Movies like Charcoal
If you like "Charcoal" you are looking for tense, suspense and dark comedy movies about / with family drama, desperation, moral dilemma, moral ambiguity, survival, drug cartel and betrayal themes of Drama genre shot in Brazil or Argentina.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps:
1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
2. Look for them in the presented list.
Charcoal (2022)
1K
Original name: Carvão
Genre: Drama
Country: Brazil, Argentina
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
In the Brazilian countryside, a family straining to care for their bedridden patriarch have their lives changed when a shady nurse offers a diabolical deal: put their elder to rest and host an Argentinian drug kingpin who urgently needs a place to hide.
Style:
tense, suspense, dark comedy, grim, noir, satirical, absurd, tragic, whimsical
Plot:
family drama, desperation, moral dilemma, moral ambiguity, survival, drug cartel, betrayal, poverty, claustrophobia, isolation, criminal underworld, female protagonist, nurse, small community, violence, hostage, home invasion, slow burn, bloodbath, angry, taunting, family relations, mystery
Time:
2020s, contemporary
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to Charcoal
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out tense, suspense, intense and crime drama films with plots about moral ambiguity, survival, isolation, betrayal, violence, desperation and slow burn mostly in Drama and Crime genres. Some movies like Charcoal: For Hannah (2021), 24 Hours (2002), Rose Gold (2023), Sodara Sodarimanulara (2023), The Catch (2020). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Story:
It's 1987, in the small sleepy town of Pine Ridge. When a husband and wife living off the beaten path encounter a mysterious stranger on Christmas Eve, dark secrets quickly emerge. On the same night, law enforcement are investigating a local ...
Style:
suspense, intense, tense, twist ending, psychological thriller ...
Plot:
christmas eve, isolation, small town, deception, husband wife conflict, suspicion, dark past, moral ambiguity, claustrophobia, home invasion, holiday, betrayal ...
Time:
80s
Similarity:
95%
134
Genre: Drama
Country: Croatia
Duration: 75 min.
Story:
A two-part omnibus consisting of b/w comedy about a group of friends who try to cover up a murder, and thriller set in an abandoned warehouse where three policemen guard their witness-collaborator who claims "they" will come and shoot them ...
Style:
tense, suspense, dread, black and white, sinister ...
Plot:
abandoned warehouse, omnibus, paranoia, moral ambiguity, isolation, witness protection, claustrophobia, violence, cat and mouse, dark humor, slow burn, ethical dilemma ...
Similarity:
95%
131
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
Fighting to keep her family together, Trina steps into the underground world of drug trafficking. She enlists her two friends to become transporters.
Style:
crime drama, tense, crime thriller, suspense, tension ...
Plot:
motherhood, drug traffic, female protagonist, danger, survival, mother daughter relationship, family drama, protective parent, betrayal, violence, sacrifice, poverty ...
Similarity:
90%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
A struggling cab driver is falsely accused of a major crime by the police, and is forced to prove his innocence to both, a brutal police force and a divided society. A single night leaves a family of three stranded in the middle of a fight
Style:
crime drama, tense, suspense, bleak, noir
Plot:
police corruption, wrongful accusation, false arrest, urban, class conflict, social injustice, desperation, family drama, father son relationship, survival, moral ambiguity, isolation ...
Similarity:
86%
Movie in collections
268
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
A troubled woman returns to her estranged family in coastal Maine. With her lobsterman father caught up in a turf war at sea, she and an ex-boyfriend make plans to hijack local drug runners. As their desperation mounts, each character makes ...
Style:
suspenseful, crime drama, captivating, thrilling, psychological ...
Plot:
moral dilemma, heist gone wrong, robbery, family drama, moral ambiguity, theft, relationship problems, heist, ex boyfriend ex girlfriend relationship, female protagonist, ex couple relations, relationships ...
Place:
maine
Similarity:
84%
1K
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
A family with a past and trauma, encounters a series of strange incidences, in a car journey on their way home and runs into trouble in a windmills farm.
Style:
tense, creepy, psychological thriller, suspense, psychological horror ...
Plot:
trauma, family drama, road trip, protective parent, isolation, supernatural, car journey, claustrophobia, haunting, survival, slow burn, supernatural horror ...
Similarity:
83%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 82 min.
Story:
Ashley suspects her father's partner was behind a brutal home invasion.
Style:
suspenseful, psychological, captivating, thrilling, tense ...
Plot:
female protagonist, home invasion, family relations, problem, undercover, father daughter relationship, suspect, business partner, crooked businessman, suspicion, businessman, secret ...
Similarity:
82%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
The story of a drug dealer from Romania and his son in Rome's suburbs.Roman is an immigrant from Romania arrived in Italy 30 years ago. He sells drugs and lives in criminal contexts. His dream is to see his child, Nicu, whom he raised without a ...
Style:
crime drama, emotional, intense, tense, bleak ...
Plot:
fatherhood, drug dealing, immigration, father son relationship, social realism, street life, illegal drugs, moral ambiguity, poverty, urban decay, violence, survival ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
italy
Similarity:
82%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
Drama - Richard Clayton is a maintenance man at the local police station of the small town of Montauk, Arizona. He spends his days keeping the offices clean and the equipment running. He spends his nights drinking and killing the occasional ...
Style:
crime drama, bleak, noir, tense, suspense ...
Plot:
murder, loneliness, small town, isolation, character study, violence, alcoholism, moral ambiguity, serial killer, male protagonist, desperation, criminal psychology ...
Similarity:
82%
Genre: Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
Denise, a botanist, is working in the swamps in a part of Turkey, planting and researching local flora. In her evenings she sometimes meets with her lover Hamit, a simple man at first glance. But he is making his living with human trafficking which ...
Style:
melancholic, atmospheric, tense, crime drama, bleak ...
Plot:
human trafficking, secrets, moral ambiguity, exploitation, desperation, smuggling, poverty, betrayal, social realism, survival, isolation, character study ...
Place:
istanbul turkey, turkey, black sea
Similarity:
82%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
A tale of urban angst trapping two individuals during the pandemic lockdown that eventually leads to murder.
Style:
tense, intense, crime drama, psychological thriller, dark ...
Plot:
pandemic, isolation, quarantine, murder mystery, moral ambiguity, character study, claustrophobia, guilt, suspicion, morality, investigation, cat and mouse ...
Time:
2020s
Similarity:
82%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 119 min.
Story:
A couple enters a city ruled by cruel thugs but an unsettling affair reopens unexpected twists and creates new tensions for them. Will they stick together through it all?
Style:
tense, suspense, dark, intense, psychological ...
Plot:
gang, unsettling, corruption, moral ambiguity, fear, betrayal, power struggle, urban, survival, adultery, revenge, claustrophobia ...
Similarity:
81%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 71 min.
Story:
A young couple move into an expensive new apartment after the husband gets a big pay raise. Unfortunately, he is soon stricken with a mysterious ailment and becomes bedridden. The wife, unable to find a job and with bills piling up, runs into a ...
Style:
grindhouse, grim, bleak, tense, period piece ...
Plot:
financial difficulty, illness, desperation, domestic drama, moral dilemma, poverty, female protagonist, sacrifice, survival, urban, social realism, gender roles ...
Time:
60s
Similarity:
81%
14
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Story:
Forced to navigate dangerous environments to keep her mother alive, Glo gets entangled with a mob boss and finds her life spiraling out of control.
Style:
crime thriller, crime drama, suspense, tense, neo noir ...
Plot:
desperation, survival, mother daughter relationship, mob boss, female protagonist, organized crime, violence, urban, underworld, corruption, crime family, moral ambiguity ...
Similarity:
81%
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Masked intruders take the family of a bank manager hostage in order to rob his bank.
Style:
suspense, tense, crime thriller, intense, tension ...
Plot:
hostage, home invasion, bank, bank robbery, fear, intimidation, kidnapping, survival, claustrophobia, desperation, siege, violence ...
Time:
year 1978
Similarity:
80%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 119 min.
Story:
Shivan revolves around a couple who are very much in love but one day the woman is found dead and the man is found guilty and imprisoned. But once he is in jail he recollects certain memories that change everything.
Style:
tense, suspense, intense, psychological, emotional ...
Plot:
love, innocence, flashback, memory, murder, wrongful conviction, investigation, prison, justice, moral ambiguity, guilt, character study ...
Similarity:
80%
445
Genre: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
A story about a poor girl working in a 5 star hotel in tehran and the workers of the hotel when somthing priceless will stolen...
Style:
realistic, dramatic, suspense, tense
Plot:
class conflict, hotel, economic inequality, hierarchy, social realism, injustice, poverty, female protagonist, classism, accusation, city life, moral dilemma ...
Place:
tehran, iran
Similarity:
79%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
Caught in the tensions of the returning Pierrot, an ex-con, and the neighboring outlaws, Coralie attempts to distance herself from an ambiguous if not tormented past. Set against a busy highway, the butting houses dominated by a boss loosing sight ...
Style:
suspense, captivating, disturbing, tension, dark ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
revenge, life is a bitch, family problems, family relations, father daughter relationship, mafia, family conflict, family drama, female protagonist, isolation, small town, ex convict ...
Similarity:
79%
Movie in collections
2K
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 135 min.
Story:
Tekka is the story of Iqlakh, a janitor who has lost his job and is out to get it back by holding a schoolgirl hostage in a building. ACP Maya comes in, a woman who is trying to conceive. Add to the mix a young journalist pair, Brishti and Tintin, ...
Style:
tense, suspenseful, sentimental
Plot:
kidnapping, hostage, showdown, family drama, desperation, loss of job, claustrophobia, class conflict, moral ambiguity, moral dilemma, urban, single ...
