Best movies like The Night I Swam
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Snow covered mountains in Japan. Every night, a fisherman makes his way to the market in town. His 6 year old son is awoken by his departure and finds it impossible to fall back to sleep. In the sleeping household, the young boy draws a picture he then slips into his satchel. On his way to school, still drowsy, he strays off the path and wanders into the snow.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 554
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, France
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like The Night I Swam (2017):
Similar in 88%
Werewolf (2016)
Plot Summary:
Blaise and Nessa are outcast methadone users in a small town that doesn’t offer an easy way out. Each day starts in a long lineup at the tiny pharmacy, then it’s door-to- door begging to cut grass for people who just want them to not exist. At dusk they push their rusty lawnmower up a steep hill and crash in a filthy camper at the edge of town. In this bleakness, Nessa plots an escape, while Blaise lingers closer to relapse, arrest, hospitalization, or worse. Tethered to one another, their getaway dreams are kept on a suffocatingly short leash.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 604
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
A Midsummer's Fantasia (2014)
Plot Summary:
A Korean Film director, Kim Taehoon plans to shoot his new film in a small local city called Gojo, Japan. He travels with his assistant director, Park Mijeong to do research prior to scriptwriting. They travel through several villages that are declining, and interview some local residents there. Most people say there is nothing special about Gojo. Along the way, Kim and Park meet a municipal official, Yusuke and a middle-aged man, Kenji, and are deeply impressed by their stories. The night before director Kim is to leave Japan, having a strange dream, he wakes up in the middle of night, and looks up at the night sky in Gojo.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 184
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea, Japan
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Midnight Swan (2020)
Plot Summary:
Nagisa is transgender. She grew up in Hiroshima as a man, but now lives in Shinjuku, Tokyo as a woman. Due to an incident, she begins to live with middle school student Ichika, who is a distant relative. Ichika has been neglected by her mother Saori. From living in solitude by herself, to now living with Ichika, Nagisa develops maternal instincts for the first time.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 648
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
The Egoists (2011)
Plot Summary:
Kazu attacks a bar in Kabukicho, a Tokyo red-light district, and flees to his hometown with abducts Machiko, a pole dancer he's been stuck on. They begin living together, but their happiness is short lived as their pasts torment them both.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 96
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Two Birds, One Stone (2016)
Plot Summary:
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IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 83
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
All That You Possess (2012)
Plot Summary:
An obsessed scholar attempts to withdraw from the world but finds personal ties drawing him back into the family he had left behind, in this novelistic, beautifully modulated drama from acclaimed Québécois filmmaker Bernard Émond.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 167
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
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%
Yumechiyo's Diary (1985)
Plot Summary:
Yumechiyo, a geisha house madam recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, yearns to do something constructive with the little time she has left. Through her responsibility lies in taking care of her girls, she finds purpose in providing a man innocent of a false murder charge and in the process discovers love for the first time in his arms.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 29
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
The Tale of Iya (2013)
Plot Summary:
It was summer when a stranger from Tokyo arrived at “Iya”, where the riches of nature still abound. This young man, named Kudo, was willing to live his new, self-sufficient life. He was exhausted by city life, and believed this beautiful land would give him some rest. On the contrary, the reality was not as easy as he thought. There was a confliction between a local construction company and a group of nature conservationists. Farmers are trying to save their harvests from harmful animals such as deer and monkeys. People are fighting for their own purposes: to get their job, to save the environment, or to survive.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 363
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 169 min
Plot tags: silent, exciting, touching, captivating, contemplative, silent film
Similar in 81%
A Tale of Mari and Three Puppies (2007)
Plot Summary:
The touching and dramatic tale of the relationship between a Japanese family, their dog and her three puppies, set against the backdrop of a devastating earthquake and the ensuing chaos, rescues and heroism.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 318
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, realistic, disturbing, sad
Similar in 84%
Starting Over (2014)
Plot Summary:
Nana is 19 and lives in a corner of Tokyo. Her birth mother and Marin, a girl the same age who she loves, were the only people she could trust. Nana confronts them in her yearning for love, but the world does not give it to her. With her whole life ahead of her, Nana struggles, suffers, and begins a search for the true meaning of love.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 42
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, independent film, minimal cast
Similar in 85%
Little Darling (2000)
Plot Summary:
Thirty year old virgin Sybille meets the man of her dreams. Or is he?.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 153
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
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 88%
Vision (2018)
Plot Summary:
Centres on Jeanne, a journalist tracking a mysterious rare herb that appears only once every 997 years.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 843
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, France
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: inspirational
Similar in 86%
Fire Festival (1985)
Plot Summary:
Tatsuo, a reverent lumberjack, seeks to disrupt plans to build a marine park on his family land, instead promoting his traditions in reactionary ways.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 308
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Striker's Mountain (1985)
