Movies Like The Wasted Times (2016)

The Wasted Times is a 2016 crime, drama, mystery film from Cheng Er with a MovieMagicScore of 6.9/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Purple Butterfly and The Last Emperor.

Crime Drama Mystery

Purple Butterfly

2003

Ding Hui is a member of Purple Butterfly, a powerful resistance group in Japanese occupied Shanghai. An unexpected encounter reunites her with Itami, an ex-lover and officer with a secret police unit tasked with dismantling Purple Butterfly.

6.7

MagicScore

The Last Emperor

1987

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

7.6

MagicScore

The Boxer from Shantung

1972

Leaving the poverty of his life in Shantung to seek fortune in Shanghai, The Boxer is instead drawn into a world of corruption, gang warfare and evil... Where his only protection is his famed fighting technique.

6.8

MagicScore

Shanghai

2010

An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.

6.1

MagicScore

Empire of the Sun

1987

Jamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the camp together. Even though he is separated from his parents and in a hostile environment, Jamie maintains his dignity and youthful spirit, providing a beacon of hope for the others held captive with him.

7.5

MagicScore

Hidden Blade

2023

Follows the story of underground workers who risked their lives to send intelligence and defend the motherland, set after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor when the Wang Jingwei regime declared war on Britain and the U.S.

6.2

MagicScore

City of Life and Death

2009

In 1937, during the height of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Imperial Japanese Army has just captured Nanjing, then-capital of the Republic of China. What followed was known as the Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking, a six week period wherein tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed.

7.4

MagicScore

Nanking

2007

The story of the rape of Nanking, one of the most tragic events in history. In 1937, the invading Japanese army murdered over 200,000 and raped tens of thousands of Chinese. In the midst of this horror, a small group of Western expatriates banded together to save 250,000. Nanking shows the tremendous impact individuals can make on the course of history.

7.1

MagicScore

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness

1958

All her life, Englishwoman Gladys Aylward knew that China was the place where she belonged. Not qualified to be sent there as a missionary, Gladys works as a domestic to earn the money to send herself to a poor, remote village. There she eventually lives a full and happy life: running the inn, acting as "foot inspector", advising the local Mandarin, and even winning the heart of mixed race Captain Lin Nan. But Gladys discovers her real destiny when the country is invaded by Japan and the Chinese children need her to save their lives. Based on a true story.

6.7

MagicScore

#10

The Children of Huang Shi

2008

About young British journalist, George Hogg, who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.

6.7

MagicScore

#11

Shanghai Triad

1995

Shanghai, China, 1930. When young Shuisheng arrives from the countryside, his uncle Liushu puts him at the service of Bijou, the mistress of Laoda, supreme boss of the Tang Triad, constantly threatened by his enemies, both those he knows and those lurking in the shadows.

6.7

MagicScore

#12

Blood Brothers

2007

Three best friends who are barely getting by as fishermen seek their fate in 1930s Shanghai. Upon arriving in the bustling city, the naïve trio gradually find their innocence corrupted as they fall into the deepest depths of the criminal underworld.

5.3

MagicScore

#13

Red Sorghum

1988

An old leper who owned a remote sorghum winery dies. Jiu'er, the wife bought by the leper, and her lover, identified only as "my Grandpa" by the narrator, take over the winery and set up an idealized quasi-matriarchal community headed by Jiu'er. When the Japanese invaders subject the area to their rule and cut down the sorghum to make way for a road, the community rises up and resists as the sorghum grows anew.

7.2

MagicScore

#14

Wife of a Spy

2020

It’s 1940, and the population of Japan is divided over its entry into World War II. Satoko, the wife of a fabric merchant, is devoted to her husband but is beginning to suspect he’s up to something. Soon she allows herself to be drawn into a game in which she enigmatically conceals her intentions.

6.7

MagicScore

#15

The Wrath of Vajra

2013

In the 1930s , a Japanese cult called The Temple of Hades was ordered to cooperate with the Japanese military to destroy China. They buy so many young children from poor family , who will be trained as a lethal killing machine and serve the Empire of Japan. One of them is Vajra , who was forced by his captors to fight for the food , and accidentally causing the death of his brother. Several years later , Vajra grown up and become one of the biggest killer in the Hades sect. Vajra escapes to China and joins Shaolin , where he receives spiritual enlightenment and determined to support China against Japan.

5.4

MagicScore

#16

The General Died at Dawn

1936

China, 1930s, during the ravaging civil war. General Pen entrusts O'Hara, an intrepid American adventurer, with the mission of providing a large sum of money to Mr. Wu with the task of buying weapons in Shanghai to help end General Yang's tyranny that keeps an entire province under his ruthless iron boot.

6.3

MagicScore

#17

The White Countess

2005

In 1930s Shanghai, 'The White Countess' is both Sofia, a fallen member of the exiled Russian aristocracy, and a nightclub created by a blind American diplomat who asks Sofia to be the centerpiece of the world he wants to create.

6.2

MagicScore

#18

Lust, Caution

2007

During World War II, a secret agent must seduce and assassinate an official who works for the Japanese puppet government in Shanghai.

7.3

MagicScore

#19

Saturday Fiction

2021

Iconic actress Jean Yu returns to Japanese-occupied China to star in a play directed by her former lover. However, her undercover work for the Allies soon places her life in grave danger.

6.6

MagicScore

#20

Heroes of the East

1978

Gordon Liu stars as a Chinese martial arts student struggling to relate to his new Japanese wife. When a series of martial misunderstandings spirals into an international incident, he's forced to take on seven of Japan's most powerful martial arts masters, each an expert in a different discipline, ranging from karate to samurai to ninjitsu.

7.3

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like The Wasted Times?

The top films similar to The Wasted Times by MovieMagicScore are Purple Butterfly (6.7), The Last Emperor (7.6), The Boxer from Shantung (6.8). Each shares crime/drama/mystery themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is The Wasted Times worth watching?

The Wasted Times holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.9/10 from 52 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is The Wasted Times?

The Wasted Times (2016) is a crime, drama, mystery film directed by Cheng Er, starring Ge You, Zhang Ziyi, Tadanobu Asano.

Where can I find more recommendations like The Wasted Times?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more crime recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Purple Butterfly Movies like The Last Emperor Movies like The Boxer from Shantung Movies like Shanghai Movies like Empire of the Sun Movies like Hidden Blade

About movies like The Wasted Times

This ranked list pairs The Wasted Times (2016), a crime and drama and mystery film from Cheng Er, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Ge You take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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