Best movies like The Curtain Rises
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Saori (Kanako Momota) is a high school student at a provincial city. She is a member of playgroup at her school. Yoshioka (Haru Kuroki) begins to work at the same high school as a new teacher. Yoshioka performed in plays when she was in college back in Tokyo. Saori, Yukko (Shiori Tamai), Garuru (Reni Takagi), Nakanishi (Momoka Ariyasu), Akemi (Ayaka Sasaki) decides to compete in a play competition. Their goal is to make it through the regional competions, but Teacher Yoshioka tells them their aiming low and that they should think about the national competition.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 452
Genere: Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like The Curtain Rises (2015):
Similar in 90%
Second Summer Never See You Again (2017)
Plot Summary:
Satoshi, who is a high school junior, is doing something against the rules. He is forming a band. Joining him is Rin. They nonetheless perform at the school's cultural festival live in front of their fellow students. There is a mishap and Satoshi travels back in time to the moment when he met Rin.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 35
Genere: Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Karaage USA (2014)
Plot Summary:
Ayane is the daughter of a karaage (fried food) store owner, but she never liked karaage. Eventually, she left home, only to return 5 years later. Her family lives in the city of Usa in Oita Prefecture, Japan. She brings with her a young girl named Shirley, who is her step-daughter from her ex-husband.
IMDB Rating:
IMDB Votes:
Genere: Comedy, Family
Country: Japan
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
Enoshima Prism (2013)
Plot Summary:
Shuta (Sota Fukushi), Saku (Shuhei Nomura) and Michiru (Tsubasa Honda) have been best friends since they were kids. Tragedy strikes the friends when during the winter of 2010, Saku dies from a heart attack. After Saku's death, Shuta and Michiru become more distant. On the third year anniversary of Saku's death, Shuta boards a train in the Enoshima subway. Somehow, Shuta travels back in time to 2010, before Saku died from a heart attack. Although Shuta is confused by the time change, he attempts to save Saku by changing the past.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 205
Genere: Comedy, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Not Quite Dead Yet (2020)
Plot Summary:
After Nanase's father drops death due to a drug that causes temporal death for 2 days. She is named the president of her dad's Pharmaceutical company. Nanase endeavors to prevent her father's enemies from prematurely cremating his body before the drug can wear off and allow him to revive.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 529
Genere: Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: crying
Similar in 79%
Do It for Uncle Manny (2002)
Plot Summary:
Struggling actor Danny and his pal Stuart are ready to rock the L.A. nightlife -- with help from a Rolls Royce and Rolex "borrowed" from Stuart's uncle Manny, a big-time producer. But plans go awry when the boys meet the too-good-to-be-true Jenny.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 181
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: surprise ending, independent film
Similar in 76%
Sing Salmon Sing (2008)
Plot Summary:
High school student Kasumi Ogino (Kaho) is a member of the school choir and after years of praise for her singing voice thinks she is the absolute bee’s knees. When the object of her desires, classmate and photographer Junichi Makimura (Hideo Ishiguro), asks Kasumi is he can photograph her singing she accepts, thinking this means she is beautiful as well. However the end result is a comical shot of Kasumi with her mouth wide open, which Makimura likes to a hungry salmon! Distraught by the ensuing humiliation, Kasumi quits the choir, until she is encouraged to return by an unlikely counsel - the brutish leader of thuggish rival all male choir, Hiroshi Gondo (Gori).
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 106
Genere: Comedy, Music
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Ramen Kuitee! (2018)
Plot Summary:
A suicidal high school student, a ramen shop owner closing shop after the passing of his wife, and a cuisine researcher stranded in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region get connected due to a bowl of ramen.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 18
Genere: Comedy, Family
Country: Japan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
Mustard Chocolate (2017)
Plot Summary:
Tsugumi Rinko can't wait to escape the tedium of high school for the challenges and rewards that accompany life at a fine arts college. She only has two problems: 1) She has few social skills and fewer friends. 2) With less than nine months remaining before her crucial admissions test, she has no practical art experience.
IMDB Rating:
IMDB Votes:
Genere: Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
Adrift in Tokyo (2007)
Plot Summary:
Leading a lazy life, Fumiya has been a university student for 8 years and owes money to loan sharks. One day, a man named Fukuhara comes to collect the loan, which Fumiya cannot pay. So Fukuhara makes a proposition: He will cancel the debt as long as Fumiya agrees to walk with him across Tokyo to the police station of Kasumigaseki, where he intends to turn himself in for a crime he deeply regrets. Not having much choice, Fumiya accepts the deal. Thus begins their journey which will lead them to various unusual encounters, most of all with themselves.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, captivating, psychological, light, relaxing, clever, touching, offbeat, talky
Similar in 88%
Cats Don't Come When You Call (2016)
Plot Summary:
Mitsuo is a boxer who prefers dogs but ends up looking after two cats that his brother rescues.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 256
Genere: Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Hen (1994)
Plot Summary:
Yoshida Chizuru is the sexiest co-ed in her class. Secretly, she's been appearing in TV commercials - despite the fact that students are forbidden from working. But one of her professors has uncovered her secret and hopes to use this information to his advantage. Yoshida's got plans of her own, and has no intention of giving up her acting career.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 12
Genere: Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: sexy, manga
Similar in 87%
A Banana? At This Time of Night? (2018)
Plot Summary:
Hisashi Tanaka is a medical student in Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. He does volunteer work and gets to know Yasuaki Kano at the hospital. Yasuaki Kano has suffered from muscular dystrophy since he was 12-years-old. Yasuaki Kano has his eccentric ways like running out of the hospital and saying that he wants to eat a banana late at night. Hisashi Tanaka thinks Yasuaki Kano is a lovely person. Yasuaki Kano develops a crush on rookie volunteer Misaki Ando. He asks Hisashi Tanaka to write a love letter for him, but Misaki Ando is Hisashi Tanaka’s girlfriend.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 307
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
Let's Go, Jets! (2017)
Plot Summary:
Female students, including Hikari Tomonaga, from a high school cheerdance club follow strict instructions from their teacher Kaoruko Saotome. They compete at the USA Cheerdance Championship.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 829
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Drugstore Girl (2003)
Plot Summary:
Pharmaceutical student, Keiko witnesses her boyfriend having an affair. Shocked and disappointed, she jumps on a train ("destination anywhere, east or west, she don't care") and ends up in a town named Masao in Tokyo's remote suburbs. There, she gets a part-time job at a newly opened drugstore. What do ya know.. The local shopping district's middle-aged men all fall for the young girl's charms, and they start practicing lacrosse once they have found out that that's her favourite sport.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 167
Genere: Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
My Life Changed When I Went to a Sex Parlor (2013)
Plot Summary:
Live action film adaptation of a romance that was turned into a book after making a splash on the Internet bulletin board “2 Channel.” Humorously depicts a 29-year-old virgin who meets a prostitute, and struggles with love. Directed by Iizuka Ken of Arakawa Under the Bridge.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 321
Genere: Comedy, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: funny, light, sincere, romantic, touching, feel good, humorous, captivating, entertaining, sex comedy
Similar in 86%
Oppai Volleyball (2009)
Plot Summary:
Mikako is a young junior high school teacher who has just transferred to a new school. Excited to be starting a new job, she volunteers for a coach for a boys volleyball club. But, she finds out that there is almost no activity in the club… There are only 5 members, and they are all losers who haven’t even touched a volleyball and only think about girls… To give them an incentive to try hard, she promises them that she will show them her boobs if they win a game! Since then, the boys start practicing extremely hard. Feeling uneasy but happy at the same time to see their attitude changing, Mikako starts to like and trust them. She also learns from them and gets back her confidence which once she lost. Right before the day of the first game, ‘the promise’ is discovered by the school side, and it becomes a big problem….
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 718
Genere: Comedy, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: funny, light, feel good, humorous, captivating, entertaining
Similar in 90%
Raw Summer (2005)
Plot Summary:
A middle-aged businessman has become unhealthily obsessed with a schoolgirl with whom he shares his daily commute. When he tries to make a direct connection with her, it creates dire complications.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 141
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 57 min
Plot tags: naughty, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 88%
Bento Harassment (2019)
Plot Summary:
Kaori (Ryoko Shinohara) is a single mother and she raises her high-school age daughter Futaba (Kyoko Yoshine). Her daughter is in a rebellious phase and ignores her mother. Kaori decides to take measures to communicate with her daughter and also get some revenge. Kaori creates messages in her daughter's bento meals.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 426
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: Japan
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sentimental, light, feel good, humorous, sincere, touching, entertaining
Similar in 81%
Tokyo University Story (2006)
Plot Summary:
Murakami Naoki is the most intelligent student at his high school, but he can't stop obsessing over a girl named Mizuno Haruka. He finally asks her out, and to his surprise, she accepts. After several months of a loving yet obviously doomed romance, it comes time for them to take the entrance exams for Tokyo University. What will happen to their relationship if only one of them is accepted?.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 35
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: manga
Similar in 78%
Drops in Your Hand (2014)
Plot Summary:
Hajime asks his friend Yoshi to set him up with his classmate Ann. Yoshi tries to do this for Hajime, but this just upsets Ann. Yoshi's relationship with Ann is now awkward. Yoshi doesn't know exactly why, but Ann becomes absent from school frequently. One day, during their summer vacation, Yoshi hears that Ann has dropped out of school.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 42
Genere: Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
Ibitsu (2013)
Plot Summary:
High school girl Madoka may look pretty and cute, but there is another side to her. She can exact revenge, land a good punch or a kick and not care about limits. She opts to inflict pain, coerce and blackmail a virgin when she is sensually touched on the train. She begins making his life hell.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 52
Genere: Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: manga
Similar in 79%
Yarukkya Knight (2015)
Plot Summary:
Makoto Gousuke has just transferred to a new high school with the intention of being the toughest kid there. Little does he know that there‘s an entire group of toughs who already rule the school, and they‘re all girls! After being humiliated by their leader, the pretty Misaki Shizuka, he vows revenge and starts a lengthy battle between the sexes at the school.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 48
Genere: Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: ecchi, humorous, light, sexy, feel good, unusual plot structure, entertaining, manga
Similar in 79%
Kamikaze Girls (2004)
Plot Summary:
Momoko is an ordinary girl, living an ordinary life. Ordinary, that is, if you define ordinary as wearing elaborate lolita dresses from the Rococo period in 18th Century France. However, when punk girl and self-styled 'Yanki' Ichiko comes calling, her days as 'ordinary' are most certainly numbered.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: surreal, humorous, sweet, light, melancholic, talky, stylized, feel good, semi serious, cult classic
Similar in 81%
Red Post on Escher Street (2020)
Plot Summary:
A genius film director, Tadashi Kobayashi holds an audition for his new film project. Several actors and actresses answer the open call, but most will only be cast as extras. Can the film come to a completion without accident?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 928
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 148 min
Plot tags: captivating, disturbing, semi serious
Similar in 83%
Tamako in Moratorium (2013)
Plot Summary:
Tamako (Atsuko Maeda) graduated from a university in Tokyo, but she now lives with her father back in Kofu. Tamako doesn't help her father or tries to get a job. She spends her time just eating and sleeping throughout the four seasons of the year.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 789
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
A Boy and His Samurai (2010)
Plot Summary:
A samurai from the Edo Period time travels to present day Japan where he meets a divorcee and her son. Soon, he discovers a passion for making pastries.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 677
Genere: Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sincere, feel good, captivating, light, humorous, sweet, sexy, crying
Similar in 85%
Love Strikes! (2011)
Plot Summary:
Set one year after the drama series "Moteki." 31-year-old Yukiyo Fujimoto (Mirai Moriyama) doesn't have money, dreams or a girlfriend. He has left his job at a staffing firm and is attempting to start a new life by working as a writer for a news site. Suddenly, Yukiyo experiences "moteki" - a period when a man becomes suddenly popular with woman. Cute magazine editor Miyuki (Masami Nagasawa), pure and naive office worker Rumiko (Kumiko Aso), beautiful shop assistant Ai (Riisa Naka) and beautiful, but tough co-worker named Motoko (Yoko Maki) all become interested in Yukiyo. He tries to calm down, but is shaken by the interests of these women.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: humorous, psychological, light, sincere, feel good, manga, seinen
Similar in 76%
Haruko Azumi Is Missing (2016)
Plot Summary:
Haruko Azumi is a 28-years-old woman. She is a single and works at an office. One day, she suddenly disappears on a typical street with retail stores lined up. After her disappearance, her missing person poster is spread across the city.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 327
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: light, humorous, captivating, entertaining
Similar in 81%
Linda Linda Linda (2005)
Plot Summary:
A group of four high school girls decide to put together a band for their school cultural festival. Three days before they are to play the festival, the guitarist and singer quit the band. The remaining members must figure out what to do or risk canceling. They need to find a new member to be the singer, so they ask the first girl who walks by. Unfortunately, she doesn't speak Japanese very well. Only three days before their high school festival, guitarist Kei (Yu Kashii), drummer Kyoko (Aki Maeda), and bassist Nozumi (Shiori Sekine) are forced to recruit a new lead vocalist for their band. They choose Korean exchange student Son (Bae Doo-Na), though her comprehension of Japanese is a bit rough! It’s a race against time as the group struggles to learn three tunes for the festival’s rock concert—including a classic '80s punk-pop song by the Japanese group The Blue Hearts called “Linda Linda”.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: Japan
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, feel good, humorous, semi serious, uplifting, educational, realistic, weird
Similar in 89%
Teachers of Sexual Play: Modelling Vessels with the Female Body (2000)
Plot Summary:
People make urns and have sex with each other.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 133
Genere: Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 59 min
Plot tags: erotic, feel good, humorous, captivating, entertaining, satirical, sex comedy, semi serious, pink cinema, sexploitation film