Movies like A Brief Parting (1996)
The best movies like A Brief Parting (1996) are The Caveman's Valentine (2001), Brand Upon the Brain! (2007) and Fedora (1978). If A Brief Parting hooked you with its drama and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks
- Highest ratedRashomon (1950)8.0/10 from 2,670 votes
- NewestMonster (2023)Released 2023
- In JapaneseConfessions (2010)Also in Japanese
The Caveman's Valentine (2001)
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim the death is accidental. Romulus is convinced the man was murdered by a prominent art photographer but how can he prove he's right when everyone thinks he's insane?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisBrand Upon the Brain! (2007)
After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFedora (1978)
Down-on-his-luck Hollywood producer Barry 'Dutch' Detweiler attempts to lure Fedora, a famous but reclusive film actress, out of retirement, only to discover the horrifying truth behind her success.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisConfessions (2010)
Devastated at the death of her four-year-old daughter, a grieving middle school teacher is horrified to discover that her students aren't as innocent as she thinks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFramed for Murder: A Fixer Upper Mystery (2017)
In the small resort town of Lighthouse Cove, everyone knows that the best man for the job is a woman. And that woman is Shannon Hughes, owner of a construction company and an expert in Victorian home restoration and renovation. Through her renovations she will find clues to uncover the house’s secret past and in turn become an unlikely sleuth to help crack these unsolved mysteries
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAgatha and the Midnight Murders (2020)
As bombs fall on London, writer Agatha Christie decides it is time to kill off her most famous creation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTriage (2009)
The wife of a photojournalist sets out to discover why he came home from a recent assignment without his colleague.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Doctor (2011)
Dr. Martin Blake, who has spent his life looking for respect, meets an 18-year-old patient named Diane, suffering from a kidney infection, and gets a much-needed boost of self-esteem. However, when her health starts improving, Martin fears losing her, so he begins tampering with her treatment, keeping Diane sick and in the hospital right next to him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRemember (2015)
With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with dementia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
A three-year-old boy disappears during his mother's high school reunion. Nine years later, by chance, he turns up in the town in which the family has just relocated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDetective Conan: The Bride of Halloween (2022)
Shibuya, Tokyo, is bustling with the Halloween season. A wedding is being held at Shibuya Hikarie, where Detective Miwako Sato of the Metropolitan Police Department is dressed in a wedding dress. While Conan and the other invited guests are watching, an assailant suddenly bursts in, and Detective Wataru Takagi, who was trying to protect Sato, is injured. Takagi survived and the situation was settled, but in Sato's eyes, the image of the grim reaper that she had seen when Detective Matsuda, the man she had been in love with, had been killed in a series of bombings three years ago, overlapped with Takagi's.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDetective Conan: Sunflowers of Inferno (2015)
Conan tries to track down Kaito Kid, who supposedly steals a replica of one of Van Gogh's Sunflowers paintings during an auction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDetective Conan: Black Iron Submarine (2023)
While visiting Hachijo-jima, Conan sneaks aboard a security boat heading to the Pacific Buoy, an off-shore facility constructed near the coasts built to connect surveillance cameras used by police forces around the world. However, an engineer gets abducted! An eerie sound of a propeller hums underwater as a dark figure begins to creep toward Ai Haibara... When the forbidden Black Box is opened, the sealed-away past will surface above the treacherous waves!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019)
Nancy Drew, a smart high schooler with a penchant for keen observation and deduction, stumbles upon the haunting of a local home. A bit of an outsider struggling to fit into her new surroundings, Nancy and her pals set out to solve the mystery, make new friends, and establish their place in the community
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCase Closed: The Fourteenth Target (1998)
Ran’s secret past revealed! Ten years ago, something happened between her mom and dad. Now, plagued by nightmares, Ran is starting to remember… Meanwhile, a murderous card dealer breaks out of jail to seek revenge. His target: Ran’s father. Can Conan stop him in time and save his girlfriend’s family?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Second Chance: Rivals! (2019)
As Maddy takes on coaching a team of young twelve-year-old gymnasts, she faces up to intense city versus country rivalry, racism, cyberbullying and her own self-doubt but eventually takes the challenge head on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBattles 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCase Closed: The Crimson Love Letter (2017)
Bombing case at Nichiuri TV in autumn. The Satsuki Cup, which crowns the winner of Japan's Hyakunin Isshu, is currently being filmed inside the facility. The incident results in a big commotion and, while the building is burning to ashes, the only people left inside are Hattori and Toyama Kazuha. They get rescued just in time by Conan , who rushes to the scene. Both the identity and purposes of the bomber are unknown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonster (2023)
After an outburst at school involving her son, a concerned single mother demands answers, triggering a sequence of deepening suspicion and turmoil.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRashomon (1950)
Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & mystery
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMillennium Mambo (2001)
In 2011, Vicky looks back on her life a decade earlier, recalling her turbulent relationship with her controlling boyfriend Hao Hao and her growing connection to a compassionate gangster amid the neon haze of Taipei's nightlife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove's Whirlpool (2014)
A room in a fancy downtown apartment. The evening orgy kicks off with eight men and women meeting for the first time, including an unemployed guy who pays the 20,000 yen party fee with money from his parents, and a female college student whose run-of-the-mill appearance hides a voracious sexual appetite.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sanjuro (1962)
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.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLady Samurai (2019)
This is the story of Kaori Kawabuchi, a samurai sword performer, singer and motion capture actor. An inspiring woman keeping alive ancient traditions and spirituality in modern Japan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Suicide Club (2001)
When the bizarre mass suicide of 54 high school girls throwing themselves in front of a subway train appears to instigate a string of suicides around the country, Detective Kuroda strives to find the answer, which isn't as simple as he had hoped.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSandakan No. 8 (1974)
A young journalist interviews an elderly woman about being forced into prostitution in Borneo at a brothel called Sandakan No. 8.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Twilight Samurai (2002)
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?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKagemusha (1980)
A feudal epic presenting the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. The impostor becomes comfortable living his life among nobility, but his responsibilities to his station grow more demanding the longer he occupies it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like A Brief Parting and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Brief Parting?
The closest matches to A Brief Parting are The Caveman's Valentine (2001), Brand Upon the Brain! (2007) and Fedora (1978). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Brief Parting?
Start with The Caveman's Valentine (2001), the closest match to A Brief Parting.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Brief Parting?
Rashomon (1950), rated 8.0/10 by 2,670 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Brief Parting?
Monster (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like A Brief Parting?
Yes: Confessions (2010), Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween (2022) and Detective Conan: Sunflowers of Inferno (2015).
How are movies similar to A Brief Parting chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Brief Parting, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.





























