Best movies like The City of Lost Souls
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Brazilian-Japanese gangster Mario rescues his Chinese girlfriend Kei as she's about to be deported from Japan. Desperate to escape, he hides in Tokyo's booming Japanese-Portuguese community and seeks passage from the country from a Russian mobster. To meet his price, they hold up a bigtime drug deal between the Chinese Mafia and the local Yakuza.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: disturbing, atmospheric, harsh, exciting, rough, suspenseful, realistic, stylized, crime drama, serious
Best tv shows and movies like The City of Lost Souls (2000):
Similar in 86%
Golgo 13 (1977)
Plot Summary:
Duke Togo (codename: Golgo 13) is a ruthless assassin who's accepted a tricky assignment from an American drug syndicate. His mission is to "rub out" Hong Kong's underworld kingpin. His main obstacle is the relentless Detective 'Smitty' Smith, determined to stop Togo no matter the cost. The result is an explosive adventure through the seamy, violent streets of Hong Kong.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 567
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: Japan, Hong Kong
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: crime drama, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, fast, detective, manga
Similar in 79%
Dead or Alive: Final (2002)
Plot Summary:
Set in a post apocalyptic Yokohama where the population is kept under rigid control by a homosexual megalomaniac mayor. The citizens are administered drugs to suppress heterosexual urges. Officer Takeshi Honda (Riki Takeuchi) is a hard boiled cop enforcing the mayor's agenda, and Ryō (Show Aikawa) is a mellowed out drifter that hooks up with a gang of rebels. When the gang kidnap Takeshi's son, it begins a series of events leading to an inevitable showdown.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: futuristic, surreal, exciting, rough, serious, stylized, suspenseful, heroic, cyber, crime drama
Similar in 85%
Blue Tiger (1994)
Plot Summary:
Gena is a sweet and dedicated mother to her little son. One day, whilst shopping with him for a halloween mask, her son is accidently shot through the chest by a Japanese Gunman, trying to kill an opposing gang of bus operators. Gena notices that the gunman has a picture of a blue tiger on his chest. She is turned into an obsessed person and has an identical red tiger etched into her skin. She then tracks down the killer and plots his death. This leads her into the world of the Japanese Mafia.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 849
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: crime drama, independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
Dead or Alive 2 (2000)
Plot Summary:
Two contract killers cross paths in the middle of the same job and realize they are childhood friends. Together they take a break from killing and visit the small island they once called home. After reflecting on their past lives they decided to team up and use their talents in killing for good... much to the upset of the crime syndicates.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, rough, realistic, mind bending, psychedelic, heroic, surreal, dark comedy, crime drama
Similar in 85%
Once a Thief (1996)
Plot Summary:
Set in Hong Kong and Vancouver, the story follows Mac Ramsey and Li Ann Tsei, lovers and professional thieves who are separated while fleeing the powerful Hong Kong underworld crime lord who raised and trained them. After being imprisoned in Hong Kong, Mac is forcefully recruited into a clandestine international crime-fighting unit by a hard-nosed, menacing Director. He is teamed in Vancouver with Li Ann, who thought Mac was dead, and her new fiancé Victor Mansfield, an ex-cop who is attracted to the unorthodox methods of the agency. Conflict flares between Mac and Victor as the trio take on their assignment. They soon learn that their principal target is their foster brother Michael Tang, who had been given Li Ann as his future wife and who has vowed to hunt down the pair for their disloyalty to the "family".
