Movies like A Warm Ray of Light (2011)
The best movies like A Warm Ray of Light (2011) are Maborosi (1995), April Story (1998) and Cafe Funiculi Funicula (2018). If A Warm Ray of Light hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMaborosi (1995)7.5/10 from 216 votes
- NewestThe Door into Summer (2021)Released 2021
- In JapaneseMaborosi (1995)Also in Japanese
Maborosi (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 thisApril Story (1998)
In spring, a girl leaves the island of Hokkaido to attend university in Tokyo. Once there, she is asked to reveal why she wanted to go there in the first place.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCafe Funiculi Funicula (2018)
Kazu works at "Funiculi Funicula" cafe. There is a mysterious rumour that if a customer takes a specific seat at the cafe, that customer can travel back to a time of their choice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Wonderful Sunday (1947)
Two broke sweethearts wander war-scarred Tokyo on a single Sunday, stretching 35 yen as they chase housing, small pleasures, and a little hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlack Rain (1989)
Shigematsu Shizuma, who lives with his family in a village near Fukuyama, was in Hiroshima with his wife and niece just after the devastating atomic bombing, a tragedy that cruelly took the lives of thousands of people and forever marked the harsh existence of the survivors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFloating Clouds (1955)
A married Japanese forester during WWII is sent to Indochina to manage forests. He meets a young Japanese typist and promises to leave his wife. He doesn't and after the war, she turns up and the affair resumes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNorwegian 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 thisOne Million Yen Girl (2008)
A 21-year-old girl is released from prison, only to deal with the neighborhood gossip about her and family conflicts. She decides to save one million yen, move to where no one knows her and keep repeating the process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLost in Translation (2003)
Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisClover (2014)
Saya Suzuki is an ordinary employee working at a hotel. She falls in love with her elite boss Susumu Tsuge. Through their romance, Saya Suzuki grows as a person.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBOYS OVER FLOWERS the movie (2008)
Four years have passed since that emotional marriage proposal at Tsukushi Makino's high-school prom, and Tsukasa Dōmyōji announced his engagement to Tsukushi to the entire world. At an engagement dinner between their families, Dōmyōji's mother, who has been strongly against their relationship before, presents Tsukushi a tiara, which is estimated to be worth roughly 10 billion yen, as a token of their engagement. But that night, the tiara is stolen by somebody! Then, Dōmyōji and Tsukushi travel around the globe to Las Vegas, Hong Kong, and even a deserted island to get the tiara back—the legendary tiara that has been believed to "bring eternal love." In the meantime, where and what are the "F4" fellows, who have just gone separate ways, doing now?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Liar and His Lover (2013)
Set within music field, this film depicts a love story between a 25-year-old sound engineer and 16-year-old high school student Riko, who posessess a gifted voice. 25-year-old sound engineer Aki is a member of popular band "Crude Play," but right after the band decides to make their major record debut Aki quits the band. But, Aki provides his music to Crude Play under the name of producer Soichiro. Aki begins to date Riko, whose father runs a fruit and vegetable shop. Riko doesn't know about Aki's background, but she likes to listen to him hum. Riko is in a band herself, with childhood friend Yuichi and Sota. One day she is scouted by producer Soichiro.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021)
An unexpected love triangle, a seduction trap, and a random encounter are the three episodes, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCafé Lumière (2004)
In a distinctly contemporary Tokyo that looks backwards to the city’s disappearing past, Yoko is a writer investigating the life of a modernist composer of the 1930s. She is pregnant by a man she does not want to marry and has found a kindred spirit in a used bookstore owner who aids her research.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlast from the Past (1999)
Following a bomb scare in the 1960s that locked the Webbers into their bomb shelter for 35 years, Adam now ventures forth into Los Angeles to obtain food and supplies for his family, and a non-mutant wife for himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOh Lucy! (2018)
A lonely, chain-smoking office lady in Tokyo falls for her teacher when she decides to take English lessons. When her teacher disappears, she sets out on a journey to find him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOcean Waves (1993)
At Kichijōji Station, Tokyo, Taku Morisaki glimpses a familiar woman on the platform opposite boarding a train. Later, her photo falls from a shelf as he exits his apartment before flying to Kōchi Prefecture. Picking it up, he looks at it briefly before leaving. As the aeroplane takes off, he narrates the events that brought her into his life...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTokyo Family (2013)
An elderly couple journey to Tokyo to visit their grown children, only to find them preoccupied and self-involved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Door into Summer (2021)
A pioneering roboticist awakens in 2025 after decades in cryosleep. To change the past and reunite with his adopted sister, he seeks a way back to 1995.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJu-on: The Beginning of the End (2014)
A school teacher visits the home of a boy who's been absent from school for a long period of time, unaware of the horrific tragedy which occurred in the boy's household many years ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like A Warm Ray of Light and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Warm Ray of Light?
The closest matches to A Warm Ray of Light are Maborosi (1995), April Story (1998) and Cafe Funiculi Funicula (2018). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Warm Ray of Light?
Start with Maborosi (1995), the closest match to A Warm Ray of Light.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Warm Ray of Light?
Maborosi (1995), rated 7.5/10 by 216 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Warm Ray of Light?
The Door into Summer (2021) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like A Warm Ray of Light?
Yes: Maborosi (1995), April Story (1998) and Cafe Funiculi Funicula (2018).
How are movies similar to A Warm Ray of Light chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Warm Ray of Light, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.