1990 · thriller · crime
The Grifters
Directed by Stephen Frears1h 50m1990
A small-time conman has his loyalties torn between his estranged mother and his new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.
Our read: The Grifters (1990) reads as a sombre, steady, grounded thriller · crime entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook.
Sombre, steady, measured thriller / crime, grounded in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold.
- sombre
- intense
- bleak
- cold
- twisty
Watching The Grifters tonight? Spin for your lens.
Everyone on the couch spins once and gets one craft to watch for. After the credits, compare what you caught.
Your lens for tonight
?
Everyone on the couch gets one craft to watch for. Spin the wheel to get yours. Sound on: the narrator reads your mission.
Availability in the UK · via JustWatch
More info & search links
How The Grifters feels to watch.
Each axis is scored by hand, not from votes or genre averages. The bar uses the film's own colours.
What watching it is actually like.
“You want ice-cold neo-noir grifters where family loyalty curdles into predation.”
Skip it tonight — Incestuous tension and sudden brutality will leave everyone in the room stunned.
Eight films that feel like this one.
Closest in the twelve-axis space, not “people also liked”. All films like The Grifters, with why →
Discussion
Make it a movie night.
Pick a mood, get a film the whole couch will enjoy, and give everyone something to watch for.
Pick tonight's film →