a married family, the soldier finds them a rooming house where he becomes everyone's favorite through his good looks and generosity. Meanwhile he gives the boy, Sanya, lessons in life: to fight back, to win at all costs. The child's mother, Katya, is head-over-heels in love with Tolyan, the soldier, but the relationship becomes rocky when Tolyan's true plans for the rooming house become clear. It starts them on a treadmill of flight that risks Katya's life, Tolyan's liberty, and Sanya's trust.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Russia, France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: bleak, realistic, sincere, gloomy, serious, crying, sentimental, atmospheric, thought provoking, touching
Best tv shows and movies like The Thief (1997):
Similar in 86%
Blind Shaft (2003)
Plot Summary:
Two Chinese miners, who make money by killing fellow miners and then extorting money from the mine owner to keep quiet about the "accident", happen upon their latest victim. But one of them begins to have second thoughts.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious, neo noir, contemplative, crying, independent film
Similar in 76%
The Quickie (2001)
Plot Summary:
A crime soap opera about a Russian mobster retiring from "the business" on New Year's Eve, only to discover he has been targeted for death by a rival mobster.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 877
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK, France, Germany
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, captivating, suspense, realistic
Similar in 85%
I'm Your Woman (2020)
Plot Summary:
In this 1970s set crime drama, a woman is forced to go on the run after her husband betrays his partners, sending her and her baby on a dangerous journey.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, tricky, neo noir, entertaining, crying
Similar in 83%
Lights in the Dusk (2006)
Plot Summary:
Koistenin is a sad sack, a man without affect or friends. He's a night-watchman in Helsinki with ideas of starting his own business, but nothing to go with those intentions. He sometimes talks a bit with a woman who runs a snack trailer near his work. Out of the blue, a young sophisticated blonde woman attaches herself to Koistenin. He thinks of her as his girlfriend, he takes her on her rounds.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Finland, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: bleak, melancholic, enigmatic, sincere, psychological, atmospheric, dark comedy, touching, neo noir, contemplative
Similar in 87%
Cyclo (1995)
Plot Summary:
Follows a young cyclo (bicycle cab) driver on his poverty-driven descent into criminality in modern-day Ho Chi Minh City. The boy's struggles to scratch out a living for his two sisters and grandfather in the mean streets of the city lead to petty crime on behalf of a mysterious Madame from whom he rents his cyclo.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Vietnam, France, Hong Kong
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: disturbing, bleak, stylized, intellectual, neo noir, controversial, rough, serious, realistic, crying
Similar in 79%
Pizza, Beer, and Cigarettes (1998)
Plot Summary:
A couple of friends work for a taxi driver to rob his passengers, but they feel like they're getting ripped off. They decide to plan their own robberies, but they are amateurs and things don't go too well. One of the youths, Cordoba, whose girlfriend Sandra is pregnant, just wants to get enough cash so they can leave Argentina and get to Uruguay to start a new life. He and his friends plan one last robbery, but things don't go as planned.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Argentina
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: social, hispanic, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 80%
Luna Park (1992)
Plot Summary:
Andrei is the head of a gang of antisemitic skinheads clinging to the old communist ideals in post-Communist Moscow. When he learns that his long lost father actually is a Jewish bohemian living in Moscow, rather than an Afghanistan war hero, he traces him down in order to kill him. But the intriguing father and his "reactionary" lifstyle soon fascinates Andrei which leads to a clash with his gang.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 517
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Russia
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: sincere, rough, thought provoking, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 85%
Sister (2012)
Plot Summary:
A drama set at a Swiss ski resort and centered on a boy who supports his sister by stealing from wealthy guests.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Switzerland, France
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, atmospheric, captivating, social, action thriller, sincere, gloomy, crying
Similar in 83%
Flawless (1999)
Plot Summary:
An ultraconservative police officer suffers a debilitating stroke and is assigned to a rehabilitative program that includes singing lessons - with the drag queen next door.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: talky, independent film, light, thinking, cult classic, comedy drama, sentimental, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 77%
Hurricane Streets (1997)
Plot Summary:
Marcus is a kid on Manhattan's mean streets. He's turning 15, his father is dead, his mother is in prison for smuggling undocumented aliens. His grandmother is raising him. He has four close buddies who have a basement clubhouse; they shoplift and sell the wares to kids. One is moving toward selling drugs. Marcus wants to take a breather from the city and visit family in New Mexico. He also meets Melena, 14, a sweet kid who dreams of going to Alaska; her father is not just protective but angry and uncommunicative. The gang pressures Marcus to move up to burglary and car theft. He just wants to breathe open air. Can anything go right?.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: independent film, realistic, rough, bleak, serious, disturbing, clever, bad ending, sad, harsh
