Movies Like Penitentiary Angel

If you liked Penitentiary Angel (1996), a drama and crime movie directed by Xie Jin, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Siberian Education (2013)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and crime
The story of a gang of children growing up in a community of banished criminals, in a forgotten corner of the former Soviet Union. This community rejects the world outside. The only law it obeys… is its own. Against…
2
12 Citizens (2014)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and crime
When the film broke out that a young man coming from a rich adopted family murdered his birth father, the controversy around the case hit a nerve with the public at large. An experiment was held through the form of…
3
Convict (2014)
★ 6.5/10Also crime and drama
Set in the dark and old Parramatta prison built by the original convicts our lead character Ray a war veteran finds himself serving 18 months for manslaughter after defending his fiance. He soon realizes that the…
4
The Unforgivable (2021)
★ 7.4/10Also drama and crime
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
5
No One Would Tell (1996)
★ 7/10Also drama and crime
Shy sixteen-year-old Stacy Collins can't believe that the most popular guy in school, an attractive athlete named Bobby Tennison, is interested in her. At first she is flattered by his constant attention, but then he…
6
Above the Rim (1994)
★ 7.1/10Also crime and drama
Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.
7
Winged Creatures (2009)
★ 5.9/10Also crime and drama
A psychotic man opens fire in a diner, murdering numerous people before killing himself. The survivors struggle in different ways following this horrendous event: a doctor doubts his own instincts and elects to use an…
8
The Parts You Lose (2019)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and crime
An unlikely friendship unfolds between a young deaf boy, Wesley, and a fugitive criminal who takes refuge in an abandoned barn on the family’s rural North Dakota farm.
9
Òlòtūré (2019)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and crime
In Lagos, Nigeria, young, naive Nigerian journalist Òlòtūré goes undercover to expose the shady underworld of human trafficking. Unused to this brutal environment, crawling with ruthless traders and pimps, Òlòtūré…
10
A Sun (2019)
★ 7.7/10Also drama and crime
A family of four fractures under the weight of unmet expectations, unexpected tragedy, and uncompromising pride.
11
Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
★ 7.1/10Also crime and drama
A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.
12
Brute Force (1947)
★ 7.3/10Also crime and drama
Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins' dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey's…
13
Police Story: Lockdown (2013)
★ 6.2/10Also crime and drama
A man looking for the release of a long-time prisoner takes a police officer, his daughter, and a group of strangers hostage.
14
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
★ 7/10Also drama and crime
A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.
15
96 Minutes (2025)
★ 6.2/10Also crime
Former bomb disposal expert and his fiancée board a high-speed train. Also, a well-known physics teacher who was involved in an affair scandal, also boards the same train in order to win back his wife. At the same…
16
The Wild Goose Lake (2019)
★ 6.6/10Also crime and drama
A gangster ends up making a mistake that causes every gun on both sides of the law to point at him. While on the run, he comes across a mysterious woman who might get him out of trouble or make things worse.
17
The Enforcer (2022)
★ 7/10Also crime and drama
A noir thriller set in Miami, the film follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cyber sex trafficking, putting a young runaway he’s befriended at risk. He sacrifices everything to…
18
Bronson (2009)
★ 6.9/10Also drama and crime
A young man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter ego, Charles Bronson.
19
Only the River Flows (2023)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and crime
Dedicated police detective Ma Zhe is tasked with solving a series of brutal murders in a rural Chinese town. As pressure mounts from his superiors, a hasty arrest is made, but while his colleagues celebrate, several…
20
King Ivory (2025)
★ 7/10Also crime and drama
Based on extensive research involving law enforcement and gang members, a never-before-seen, authentic look inside the underworld of fentanyl trafficking from gangs inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester…