Best movies like Little Forest: Winter/Spring
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Ichiko (Ai Hashimoto) lived in a big city, but goes back to her small hometown Komori, located on a mountain in the Tohoku region. She is self-sufficient. Ichiko gains energy living among nature and eating foods she makes from seasonal ingredients.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, sincere, captivating, realistic, epic, poignant, aesthetic
Best tv shows and movies like Little Forest: Winter/Spring (2015):
Similar in 85%
Every Day a Good Day (2018)
Plot Summary:
A university student attends a Japanese tea ceremony near her house with her cousin. There she has the Japanese tea ceremony in her life and it's there for her during moments when she is sad or happy.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, captivating
Similar in 81%
Our Little Sister (2015)
Plot Summary:
A story that revolves around three sisters who live in their grandmother's home and the arrival of their 13-year-old half sister.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Japan
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, realistic, captivating, independent film, inspirational, offbeat, manga, poignant, art house
Similar in 88%
Sweet Bean (2015)
Plot Summary:
Sentaro runs a small bakery that serves dorayaki pastries filled with sweet red bean paste (“an”). When an old lady, Tokue, offers to help in the kitchen he reluctantly accepts. She will soon prove to have magic in her hands….
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, France, Germany
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: culinary, sincere, thought provoking, touching, melancholic, motivational, sad, tear jerker, poignant, art house
Similar in 80%
Midnight Diner 2 (2016)
Plot Summary:
When people finish their day and hurry home, his day starts. His diner is open from midnight to seven in the morning. Pork, miso soup combo, beer, sake and shochu is all that he has on his menu. Nevertheless, he makes whatever his customers request as long as he has the ingredients for it.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, melancholic, anthology
Similar in 89%
Ramen Shop (2018)
Plot Summary:
Masato is a young ramen chef in the city of Takasaki in Japan. After the sudden death of his emotionally distant father, he chances upon a suitcase of memorabilia and a red notebook – filled with musings and old photos – left behind by his Singaporean mother who died when he was just ten years old. Acting on a hunch, he takes off for Singapore with the notebook, hoping to piece together the story of his life, as well as that of his parents.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Singapore, Japan, France
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: realistic, captivating, emotional, contemplative
Similar in 79%
The Great Passage (2013)
Plot Summary:
Majime, an eccentric man in publishing company, who has unique ability of words, joins the team that will compile a new dictionary, ‘The Great Passage.’ In the eclectic team, he becomes immersed in the world of dictionaries. But the team is overwhelmed with problems. Will ‘The Great Passage’ ever be completed?.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, feel good, serious, realistic, thought provoking, sweet, poignant
Similar in 75%
Little Forest: Summer/Autumn (2014)
Plot Summary:
Abandoned by her mother, young Ichiko leaves her life in the city to live off the land in Komori, a small town nestled among the mountains in rural Japan. Despite the void left by her mother’s disappearance, Ichiko comes to enjoy her independence and revels in her new-found connection with food and the elements. Visually luxuriant, this film follows Ichiko through one summer and autumn, as she learns to use and respect the time-honoured wisdom of rural folk and read the cycle of life and connectedness in the environment around her.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, captivating, melancholic, contemplative, visually appealing, epic, aesthetic
Similar in 88%
Solanin (2010)
Plot Summary:
Meiko Inoue is a recent college grad working as an office lady in a job she hates. Her boyfriend Shigeo is permanently crashing at her apartment because his job as a freelance illustrator doesn't pay enough for rent. And her parents in the country keep sending her boxes of veggies that just rot in her fridge. Straddling the line between her years as a student and the rest of her life, Meiko struggles with the feeling that she's just not cut out to be a part of the real world.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 900
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, captivating, realistic, sweet, shoujo
Similar in 88%
Little Forest (2018)
Plot Summary:
A young woman leaves the city to return to her hometown in the countryside. Seeking to escape the hustle and bustle of the city, she becomes self-sufficient in a bid to reconnect with nature.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sincere, sad, psychological, captivating, disturbing, feel good
Similar in 87%
Drucker in the Dug-Out (2011)
Plot Summary:
The movie is about Minami Kawashima, a high school girl who becomes the manager of her school's baseball team in place of her hospitalized friend, Yuki Miyata. She tries to lead the team to the National High School Baseball Championship by learning strategies from the business book Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices by Peter Drucker, which she mistakenly bought.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 72
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, psychological, uplifting
Similar in 84%
The End of Summer (1961)
Plot Summary:
The Kohayakawa family is thrown into distress when childlike father Manbei takes up with his old mistress, in one of Ozu’s most deftly modulated blendings of comedy and tragedy.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, emotional, serious, realistic, social, witty, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 85%
Café Lumière (2003)
Plot Summary:
Making her way through life by forming superficial relationships, Yoko (Japanese pop idol Yo Hitoto) keeps everyone at arm's length, whether it's her father (Nanji Kobayashi) and stepmother (Kimiko Yo) or Hajime (Tadanobu Asano), the owner of a small bookstore who could be the father of her unborn child. Yoko seems most at home when she's riding the train, speeding around the city with only her thoughts to entertain her.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, Taiwan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative, uplifting, art house, slow cinema, aesthetic
Similar in 90%
Tony Takitani (2004)
Plot Summary:
Tony Takitani had a solitary childhood. Being alone was normal since his mother died young and his father was always away with his jazz band. At school he studied art, but while his sketches are accurate and detailed they lack feeling. Used to being self-sufficient, Tony seems to find emotions illogical and immature. After finding his true vocation as a technical illustrator, he becomes fascinated by Eiko, a client who in turn is fascinated by high end fashion. Eiko is like an angel in Tony's daily existence, and for the first time in his life, he feels connected to the outside world. However, Eiko does have one fault: she's a clothing shopaholic. Eventually he marries her, and his life changes. He feels vibrantly alive and for the first time he understands and fears loneliness. But her obsession with designer clothes begins to worry him. When he asks her to economize, the consequences are tragic.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, captivating, psychological, sincere, realistic, depressing, sad, art house, existential
Similar in 76%
Last Winter (2011)
Plot Summary:
A young farmer in Central France tries to sustain his spiritual connection to the land amid the crushing pressures of modern agriculture in this brooding drama.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 187
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, captivating, gloomy
Similar in 75%
The Wonders (2014)
Plot Summary:
Gelsomina’s family works according to some special rules. First of all, Gelsomina, at twelve years of age, is head of the family and her three younger sisters must obey her: sleep when she tells them to and work under her watchful eye. But the world, the outside, mustn’t know anything about their rules, and must be kept away from them. They must learn to disguise themselves.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, Switzerland, Germany
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, realistic, sincere, thought provoking, captivating, sexy, touching, serious
Similar in 90%
The Grocer's Son (2007)
Plot Summary:
Antoine Sforza, a thirty-year-old young man, left his village ten years before in order to start a new life in the big city, but now that his father, a traveling grocer, is in hospital after a stroke, he more or less reluctantly accepts to come back to replace him in his daily rounds.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, thought provoking, contemplative, captivating, spiritual, touching, serious
Similar in 76%
Crossroads (2006)
Plot Summary:
The life of a young Jesuit seminarian is turned upside down when he falls in love with a young woman while working as a volunteer at a soup kitchen.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 300
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, serious, sexual
Similar in 89%
The Kirishima Thing (2012)
Plot Summary:
A story about the disappearance of Kirishima, a star athlete of the volleyball club, and how his disappearance affects every person in school.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, realistic, touching, semi serious, psychological, captivating, clever, humorous, stylized
Similar in 82%
Hanezu (2011)
Plot Summary:
Based on a Japanese novel written by Masako Bando, the story revolves around Kayoko who lives with one man (Tetsuya) but is in love with another (Takumi).
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 998
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative, slow cinema, aesthetic
Similar in 75%
One Million Yen Girl (2008)
Plot Summary:
A 21-year-old girl is released from prison, only to deal with the neighborhood gossip about her and family conflicts. She decides to save one million yen, move to where no one knows her and keep repeating the process.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere
Similar in 85%
A Gentle Breeze in the Village (2007)
Plot Summary:
Based on a popular manga, the film is a tender coming-of-age love story set deep in Japan's countryside. When eighth grade cool guy Hiromi transfers from Tokyo to a small elementary/middle school with only six kids enrolled, wholesome and honest Soyo becomes enthralled with his sophisticated world.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, disturbing, romantic
Similar in 85%
Bread of Happiness (2012)
Plot Summary:
A couple decide to relocate from Tokyo to the northern island of Hokkaido where they settle and establish a bakery and café called Mani. One cooks. The other bakes. Everyone walks out happy.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 756
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, touching, captivating, realistic, semi serious, culinary, independent film
Similar in 87%
Nobody Knows (2004)
Plot Summary:
In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: depressing, touching, serious, atmospheric, bleak, gloomy, heartbreaking, contemplative, melancholic, meditative
Similar in 77%
Kids on the Slope (2018)
Plot Summary:
Two different students—a successful but aloof academic and a rebellious but kindhearted delinquent—form a friendship through their love of jazz music.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 797
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: emotional, light, captivating, realistic, anime
Similar in 80%
Blue Spring (2001)
Plot Summary:
Soon after being named the new leader of his high school's gang system, Kujo grows bored with the violence and hatred that surround him. He wants desperately to abandon his post… but his once-enviable position of power has a strange way of making him feel powerless.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: bleak, realistic, disturbing, serious, manga
Similar in 89%
Saki Achiga-hen: Episode of Side-A (2018)
Plot Summary:
Sequel movie to the live-action Saki TV series.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 33
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: captivating, tense, sincere, unusual plot structure, suspense, contemplative
Similar in 82%
Departures (2008)
Plot Summary:
Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 54000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: sad, philosophical, psychological, touching, thought provoking, inspirational, atmospheric, emotional, contemplative, sentimental
Similar in 82%
Still Walking (2008)
Plot Summary:
Twelve years after their beloved eldest son, Junpei, drowned while saving a stranger's life, Kyohei and Toshiko welcome their surviving children home for a family reunion. Younger son Ryota still feels that his parents resent that he isn't the one who died; his new wife, Yukari, is awkwardly meeting the rest of the family for the first time. Daughter Chinami strains to fill the uncomfortable pauses with forced cheer.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: serious, contemplative, sincere, touching, realistic, philosophical, thought provoking, disturbing, poignant, art house
Similar in 81%
Kamome Diner (2006)
Plot Summary:
Where are we welcome? On a quiet street in Helsinki, Sachie has opened a diner featuring rice balls. For a month she has no customers. Then, in short order, she has her first customer, meets Midori, a gangly Japanese tourist, and invites her to stay with her, and meets Masako, a formal and ethereal middle-aged woman whose luggage has gone missing. The three women work in the diner, interact, and serve customers. A somewhat brusque man teaches Sachie to make delicious coffee, then he returns under other circumstances. Three neighborhood women inspect the empty diner every day; will anything bring them inside? The number of customers gradually increases, but the diner seems to attract only those with problems. Conversation with Sachie and the tasty food seem to resolve people's woes. We learn why Sachie serves rice balls; but why Finland?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sentimental, atmospheric, touching, humorous, semi serious, sincere, captivating, independent film, offbeat, realistic
Similar in 90%
Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler (2009)
Plot Summary:
Itou Kaiji is a bum who steals car emblems and slashes tires on what seems to be a regular basis. This routine changes one day when he is paid a visit by a man in a trench-coat. Once the two get talking, it seems that the visitor (Calling himself Endou) is a debt collector. The reason for his visit is an unpaid loan which kaiji had previously co-signed for a work-mate (Furuhata Takeshi). The original loan was 30000 yen and once Takeshi had disappeared, the loan then fell on Kaiji. Kaiji is then told of a way to clear the interest compounded debt (which stood at 3,850,000 yen), which involved getting on a boat with others in his position. Once on the boat the debtors would then have to gamble with loaned money, which would end with a few winning, and others getting into deeper debt and having to work to pay of their debts. After some coercing kaiji accepts a position on the boat, in order to clear himself and make a bit of money as well.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: tense, psychological, captivating, anime, atmospheric, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful