Movies like The River (1997)
The best movies like The River (1997) are Rebels of the Neon God (1994), I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006) and Three Times (2005). If The River hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedA Brighter Summer Day (1991)8.2/10 from 416 votes
- NewestDays (2021)Released 2021
- In ChineseRebels of the Neon God (1994)Also in Chinese
Rebels of the Neon God (1994)
In Taipei, four youths face alienation, loneliness, and moments of existential crisis amidst a series of minor crimes.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006)
A Bangladeshi immigrant living in harsh conditions nurses an injured man back to health, but when the recovering man falls for a waitress, their tender bond is tested by competing affections.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Times (2005)
In three separate segments, set respectively in 1966, 1911, and 2005, three love stories unfold between three sets of characters, under three different periods of Taiwanese history and governance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Time Is It There? (2001)
A street vendor with a grim home-life forges a connection with a young woman on her way to Paris.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGoodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)
On a dark, wet night in Taipei City, a cavernous old picture palace is about to close its doors forever. A meager audience, the remaining few staff, and perhaps even a ghost or two, watch King Hu’s wuxia classic "Dragon Inn", each haunted by memories and desires evoked by cinema itself.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThat Day, on the Beach (1983)
Two friends who haven't seen each other for thirteen years reunite. One is a successful concert pianist just back from a European tour and the other has just started a new business.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVive L'Amour (1994)
Three lonely young denizens of Taipei unknowingly share an apartment: May, a real estate agent who uses it for her sexual affairs; Ah-jung, her current lover; and Hsiao-kang, who's stolen the key and uses the apartment as a retreat.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Brighter Summer Day (1991)
A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDust in the Wind (1986)
A-yuan and A-yun are both from the small mining town of Jio-fen. They move to Taipei, where A-yuan is an apprentice by day and goes to night school, and A-yun works as a helper at a tailors. Everyone thinks they are meant for each other, and so do they. They fail to see time and fate are beyond their control.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAngel Heart (1995)
Having spent a harrowing time in prison, Miao Wei looks up both former, casual lovers but also his childhood sweetheart Wennie. It's not long until they're married and off on a perfect path together but Miao Wei takes scars from his prison time into his intimate moments with Wennie. Claiming he loves her too much, the relationship begins falling apart in dangerous ways...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Hear Me (2009)
A delivery boy falls for a young girl who is hearing impaired. Comparing themselves with water birds and trees, together they are going to break the barrier and pursuit their dreams and take their relationship to the next level.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDays (2021)
Kang lives alone in a big house, Non in a small apartment in town. They meet, and then part, their days flowing on as before.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSyndromes and a Century (2006)
A story about director Apichatpong Weerasethakul's parents who were both doctors, and his memories of growing up in a hospital environment.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEternal Summer (2006)
Three high school students experience the perks and pitfalls of love in director Leste Chen’s sensitive tale of friendship and yearning.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYi Yi (2000)
Each member of a family in Taipei asks hard questions about life's meaning as they live through everyday quandaries. NJ is morose: his brother owes him money, his mother is in a coma, his wife suffers a spiritual crisis when she finds her life a blank and his business partners make bad decisions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBlue Gate Crossing (2002)
Yueh-chen has an obsession with her classmate Shihao, but is too shy to confess to him directly. She sends in her best friend, Kerou, to act as a go-between, and Shihao ends up falling for Kerou, who is not sure what to think of him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStray Dogs (2014)
An alcoholic man and his two young children barely survive in Taipei. They cross paths with a lonely grocery clerk who might help them make a better life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Boys from Fengkuei (1983)
Ah-Ching and his friends have just finished school in their island fishing village, and now spend most of their time drinking and fighting. Three of them decide to go to the port city of Kaohsiung to look for work. They find an apartment through relatives, and Ah-Ching is attracted to the girlfriend of a neighbor. There they face the harsh realities of the big city.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMillennium Mambo (2001)
In 2011, Vicky looks back on her life a decade earlier, recalling her turbulent relationship with her controlling boyfriend Hao Hao and her growing connection to a compassionate gangster amid the neon haze of Taipei's nightlife.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlissfully Yours (2002)
In Thailand, an illegal immigrant from Myanmar with a mysterious skin rash, his girlfriend, and her friend visit the doctor's before spending the afternoon on individual and collective adventures.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurmur of Youth (1997)
A rather dejected Mei-li Chen lives with her extended family in the suburbs. She drops out of college when the boy she has a crush on finds a girlfriend. Mei-li eventually ends up selling tickets in a movie theatre. A great camaraderie then builds up between the two cashiers in the small ticket booth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The Hole (1998)
In the final days of the year 1999, almost everyone in Taiwan has died from a strange plague that ravished the island. As rain pours down relentlessly, a single man is stuck with an unfinished plumbing job and a hole in his floor. This results in a very odd relationship with the woman who lives below him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGoodbye South, Goodbye (1998)
In this portrait of small-time hoods rendered in rhythm-of-life anecdotal detail, Gao is the leader of a circle of layabouts including his sidekick, Flathead, and their girlfriends, Pretzel and Ling. He is also the originator of petty crime schemes, which promise to get the gang nowhere fast.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hand (2021)
Hong Kong, 1960s. Zhang, a shy tailor's assistant, is riveted by his imperious client Miss Hua. Upon meeting her, she seduces him to make sure he will truly remember her when designing her garments. After this intimate first encounter, a rapport develops between the two. Entry is for the theatrically released extended version, not the segment from the Eros anthology.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA City of Sadness (1989)
The story of a family embroiled in the "White Terror," the Kuomintang government's anti-communist political repression that was wrought on the Taiwanese people from 1947-1987.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this2046 (2004)
Women enter and exit a science fiction author's life over the course of a few years after the author loses the woman he considers his one true love.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000)
Hanoi comes across almost picture-perfect in director Tran Anh Hung's beautiful, elegiac tale about the lives and loves of three Vietnamese sisters. A mood characteristic of Hung's films is set early on with the vivid sounds of birds, insects and water and the way the lighting enhances the subtle use of color. They all combine to gem-like effect here.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDays of Being Wild (1990)
Yuddy, a Hong Kong playboy known for breaking girls' hearts, tries to find solace and truth after discovering the woman who raised him isn't his mother.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Wayward Cloud (2005)
Hsiao-Kang, now working as an adult movie actor, meets Shiang-chyi once again. Meanwhile, the city of Taipei faces a water shortage that makes the sales of watermelons skyrocket.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The River?
The closest matches to The River are Rebels of the Neon God (1994), I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006) and Three Times (2005). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The River?
People who watched The River most often go on to Rebels of the Neon God (1994), I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006) and Three Times (2005).
What is the highest-rated movie like The River?
A Brighter Summer Day (1991), rated 8.2/10 by 416 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The River?
Days (2021) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like The River?
Yes: Rebels of the Neon God (1994), I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006) and Three Times (2005).
How are movies similar to The River chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The River, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.