Movies Like Useless Man

If you liked Useless Man (2012), a movie directed by Zheng Dasheng, 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
Confucius (2010)
★ 6/10
In 500 B.C., during Chinas famed 'Spring and Autumn Period', Kong Ze (Confucius), a commoner reverred for his outstanding wisdom, is made Minister of Law in the ancient Kingdom of Lu. Under his inspired leadership, Lu…
2
Mifune: The Last Samurai (2016)
★ 7/10
An account of the life and work of legendary Japanese actor Toshirō Mifune (1920-97), the most prominent actor of the Golden Age of Japanese cinema.
3
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)
★ 6.7/10
Toby, a cynical film director finds himself trapped in the outrageous delusions of an old Spanish shoe-maker who believes himself to be Don Quixote. In the course of their comic and increasingly surreal adventures…
4
A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923)
★ 6.7/10
When Marie St. Clair believes she has been jilted by her artist fiance Jean, she decides to leave for Paris on her own. After spending a year in the city as a mistress of the wealthy Pierre Revel, she is reunited with…
5
Finding Mr. Right (2013)
★ 6.5/10
When Jiajia, a young woman in Beijing who lives a luxurious life provided by her wealthy boyfriend, gets pregnant, she goes to the United States, hoping that the baby will be born an American citizen. There she meets…
6
Koyaanisqatsi (1983)
★ 7.9/10
Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by…
7
The Myth (2005)
★ 6.4/10
When a fellow scientist asks for Jack's help in locating the mausoleum of China's first emperor, the past collides violently with the present as Jack discovers his amazing visions are based in fact.
8
New Gods: Nezha Reborn (2021)
★ 8/10
While living as an ordinary deliveryman and motor racing fan, Nezha encounters old nemeses and must rediscover his powers to protect his loved ones.
9
The Shift (2023)
★ 6.3/10
Following a tense encounter with a mysterious stranger with otherworldly powers, a man finds himself banished to a parallel, tyrannical Earth, where he fights to get back to the woman he loves.
10
Restart the Earth (2021)
★ 6.7/10
When a drug to replicate plant cells creates a sentient form of flower, the planet is over taken by flora and humankind is depleted. A Chinese task force, a widowed father and his young daughter fight to survive in a…
11
Sidelined: The QB and Me (2025)
★ 6.4/10
Dallas, a burdened but headstrong dancer, is determined to get into the best dance school in the country—her late mother’s alma mater. However, that dream is suddenly derailed when the cheeky yet secretly grieving…
12
Nothing Personal (2009)
★ 6.5/10
Alone in her empty flat, from her window Anne observes the people passing by who nervously snatch up the personal belongings and pieces of furniture she has put out on the pavement. Her final gesture of taking a ring…
13
A Christmas Melody (2015)
★ 6/10
Kristin has just had to close her small Manhattan clothing boutique to return to her Ohio home town and live in her parents' former home. It's an adjustment for Kristin and her young daughter— especially when she runs…
14
Bureau 749 (2024)
★ 6.4/10
A traumatized young man with physical abnormalities is forced to join a mysterious bureau to confront a disaster spreading across the earth caused by an unknown creature. He embarks on an adventure uncovering mysteries…
15
24 City (2008)
★ 7/10
As a decades-old state-run aeronautics munitions factory in downtown Chengdu, China is being torn down for the construction of the titular luxury apartment complex, director Jia Zhangke interviews various people…
16
Saint Jack (1979)
★ 6.6/10
Jack Flowers is an American hustler trying to make his fortune in 1970s Singapore in small time pimping. His dreams of building a fortune by running a brothel himself and returning to the States is materialized when he…
17
Finding Mr. Right 2 (2016)
★ 6/10
Continuing the story of Beijing Meets Seattle I from 2013, the new movie has the couple fall in love again.
18
Cameraperson (2016)
★ 6.7/10
As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What…
19
Back to Back, Face to Face (1994)
★ 8.3/10
Wang Shuangli is Deputy Director of the local Cultural Centre, and hopes to be appointed Director. However Old Ma is brought in from the country and installed as Director. This starts a long train of events with Wang's…
20
Heavy Traffic (1973)
★ 6.5/10
A white dropout struggles to become a cartoonist and filmmaker, drawing inspiration from the harsh, gritty world around him. Still sharing his rundown apartment with his middle-aged parents, an oafish slob of an…