Movies like Shining Modern History (2019)
The best movies like Shining Modern History (2019) are R-Rated Idol Seung-ha's Sex Scandal (2020), Cheese in the Trap (2018) and Sweet Sex and Love (2003). If Shining Modern History 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 ratedMy Policeman (2022)7.5/10 from 799 votes
- NewestLove Me Love Me (2026)Released 2026
- In KoreanR-Rated Idol Seung-ha's Sex Scandal (2020)Also in Korean
R-Rated Idol Seung-ha's Sex Scandal (2020)
When they were young, Min-joo and Seo-yeon cared for each other and were closer than brothers and sisters. However, she accidentally learns about Seo-yeon's tutor, Woo-hyeon, and because of this man, their 10-year friendship starts to become shaky. Meanwhile, Jeong-soo is hurt in seeing Min-joo like that, and so he distanced himself from Min-joo. Because of Min-joo and Seo-yeon's misunderstanding, Jeong-soo who couldn't care much might just leave so Min-joo tries to break up with the help of Seo-yeon. While in the process of breaking up, Min-joo and Seo-yeon went back to their close relationship. The love of women who have been separated because of man, and the two men's friendship is comically drawn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCheese in the Trap (2018)
Hong Seol, a student from a poor family, meets a rich Yoo Jung, who is her senior at her university. They both develop a rather inconvenient relationship after knowing each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSweet Sex and Love (2003)
Shin-ah, a free spirit, has an unexpected encounter with Dong-gi, who seeks excitement. After a passionate night, she breaks up with her boyfriend and reunites with Dong-gi when he calls. The two fall madly in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisPortrait 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFifty Shades Freed (2018)
Believing they have left behind shadowy figures from their past, newlyweds Christian and Ana fully embrace an inextricable connection and shared life of luxury. But just as she steps into her role as Mrs. Grey and he relaxes into an unfamiliar stability, new threats could jeopardize their happy ending before it even begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmpire of Lust (2015)
In the turbulent Joseon dynasty, army commander Min-jae watches ambitious Prince Yi Bang-won while becoming entwined with Ga-hee, a vengeful gisaeng. Fate collides as power shifts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan in Love (2014)
Tae-il lives a fast life as low level thug. He then learns that he has a terminal illness and not much time left to live. Then, for the first time in his life, he falls in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaundy Thursday (2006)
Yu-jeong is suicidal, yet she reluctantly goes to prison for volunteer work. There, she meets a prisoner who is waiting for death penalty. The two quickly fall in love despite their differences, yet they do not have much time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEungyo (2012)
A reclusive elderly poet feels the fire of his youth when gamine schoolgirl Eun-gyo enters his life, to the chagrin of the old man's assistant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Everlasting (2016)
Bridger is a young outsider who's always wanted more. He and his mother flee an abusive home, eventually finding a small town in the middle of nowhere. Once there, Bridger finds true acceptance with another misfit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFire with Fire (1986)
A tough, street-smart kid serving a sentence in a state youth reformatory meets a beautiful, innocent girl studying at a nearby convent. When forbidden love blossoms between them, they must fight the prison authorities, their parents and the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFifty Shades Darker (2017)
When a wounded Christian Grey tries to entice a cautious Ana Steele back into his life, she demands a new arrangement before she will give him another chance. As the two begin to build trust and find stability, shadowy figures from Christian’s past start to circle the couple, determined to destroy their hopes for a future together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
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 · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Easily Broken (2009)
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Me Love Me (2026)
After her brother's death, June moves to Milan for a fresh start, finding comfort in Will, the perfect honor student at her new international school. But when his troubled best friend James—hiding a dangerous life in clandestine MMA fights—sparks a rivalry that quickly turns into irresistible attraction, June must choose between safety and a love that upends everything she thought she wanted.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Policeman (2022)
In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNine Lives (2005)
Captives of the very relationships that define and sustain them, nine women resiliently meet the travails and disappointments of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJapanese Mom (2017)
"Innocent face, D-cup breasts and perfect intercourse skills! Son, this is not your girlfriend anymore but your mother!" Ki-ho brings Yuki from Japan to marry her. However, he starts cheating on her with his ex-girlfriend in Korea. Min-cheol comforted Yuki and thought of her as his daughter-in-law, but one day he realizes he is looking at her as a woman. In the end, Yuki and Min-cheol have intercourse without Ki-ho knowing...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Five (2013)
Eun-a, who was living a happy life with her family, loses everything to a psychopath serial killer. After the tragic incident, she gathers four people with different talents who are in need of organ transplants to achieve her revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShark: The Beginning (2021)
A bullied teenager who is locked up at a juvenile detention center due to an unexpected accident, meets a mixed martial arts champion to break through his own limits.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this9 Songs (2004)
Matt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall - London's Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night's end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisBikini Bar: Delicious Service (2020)
Minzhu ran a bar, but the business was so bad that she lost all her store deposit, and the landlord kept pressing for rent. Seeing this, Meizhen decided to develop an innovative spirit and began to provide special services in a bikini. Soon, the bar's Business is booming….
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Kind Younger Sister (2018)
Jung Geun, who was dating Seon Hye, his first love in high school, separated due to his enlistment in the military and Seon Hye's study abroad. His father suddenly announces remarriage and he has a meeting with his stepmom's family. Isn't his stepmother's daughter Seon-hye?! Jeong-geun and Seon-hye are shocked. However, their past could not prevent their parents from being happy, so their parents eventually remarried, and the two became brothers and sisters and lived in the same house.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Yellow House (2023)
A company employee who went to deliver goods at his president's request secretly sees the president's wife masturbating out of loneliness and takes a video of it. She may be distressed when she is caught by her husband's employee, but she becomes more attached to a man who is more compatible with her than to a husband who is not interested in her, and she keeps thinking about that man.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Bitter Moon (1992)
A passenger on a cruise ship develops an irresistible infatuation with an eccentric paraplegic's wife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNaked and Nasty (2006)
Three friends decide on having a girls night in order to cheer up the one who was recently dumped.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Heaven's Gate Boksangsa Temple (2021)
The rice cake mill of sexy women who open the gates of heaven.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Naked and Betrayed (2004)
Hard-partying friends Talisa, Cory and city council candidate Mike Finnegan (minus wife Stephanie) celebrate with Claire and Jason on the eve of their wedding. The genders separate for stag and spa parties and the friends swing, but a tragic death closes the stag party, and relationships are troubled while police investigate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Love in the Night (1995)
A woman who spent her entire childhood being despised by her father receives an unexpected visit from her invisible childhood friend when she discovers she is pregnant. From then on, a lot of things in your life will change.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
I Am Your God (1983)
A traveling middle-aged woman plans to stay overnight in Bosnian town. In her dreams, she gets sexually aroused by a thought of young receptionist, whose father doesn't let him to meet with the girl he loves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Shining Modern History and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Shining Modern History?
The closest matches to Shining Modern History are R-Rated Idol Seung-ha's Sex Scandal (2020), Cheese in the Trap (2018) and Sweet Sex and Love (2003). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Shining Modern History?
Start with R-Rated Idol Seung-ha's Sex Scandal (2020), the closest match to Shining Modern History.
What is the highest-rated movie like Shining Modern History?
My Policeman (2022), rated 7.5/10 by 799 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Shining Modern History?
Love Me Love Me (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like Shining Modern History?
Yes: R-Rated Idol Seung-ha's Sex Scandal (2020), Cheese in the Trap (2018) and Sweet Sex and Love (2003).
How are movies similar to Shining Modern History chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Shining Modern History, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.