Movies like Life Imitation (2017)
The best movies like Life Imitation (2017) are Dead Pigs (2018), Blind Massage (2014) and Once Upon a Time (2017). If Life Imitation hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAn Elephant Sitting Still (2018)7.7/10 from 246 votes
- NewestEleanor the Great (2025)Released 2025
- In ChineseDead Pigs (2018)Also in Chinese
Dead Pigs (2018)
A pig farmer, a busboy, a salon owner, an expat architect and a jaded rich girl cross paths as thousands of dead pigs float down the Yangtze River toward Shanghai.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlind Massage (2014)
The employees of a massage parlour share a close bond with each other as they all share a trait in common, they are all visually impaired.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOnce Upon a Time (2017)
Bai Qian, a goddess and monarch from the Heavenly Realms, is sent to the mortal world to undergo a trial to become a High Goddess. There, she meets Ye Hua, with whom she falls in love and marries. When an old enemy reappears in her life, everything she holds dear is threatened.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisB for Busy (2021)
A divorced, retired painting teacher from Shanghai falls in love with a woman who is also divorced. The involvement of his ex-wife and a student of his makes the whole thing complicated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOnce Upon a Time in Shanghai (2014)
A laborer moves to Shanghai in the hope of becoming rich. But ends up using his kung fu skills to survive. Remake of The Boxer From Shantung.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Face of Fu Manchu (1965)
Grisly strangulations in London alert Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard to the possibility that fiendish Fu Manchu may not after all be dead, even though Smith witnessed his execution. A killer spray made from Tibetan berries seems to be involved and clues keep leading back to the Thames.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Super (1991)
Louie Kritski is a heartless landlord who has been so negligent in keeping up his ghetto apartment that he is threatened with jail time. The judge gives him another option -- he must live in his rat-infested hell hole until he brings it up to liveable standards.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisHand of Death (1976)
A young monk must face the Extended Iron Claw technique of a powerful warlord seeking to destroy Shaolin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSoulMate (2016)
The film spans two decades, as the story unfolds in a series of flashbacks that begin when Qiyue and Ansheng were just thirteen. The two became inseparable, until they met a boy who ended up tearing their lives apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPoint Blank (2019)
A nurse is forced to spring a wounded murder suspect from the hospital when the man’s brother kidnaps his pregnant wife and wants to make a trade.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKeep Cool (1997)
A spurned lover seeks a rich man for revenge. A random onlooker — who witnessed the public assault committed by the rich man against the lover — seeks for monetary compensation for his smashed computer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFast Girls (2012)
A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNewness (2017)
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Confucian Confusion (1994)
Over the course of a few days, the paths of a group of young friends, lovers, and acquaintances in Taipei intersect, prompting them to arrive at realizations about their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAn Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
In the northern Chinese city of Manzhouli, they say there is an elephant that simply sits and ignores the world. Manzhouli becomes an obsession for the protagonists of this film, a longed-for escape from the downward spiral in which they find themselves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOccupation: Rainfall (2020)
Two years into an intergalactic invasion of Earth, survivors in Sydney, Australia, fight back in a desperate ground war. As casualties mount by the day, the resistance and their unexpected allies, uncover a plot that could see the war come to a decisive end. With the Alien invaders hell-bent on making earth their new home, the race is on to save mankind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Neighbor (2022)
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Missing (2017)
The Missing’ centres on the mysterious case of a policewoman’s missing daughter. When the main suspect suffers amnesia due to a car accident, both sides of the law must team up to try to find out the truth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
China: A Class By Itself (1979)
An inside look at China working towards the goal of becoming a superpower by the year 2000 via education as the key to modernization. Filmed in Peking, on a rural commune in central China, and in the industrial northeast region, Jack Reynolds interviews Vice Premier Fang Yi and the president of Peking University, as well as students, workers, and peasants.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Crocodile in the Yangtze (2012)
Crocodile in the Yangtze follows China's first Internet entrepreneur and former English teacher, Jack Ma, as he battles US giant eBay on the way to building China's first global Internet company, Alibaba Group. An independent memoir written, directed and produced by an American who worked in Ma's company for eight years, Crocodile in the Yangtze captures the emotional ups and downs of life in a Chinese Internet startup at a time when the Internet brought China face-to-face with the West. Crocodile in the Yangtze draws on 200 hours of archival footage filmed by over 35 sources between 1995 and 2009. The film presents a strikingly candid portrait of Ma and his company, told from the point of view of an “American fly on a Chinese wall” who witnessed the successes and the mistakes Alibaba encountered as it grew from a small apartment into a global company employing 16,000 staff.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Legend of Drunken Master (1994)
Returning home with his father after a shopping expedition, Wong Fei-hung is unwittingly caught up in the battle between foreigners who wish to export ancient Chinese artifacts and loyalists who don't want the pieces to leave the country. Fei-hung must fight against the foreigners using his Drunken Boxing style, and overcome his father's antagonism as well.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTaiwan: A Digital Democracy in China's Shadow (2021)
One Country, Two Systems? No Way! say the youth of Taiwan. But China under President Xi Jinping wants more than ever to bring the island of Taiwan back into the fold, just like Hong Kong. Can the burgeoning democracy on China’s doorstep, driven by digital technology, resist the Middle Kingdom’s advances? To China Taiwan is a breakaway province that must return to the fold. To its 24 million inhabitants it is a sovereign state with its own constitution and democratically elected leaders. Now that Hong Kong has been brought into line, Taiwan remains determined to stand up as a vibrant, young democracy. But it won't be easy. Since the Sunflower Movement in 2014 when the young came out to prevent an economic agreement with China, citizen groups have been fighting for the transparency of institutions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Jackie Chan Edition: Seine spektakulärsten Kämpfe (2009)
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Replacement Killers (1998)
Hired assassin John Lee is asked by Chinatown crime boss Terence Wei to murder the young son of policeman Stan Zedkov. Lee has the boy in his sights, but his conscience gets the better of him, and he spares the child's life. Afraid that Wei will take revenge on his family in China, Lee seeks out expert forger Meg Coburn to obtain the passport he needs to get out of the country, but a band of replacement killers is soon on his trail.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDecoded (2024)
In the 1940s, the world was in turmoil, and it was crucial to decipher the enemy's communication codes in a timely and accurate manner. Rong Jinzhen has shown amazing mathematical talent since her childhood, and because she solved the problems assigned by her math teacher, she was noticed by more people, and even walked into the door of code-breaking by mistake.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Eagle Shadow Fist (1973)
Historical movie set during the Japanese occupation of China during WWII. Jackie Chan is one of the good guys but has nothing much more than a supporting role.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Like Life Imitation and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Life Imitation?
The closest matches to Life Imitation are Dead Pigs (2018), Blind Massage (2014) and Once Upon a Time (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Life Imitation?
Start with Dead Pigs (2018), the closest match to Life Imitation.
What is the highest-rated movie like Life Imitation?
An Elephant Sitting Still (2018), rated 7.7/10 by 246 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Life Imitation?
Eleanor the Great (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like Life Imitation?
Yes: Dead Pigs (2018), Blind Massage (2014) and Once Upon a Time (2017).
How are movies similar to Life Imitation chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Life Imitation, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.