Movies like In the Name of the Son (2021)
The best movies like In the Name of the Son (2021) are 26 Years (2012), Blood and Ties (2013) and The Client (2011). If In the Name of the Son hooked you with its thriller and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPeppermint Candy (2000)7.5/10 from 320 votes
- NewestGood Luck (2025)Released 2025
- In Korean26 Years (2012)Also in Korean
26 Years (2012)
Three relatives of victims come together to get revenge on a murderer twenty-six years after the massacre. The man had killed groups of people in the 1980 Gwangju murders.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlood and Ties (2013)
A young woman's happy life with her father takes a downward turn when she begins to suspect that he's a kidnapper.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Client (2011)
Kang Seong-hee, a famous lawyer, takes up a case wherein he has to defend a man who is the main suspect in his wife's death. However, a formidable public attorney tries to test his mettle in court.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRemember (2022)
Pil-ju, an Alzheimer's patient in his 80s, who lost all his family during the Japanese colonial era, and devotes his lifelong revenge before his memories disappear, and a young man in his 20s who helps him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this2073 (2024)
Inspired by Chris Marker's iconic 1962 featurette La Jetée; the year is 2073—a not-so-distant dystopian future—and the setting is New San Francisco, the scorched-earth tech-dominant police state where democracy and personal freedom have been well and truly obliterated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Parts You Lose (2019)
An unlikely friendship unfolds between a young deaf boy, Wesley, and a fugitive criminal who takes refuge in an abandoned barn on the family’s rural North Dakota farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChildren... (2011)
On March 26, 1991, five boys set off to the mountain to go frog hunting and never come back to their family. While a documentary producer, detective and professor try to solve the mystery of the incident, one of the boys' parents is a suspect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this6 Below: Miracle on the Mountain (2017)
An adrenaline seeking snowboarder gets lost in a massive winter storm in the back country of the High Sierras where he is pushed to the limits of human endurance and forced to battle his own personal demons as he fights for survival....
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe House on Carroll Street (1988)
A reporter, fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, takes a part-time job as companion to an old lady. While working she overhears a noisy argument in the neighboring house, being conducted largely in German and involving her HUAC prosecutor. She begins to investigate, enlisting the help of the FBI Agent initially detailed to surveil her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIslands (2025)
In this twisty thriller, a tennis coach at a tropical resort finds himself at the center of a missing persons mystery. Tom teaches tennis during the day and parties at night. When an enigmatic tourist arrives, Tom is unable to shake the feeling he has met her before. Tension and attraction grow, until her husband disappears, and the police suspect Tom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMay 18 (2007)
The citizens of Gwangju lead a relatively peaceful life, until one day the military takes over the city, accusing the residents of conspiracy and claiming that they are communist sympathisers preparing a revolution against the current government. Seeing as the soldiers beat defenceless people, mainly students, to death, the citizens are in for retaliation and form a militia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYou Will Die in 6 Hours (2024)
Jung-yoon was approached by a random stranger named Jun-woo, who told her she'd be dead in six hours. As she follows him for answers, she begins to question whether he's her savior or the one trying to put her in danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrying Fist (2005)
Tae-sik, a troubled middle aged man and Sang-hwan, a troubled youth will meet in the ring with their respective mission. To change their life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisConfession (2022)
Min-ho's adulterous lover Se-hee is murdered in a hotel where only the two of them were present, and Min-ho is immediately singles out as the prime suspect. Insisting on his innocence, Min-ho hires the talented lawyer Shin-ae to defend him, and confesses to her that a car accident on the day before may be connected to Se-hee's murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTalhotBlond (2012)
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThread of Lies (2014)
Cheon-ji's unexpected suicide causes her mother Hyeon-sook and older sister Man-ji to be moved into another apartment. Tracking down clues from school, Man-ji discovers that Cheon-ji's best friend Hwa-yeon is behind everything.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSunflower (2006)
