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Movies like Upstream Color

Key Features:
Abortion, Social realism, Moral dilemma, Friendship, Survival, Black market, Historical context, Oppression, Secrecy, Desperation, Poverty, 1980s, Romania, Violence-moderate, Cerebral
Tone:
serious, restrained, gritty
Target Audience:
Fans of social realism, Viewers interested in political dramas, Those who appreciate character-driven stories, Art house cinema enthusiasts
Emotional Arc:
Anxiety → Dread → Resignation

Upstream Color

2013-04-05
Upstream Color Poster - Find Similar Movies

A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the lifecycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives.

Genres
Drama, Science Fiction
Cast
Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth, Andrew Sensenig, Thiago Martins, Carolyn King, Mollie Milligan, Myles McGee, Ashton Miramontes, Andreon Watson, Frank Mosley
Crew
Shane Carruth, Shane Carruth
Rating
6.3(777 votes)
Upstream ColorUpstream Color
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4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Two college roommates have 24 hours to make the ultimate choice as they finalize arrangements for a black market abortion.



Graduation
6.743

After his daughter is assaulted and left with an injury that may jeopardize her opportunity to study in the UK, a Romanian doctor decides to do whatever it takes to secure her future.



Love Sick
Love Sick(2006)
5.573

Love. It just happens. No rules. It may look sick, but it's deep and it hurts. For everyone, Alex and Kiki are just good friends. They happen to be two girls experiencing another kind of love. For their family, Kiki and Sandu are sister and brother who sometimes fight. They happen to be lovers. Love Sick is about their stories.



Police, Adjective
6.439

A cop named Cristi must go undercover to trail teen Victor who is suspected of selling pot in the north-eastern city of Vaslui.



Happening
Happening(2021)
7.2

France, 1963. Anne is a bright young student with a promising future ahead of her. But when she falls pregnant, she sees the opportunity to finish her studies and escape the constraints of her social background disappearing. With her final exams fast approaching and her belly growing, Anne resolves to act, even if she has to confront shame and pain, even if she must risk prison to do so.



Caged
Caged(2010)
5.329

Somewhere in Eastern Europe. Carole is a young nurse with a humanitarian aid group that has reached the end of its mission. But just then, the young woman and her two colleagues are kidnapped by strangers for mysterious reasons. Held captive, cared for and kept alive in an oppressive and sinister setting, the three prisoners soon discover with horror what their kidnappers truly have in store for them.



Hostages
Hostages(2017)
6.2

Soviet Georgia, 1983. Preparations for Nika and Ana's wedding are in full swing and it's a big day for both of their elite families. For the newlyweds and their friends, however, the celebrations are in fact part of a cover-up, as they plot an audacious escape from the Soviet Union.



Philanthropy
7.7

In 21st century Bucharest, to go out in the city on Saturday evening on the arm of a beautiful woman is a risky financial investment. Ovidiu, an unassuming high school teacher, never could afford it. Looking for a source of income more substantial than a teacher's salary, Ovidiu plunges into a fabulous world – the beggar mob.



Beyond the Hills
7.083

Alina returns to Romania from Germany, hoping to bring Voichita—the only person in the world she loves and was loved by—back with her. But Voichita has found God, and God is the hardest lover of all to best.



Shelley
Shelley(2016)
5.542

Louise and Kasper want to become parents, but Louise cannot have children. She seals a pact with her Romanian maid, Elena, to bear her child, but things don't turn out quite as planned...



The River
The River(1997)
6.7

A young man develops severe neck pain after swimming in a polluted river for a movie shoot, but nobody can provide him any relief.



Barbara
Barbara(2012)
7.2

In 1980s East Germany, Barbara is a Berlin doctor banished to a country medical clinic for applying for an exit visa. Deeply unhappy with her reassignment and fearful of her co-workers as possible Stasi informants, Barbara stays aloof, especially from the good natured clinic head, Andre.



The Source
6.57

A comedy/drama set in a village and centered on a battle of the sexes, where women threaten to withhold sexual favours as long as the men refuse to install a water pipe.



October Baby
6.381

A beautiful and naive college freshman discovers that her entire life is a lie and sets out on a road trip with a host of misfits to discover herself and the answers she craves.



Hideaway (Le refuge)

Mousse and Louis are young, beautiful, rich and in love. But drugs have invaded their lives. One day, they overdose and Louis dies. Mousse survives, but soon learns she's pregnant. Feeling lost, Mousse runs away to a house far from Paris. Several months later, Louis' brother joins her in her refuge.



Ship of Theseus
6.9

Three stories about persons forced to think about the ethics and moral issues raised by medical advances.



Antibodies
6.7

When a notorious German serial killer is captured after committing some of the most heinous acts against humanity ever imaginable, a farmer and police officer from a sleepy rural community on the outskirts of Berlin is drawn into the case as he searches for the answers to a murder that has shaken his tight-knit community.



Hell
Hell(2011)
5.75

In 2016 the sun has turned the entire world into a scorched and barren wasteland. The humans who have survived are either resourceful or violent, and sometimes both. Marie, her little sister Leonie, and best friend Phillip, are in a car headed to the mountains - rumor has it there is water there. Along the way they meet Tom, a first-rate mechanic. But can they trust him? Fraught with deep distrust, the group is lured into an ambush where their real battle for survival begins.



Trauma
Trauma(1993)
5.79

A young Romanian woman and a recovering drug addict launch an unlikely investigation after her parents are murdered by a vicious serial killer known as The Headhunter.



High Tension
6.8

Best friends Marie and Alexia decide to spend a quiet weekend at Alexia's parents' secluded farmhouse. But on the night of their arrival, the girls' idyllic getaway turns into an endless night of horror.



Aferim!
Aferim!(2015)
7.3

Set in early 19th century Wallachia, Romania, a policeman, Costandin, is hired by a nobleman to find a Gypsy slave who has run away from his estate after having an affair with his wife.



Deliverance
7.31

Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's turned into one huge lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a river-rafting trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.



The Party Is Over
6.1

Despite their differences, Celeste and Sihem quickly become inseparable. The common will to get out of drugs seals their fusional friendship. This will be as much a force as an obstacle when, transferred from the center that welcomes them, they find themselves left to themselves, to the test of the real world and its temptations. They will have to fight to finally live.



Blood Car
Blood Car(2007)
4.882

In the near future, gas prices are at an astronomical high. One man is determined to find an alternate fuel source. That alternate fuel source turns out to be blood... HUMAN BLOOD.



Unexpected
5.709

An inner-city high school teacher discovers she is pregnant at the same time as one of her most promising students and the two develop an unlikely friendship while struggling to navigate their unexpected pregnancies.



Polytechnique
7.1

A dramatization of the Montreal Massacre of 1989 where several female engineering students were murdered by an unstable misogynist.



Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person

Sasha is a young vampire with a serious problem: she's too sensitive to kill. When her exasperated parents cut off her blood supply, Sasha's life is in jeopardy. Luckily, she meets Paul, a lonely teenager with suicidal tendencies who is willing to give his life to save hers. But their friendly agreement soon becomes a nocturnal quest to fulfill Paul's last wishes before day breaks.



The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

After suffering terrible headaches and stomach cramps, Mr. Lăzărescu, a lonely 63 year-old man, calls for an ambulance, beginning one man’s hellish journey through Bucharest hospitals in search of proper medical care. As the night unfolds, his health starts to deteriorate fast.



Underground
7.7

A group of Serbian socialists prepares for the war in a surreal underground filled by parties, tragedies, love and hate.



River's Edge
6.5

A group of high-school friends must come to terms with the fact that one of them, Samson, killed another, Jamie. Faced with the brutality of death, each must decide whether to turn their friend in to the police, or to help him escape the consequences of his dreadful deed.



Pro-Life
Pro-Life(2006)
5.5

Angelique, a traumatized fifteen year old, is taken to an abortion clinic to end her pregnancy. However, her deeply religious father and three brothers are out to make sure the baby lives.



Disco Pigs
5.681

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.



