Movies like Shanghai Ghetto (2002)
The best movies like Shanghai Ghetto (2002) are My Mom Jayne (2025), Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 (2022) and Sidney (2022). If Shanghai Ghetto hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedObi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return (2022)6.8/10 from 1,028 votes
- NewestMy Mom Jayne (2025)Released 2025
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
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAvatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 (2022)
An inside look at one of the most anticipated movie sequels ever with James Cameron and cast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSidney (2022)
This revealing documentary honors the legendary Sidney Poitier—iconic actor, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Featuring interviews with Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Halle Berry, and more.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisObi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return (2022)
This special explores the return of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to the screen, as well as Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen to their classic roles. Director Deborah Chow leads the cast and crew as they create new heroes and villains that live alongside new incarnations of beloved Star Wars characters, and an epic story that dramatically bridges the saga films.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeart 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Hawkeye (2022)
Join the likes of Jeremy Renner, Hailee Steinfeld, Florence Pugh, and Vincent D’Onofrio as they reveal how Marvel Studios’ “Hawkeye” was conceived and created. Witness firsthand what it took to pull off the show’s pulse-pounding action set pieces, and discover how iconic characters from the pages of Marvel Comics such as Kate Bishop were adapted and brought to life for the six-episode series.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Class of ‘92 (2013)
A detailing of the rise to prominence and global sporting superstardom of six supremely talented young Manchester United football players (David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil and Gary Neville). The film covers the period 1992-1999, culminating in Manchester United's European Cup triumph.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCameraperson (2016)
As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What emerges is an elegant meditation on the relationship between truth and the camera frame, as Johnson transforms scenes that have been presented on Festival screens as one kind of truth into another kind of story—one about personal journey, craft, and direct human connection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCapital 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHarry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction (2013)
An impressionistic portrait of the iconic actor Harry Dean Stanton comprised of intimate moments, film clips from some of his 250 films and his renditions of American folk songs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarina Abramović: The Artist Is Present (2012)
Performance artist Marina Abramovic prepares for a major retrospective of her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSalinger (2013)
An in-depth investigation into the private world of the American writer J. D. Salinger (1919-2010), who lived most of his life behind the impenetrable wall of a self-imposed seclusion: how his dramatic experiences during World War II influenced his life and work, his relationships with very young women, his obsessive writing methods, his many literary secrets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Age of Stupid (2009)
Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe September Issue (2009)
A documentary chronicling Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour's preparations for the 2007 fall-fashion issue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeing James Bond (2021)
Daniel Craig candidly reflects on his 15 year adventure as James Bond. Including never-before-seen archival footage from Casino Royale to the upcoming 25th film No Time To Die, Craig shares his personal memories in conversation with 007 producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJackie Chan: My Story (1998)
Jackie Chan is one of the world's biggest action stars, famed for his wacky sense of humor, remarkable martial arts techniques, and willingness to perform incredible stunts without the use of doubles -- or a net. This video takes a personal look at Chan as he works on screen projects in Hollywood and Beijing and candidly discusses his life and work.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSeduced and Abandoned (2013)
SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHuman Flow (2017)
More than 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war, the greatest displacement since World War II. Filmmaker Ai Weiwei examines the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Over the course of one year in 23 countries, Weiwei follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretch across the globe, including Afghanistan, France, Greece, Germany and Iraq.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006)
A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned from a Mythical Man (2018)
One man’s journey to find meaning in Bill Murray’s many unexpected adventures with everyday people, rare and never-before seen footage of the comedic icon participating in stories previously presumed to be urban legend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAttack of the Zeppelins (2013)
Engineer Dr Hugh Hunt revisits the little-known story of the First World War's Blitz, when the Zeppelin waged an 18-month terror campaign on the people of London.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
How The Bismarck Sank HMS Hood (2012)
The 'mighty' Hood was the pride of the British Navy for more than 20 years, revered around the world as the largest and most powerful warship afloat. But when it was sunk by the German battleship Bismarck off the coast of Greenland on 24 May 1941, its end was shockingly swift.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Spying on Hitler’s Army: The Secret Recordings (2013)
British intelligence undertook an audacious operation to listen in on the private conversations of 10,000 German prisoners of war without their ever knowing they were being overheard. The prisoners' unguarded reminiscences and unintentional confessions have only just come to light, and prove how closely the German army were involved in the atrocities of the Holocaust. British intelligence requisitioned three stately homes for this epic task, and converted each into an elaborate trap. The 100,000 hours of conversation they captured provided crucial intelligence that changed the course of the war, and revealed some of its worst horrors, from rape to mass executions to one of the earliest bulletins from the concentration camps. But when the fighting ended, the recordings were destroyed and the transcripts locked away for half a century. Only now have they been declassified, researched and cross-referenced.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2018)
The life and career of the hailed Hollywood movie star and underappreciated genius inventor, Hedy Lamarr.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGhettos in the Holocaust (2023)
The gruesome story of the Jewish ghettos during the Nazi occupation of Eastern Europe in the dark days of World War II, based on the records written by their inhabitants, who bear witness to the human tragedy of the Shoah; but also to an indomitable will to live.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Trained to See – Three Women and the War (2022)
During the Second World War, women were for the first time allowed to work as war correspondents. Based on reports, letters and diary excerpts, filmmaker Luzia Schmid sketches a personal portrait of three fearless women and their unique attempts to report on the war.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Hajimemashite Nakamori Akina (1985)
Akina Nakamori's second video work "Hajimemashite" consists of 12 songs (including three singles "Slow Motion," "Girl A," and "Second Love") from her debut year (1982), filmed at Santa Monica Beach in Los Angeles and other locations where Akina Nakamori visited to record and interview for "Slow Motion" from March 11 to 17, 1982, just before her debut. It also includes the recording of her debut song "Slow Motion," and is full of valuable memorial footage from before her debut!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
NEW AKINA Étranger Akina Nakamori in Europe (1983)
NEW AKINA Étranger Akina Nakamori in Europe is the first video release released by Nakamori Akina. It was released on October 12, 1983.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Cameramen at War (1943)
A tribute to the cameramen of the newsreel companies and the service film units, in the form of a compilation of film of the cameramen themselves, their training and some of their most dramatic film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Video Game Wars: Japan (2021)
Once the undisputed king of global video gaming, the past two decades have seen Japanese dominance of the industry nosedive, and its glory days usurped by its surrounding neighbours. This documentary examines Japan’s efforts to wrestle back its top dog status and the challenges they face in this epic battle for control of a global industry estimated to be worth $US270 billion by 2025.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Shanghai Ghetto?
The closest matches to Shanghai Ghetto are My Mom Jayne (2025), Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 (2022) and Sidney (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Shanghai Ghetto?
Start with My Mom Jayne (2025), the closest match to Shanghai Ghetto.
What is the highest-rated movie like Shanghai Ghetto?
Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return (2022), rated 6.8/10 by 1,028 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Shanghai Ghetto?
My Mom Jayne (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Shanghai Ghetto?
Yes: My Mom Jayne (2025), Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 (2022) and Sidney (2022).
How are movies similar to Shanghai Ghetto chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Shanghai Ghetto, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.