Movies like Arrival
If you like "Arrival" you are looking for psychological, philosophical and intellectual movies about / with first contact, alien, female protagonist, linguist, ufo, extraterrestrial and alien contact themes of Drama, Mystery and Sci-Fi genre shot in Canada or USA.
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.
Arrival (2016)
852K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 116 min.
Story:
Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.
Style:
psychological, philosophical, intellectual, reflective, twist ending, enigmatic, futuristic, cerebral, suspense, thought provoking ...
Audience:
teens, family friendly, adult
Plot:
first contact, alien, female protagonist, linguist, ufo, extraterrestrial, alien contact, time, alien invasion, creature, science, alien race, alien creature, scientist, strong female lead, plot twist, communication, destiny, alien life-form, spacecraft, husband wife relationship, flash forward, memory, existentialism, language barrier ...
Time:
year 2016, future, 2010s
Place:
montana, china, america, venezuela, massachusetts, russia, pakistan ...
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to Arrival
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out cerebral, thought provoking, suspense and atmospheric films with plots about technology, outer space, dialogue, distopia, storytelling, space and existentialism mostly in Sci-Fi, Drama and Mystery genres. Some movies like Arrival: Contact (1997), Interstellar (2014), Annihilation (2018), Ex Machina (2014), K-PAX (2001). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
310K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min.
Story:
Contact is a science fiction film about an encounter with alien intelligence. Based on the novel by Carl Sagan the film starred Jodie Foster as the one chosen scientist who must make some difficult decisions between her beliefs, the truth, and ...
Style:
inspirational, philosophical, cerebral, emotional, thought provoking ...
Audience:
teens, adult
Plot:
science, nasa, space travel, scientist, alien encounter, astronomy, first contact, religion, space and aliens, intelligence, alien contact, research ...
Time:
future, 90s, 20th century, distant future
Place:
puerto rico, new mexico, florida, washington d.c., usa ...
Similarity:
92%
2.5M
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, UK, Canada
Duration: 169 min.
Story:
Interstellar chronicles the adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.
Style:
futuristic, mind bending, cerebral, clever, philosophical ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, kids, girls' night, date night ...
Plot:
space travel, time travel, outer space, nasa, astronaut, father daughter relationship, space, dystopian future, survival, end of the world, robot, space exploration ...
Time:
future, year 2014, 2010s, near future, 21st century
Place:
los angeles, colorado
Similarity:
89%
390K
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply.
Style:
psychedelic, suspense, disturbing, mindfuck, medical horror ...
Audience:
family friendly, adult
Plot:
female protagonist, cosmic horror, dna, creature, mutation, scientist, scientific experiment, biologist, expedition, research, genetics, terror ...
Time:
2010s, future, 21st century
Place:
west virginia, arkansas, maine, england, louisiana ...
Similarity:
87%
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 138 min.
Story:
After an encounter with UFOs, a line worker feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
Style:
captivating, cerebral, breathtaking, atmospheric, mysterious ...
Audience:
kids, family outing, teens, pre-teens, adult ...
Plot:
ufo, alien, first contact, alien abduction, technology, alien contact, space and aliens, contact, flying saucer, extraterrestrial, chase, airplane ...
Time:
70s, 20th century, year 1977, near future, future
Place:
wyoming, indiana, india, ohio, north america ...
Similarity:
85%
Movie in collections
633K
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
Caleb, a 26 year old coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote location he finds ...
Style:
psychological, futuristic, twist ending, philosophical, mind bending ...
Audience:
girls' night, adult
Plot:
artificial intelligence, robot, androids, technology, existentialism, cyborgs, cyberpunk, isolation, manipulation, androids and robots, female robot, consciousness ...
Time:
future, near future, 2010s, year 2015, year 2014 ...
Place:
england
Similarity:
81%
202K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
Prot is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a far away Planet. His psychiatrist tries to help him, only to begin to doubt his own explanations.
Style:
psychological, touching, sentimental, cerebral, philosophical ...
Audience:
teen drama
Plot:
patient, mental institution, extraterrestrial, alien, mysterious character, psychiatry, hypnosis, psychiatrist, planet, space and aliens, investigation, delusion ...
Time:
future, year 2001, 80s, 90s, 21st century
Place:
usa, persia, new york, newfoundland, greenland ...
