Movies like The Chrysanthemum and the Clown (1982)
The best movies like The Chrysanthemum and the Clown (1982) are The Net (2016), Spy Girl (2004) and Secret Reunion (2010). If The Chrysanthemum and the Clown hooked you, 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
- NewestHumint (2026)Released 2026
- In KoreanThe Net (2016)Also in Korean
The Net (2016)
A poor North Korean fisherman finds himself an accidental defector, and is groomed to be a spy by an ambitious South Korean military officer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpy Girl (2004)
Ko-bong has a huge crush on Gye-soon who works at a fast food restaurant without knowing that the girl he love is a spy from North Korea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSecret Reunion (2010)
Two spies share a secret bond, despite their loyalties. A North Korean assassin is sent to Seoul to kill a dissident, but instead he teams up with a South Korean agent in search for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Spy Gone North (2018)
South Korea, 1993. An agent of the National Intelligence Service is sent to Beijing to infiltrate a group of North Korean officials with the ultimate goal of obtaining information about their nuclear program.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Suspect (2013)
Betrayed and on the run, a former North Korean agent tries to seek revenge on the man who killed his wife, find his missing daughter, and uncover the secrets hidden inside the eyeglasses of a dead man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFailan (2001)
After losing both her parents, Failan emmigrates to Korea to seek her only remaining relatives. Once she reaches Korea, she finds out that her relatives have moved to Canada well over a year ago. Desperate to stay and make a living in Korea, Failan is forced to have an arranged marriage through a match-making agency.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove, 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou Will Die in 6 Hours (2024)
Jung-yoon was approached by a random stranger named Jun-woo, who told her she'd be dead in six hours. As she follows him for answers, she begins to question whether he's her savior or the one trying to put her in danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWelcome to Dongmakgol (2005)
Based on the long running play by Jang Jin, the story is set in Korea during the Korean War in 1950. Soldiers from both the North and South, as well as an American pilot, find themselves in a secluded and naively idealistic village, its residents unaware of the outside world, including the war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChildren... (2011)
On March 26, 1991, five boys set off to the mountain to go frog hunting and never come back to their family. While a documentary producer, detective and professor try to solve the mystery of the incident, one of the boys' parents is a suspect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThread of Lies (2014)
Cheon-ji's unexpected suicide causes her mother Hyeon-sook and older sister Man-ji to be moved into another apartment. Tracking down clues from school, Man-ji discovers that Cheon-ji's best friend Hwa-yeon is behind everything.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDetective K: Secret of Virtuous Widow (2011)
In 1782, King Jeong-jo of Joseon asks detective K to investigate a series of murders related to a case of corruption within the government.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this6/45 (2022)
A comical encounter between South and North Korean soldiers over the 5.7 billions won lottery that crossed the military demarcation line on the wind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this71: Into the Fire (2010)
In August 1950, waiting for UN troops to arrive, the South Korean army assembled to protect Nakdong River. Only 71 student-soldiers are left behind to guard the city of Pohang. Now they are on a mission to defend the country from North Korean troops.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRemember (2022)
Pil-ju, an Alzheimer's patient in his 80s, who lost all his family during the Japanese colonial era, and devotes his lifelong revenge before his memories disappear, and a young man in his 20s who helps him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Fugitive (1947)
Anti-Catholic and anti-cleric policies in the Mexican state of Tabasco lead the revolutionary government to persecute the state's last remaining priest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisMiracle: Letters to the President (2021)
Dreaming of making a way station for his sister and the villagers who have no choice but to commute along the dangerous train tracks every day, Joon-kyung sends many letters to the President, but with no reply. Ra-hee, who has a crush on Joon-kyung, does everything she can to help him meet the President.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHumint (2026)
A South Korean agent hunts a drug ring in Russia and goes head-to-head with a North Korean operative — pulling both into peril and tangled secrets.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIllang: The Wolf Brigade (2018)
In 2029, an elite police squad combats an anti-reunification terrorist group while another enemy lurks nearby.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHanbando (2006)
The President of South Korea races against time to prove the seal on documents from long dead King Gojong is fake by charging outspoken historian Choi Min-jae, and a descendant of the royal bloodline Kim Yu-shik, to find the long lost seal in order to prove that the Japanese claim to railroads is false, a claim that will stop the reunification of the two Koreas.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Joint Security Area (2000)
Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The lead investigator receives differing accounts from the two sides.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisNorth Korean Guys (2003)
Two friends accidentally drift from North Korea into South Korea after falling asleep during a fishing trip. Broke and unable to get home, they enter a singing contest whose grand prize is a trip to North Korea!
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Whistling Princess (2002)
Ji-eun, a member of North Korea's dance troupe and the daughter of the North Korean leader, escapes to the South after one of their perfomances. Eager to explore the liberal life in Seoul, Ji-eun searches for a new life of freedom in South Korea. She soon comes across Joon-ho, a leader of a local rock band. Their relationship then takes unexpected turns as they become closer to each other. Meanwhile, the intelligence agency in South Korea learns of a conspiracy being orchestrated by the American CIA to disrupt the peace on the Korean peninsula; the CIA plots to secretly kidnap Ji-eun. Secret forces from the North and South reluctantly agree to work together to prevent a possible war between their two countries.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
My Name Is Loh Kiwan (2024)
After defecting from North Korea, Loh Kiwan struggles to obtain refugee status in Belgium, where he encounters a dejected woman who has lost all hope.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Birth of Korea (2024)
Since South and North Korea's liberation in 1945, North Korea, a communist dictatorship that suppresses freedom and oppresses human rights, and South Korea, which has entered the path of economic prosperity and advanced countries based on freedom and democracy, have taken different paths. How did the two countries with the same language, history, and race, become divided into two extreme countries? A work that highlights the sacrifices and struggles of President Syngman Rhee and the first generation of founding members who worked to create and protect today's Republic of Korea over the past 70 years of history.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Chrysanthemum and the Clown?
The closest matches to The Chrysanthemum and the Clown are The Net (2016), Spy Girl (2004) and Secret Reunion (2010). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Chrysanthemum and the Clown?
Start with The Net (2016), the closest match to The Chrysanthemum and the Clown.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Chrysanthemum and the Clown?
Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004), rated 8.0/10 by 811 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Chrysanthemum and the Clown?
Humint (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like The Chrysanthemum and the Clown?
Yes: The Net (2016), Spy Girl (2004) and Secret Reunion (2010).
How are movies similar to The Chrysanthemum and the Clown chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Chrysanthemum and the Clown, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.