Best movies like Drive My Car
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Yusuke Kafuku, a stage actor and director, still unable, after two years, to cope with the loss of his beloved wife, accepts to direct Uncle Vanja at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he meets Misaki, an introverted young woman, appointed to drive his car. In between rides, secrets from the past and heartfelt confessions will be unveiled.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 62000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 179 min
Plot tags: inspirational, art house, independent film, slow cinema, poetic, relaxing, road movie, beautiful, bilingual
Best tv shows and movies like Drive My Car (2021):
Similar in 78%
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 84%
Petal Dance (2013)
Plot Summary:
Four women, who have their own different sorrows, embark on a road trip. They look back at their past and restart their lives... Jinko (Aoi Miyazaki) and Motoko (Sakura Ando) have been friends since their university days. One day, they hear a rumor about their former classmate and friend Miki (Kazue Fukiishi). The rumor is that Miki ran into the sea, but got out safely. Jinko and Motoko decide to visit Miki to see if she is OK. In addition, Haraki (Shiori Kutsuna), who Jinko met at the library where she works, joins their trip as a driver. Their one night and two days road trip begins.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 420
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: romantic, uplifting
Similar in 80%
Iwane: Sword of Serenity (2019)
Plot Summary:
Iwane Sakazaki returns to his homeland and gets caught in the middle of an incident that results in the tragic death of two of his best friends from childhood. He decides to leave his domain, parting with his fiancée Nao, and becomes a vagrant masterless samurai with nothing more to lose. Iwane drifts to Edo, filleting eels during the day and working as a bodyguard at night for Imazuya, a reputable money exchanger. He gradually wins the trust of the people around him because of his mellow nature, the chivalrous way he treats everyone with courtesy, and his skills of swords. One day, he learns that Imazuya is being targeted in a conspiracy to sabotage a new monetary system implemented by the government, and Iwane decides to protect the people who have given him support.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 118
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
The House Where the Mermaid Sleeps (2018)
Plot Summary:
Kaoruko and Kazumasa Harima are a separated couple with two children. They plan to divorce once their daughter, Mizuho, enters elementary school. One day, they receive devastating news of their daughter falling into a coma after a near-drowning accident at a pool. The doctors declare her brain dead with no prospect of recovery and the couple must decide if they should donate her organs to others in need or to wait until her heart stops beating.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 334
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 80%
37 Seconds (2019)
Plot Summary:
In 37 Seconds, 23-year-old comic book artist Yuma, physically disabled due to profound cerebral palsy and emotionally stunted by her well-meaning but overly protective mother, forges her own unusual path to sexual awakening and independence while at the same time discovering love and forgiveness.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, manga, hentai, beautiful, cult film
Similar in 86%
Intentions of Murder (1964)
Plot Summary:
Sadako, cursed by generations before her and neglected by her common-law husband, falls prey to a brutal home intruder. But rather than become a victim, she forges a path to her own awakening.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: rough, suspense, tense, bleak, disturbing, erotic, freeze frame, avant garde
Similar in 82%
Happy Hour (2015)
Plot Summary:
Jun, Akari, Sakurako and Fumi truly believe that they can confide in each other. But one day, at a party, Jun confesses that she is seeking a divorce from her husband and this information seems to upset the other three. They follow her trial as she attempts to win her case against her husband’s will.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 317 min
Plot tags: exciting, sentimental, sexy, feel good, captivating, melancholic, independent film, romantic drama, sexual, psychotronic
Similar in 80%
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 76%
Red Beard (1965)
Plot Summary:
Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute rescued from a local brothel.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 185 min
Plot tags: black and white, cerebral, emotional, realistic, touching, existential, philosophical, psychedelic, spiritual, epic
Similar in 82%
Nomadland (2020)
Plot Summary:
A woman in her sixties embarks on a journey through the American West after losing everything in the Great Recession, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 177000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: road movie, serious, sincere, captivating, social, sad, realistic, funny, inspirational, philosophical
Similar in 80%
The Cowards who Looked to the Sky (2012)
Plot Summary:
Based on the award-winning novel of the same name, this boldly erotic yet movingly tender portrait of a group of vulnerable, variously wounded people — a depressed housewife, her high-school-aged lover, and his best friend, who is struggling to provide for himself and his senile grandmother — whose intersecting lives yield both sorrow and a fragile, yet enduring, hope for a brighter future. (TIFF).
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 229
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, sexual, sexy
Similar in 78%
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 83%
The Wife (2017)
Plot Summary:
A wife questions her life choices as she travels to Stockholm with her husband, where he is slated to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Sweden, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, lyrical, intellectual, serious, emotional, sad, art house, novela, independent film
Similar in 76%
Pieces of a Woman (2020)
Plot Summary:
A grieving woman embarks on an emotional journey after the Ioss of her baby.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 55000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, Hungary, USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, suspense, suspenseful, rough, disturbing, deep, existential, weird, beautiful
Similar in 77%
The Ballad of Narayama (1983)
Plot Summary:
In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die. If anyone should refuse he/she would disgrace their family. Old Orin is 69. This winter it is her turn to go to the mountain. But first she must make sure that her eldest son Tatsuhei finds a wife.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: depressing, bleak, erotic, philosophical, neo noir, political, cerebral, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 75%
Maborosi (1995)
Plot Summary:
A young woman's husband apparently commits suicide without warning or reason, leaving behind his wife and infant. Yumiko remarries and moves from Osaka to a small fishing village, yet continues to search for meaning in a lonely world.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: art house, atmospheric, contemplative, slow cinema, retro, aesthetic, psychological, serious, realistic, light
Similar in 89%
Vibrator (2003)
Plot Summary:
Rei is a freelance writer embattled by personal demons. We first meet her in a convenience store where she is buying too much alcohol and not enough food. At the magazine rack she pauses to contemplate the happiness of the glamour girls on the glossies for which she writes. Only later do we realize that this is self-reflection. A chance encounter with truck driving Takatoshi, leads to a two day romp of sex, friendship and introspection. It's unclear if what happens to her is the product of her writer self imagining it all as a magazine serial (hence the inter-titles and voice of the narrator).
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 963
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: road movie, psychological, serious, realistic, offbeat, contemplative, crying
Similar in 75%
Tokyo Noir (2004)
Plot Summary:
In this excursion into Tokyo's dark side, a sexually repressed woman finds liberation by turning tricks at night a sex worker is taken by surprise when her ex drops by and a sex blogger finds strange kinship with a loner.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 32
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 87%
Tokyo Decadence (1992)
Plot Summary:
A submissive hooker goes about her trade, suffering abuse at the hands of Japanese salarymen and Yakuza types. She's unhappy about her work, and is apparently trying to find some sort of appeasement for the fact that her lover has married.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: erotic, disturbing, tense, surreal, sexy, serious, realistic, controversial, psychological, captivating
Similar in 82%
The Lost Daughter (2021)
Plot Summary:
A woman's seaside vacation takes a dark turn when her obsession with a young mother forces her to confront secrets from her past.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 73000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, UK, Israel, Greece
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, captivating, tense, art house, existential, grim, independent film, weird
Similar in 88%
Ten (2002)
Plot Summary:
A visual social examination in the form of ten conversations between a driving woman and her various pick-ups and hitchhikers.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France, USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: talky, melancholic, light, intense, sincere, thought provoking, touching, realistic, art house, contemplative
Similar in 83%
Dawn of the Felines (2017)
Plot Summary:
A glimpse into the lives of three prostitutes in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo and the clients who solicit them.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 387
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, sincere, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 88%
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 85%
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 82%
Betrayal (2012)
Plot Summary:
While examining one of her patients, a doctor reveals that her husband is cheating with the patient's wife.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 948
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, sexy, detective, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Eight and a Half (1963)
Plot Summary:
With 8 ½ Frederico Fellini leaves a self-portrait where dreams and reality are a mix. With help from a most excellent cast and unique scenery this self reflecting film is one of his master works.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 124000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: art house, psychological, surreal, philosophical, cerebral, stylized, black and white, atmospheric, postmodern, visual
Similar in 80%
Live Flesh (1997)
Plot Summary:
A scorned ex-convict forces himself into the lives of the couple who put him behind bars.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, France
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sexy, psychological, intense, atmospheric, emotional, erotic, serious, realistic, visual, neo noir
Similar in 81%
The Great Beauty (2013)
Plot Summary:
Jep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 96000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: philosophical, art house, visually stunning, stylized, breathtaking, visually appealing, visual, absurd, cerebral, talky
Similar in 76%
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)
Plot Summary:
A sexually repressed woman's husband is having an affair with her sister. The arrival of a visitor with a rather unusual fetish changes everything.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 58000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film, sensual, controversial, art house, psychological, witty, talky, postmodern, mumblecore, black comedy
Similar in 89%
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Plot Summary:
A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 97000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: philosophical, psychological, depressing, surreal, mindfuck, confusing, art house, absurd, mind bending, cult classic