minimalist backdrop

Movies with minimalist vibe

Radioactive

1. Radioactive

Drama Romance History Historical Drama Passionate Romance
6.3
20201h 51min

Overview

The story of Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie and her extraordinary scientific discoveries—through the prism of her marriage to husband Pierre—and the seismic and transformative effects their discovery of radium had on the 20th century.

Themes

Gender bias in science, Recognition via prizes, Harassment over origins, Wartime medical innovation, Health risks of radioactivity, Ethics of scientific progress

Available on

Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video Free with Ads
Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

First Cow

2. First Cow

Drama Western Historical Drama Revisionist Western
7.1
20202h 2min

Overview

In the 1820s, a taciturn loner and skilled cook travels west to Oregon Territory, where he meets a Chinese immigrant also seeking his fortune. Soon the two team up on a dangerous scheme to steal milk from the wealthy landowner’s prized Jersey cow – the first, and only, in the territory.

Themes

Secrecy and deception, Frontier class tension, Immigrant aspiration and risk, Craft-based livelihood, Mutual reliance under pressure, Wealth and crime dynamics

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

The Way Back

3. The Way Back

Drama Sports Competition
6.7
20201h 48min

Overview

A former basketball all-star, who has lost his wife and family foundation in a struggle with addiction, attempts to regain his soul and salvation by becoming the coach of a disparate ethnically mixed high school basketball team at his alma mater.

Themes

Widower isolation, Basketball team dynamics, Addiction recovery pressure, Family grief impact, Coaching authority challenge, Alcoholism relapse risk

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Adú

4. Adú

Drama Tragic Drama
6.8
20201h 59min

Overview

In a desperate attempt to reach Europe and crouched before an airstrip in Cameroon, a six-year-old boy and his older sister wait to sneak into the holds of an airplane. Not too far away, an environmental activist contemplates the terrible image of an elephant, dead and fangless. Not only do you have to fight against poaching, but you will also have to meet the problems of your newly arrived daughter from Spain. Thousands of kilometers to the north, in Melilla, a group of civil guards prepare to face the furious crowd of sub-Saharan people who have begun the assault on the fence. Three stories linked by a central theme, in which none of its protagonists know that their destinies are doomed to cross and that their lives will no longer be the same.

Themes

Family strain and resilience, Cross border precarity, Desperation and border struggle, Poaching and conservation conflict, State power at borders, Inequality in opportunity

Available on

Netflix
Netflix Standard with Ads
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

His House

5. His House

Drama Horror Psychological Drama Psychological Horror
6.4
20201h 33min

Overview

After making a harrowing escape from war-torn South Sudan, a young refugee couple struggle to adjust to their new life in a small English town that has an unspeakable evil lurking beneath the surface.

Themes

Confinement and control, Refugee precarity, Assimilation pressures, Racism and isolation, Trauma across borders, Hauntings and debt

Available on

Netflix
Netflix Standard with Ads
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

The Lodge

6. The Lodge

Horror Drama Mystery Thriller Psychological Horror
6.0
20201h 48min

Overview

When a father is forced to abruptly depart for work, he leaves his children, Aidan and Mia, at their holiday home in the care of his new girlfriend, Grace. Isolated and alone, a blizzard traps them inside the lodge as terrifying events summon specters from Grace's dark past.

Themes

Isolation intensifies paranoia, Deception as control, Cult legacy and manipulation, Family fracture under stress, Environmental confinement, Fear amid cold

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Ashfall

7. Ashfall

Action Adventure Thriller Rescue Mission Adventure Epic Action
6.2
20192h 8min

Overview

A group of unlikely heroes from across the Korean peninsula try to save the day after a volcano erupts on the mythical and majestic Baekdu Mountain.

Themes

Trust under pressure, Crisis decision making, Cooperative resilience, Resource control under threat, Science guided action, Two-sided tension

Available on

Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Video
Apple TV
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Richard Jewell

8. Richard Jewell

Drama History Biographical History Historical Drama
7.5
20192h 11min

Overview

Richard Jewell thinks quick, works fast, and saves hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives after a domestic terrorist plants several pipe bombs and they explode during a concert, only to be falsely suspected of the crime by sloppy FBI work and sensational media coverage.

Themes

Media bias shaping perception, Authority accountability under spotlight, Public memory shaped by reporting, Glory seeking and media manipulation, Institutional scrutiny under pressure, False accusations under procedural pressure

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

The Two Popes

9. The Two Popes

Drama History Historical Drama Biographical History
7.6
20192h 5min

Overview

Frustrated with the direction of the church, Cardinal Bergoglio requests permission to retire in 2012 from Pope Benedict. Instead, facing scandal and self-doubt, the introspective Pope Benedict summons his harshest critic and future successor to Rome to reveal a secret that would shake the foundations of the Catholic Church.

Themes

Papal conclave pressure, Cardinal duty under doubt, Sistine chapel authority, Pope succession politics, Public scrutiny within church, Confessional accountability

Available on

Netflix
Netflix Standard with Ads
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Proxima

10. Proxima

Drama Professional Drama
6.3
20191h 47min

Overview

Sarah is a French astronaut training at the European Space Agency in Cologne. She is the only woman in the arduous program. She lives alone with Stella, her seven year old daughter. Sarah feels guilty that she cannot spend more time with her child. Her love is overpowering, unsettling. When Sarah is chosen to join the crew of a year-long space mission called Proxima, it creates chaos in the mother-daughter relationship.

Themes

Career vs family conflict, Resilience under isolation, Gender bias in demanding work, Caregiver guilt and distance, Professional respect through perseverance, Single motherhood under pressure

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.