The Red and the White

In 1919, Hungarian Communists aid the Bolsheviks' defeat of Czarists, the Whites. Near the Volga, a monastery and a field hospital are held by one side and then the other.



To Be Twenty
5.843

Lia and Tina are two beautiful girls who meet and realize that they have a lot in common. They are both young, beautiful and pissed off, so they decide to hitchhike their way to Rome to find Nazariota's commune, a place to stay for free and have all the sex they want... or so they think. Things don't go as they have planned though, and soon they become involved in prostitution, the police and an aggressive gang.



White Wedding
6.5

A philosophy professor has an illicit affair with one of his students, a bright yet troubled girl who lives alone.



Katalin Varga
6.7

In the beautiful, otherworldly Carpathian Mountains a woman is traveling with a small boy in a horse and cart, looking to punish those who once abused her. For years, Katalin has been keeping a terrible secret. Hitchhiking with two men, she was brutally raped in the woods. Although she has kept silent about what happened, she has not forgotten, and her son Órban serves as a living reminder.



Contra
Contra(2020)
7.2

With his uncouth manner, Professor Pohl doesn’t enjoy the best reputation at the university where he works. To make matters worse, he makes a racist remark when student Naima arrives late for his lecture. Unfortunately for him, a video of his verbal outburst spreads like wildfire on the Internet, and the university’s president, Lambrecht, is called to deal with the incident. But Pohl is not dismissed. Instead, he is put to the task of helping Naima prepare for an important debating competition. The lecturer and the student could not be more different, yet they are thrown together to work as a team.



Anesthesia
5.712

Multiple lives intersect in the aftermath of the violent mugging of a Columbia University philosophy professor.



Threesome
Threesome(1994)
6.4

At a sizable public college, high-minded student Eddy is forced to room with the slovenly Stuart, but the pair strike up a surprising friendship. When attractive co-ed Alex is assigned to live with the two male students because of her gender-neutral name, a roundabout love triangle ensues. Eddy secretly yearns for Stuart, who wants Alex, but she prefers Eddy. The complex situation leads to sexual experimentation and strained relationships.



Snuff
Snuff(1976)
3

The followers of a charismatic cult leader set out to murder a pregnant actress.



Colors
Colors(1988)
6.5

A confident young cop is shown the ropes by a veteran partner in the dangerous gang-controlled barrios of Los Angeles, where the gang culture is enforced by the colors the members wear.



In Bloom
In Bloom(2013)
7.13

Eka and Natia leave their childhood behind and ignore societal customs to escape from their turbulent family lives.



Sacred Heart
6.41

Irene, a workaholic, is forced to re-evaluate her priorities after the suicide of her two best friends.



The Rain People
6.5

When a housewife finds out she is pregnant, she runs out of town looking for freedom to reevaluate her life decisions.



Turistas
Turistas(2006)
5.476

A group of young backpackers' vacation turns sour when a bus accident leaves them marooned in a remote Brazilian rural area that holds an ominous secret.



Catacombs
Catacombs(2007)
4.7

A young woman in Paris goes to a party in the enormous labyrinth of limestone tunnels beneath Paris. When she becomes separated from her friends, she is convinced something is chasing her through the dark tunnels.



Mustang
Mustang(2015)
7.727

In a Turkish village, five orphaned sisters live under strict rule while members of their family prepare their arranged marriages.



Circumstance
6.632

A wealthy Iranian family struggles to contain a teenager's growing sexual rebellion and her brother's newfound conservatism.



Chuck Norris vs Communism

In late eighties, in Ceausescu's Romania, a black market VHS bootlegger and a courageous female translator brought the magic of Western films to the Romanian people and sowed the seeds of a revolution.



17 Girls
17 Girls(2011)
5.453

When Camille accidentally becomes pregnant, she encourages her friends and fellow high school classmates to follow suit. It's only a matter of time, before seventeen girls in the high school are pregnant and the town is thrown into a world of chaos.



7 Prisoners
7.1

An impoverished teen seeking to escape the clutches of a human trafficker must weigh living up to his moral code against his struggle to survive.



Viral
Viral(2016)
5.649

Following the outbreak of a virus that wipes out the majority of the human population, a young woman documents her family's new life in quarantine and tries to protect her infected sister.



Rogue River
4.839

When a young woman takes a trip down Rogue River, her car mysteriously disappears. Lost without transport or communication, she accepts the hospitality of a stranger who offers her shelter for the night at his cabin. With no other options available, she reluctantly accepts only to forever regret it. The ensuing hours yield nothing but torture, indescribable pain, and horrific agony. If you've seen Misery, you've seen nothing. This movie starts where horror films end and leaves viewers paralysed by fear and disgust.



Color Me Blood Red
4.664

A crackpot painter kills people to use their blood as his new crimson red color for his art.



Never Rarely Sometimes Always

A pair of teenage girls in rural Pennsylvania travel to New York City to seek out medical help after an unintended pregnancy.



Porno
Porno(2019)
6

When a group of naive teens working at a movie theater in a small Christian town discover a mysterious film hidden in its basement, they unleash an alluring succubus who gives them a sex education…written in blood.



Bloomington
6.503

A former child actress attends college in search of independence and ends up becoming romantically involved with a female professor. Their relationship thrives until an opportunity to return to acting forces her to make life-altering decisions.



Clip
Clip(2012)
5.4

Jasna, a beautiful teenager, leads a crude life in post-war Serbia. She goes on a spree of sex, drugs and partying until she finds love and tenderness in a harsh environment.



Subspecies
5.358

Three students get caught in the struggle between a good vampire and his evil brother in the Transylvanian mountains.



Felicity
Felicity(1978)
5.7

Young Felicity lives in a monastic school. The only way to live out her sexual fantasies is together with her girlfriend Jenny. But then she receives an invitation to her sister in Hong-Kong and can't wait to finally do the real thing.



Transylmania
4.179

Spoof horror in which a group of college kids do a semester abroad in Romania and realise that if the partying doesn't kill them, the vampires just might!



The Suckling
4.608

A woman goes to a back alley abortion clinic, only to have her aborted fetus attack her, her boyfriend, and everyone else at the clinic.



Body Shots
4.8

The Los Angeles club scene is a place of booze-fueled decadence and debauchery. In a night full of possibilities, eight 20-somethings take to the clubs seeking good times, companionship and maybe a little sex. But in the harsh light of the morning after, their worlds are thrown into a spin of confusion when hungover Sara accuses hard-partying Mike of date rape. Loyalties are tested as each among them is forced to take sides.



Swallowed
Swallowed(2022)
5.619

Benjamin and Dom have been best friends since they were kids. On their last night together, Dom plans to send Benjamin off with a pocketful of cash. All he has to do is deliver a package over the border for a friend...



Wetlands
Wetlands(2013)
5.297

Helen is a nonconformist teenage girl who maintains a conflictual relationship with her parents. Hanging out most of her time with her friend Corinna, with whom she breaks one social taboo after another, she uses sex as a way to rebel and break the conventional bourgeois ethic. After an intimate shaving accident, Helen ends up in the hospital where it doesn’t take long before she makes waves. But there she finds Robin, a male nurse who will sweep her off her feet...



Between Us
5.676

Elodie and Laetitia live in close love and dream of having a child. As Elodie discovers that she cannot get pregnant because of a health problem and encounters financial troubles, they decide to take a roommate.



Catarina and the others

Outside, the first sun rays break the dawn. Sixteen years old Catarina can't fall asleep. Inconsequently, in the big city adults are moved by desire... Catarina found she is HIV positive. She wants to drag everyone else along.



The Opposite of Sex

A 16-year-old girl visits her gay half-brother and ends up seducing his boyfriend, thus wreaking havoc on all of their lives.



Red Soil
Red Soil(2021)
6.5

Freshly hired as a labor nurse in a chemical factory, Nour discovers that small arrangements exist between management and her father, Slimane, the staff representative, and the company's pivot. Lies about polluting discharges, hidden illnesses of employees, hidden accidents ... Nour, little by little, no longer accepts the compromises of his father to preserve the image of the company. She decides to launch the alert.



Fright Night 2: New Blood

By day Gerri Dandridge is a sexy professor, but by night she transforms into a real-life vampire with an unquenchable thirst for human blood. When a group of high school students travel abroad to study in Romania, they find themselves ensnared in her chilling web of lust and terror. Charlie and 'Evil' Ed must stop Gerri from drinking and bathing in the blood of a 'new moon virgin', who just so happens to be Charlie’s ex-girlfriend.



Silent Wedding
7.225

In a small village of Communist-era Romania a young couple wish to marry, but Joseph Stalin dies the night prior to their wedding ceremony forcing the bride and groom to marry in silence.



River
River(2016)
5.8

In the south of Laos, an American volunteer doctor becomes a fugitive after he intervenes in the sexual assault of a young woman. When the assailant's body is pulled from the Mekong River, things quickly spiral out of control.



Free Country
6.3

Former East Germany, 1992. Patrick Stein and Markus Bach, two very different police officers, are commissioned to investigate the disappearance of two female teenagers in a remote area of the country. Did they run away from home or did something more terrible happen to them?



Train
Train(2008)
5.332

After a night of wild partying and missing their train, the group of students is invited to board another which happens to be heading their way. Once on board, members of the team begin to go missing, and their would-be saviors claim to have no idea what could have happened to them... When they discover the truth, it is too late to escape and they must fight for their lives against their captors to put an end to their ride to hell.



White as Milk, Red as Blood

Like all sixteen-year-olds, Leo prefers the company of friends, motorbike rides and music to school. None of the teachers seem to be able to arouse his interest until the arrival in his class of a young history and philosophy substitute who, with his modern methods, helps him see the world with different eyes. In love with Beatrice, the ethereal girl of his dreams, Leo divides the world by colours. Beatrice is the red of love but he is forced to confront his own beliefs and fears when he discovers that the girl is suffering from leukemia, a disease that he links to white, a symbol of emptiness and loss.



Run Hide Fight
6.6

A 17-year-old girl uses her wits, survival skills, and compassion to fight for her life, and those of her fellow classmates, against a group of live-streaming school shooters.



The Silent Revolution

Stalinstadt, East Germany, 1956. While the Hungarian uprising against Soviets is taking place, teenage members of a classroom of the local school perform a seemingly harmless act that causes unexpected consequences.



A Serbian Film
5.445

Retired porn star Milos leads a normal family life trying to make ends meet. Presented with the opportunity of a lifetime to financially support his family for the rest of their lives, Milos must participate in one last mysterious film. From then on, Milos is drawn into a maelstrom of unbelievable cruelty and mayhem.



Adrenaline
5.943

A female FBI agent holidaying in Eastern Europe with her family gets her life upside down when her daughter is kidnapped. She has to team up with a criminal on the run to save her daughter before time runs out.



Sorry, Baby
6.7

Agnes feels stuck. Unlike her best friend, Lydie, who’s moved to New York and is now expecting a baby, Agnes still lives in the New England house they once shared as graduate students, now working as a professor at her alma mater. A ‘bad thing’ happened to Agnes a few years ago and, since then, despite her best efforts, life hasn’t gotten back on track.



Even the Rain
7

As a director and his crew shoot a controversial film about Christopher Columbus in Cochabamba, Bolivia, local people rise up against plans to privatize the water supply.



R.M.N.
R.M.N.(2022)
6.913

A few days before Christmas, having quit his job in Germany, Matthias returns to his Transylvanian village. He wishes to involve himself more in the education of his son, Rudi, left for too long in the care of his mother, Ana, and to rid him of the unresolved fears that have gripped him. He’s also eager to see his ex-lover Csilla and preoccupied about his old father, Otto. When a few new workers are hired at the small factory that Csilla manages, the peace of the community is disturbed, underlying fears grip the adults, and frustrations, conflicts and passions erupt through the thin sliver of apparent understanding and calm.



