Film

Live by Night

Ben Affleck directs and stars in this Prohibition-era crime drama about Boston gangsters who relocate to Florida seeking fortune and fresh starts. It's a handsome, measured affair—closer to literary adaptation than pulp—that trades the kinetic energy of its genre peers for introspection and moral weight. For those who want their gangster stories intimate and contemplative rather than explosive.

TMDb rating3.1

If you liked this

The Godfather Part II1974

The template for how organized crime can be both intimate family drama and sweeping historical tableau. Corleone's rise parallels Joe's trajectory, and both films understand that power is often about loneliness.

But Nearly three and a half hours, deliberately paced. The deliberation is the point, but it asks patience most modern films don't.

The Godfather Part II poster

Lawless2012

Tom Hardy and Guy Pearce in a Depression-era Virginia moonshine war. Visually sumptuous, morally murky, and absolutely committed to the period without feeling like homework.

But Violent and brutal in ways that can feel gratuitous. Some find Hardy's mumbling performance impenetrable rather than intense.

Lawless poster

The Killers1946

A stylish noir with moral ambiguity baked into its DNA. Like Live by Night, it's interested in why decent men become criminals, and what they lose in the process.

But Black and white and 103 minutes old. If you need immediate gratification or colour, move on.

The Killers poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Live by Night

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Red Right Hand2024

Both are meditative crime stories where the real action is internal—watching a man see clearly what he's become, set against gorgeous cinematography that distances you from the brutality.

A modern noir about an aging Melbourne hitman confronting mortality and legacy. Like Live by Night, it's a character study dressed in crime-film clothing, asking what accumulating power actually costs.

But Australian, darkly funny in ways that might undercut the drama for some. Very slow. If you need plot momentum, this isn't your film.

Red Right Hand poster
More like this (6)

Hail, Caesar!2016

Same year as Live by Night but opposite temperament—a comedy about control and faith in 1950s Hollywood that shares the period-piece craft and moral questioning.

But Aggressively clever. Some find the Coen Brothers' winking exhausting, and the plot is deliberately slight.

Hail, Caesar! poster

Miller's Crossing1990

Prohibition gangsters in an unnamed city, written and directed by the Coen Brothers. Stylized but rooted, violent but thoughtful, funny but not at the characters' expense.

But The dialogue is baroque and sometimes impenetrable on first viewing. Requires active attention and probably a rewatch.

Miller's Crossing poster

Peaky Blinders2013

Post-WWI Birmingham gangsters navigating family, ambition, and the cost of survival. Handsomely shot, morally complex, with extraordinary ensemble acting across five seasons.

But Takes a season or two to find its rhythm. The dialect work is thick, and some viewers find the violence gratuitous.

Peaky Blinders poster

Once Upon a Time in America1984

Sergio Leone's final film: Jewish gangsters from youth through middle age, told in fragments. A meditation on friendship, betrayal, and the American dream's cost.

But Nearly four hours and deliberately non-linear. Dreamlike pacing will test anyone wanting straightforward narrative momentum.

Once Upon a Time in America poster

A Prophet2009

A young man's rise through a French prison system. Like Live by Night, it's about transformation through immersion in a violent world, with extraordinary craft and moral clarity.

But Subtitled. Claustrophobic and bleak—there's no romance to this world, only survival.

A Prophet poster

The Grifters1990

Con artists and small-time criminals in sunlit Los Angeles. A tight, stylish chamber piece about family and self-interest, with Annette Bening and John Cusack at their best.

But Slight plot and deliberately cool tone. If you want emotional catharsis or big narrative stakes, look elsewhere.

The Grifters poster

People

Cast

Directing

Writing

Production

Recommended by