Plot Summary:
A construction conglomerate, headed by a ruthless millionaire, wants to buy a ski resort that has been a family business for years, but the family does not want to sell. The businessman resolves to get the property, whether they want to sell it or not.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 95
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, UK, West Germany
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
A Story of Yonosuke (2012)
Plot Summary:
The year is 1987 and Japan is just reaching the peak of its economic success. Eighteen-year old Yonosuke Yokomichi arrives in Tokyo from Nagasaki. Ordinary in every way possible, he lives in a suburb far from the excitement of the big city and commutes to a university in the center of Tokyo.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 160 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, tense, captivating, independent film, crying
Similar in 78%
Ninja 4: Siege (1964)
Plot Summary:
[Period covered: 1614-1615] 4th film in the shinobi no mono series Tokugawa Ieyasu is now the ruler of all Japan. But one last loose thread must be tied up before his domination is complete -- the destruction of the Toyotomi clan, now beseiged in Osaka castle. Ieyasu's ninja are the only ones who can penetrate the fortress, but unfortunately for Ieyasu, Kirigakure Saizo (Ichikawa) and the other Toyotomi ninja can just as easily get out. As armies of samurai maneuver for battle, the fate of the nation will be decided by a desperate struggle in the dark!.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 230
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 81%
The Optimists of Nine Elms (1973)
Plot Summary:
A retired entertainer makes his living as a street musician on the streets of London. Two young children befriend the old musician, brightening his otherwise colorless life.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 552
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: independent film, touching, offbeat, humorous, realistic, semi serious, entertaining, freeze frame
Similar in 76%
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 87%
Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog (2004)
Plot Summary:
As a Labrador puppy, Quill is sent to live with a couple, Isamu and Mitsuko Nii, who work as volunteers, training guide dogs (seeing eye dogs). When he grows to an adult dog, he is taken to a guide dog school, by a friendly, yet firm trainer Satoru Tawada. Although Quill is a little slower than the other dogs at the school, he seems to have an unusual 'empathy' and remarkable patience with his trainers. Tawada decides that Quill would be the ideal guide dog for Mitsuru Watanabe, but Wanatabe, a lonely and ill-tempered middle aged man, isn't as enthusiastic - he would "would rather sleep than be dragged around by a dog.". From here, the story is narrated by Wanatabe's daughter, Mitsuko, and slowly, Wantanbe is rehabilitated, venturing into the outside world, and learning, not only to trust other humans, but the animal at his side who guides him.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, uplifting, sentimental, emotional, sincere, captivating, tear jerker, serious, realistic, tearjerker
Similar in 83%
Star Watching Dog (2011)
Plot Summary:
An abandoned car is discovered near a camping ground and inside it is the body of an identified middle-aged man and a dog who seems to have died months later. This is the story of the life of the loving and faithful dog and his owner told from the dog's point of view. City hall employee Kyousuke Okutsu is assigned to uncover the man's identity for a proper funeral. As he investigates the situation, he remembers his late family and his own dog's unfailing loyalty.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 247
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: depressing, sad, tear jerker, tearjerker
Similar in 75%
Dog × Police: The K-9 Force (2011)
Plot Summary:
Yusaku Hayakawa dreams of becoming a detective, but works as a trainer for police dogs. When Yusaku gets an albino shepherd named Shiro, he forms a special bond with him. Everyone says that Shiro does not have the abilities to become a police dog, but Yusaku believes in him and trains him. When a terrorist act occurs, Shiro gets the chance to show what he has learned.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 130
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 88%
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 82%
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 81%
Boy (1969)
Plot Summary:
A family of four lives off of scams in which they pretend to be injured by automobiles. After suffering an injury during the war, the father believes he is an invalid. He and his wife have a 10-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl. The adults pretend to be injured by autos in crowded traffic, blackmailing the fearful motorists with threats to call in the police.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: experimental, atmospheric, thought provoking, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy, cult film
Similar in 80%
Slalom (2020)
Plot Summary:
15 year-old Lyz, a high school student in the French Alps, has been accepted to a highly selective ski club whose aim is to train future professional athletes. Taking a chance on his new recruit, Fred, ex-champion turned coach, decides to make Lyz his shining star regardless of her lack of experience. Under his influence, Lyz will have to endure more than the physical and emotional pressure of the training. Will Lyz’s determination help her escape his grip?.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, semi autobiographical
Similar in 78%
Paradise Kiss (2011)
Plot Summary:
Hyasaka Yukari only wants one thing: to enter the college that her mom wants. One day, she meets an extravagant group that loves fashion. They were searching for a model and Yukari fits their ideal model. From now Yukari will know the world of fashion and modeling, and what she really wants.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sentimental, romantic, shoujo, captivating, anime, realistic, crying, hot
Similar in 89%
I Wish (2011)
Plot Summary:
Two young brothers at opposite ends of Kyushu devise a magical plan to reunite their separated parents in Hirokazu Koreeda's benign and superbly acted picture of family life.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, stylized, realistic, poignant, art film, teen, moody, beautiful
Similar in 90%
Like Father, Like Son (2013)
Plot Summary:
Ryota Nonomiya is a successful businessman driven by money. He learns that his biological son was switched with another child after birth. He must make a life-changing decision and choose his true son or the boy he raised as his own.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, disturbing, psychological, sincere, intense, poignant, realistic, sad, slow cinema