Similar in 78%
Love the Hard Way (2001)
Plot Summary:
Claire, a brilliant student, seeks answers to the meaning of life in the calm of her biology laboratory. One day, she meets a mysterious young man, Jack, at the cinema, and is intrigued by his style, assurance and audacity. Apart from his artistic activities, Jack has a regular scam going, ripping off foreign businessmen with his loyal mate Charlie and two actresses. But his tough guy exterior conceals a secret passion for old books, and he dreams of writing a novel one day. Jack falls hard for Claire's purity and curiosity. An unusual romance develops between them. But Jack is scared of their growing intimacy and rejects Claire, withdrawing into his shell. Abandoned and confused, Claire gradually begins to neglect her studies and embarks on a spiraling course of self-destruction, whilst Jack, who tries to ignore her, concentrates on his criminal activities. However, a sharp detective, named Linda Fox, is following his dodgy tracks.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Crime, Romance
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: neo noir, bleak, serious, realistic, romantic, romantic drama, independent film, gloomy, detective
Similar in 86%
Fifty-Fifty (2004)
Plot Summary:
A teen involved in the world of underground boxing vows to take care of a dead fighter's family.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance, Sport, Thriller
Country: Kazakhstan, Russia, France, Germany
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, rough, serious, bleak, emotional, realistic, touching
Similar in 88%
Disco Pigs (2001)
Plot Summary:
Pig and Runt born on the same day, in the same hospital, moments apart. Twins, all but by bloodline. Inseparable from birth, they are almost telepathic. They are one, needing no one else, inhabiting a delicate, insular and dangerous world where they make their own rules and have their own language. But days before their 17th birthday the balance of their world begins to shift. Pig's sexual awakening and jealousy begins to threaten their private universe.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: Ireland
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, rough, suspenseful, independent film, philosophical, heartbreaking, melancholic, disturbing
Similar in 82%
All or Nothing (2002)
Plot Summary:
Penny's love for her partner, taxi-driver Phil, has run dry. He is a gentle, philosophical guy, and she works on the checkout at a supermarket.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, France
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: depressing, emotional, bleak, serious, realistic, meditative, sentimental, sincere, talky, offbeat
Similar in 81%
Joe the King (1999)
Plot Summary:
A destitute 14 year old struggles to keep his life together despite harsh abuse at his mother's hands, harsher abuse at his father's, and a growing separation from his slightly older brother. Petty thefts for food grow into more major takes until he steals a cash box from the diner where he works. Although Joe uses the money to pay off some of his father's debts and to replace his mother's records that his father smashed in a fit of temper, Joe gets no thanks.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: emotional, harsh, tense, rough, grim, realistic, art house, semi autobiographical, serious, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Our Lady of the Assassins (2000)
Plot Summary:
World-weary arthur Fernando has returned to his native Colombia to live out his days in peace. But Fernando's once-quiet hometown has become a hotbed of violence, drugs and corruption. On the brink of despair, Fernando meets Alexis, a beautiful but hardened street kid who lives by the rule of the gun. Together, they forge an unlikely relationship.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Spain, France, Colombia
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: disturbing, meditative, rough, thought provoking, serious, realistic, contemplative, crying, sexy, enigmatic
Similar in 84%
From the Edge of the City (1998)
Plot Summary:
Minority-group Greeks from an outer suburb of Athens struggle with their life on society's fringe and exploitation of one another.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Greece
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, realistic, gloomy, neo noir, lgbt cinema, disgusting, queer cinema, gay cinema
Similar in 83%
Pianese Nunzio, Fourteen in May (1996)
Plot Summary:
A young priest crusades against organized crime in his Naples neighbourhood but falls in love with a 13-year old boy. It's the chance the gangsters were waiting for to get rid of the thorn in their side. Will they be able to force the boy to accuse the priest of sexual harassment and have his reputation destroyed?.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 424
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sexual, crying, sexy, gay cinema, baroque
Similar in 87%
Money (1983)
Plot Summary:
A forged 500-franc note is cynically passed from person to person and shop to shop, until it falls into the hands of a genuine innocent who doesn't see it for what it is - which will have devastating consequences on his life, causing him to turn to crime and murder.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France, Switzerland
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: spiritual, slow cinema, depressing, neo noir, sad, contemplative, anthology, cynical, grim, aesthetic
Similar in 81%
The Child I Never Was (2002)
Plot Summary:
A serial killer dispassionately discusses the nuts and bolts of his grisly avocation, as well as the youthful traumas which helped to mold him into a psychopath, in this disturbing independent drama from Germany, based on the true story of of Germany's most famous child murderer Juergen Bartsch who, between the ages of 15 and 19, abused, tortured and killed four schoolboys in the Ruhr region of Germany from 1962 to 1966.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 638