Tae-sik gets out of a prison after spending 10 years for killing a man and wishes nothing but an ordinary life. A local lady welcomes him into her household like a son and he gets a second chance in life. His former gang tries to destroy his new home in order to build a night club but he won’t let them destroy his new family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTabloid Truth (2014)
Woo-gon, a passionate manager who lost everything due to stock advertisements and a specialist gets together to find out the truth behind the rumors that have shaken up the country. From precious information to distribution, this crime chasing movie surrounds the invisible truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 355 (2022)
A group of top female agents from American, British, Chinese, Colombian, and German government agencies are drawn together to try and stop an organization from acquiring a deadly weapon to send the world into chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExcavator (2017)
20 years after discharge from the army and now an excavator driver, a former paratrooper who had been mobilized to suppress the May 18th Democratic Uprising in Korea in 1980, happens to find a skull in the ground one day. Driving his excavator, he pays visits to his former superiors one by one and realizes they were all both assailants and victims of the times.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Old Garden (2007)
Political activist Hyun-woo is released from prison after a 17-year stint. Journeying back to the village where he spent some time as a fugitive he recalls the time spent with Yoon-hee, a woman who gave him shelter and companionship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Oh! Dreamland (1989)
After the Gwangju Democratization Movement is terminated by brute force, Jong Soo runs from the authorities and goes to Dongducheon in search of Tae Ho, an older neighbor from his hometown. He is a student at Jeonnam University and a night school teacher who is on the run because of his involvement in the Gwangju Movement.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Confessions of May in the Wilderness (2020)
The movie is a compilation of the movie "Wilderness" in which a member of the airborne unit who killed a girl during the Gwangju Democratization Movement burned himself to death with remorse and "Mr. Kant's Presentation", the story of a man who wanders around as a result of torture after participating as a civilian army.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Peppermint Candy (2000)
In the spring of 1999, a group of old friends gather to celebrate their 20 year reunion. Among the group is Yeong-ho, a cold, unhappy man, whose demeanor puts a damper on the festivities. The seriousness of Yeong-ho's depression becomes apparent when he climbs a railroad bridge and looks like he might jump. At this crucial moment, memories of seven crucial episodes from Yeong-ho's past flood his mind.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Petal (1996)
The story of a girl who experienced the Gwangju massacre at the age of 15, and its effect on her life in later years.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The March for the Lost (2018)
This is the story of a father who died mysteriously in May of 1980, a mother who lives in the shadows with a bullet in her head and not being able to forget May 18th and their daughter, and the nation's greatest comedian, Hee-soo.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Song of Resurrection (1991)
Cheol-gi who dreams of a society that embraces justice begins classes at a night school. There he learns about political and social contradictions and the realities the people face. While doing research on factory conditions with his classmates Tae-il, Min-sook and laborers Hyun-sil and Bong-joon, Cheol-gi learns about the Revitalizing Reforms system and the improper practices in emergency measures. After the military revolution, during the election for a general student body in a move towards democracy, Cheol-gi unwittingly becomes a man on the run when emergency martial law is implemented in response by the government. Cheol-gi blames himself when hears about the deaths of Tae-il and Min-sook during the Gwang-ju Uprising from Hyun-sil and Bong-joon. Just when he and Hyun-sil try to start a new life together, Cheol-gi is arrested and put in jail. Inside the prison, he starts another move towards prison democracy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like In the Name of the Son?
The closest matches to In the Name of the Son are 26 Years (2012), Blood and Ties (2013) and The Client (2011). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after In the Name of the Son?
Start with 26 Years (2012), the closest match to In the Name of the Son.
What is the highest-rated movie like In the Name of the Son?
Peppermint Candy (2000), rated 7.5/10 by 320 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like In the Name of the Son?
Good Luck (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like In the Name of the Son?
Yes: 26 Years (2012), Blood and Ties (2013) and The Client (2011).
How are movies similar to In the Name of the Son chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside In the Name of the Son, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.