Similarity:
77%
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
A representative of an alien race that went through drastic evolution to survive its own climate change, Klaatu comes to Earth to assess whether humanity can prevent the environmental damage they have inflicted on their own planet. When barred from ...
Style:
stylized, suspenseful, apocalyptic, visual, atmospheric ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
ufo, end of the world, alien encounter, alien, alien invasion, alien contact, evil alien, happy ending, first contact, robot, extraterrestrial, apocalypse ...
Time:
year 2008, future, 20th century, 1920s, 2000s ...
Place:
usa, washington d.c., virginia, new jersey, manhattan new york city ...
Similarity:
83%
118K
Genre: Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min.
Story:
The OSSA discovers a spacecraft thought to be at least 300 years old at the bottom of the ocean. Immediately following the discovery, they decide to send a team down to the depths of the ocean to study the space craft.They are the best of best, ...
Style:
scary, breathtaking, mind bending, atmospheric, psychological ...
Audience:
boys' night, adult
Plot:
ocean, underwater, alien, first contact, twists and turns, ufo, time travel, paranoia, psychology, survival, space and aliens, ghost ship ...
Time:
future, jurassic, 90s, 20th century, 80s
Similarity:
81%
Movie in collections
104K
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 167 min.
Story:
A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of cosmonauts on the station. He soon discovers that the water on the planet is a type of brain which brings out ...
Style:
art house, atmospheric, cerebral, enigmatic, philosophical ...
Audience:
teens, adult
Plot:
outer space, scientist, metaphysics, space travel, space and aliens, space station, dream, trapped in space, astronaut, loneliness, science, philosophy ...
Time:
distant future, 70s, future, year 1972
Place:
soviet union, ussr, russia, tokyo
Similarity:
82%
579K
Genre: Action, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada, France, Germany
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
Decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens wakes up in the body of an unknown man, discovering he's involved in a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train. He learns he's part of a top-secret experimental program that enables ...
Style:
surprise ending, suspense, mind bending, clever, captivating ...
Audience:
boys' night, teens, chick flick
Plot:
time loop, time travel, train, alternate reality, parallel universe, twists and turns, memory, save the day, changing the past or future, destiny, terrorism, time ...
Time:
future, year 2011, 2010s, 21st century
Place:
chicago, usa, somalia, afghanistan, illinois
Similarity:
77%
692K
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.
Style:
futuristic, scary, atmospheric, suspenseful, space horror ...
Audience:
girls' night, boys' night, adult
Plot:
space travel, androids, survival, alien, outer space, space and aliens, distant planet, robot, alien encounter, expedition, creature, alien life-form ...
Time:
future, year 2000, year 2012, 2010s, 21st century
Place:
scotland, seattle
Similarity:
80%
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Canada, India, Australia
Duration: 113 min.
Story:
Major Bill Cage is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously demoted and dropped into combat. Cage is killed within minutes, managing to take an alpha alien down with him. He awakens back at the beginning of the same ...
Style:
futuristic, mind bending, exciting, clever, captivating ...
Audience:
teens, boys' night, family friendly, chick flick
Plot:
time loop, time travel, alien invasion, alien, invasion, battles, space and aliens, changing the past or future, evil alien, soldier, repeated event, foreknowledge ...
Time:
future, near future, year 2014, 2020s, 2010s ...
Place:
united kingdom, france, paris france, europe, big ben london ...
Similarity:
83%
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
Ray Ferrier is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife and her new husband drop of his teenage son and young daughter for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down.
Style:
exciting, suspenseful, futuristic, scary, serious ...
Audience:
girls' night, family friendly, teens, boys' night
Plot:
alien invasion, apocalypse, disaster, survival, end of the world, alien, invasion, space and aliens, evil alien, extraterrestrial, catastrophe, humanity in peril ...
Time:
year 2005, future, jurassic, 2000s, 21st century
Place:
new jersey, new york, usa, boston, los angeles ...
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 149 min.
Story:
Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.
Style:
futuristic, philosophical, mind bending, cerebral, psychedelic ...
Audience:
family outing, kids, teens, adult
Plot:
space travel, artificial intelligence, astronaut, outer space, space, moon, computer, scientist, human versus computer, extraterrestrial, deception, spacewalk ...
