Movies like Early Morning in the Big City (1933)
The best movies like Early Morning in the Big City (1933) are A Touch of Sin (2013), The Union (2024) and A Dry White Season (1989). If Early Morning in the Big City hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMagnolia (1999)7.7/10 from 4,233 votes
- NewestMy Fault: London (2025)Released 2025
- In ChineseA Touch of Sin (2013)Also in Chinese
A Touch of Sin (2013)
Four people in different provinces are driven to violent ends: An angry miner is enraged by corruption in his village. A migrant discovers the possibilities of owning a firearm. A receptionist is pushed beyond her limits by an abusive client. A young factory worker goes from one job to the next.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Union (2024)
A New Jersey construction worker goes from regular guy to aspiring spy when his long-lost high school sweetheart recruits him for an espionage mission.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2004)
A detailed look at the gradual decline of Shenyang’s industrial Tiexi district, an area that was once a vibrant example of China’s socialist economy. But industry is changing, and the factories of Tiexi are closing. Director Wang Bing introduces us to some of the workers affected by the closures, and to their families.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Fault: London (2025)
18-year-old Noah moves from America to London, with her mother who's recently fallen in love with William, a wealthy British businessman. Noah meets William’s son, bad-boy Nick, and soon discovers there is an attraction between them neither can avoid. As Noah spends the summer adjusting to her new life, her devastating past will catch up with her while falling in love for the first time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStrange Weather (2016)
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisClan of the White Lotus (1980)
The Qing emperor releases all detained Shaolin disciples, but the vindictive White Lotus clan decides to exterminate all the disciples. One martial artist survives the onslaught, and constantly trains while in hiding for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUniversal Soldier (1992)
An American soldier who had been killed during the Vietnam War is revived 25 years later by the military as a semi-android, UniSols, a high-tech soldier of the future. After the failure of the initiative to erase all the soldier's memories, he begins to experience flashbacks that are forcing him to recall his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Spy (2020)
A hardened CIA operative finds himself at the mercy of a precocious 9-year-old girl, having been sent undercover to surveil her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTogether (2002)
When a violin prodigy Xiaochun and his father head to Beijing seeking fame and fortune, they soon discover a fierce world of cutthroat ambition. But when Xiaochun is "adopted" by a famous music tutor, success finally seems within reach - until a shocking discovery begins to unravel his entire world, and the boy must make the most difficult choice of his life. Can he achieve the fame his father had always hoped for without losing the extraordinary passion that sets him apart?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisXiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMagnolia (1999)
On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWho's That Knocking at My Door (1968)
A Catholic New Yorker falls in love with a girl and wants to marry her, but he struggles to accept her past and what it means for their future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Heat of the Sun (1994)
Beijing, 1970s. The Cultural Revolution has driven most adults to the provinces leaving 14-year-old Monkey and his pals with free rein over the city. They hang around, get up to no good, and discover that unsolvable mystery known as "girls."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPAW Patrol: Jet to the Rescue (2020)
A royal relative steals a gem with the power to make things fly, the Paw Patrol takes to the skies to stop him and save Barkingburg.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStill Life (2006)
A town in Fengjie county is gradually being demolished and flooded to make way for the Three Gorges Dam. A man and woman visit the town to locate their estranged spouses, and become witness to the societal changes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRiding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005)
Takada, a Japanese fisherman has been estranged from his son for many years, but when the son is diagnosed with terminal cancer his daughter-in-law, Rie, summons him to the hospital. Through a series of obstacles and relationships, he is brought unexpectedly closer to both an understanding of himself and of his son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Sense of an Ending (2017)
A man becomes haunted by his past and is presented with a mysterious legacy that causes him to re-think his current situation in life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Early Morning in the Big City?
The closest matches to Early Morning in the Big City are A Touch of Sin (2013), The Union (2024) and A Dry White Season (1989). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Early Morning in the Big City?
Start with A Touch of Sin (2013), the closest match to Early Morning in the Big City.
What is the highest-rated movie like Early Morning in the Big City?
Magnolia (1999), rated 7.7/10 by 4,233 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Early Morning in the Big City?
My Fault: London (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like Early Morning in the Big City?
Yes: A Touch of Sin (2013), Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2004) and Clan of the White Lotus (1980).
How are movies similar to Early Morning in the Big City chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Early Morning in the Big City, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.