Movies like City of God

If you like "City of God" you are looking for rough, bleak and hood movies about / with gang, violence, ghetto, favela, coming of age, storytelling and gang war themes of Crime and Drama genre shot in Brazil or France.
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.
City of God (2002)
 8.6
 864K
City of God (2002)
Original name: Cidade de Deus
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: Brazil, France
Duration: 130 min.
Story: Cidade de Deus is a shantytown that started during the 1960s and became one of Rio de Janeiro’s most dangerous places in the beginning of the 1980s. To tell the story of this place, the movie describes the life of various characters, all seen by the point of view of the narrator, Buscapé. Buscapé was raised in a very violent environment. Despite the feeling that all odds were against him, he finds out that life can be seen with other eyes...
Style: rough, bleak, hood, sexy, stylized, visual, inspirational, disturbing, emotional, harsh ...
Audience: teen drama, adult
Plot: gang, violence, ghetto, favela, coming of age, storytelling, gang war, gangster, society, juvenile delinquency, organized crime, journalism, street gang, photographer, police corruption, urban ghetto life, friendship, drug dealing, urban ghetto, photography, photograph, violent, children, revenge, drug ...
Time: 70s, 20th century, year 2003, 2000s, future, 80s, year 2002 ...
Place: latin america, rio de janeiro, south america, brazil, africa

Movie in categories

Most similar movies to City of God

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, serious, rough and disturbing films with plots about violence, gangster, gun, gang, murder, criminal and death mostly in Crime, Drama and Thriller genres. Some movies like City of God: Elite Squad (2007), Hate (1995), Kidulthood (2006), Pixote (1980), Bully (2001). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
 7.2
 17K
City of Men (2007)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: Brazil, USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story: Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.
Style: tense, bleak, harsh, suspense, rough ...
Audience: teen drama
Plot: friendship, street gang, favela, slum, coming of age, betrayal, brutality, relationships, drug lord, society, gang war, best friend ...
Time: year 2008, year 2007, future, 70s, 21st century
Place: rio de janeiro, brazil, south america, latin america
Similarity:
88%
 8.0
 118K
Elite Squad (2007)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Brazil, Argentina
Duration: 115 min.
Story: In 1997, before the visit of the pope to Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento from BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion) is assigned to eliminate the risks of the drug dealers in a dangerous slum nearby where the pope intends to be lodged.
Style: disturbing, intense, serious, realistic, social ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: police corruption, drug traffic, favela, squad, drug lord, leader, slum, police, fighting crime, police brutality, law enforcement, torture ...
Time: year 2007, 2000s, 90s, year 1997, 20th century ...
Place: brazil, rio de janeiro, south america, latin america, berlin germany
Similarity:
100%
 8.1
 223K
Hate (1995)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 98 min.
Story: Aimlessly whiling away their days in the concrete environs of their dead-end suburbia, Vinz, Hubert, and Said -- a Jew, African, and an Arab -- give human faces to France's immigrant populations, their bristling resentment at their social ...
Style: bleak, art house, disturbing, cult classic, thought provoking ...
Audience: teens, pre-teens
Plot: racism, rebel, poverty, skinhead, youth, ghetto, brutality, police brutality, friendship, rebellion, urban ghetto life, misfit ...
Time: 20th century, year 1995, 90s
Place: paris france, france, middle east, europe
Similarity:
89%
 6.7
 20K
Kidulthood (2006)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min.
Story: A day in the life of a group of troubled 15-year-olds growing up in west London.
Style: serious, tense, rough, hood, teen ...
Audience: teens, teen drama
Plot: bullying, gang, urban ghetto life, ghetto, juvenile delinquency, coming of age, urban, teenage life, social decay, gangster, friendship, teenage love ...
Time: 2000s, 21st century
Place: london, england, united kingdom, britain, europe
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
 7.9
 11K
Pixote (1980)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 128 min.
Story: Pixote, a 10-year-old runaway boy, is arrested on the streets of Sao Paulo during a police round-up homeless people. Pixote endures torture, degradation and corruption at a local youth detention center where two of the runaways are murdered by ...
Style: depressing, rough, atmospheric, serious, political ...
Audience: kids
Plot: prostitution, street kid, child abuse, boy, sex with a minor, coming of age, 10 year old, child rape, children, nude boy, violent, loneliness ...
Time: 20th century, 80s, year 1981
Place: brazil, south america, latin america, rio de janeiro, sao paulo brazil ...
Similarity:
100%
 6.9
 43K
Bully (2001)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, France, UK
Duration: 108 min.
Story: After finding himself at the constant abuse of his best friend Bobby, Marty has become fed up with his friend's twisted ways. His girlfriend, a victim of Bobby's often cruel ways, couldn't agree more and they strategize murdering ...
Style: disturbing, sexy, bleak, erotic drama, realistic ...