Time:
future, year 2001, 20th century, 2000s, stone age ...
Place:
persia
Similarity:
83%
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
A man glimpses the future Fate has planned for him – and chooses to fight for his own destiny. Battling the powerful Adjustment Bureau across, under and through the streets of New York, he risks his destined greatness to be with the only woman ...
Style:
romantic, mind bending, philosophical, cerebral, psychological ...
Audience:
teens, date night, chick flick, adult
Plot:
destiny, alternate reality, power of love, fall in love, fictional reality, politics, changing the past or future, foreknowledge, creator, supernatural, mind control, forbidden love ...
Time:
future, year 2011, 2010s, 21st century
Place:
new york, usa, brooklyn new york city
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
Three college students on a road trip across the Southwest experience a detour – the tracking of a computer genius who has already hacked into MIT and exposed security faults. When the trio find themselves drawn to an eerily isolated area, ...
Style:
surreal, suspenseful, mindfuck, twisted, cerebral ...
Audience:
family friendly, teens
Plot:
twists and turns, hacker, secret laboratory, alien, alien abduction, road trip, alien invasion, alien contact, computer hacker, cyborgs, space, danger ...
Time:
future, 2010s, 21st century
Place:
columbus ohio, nevada, usa
Similarity:
77%
411K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.
Style:
suspense, twist ending, creepy, suspenseful, atmospheric ...
Plot:
alien invasion, ufo, alien, alien encounter, single father, faith, first contact, survival, loss of faith, death of wife, extraterrestrial, natural disaster ...
Time:
2000s, future, year 2002, 21st century
Place:
philadelphia, pennsylvania, usa, north america, mexico ...
Similarity:
70%
257K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
Spanning over one thousand years, and three parallel stories, The Fountain is a story of love, death, spirituality, and the fragility of our existence in this world.
Style:
surreal, melancholic, atmospheric, philosophical, artsy ...
Audience:
teens, adult
Plot:
afterlife, surrealism, metaphysics, buddhism, cancer, spirituality, immortality, multiple storylines, death, love, alternate reality, obsession ...
Time:
future, 2000s, year 2006, 16th century, 21st century
Place:
spain, tibet, latin america, europe, guatemala ...
Similarity:
72%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
An impromptu goodbye party for Professor John Oldman becomes a mysterious interrogation after the retiring scholar reveals to his colleagues he never ages and has walked the earth for 14,000 years.
Style:
philosophical, reflective, mindfuck, psychological, cerebral ...
Plot:
philosophy, immortality, atheism, religion, storytelling, immortal, dialogue, professor, society, myth, heart attack, eternal youth ...
Time:
future, medieval times, 2000s, prehistory, 17th century ...
Similarity:
78%
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
A crew of international astronauts are sent on a private mission to Jupiter's fourth moon.
Style:
cerebral, suspense, suspenseful, philosophical, lovecraft ...
Audience:
family friendly
Plot:
space travel, found footage, astronaut, space exploration, outer space, space, spacecraft, distant planet, alien, survival, spacewalk, moon ...
Time:
future, 2010s, year 1972, 1950s, 50s ...
Similarity:
65%
895K
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first Shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The Shuttle is destroyed, leaving ...
Style:
suspense, atmospheric, suspenseful, scenic, breathtaking ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, kids, girls' night, adult
Plot:
isolation, survival, space travel, astronaut, outer space, sole survivor, space station, space, disaster, life & death, survivor, spacecraft ...
Time:
year 2013, 2010s, future, 21st century
Place:
persia, seattle, los angeles, houston texas
Similarity:
70%
Genre: Action, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada, Spain
Duration: 164 min.
Story:
Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, ...
Style:
futuristic, neo noir, detective, tech noir, thought provoking ...
Audience:
boys' night, adult
Plot:
cyberpunk, artificial intelligence, dystopia, investigation, dark future, technology, robot, flying car, bounty hunter, violence, police detective, memory ...
Time:
future, near future, 2040s, distant future, year 2017 ...
Place:
california, nevada, space western, san diego california, los angeles ...
Similarity:
71%
261K
Genre: Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, Australia
Duration: 121 min.
