Best movies like Haru
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A man makes an online friend only to discover that he is really a she!.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 497
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Haru (1996):
Similar in 76%
Collage of Our Lives (2003)
Plot Summary:
A young cameraman receives a letter from an old girlfriend, announcing that she is to hold a photo exhibition in the United States. Having heard rumors that she has died, he follows his curiosity to New York City.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 508
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
Journey to the Shore (2015)
Plot Summary:
Mizuki’s husband Yusuke went missing for 3 years. He suddenly comes back home one day and asks Mizuki to go on a trip with him. Their trip consists of visiting the people that helped Yusuke on his previous travel. While travelling together, Misuki sees, touches and feels what Yusuke did for those 3 years.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: Japan, France
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: enigmatic, exciting, sincere, melancholic, romantic, romantic drama
Similar in 85%
Typhoon Club (1985)
Plot Summary:
The movie takes place in the five-day period before, during and after a ferocious, seemingly liberating typhoon, which five of the students endure while marooned in their school gymnasium.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 891
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
Radiance (2017)
Plot Summary:
The story follows the social intercourse between a cameraman, Masaya, with a lazy eye, and Misako who disconnects from the world.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan, France
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sincere, art house, sentimental, thought provoking, captivating, disturbing, romantic drama, crying
Similar in 75%
Pranayam (2011)
Plot Summary:
Menon runs into his former wife Grace, who is married to a bedridden Mathew and loves him immensely. The movie revolves around their crossing and emotes the meaning of love and its various forms.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 910
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: India
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: romantic
Similar in 83%
Mouvements du désir (1994)
Plot Summary:
During the long train ride from Montreal to Vancouver, a man and woman find themselves increasingly attracted to each other.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 160
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Canada, France, Switzerland
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: avant garde
Similar in 87%
Breaking the Cycle (2002)
Plot Summary:
Jason's idea of romance is planning anonymous gay hookups through a chat room, while his roommate Chad wants to find Mr. Right. When a friend shows Chad how to access the chat room, he meets someone named "Hook-Up Boy" who seems very familiar. The two men are soon falling for each other online, but what will happen when they finally "meet"?.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 225
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 62 min
Plot tags: queer cinema
Similar in 83%
The Long Excuse (2016)
Plot Summary:
A recently widowed writer whose wife died in a bus crash comes to terms with his grief—or lack of it—in caring for the children of a working man who also lost his wife in the same accident.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Coach of the Year (1980)
Plot Summary:
An ex-football star, paralyzed from the waist down during Vietnam, accepts the challenge of coaching football in a juvenile reform school.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 186
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Halfway (2009)
Plot Summary:
In this high school romance Hiro is dismayed to learn her new love Shu will be going away to college in Tokyo. She asks him not to go.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 442
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: romantic, crying
Similar in 86%
Two in the Shadow (1967)
Plot Summary:
A man is involved in a fatal car accident, and though he is blameless, his company transfers him to a remote branch in a small town. Before he leaves, he gives the man's widow a large sum of money that she uses to move back to her hometown.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: romantic drama, atmospheric, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 79%
With Beauty and Sorrow (1965)
Plot Summary:
When the man who seduced the famous painter Otoko as a teenager--and then wrote a bestselling novel about it--reappears in her life, her pupil--and lesbian lover--hatches a plot to destroy the man and his family.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 318
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Let Me Eat Your Pancreas (2017)
Plot Summary:
I (Takumi Kitamura) am a high school student. I happen to find a diary by my classmate Sakura Yamauchi (Minami Hamabe) that reveals she is suffering from a pancreatic disease. I spent time with Sakura, but she dies. 12 years later, due to Sakura’s words, I (Shun Oguri) am now a high school teacher at the same school where I graduated from. While I talk with my student, I remember several months I spent with Sakura. Meanwhile, Kyoko (Keiko Kitagawa), who was Sakura’s friend, is soon to marry. Kyoko also recalls the days she spent with me and Sakura.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, captivating, light, romantic, sweet, art house, anime, romantic drama, tear jerker
Similar in 81%
We Were There: First Love (2012)
Plot Summary:
"We Were There" follows the 10 year romance between Motoharu Yano (Toma Ikuta) & Nanami Takahashi (Yuriko Yoshitaka). During their high school days, Motoharu Yano was the most popular boy in school, but can't get over the death of his girlfriend from a car crash. Nanami Takahashi falls in love with Motoharu Yano and must deal with his inability to let go of the past.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 694
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sincere, romantic, serious, shoujo, anime
Similar in 87%
An Adolescent (2001)
Plot Summary:
Tomokawa is a tough guy turned bored cop who spends much of his time sating lonely housewives and looking after retarded teen Sukemasa. One day while hanging out at a bar, he is approached by a 15-year-old enjo kosai named Yoko, offering a round of illicit sex in exchange for cash. Though he demurs, their paths cross again and soon a relationship of sorts forms. Yoko, it turns out, is Sukemasa's sister; and both are the children of his old flame Yukie, a grasping, self-centered woman. Moreover, Yoko's grandfather is responsible for the massive tattoo sprawling across Tomokawa's back. Tomokawa soon takes both teens under his wing, protecting them from their heartless mother, and their lecherous stepfather. Soon, Yoko gets a similarly massive tattoo illustrating her bond with her policeman savior.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 542
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, realistic
Similar in 77%
Kabukicho Love Hotel (2014)
Plot Summary:
This erotically charged drama from Japanese director Ryuichi Hiroki (Vibrator) traces the intersecting stories of a group of employees and visitors at a notorious "love hotel" in Tokyo's red-light district.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 835
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: serious, sentimental, realistic, sexual, sincere, captivating, romantic, sexy, anthology, detective
