Movies Like Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life

If you liked Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995), a drama and mystery movie directed by Stephen Quay and Timothy Quay, 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
Under the Silver Lake (2018)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and mystery
Young and disenchanted Sam meets a mysterious and beautiful woman who's swimming in his building's pool one night. When she suddenly vanishes the next morning, Sam embarks on a surreal quest across Los Angeles to…
2
All Day and a Night (2020)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
3
Byzantium (2013)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
Residents of a coastal town learn, with deadly consequences, the secret shared by the two mysterious women who have sought refuge at a local boarding house, the Byzantium.
4
The Experiment (2010)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
20 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.
5
Bronson (2009)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
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.
6
Closet Monster (2016)
★ 7/10Also drama and mystery
A creative and driven teenager is desperate to escape his hometown and the haunting memories of his turbulent childhood.
7
I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)
★ 6.5/10Also mystery and drama
Nothing is as it seems when a woman experiencing misgivings about her new boyfriend joins him on a road trip to meet his parents at their remote farm.
8
Greta (2019)
★ 6.5/10Also mystery and drama
A young woman returns a lonely widow’s lost purse, leading to an unlikely relationship between the two — until the young woman discovers the widow might not be all that she seems.
9
The Lords of Discipline (1983)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
Will arrives for his last year at Military Academy, in the Deep South USA, in the 1960's. A black student, Pearce, has been accepted, for the first time and Will is asked to keep an eye out for the inevitable racism…
10
Nowhere to Run (1993)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
Escaped convict Sam Gillen single-handedly takes on ruthless developers who are determined to evict a widow with two young children.
11
The Tutor (2023)
★ 6/10Also mystery
When a professional tutor takes a job at a remote manor, he soon finds himself battling his disturbed student’s obsessions, which threaten to expose his darkest secrets and unravel his carefully crafted persona.
12
Killer: A Journal of Murder (1996)
★ 5.9/10Also drama
Carl Panzram is sent to Leavenworth Prison for burglary. While there, he is brutally beaten by a guard. Neophyte guard Henry Lesser feels sympathy for Panzram, befriends him, and gets him to write his life story…
13
Donnie Darko (2001)
★ 7.8/10Also drama and mystery
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
14
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
★ 7/10Also drama
The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molina, a gay window-dresser who fills…
15
Goodbye June (2025)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
16
The Double (2014)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
An awkward office drone becomes increasingly unhinged after a charismatic and confident look-alike takes a job at his workplace and seduces the woman he desires.
17
Enemy (2014)
★ 6.8/10Also mystery
A mild-mannered college professor discovers a look-alike actor and delves into the other man's private affairs.
18
The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
In 1971, Stanford's Professor Philip Zimbardo conducts a controversial psychology experiment in which college students pretend to be either prisoners or guards, but the proceedings soon get out of hand. Based on a true…
19
Nine Days (2021)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
A bureaucrat interviews five souls to decide which of them will be given a life on Earth. But he soon faces an existential challenge of his own.
20
Interstate 60 (2002)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
An aspiring painter meets various characters and learns valuable lessons while traveling across America.