Story:
A teacher opens a time capsule that has been dug up at his son's elementary school; in it are some chilling predictions -- some that have already occurred and others that are about to -- that lead him to believe his family plays a role in the ...
Style:
suspense, suspenseful, scary, futuristic, exciting ...
Audience:
kids
Plot:
disaster, apocalypse, end of the world, supernatural, catastrophe, cataclysm, prophecy, foreknowledge, metaphysics, professor, prediction, extraterrestrial ...
Time:
year 2009, future, september 11 2001, 20th century, year 1959 ...
Place:
massachusetts, boston, new york, usa
Similarity:
71%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min.
TV show
Story:
After peaceful aliens invade earth, humanity finds itself living in a utopia under the indirect rule of the aliens, but does this utopia come at a price?
Style:
philosophical, futuristic, thought provoking, suspense, serious ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
alien invasion, science, demon, space travel, humanity, religion, alien, technology, space and aliens, adaptation, world domination, life philosophy ...
Time:
near future, future, 21st century
Place:
usa, israel
Similarity:
89%
2.8M
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 148 min.
Story:
Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another ...
Style:
psychological, mind bending, cerebral, clever, twist ending ...
Audience:
date night, teens, adult
Plot:
dream, virtual reality, memory, alternate reality, teamwork, imagination, subconscious, philosophy, twists and turns, fictional reality, existentialism, lucid dream ...
Time:
year 2010, future, 2000s, 2010s, near future
Place:
japan, paris france, los angeles, iran, tokyo ...
Similarity:
71%
170K
Genre: Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
On the night a comet is passing near Earth, eight friends at a dinner party experience a troubling chain of reality bending events. When the power goes out, they discover that the only house on the street left with power also holds many secrets.
Style:
psychological, mind bending, suspenseful, cerebral, confusing ...
Plot:
twists and turns, alternate reality, parallel world, parallel universe, time loop, quantum physics, disorder, friends, paranoia, paradox, isolation, dinner party ...
Time:
near future, year 2013, future, distant future, 2010s ...
Place:
usa, los angeles
Similarity:
100%
997K
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, UK, Hungary, Jordan
Duration: 144 min.
Story:
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw ...
Style:
futuristic, biting, clever, suspenseful, suspense ...
Audience:
teens, kids, girls' night
Plot:
survival, mars, astronaut, stranded, space travel, nasa, isolation, science, outer space, struggle for survival, space, loneliness ...
Time:
year 2015, 2030s, year 2016, near future, future ...
Place:
china, london, houston texas, pasadena california, beijing china ...
Similarity:
75%
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 146 min.
Story:
A robotic boy, the first programmed to love, David is adopted as a test case by a Cybertronics employee and his wife. Though he gradually becomes their child, a series of unexpected circumstances make this life impossible for David. Without final ...
Style:
philosophical, thought provoking, futuristic, touching, sentimental ...
Audience:
kids, family friendly, teens, teen drama
Plot:
artificial intelligence, cyberpunk, androids and robots, androids, distopia, adoption, robot, imagination, boy, destiny, machine, child abuse ...
Time:
future, year 2001, 2000s, near future, distant future ...
Place:
new york, persia, usa, coney island brooklyn new york city, manhattan new york city ...
Similarity:
71%
140K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
I Origins follows a molecular biologist studying the evolution of the human eye. He finds his work permeating his life after a brief encounter with an exotic young woman who slips away from him. As his research continues years later with his lab ...
Style:
thought provoking, mind bending, spiritual, philosophical, enigmatic ...
Plot:
reincarnation, eye, metaphysics, genetics, buddhism, religion, atheism, death, spirituality, love story, sex scene, elevator ...
Time:
year 2014, 2010s, 90s, year 1998, year 2005 ...
Place:
india, usa, new york, asia, delhi ...
Similarity:
67%
27K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Australia, USA, UK
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
A man's life is derailed when an ominous pattern of events repeats itself in exactly the same manner every day, ending at precisely 2:22 p.m.
Style:
suspense, enigmatic, cerebral, suspenseful, atmospheric ...
Plot:
time loop, train station, air traffic controller, repeated event, premonition, investigation, artist, time travel, obsession, love triangle, coincidence, ballet ...
Time:
year 1986
Place:
grand central station manhattan new york city, new york
Similarity:
100%
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