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Movies like Year of the Dragon (1989)

The best movies like Year of the Dragon (1989) are Come See Me in the Good Light (2025), Fuck (2006) and South of the Border (2009). If Year of the Dragon hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. 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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  2. 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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  3. 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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  4. 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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  5. 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 this
  6. S4: The Bob Lazar Story (2026)

    Over 35 years after Bob Lazar's revelations, this documentary exposes secrets of a facility the government still denies. Featuring Lazar's testimony, recreations, and new evidence, it reopens a case that continues to spark global curiosity

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  7. 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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  8. The 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 this
  9. The 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 this
  10. A Toxic Love Story (2026)

    A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  11. Meeting Gorbachev (2019)

    Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, sits down with filmmaker Werner Herzog to discuss his many achievements. Topics include the talks to reduce nuclear weapons, the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of his country.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  12. The Curse of the Dragon (1993)

    A 1993 documentary film about Bruce Lee. The film includes interviews from some of his fellow students and opponents who worked alongside him in his movies.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  13. 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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. Downloaded (2013)

    A documentary that explores the downloading revolution; the kids that created it, the bands and the businesses that were affected by it, and its impact on the world at large.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  15. To Kill a Tiger (2023)

    Ranjit, a farmer in India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the victim of a brutal gang rape. His decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  16. 42 Up (1999)

    Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  17. Above Majestic (2018)

    A look at the origins, history and conspiracies behind the "Majestic 12", a clandestine group of military and corporate figureheads charged with reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  18. 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

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  19. Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)

    The story of the insane scandals related to the remake of “Island of Dr. Moreau” —originally a novel by H. G. Wells—, which was brought to the big screen in 1996. How director Richard Stanley spent four years developing the project just to find an abrupt end to his work while leading actor Marlon Brando pulled the strings in the shadows. Now for the first time, the living key players recount what really happened and why it all went so spectacularly wrong.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  20. Marina 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 this
  21. Syngman Rhee's Thirty Years in Hawaii (2022)

    Syngman Rhee, the founding president of the Republic of Korea spent a total of thirty years in Hawaii. The first 25 years occurred before he was elected the founding president and five years were after he resigned from the presidency. What is the significance of 30 years in one’s life span?

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  22. Forty Years of Diplomacy For Independence: Syngman Rhee's Lonely Struggle (2025)

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  23. The Origin of Miracles (2023)

    A nation's architect battles war and chaos to forge a country from the ashes—can he secure its future before freedom slips away?

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  24. My Perestroika (2010)

    Tells the story of five people from the last generation of Soviet children who were brought up behind the Iron Curtain. Just coming of age when the USSR collapsed, they witnessed the world of their childhood crumble and change beyond recognition. Through the lives of these former schoolmates, this intimate film reveals how they have adjusted to their post-Soviet reality in today's Moscow.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  25. Histèria de Catalunya (2018)

    A punk documentary which is, at the same time, a history of Catalonia, an analysis of its political situation in 2017, a comic lamentation on the milestones of the Procés —the broken, unsuccessful path started October 1st which eventually should've ended with a true declaration of independence from Spain—, and a chaotic festival of references to pop culture, from Dumbo to Salvador Dalí.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  26. Histeria de España (2018)

    A collective effort about the recent history of Spain. A distorting mirror, a radiography, a rotten but exquisite corpse: the blood, the sweat, the dandruff of a country in the shape of a large and extended bull skin. A parade of freaks. The ridiculous independence of the upstairs neighbor, the sovereignty demanded by an insane parrot prisoner in its open cage. Football, potato omelette, kings and safaris. Things not to do again. Guerrilla cinema. Hysteria of Spain.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  27. China: The Uighur Tragedy (2022)

    A relentless chronicle of the tragedy of the Uighurs, an ethnic minority of some eleven million people who live in the Xinjiang region of northwest China, speak a Turkic language and practice the Muslim religion. The Uighurs suffer brutal cultural and political oppression by Xin Jinping's tyrannical government: torture, disappearances, forced labor, re-education of children and adults, mass sterilizations, extensive surveillance and destruction of historical heritage.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  28. Catalonia: Spain on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2017)

    A serious crisis has shaken Spain since the referendum on self-determination and the proclamation of the independence of Catalonia by the government of Carles Puigdemont, bold actions firmly fought by the Spanish government by applying the constitutional article that allows it to place a region under guardianship. While Spain is on the verge of implosion, Europe is holding its breath.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  29. Disco and Atomic War (2009)

    A different history of the Cold War: how Estonians under Soviet tyranny began to feel the breeze of freedom when a group of anonymous dreamers successfully used improbable methods to capture the Finnish television signal, a window into Western popular culture, brave but harmless warriors who helped change the fate of an entire nation.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

  30. My Favorite War (2020)

    Ilze Burkovska, a little girl who is obsessed with stories of World War II and will be a filmmaker in a distant future, lives in Latvia under the totalitarian boot of the Soviets and the ominous shadow of the many menaces and horrors of the Cold War.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

Like Year of the Dragon and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Year of the Dragon?

The closest matches to Year of the Dragon are Come See Me in the Good Light (2025), Fuck (2006) and South of the Border (2009). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Year of the Dragon?

Start with Come See Me in the Good Light (2025), the closest match to Year of the Dragon.

What is the newest movie like Year of the Dragon?

A Toxic Love Story (2026) is the most recent release on this list.

How are movies similar to Year of the Dragon chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Year of the Dragon, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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