Audience: teens, kids, teen drama, adult
Plot: bullying, sexual abuse, teenager, nudity, murder, violent, rivalry, bully comeuppance, revenge, sex, social decay, drug ...
Time: year 2001, 90s, 20th century, 2000s
Place: usa, bronx new york city, florida
Similarity:
100%
 7.5
 16K
Fresh (1994)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, France
Duration: 114 min.
Story: Michael is a 12-year-old drug pusher who lives in a crowded house with his cousins and aunt. His father has become a street bum,but still meets with Fresh on occasion to play chess. Fresh is rather quiet in a crazy world. Fresh's sister is a ...
Style: hood, realistic, bleak, suspenseful, neo noir ...
Audience: teens
Plot: chess, childhood trauma, coming of age, drug dealing, drug lord, african american, ghetto, father son relationship, drug, hip hop, urban ghetto, blaxploitation ...
Time: 90s, year 1994
Place: new york, brooklyn new york city, usa, new jersey, africa
Similarity:
100%
 7.0
 53K
Gomorrah (2008)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: Italy, Belgium
Duration: 137 min.
Story: An inside look at Italy's modern-day crime families, the Camorra in Naples and Caserta. Based on a book by Roberto Saviano. Power, money and blood: these are the "values" that the residents of the Province of Naples and Caserta have ...
Style: tense, harsh, realistic, serious, depressing ...
Plot: juvenile delinquency, gang war, mafia, camorra, gangster, death, danger, organized crime, italian mafia, gang, power, character study ...
Time: year 2008, 2000s, 21st century
Place: italy, napoli italy, europe, venice, miami ...
Similarity:
86%
Movie in collections
 7.2
 32K
Tsotsi (2005)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: UK, South Africa
Duration: 94 min.
Story: The South African multi-award winning film about a young South African boy from the ghetto named Tsotsi, meaning Gangster. Tsotsi, who left home as a child to get away from helpless parents, finds a baby in the back seat of a car that he has just ...
Style: sincere, harsh, captivating, rough, art house ...
Audience: teen drama
Plot: redemption, baby, urban ghetto life, poverty, criminal, slum, gang, childhood, friendship, street life, murder, coming of age ...
Time: 2000s, 21st century
Place: south africa, africa, johannesburg south africa, boston
Similarity:
100%
Menace II Society (1993)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story: Menace II Society is a coming of age tale detailing the summer after its protagonist Caine (Tyrin Turner) graduates from high school. This is Caine's story, which details real life in today's tough inner city.
Style: stylized, bloody, serious, rough, hood ...
Audience: teens, teen drama, adult
Plot: ghetto, hip hop, friendship, african american, urban ghetto life, murder, police brutality, violence, coming of age, gangster, organized crime, street gang ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, 70s, year 1993
Place: los angeles, california, usa, south central los angeles, north america
Similarity:
67%
 7.8
 55K
Lilya 4-Ever (2002)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: Sweden, Denmark
Duration: 109 min.
Story: Lilya lives in poverty and dreams of a better life. Her mother moves to the United States and abandons her to her aunt, who neglects her. Lilya hangs out with her friends, Natasha and Volodya, who is suicidal. Desperate for money, she starts working ...
Style: sad, bleak, depressing, harsh, brutal ...
Audience: teens, pre-teens, teen drama, adult
Plot: poverty, human trafficking, prostitution, friendship, sexual abuse, prostitute, life is a bitch, suicide, teenage prostitution, teenage life, depression, rape ...
Time: year 2002
Place: denmark, estonia, europe, russia, eastern europe ...
Similarity:
80%
 7.0
 16K
Paid in Full (2002)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story: Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing cocaine for Lulu. Via lucky ...
Style: hood, tense, rough, realistic, serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: urban ghetto life, gang, ghetto, african american gangster, organized crime, roman empire, urban, rapper, drug, gangster, drug lord, black ...
Time: 80s, year 2002, 20th century, year 1986
Place: harlem, new york, usa, manhattan new york city
Similarity:
100%
 8.8
 2.4M
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 154 min.
Story: A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.
Style: neo noir, cult classic, witty, exciting, clever ...
Audience: boys' night, manly, adult
Plot: dark humor, gunfight, violence, hitman, gangster, organized crime, overdose, storytelling, violent, professional killer, multiple storylines, foul language ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, year 1994, 70s
Place: los angeles, california, southern california, america, britain ...
Similarity:
73%
Ichi the Killer (2001)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 129 min.
Story: As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of.
Style: disturbing, splatter, sexy, black comedy, frightening ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: gory, violence, gang, gangster, sadism, organized crime, massacre, rage, danger, yakuza, psychopath, insanity ...
Time: year 2001, 2000s, 21st century
Place: japan, east asia, asia, tokyo
Similarity:
100%
Gangs of New York (2002)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA, Italy
Duration: 167 min.
