Movies like Chihwaseon (2002)
The best movies like Chihwaseon (2002) are Goya in Bordeaux (1999), The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) and Pollock (2000). If Chihwaseon 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 ratedSpring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)7.8/10 from 1,266 votes
- NewestUprising (2024)Released 2024
- In KoreanThe King's Letters (2019)Also in Korean
Goya in Bordeaux (1999)
Francisco Goya (1746-1828), deaf and ill, lives the last years of his life in voluntary exile in Bordeaux, a Liberal protesting the oppressive rule of Ferdinand VII. He's living with his much younger wife Leocadia and their daughter Rosario. He continues to paint at night, and in flashbacks stirred by conversations with his daughter, by awful headaches, and by the befuddlement of age, he relives key times in his life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
During the Italian Renaissance, Pope Julius II contracts the influential artist Michelangelo to sculpt 40 statues for his tomb. When the pope changes his mind and asks the sculptor to paint a mural in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo doubts his painting skills and abandons the project. Divine inspiration returns Michelangelo to the mural, but his artistic vision clashes with the pope's demanding personality and threatens the success of the historic painting.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPollock (2000)
In August of 1949, Life Magazine ran a banner headline that begged the question: "Jackson Pollock: Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?" The film is a look back into the life of an extraordinary man, a man who has fittingly been called "an artist dedicated to concealment, a celebrity who nobody knew." As he struggled with self-doubt, engaging in a lonely tug-of-war between needing to express himself and wanting to shut the world out, Pollock began a downward spiral.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe King's Letters (2019)
In the 15th century, despite so many accomplishments he has made for the people, King Sejong, his biggest goal is still remaining; the invention of original letters that can be read and written by all the people. But courtiers who want to dominate the knowledge and the power, are against his will and discourage his belief. Frustrated King Sejong hears about a bonze Sinmi a phonogram expert, and secretly brings him in the palace.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
The Last Emperor (1987)
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Book of Fish (2021)
When the scholar Jeong Yak-jeon is exiled to Heuksando Island during the Catholic Persecution of 1801, he decides to write a fish-based encyclopaedia.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShadow Magic (2000)
Beijing, 1902: an enterprising young portrait photographer named Liu Jinglun, keen on new technology, befriends a newly-arrived Englishman who's brought projector, camera, and Lumière-brothers' shorts to open the Shadow Magic theater. Liu's work with Wallace brings him conflict with tradition and his father's authority, complicated by his falling in love with Ling, daughter of Lord Tan, star of Beijing's traditional opera. Liu sees movies as his chance to become wealthy and worthy of Ling. When the Shadow Magic pair are invited to show the films to the Empress Dowager, things look good. But, is disaster in the script? And, can movies preserve tradition even as they bring change?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Anarchist from Colony (2017)
Based on the life of the Korean anarchist Park Yeol, the film shows his struggle to counter the massacre of Koreans by the government during the 1923 great Kanto earthquake, focusing on his activities as the leader of the anti-Japanese organization Bulryeongsa and his relationship with Japanese comrade Fumiko Kaneko.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Portrait of a Beauty (2008)
Yun-jeong, a skilled painter, disguises herself as a man in court to continue her family's legacy. Circumstances become difficult when her relationship with Kang-mu draws jealousy from the others.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)
An isolated lake, where an old monk lives in a small floating temple. The monk has a young boy living with him, learning to become a monk. We watch as seasons and years pass by.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMasquerade (2012)
Though it places his own life in danger, a look-alike commoner secretly takes the place of a poisoned king to save his country from falling into chaos.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Sound of a Flower (2015)
During the Joseon Dynasty, lowborn Chae-sun challenges the rule that states only men allowed to sing while navigating devotion to her teacher and the demands of the king's father.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Big Eyes (2014)
In the late 1950s and early '60s, artist Walter Keane achieves unbelievable fame and success with portraits of saucer-eyed waifs. However, no one realizes that his wife, Margaret, is the real painter behind the brush. Although Margaret is horrified to learn that Walter is passing off her work as his own, she is too meek to protest too loudly. It isn't until the Keanes' marriage comes to an end and a lawsuit follows that the truth finally comes to light.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChunhyang (2000)
