Movies like Jiseul (2013)
The best movies like Jiseul (2013) are The Scarlet and the Black (1983), The Last Rifleman (2023) and Operation Mincemeat (2022). If Jiseul hooked you with its drama and history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)8.0/10 from 811 votes
- NewestMary (2024)Released 2024
- In KoreanMay 18 (2007)Also in Korean
The Scarlet and the Black (1983)
Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His activities become so large that the Nazis decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Rifleman (2023)
A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOperation Mincemeat (2022)
In 1943, two British intelligence officers concoct Operation Mincemeat, wherein their plan to drop a corpse with false papers off the coast of Spain would fool Nazi spies into believing the Allied forces were planning to attack by way of Greece rather than Sicily.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDevotion (2022)
The harrowing true story of two elite US Navy fighter pilots during the Korean War. Their heroic sacrifices would ultimately make them the Navy's most celebrated wingmen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMay 18 (2007)
The citizens of Gwangju lead a relatively peaceful life, until one day the military takes over the city, accusing the residents of conspiracy and claiming that they are communist sympathisers preparing a revolution against the current government. Seeing as the soldiers beat defenceless people, mainly students, to death, the citizens are in for retaliation and form a militia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Face Reader (2013)
An exceptionally talented face reader becomes entangled in a bloody power struggle between a child king and his uncle who plans to usurp the throne.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWaiting for Anya (2020)
During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like this1987: When the Day Comes (2017)
In 1987 Korea under an oppressive military regime, the unlawful interrogation and death of a college student ignite ordinary citizens to fight for the truth and bring about justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCast a Giant Shadow (1966)
An American Army officer is recruited by the yet to exist Israel to help them form an army. He is disturbed by this sudden appeal to his Jewish heritage. Each of Israel's Arab neighbors has vowed to invade the poorly prepared country as soon as partition is granted. He is made commander of the Israeli forces just before the war begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe One That Got Away (1957)
Based on the true story of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, the only German prisoner of war captured in Britain to escape back to Germany during the Second World War.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWar of the Arrows (2011)
After the death of their father, two siblings are raised by their father's best friend. However, when one gets kidnapped just before her wedding, the other rises against the Manchus.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMunich - The Edge of War (2021)
At the tense 1938 Munich Conference, former friends who now work for opposing governments become reluctant spies racing to expose a Nazi secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Call to Spy (2020)
The story of Vera Atkins, a crafty spy recruiter, and two of the first women she selects for Churchill's "secret army": Virginia Hall, a daring American undaunted by a disability and Noor Inayat Khan, a pacifist. These civilian women form an unlikely sisterhood while entangled in dangerous missions to turn the tide of the war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
A dramatization of the American general and his court martial for publically complaining about High Command's dismissal and neglect of the aerial fighting forces.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Guns of Navarone (1961)
A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRadium Girls (2020)
Young women toiling in a factory are exposed to hazardous material which takes a disastrous toll on their health.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGunga Din (1939)
British army sergeants Ballantine, Cutter and MacChesney serve in India during the 1880s, along with their native water-bearer, Gunga Din. While completing a dangerous telegraph-repair mission, they unearth evidence of the suppressed Thuggee cult. When Gunga Din tells the sergeants about a secret temple made of gold, the fortune-hunting Cutter is captured by the Thuggees, and it's up to his friends to rescue him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Attorney (2013)
Song Woo-seok is a lawyer with no clients. When his friend's son is falsely accused of a crime and tortured, he takes up the case and the course of his life changes for good.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017)
An African-American woman becomes an unwitting pioneer for medical breakthroughs when her cells are used to create the first immortal human cell line in the early 1950s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMary (2024)
A miraculous conception. A merciless king. A murderous pursuit. Mary's journey to give birth to Jesus unfolds in this biblical coming-of-age epic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)
When two brothers are forced to fight in the Korean War, the elder decides to take the riskiest missions if it will help shield the younger from battle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisM*A*S*H (1970)
One of the world's most acclaimed comedies, M*A*S*H focuses on three Korean War Army surgeons brilliantly brought to life by Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt and Elliott Gould. Though highly skilled and deeply dedicated, they adopt a hilarious, lunatic lifestyle as an antidote to the tragedies of their Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and in the process infuriate Army bureaucrats. Robert Duvall, Gary Burghoff and Sally Kellerman co-star as a sanctimonious Major, an other-worldly Corporal, and a self-righteous yet lusty nurse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDMZ (Demilitarized Zone) (2004)
A boy's experience as a fresh military recruit stationed at the North-South border in the late 1970s.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Dragon Wars: D-War (2007)
Ethan learns he carries the spirit of a warrior who battled dragons in 16th-century Korea -- and one day he'll find a tattooed girl carrying the spirit of that warrior's beloved. Years later, he meets Sarah and dragons soon descend on Los Angeles seeking out the two souls of the ancient lovers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisShiri (1999)
North Korea's 8th Special Forces hijack a shipment of CTX, a potent new liquid explosive, and threatens South Korea as part of a plot to re-unify the two countries. Ryu and Lee, special agents of O.P., South Korea's secret intelligence service, attempt to track down the terrorists and find the CTX. Meanwhile Hee, the 8th's ultra-bad female sniper, resurfaces to wreak havoc and haunt Ryu.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSilmido (2003)
On 31 January 1968, 31 North Korean commandos infiltrated South Korea in a failed mission to assassinate President Park Chung-hee. In revenge, the South Korean military assembled a team of 31 criminals on the island of Silmido to kill Kim Il-sung for a suicide mission to redeem their honor, but was cancelled, leaving them frustrated. It is loosely based on a military uprising in the 1970s.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Poet and the Boy (2017)
Trapped in routine, a Jeju poet finds himself drawn to a boy—and to emotions he’s never dared name.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Holiday (2006)
After 1988 Seoul Olympic, Ji Kang-heon, who is sentenced for 7 years, and other inmates escape from the police van. After escaping, Ji Kang-heon and inmates make the entire Seoul under fear while they hold hostages.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Bow (2005)
On a fishing boat at sea, a 60-year old man has been raising a girl since she was a child. It is agreed that they will get married on her 17th birthday. They live a quiet and secluded life, renting the boat to day fishermen and practicing strange divination rites. Their life changes when a teenage student comes aboard.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAfter Love (2016)
Kim Sung-Joon (Park Si-Hoo) worked as a pilot, but after becoming in deaf in his right ear he has worked on the ground. He becomes desperate. Kim Sung-Joon then meets Eun-Hong (Yoon Eun-Hye) on a blind date. Even though he doesn't love her, he gets married to Eun-Hong. After their marriage, Sung-Joon treats Eun-Hong with indifference. Suddenly, Eun-Hong dies. Kim Sung-Joon soon learns for the first time about her real heart and her first love. Holding Eun-Hong's urn, he seeks out her first love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Jiseul and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Jiseul?
The closest matches to Jiseul are The Scarlet and the Black (1983), The Last Rifleman (2023) and Operation Mincemeat (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Jiseul?
Start with The Scarlet and the Black (1983), the closest match to Jiseul.
What is the highest-rated movie like Jiseul?
Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004), rated 8.0/10 by 811 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Jiseul?
Mary (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like Jiseul?
Yes: May 18 (2007), The Face Reader (2013) and 1987: When the Day Comes (2017).
How are movies similar to Jiseul chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Jiseul, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.