Movies like China's Grand Canal: A Photographer's Journey (2015)
The best movies like China's Grand Canal: A Photographer's Journey (2015) are Ratcatcher (1999), The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and Just in Time for Christmas (2015). If China's Grand Canal: A Photographer's Journey hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
China's Grand Canal: A Photographer's Journey
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSamsara (2011)8.1/10 from 719 votes
- NewestRose of Nevada (2026)Released 2026
Ratcatcher (1999)
James Gillespie is 12 years old. The world he knew is changing. Haunted by a secret, he has become a stranger in his own family. He is drawn to the canal where he creates a world of his own. He finds an awkward tenderness with Margaret Anne, a vulnerable 14 year old expressing a need for love in all the wrong ways, and befriends Kenny, who possesses an unusual innocence in spite of the harsh surroundings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the next day as they head for California and a new life... Hopefully.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJust in Time for Christmas (2015)
Lindsay is faced with a life-altering decision as Christmas approaches: Stay in her tiny hometown and marry boyfriend Jason or accept a coveted post teaching at an Ivy League college on the other side of the country. What to do? Fortunately for Lindsay, she has some big-time help in the form of a magical messenger who is able to transport her three years into the future to see how it would all turn out.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025)
Sarah and David are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present... and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAs Above, So Below (2014)
When a team of explorers venture into the catacombs that lie beneath the streets of Paris, they uncover the dark secret that lies within this city of the dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Baby (1973)
A social worker who recently lost her husband investigates the strange Wadsworth family. The Wadsworths might not seem too unusual to hear about them at first - consisting of the mother, two grown daughters and the diaper-clad, bottle-sucking baby. The problem is, the baby is twenty-one years old.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Dark Tower (2017)
A boy haunted by visions of a parallel world aids its disillusioned guardian in preventing the destruction of the nexus of universes known as the Dark Tower.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisInterstate 60 (2002)
An aspiring painter meets various characters and learns valuable lessons while traveling across America.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOf Mice and Men (1939)
An intellectually disabled giant and his level headed guardian find work at a sadistic cowboy's ranch in depression era America.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFlowers in the Attic (2014)
After the sudden death of their father, four children face cruel treatment from their ruthless grandmother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shift (2023)
Following a tense encounter with a mysterious stranger with otherworldly powers, a man finds himself banished to a parallel, tyrannical Earth, where he fights to get back to the woman he loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (2021)
An intimate, behind-the-scenes look at how an anonymous chef became a world-renowned cultural icon. This unflinching look at Anthony Bourdain reverberates with his presence, in his own voice and in the way he indelibly impacted the world around him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAround the World in 80 Days (2004)
A bet pits a British inventor, a Chinese thief and a French artist on a worldwide adventure that they can circle the globe in 80 days.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRose of Nevada (2026)
When a fishing boat, the Rose of Nevada, lost with all hands 30 years ago, mysteriously reappears in the old harbour of a forgotten Cornish village, for those who remember, it’s surely a sign. The boat must go out to sea again and maybe then the luck of the devastated village will turn. Young father Nick and enigmatic newcomer Liam join captain Murgey, and they head to sea. But when they return, satisfied with their haul, something is amiss – they’ve slipped back in time, and the villagers greet them as if they are the original crew.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this180° South (2010)
The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFiddler on the Roof (1971)
In a pre-revolutionary Russia, a poor Jewish milkman struggles with the challenges of a changing world as his daughters fall in love and antisemitism grows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInfidelity in Suburbia (2017)
With her husband away at work, and her son at school, Laura dreams of a home-renovation project to supplant her restless days. Elliott, her irresistibly hot private contractor, soon fulfills her more forbidden dreams.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOriginal Sin (2001)
A young man is plunged into a life of subterfuge, deceit and mistaken identity in pursuit of a femme fatale whose heart is never quite within his grasp.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSamsara (2011)
Filmed over nearly five years in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on seventy-millimetre film, Samsara transports us to the varied worlds of sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIn Dubious Battle (2016)
In the California apple country, 900 migratory workers rise 'in dubious battle' against the landowners. The group takes on a life of its own—stronger than its individual members, and more frightening. Led by the doomed Jim Nolan, the strike is founded on his tragic idealism—'courage, never submit, or yield'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like China's Grand Canal: A Photographer's Journey?
The closest matches to China's Grand Canal: A Photographer's Journey are Ratcatcher (1999), The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and Just in Time for Christmas (2015). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after China's Grand Canal: A Photographer's Journey?
Start with Ratcatcher (1999), the closest match to China's Grand Canal: A Photographer's Journey.
What is the highest-rated movie like China's Grand Canal: A Photographer's Journey?
Samsara (2011), rated 8.1/10 by 719 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like China's Grand Canal: A Photographer's Journey?
Rose of Nevada (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like China's Grand Canal: A Photographer's Journey?
Yes: Ratcatcher (1999), The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and Just in Time for Christmas (2015).
How are movies similar to China's Grand Canal: A Photographer's Journey chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside China's Grand Canal: A Photographer's Journey, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.