Best movies like The Tale of Iya
Last updated March 2024
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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
Best tv shows and movies like The Tale of Iya (2013):
Similar in 82%
Pieta in the Toilet (2015)
Plot Summary:
Hiroshi (Yojiro Noda) has given up on his dreams of becoming a painter and works part-time cleaning office windows. He learns that he has only 3 months left to live. During his last summer, high school student Mai (Hana Sugisaki) appears. Hiroshi becomes attracted to her.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 294
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, captivating, disturbing, atmospheric
Similar in 76%
The Dark Maidens (2017)
Plot Summary:
One day, Itsumi Shiraishi dies at Seibo Maria Girls High School. She falls off from the rooftop of a school building. Itsumi is the daughter of the administrator at the school and she was envied by all the other students there. Did Itsumi kill herself or was she killed accidentally or intentionally? At the time of her death, she held a lily of the valley flower in her hand. A rumor spreads that somebody in the literature club killed Itsumi. Itsumi was the president of the literature club. A friend of Itsumi, Sayuri, is now the president and she holds a regular club meeting, reading stories written by members.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 258
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, disturbing, stylized
Similar in 88%
Life Back Then (2011)
Plot Summary:
Kyohei Nagashima (Masaki Okada) has shut away the world. During his high school days he was the target of bullying and experienced horrifying moments. Now as a young adult Kyohei takes a new job. He works for a company that specializes in cleaning out the homes of recently deceased individuals. With his new job Kyohei meets co-worker Yuki (Nana Eikura). Yuki has also experienced a traumatizing event as a teen and has also shut herself away from the world. These two young people form a bond as they go through the homes of the recently departed people. They gradually open up to each other and in the process to the world. Yet, their fragile psyches may or may not be ready for such changes.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 142
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, road movie, crying, learning
Similar in 85%
Kanazawa Shutter Girl (2018)
Plot Summary:
The girls are good friends at junior high school. Three of them seem to adjust and move forward upon entering high school, but the fourth of them is not having a seamless time of it. High school is not comfortable and the transition is full of memories, nostalgia and yearning. This is the story of a sixteen-year-old girl and also a camera. Kanazawa Shutter Girl picks up inspiration from the manga, and the subsequent movie, called Tokyo Shutter Girl and is helmed by one of its predecessor's's directors.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes:
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Japan
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 88%
I Just Didn't Do It (2006)
Plot Summary:
A young man fights for his freedom after he is accused of groping a girl on train.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
The Ravine of Goodbye (2013)
Plot Summary:
In a valley, with a dense growth of trees, a baby is killed. The baby's mother Satomi is arrested as the prime suspect. The police also learn that Satomi is involved in a romantic relationship with her next door neighbor Ozaki. The information was provided by the neighbor's lover Kanako. Meanwhile, magazine reporter Watanabe, who is covering the story, discovers the shocking fact that Ozaki was involved in a rape case 15 years ago. Even more shocking, the victim in the rape case is Kanako.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 496
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, realistic, romantic, sexy, crying, detective, juvenile
Similar in 82%
Chronicle of My Mother (2011)
Plot Summary:
Best-selling novelist Kosaku Igami has made a career out of using his family as fodder for his novels, much to their dismay. When his mother, the spirited family matriarch, is diagnosed with dementia, Igami must come to terms with the toll his own behavior has taken on his increasingly distant family and resolve his own long-simmering resentments. Evocative of classic Ozu, this gorgeously wrought epic family portrait explores the tenderness and trappings of familial bonds. (Chicago International Film Festival).
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 482
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, semi autobiographical, crying, entertaining
Similar in 86%
Dream of Illumination (2017)
Plot Summary:
Noboru (Yuya Takagawa) runs a real estate agency in a provincial city. He is cold-blooded when it comes to make a sale. His daughter is high school senior Nana (Sara Shida). Nana has continuously changed schools due to her father's work. She has lived in the same city for the past 4 years, which has been the longest span for her. Nano hopes to stay there, but her father wants her to go to Tokyo. -AsianWiki.
IMDB Rating: 1.1
IMDB Votes:
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
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 83%
Hibiki (2018)
Plot Summary:
One day, literature magazine “Mokuren” receives a manuscript script for novel “Otogi no Niwa” by Hibiki Aku, a sensitive 15-year-old girl with a talent for writing.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 488
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: psychological, unusual plot structure, melancholic, semi serious, whimsical, weird
Similar in 77%
Flying Colors (2015)
Plot Summary:
A high school girl, Sayaka Kudō was the bottom of the class. After a year, she improved her deviation value from 30 to 70, then passed Keio University that is considered one of the most difficult to enter in Japan.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: captivating, romantic, manga, crying, sexy, psychological, suspense, surprise ending
Similar in 77%
Make a Bow and Kiss (2017)
Plot Summary:
Based on the comic book by Yakko Kaga.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 175
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: light, romantic, sweet, captivating, crying, whimsical
Similar in 89%
Neighboring Sakuko (2013)
Plot Summary:
3 years on from hospitalité, Kiki Sugino and Koji Fukada are back again with this socially-conscious film about a 18-year-old girl in-between adolescence and adulthood who spends a summer in a valley and enjoys romance. Sakuko, a 18-year-old girl studying for her university entrance exams, decides to accompany her aunt Mikie on a trip to a seaside town. There she befriends Takashi, a refugee from Fukushima who has dropped out of high school and works at a motel run by Ukichi, a friend of Mikie. In-between childhood and adulthood, Sakuko starts to understand the difficulties of becoming an adult.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 449
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, realistic, captivating, sincere, sentimental, feel good, serious
Similar in 87%
Her Love Boils Bathwater (2016)
Plot Summary:
A terminally ill single mother is determined to reconcile her splintered family.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, sincere, captivating, melancholic, disturbing, inspirational, comedy drama, crying, detective
Similar in 89%
L.DK (2014)
Plot Summary:
Aoi Nishimori's parents moved to another city for work, but Aoi didn't want to transfer to a new high school. She stays behind and lives in an apartment by herself. Shusei Kugayama moves in next to Aoi's apartment. Shusei is a very popular student at their high school. Due to a mistake, Aoi makes the sprinkler go off in his room. Until Shusei's room is fixed, he stays with Aoi.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: romantic, shoujo, exciting, sentimental, light, sincere, feel good, humorous, captivating, crying
Similar in 80%
Drowning Love (2016)
Plot Summary:
Natsume Mochizuki works as a teen model in Tokyo, but she learns that she has to move to her father's hometown of Ukigumo. She is in a desperate situation because she can't do the things she wants to do in Ukigumo. One day, she meets Koichiro Hasegawa. He is the successor of the Hasegawa family. His family is wealthy and is respected in the area. Natsume Mochizuki and Koichiro Hasegawa become attracted to each other, but something changes their fate.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, psychological, uplifting, disturbing, sweet, shoujo, romantic drama, sexy
Similar in 80%
From Me To You (2010)
Plot Summary:
Sawako Kuronuma, called Sadako by her classmates for her resemblance to the character from Ring, has always been feared and misunderstood because of her appearance. There are rumors that Sawako can see ghosts and curse people. However, despite her appearances, she is a sweet and timid girl who longs to be able to make friends with everyone and be liked by everyone else. When her idol, popular boy Kazehaya, begins talking with her, everything changes. She finds herself in a new world, trying to make friends and talking to different people and she can't thank Kazehaya enough for giving her these opportunities. Slowly, but surely, a sweet love is blossoming between the two as they will overtake any circumstance or clear obstacles in their way.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: shoujo, sentimental, psychological, sweet, captivating, romantic, dorama, manga, anime, romantic drama
Similar in 87%
Until the Break of Dawn (2012)
Plot Summary:
High school student Ayumi is trained by his grandmother to act as a "tsunagu," an intermediary for people who want to reach the dead.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 266
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Love & Pop (1998)
Plot Summary:
Pretty Tokyo teen Hiromi Yoshii (Asumi Miwa) and her girlfriends struggle with rivalries, clothes and boyfriends, just like any other high school clique. But out for kicks and blind to the consequences, the girls of Love & Pop hide a dirty little secret. From phone booths and street corners, in department stores and restaurants, the girls practice enjo-kosai or "compensated dating" -- arranging liaisons with older men drawn to their evident nubile charms and schoolgirl uniform innocence.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: disturbing, offbeat, serious, realistic, witty, sexual, sexy
Similar in 85%
About the Pink Sky (2011)
Plot Summary:
High school student Izumi Kawashima, whose daily routine is rating newspaper articles, finds a wallet containing a large sum of cash. Instead of returning the wallet to its owner, Izumi decides to lend a substantial portion of the money to a middle-aged male acquaintance. She eventually returns the wallet to its owner, a wealthy high-school boy named Koki, who notices the missing money, and as compensation, asks Izumi to do something for his friend - to create a newspaper that brings happiness to its reader.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 198
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, offbeat, sexy, hot
Similar in 80%
March Comes in Like a Lion 2 (2017)
Plot Summary:
The time spent between professional Shogi player Kiriyama and his three stories helps to heal his wounds. As he prepares to secure another win in an upcoming tournament, the father who left the three sisters appears and disturbs the peace.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 261
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: captivating, crying, weeping, entertaining
Similar in 78%
Say 'I Love You' (2014)
Plot Summary:
Mei Tachibana is a high school student. Due to a traumatic incident when she was a kid, Mei has been unable to make friends or have boyfriends. By mistake, Mei then injures the most popular male student named Yamato Kurosawa. Somehow, Yamato Kurosawa likes Mei Tachibana and tells everyone unilaterally that Mei is his friend. One day, Yamato Kurosawa saves Mei Tachibana from a stalker by kissing her. From that kiss, their love story begins.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sexy, anime, light, sincere, shoujo, touching, captivating, romantic, romantic drama
Similar in 86%
Tokyo Shutter Girl (2013)
Plot Summary:
The movie Tokyo Shutter Girl, based on the comic series by Kenichi Kiriki, consists of three separate works by three separate directors, each set in Tokyo. It is about three Japanese schoolgirls in a photo club.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 39
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: anthology, sexual
Similar in 81%
Drucker in the Dug-Out (2011)
Plot Summary:
The movie is about Minami Kawashima, a high school girl who becomes the manager of her school's baseball team in place of her hospitalized friend, Yuki Miyata. She tries to lead the team to the National High School Baseball Championship by learning strategies from the business book Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices by Peter Drucker, which she mistakenly bought.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 72
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, psychological, uplifting
Similar in 75%
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 78%
One Million Yen Girl (2008)
Plot Summary:
A 21-year-old girl is released from prison, only to deal with the neighborhood gossip about her and family conflicts. She decides to save one million yen, move to where no one knows her and keep repeating the process.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere
Similar in 88%
Tokyo Family (2013)
Plot Summary:
In this film director Yoji Yamada bows down before his teacher and role model. Yamada was assistant director on Yazujirō Ozu’s Tōkyō monogatari, a moving family portrait set after the Second World War. In his remake, Yamada has made very few departures from Ozu’s masterpiece in order to update the story of ageing couple Shukichi and Tomiko to present day Japan. Once again, the pair decides to leave their quiet lives in the country to pay a visit to their children and grandchildren in Tokyo. Once there, they discover that neither their oldest son, a doctor named Koichi, nor their eldest daughter Shigeko - who runs a beauty parlour - has time for them: both are too busy attending to their everyday concerns. Even the youngest son went his own way. The old couple feel lonely and bewildered in the fast-paced metropolis.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 146 min
Plot tags: realistic, sincere, touching, emotional, psychological, captivating, sentimental, serious, crying
Similar in 76%
A Gentle Breeze in the Village (2007)
Plot Summary:
Based on a popular manga, the film is a tender coming-of-age love story set deep in Japan's countryside. When eighth grade cool guy Hiromi transfers from Tokyo to a small elementary/middle school with only six kids enrolled, wholesome and honest Soyo becomes enthralled with his sophisticated world.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, disturbing, romantic
Similar in 88%
Schoolgirl Complex (2013)
Plot Summary:
At an all female high school, a senior of the radio club becomes fascinated with the club's newest member. As graduation nears and the summer heat rises, so does the sexual tension between the girls.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 273
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sentimental, romantic, sexy, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic, erotic
Similar in 84%
Saki Achiga-hen: Episode of Side-A (2018)
Plot Summary:
Sequel movie to the live-action Saki TV series.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 33
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: captivating, tense, sincere, unusual plot structure, suspense, contemplative