Once at a pagoda Mongryong Lee, a scion of a well-to-do family, meets Chunhyang, the young daughter of a courtesan and an aristocrat. Despite her low social standing she is smart and well-educated. The young people fall in love and think about marriage so that they could always be together. Mongryong is soon to go to the capital to take the state civil service exam. They part and in Chunhyang's life there appears the greedy and lustful Byun Hak-do, who tries to seduce her.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKing and the Clown (2005)
Two clowns living in Korea's Chosun Dynasty get arrested for staging a play that satirizes the king. They are dragged to the palace and threatened with execution but are given a chance to save their lives if they can make the king laugh.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor-in-chief of French fashion bible Elle magazine, has a devastating stroke at age 43. The damage to his brain stem results in locked-in syndrome, with which he is almost completely paralyzed and only able to communicate by blinking an eye. Bauby painstakingly dictates his memoir via the only means of expression left to him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Throne (2015)
Ancient Korea, July 4, 1762. The Crown Prince Hyojang, posthumously named Sado, son of King Yeongjo of Joseon, is accused of treason. Thus, the king asks him to commit suicide, but his closest vassals prevent it, so the king orders the prince to get inside a wooden rice chest, where he suffers deprivation of food and water.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKundun (1997)
From childhood to adulthood, Tibet's fourteenth Dalai Lama deals with Chinese oppression and other problems.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDongju: The Portrait of a Poet (2016)
Based on a true story, renowned Korean poet, Yun Dong-ju, is detained and abused by the Japanese for participating in the Korean Independence Movement.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Rang Rasiya (2014)
A look a the life of 19th century Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Forever Enthralled (2008)
The epic story Mei Lanfang, who overcame the prejudice against artists in 1930s China to become the country's greatest opera star.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Royal Tailor (2014)
Lee Gong-jin, a young tailor, helps the Queen with her dress and both fall in love with each other. However, his success catches the ire of Jo Dol-seok, the royal tailor, who vows retribution.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Love, Lies (2016)
Two best friends, So-yool and Yeon-hee, dream of becoming the top artists in Seoul together. But their friendship doesn't last long as Yoon-woo, So-yool's first love and songwriter, falls in love with Yeon-hee and her voice. So-yool's feeling of jealousy and inferiority towards Yeon-hee grows by the day, and she eventually makes a drastic decision to bring the two lovers down.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
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: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAdventures of a Mathematician (2021)
The warmhearted story of Polish immigrant and mathematician Stan Ulam, who moved to the U.S. in the 1930s. Stan deals with the difficult losses of family and friends all while helping to create the hydrogen bomb and the first computer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Treacherous (2015)
The story of Joseon's tyrant king Yeonsan who exploits the populace for his own carnal pleasures, his seemingly loyal retainer who controls him and all court dealings, and a woman who seeks vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUprising (2024)
In the Joseon Dynasty, two friends who grew up together — one the master and one the servant — reunite post-war as enemies on opposing sides.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDalíland (2022)
In 1973, a young gallery assistant goes on a wild adventure behind the scenes as he helps aging genius Salvador Dali prepare for a big show in New York.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMr. Turner (2014)
Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper bears an unrequited love for him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Chihwaseon?
The closest matches to Chihwaseon are Goya in Bordeaux (1999), The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) and Pollock (2000). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Chihwaseon?
People who watched Chihwaseon most often go on to Goya in Bordeaux (1999), The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) and Pollock (2000).
What is the highest-rated movie like Chihwaseon?
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003), rated 7.8/10 by 1,266 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Chihwaseon?
Uprising (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like Chihwaseon?
Yes: The King's Letters (2019), The Book of Fish (2021) and Anarchist from Colony (2017).
How are movies similar to Chihwaseon chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Chihwaseon, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.