Unpregnant
6.9

A 17-year old Missouri teen discovers she has gotten pregnant, a development that threatens to end her dreams of matriculating at an Ivy League college, and the career that could follow.



Collective
7.6

In the aftermath of a tragic fire in a Romanian club, burn victims begin dying in hospitals from wounds that were not life threatening. A team of investigative journalists move into action uncovering the mass corruption of the health system and of the state institutions. Collective follows journalists, whistle blowers, and authorities alike. An immersive and uncompromising look into a dysfunctional system, exposing corruption, propaganda, and manipulation that nowadays affect not only Romania, but societies around the world.



August 32nd on Earth
6.504

After escaping unscathed from a car accident, photo model Simone decides that having a baby is the only way to give her vacant life some meaning. She asks her best friend Philippe to get her pregnant, and he reluctantly agrees, on the condition that they conceive somewhere in a desert, so they leave Montréal on a 24-hour round-trip to Salt Lake City to find a suitable spot.



Story of Women
7.3

France, World War II. In order to somehow make ends meet, the mother of two children, Marie Latour, does underground abortions and rents a room to a familiar prostitute. She doesn't pay any attention to her husband, who returned from the war because of his injury and lives her own life. Abortions gradually begin to bring a good income, and boredom can be easily dispelled by starting a young lover.



What the Waters Left Behind: Scars

An Anglo-American indie rock band winds up stranded in Epecuén, where their internal conflicts and the bad luck of their tour quickly lose importance before the hell that awaits them.



Invisible Life
7.8

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1950. In the conservative home of the Gusmão family, Eurídice and Guida are two inseparable sisters who support each other. While Guida can share with her younger sister the details of her romantic adventures, Eurídice finds in her older sister the encouragement she needs to pursue her dream of becoming a professional pianist.



Ana, My Love
6.518

Toma and Ana meet as students in the literature faculty, and quickly fall in love. But, because of Ana's mental illness, their relationship slowly collapses.



Toni Erdmann
7

Convinced that his daughter has forgotten how to laugh, a father shows up unannounced while she's living abroad and bombards her with outrageous jokes.



Playing the Victim
6.4

A young man drops out of university and goes to the police. He's done nothing wrong he just wants a job. A particular job. Playing the victim in murder reconstructions. Maybe by getting close to death he can manage to cheat on his own.



Antares
Antares(2004)
5.9

A deadly car crash sets off three parallel stories of women at crisis points, faltering behind the doors of the same, plain Vienna apartment block.



Brainstorm
7.9

Neto is a middle class teenager living a normal life. After his father finds a marijuana cigarette on his pocket, he is sent to a mental institution, where he gets to know a completely absurd and inhumane reality in which people are devoured by a corrupt and cruel system.



Oxygen
Oxygen(2021)
6.604

A woman wakes in a cryogenic chamber with no recollection of how she got there, and must find a way out before running out of air.



The Color Purple

A decades-spanning tale of love and resilience and of one woman's journey to independence. Celie faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood.



Life Is a Long Quiet River

Two babies are switched at birth. When the mistake is discovered 12 years later, it leads to complications in the lives of both families. One family is affluent, with dutiful and (apparently) contented children. The other family is poor, with rambunctious (even delinquent) children, often hungry, but with lots of laughter in the house.



Sieranevada
6.74

Back from a professional trip to Paris, a neurologist at the pinnacle of his career has to pick up his wife so that they can attend a family meal to commemorate his father, who died a year before. At his mother's flat, the guests are waiting for the priest to arrive while arguing about all kinds of things connected and unconnected with the world’s events and wars.



Flow
Flow(1996)
7.6

A filmmaker talks about his work and love life with an unseen friend behind the camera. We also watch four of his short films.



Strapped
Strapped(2010)
6.02

A routine trick propels a tall, dark, cynical hustler into a series of life-changing encounters in this drama. But this amicable and sexually efficient rent boy begins to look at himself differently when he finds himself lost in a maze-like apartment building. As he wanders through the building, he tricks with a variety of johns; sex is the commonality, but out of that commodity comes raw, unguarded emotions for all.

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