Story: It's 1863. America was born in the streets. Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points of America to seek vengeance against the psychotic gangland kingpin, Bill the Butcher, who murdered his father years earlier. With an eager pickpocket by ...
Style: tense, rough, bloody, epic, atmospheric ...
Audience: boys' night, adult
Plot: revenge, gang, vengeance, gangster, organized crime, street gang, violence, betrayal, racism, courage, violent, gang war ...
Time: 19th century, victorian era, 1800s, 1860s, 50s ...
Place: new york, usa, manhattan new york city
Similarity:
80%
 6.5
 6K
Piranhas (2019)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 111 min.
Story: Six boys race on their scooters through the narrow streets of their Sanità neighbourhood in Naples. They are fearless daredevils, desperate to make money like their role models, and wear designer clothes and the latest sneakers. These 15-year-olds ...
Style: rough, suspense, bleak, suspenseful, disturbing ...
Plot: mafia, coming of age, camorra, gang, criminal, teen angst, boyhood, hooliganism, rivalry, self discovery, gangster, fistfight ...
Time: year 2019, 21st century
Place: naples italy
Similarity:
100%
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France, USA, India
Duration: 120 min.
Story: Jamal Malik is an impoverished Indian teen who becomes a contestant on the Hindi version of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ but, after he wins, he is suspected of cheating.
Style: touching, uplifting, motivational, realistic, feel good ...
Audience: date night, chick flick, teens, teen drama, adult
Plot: poverty, childhood, destiny, orphan, rags to riches, against the odds, love, street life, society, journey, true love, life is a bitch ...
Time: year 2008, 2000s, 20th century, 90s, year 2005 ...
Place: india, mumbai india, asia, taj mahal, britain
Similarity:
83%
Last Stop 174 (2008)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Brazil, France
Duration: 110 min.
Story: Sandro was a boy who loved to sing rap, to kiss, to stare the statue of Christ the Redeemer and dreamed to go visit Copacabana. Growing up on streets, the story culminates at the infamous episode of June 12th 2000, when Sandro hijacked bus 174.
Style: serious, rough, realistic, suspenseful, crime drama ...
Audience: teen drama
Plot: breast feeding, hijacking, favela, street kid, drug abuse, confined, juvenile delinquency, life is a bitch, danger, youth, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, robbery ...
Time: year 2008, 21st century
Place: rio de janeiro, brazil, south america, latin america
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
 7.3
 11K
Divines (2016)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: France, Qatar
Duration: 105 min.
Story: In a ghetto where religion and drug trafficking rub shoulders, Dounia has a lust for power and success. Supported by Maimouna, her best friend, she decides to follow in the footsteps of Rebecca, a respected dealer. But her encounter with Djigui, a ...
Style: captivating, tense, suspenseful, thought provoking, disturbing ...
Audience: girls' night, teens
Plot: poverty, friendship, slum, police, seduction, urban decay, ghetto, street gang, dancer, greed, danger, full moon ...
Time: 2010s, year 2016, 21st century
Place: paris france, france, indiana
Similarity:
100%
 7.8
 167K
Boyz n the Hood (1991)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min.
Story: Boyz n the Hood is the popular and successful film and social criticism from John Singleton about the conditions in South Central Los Angeles where teenagers are involved in gun fights and drug dealing on a daily basis.
Style: cult classic, brutal, independent film, suspenseful, rough ...
Audience: teens, teen drama
Plot: hip hop, gang, ghetto, african american, poverty, coming of age, urban ghetto life, street gang, juvenile delinquency, rapper, gangster, teenager ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, 80s, year 1991, year 1984
Place: los angeles, south central los angeles, california, america, usa ...
Similarity:
67%
South Central (1992)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: A man is put to prison for 10 years. Coming out of prison he wants to live a normal life and stop with crime but his son has yet followed the criminal path of his father.
Style: hood, sexual, captivating, crime drama, independent film ...
Plot: gang, criminal gang, urban ghetto life, ghetto, urban, black, blaxploitation, hip hop, african american, father son relationship, father son reunion, drug dealing ...
Time: 90s, 80s, year 1992
Place: los angeles, california, usa, south central los angeles, africa
Similarity:
100%
 7.4
 16K
Sweet Sixteen (2002)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: UK, Germany, Spain
Duration: 106 min.
Story: Determined to have a normal family life once his mother gets out of prison, a Scottish teenager from a tough background sets out to raise the money for a home.
Style: sentimental, sexy, disturbing, touching, sincere ...
Audience: teens, toddlers, pre-teens, teen drama
Plot: coming of age, innocence lost, heroin, juvenile delinquency, prison, downfall, teenager, dysfunctional family, drug dealing, family problems, adolescence vs adulthood, siblings relations ...
Time: 90s, 2000s, year 2002, 80s, 21st century
Place: scotland, glasgow scotland, europe, united kingdom
Similarity:
100%
 8.7
 1.4M
Goodfellas (1990)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 145 min.
Story: The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.
Style: rough, homoerotic, realistic, epic, inspirational ...
Audience: boys' night, adult
Plot: organized crime, mafia, gangster, rise and fall, violence, mentor, mobster, drug traffic, cosa nostra, italian mafia, murder, psychopath ...
Time: 50s, 70s, 90s, year 1990, year 1980 ...
Place: brooklyn new york city, new york, florida, italy, usa ...
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
friendship movies
28179
bleak movies
11156
Blood In, Blood Out (1993)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 180 min.
Story: Based on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on half-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo. It opens in 1972, as the three are members of an East L.A. gang known as the "Vatos Locos", ...
Style: cult classic, intense, entertaining, bad ending, serious ...
Plot: gang, street gang, prison gang, drug abuse, prison, gangster, destiny, male nudity, jail, ghetto, violence spree, drug addiction ...
Time: 20th century, year 1993, 90s, 70s, 80s
Place: los angeles, california, ecuador, south america, usa ...
Similarity:
75%
 7.1
 103K
Elephant (2003)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min.
Story: Several ordinary high school students go through their daily routine as two others prepare for something more malevolent. The film chronicles the events surrounding a school shooting.
Style: disturbing, psychological, bleak, independent film, teen ...
Audience: teens, teen drama
Plot: school shooting, violence, teacher, bullying, teenage girl, mass murder, violent, high school, teenager, youth, school, rage ...
Time: year 2003, near future, 2000s, 21st century
Place: usa, oregon, ireland, portland oregon, california
Similarity:
100%
 7.8
 512K
Training Day (2001)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min.
Story: On his first day on the job as a narcotics officer, a rookie cop works with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears.
Style: neo noir, tense, realistic, harsh, suspense ...
Audience: manly, boys' night, adult
Plot: police corruption, ghetto, gang, corrupt cop, drug dealer, african american, rookie, dirty cop, mentor, twists and turns, gunfight, gang member ...
Time: year 2001, 2000s, 21st century
Place: los angeles, california, south america, usa
Similarity:
100%
 6.9
 111K
Alpha Dog (2006)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 122 min.
Story: Johnny Truelove likes to see himself as tough. He's the son of an underworld figure and a drug dealer. Johnny also likes to get tough when things don't go his way. When Jake Mazursky fails to pay up for Johnny, things get worse for the ...
Style: disturbing, serious, rough, teen, hood ...
Audience: teens, kids, teen drama
Plot: kidnapping, gang, true crime, sex scene, youth, woman urinating, confrontation, male nudity, culture clash, crime gone awry, revenge, menage a trois ...
Time: 20th century, 90s, year 1999, year 2003, year 2005
Place: los angeles, usa, california, albuquerque new mexico, palm springs california
Similarity:
100%
American History X (1998)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min.
Story: Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for killing two thugs who tried to break into/steal his truck. Through his brother, Danny Vineyard's narration, we learn that before going to prison, Derek was a skinhead and the leader ...
Style: cerebral, rough, serious, clever, disturbing ...
Audience: boys' night, date night, teens, teen drama
Plot: gang, skinhead, racism, prison, neo nazism, neo nazi, character change, nazism, juvenile delinquency, murder, politics, african american ...
Time: 20th century, year 1998, 90s
Place: los angeles, usa, california, america, north america ...
Similarity:
60%
 7.8
 182K
A Bronx Tale (1993)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min.
Story: Set in the Bronx during the tumultuous 1960s, an adolescent boy is torn between his honest, working-class father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss. Complicating matters is the youngster's growing attraction - forbidden in his ...
Style: sentimental, intense, suspense, hood, retro ...
Audience: boys' night, adult
Plot: mafia, coming of age, mentor, gangster, organized crime, gang leader, father son relationship, mobster, african american, friendship, mob boss, white male black female relationship ...
Time: 60s, 20th century, year 1960, year 1993, 90s ...
Place: new york, bronx new york city, usa, new york state, new jersey
Similarity:
75%
 7.1
 21K
Benny's Video (1992)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: Austria, Switzerland
Duration: 110 min.
Story: A 14-year-old video enthusiast is so caught up in film fantasy that he can no longer relate to the real world, to such an extent that he commits murder and records an on-camera confession for his parents.
Style: disturbing, psychological, bleak, serious, art house ...
Audience: teens, teen drama
Plot: murder, psychopath, obsession, video store, society, atrocity, killer child, child murders a child, human nature, introspection, found footage, extreme ...
Time: year 1992, 90s
Place: austria, egypt, germany, bosnia, europe ...
Similarity:
100%