Similar in 80%
Yearning (1964)
Plot Summary:
After a bombing raid destroys the family store and her husband, Reiko rebuilds and runs the shop out of love stopped short by destruction.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Honokaa Boy (2009)
Plot Summary:
Leo, a young Japanese college student, travels to Hawaii and eventually falls in love with Maray, an older Japanese-Caucasion woman.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 270
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 78%
Villain (2010)
Plot Summary:
Shimizu Yuichi (Tsumabuki Satoshi) is a shy and lonely day laborer looking for love. He aimlessly spends time corresponding with girls via telephone dating services and going on random encounters with girls looking for spending cash. His world is shattered one day when he is involved in the murder of one of his former encounters, the sweet-faced Ishibashi Yoshino (Mitsushima Hikari) who, after being jilted by playboy Masuo Keijo (Okada Masaki), berates and mocks the troubled loner.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, emotional, realistic, captivating, tense, psychological thriller, heavy, serious, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Love Letter (1995)
Plot Summary:
When exchanging letters two women discover new things about a deceased man they used to know.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: romantic, retro, feel good, sweet, epic, art house, independent film, anamorphic, romantic drama, psychological
Similar in 85%
Dolls (2002)
Plot Summary:
Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif -- specifically, the kind practiced in Bunraku doll theater performances -- opening each section of his film with a story provided by the puppets and their masters, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and Sawako (Miho Kanno), a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter. He initially agrees, causing the unstable Sawako to be committed to a psychiatric hospital. When he leaves his new bride at the altar to save Sawako, however, he realizes that she's so incapable of caring for herself that she needs to be tied to him with a red rope. Inextricably bound, the two wander through Japan, encountering others along the way who have similarly overlooked love for other, more fleeting pleasures: fame, power, money.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: surreal, emotional, melancholic, lyrical, romantic, atmospheric, sentimental, bleak, intellectual, depressing
Similar in 87%
Like Grains of Sand (1995)
Plot Summary:
A coming-of-age story. Shuji, a Japanese teen, is falling in love with his friend Hiroyuki, however, Hiroyuki is attracted to Kasane, the new girl in their class.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 79%
Woman of the Photographs (2020)
Plot Summary:
A quiet studio photographer is taking photos of insects in the forest when an Instagram model falls out of a tree. Agreeing to give her a lift back into town, he soon finds her dominating his life while sleeping in his home.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 199
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, romantic, humorous, emotional, talky
Similar in 81%
Moonlight Whispers (1999)
Plot Summary:
Satsuki (Tsugumi) and Takuya (Kenji Mizuhashi) are high school students who meet at kendo practice, where they bash one another with wooden swords. They begin an awkward romance, but Takuya soon reveals a masochistic side to his desires. He has been stealing Satsuki's soiled clothing and secretly surveilling her while imagining her subjugation of him. Disgusted, Satsuki rejects him -- but he persists, and she discovers her own pleasure in manipulating and humiliating him.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 963
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: disturbing, erotic, sensual, erotic drama, psychological, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, sexual
Similar in 84%
Lost Paradise (1997)
Plot Summary:
The tragic tale of two lovers whose passion burns so intensely it destroys them.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 712
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: sexy, art house, sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sexual
Similar in 85%
Go (2001)
Plot Summary:
Isao Yukisada spins this gritty coming-of-age tale about Sugihara, a Japanese-born, third-generation Korean who struggles to find a place in a society that will not accept him. The film begins with Sugihara studying at a Korean junior high school that is dedicated to memory of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. His father is a grizzled ex-boxer who recently changed his citizenship from North to South Korea so he and his wife – Sugihara's mom – could visit Hawaii. Though his father regularly gets drunk and thrashes him, he also taught Sugihara the finer point of the sweet science. At one point in the film, Sugihara takes out an entire basketball team that was bent on taking him out. Upon graduation, Sugihara enters a normal Japanese high school where he meets and soon falls for Sakurai – a loose-sock copper-haired damsel who is attracted to Sugihara's restless spirit. As the film progresses, Sugihara struggles to throw off the stigma of his ethnicity and live a quiet, successful life.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, sweet, realistic
Similar in 76%
The Twilight Samurai (2002)
Plot Summary:
Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: tense, emotional, sincere, atmospheric, realistic, touching, talky, lyrical, sentimental, jidai geki
Similar in 89%
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac (2010)
Plot Summary:
Diving to save a camera from a fall down a flight of stairs, high school junior Naomi Sukuse wakes with no memory of the last four years. Naomi must remember who she was and figure out who she wants to be in this story of love and second chances.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 674
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, contemplative, captivating, sincere, psychological, romantic, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 81%
Heavenly Forest (2006)
Plot Summary:
The story begins with Makoto Segawa, a freshman at Meikei University. On the day of his university entrance ceremony, Makoto meets a fresh-faced, quirky girl named Shizuru. Makoto has a complex which causes him to shy away from contact with other people, but she succeeds in getting him to open up to her naturally. All Shizuru wants is to be with Makoto, so she takes up a camera too. The two spend their days together taking photos in the forest behind the campus. However, Makoto has feelings for another student named Miyuki. Shizuru decides that if Makoto likes Miyuki, she wants to like her too. She wants to like everything that he does. One day, she tells Makoto that she wants to take a photo of them kissing in the forest as a present for 'her birthday'. He obliges for her sake, and they kiss in the forest.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, romantic, sad, shoujo, romantic drama
Similar in 76%
The Little House (2014)
Plot Summary:
Following the death of the unmarried and childless Taki, Takeshi, a young relative of hers, discovers several pages of closely written lines in which the old lady has recorded her memories. This is how he learns the truth about her youth working as a housemaid and nanny for the Hirai family in a little house in Tokyo with a red gabled roof.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, psychological, captivating, touching, serious, stylized