Movies like Sayonara, Sayonara (2004)
The best movies like Sayonara, Sayonara (2004) are Norwegian Wood (2010), Battle Royale (2000) and Play Dead (2025). If Sayonara, Sayonara hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)7.8/10 from 383 votes
- NewestWhalefall (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseNorwegian Wood (2010)Also in Japanese
Norwegian Wood (2010)
Toru recalls his life in the 1960s, when his friend Kizuki killed himself and he grew close to Naoko, Kizuki's girlfriend, and another woman, the outgoing, lively Midori.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBattle Royale (2000)
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPlay Dead (2025)
A woman wakes up injured in a basement surrounded by corpses. To survive, she pretends to be dead while a grotesque ritual unfolds in the house above.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
A fictional account of the life of Japanese author Yukio Mishima, combining dramatizations of three of his novels and a depiction of the events of November 25th, 1970.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHard Luck (1921)
A down on his luck young man makes several attempts at committing suicide but fails them too. He then finds himself becoming more confident through a series of petty adventures, to such an extent that this becomes his undoing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeathers (1989)
A girl who halfheartedly tries to be part of the "in crowd" of her school meets a rebel who teaches her a more devious way to play social politics: by killing the popular kids.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBefore I Fall (2017)
Samantha Kingston has everything. Then, everything changes. After one fateful night, she wakes up with no future at all. Trapped into reliving the same day over and over, she begins to question just how perfect her life really was.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaborosi (1995)
A tragedy strikes a young woman's life without warning or reason. She continues living while searching for meaning in a lonely world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBird Box (2018)
Five years after an ominous unseen presence drives most of society to suicide, a survivor and her two children make a desperate bid to reach safety.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJust Before I Go (2015)
Ted Morgan has been treading water for most of his life. After his wife leaves him, Ted realizes he has nothing left to live for. Summoning the courage for one last act, Ted decides to go home and face the people he feels are responsible for creating the shell of a person he has become. But life is tricky. The more determined Ted is to confront his demons, to get closure, and to withdraw from his family, the more Ted is yanked into the chaos of their lives. So, when Ted Morgan decides to kill himself, he finds a reason to live.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Double (2014)
An awkward office drone becomes increasingly unhinged after a charismatic and confident look-alike takes a job at his workplace and seduces the woman he desires.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStealing Home (1988)
Billy Wyatt, a former high school and minor-league baseball player, receives a telephone call from his mother revealing that his former child-sitter, and later in his teens, his first love, Katie Chandler, has died. Wyatt returns home to deal with this tragedy, reminiscing over his childhood growing up with his father, Katie, and best friend Alan Appleby.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Virgin Suicides (2000)
A group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWould You Rather (2013)
Desperate to help her ailing brother, a young woman agrees to compete in a deadly game of "Would You Rather" hosted by a sadistic aristocrat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnthinkable (2010)
The government gets wind of a plot to destroy America involving a trio of nuclear weapons for which the whereabouts are unknown. It's up to a seasoned interrogator and an FBI agent to find out exactly where the nukes are.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSaw 3D (2010)
As a deadly battle rages over Jigsaw's brutal legacy, a group of Jigsaw survivors gathers to seek the support of self-help guru and fellow survivor Bobby Dagen, a man whose own dark secrets unleash a new wave of terror.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Long Walk (2025)
In a dystopian America, fifty teenage boys take part in a deadly annual walking contest, forced to maintain a minimum pace or be executed, until only one survivor remains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMorvern Callar (2002)
After her boyfriend commits suicide, a young woman attempts to use the unpublished manuscript of a novel and a sum of money he left behind to reinvent her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhalefall (2026)
Following the death of his father, Jay Gardiner goes diving off the central Coast of California in search of his remains, but is swallowed by a massive sperm whale. While trapped inside its belly with only one hour of oxygen left, Jay comes to realize that the hard-earned lessons his father imparted may be the key to his escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVampire (2011)
An outwardly normal schoolteacher preys on suicidal women to slake his overwhelming thirst for human blood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Sayonara, Sayonara?
The closest matches to Sayonara, Sayonara are Norwegian Wood (2010), Battle Royale (2000) and Play Dead (2025). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Sayonara, Sayonara?
Start with Norwegian Wood (2010), the closest match to Sayonara, Sayonara.
What is the highest-rated movie like Sayonara, Sayonara?
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), rated 7.8/10 by 383 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Sayonara, Sayonara?
Whalefall (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Sayonara, Sayonara?
Yes: Norwegian Wood (2010), Battle Royale (2000) and Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985).
How are movies similar to Sayonara, Sayonara chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Sayonara, Sayonara, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.