Movies like The Diary of Heong Yeong-dang (2014)
The best movies like The Diary of Heong Yeong-dang (2014) are Jane Eyre (1997), Northanger Abbey (2007) and The Magic of Ordinary Days (2005). If The Diary of Heong Yeong-dang hooked you with its drama and history, 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
- NewestProm Party Massacre (2025)Released 2025
- In KoreanChunhyang (2000)Also in Korean
Jane Eyre (1997)
After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNorthanger Abbey (2007)
A young woman's penchant for sensational Gothic novels leads to misunderstandings in the matters of the heart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Magic of Ordinary Days (2005)
Pregnant out of wedlock, an educated young woman is pressured by her father into an arranged marriage with a lonely farmer in this drama set during WWII.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hunchback (1997)
Based on Victor Hugo's famed novel, the story of Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer of Notre Dame, and his unrequited love for the gypsy girl, Esmeralda.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisChunhyang (2000)
Once at a pagoda Mongryong Lee, a scion of a well-to-do family, meets Chunhyang, the young daughter of a courtesan and an aristocrat. Despite her low social standing she is smart and well-educated. The young people fall in love and think about marriage so that they could always be together. Mongryong is soon to go to the capital to take the state civil service exam. They part and in Chunhyang's life there appears the greedy and lustful Byun Hak-do, who tries to seduce her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 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 thisUntold Scandal (2003)
In late 1700s Korea, Lady Cho challenges the playboy Lord Jo-won into seducing and sleeping with her husband's coming young, virgin concubine. Lady Cho agrees to sleep with him if he succeeds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisWoman Is the Future of Man (2004)
As the first snow falls in Seoul, two old friends reunite; one is a successful college professor, and the other, a struggling filmmaker recently returned from the United States. After their reminiscences, they finally decide to go in search of the young woman each had romanced years earlier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
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 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 thisThe Treacherous (2015)
The story of Joseon's tyrant king Yeonsan who exploits the populace for his own carnal pleasures, his seemingly loyal retainer who controls him and all court dealings, and a woman who seeks vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sleeping Dictionary (2003)
In the 1930s, British officer John Truscott journeys to a remote village in colonial Malaysia to educate and Westernize the local Iban population. There, he's introduced to the lovely Selima. In keeping with tradition, Selima is assigned to sleep with Truscott and teach him the native language and customs. But when they fall in love, both colonists and natives object to their plans to marry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
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 thisR-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 thisKing and the Clown (2005)
Two clowns living in Korea's Chosun Dynasty get arrested for staging a play that satirizes the king. They are dragged to the palace and threatened with execution but are given a chance to save their lives if they can make the king laugh.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUprising (2024)
In the Joseon Dynasty, two friends who grew up together — one the master and one the servant — reunite post-war as enemies on opposing sides.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisProm Party Massacre (2025)
A gay high school student throws a swinging prom party in the hopes of finally wooing the football captain - but when popular kids start turning up dead, the partygoers discover a slasher killer amongst the student body!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Sodom (2017)
20-year-old Will is on his stag-do when, handcuffed to a lamppost, he is rescued by Michael. The attraction between the two men is immediate. But back at Michael's apartment, Will is sent into a tailspin of shame and confusion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Boyfriend (2016)
This new production of a gay themed story this time based on a famous Yaoi Manga; turning the cartoon into a cinematographic event.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
In Between Heartbeats (TBA)
Guided by a queer deity, a closeted man is forced to confront his parents as he tries to regain his lost sense of identity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
I Love You Phillip Morris (2010)
Steven Russell leads a seemingly average life – an organ player in the local church, happily married to Debbie, and a member of the local police force. That is until he has a severe car accident that leads him to the ultimate epiphany: he’s gay and he’s going to live life to the fullest – even if he has to break the law to do it. Taking on an extravagant lifestyle, Steven turns to cons and fraud to make ends meet and is eventually sent to the State Penitentiary where he meets the love of his life, a sensitive, soft-spoken man named Phillip Morris. His devotion to freeing Phillip from jail and building the perfect life together prompts him to attempt (and often succeed at) one impossible con after another.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWelcome Home, Bobby (1986)
When a Chicago teen is arrested for drug possession, the ensuing investigation reveals that he has had sexual contact with an older man. Discovering his sexual encounter, other students start shunning him and call for his expulsion from school. His conservative blue-collar dad also rejects him, while his mother does try to offer support.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Love Stage!! (2020)
With a mother and father that are actors, and a rockstar brother, anyone would expect Sena Izumi to eventually enter showbiz himself. However, aside from a commercial for a wedding magazine when he was a child, Izumi has never been in the spotlight; instead, he aims to become a manga artist. But a decade after the shoot, the magazine calls for a 10th anniversary ad, requesting the original child actors for the project. This reunites Izumi with Ryouma Ichijou, now a popular actor who, much to Izumi's shock, has been in love with him ever since their first meeting! However, due to Izumi's feminine appearance, and unisex name, Ryouma believed the boy to be a girl and continues to do so to this day. Izumi's troubles are only just beginning. Based on the hit comedy romance manga Love Stage!! It began serialization in the July 2010. Seven tankōbon volumes was published from May 27, 2011 to November 1, 2016. An anime television series adaptation produced by J.C.Staff aired in 2014.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Shabbat Dinner (2012)
Shabbat Dinner is boring as usual for William Shore. His mother has invited two crazy hippies and their son and is doing her best to show off, his father is drunk and berating their oddball guests, and he doesn't have much in common with their son Virgo. That is, until Virgo tells him that he has just come out as gay.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
The Unknown Cyclist (1998)
A man's dying wish is for the people in his life to participate in a 450-mile charity bicycle ride through Northern California.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The History Boys (2006)
The story of an unruly class of bright, funny history students at a Yorkshire grammar school in pursuit of an undergraduate place at Oxford or Cambridge. Bounced between their maverick English master, a young and shrewd teacher hired to up their test scores, a grossly out-numbered history teacher, and a headmaster obsessed with results, the boys attempt to pass.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Diary of Heong Yeong-dang?
The closest matches to The Diary of Heong Yeong-dang are Jane Eyre (1997), Northanger Abbey (2007) and The Magic of Ordinary Days (2005). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Diary of Heong Yeong-dang?
Start with Jane Eyre (1997), the closest match to The Diary of Heong Yeong-dang.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Diary of Heong Yeong-dang?
My Policeman (2022), rated 7.5/10 by 799 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Diary of Heong Yeong-dang?
Prom Party Massacre (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like The Diary of Heong Yeong-dang?
Yes: Chunhyang (2000), Portrait of a Beauty (2008) and Man in Love (2014).
How are movies similar to The Diary of Heong Yeong-dang chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Diary of Heong Yeong-dang, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.