Best movies like The Twilight Samurai
Last updated March 2024
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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
Best tv shows and movies like The Twilight Samurai (2002):
Similar in 86%
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 78%
Hana (2006)
Plot Summary:
In a poor district of Edo lives a young samurai named Soza. He has been sent by his clan to avenge the death of his father. He isn't an accomplished swordsman however, and he prefers sharing the life of the residents, teaching the kids how to write etc. When he finally finds the man he is looking for, he will have to decide whether he follows the way of the samurai or chooses peace and reconciliation.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, captivating, humorous
Similar in 76%
After the Rain (1999)
Plot Summary:
A group of travelers is stranded in a small country inn when the river floods during heavy rains. As the bad weather continues, tensions rise amongst the travelers trapped at the inn. Ihei Misawa is a ronin, a samurai without a master, whose skills with a sword make him a valuable employee but whose brutal honesty and lack of social graces prevent him from staying with one master for too long. One night, Ihei impulsively offers to buy food and drink for the guests at a hotel; he doesn't have the money to pay, and to raise cash he concocts a scheme to take on anyone brave enough to fight him for a prize. Ihei's fighting skills impress Lord Shigeaki, who offers him a position as fencing master in his court. Ihei gratefully accepts, but when Shigeaki challenges him to a fight, Ihei beats the Lord decisively. Ihea is certain that he's managed to throw another opportunity away when a band of mercenaries attacks him, and his skills as a swordsman are put to the ultimate test.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, France
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: spiritual, jidai geki, atmospheric, serious, captivating, stylized
Similar in 79%
Harakiri (1962)
Plot Summary:
Peace in 17th-century Japan causes the Shogunate's breakup of warrior clans, throwing thousands of samurai out of work and into poverty. An honorable end to such fate under the samurai code is ritual suicide, or hara-kiri.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 66000
Genere: Action, Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: tense, disturbing, bleak, black and white, enigmatic, melancholic, captivating, suspenseful, breathtaking, cerebral
Similar in 81%
Sanjuro (1962)
Plot Summary:
Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed "Sanjuro." In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: black and white, atmospheric, tense, witty, stylized, exciting, serious, realistic, touching, epic
Similar in 88%
An Actor's Revenge (1963)
Plot Summary:
While performing in a touring kabuki troupe, leading female impersonator Yukinojo comes across the three men who drove his parents to suicide twenty years earlier, and plans his revenge, firstly by seducing the daughter of one of them, secondly by ruining them.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, stylized, psychological, offbeat, serious, realistic, suspenseful, jidai geki, light, noir
Similar in 77%
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011)
Plot Summary:
An tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, UK
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: tense, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, erotic, intense, jidai geki, atmospheric, contemplative
Similar in 76%
Theatre: A Love Story (2020)
Plot Summary:
Nagata works as a writer and director for theater company Oroka. His work has not received positive responses and ticket sales has not increased. Making things worse, his relationship with the theatrical troupe is not good. Nagata feels lonely. One day, he sees a woman named Saki on the street. She is wearing the same sneakers as he is. Nagata talks to her. Saki is a university student and she dreams of becoming an actress. Nagata and Saki fall in love.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 734
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: psychological, romantic, touching, talky, romantic drama
Similar in 85%
Go (2001)
Plot Summary:
Isao Yukisada spins this gritty coming-of-age tale about Sugihara, a Japanese-born, third-generation Korean who struggles to find a place in a society that will not accept him. The film begins with Sugihara studying at a Korean junior high school that is dedicated to memory of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. His father is a grizzled ex-boxer who recently changed his citizenship from North to South Korea so he and his wife – Sugihara's mom – could visit Hawaii. Though his father regularly gets drunk and thrashes him, he also taught Sugihara the finer point of the sweet science. At one point in the film, Sugihara takes out an entire basketball team that was bent on taking him out. Upon graduation, Sugihara enters a normal Japanese high school where he meets and soon falls for Sakurai – a loose-sock copper-haired damsel who is attracted to Sugihara's restless spirit. As the film progresses, Sugihara struggles to throw off the stigma of his ethnicity and live a quiet, successful life.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, sweet, realistic
Similar in 85%
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 75%
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 79%
Shinobi: Heart Under Blade (2005)
Plot Summary:
Even though Gennosuke and Oboro are from rival ninja villages, they are secretly in love. At an annual conference with the Lord, it is dictated that a competition--a fight to the death--will take place between the five best shinobi from each village. Gennosuke and Oboro's love is made even more impossible when they each got picked as the leader of the five to represent their respective villages.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, stylized, serious, anime, inspirational, sincere, surreal, visual, visually stunning
Similar in 83%
Once Upon a Time in Rio (2008)
Plot Summary:
Situated just above the awe-inspiring Ipanema beach in Rio is the Cantagalo slum. Every day, floods of Cantagalo residents make their way down the mountain, only to disappear into their surroundings as part of the invisible working-class that cleans apartments, works in restaurants, and sells food along the scenic, sun-drenched shores. Young Dé (Thiago Martins) is just such a man. Dé lives with his mother Bernadette (Cyria Coentro) in a cramped Cantagalo apartment, selling hot dogs on the beach in order to make the rent. His brother Beto was killed when Dé was just a young boy, and his adopted brother Carlão (Rocco Pitanga) has been jailed for a robbery that he didn't commit. One day, while working on the beach, Dé meets Nina (Vitória Frate). Nina is the only child of a successful lawyer named Evandro (Paulo César Grande), who's none to happy to discover that his daughter is dating a member of the lower class. How.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Brazil
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, realistic, sentimental, serious, bleak
Similar in 84%
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 84%
Heavenly Forest (2006)
Plot Summary:
The story begins with Makoto Segawa, a freshman at Meikei University. On the day of his university entrance ceremony, Makoto meets a fresh-faced, quirky girl named Shizuru. Makoto has a complex which causes him to shy away from contact with other people, but she succeeds in getting him to open up to her naturally. All Shizuru wants is to be with Makoto, so she takes up a camera too. The two spend their days together taking photos in the forest behind the campus. However, Makoto has feelings for another student named Miyuki. Shizuru decides that if Makoto likes Miyuki, she wants to like her too. She wants to like everything that he does. One day, she tells Makoto that she wants to take a photo of them kissing in the forest as a present for 'her birthday'. He obliges for her sake, and they kiss in the forest.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, romantic, sad, shoujo, romantic drama
Similar in 79%
A Married Woman (2005)
Plot Summary:
They fall in love before they know its meaning, Lolita, orphaned at an early age & Shekhar, who reaches out & gives her the security she craves.They share joys & sorrows through childhood & adolescence,unknown to them the relationship of an unspoken right they hold over eachother metamorphs into an intense love, they don't even sense coming. It Takes and outsider for them to realize their love.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Musical, Romance
Country: India
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: sentimental, atmospheric, touching, captivating, realistic, emotional, semi serious, romantic, mesmerizing, stylized
Similar in 81%
Love and Honor (2006)
Plot Summary:
A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai (Kimura) and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, romantic, poignant, jidai geki, social, epic, period drama
Similar in 90%
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
Plot Summary:
In this story-within-a-story, Anna is an actress starring opposite Mike in a period piece about the forbidden love between their respective characters, Sarah and Charles. Both actors are involved in serious relationships, but the passionate nature of the script leads to an off-camera love affair as well. While attempting to maintain their composure and professionalism, Anna and Mike struggle to come to terms with their infidelity.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: romantic, emotional, costume drama, scenic, stylized, atmospheric, clever, postmodern, erotic, retro
Similar in 81%
Nuts for Love (2000)
Plot Summary:
En 1975, unos meses antes del comienzo de la dictadura militar argentina, Alicia y Marcelo se conocen en un concierto de Sui Géneris. El amor surge inmediatamente entre ellos, pero el retorno del novio de Alicia provoca la separación. En 1982, en Madrid, sus caminos vuelven a cruzarse. Tras el encuentro, se dan cuenta de que, a pesar de que el amor sigue latente, sus destinos discurren por rumbos separados. Años después, en 1990, tras otro encuentro casual, Marcelo decide hacer frente a sus sentimientos por Alicia: ambos quieren hacer realidad su sueño postergado desde la adolescencia.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 466
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Argentina, Spain
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, serious, emotional, sentimental, realistic, contemplative, talky, gloomy
Similar in 85%
Kwaidan (1964)
Plot Summary:
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Japan
Duration: 183 min
Plot tags: anthology, atmospheric, disturbing, suspense, scary, bleak, surreal, tense, art house, meditative
Similar in 80%
13 Assassins (2010)
Plot Summary:
A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 68000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Japan, UK
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: suspense, intense, tense, harsh, visually appealing, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, grindhouse, spectacular
Similar in 83%
Jane Eyre (1996)
Plot Summary:
Jane Eyre is an orphan cast out as a young girl by her aunt, Mrs. Reed, and sent to be raised in a harsh charity school for girls. There she learns to be come a teacher and eventually seeks employment outside the school. Her advertisement is answered by the housekeeper of Thornfield Hall, Mrs. Fairfax.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Italy, UK, USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: romantic, costume drama, melancholic, period piece, emotional, intense, realistic, gothic, serious, romantic drama
Similar in 81%
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%
Jane Eyre (1997)
Plot Summary:
Charlotte Bronte's classic novel is filmed yet again. The story of the Yorkshire orphan who becomes a governess to a young French girl and finds love with the brooding lord of the manor is given a standard romantic flare, but sparks do not seem to happen between the two leads in this version.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: costume drama, gothic, atmospheric, emotional, spiritual, sincere, serious, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 78%
One Day (2011)
Plot Summary:
A romantic comedy centered on Dexter and Emma, who first meet during their graduation in 1988 and proceed to keep in touch regularly. The film follows what they do on July 15 annually, usually doing something together.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 161000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, romantic, emotional, sad, touching, realistic, heartbreaking, romantic drama, tear jerker, serious
Similar in 90%
The Little House (2014)
Plot Summary:
Following the death of the unmarried and childless Taki, Takeshi, a young relative of hers, discovers several pages of closely written lines in which the old lady has recorded her memories. This is how he learns the truth about her youth working as a housemaid and nanny for the Hirai family in a little house in Tokyo with a red gabled roof.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, psychological, captivating, touching, serious, stylized
Similar in 77%
The Sea Is Watching (2002)
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
Similar in 88%
A Moment to Remember (2004)
Plot Summary:
A young couple's love is tested when Sun-jin is diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, romantic, sincere, sad, serious, contemplative, heartbreaking, inspirational
Similar in 89%
Love Story (1970)
Plot Summary:
Harvard Law student Oliver Barrett IV and music student Jennifer Cavilleri share a chemistry they cannot deny - and a love they cannot ignore. Despite their opposite backgrounds, the young couple put their hearts on the line for each other. When they marry, Oliver's wealthy father threatens to disown him. Jenny tries to reconcile the Barrett men, but to no avail.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sentimental, romantic, sad, serious, tear jerker, sweet, melancholic, romantic drama
Similar in 90%
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