Movies like Red August
The best movies like Red August are Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998), Sight (2023) and Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014). If Red August hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHero (2002)7.5/10 from 2,640 votes
- NewestSight (2023)Released 2023
- In ChineseHero (2002)Also in Chinese
Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSight (2023)
Ming Wang is an impoverished Chinese prodigy who flees Communist China to become a pioneering eye surgeon in America. When tasked with restoring the sight of an orphan in India, who was blinded by her stepmother, Wang must confront the trauma of living through the violent uprising in his youth, the Cultural Revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)
The story of the insane scandals related to the remake of “Island of Dr. Moreau” —originally a novel by H. G. Wells—, which was brought to the big screen in 1996. How director Richard Stanley spent four years developing the project just to find an abrupt end to his work while leading actor Marlon Brando pulled the strings in the shadows. Now for the first time, the living key players recount what really happened and why it all went so spectacularly wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHero (2002)
During China's Warring States period, a district prefect arrives at the palace of Qin Shi Huang, claiming to have killed the three assassins who had made an attempt on the king's life three years ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisReturn of the One-Armed Swordsman (1969)
After the events of The One-Armed Swordsman (1967), a retired Fang Gang is drawn back into the jianghu to protect various young apprentices whose swordsmanship schools have been terrorized by 8 evil swordsmen seeking to rule the jianghu.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Climbers (2019)
Upon learning that the international community does not recognize China's ascent of Mount Everest during May 1960 owing to a lack of videographic evidence from the summit, three members on the team rally together a group of young hopefuls to reach the world's highest point.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this42 Up (1999)
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHead Full of Honey (2018)
A young girl tries to help her grandfather, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, navigate his increasing forgetfulness, and ends up going on a remarkable adventure with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse of Flying Daggers (2004)
In 9th century China, a corrupt government wages war against a rebel army called the Flying Daggers. A romantic warrior breaks a beautiful rebel out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible (2021)
In 2019, Nepalese mountain climber Nirmal “Nims” Purja set out to do the unthinkable by climbing the world’s fourteen highest summits in less than seven months. (The previous record was eight years). He called the effort “Project Possible 14/7” and saw it as a way to inspire others to strive for greater heights in any pursuit. The film follows his team as they seek to defy naysayers and push the limits of human endurance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this24 City (2008)
As a decades-old state-run aeronautics munitions factory in downtown Chengdu, China is being torn down for the construction of the titular luxury apartment complex, director Jia Zhangke interviews various people affiliated with it about their experiences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOne Second (2020)
A movie fan escapes from a labour camp during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and strikes up a relationship with a homeless female vagabond.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLucky Them (2013)
More interested in partying and flirting with young musicians than work, veteran rock journalist Ellie Klug has one last chance to prove her value to her magazine’s editor: a no-stone-unturned search to discover what really happened to long lost rock god, Matt Smith, who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend. Teaming up with an eccentric amateur documentary filmmaker, Ellie hits the road in search of answers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarabbas (1961)
Epic account of the thief Barabbas, who was pardoned for his crimes and spared crucifixion when Pilate offered the Israelites a choice to pardon Barabbas or Jesus. Struggling with his spirituality, Barabbas goes through many ordeals leading him to the gladiatorial arena, where he tries to win his freedom and confront his inner demons, ultimately becoming a follower of the man who was crucified in his place.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAs I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000)
A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOvernight (2003)
Alternately hilarious and horrifying, Overnight chronicles one man's misadventures of making a Hollywood movie. It starts out as a rags to riches story as Troy Duffy, a Boston-bred bartender, sells his first screenplay for The Boondock Saints.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBalzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002)
During the Cultural Revolution, two young men are sent to a remote mining village where they fall in love with the local tailor's beautiful granddaughter and discover a suitcase full of forbidden Western novels.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHibiscus Town (1987)
Based on a novel by the same name written by Gu Hua, a melodrama about the life and travails of a young woman who lives through the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDangerous Days: Making Blade Runner (2007)
The definitive 3½-hour documentary about the troubled creation and enduring legacy of the science fiction classic 'Blade Runner', culled from 80 interviews and hours of never-before-seen outtakes and lost footage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStagecoach (1966)
A group of unlikely travelling companions find themselves on the same stagecoach to Cheyenne. They include a drunken doctor, a bar girl who's been thrown out of town, a professional gambler, a travelling liquor salesman, a banker who has decided to embezzle money, a gun-slinger out for revenge and a young woman going to join her army captain husband. All have secrets but when they are set upon by an Indian war party and then a family of outlaws, they find they must all work together if they are to stay alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Red August and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Red August?
The closest matches to Red August are Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998), Sight (2023) and Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Red August?
Start with Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998), the closest match to Red August.
What is the highest-rated movie like Red August?
Hero (2002), rated 7.5/10 by 2,640 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Red August?
Sight (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like Red August?
Yes: Hero (2002), Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (1969) and The Climbers (2019).
How are movies similar to Red August chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Red August, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.