Movies like Madame Mao (2010)

Come See Me in the Good Light (2025)

In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000)

A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

No Half Measures: Creating the Final Season of Breaking Bad (2013)

A documentary about the making of season five of the acclaimed AMC series Breaking Bad.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin (2003)

Brilliant, long in-the-works story of the life and art of the world's greatest comedian and the cinema's first genius, Charlie Chaplin. Produced, written and directed by renowned film critic Richard Schickel.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Extremis (2016)

A purely observational non-fiction film that takes viewers into the ethically murky world of end-of-life decision making in a public hospital.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Fuck (2006)

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Public Speaking (2011)

Martin Scorsese’s portrait of writer and social commentator Fran Lebowitz, celebrated for her sharp wit and observations on modern life. Filmed at New York’s Waverly Inn and intercut with archival footage and interviews, the documentary captures Lebowitz’s distinctive worldview through her spontaneous monologues and public appearances.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Night Will Fall (2014)

When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Deliver Us from Evil (2006)

Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (2017)

A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Heart of a Dog (2015)

Musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother and her beloved dog.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

South of the Border (2009)

A road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media's misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Harmontown (2014)

A comedic, brutally honest documentary following self-destructive TV writer Dan Harmon as he takes his live podcast on a national tour.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006)

Featuring never-before-seen footage, this documentary delivers a startling new look at the Peoples Temple, headed by preacher Jim Jones who, in 1978, led more than 900 members to Guyana, where he orchestrated a mass suicide via tainted punch.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

My Mom Jayne (2025)

Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2019)

Film adaptation of French economist Thomas Piketty's ground-breaking global bestseller of the same name: an eye-opening journey through wealth and power.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Room 237 (2012)

A subjective documentary that explores various theories about hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's classic film The Shining. Five very different points of view are illuminated through voice over, film clips, animation and dramatic reenactments.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

The incredible saga of the Chinese immigrant Sung family, owners of Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, New York. Accused of mortgage fraud by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., Abacus becomes the only U.S. bank to face criminal charges in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The indictment and subsequent trial forces the Sung family to defend themselves – and their bank’s legacy in the Chinatown community – over the course of a five-year legal battle.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me (2023)

From the heights of her modeling fame to her tragic death, this documentary reveals Anna Nicole Smith through the eyes of the people closest to her.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (2013)

Taking inspiration from Peter M. Bracke's definitive book of the same name, this seven-hour documentary dives into the making of all twelve Friday the 13th films, with all-new interviews from the cast and the crew.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

The Spectre of Marxism (1983)

The impact of Marx on the 20th century has been all-pervasive and world-wide. This program looks at the man, at the roots of his philosophy, at the causes and explanations of his philosophical development, and at its most direct outcome: the failed Soviet Union.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

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 · both documentary

Ces mathématiciens qui firent plier le Kremlin (2025)

On January 15, 1972, Leonid Pliouchtch, a Ukrainian mathematician who was unknown at the time, was locked up in a Soviet psychiatric institution and accused of dissidence. His wife, Tatiana, fought for his defense and contacted a committee of French mathematicians to help him. Led by Laurent Schwartz, they launched a three-year campaign to secure his release and succeeded in getting the USSR to back down on the issue.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

Stanisław Lem: Autor Solaris (2016)

An account of the life and work of the Polish writer Stanisław Lem (1921-2006), a key figure in science fiction literature involved in mysteries and paradoxes that need to be enlightened.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

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 · both documentary

The Girls (2014)

Four lucid grandmothers tell their story forgotten by history: the militancy and resistance of the young women of the leftist youth against the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

Taiwan: 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 · both documentary

Jackie Chan Edition: Seine spektakulärsten Kämpfe (2009)

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

China's Secret Monkey Kingdom (2021)

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

On the Track of Robert van Gulik (2016)

Robert van Gulik (1910–1967) served as a diplomat, collected Chinese lutes and invented Judge Dee, yet his own country barely remembers him. Rob Rombout travels from the Netherlands to Indonesia, Japan, the United States and China, through diaries, archives and the people van Gulik still haunts. Somewhere between biography and detective story, the man and his hero merge.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary