Best movies like The Sea Is Watching
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies like The Sea Is Watching? Leverage your insights to lead others toward movies and tv series you've watched previously that may also preoccupy them. Support increasing the cohort of people bringing up videos among each other. We appreciate your contribution!
Plot Summary:
Based on Akira Kurosawa's final unproduced script, this Edo-period drama takes place almost entirely inside an ocean-village brothel. O-Shin is a young brothel worker who one night helps a young samurai escape from his pursuers. Against the warnings of her fellow workers, particularly Kikuno and the brothel's owner, O-Shin falls in love with the samurai.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Romance, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, realistic, touching, captivating, contemplative, gloomy, jidai geki
Best tv shows and movies like The Sea Is Watching (2002):
Similar in 75%
The Dive from Clausen's Pier (2005)
Plot Summary:
Good boy Mike Mayer is looking at a fine future and enjoys life with Wisconsin small town friends and steady girlfriend Carrie Beal. Then a stupid accident, diving from the local pier when the water is too low, leaves him quadriplegic. As if that weren't bad enough, Carrie does what none of the gang could imagine: she dumps him, as soon as best friend Rooster realizes she wasn't even honest. Carrie leaves for New York to pursue an undefined 'ambition', moving in with Simon Rhodes she vaguely knows. She starts a love affair with Paul Elliot 'Kilroy' Fraser. However he has his own nagging tragic secret, and her past needs dealing with.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 775
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 82%
Strangers (2007)
Plot Summary:
Six days in the lives of an Israeli living in a kibbutz and a Palestinian living in Paris, which starts with an accidental meeting in the Berlin Subway during the World cup finals, will change them completely.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 516
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Israel, France
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 89%
Crying Out Love in the Center of the World (2004)
Plot Summary:
While searching for his fiancee Ritsuko, Sakutarou rediscovers through flashbacks the void deep within him caused by the events from his high school days.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, serious, realistic, sincere, romantic, sad, crying
Similar in 87%
The Eel (1997)
Plot Summary:
White-collar worker Yamashita finds out that his wife has a lover visiting her when he's away, suddenly returns home and kills her. After eight years in prison, he returns to live in a small village, opens a barber shop (he was trained as a barber in prison) and talks almost to no-one except for the eel he "befriended" in prison. One day he finds the unconscious body of Keiko, who attempted suicide and reminds him of his wife. She starts to work at his shop, but he doesn't let her become close to him.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: enigmatic, captivating, psychological, touching, independent film, atmospheric, offbeat, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 79%
Together (2013)
Plot Summary:
Comprised by two love stories: The first story features Donnie Yen as a traffic cop, “Mr. Cool” who never smiles due to a rare disease. He meets and falls in love with Michelle Chen, a patient with amnesia, and spends most of her time looking for her missing fiancé. The second story features Zhendong Ke as a Criminal Intelligence Bureau cop who falls in love with Angela Baby after a 7-day "game of romantic" with her. But when his bureau starts monitoring her, he begins to have doubt on her. Is she a criminal?.
IMDB Rating: 4.0
IMDB Votes: 264
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, touching, realistic, captivating, serious
Similar in 76%
Tangled 8 (2015)
Plot Summary:
People from diverse social backgrounds, races and ages manage grief through its different phases.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 15
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, contemplative, talky, experimental, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 79%
The Hidden Blade (2004)
Plot Summary:
Set in 19th Century Japan a young samurai who finds himself in love with a farm girl leaves his home to begin a new life. He has to take stock of his new life when he is put to the test and ordered to kill a traitor who just happens to be his dearest friend.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, stylized, romantic, epic, jidai geki, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 86%
Love Street (2002)
Plot Summary:
A handyman in a 1940s Paris brothel tries to help the prostitute he loves with her singing career and romantic life.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 799
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Germany
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sentimental, melancholic, light, feel good, captivating, sexual, erotic
Similar in 75%
The Twilight Samurai (2002)
Plot Summary:
Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: tense, emotional, sincere, atmospheric, realistic, touching, talky, lyrical, sentimental, jidai geki
Similar in 84%
The Waiting City (2009)
Plot Summary:
An outwardly happy Australian couple journey to Calcutta to collect their adopted baby, but on arrival find that the arrangements have yet to be finalized. Soon, the intoxicating mystic power of the Indian city pulls them in separate and unexpected directions, and the vulnerability of their marriage begins to reveal itself.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 947
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, captivating, realistic, tense, serious, gloomy, spiritual
Similar in 88%
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac (2010)
Plot Summary:
Diving to save a camera from a fall down a flight of stairs, high school junior Naomi Sukuse wakes with no memory of the last four years. Naomi must remember who she was and figure out who she wants to be in this story of love and second chances.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 674
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, contemplative, captivating, sincere, psychological, romantic, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 80%
Dirty Filthy Love (2004)
Plot Summary:
A man's life falls apart as a result of his affliction with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Tourette's Syndrome in this touching and funny tale.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sentimental, psychological, touching, realistic, offbeat, humorous, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 82%
Narratage (2017)
Plot Summary:
During spring, 2nd year university student Izumi Kudo (Kasumi Arimura) receives a phone call from Takashi Hayama (Jun Matsumoto). Takashi Hayama was her adviser/teacher at her high school drama club. He asks her on the phone to take part in a graduation performance. Back in high school, Takashi Hayama helped her cope with her difficulties school life. She also held feelings for Takeshi, but tried to forget about him. Now, for the first time in a year they will meet again. Izumi still has feelings for him and Takashi also has mixed feelings for Izumi.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 319
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: sentimental, romantic, uplifting, touching, sweet, captivating
Similar in 89%
No Looking Back (1998)
Plot Summary:
Charlie returns to his old town where he meets his ex-girlfriend again and tries to get her back.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: emotional, disturbing, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy, scary, light
Similar in 88%
Dancing at the Harvest Moon (2002)
Plot Summary:
A betrayed wife, whose husband leaves her after 25 years, returns to the lake where she first fell in love and begins an affair with the son of her first love.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 401
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 79%
One Night (2007)
Plot Summary:
Fifteen New Yorkers go into a Friday night unaware of the fact that their lives are about to change.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 158
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sentimental, atmospheric, touching, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 75%
Love (2012)
Plot Summary:
Eight people try to end their loneliness by searching for that one person to love, who can make their life complete.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Taiwan, China
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, emotional, captivating, romantic, romantic comedy, sentimental, serious
Similar in 83%
A Courtesan with Flowered Skin (2014)
Plot Summary:
Japan around 1860: popular courtesan Asagiri will be freed soon from her service, yet she cannot imagine any other existence. Until one day at a local festival, Asagiri meets the young artisan Hanjiro by chance – an encounter that changes her destiny. With a strong performance by leading actress Yumi ADACHI and exquisite camerawork and production design, A COURTESAN WITH FLOWERED SKIN succeeds in recalling the golden age of Japanese erotic film.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 173
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, romantic, captivating, erotic, intense
Similar in 90%
Partition (2007)
Plot Summary:
Determined to leave the ravages of war behind, 38 year old Gian Singh resigns from the British Indian Army to a quiet life. His world is soon thrown in turmoil, when he suddenly finds himself responsible for the life of a 17 year old girl, traumatized by the events that separated her from her family.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, UK, Canada, South Africa, India, Pakistan
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, inspirational, political, informative, atmospheric, epic
Similar in 75%
The Japanese Wife (2010)
Plot Summary:
Snehmoy (Rahul Bose) and Miyage (Chigusa Takaku) are pen friends who exchange wedding vows through letters. Fifteen years pass but they never meet. Yet the bond of marriage is strong between them. This unusual relationship comes under a cloud when a young widow, Sandhya (Raima Sen), comes to stay with Snehmoy along with her eight-year-old son Poltu. Snehmoy and the little boy bond and the arithmetic teacher discovers the joy of palpable bonds and fatherhood. There develops an inexplicable thread of understanding with Sandhya too. But Snehmoy remained loyal to his unseen Japanese wife. When Miyage was ill from cancer, he took a long leave from his school and tried his best to find a cure for the illness. Meanwhile, malaria took a toll on him and he died. Coming of Miyage in a white sari to Sunderbans after his departure was really touching.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: India
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, sentimental, captivating, philosophical, offbeat, touching, serious
Similar in 88%
Cuckoo (2014)
Plot Summary:
Visually-challenged Tamizh and Suthanthirakodi fall in love with each other, but her self-centred brother wants to marry her off to his friend, which leads to the lovers' separation. Can their love help them find each other?.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 771
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: India
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, captivating, psychological, sentimental, touching
Similar in 79%
Oh, My Love (2007)
Plot Summary:
Orphaned and homeless Ranbir Raj re-locates to a small town and orders a glass of milk in the RK Bar. He befriends a prostitute by the name of Gulabji, who invites him to spend the night with her, and when he refuses, she re-directs him to Lillian who rents out rooms. Ranbir meets with Lillian, who has been living alone for 37 years after her son, Vincent, left to join the army and did not return.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Musical, Romance
Country: India, USA
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, stylized, visual, visually stunning, modern day adaptation
Similar in 83%
Swann (1996)
Plot Summary:
Rose Hindmarsh finds herself at the centre of a controversy when she meets author Sarah Maloney as she investigates the life of Mary Swann, an obscure poet who was brutally murdered in a small town in rural Ontario.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 162
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Canada, UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: independent film, sentimental, atmospheric, touching, offbeat, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Cafe Setareh (2006)
Plot Summary:
Filmmaker Saman Moghadam details the struggles of three women living in an antiquated district of Tehran in this emotionally resonant drama. Fabria's husband has been morally corrupted, and now it's up to her to take charge of the small café that proves the only source of income to the couple. Saloomeh is a beautiful young woman who dreams of marrying Ebi, but how will the couple survive on the salary of a simple mechanic? Lastly, middle aged Moluk has fallen for a much younger man, and her heart breaks when she discovers that her love is unrequited.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 899
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Iran
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Lost in Time (2003)
Plot Summary:
Sui Wai lost her fiance Ah Man in a car accident. With the obligations of life sitting heavy on her shoulders, she lives on only to find herself confiding in her beloved through a phone call. Dai Fai. a mini-bus driver who witnessed Ah Man's death, is always there offering her attentive encouragement and support, yet he himself also lives in the shadow of his last relationship. When Siu Wai strives to face the future without the man she loves, Dai Fai finds himself steadily falling in love with her.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Lover's Concerto (2002)
Plot Summary:
Lee Ji-hwan receives photographs in the mail that reminds him of how he met two girls, Shim Su-in and Kim Gyeong-heui, one summer five years ago. He shares his memories with his friend Cheol-hyeon. He recalls initially being in love with Su-in, but she rejects him. Throughout the summer, the three remain friends. Ji-hwan and Gyeong-heui develop feelings for each other but are reluctant to admit it. Ji-hwan recalls the complex relationship between the three to Cheol-hyeon.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, romantic, captivating, romantic comedy, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 89%
Silk (2007)
Plot Summary:
Based on the best-selling novel by Alessandro Baricco, this visually stunning film tells the story of a French trader who finds unexpected love far away from home.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Canada, France, Italy, UK, Japan, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: romantic, stylized, sentimental, realistic, sensual, touching, serious, period piece, visually stunning, erotic
Similar in 78%
Guilty Hearts (2006)
Plot Summary:
Over the course of this drama's six separate stories, a variety of couples struggle with the infidelity, dishonesty and heartbreak that plagues their varied pasts. In overcoming their challenges, these diverse individuals embrace a brighter future.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 818
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 90%
Kakera: A Piece of Our Life (2009)
Plot Summary:
The story of the relationship between a college student whose relationship with her boyfriend is going nowhere and a bisexual medical artist who makes prosthetic body parts. Haru is a college student ignored by her boyfriend yet believes she is still in love with him. One day at a café, Haru meets Riko, a medical artist (prosthetist) who creates body parts in order to disguise clients’ missing pieces, lost due to accident or disease. Both were alone, but struck up an immediate friendship and closeness. Riko doesn't care about gender when it comes to relationships, and believes that love itself is the most important thing a human can achieve. Haru struggles in her life between friendship and a deeper relationship with Riko.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 381
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, semi serious, captivating, manga, clever
Similar in 83%
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
Plot Summary:
A sweeping romantic epic set in Japan in the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 158000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Japan, France
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: romantic, sentimental, captivating, dramatic, stylized, serious, touching, emotional, atmospheric, costume drama