Movies Like The Lost Son (1999)

The Lost Son is a 1999 crime, drama, thriller film from Chris Menges with a MovieMagicScore of 6.0/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with The Big Sleep and Mater Private Eye.

Crime Drama Thriller

The Big Sleep

1946

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

7.6

MagicScore

Mater Private Eye

2010

Detective Mater is hot on the trail of a dastardly car-napping! When Tia's sister goes missing, Mater is the only car she can turn to. With this tow truck on the case, anything can happen.

6.4

MagicScore

The Lincoln Lawyer

2011

Mick Haller is a charismatic defense attorney who does business out of his Lincoln Continental sedan. Mick spends most of his time defending petty crooks and other bottom-feeders, so it comes as quite a surprise when he lands the case of a lifetime: defending a Beverly Hills playboy who is accused of attempted murder. However, what Mick initially thinks is an open-and-shut case with a big monetary reward develops into something more sinister.

7.2

MagicScore

Dead Again

1991

In 1949, composer Roman Strauss is executed for the murder of his wife. In 1990s Los Angeles, a detective comes across a mute amnesiac woman who is somehow linked to the Strauss murder.

6.4

MagicScore

A Walk Among the Tombstones

2014

Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.

6.3

MagicScore

Varg Veum - Fallen Angels

2008

Jakob Aasen has hired his old friend, private investigator Varg Veum, to spy on his wife Rebecca, whom he suspects of infidelity. Against his better judgement Varg accepts the job, and in an ironic twist he and Rebecca rekindle their former love. Meanwhile a serial killer is targeting members of Jacob's band and their families...

6.3

MagicScore

Varg Veum - Yours Until Death

2008

Private eye Varg Veum is on a routine mission searching for his client Jonas Andresen's stolen car. The car is found having been used in a brutal robbery and not long after that the client himself turns up dead.

6.1

MagicScore

Shock to the System: A Donald Strachey Mystery

2006

When hard boiled private eye Donald Strachey finds his latest client dead, an apparent suicide, Albany’s favorite gay detective smells a rat and decides to take matters into his own hands. With the help of his straight-laced but adoring husband Tim and his occasionally too-eager assistant Kenny, Strachey’s investigation leads him on a dark and dangerous trail into the world of "gay conversion therapy".

5.9

MagicScore

Varg Veum - Buried Dogs

2008

Racial tension is running high in Bergen after a young black asylum seeker dies at the hands of the Police. Shortly afterwards, a right-wing politician is targeted by a gunman at a public rally and his wife is fatally wounded. Another member of the right-wing party, Marit Holm, approaches private investigator Varg Veum, insisting she is being stalked.

5.6

MagicScore

#10

Ice Blues: A Donald Strachey Mystery

2008

America's favorite gay private investigator, Donald Strachey, takes on the most complicated case of his career. After his long-time partner, Tim, asks him to uncover the source of an anonymous and generous donation to the Albany youth center, he gets caught in a whirlwind of deceit and danger.

5.3

MagicScore

#11

Thegidi

2014

Vettri joins a detective agency and is assigned a series of subjects to observe. He falls in love with Madhusree, one of his targets, and just when everything seems to be going fine, Vettri's subjects start dying mysteriously. Can he save Madhu before it is too late?

7.1

MagicScore

#12

Soaked in Bleach

2015

Twenty years ago, Kurt Cobain was found dead of an apparent gunshot wound to the head. The world was told it was a suicide, but evidence would lead many people to believe it might be otherwise. The film investigates the possibilities that exist that Kurt Cobain's death might not have been a suicide, that the Seattle Police Department rushed their verdict, and the global media perpetuated lies and misinformation fed to them by Courtney Love that created the belief in many that Cobain killed himself—but when revealed to be lies—lead many to now question what happened.

7.1

MagicScore

#13

Too Late

2016

Private investigator Mel Sampson is tasked with tracking down the whereabouts of a missing woman from his own past.

6.9

MagicScore

#14

The Dark Corner

1946

Ex-con turned private investigator Bradford Galt suspects someone is following him and maybe even trying to kill him. With the assistance of his spunky secretary, Kathleen Stewart, he dives deep into a mystery in search of answers.

6.5

MagicScore

#15

Cult Killer

2024

A private investigator is forced into a dangerous alliance with a killer in order to uncover a quiet town’s grisly criminal underbelly and clear the name of her mentor, who is implicated in the crimes.

6.5

MagicScore

#16

8MM

1999

A small, seemingly innocuous plastic reel of film leads surveillance specialist Tom Welles down an increasingly dark and frightening path. With the help of the streetwise Max, he relentlessly follows a bizarre trail of evidence to determine the fate of a complete stranger. As his work turns into obsession, he drifts farther and farther away from his wife, family and simple life as a small-town PI.

6.5

MagicScore

#17

Varg Veum - Sleeping Beauty

2008

After extricating 17-year-old Lisa Halle from a life of prostitution in Copenhagen, private investigator Varg Veum becomes ensnared in a tangle of parental neglect and bad love when he is hired to locate Lisa's boyfriend, Peter Werner.

6.4

MagicScore

#18

Out Cold

1989

Sunny is married to the butcher, Ernie, and their marriage is about to end as both of them have affairs. Thus Sunny hires Lester Atlas as private investigator in order to collect proof for the divorce. One evening drunken Ernie and his partner Dave have a fight in the butcher shop with Ernie getting knocked out in the fridge where he dies during the night. But it was not Dave's fault but intentional murder by Sunny. Only Lester has proof so Sunny kills him, too. Thus she only has to kill Dave to get rid of all witnesses, but he can free himself out of the fridge and wants to take revenge.

5.9

MagicScore

#19

Last Looks

2022

A disgraced ex-cop seeks solace by moving to the woods, but his quiet life comes to an end when a private eye recruits him to investigate the murder of an eccentric TV star's wife.

5.8

MagicScore

#20

Varg Veum - Woman in the Fridge

2008

An international oil drilling company hires private investigator Varg Veum to find their missing systems designer, Arne Samuelsen. Varg discovers the headless body of a woman jammed into the fridge in Arne's apartment - and is promptly knocked unconscious. When he wakes up the body is gone and the Police has arrived.

5.7

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like The Lost Son?

The top films similar to The Lost Son by MovieMagicScore are The Big Sleep (7.6), Mater Private Eye (6.4), The Lincoln Lawyer (7.2). Each shares crime/drama/thriller themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is The Lost Son worth watching?

The Lost Son holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.0/10 from 39 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is The Lost Son?

The Lost Son (1999) is a crime, drama, thriller film directed by Chris Menges, starring Daniel Auteuil, Nastassja Kinski, Katrin Cartlidge.

Where can I find more recommendations like The Lost Son?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more crime recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like The Big Sleep Movies like Mater Private Eye Movies like The Lincoln Lawyer Movies like Dead Again Movies like A Walk Among the Tombstones Movies like Varg Veum - Fallen Angels

About movies like The Lost Son

This ranked list pairs The Lost Son (1999), a crime and drama and thriller film from Chris Menges, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Daniel Auteuil take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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