Movies like The Invisible Trap (1979)
The best movies like The Invisible Trap (1979) are Close-Up (1990), No Bears (2022) and The Wind Will Carry Us (1999). If The Invisible Trap hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedClose-Up (1990)8.0/10 from 474 votes
- NewestThe Iron Treasure (2025)Released 2025
Close-Up (1990)
This fiction-documentary hybrid uses a sensational real-life event—the arrest of a young man on charges that he fraudulently impersonated the well-known filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf—as the basis for a stunning, multilayered investigation into movies, identity, artistic creation, and existence, in which the real people from the case play themselves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisNo Bears (2022)
Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who has been barred from leaving the country, arrives at a village on the Iran-Turkey border to supervise a film based on a real-life couple seeking passports to Europe being shot in Turkey, but both his stay and the production run into trouble.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wind Will Carry Us (1999)
Irreverent city engineer Behzad comes to a rural Kurdish village in Iran to keep vigil for a dying relative. In the meanwhile the film follows his efforts to fit in with the local community and how he changes his own attitudes as a result.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCircumstance (2011)
A wealthy Iranian family struggles to contain a teenager's growing sexual rebellion and her brother's newfound conservatism.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)
In the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFear the Invisible Man (2023)
A young British widow shelters an old medical school colleague, a man who has somehow turned himself invisible. As his isolation grows and his sanity frays, he schemes to create a reign of wanton murder and terror across the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSeptembers of Shiraz (2015)
In this adaptation of the critically acclaimed debut novel by Iranian American author Dalia Sofer, a secular Jewish family is caught up in the maelstrom of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisTehran Taboo (2017)
The lives of three strong-willed women and a young musician cross paths in Tehran’s schizophrenic society where sex, adultery, corruption, prostitution and drugs coexist with strict religious law. In this bustling modern metropolis, avoiding prohibition has become an everyday sport and breaking taboos can be a means of personal emancipation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Brilliant Career (1979)
A young woman who is determined to maintain her independence finds herself at odds with her family who wants her to tame her wild side and get married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Unforgivable (2021)
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTaxi (2015)
A yellow cab is driving through the vibrant and colourful streets of Tehran. Very diverse passengers enter the taxi, each candidly expressing their views while being interviewed by the driver who is no one else but the director Jafar Panahi himself. His camera placed on the dashboard of his mobile film studio captures the spirit of Iranian society through this comedic and dramatic drive…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrand Upon the Brain! (2007)
After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWomen Without Men (2009)
Against the tumultuous backdrop of Iran's 1953 CIA-backed coup d'état, the destinies of four women converge in a beautiful orchard garden, where they find independence, solace and companionship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Trials of Cate McCall (2013)
In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTatami (2024)
Iranian female judokas Leila and her coach Maryam, travel to the Judo World Championship, intent on bringing home Iran’s first gold medal. Midway through the Judo World Championships, they receive an ultimatum from the Islamic Republic ordering Leila to fake an injury and lose, or she will be branded a traitor of the state. With her own and her family’s freedom at stake, Leila is faced with an impossible choice: comply with the Iranian regime as her coach Maryam implores her to do, or fight on, for the gold.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnd Life Goes On (1992)
After the earthquake of Guilan, a film director and his son travel to the devastated area to search for the actors from the movie the director made there a few years previously. In their search, they see how people who have lost everything in the earthquake still have hope and try to live life to the fullest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGirl in the Basement (2021)
Sara is a teen girl who is looking forward to her 18th birthday to move away from her controlling father Don. But before she could even blow out the candles, Don imprisons her in the basement of their home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCleveland Abduction (2015)
A single mother becomes Ariel Castro's first kidnapping victim, and finds herself trapped in his home with two other women for 11 years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFear and Darkness (1963)
A man tries to run away from a mysterious attacker
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Amir Naderi by Amir Naderi (2018)
Iranian film director Amir Naderi talks to Zar Amir Ebrahimi about his career in this documentary directed and produced by Ebrahimi and broadcast by BBC World Service and BBC Persian. Amir Naderi is one of the most influential figures of Iranian modern cinema. He was born in 1945 in the Persian Gulf port of Abadan. Orphaned at an early age and living the life of a street urchin, Naderi had to survive by selling ice, working as a shoeshine boy and recycling empty beer bottles. He developed his knowledge of cinema by watching films in the theaters where he worked at a very young age. He began his career by taking pictures for some notable Iranian features. In the 1970’s, he started directing his own films, and made some of the most important movies of the New Iranian Cinema. After moving to New York in the early 90’s, Amir Naderi continued to make films. They have premiered at the Venice, Cannes, Tribeca, and Sundance Film Festivals.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Monkey (TBA)
13-years-old Javid and his friends come across a sack of rice on the side of the road while wandering around. After arguing and fighting over ownership of the bag of rice, they finally agree on a risky bet.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Noghreh (TBA)
After her addicted husband sells their 6-year-old daughter, a mother takes matters into her own hands and sets off on a desperate journey to save her child. Noghreh is a gripping Iranian short film about poverty, addiction, and maternal strength.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Iron Treasure (2025)
A penniless mechanic finds himself obsessed with a mysterious iron chest, inherited from a recently deceased relative.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Angel and the Gamekeeper (TBA)
Set in Rural Iran, this musical tale of love and fantasy revolves around Davood, a ten-year-old theatre kid, who finds himself torn between familial expectations and artistic aspirations, as he is forced to act as a gamekeeper during the night, shouting and sacring away wild boars from his father’s land, while practicing a musical play during the day.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Seven Valleys (TBA)
Lost in time and space, in a horrifying land of no existence, a woman embarks on a spiritual journey, crossing The Seven Valleys of Love as described by Persian poet Attar of Nishapur.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Taste of Cherry (1997)
A middle-aged Tehranian man, Mr. Badii is intent on killing himself and seeks someone to bury him after his demise. Driving around the city, the seemingly well-to-do Badii meets with numerous people, including a Muslim student, asking them to take on the job, but initially he has little luck. Eventually, Badii finds a man who is up for the task because he needs the money, but his new associate soon tries to talk him out of committing suicide.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAli Ali (2025)
In a quiet Rajasthani village, young Ali clings to his cricket bat as his friends chase it. What starts as playful mischief reveals a film crew struggling to finish their shoot, blurring childhood and the fragile magic of cinema.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Street Light (2024)
During a documentary shoot, Cheun, a beloved traffic warden, gets into trouble with a local inspector. On Rue Clignancourt, his resignation has the effect of a street light going out. In this new darkness, a filmmaker must rediscover his humanity, while Cheun must continue to invent his cinema. The rest doesn’t matter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Invisible Trap?
The closest matches to The Invisible Trap are Close-Up (1990), No Bears (2022) and The Wind Will Carry Us (1999). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Invisible Trap?
Start with Close-Up (1990), the closest match to The Invisible Trap.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Invisible Trap?
Close-Up (1990), rated 8.0/10 by 474 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Invisible Trap?
The Iron Treasure (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Invisible Trap chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Invisible Trap, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.