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, serious, bleak, art house, realistic, gloomy, crying
Similar in 87%
Levity (2003)
Plot Summary:
Manuel Jordan is a man who is free after serving 23 years for killing a teenager during an attempted robbery. After nearly two decades of staring at his victim's face on a newspaper clipping in his cell, the paroled man attempts to find redemption, in the form of a mysterious minister and two needy women.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA, France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, melancholic, philosophical, psychological, cult classic, serious, realistic, contemplative, inspirational
Similar in 78%
Oliver Twist (2005)
Plot Summary:
Oliver Twist the modern filmed version of Charles Dickens bestseller, a Roman Polanski adaptation. The classic Dickens tale, where an orphan meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. From there, he joins a household of boys who are trained to steal for their master.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France, UK, Czech Republic
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: emotional, costume drama, atmospheric, sentimental, touching, serious, suspense, period piece, melancholic, stylized
Similar in 81%
Tycoon (2002)
Plot Summary:
During the Gorbachev years, Platon Makovski and his four buddies are university students who jump on the private capitalism movement. Fast-forward 20 years, Platon finds himself the richest man in Russia, having sacrificed his friends to get to the top. But with this cynical rise, comes a brutal fall.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Russia, France, Germany
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: serious, cynical, realistic, suspenseful, political thriller, suspense, biting, clever
Similar in 76%
Pixote (1980)
Plot Summary:
Pixote, a 10-year-old runaway boy, is arrested on the streets of Sao Paulo during a police round-up homeless people. Pixote endures torture, degradation and corruption at a local youth detention center where two of the runaways are murdered by policemen who frame Lilica, a 17-year-old transvesite hustler. Pixote helps Lilica and three other boys escape where they make their living by the life of crime which only escalates to more violence and death.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: disturbing, depressing, bleak, realistic, rough, atmospheric, serious, political, controversial, hood
Similar in 75%
Tsotsi (2005)
Plot Summary:
The South African multi-award winning film about a young South African boy from the ghetto named Tsotsi, meaning Gangster. Tsotsi, who left home as a child to get away from helpless parents, finds a baby in the back seat of a car that he has just stolen. He decides that it his responsibility to take care of the baby and in the process learns that maybe the gangster life isn’t the best way.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK, South Africa
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, bleak, emotional, harsh, rough, captivating, dramatic, art house, realistic, inspirational
Similar in 89%
A Prophet (2009)
Plot Summary:
Sentenced to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim) is alone in the world and can neither read nor write. On his arrival at the prison, he seems younger and more brittle than the others detained there. At once he falls under the sway of a group of Corsicans who enforce their rule in the prison. As the 'missions' go by, he toughens himself and wins the confidence of the Corsican group.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 101000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: harsh, tense, bleak, rough, atmospheric, political, dramatic, psychological, breathtaking, realistic
Similar in 87%
Liquidation (2007)
Plot Summary:
The year is 1946. World War II is over, but it doesn't mean that there is no one to fight with. The post-war city of Odessa is ruled by serial killer prison-escapees and former Nazi collaborators. Fallen into disfavor, Marshal Zhoukov is sent to Odessa by Joseph Stalin to handle the situation. Together with the head of the local criminal investigation unit, David Gottsman, Zhoukov begins a special operation cleanup post-war Odessa from crime.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Mystery, Thriller, War
Country: Russia, Ukraine
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, suspense, captivating, disturbing, suspenseful, interesting
Similar in 79%
Secrets of the Heart (1997)
Plot Summary:
Javi and his friend Carlos visit an old house on the outskirts of a small Spanish village. According to his brother Juan this is a haunted house and one can hear the voices of the dead. Later he is intrigued with a room which is always closed (the room where his father was found dead). He is so interested in these mysteries that he starts to investigate all the secrets of these dead people and their stories.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, France, Portugal
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, crying
Similar in 78%
The Return (2003)
Plot Summary:
A story of two Russian boys whose father suddenly returns home after a 12-year absence. He takes the boys on a holiday to a remote island on a lake that turns into a test of manhood of almost mythic proportions.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 47000
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: bleak, emotional, art house, road movie, atmospheric, cerebral, thought provoking, lyrical, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 90%
The Keys to the House (2004)
Plot Summary:
Meeting his handicapped son for the first time, a young father attempts to forge a relationship with the teenager.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, Germany, France, USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, touching, emotional, sincere, bleak, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying