Movies like Black River (1957)
The best movies like Black River (1957) are Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973), The Yakuza (1974) and Outrage (2010). If Black River hooked you with its crime and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Yakuza (1974)7.1/10 from 240 votes
- NewestBad City (2022)Released 2022
- In JapaneseBattles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973)Also in Japanese
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973)
Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Yakuza (1974)
When George Tanner does business with high-ranking Yakuza Tono, Tono kidnaps his daughter, and George summons his old friend, private eye Harry Kilmer, to Japan to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOutrage (2010)
When a tough yakuza gangster is betrayed by his bosses, it means all out war. Bodies pile up as he takes out everyone in his way to the top in a brutal quest for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBattles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)
In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Outsider (2018)
A former American G.I. joins a yakuza family after his release from prison in post-World War II Osaka.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFemale Yakuza Tale (1973)
Ocho is accidentally captured by a drug trafficking cartel who use Chinese women to smuggle drugs into Japan by hiding it in their vaginas. She is tortured, and manages to escape, fighting both the male yakuzas and a gang of female thieves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSiberian Education (2013)
The story of a gang of children growing up in a community of banished criminals, in a forgotten corner of the former Soviet Union. This community rejects the world outside. The only law it obeys… is its own. Against this backdrop two best friends, Kolyma and Gagarin, gradually become fierce enemies as they find themselves on opposite sides of the strict code of honour of the ‘honest criminal’ brotherhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Family (2021)
Taken in by the yakuza at a young age, Kenji swears allegiance to his old-school boss, pledging to adhere to the family code amid ever-changing times.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHouse of Bamboo (1955)
Eddie Kenner is given a special assignment by the Army to get the inside story on Sandy Dawson, a former GI who has formed a gang of fellow servicemen and Japanese locals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBelly (1998)
Tommy Bundy and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking for a come up, will their reign last?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOutrage Coda (2017)
Five years after the all-out war between the Sanno and Hanabishi crime families, former yakuza boss Otomo works in South Korea for Mr. Chang, a noted fixer. When tensions rise between Chang and the Hanabishi, and Chang's life is endangered, Otomo returns to Japan to settle things once and for all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnder the Open Sky (2021)
Mikami, an ex-yakuza of middle age with most of his life in prison, gets released after serving 13 years of sentence for murder. Hoping to find his long lost mother, from whom he was separated as a child, he applies for a TV show and meets a young TV director Tsunoda. Meanwhile, he struggles to get a proper job and fit into society. His impulsive, adamant nature and ingrained beliefs cause friction in his relationship with Tsunoda and those who want to help him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWinged Creatures (2009)
A psychotic man opens fire in a diner, murdering numerous people before killing himself. The survivors struggle in different ways following this horrendous event: a doctor doubts his own instincts and elects to use an experimental medical procedure on his wife, while a gambler believes he's on a lucky streak. A waitress begins engaging in promiscuous sex, and a young girl whose father is among the dead gains unexpected fame.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisPigs and Battleships (1961)
In the city of Yokosuka, Kinta and his lover Haruko, both involved with yakuza, brave the post-occupation period with a goal to be together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTrue Believer (1989)
Eddie Dodd is a burnt out former civil rights lawyer who now specializes in defending drug dealers. Roger Baron, newly graduated from law school, has followed Eddie's great cases and now wants to learn at his feet. With Roger's idealistic prodding, Eddie reluctantly takes on a case of a young Korean man who, according to his mother, has been in jail for eight years for a murder he didn't commit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYakuza Graveyard (1976)
A police investigator cracks down on yakuza business, but once he realizes the police are in negotiations with certain factions, he sides with his own syndicate of choice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDead or Alive (1999)
Ryūichi and his small gang of Triad vie for control of the Japanese underworld in a crime-ridden Shinjuku quarter while Detective Jojima tries to bring it down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad City (2022)
Kensuke Sonomura directs the legendary Hitoshi Ozawa in this ultimate V-Cinema actioner. Kaiko City is plagued with poverty and crime. When a corrupt businessman decides to run for mayor and starts eliminating opponents from the rival mafia, a former police captain serving time for murder is secretly released and put in charge of a special task force to arrest him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeyond Outrage (2012)
As the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West. What started as an internal strife in Outrage has now become a nationwide war in Outrage Beyond.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYouth of the Beast (1963)
When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo's underworld explodes with violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTattoo (2002)
Marc Schrader, a rookie cop caught red-handed with drugs in a police raid of an illegal rave, joins a homicide investigation conducted by Chief Inspector Minks. The victim is a naked young woman with the skin stripped off her back, killed as she staggered into traffic. As Schrader and Minks investigate the murder, the case is complicated by a finger found in the stomach of the victim. Forensic examination proves the finger belongs to Nobert Günzel, who was previously convicted of rape and assault. The police raid Günzel’s residence, and discover a blood-stained table with restraints and bits of human flesh in his basement. They also find video equipment and preserved, tattooed skin from the victim’s back. Soon, they found dead bodies buried in the garden. Günzel then goes missing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThanks for the Tears (1965)
A film about two men who join the fight against a gang selling weapons.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Kagerô 2 (1996)
An entertainment drama depicting the conflict of yakuza, centering on the female torso and her sister's feud.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Kagerô 3 (1997)
The third series of action series depicting the success of a woman torpedo who was caught in two groups of conflicts at a small port town in the Seto Inland Sea.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Ginza Midnight Story — Utopia 2 (2000)
In a continuation of "Utopia: Midnight Story, White Flower Bud" Haruka Ichijou follows through in her vow to become the No1 Geisha. She develops intricate schemes and mindful manipulations in changing her "Papa-san's," or Sugar Daddies, on her way up the modern geisha ladder. After she pits one against the other, the men begin to compete for her in elaborate and very expensive ventures, and their fight to win her for their prize in all-consuming frenzy becomes the focus for the No1 Spot. A barrage of young geisha's karate fighting seals their fate at last!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Yakuza Ladies: Burning Desire (2005)
Tamaki's (Iwashita) husband is the head of the Idei clan, based in southern Osaka. As the film opens, punch-permed lieutenant Ginji (Riki Takeuchi) is killed while pumping iron. Following the hit, rumors and recriminations abound, slowly corroding the clan's cohesion. Ginji, it turns out, was mired in debt. After Ginji borrowed a small fortune to build a luxury resort, his bank went belly up and stopped financing the loan. Frantic for funds, he decided as a last resort to rat out his boss who had skimmed five-billion yen from the gang. Soon everyone assumes that Idei did the hit. Convinced that Idei is being framed, Tamaki sets out to find the real killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Yakuza Ladies Revisited: Love is Hell (1994)
The seventh movie of the series “Yakuza Ladies” focuses on a wife of a small Osaka family. She risks her life to protect her husband’s family and its members against much larger, more established organizations.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Kids Return (1996)
Shinji and Masaru spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates and playing pranks. They drop out and Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a local yakuza gang. However, the world is a tough place.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Weapon in My Heart (1996)
A detective and his partner track down a call girl with information about a drug cartel. After taking her into custody, they are attacked by cartel members. The detective and the woman manage to escape, but they are soon hounded by a professional hitman hired to eliminate them and recover the heroin stolen by the woman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Painful Bliss: Final Twist (1977)
A young executive has a really bad night after an encounter with a crazed bisexual wannabe yakuza and his horny girlfriend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Black River and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Black River?
The closest matches to Black River are Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973), The Yakuza (1974) and Outrage (2010). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Black River?
Start with Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973), the closest match to Black River.
What is the highest-rated movie like Black River?
The Yakuza (1974), rated 7.1/10 by 240 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Black River?
Bad City (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Black River?
Yes: Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973), Outrage (2010) and Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973).
How are movies similar to Black River chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Black River, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.