Movies like The Master of Shiatsu (1989)
The best movies like The Master of Shiatsu (1989) are Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski (2018), Watching the Detectives (2007) and The Kovak Box (2006). If The Master of Shiatsu hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDinner in America (2022)7.8/10 from 253 votes
- NewestThe Singers (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseRevenge Porn: PAIN OF LOVE (2019)Also in Japanese
Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski (2018)
Artists in LA discover the work of forgotten Polish sculptor Stanislav Szukalski, a mad genius whose true story unfolds chapter by astounding chapter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWatching the Detectives (2007)
Neil, a self-proclaimed film geek and owner of Gumshoe video, has always been content to live vicariously through his favorite films noir. But when he meets Violet, a real-life femme fatale, his mundane world gets turned upside down and the line between reality and the movies quickly begins to blur.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Kovak Box (2006)
David Norton is used to being in control. As a best-selling author, he decides the fate of his characters, their lives and their deaths. But what happens when his fictional world becomes all too real?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisHigh and Dizzy (1920)
A tipsy doctor encounters his patient sleepwalking on a building ledge, high above the street.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPlayers (2024)
New York sportswriter Mack has spent years devising successful hook-up "plays" with her friends, but when she unexpectedly falls for one of her targets, she must learn what it takes to go from simply scoring to playing for keeps.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove in the Sun (2019)
When successful dating app creator Alana hesitantly gets engaged, she returns to her hometown in Florida to deliver the news to her dad. Upon returning home, she crosses paths with her former flame, Kai, and finds herself falling in love with the fun and adventurous lifestyle tied to her community. As Alana and Kai work together to help her dad restore his declining property, Alana finds herself conflicted as to whether or not her current way of living makes her happier than the home and community that she always knew and loved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Mom Jayne (2025)
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
Millie Dillmount, a fearless young lady fresh from Salina, Kansas, determined to experience Life, sets out to see the world in the rip-roaring Twenties. With high spirits and wearing one of those new high hemlines, she arrives in New York to test the "modern" ideas she had been reading about back in Kansas: "I've taken the girl out of Kansas. Now I have to take Kansas out of the girl!"
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWinter Spring Summer or Fall (2024)
Remi and Barnes, two very different teenagers, meet by chance in the winter of their senior year, then spend four days together over the course of a year that will change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCoyote Ugly (2000)
Graced with a velvet voice, 21-year-old Violet Sanford heads to New York to pursue her dream of becoming a songwriter only to find her aspirations sidelined by the accolades and notoriety she receives at her "day" job as a barmaid at Coyote Ugly. The "Coyotes" as they are affectionately called tantalize customers and the media alike with their outrageous antics, making Coyote Ugly the watering hole for guys on the prowl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStalked by My Doctor (2015)
When a teenage girl is miraculously saved by a heart surgeon, the doctor begins to flirt with her. Her father doesn’t believe her and unbeknownst to all, the doctor is obsessed with the girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Sister (2015)
As a top student at St. Adeline's Catholic Boarding School, Zoe senses that something is not quite right about the school's new nun-- a sense proven to be true when it is revealed the "good' nun is an imposter with a fatal attraction to Zoe's brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFor the Love of Spock (2016)
The life of Mr. Spock, as well as that of Leonard Nimoy, the actor who played him for almost fifty years, written and directed by his son: Adam.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Overnight (2015)
Alex, Emily, and their son, RJ, are new to Los Angeles. A chance meeting at the park introduces them to the mysterious Kurt, Charlotte, and Max. A family “playdate” becomes increasingly interesting as the night goes on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014)
Hollywood veteran Bing Russell creates the only independent baseball team in the country—alarming the baseball establishment and sparking the meteoric rise of the 1970s Portland Mavericks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTaking Care of Business (1990)
An uptight advertising exec has his entire life in a filofax organizer which mistakenly ends up in the hands of a friendly convict who poses as him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDinner in America (2022)
An on-the-lam punk rocker and a young woman obsessed with a local band go on an unexpected and epic journey together through the decaying suburbs of the American Midwest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRevenge Porn: PAIN OF LOVE (2019)
Rei is a college student in the midst of finding a job. She confesses her love to Mikio, a senior whom she admires. Mikio soon demands that she perform perverted acts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Knack... and How to Get It (1965)
A nebbish schoolteacher begs his smooth (and misogynistic) pal to teach him 'the knack' – how to score with women. Serendipitously, the men meet up with a new girl in town, as well as a friendly lunatic who can’t help but paint things white.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Night at the Roxbury (1998)
Despite being well into adulthood, brothers Doug and Steve Butabi still live at home and work in the flower shop owned by their dad. They exist only to hit on women at discos, though they're routinely unsuccessful until a chance run-in with Richard Grieco gets them inside the swank Roxbury club. Mistaken for high rollers, they meet their dream women, Vivica and Cambi, and resolve to open a club of their own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInheritance (2024)
A mother and daughter murder their wealthy grandmother, but they get more than what they bargained for.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Canta Santiago (2024)
A young mariachi faces his first performance alone but discovers his brother has always been by his side.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Tokyo Blood (1993)
Tokyo Blood is an omnibus film of 4 short stories featuring various characters entrapped in Tokyo landscapes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
A Flower (TBA)
Somewhere between the mountains and valleys a small autumn flower bloomed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
More (1998)
A factory worker in a dark, gray world assembles devices that promise happiness. In his spare time he tinkers to create something better, and finally succeeds in perfecting his invention, which allows people to see life through rose-colored glasses, but he has to pay a price for his success.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisParis exposition films (1900)
White’s camera offers several 360-degree pans of views of the fairground, then amazes by tilting up and down the Eiffel Tower, and concludes with a stunning tracking shot to the highest point above Paris. Exhibitors freely grouped films into nascent narratives such as those displayed here. - Bruce Posner
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Dead End Run (2003)
A collection of three short films by Japanese visual genius Sogo Ishii. Each short focuses on the protagonists running away from a threat.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Cloud 99 (TBA)
In a community where residents pay for access to sunlight, a father goes to extreme lengths to support his daughter’s entry in a school competition to grow sunflowers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
No Signal (2025)
All she knows comes from the screens. All she has known is the screens. A screen breaks and everything changes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Singers (2026)
An impromptu singing contest at a dive bar turns a lonely night into a soul-baring moment of shared harmony.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Master of Shiatsu?
The closest matches to The Master of Shiatsu are Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski (2018), Watching the Detectives (2007) and The Kovak Box (2006). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Master of Shiatsu?
Start with Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski (2018), the closest match to The Master of Shiatsu.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Master of Shiatsu?
Dinner in America (2022), rated 7.8/10 by 253 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Master of Shiatsu?
The Singers (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like The Master of Shiatsu?
Yes: Revenge Porn: PAIN OF LOVE (2019), Tokyo Blood (1993) and Dead End Run (2003).
How are movies similar to The Master of Shiatsu chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Master of Shiatsu, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.