Similarity:
79%
Genre: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
A single mother gets entangled in a web of lies to protect her sons.
Style:
suspense, psychological, captivating, disturbing, crime drama ...
Plot:
single mother, parent child relationship, protective mother, deception, family relations, family problems, social problems, single parent, life is a bitch, female protagonist, financial problem, children ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
paris france
Similarity:
79%
Genre: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
A professional smuggler tries to save a 12-year-old girl whose family has gone missing in the Syrian war.
Style:
tense, suspense, realistic, emotional, political thriller ...
Plot:
human trafficking, political conflict, smuggler, rescue mission, survival, desperation, moral ambiguity, border crossing, trust, child protagonist, betrayal, evacuation ...
Place:
middle east
Similarity:
79%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min.
Story:
A white ex-GI goes to a black ghetto to deliver a letter from his buddy, a black soldier who died in Vietnam. When he arrives there he encounters hostility and trouble from all sides.
Style:
tense, independent film, grim, suspenseful
Plot:
blaxploitation, ghetto, vietnam war, interracial relations, racial prejudice, social commentary, urban decay, mistrust, confrontation, poverty, social realism, moral ambiguity ...
Place:
vietnam
Similarity:
79%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
When a passenger ship sinks, a ship's officer must decide which passengers in an overcrowded lifeboat must be sacrificed so the rest can survive an approaching typhoon.
Style:
tense, intense, bleak, suspenseful, grim ...
Plot:
shipwreck, survival, lifeboat, boat, disaster, sea, storm, moral dilemma, sacrifice, desperation, human nature, character study ...
Similarity:
79%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy, USA, Romania
Duration: 123 min.
Story:
A captive daughter endures around two decades of abuse at the hands of a sadistic father. One day, destiny presents her with an opportunity to break free.
Style:
tense, disturbing, suspense, psychological thriller, captivating ...
Plot:
father, child abuse, female protagonist, trauma, psychological abuse, domestic abuse, locked in a basement, locked in, captive, despot, brother sister relationship, father and daughter ...
Similarity:
78%
Genre: Drama
Country: Colombia
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
Colombian director Víctor Gaviria melds stark realism with nail-biting thrills in this story about a teenage girl who is kidnapped and forced into marriage with a ferocious shantytown thug.
Style:
captivating, disturbing, psychological, suspense, intense ...
Plot:
rape, forced marriage, domestic abuse, family relations, relationships, violence, relationship problems, male female relationship, violent, life is a bitch, forbidden love, family problems ...
Place:
colombia, latin america
Similarity:
78%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Desiré is a Neapolitan girl of Senegalese origins, she is sixteen years old and lives day by day. She has no friends, no interests, no great passions, her world appears as empty as the gaze of her mother, a drug addict who can't stand upright. ...
Style:
grim, intense, art house, noir
Plot:
juvenile detention, character study, coming of age, female protagonist, loneliness, isolation, resilience, drug traffic, survival, toxic relationship, slice of life, moral ambiguity ...
Similarity:
78%
Genre: Drama
Country: Bangladesh
Duration: 121 min.
Story:
Just as Moses was found in the river Nile, an infant is rescued from a river, and adopted by Miraj, Karim and Sajib in turns over the years, only to be abandoned at the various stages of his life. From innocence to becoming a gangster, the ...
Style:
crime drama, realistic, emotional, bleak, melancholic ...
Plot:
river, male protagonist, orphan, adoption, identity, coming of age, abandonment, loss of innocence, street life, moral ambiguity, gangster, survival ...
Similarity:
78%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
A mimicry artist's perfect life shatters upon discovering his wife's secret affair and murderous intentions. His desperate plea for police protection leads to unexpected events.
Style:
tense, suspense, psychological thriller, intense, dark ...
Plot:
betrayal, murder, infidelity, domestic drama, cat and mouse, moral ambiguity, paranoia, claustrophobia, household, revenge, survival, isolation ...
Similarity:
78%
750
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: Brazil, Portugal
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
Suellen is a toll booth attendant who starts using her job to help a gang of thieves steal watches from people driving to the coast. But only for a noble cause: to send her son to an expensive gay conversion workshop.
Style:
whimsical, gay cinema
Plot:
conversion therapy, lgbt, gay subtext, gay lead character, male pubic hair, violence, job, robbery, death, gay, gay son, church ...
Similarity:
78%
159
Genre: Drama
Country: Yugoslavia
Duration: 76 min.
Story:
A flat broke aging boxer, living on the verge of existence, teams up with the equally desperate people in the city's suburbia to steal, cheat, and even kill for the money.
Style:
black and white, crime drama, bleak, neo noir, noir ...
Plot:
boxing, suburbs, survival, desperation, urban decay, poverty, corruption, violence, heist, moral ambiguity, hopelessness, working class ...
Time:
60s
Place:
eastern europe, belgrade, former yugoslavia
Similarity:
78%
Related movie lists