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 85%
Ley Lines (1999)
Plot Summary:
The story follows a trio of Japanese youths of Chinese descent who escape their semi-rural upbringing and relocate to Shinjuku, Tokyo, where they befriend a troubled Shanghai prostitute and fall foul of a local crime syndicate. Like many of Miike's works, the film examines the underbelly of respectable Japanese society and the problems of assimilation faced by non-ethnically Japanese people in Japan.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: crime drama, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, neo noir
Similar in 79%
Black Angel Vol. 1 (1998)
Plot Summary:
Tokyo is a dark technopolis, a city of faceless chrome and cold marble. It is ruled by Nogi, a yakuza boss specializing in drugs and murder. He gained absolute power by executing the former boss and marrying his daughter, Chiaki. Only the mysterious Ikko, Chiaki's half-sister threatens him. Inspired by a legendary hit-woman, Ikko calls herself the Black Angel and plans to wash away her father's murderer with a deluge of blood.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 912
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: neo noir, crime drama, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 76%
Shinjuku Triad Society (1995)
Plot Summary:
The film is based around the interactions of a triad group with a police officer as well as opposing yakuza organizations. When the younger brother to a renegade police officer becomes the lawyer to the triad group, an argument between the two leads to the downfall of the organization.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: crime drama, exciting, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending, dark
Similar in 78%
Born to Be King (2000)
Plot Summary:
Triad member Chicken is designated by Taiwan's San Luen Gang to marry Nanako, the daughter of the fifth generation leader of the Yamada Gang in Japan. Later, the leader of the triad group gets murdered. Actually, all the San Luen Gang members suspect Chicken attacked their leader Liu, in order to make a chance for him to rule the Gang and thus have adopted an extremely hostile attitude towards him.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 769
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, crime drama, realistic
Similar in 79%
The Wolves (1971)
Plot Summary:
After going to prison for killing the boss of the Kanno gang, Seji Iwahashi (Tatsuya Nakadai) gets released early -- only to find that his former gang has merged with the Kannos. But with bitter resentments lingering on both sides, how long will it be before the bloodshed begins anew? Set in 1926 Japan, this serpentine crime thriller from director Hideo Gosha also stars Toshio Kurosawa and Isao Natsuyagi as Iwahashi's closest ally.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 612
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: crime drama, atmospheric, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 79%
The Five (1995)
Plot Summary:
Five men plot to steal a large sum of money from the local yakuza, but everything does not go as planned and the men find themselves hunted down by contract killers.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama, Crime
Country: Japan
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: neo noir, crime drama, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, tragic ending, gay cinema
Similar in 75%
Family (2001)
Plot Summary:
When the mobster Iwaida Nishikawi is executed by the hit man Takeshi, his family chases the killer. Takeshi's brothers Takashi and Hideshi Miwa try to find Takeshi, who is hidden with the nurse Rie Ishibashi, to protect him and Hideshi discovers that Takeshi was secretly sent by their Yakuza boss to eliminate Iwaida. Meanwhile, the mobster Kenmoshi abducts Takashi's wife Mariko and rapes her, trying to force Takashi to deliver his brother to him.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 296
Genere: Action, Crime
Country: Japan
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, bloody, crime drama, realistic
Similar in 78%
Outrage (2010)
Plot Summary:
The story begins with Sekiuchi, boss of the Sannokai, a huge organized crime syndicate controlling the entire Kanto region, issuing a stern warning to his lieutenant Kato and right-hand man Ikemoto, head of the Ikemoto-gumi. Kato orders Ikemoto to bring the unassociated Murase-gumi gang in line, and he immediately passes the task on to his subordinate Otomo, who runs his own crew. The tricky jobs that no-one wants to do always end up in Otomo’s lap.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, cynical, rough, realistic, bloody, psychological, sincere, neo noir, disturbing
Similar in 87%
Sleepless Town (1998)
Plot Summary:
Kenichi is a half-Japanese, half-Chinese man of the underworld. You can sell him anything except children's organs. His domain is in Kabukicho, a gangland controlled by various Shanghai gangs intent on taking control. His former partner-in-crime, Fu-Chun, is rumored to have returned to Kabukicho, having fled years earlier after killing the number two of gangland boss, Yuan. Yuan wants to get even and attempts to do so by using Kenichi.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 700
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Hong Kong, Japan
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 88%
Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2007)
Plot Summary:
Former Yakuza underling Kiryu Kazuma, who has recently been released from prison after a lengthy incarceration, and is trying to piece his life together and distance himself from his Yakuza past. Unfortunately Kiryu's problems slowly escalate as he is pursued by a former associate, the baseball bat-wielding psycho Majima Goro who has a grudge to settle with Kiryu.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan, South Korea
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, captivating, suspense, heroic, crime drama, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Graveyard of Honor (2002)
Plot Summary:
A barkeeper saves a Yakuza boss' life and thus makes his way up in the organization. However, his fear of nothing soon causes problems.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, bleak, realistic, bloody, hood, crime drama, weird
Similar in 84%
Rain Fall (2009)
Plot Summary:
A hit man looks to protect the daughter of one of his victims against CIA assassins.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending, neo noir, detective
Similar in 81%
American Yakuza (1993)
Plot Summary:
When Nick Davis leaves prison after one year in solitaire, he is hired to operate forklift in a warehouse in the harbor owned by the Japanese Yakuza patriarch Isshin Tendo. The place is assaulted by the Italian Mafia leaded by Dino Campanela and Nick rescues and saves the life of Shuji Sawamoto, who is the representative of Yakuza interests in America. Shuji hires Nick to work for Yakuza and becomes his godfather in the family after his oath to join Yakuza. However, Nick is a lonely FBI undercover agent assigned to penetrate in the criminal organization. When the FBI discovers that Campanela is organizing a massive attack to destroy the Yakuza, Nick's boss Littman calls off the operation to leave the dirty work to the Italian Mafia. But the connection of Nick with Shuji and his goddaughter Yuko forces him to help his Japanese family.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: crime drama, independent film, exciting, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, cynical
Similar in 87%
The Fighter (1983)
Plot Summary:
Jacques Darnay has served 8 years for robbing a jeweller. Now he is out of prison and looking for his loot worth 6 million francs.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: neo noir, exciting, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, poliziottesco, suspense
Similar in 88%
Headshot (2011)
Plot Summary:
A hitman named Tul is shot in the head during an assignment. When he wakes up from a two month coma Tul discovers that he literally sees everything upside down.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Thailand, France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: neo noir, tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting, atmospheric, realistic, erotic, sexy
Similar in 89%
Ready 2 Die (2014)
Plot Summary:
After a violent bank robbery, the trio of hoods make their way across East L.A. carrying a blood-soaked bag of money. When word gets out, they must fend off gangs and crooked cops alike as they strive to keep the loot and stay alive.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 851
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting, realistic, crime drama, independent film
Similar in 80%
Zero Tolerance (1994)
Plot Summary:
After surviving a sneak attack on himself and fellow agents Jimmy and Gene as they were transporting drug kingpin Raymond Manta out of a Mexican jail, FBI agent Jeff Douglas becomes an uwitting pawn of the White Hand drug cartel. Mistakenly told that his already murdered family is being held hostage, Jeff is forced to turn one-time courier for the White Hand, whose leaders are Manta and four others named Helmut Vitch, Milt Kowalski, Russ LaFleur, and Hansel Lee. After surviving a car-bombing in Las Vegas, Jeff learns the truth about his family being murdered, and he sets out to exterminate the White Hand cartel. Unofficially aided by an agent named Megan, whose mother was raped and murdered years ago, Jeff steals FBI files and begins his campaign of revenge on the White Hand cartel.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 655
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: suspense, independent film, exciting, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, fast
Similar in 86%
Dead or Alive (1999)
Plot Summary:
Ryūichi and his small gang of Triad vie for control of the Japanese underworld in a crime-ridden Shinjuku quarter while Detective Jojima tries to bring it down. Jojima attempts to start a gang war between the Triad and yakuza. Ryūichi and Jojima meet.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: disturbing, serious, suspenseful, surreal, controversial, stylized, mind bending, psychedelic, heroic, hood
Similar in 77%
The Prodigy (2005)
Plot Summary:
"The Prodigy" tells the story of small-time enforcer Truman Fisher's vicious conflict with a sadistic assassin who has chosen the unwilling Truman to be his successor. The assassin, who goes by the alias Rains and whose exploits have become the source of legend among Truman's underworld colleagues, drives Truman, through the pressure of constant violence and grief, to understand his own capacity for both bloodshed and compassion. Ultimately this reveals to Truman that he as with all of us, must find our place in this world or as Rains would say "our place in this grand design." This action begins quickly as Truman meets with a turncoat from a rival gang. This tense showdown erupts quickly into mayhem, when Rains makes his unexpected entrance. In the wake of the ensuing bloodbath, Truman is forced to reevaluate his own role in the small, violent world he inhabits, suddenly aware that there are larger powers at work which he does not understand.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 921
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, suspenseful, suspense, independent film, serious, realistic, surprise ending
Similar in 75%
Nowhere to Hide (1999)
Plot Summary:
Over the next 72 days, Detective Woo will push his skills to the limits and his team of cops to the edge as they conduct a manhunt for an elusive criminal. Woo takes the law into his own hands as the hunt becomes personal, and as his target may get away.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: stylized, neo noir, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, tense, noir
Similar in 75%
PTU: Police Tactical Unit (2003)
Plot Summary:
Over the course of one night, a team of cops frantically search for their colleague's missing gun.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: neo noir, serious, suspenseful, exciting, realistic, heroic, contemplative, detective
Similar in 88%
Deadly Outlaw: Rekka (2002)
Plot Summary:
After Kunisada's Yakuza leader and father figure is brutally murdered, he and his best friend go on a two-man mission to avenge his death, killing other Yakuza leaders leading to a final confrontation by the old man's killers.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, stylized, crime drama, realistic, fast
Similar in 85%
Brother (2000)
Plot Summary:
A Japanese Yakuza gangster’s deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, California, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother’s gang. This is the first English film by Takeshi Kitano.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, France, Japan
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: harsh, intense, rough, serious, exciting, atmospheric, art house, stylized, hood, psychological thriller
Similar in 89%
The Yakuza (1974)
Plot Summary:
Harry Kilmer returns to Japan after several years in order to rescue his friend George's kidnapped daughter - and ends up on the wrong side of the Yakuza, the notorious Japanese mafia.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: neo noir, tense, intense, harsh, serious, realistic, retro, spiritual, fast paced, crime drama
Similar in 81%
Beyond Outrage (2012)
Plot Summary:
As the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West. What started as an internal strife in Outrage has now become a nationwide war in Outrage Beyond.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, realistic, psychological, noir, neo noir, bloody, hood, crime thriller