Movies like Close-Up (1990)
The best movies like Close-Up (1990) are Crimson Gold (2003), Taste of Cherry (1997) and Salaam Cinema (1995). If Close-Up hooked you with its crime and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedA Separation (2011)7.9/10 from 2,064 votes
- NewestSeven Winters in Tehran (2023)Released 2023
Crimson Gold (2003)
Pizza man Hussein is a daily witnesses to the unjust distribution of wealth in his native Iran. One day, he finds a purse filled with shockingly expensive receipts from an upscale jewelry store. He attempts to bring the purse back to the store, but because of his working-class attire, he's not allowed inside. Then, during a delivery, a rich man invites Hussein into his extravagant mansion – an event that spurs Hussein to make a desperate bid for wealth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTaste 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSalaam Cinema (1995)
Makhmalbaf puts an advertisement in the papers calling for an open casting for his next movie. However when hundreds of people show up, he decides to make a movie about the casting and the screen tests of the would-be actors.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTen (2002)
A visual social examination in the form of ten conversations between a driving woman and her various pick-ups and hitchhikers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
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: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHush! Girls Don't Scream (2013)
Hours before her scheduled marriage, young bride-to-be Shirin murders a man. The crime is completely unexpected and goes against everything we know of her. We learn that Shirin has had two unsuccessful marriage attempts, and is deeply psychologically troubled. But as the dark secrets in her past are slowly revealed, exposing a childhood of neglect, abuse, and the tragic history of two previous failed marriages, the characters must face their own battles with justice, retribution, and morality.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
The Circle (2000)
Various women struggle to function in the oppressively sexist society of contemporary Iran.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShirin (2009)
A hundred and fourteen famous Iranian theater and cinema actresses and a French star: mute spectators at a theatrical representation of Khosrow and Shirin, a Persian poem from the twelfth century, put on stage by Kiarostami. The development of the text -- long a favorite in Persia and the Middle East -- remains invisible to the viewer of the film, the whole story is told by the faces of the women watching the show.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
24 Frames (2018)
A collection of 24 short four-and-a-half minutes films inspired by still images, including paintings and photographs. An experimental project made by filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami in the last three years of his life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
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: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAbout Elly (2009)
The mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Moment of Innocence (1997)
A semi-autobiographical account of an incident in Makhmalbaf's life when, as a 17-year-old, he stabbed a policeman at a protest rally. Two decades later, he tracks down the policeman he injured in an attempt to make amends.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSeven Winters in Tehran (2023)
After seven years in prison, a female student in Tehran is hanged for murder. She had acted in self-defence against a rapist. For a pardon, she would have had to retract her testimony. This moving film reopens the case.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
There Is No Evil (2020)
Set against the backdrop of Iran's strict and oppressive legal system, this anthology film tells the stories of four men who each face a moral crisis when having to deal with death penalties.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisManuscripts Don't Burn (2014)
Khosrow and Morteza set out on a mission to kill someone. The assassination ought to be arranged as a suicide. At the last minute however, they are obliged to change their initial plans…
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
A Short Film About Killing (1988)
Jacek climbs into the taxi driven by Waldemar, tells him to drive to a remote location, then brutally strangles him, seemingly without motive.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisClosed Curtain (2013)
In a secluded house by the sea with the curtains shut, a screenwriter hides from the world with only his dog as company. The tranquility is abruptly broken one night by the arrival of a young woman fleeing from the authorities. Refusing to leave, she takes refuge in the house. But come dawn, another unexpected presence will change everything.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Mysterious Object at Noon (2000)
A camera crew travels through Thailand asking villagers to invent the next chapter of an ever-growing story.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Separation (2011)
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision – to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Deer (1976)
An urban guerrilla, wounded after a bank robbery, seeks refuge with his childhood friend—only to discover that his friend has fallen into addiction. The guerrilla hides in his house and gradually begins to influence him, helping him regain his courage and strength. Eventually, he entrusts the stolen money to him…
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
El Angel (2018)
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1971. Carlos Robledo Puch is a 19-year-old boy with an angelic face, but a vocational thief as well, who acts ruthlessly, without remorse. When he meets Ramón, they follow together a dark path of crime and death.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHe Who Is Without Sin (2020)
One evening, Martin, a broadcasting student, is invited for coffee by Lawrence, the TV reporter he idolizes. During the days that follow, Martin shares with his friends separately three versions of what transpired during his meeting with Lawrence: what happened, what really happened, and what might have actually happened. Through conversations with friends, Martin comes to terms with the idea that his idol – a dignified newsman who is supposed to be a paragon of virtue – is not who he appears to be on television.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Tale of Cinema (2005)
In Seoul, a suicidal student meets a young woman who decides to join him in his fatal gesture. Dongsoo, an unsuccessful filmmaker, spots a beautiful young woman, who happens to be the lead actress in the film he has just seen. Their stories will cross paths thanks to their love for cinema.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMother (1990)
The film progresses along two distinct but interwoven series of events. The first series involves young members of a family who have gathered round their old mother and revive their common childhood memories. the second line focuses on the old woman's preparations for her last journey and her joyous cooperation in arranging for the ceremonies that are to be observed after her death.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Like Someone in Love (2012)
An old man and a young woman meet in Tokyo. She knows nothing about him, he thinks he knows her. He welcomes her into his home, she offers him her body. But the web that is woven between them in the space of twenty four hours bears no relation to the circumstances of their encounter.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe White Meadows (2009)
Rahmat travels to a host of islands in a vast salt pan in order to collect the inhabitant's tears for an unknown purpose. He is joined on his mysterious journey by a young boy searching for his father. As their travel nears its end, a potent critique of Iran's political leadership emerges.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
No 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHamoon (1990)
Hamoon's wife is leaving him. He is also unsuccessfully trying to finish his Ph.D. thesis. He is forced to reexamine his life. In a series of flashbacks and dreams, Hamoon tries to figure out what he did wrong.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Web (1947)
A brash young lawyer takes a short-term, high-paying job as bodyguard for a slick business exec being threatened by a former partner, and quickly realizes he may be in over his head.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPitfall (1948)
An insurance man wishing for a more exciting life becomes wrapped up in the affairs of an imprisoned embezzler, his model girlfriend, and a violent private investigator.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Close-Up and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Close-Up?
The closest matches to Close-Up are Crimson Gold (2003), Taste of Cherry (1997) and Salaam Cinema (1995). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Close-Up?
People who watched Close-Up most often go on to Crimson Gold (2003), Taste of Cherry (1997) and Salaam Cinema (1995).
What is the highest-rated movie like Close-Up?
A Separation (2011), rated 7.9/10 by 2,064 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Close-Up?
Seven Winters in Tehran (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Close-Up chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Close-Up, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.