Movies like China Not China (2018)
The best movies like China Not China (2018) are Chinese Box (1997), Weekend in Taipei (2024) and The World of Suzie Wong (1960). If China Not China hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedNight on Earth (1991)7.5/10 from 1,109 votes
- NewestEleanor the Great (2025)Released 2025
Chinese Box (1997)
The story of Hong Kong, from New Year's Day to June 30th, 1997, when the British left their colony and turned it over to the People's Republic of China.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisWeekend in Taipei (2024)
A former DEA agent and a former undercover operative revisit their romance during a fateful weekend in Taipei, unaware of the dangerous consequences of their past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe World of Suzie Wong (1960)
A Hong Kong prostitute tries modeling and falls for the artist who's painting her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTitanic (1953)
Unhappily married, Julia Sturges decides to go to America with her two children on the Titanic. Her husband, Richard also arranges passage on the luxury liner so as to have custody of their two children. All this fades to insignificance once the ship hits an iceberg.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBloodsport (1988)
An American Army Major goes AWOL to Hong Kong for an outlawed martial arts contest called the Kumite.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHoly Lands (2019)
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)
This film is a glimpse into the life, love and the unconquerable spirit of the legendary Bruce Lee. From a childhood of rigorous martial arts training, Lee realizes his dream of opening his own kung-fu school in America. Before long, he is discovered by a Hollywood producer and begins a meteoric rise to fame and an all too short reign as one the most charismatic action heroes in cinema history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCall Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlready Tomorrow in Hong Kong (2016)
Ruby, a Chinese American toy designer from LA, visits Hong Kong for the first time on business. Finding herself stranded, she meets Josh, an American expat who shows her the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrooklyn (2015)
In 1950s Ireland and New York, young Eilis Lacey has to choose between two men and two countries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe King of Staten Island (2020)
Scott has been a case of arrested development ever since his firefighter father died when he was seven. He's now reached his mid-20s having achieved little, chasing a dream of becoming a tattoo artist that seems far out of reach. As his ambitious younger sister heads off to college, Scott is still living with his exhausted ER nurse mother and spends his days smoking weed, hanging with the guys — Oscar, Igor and Richie — and secretly hooking up with his childhood friend Kelsey. But when his mother starts dating a loudmouth firefighter named Ray, it sets off a chain of events that will force Scott to grapple with his grief and take his first tentative steps toward moving forward in life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAdulthood (2008)
After serving six years for killing his schoolmate, a young man learns that someone is out for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisBoudica (2023)
Inspired by events in A.D. 60, Boudica follows the eponymous Celtic warrior who rules the Iceni people alongside her husband Prasutagus. When he dies at the hands of Roman soldiers, Boudica’s kingdom is left without a male heir and the Romans seize her land and property. Driven to the edge of madness and determined to avenge her husband’s death, Boudica rallies the various tribes from the region and wages an epic war against the mighty Roman empire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Corruptor (1999)
Danny is a young cop partnered with Nick, a seasoned but ethically tainted veteran. As the two try to stop a gang war in Chinatown, Danny relies on Nick but grows increasingly uncomfortable with the way Nick gets things done.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHammett (1982)
Chinatown, San Francisco, 1928. Former private detective Dashiell Hammett, a compulsive drinker with tuberculosis who writes pulp fiction for a living, receives an unexpected visit from an old friend asking for help.
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 thisNight on Earth (1991)
A quintet of cabbies in five cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEquilibrium (2002)
In a dystopian future, a totalitarian regime maintains peace by subduing the populace with a drug, and displays of emotion are punishable by death. A man in charge of enforcing the law rises to overthrow the system.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRoxanne Roxanne (2017)
The most feared battle emcee in the early 1980s in Queens, New York, was a fierce teenager from the Queensbridge projects. At the age of 14, Roxanne Shanté was well on her way to becoming a hip-hop legend, as she hustled to provide for her family while defending herself from the dangers of the street.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFirst Day in the Grave (2017)
A student movie loosely based on the short story by Sadegh Chubak
Why it matches: Similar story and style
I... (1995)
By painting and scratching directly on celluloid strips and then duplicating each image for two or more frames, Brakhage produced a flickering cycle of abstract shapes that bespeak the restlessness of his own character and sensibility; the titles of the segments (which Brakhage also intended to function as freestanding films) further emphasize his rejection of collective thinking in favor of personal vision. I..., proposes an unstable image of the self with its centerless collisions of diverse imagery. Small black shapes are superimposed over diffuse colors, and each moment seems to consume and obliterate the last in an emotionally charged rush that suggests a consciousness terrified of stasis and perpetually seeking renewal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Mister Chair (2020)
The man needs the trip. The job impedes him to do so. Then the man stuck to his chair! Loosely based on a short short story named "A Man Called Desk" from the book "Password Incorrect" written by Nick Name
Why it matches: Similar story and style
23rd Psalm Branch: Part II (1967)
The second part: Brakhage’s layering of images spends less time with images of war, and begins filtering in scenes of Vienna and his home in Colorado. He sets up a comparison between “Kubelka’s Vienna” and his own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
La Mer (1991)
The passing time is displayed as a series of still frames, or a rapid sequence of moments, ever flowing like the waves that break on the shore, like a repeated chant with no beginning, middle or end.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Girl From Hong Kong (1973)
Frank Boyd comes to Hong Kong to visit a friend, but unfortunately he was murdered a few days ago. The father of his fiancee puts $ 10,000 reward for the capture of the murderer and Frank wants to earn this money.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Frozen Image (1965)
A poetic essay. An Algerian soldier wanders through Algiers and the countryside, whilst a voiceover of the soldier's mother laments his death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Clodia - Fragmenta (1982)
Freely adapted from a story by Marcel Schwob in 'Screw imaginary' and deeply focused on the thought of Georges Bataille, the film wants to give substance to Clodia tragic affair, the Roman noblewoman loved by Catullo and made him immortal in his ways, with the Lesbia pseudonym.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Foxbat (1977)
In Hong Kong, a Chinese cook swallows a microfilm by accident and becomes a target.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Like China Not China and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like China Not China?
The closest matches to China Not China are Chinese Box (1997), Weekend in Taipei (2024) and The World of Suzie Wong (1960). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after China Not China?
Start with Chinese Box (1997), the closest match to China Not China.
What is the highest-rated movie like China Not China?
Night on Earth (1991), rated 7.5/10 by 1,109 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like China Not China?
Eleanor the Great (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like China Not China?
Yes: Chinese Box (1997), Weekend in Taipei (2024) and The World of Suzie Wong (1960).
How are movies similar to China Not China chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside China Not China, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.