Movies Like Shanghai Girls

If you liked Shanghai Girls (2023), a movie directed by Tong Luo, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
SoulMate (2016)
★ 7.2/10
The film spans two decades, as the story unfolds in a series of flashbacks that begin when Qiyue and Ansheng were just thirteen. The two became inseparable, until they met a boy who ended up tearing their lives apart.
2
Now and Then (1995)
★ 6.9/10
Waxing nostalgic about the bittersweet passage from childhood to puberty, four childhood girlfriends — Teeny, Chrissy, Samantha and Roberta — recall the magical summer of 1970. During their walk down memory lane, they…
3
In the Heat of the Sun (1994)
★ 7.8/10
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…
4
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
★ 6.1/10
At her 25th high school reunion, Peggy Sue faints and awakens in 1960—back in her senior year, before her marriage and all her regrets. Given a second chance to relive her youth, she must decide whether to change the…
5
Almost Famous (2000)
★ 7.5/10
In 1973, a precocious 15-year-old aspiring rock journalist lands a dream assignment from Rolling Stone to tour with a rising rock band, embarking on a coming-of-age journey as he discovers the exhilarating and…
6
Teen Spirit (2019)
★ 6/10
A shy teenager living on the Isle of Wight dreams of pop stardom. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a singing competition that will test her integrity, talent, and ambition.
7
Sight (2023)
★ 6.4/10
Ming Wang is an impoverished Chinese prodigy who flees Communist China to become a pioneering eye surgeon in America. When tasked with restoring the sight of an orphan in India, who was blinded by her stepmother, Wang…
8
Farewell My Concubine (1993)
★ 8/10
In an epic tale of theater, gender, love and class, two Beijing opera actors navigate political turmoil as their friendship evolves over decades.
9
Our Ladies (2019)
★ 6.6/10
In 1996 Scotland, a group of Catholic schoolgirls get an opportunity to go into Edinburgh for a choir competition, but they're more interested in drinking, partying and hooking up than winning the competition.
10
Mean Girls (2024)
★ 5.8/10
New student Cady Heron is welcomed into the top of the social food chain by the elite group of popular girls called ‘The Plastics,’ ruled by the conniving queen bee Regina George and her minions Gretchen and Karen…
11
Don't Say Good Luck (2026)
★ 7.3/10
Sophie Birenbaum is ready for the spotlight as the lead in her high school musical—until she's suddenly facing more drama at home than on the stage.
12
Shanghai Triad (1995)
★ 7.3/10
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…
13
Ghost World (2001)
★ 7.1/10
Two quirky, cynical, teenaged girls try to figure out what to do with their lives following high school graduation. After they play a prank on an eccentric, middle-aged record collector, one of them befriends him…
14
High School Musical (2006)
★ 6.5/10
A popular high school athlete and an academically gifted girl get roles in the school musical and develop a friendship that threatens East High's social order.
15
A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song (2011)
★ 6.4/10
In this modern telling of the classic tale, aspiring singer Katie Gibbs falls for the new boy at her performing arts high school. But Katie's wicked stepmother and stepsister are scheming to crush her dream before she…
16
Mean Girls (2004)
★ 7.2/10
Cady Heron is a hit with The Plastics, the A-list girl clique at her new school, until she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George.
17
Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
★ 7.2/10
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…
18
Gracie (2007)
★ 6.2/10
A teenager faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer.
19
The Best of Me (2014)
★ 7.5/10
A pair of former high school sweethearts reunite after many years when they return to visit their small hometown.
20
Buddha Mountain (2011)
★ 6.7/10
In Chengdu, China, a retired female opera singer named Master Chang takes in a trio of young tenants into her boarding home. The tenants include a rock singer and a college student who has run away from home.