Movies like Yamada Village Waltz (1988)
The best movies like Yamada Village Waltz (1988) are The Village (2023), The Taste of Tea (2004) and Maborosi (1995). If Yamada Village Waltz hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks
- Highest ratedUgetsu (1953)8.0/10 from 676 votes
- NewestThe Village (2023)Released 2023
- In JapaneseThe Village (2023)Also in Japanese
The Village (2023)
In a once-scenic village now dominated by a vast trash disposal site, a young man yearns to break free from a cruel fate tying him to the very grounds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Taste of Tea (2004)
A spell of time in the life of the five-piece Haruno family in rural Tochigi Prefecture. Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project. Uncle Ayano, a successful music producer, is looking to get his head together after living in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Sachiko is concerned with why she seems to be followed by a giant version of herself. As the lazy days pass by, each member of the family is followed in a series of episodic vignettes.
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 thisLittle Forest: Summer/Autumn (2014)
Fleeing heartbreak in the big city, Ichiko returns to Komori, her rural hometown. She battles summer's rain and humidity, bakes her own bread, grows hothouse tomatoes and tills the fields. During autumn, the time for pickling and preserving fish and sweet potatoes, Ichiko begins reaping rice and recalls her departure five years before.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSuzaku (1997)
Depicts the life of a family in a remote Japanese timber village. Family head Tahara Kozo lives with his mother Sachiko, wife Yasuyo, nephew Eisuke and young daughter Michiru. Economic recession and failed development plans cause tragedy in the family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Gentle Breeze in the Village (2007)
Soyo, a student in a school with only six students, develops feelings for the new student, Hiromi, who has moved from Tokyo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTamara Drewe (2010)
A young newspaper writer returns to her hometown in the English countryside, where her childhood home is being prepped for sale.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisLittle Forest: Winter/Spring (2015)
Ichiko bakes a cake for an end-of-year party with her friends. In the depths of winter, making mochi and curry keeps the people of Komori warm. Later, spring brings thoughts of her absent mother as well as rice planting and sakura, and she begins to think of leaving Komori behind again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisOnly Yesterday (1991)
In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Taeko contemplates the arc of her life, and wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSamurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island (1956)
A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader. He's also challenged to fight by the supremely confident and skillful Sasaki Kojiro. Takezo agrees to fight Kojiro in a year's time but rejects Shogun's patronage, choosing instead to live on the edge of a village, raising vegetables. He's followed there by Otsu and later by Akemi, both in love with him. The year ends as Takezo assists the villagers against a band of brigands. He seeks Otsu's forgiveness and accepts her love, then sets off across the water to Ganryu Island for his final contest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWood Job! (2014)
After failing his university entrance exam, Yuki Hirano sets his eyes on the role of a forestry trainee. Setting off for training he doubts his decision many times, but eventually after passing the training course, he is sent to Kamusari Village for a year of work experience - where he becomes assimilated with the beauty of nature and the warm-hearted people of the village.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNon Non Biyori: Vacation (2018)
Even when you're fortunate enough to live in a place as beautiful as the country village of Asahigaoka, you should never turn down the chance to explore someplace else. So, when Suguru wins a free trip to Okinawa just as the summer vacation is coming to an end, the town's entire school… all 5 students and 1 teacher, plus the local candy shop owner… can hardly wait for their 3-day trip to begin! Between kayaking, swimming and meeting new people, there's always something fun happening, but the best part of all is that big city girl Hotaru and her new small-town friends all get to explore the wonders of Japan's famous vacation destination together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lower Depths (1957)
Residents of a rundown boardinghouse in 19th-century Japan, including a mysterious old man and an aging actor, get drawn into a love triangle that turns violent. When amoral thief Sutekichi breaks off his affair with landlady Osugi to romance her younger sister, Okayo, Osugi extracts her revenge by revealing her infidelity to her jealous husband.
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 thisUgetsu (1953)
In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Mourning Forest (2007)
A young woman working at a retirement home takes an elderly man living there on an excursion into the countryside, but the two wind up stranded in the titular forest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRepast (1951)
In post-WWII Osaka, a middle-aged woman is forced to examine her dreary life and marriage when her husband's young and flirtatious cousin arrives for a brief stay to escape an arranged marriage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Farmer's Daughter (1947)
After leaving her family's farm to study nursing in the city, a young woman finds herself on an unexpected path towards politics.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRoad to Ninja: Naruto the Movie (2012)
Sixteen years ago, a mysterious masked ninja unleashes a powerful creature known as the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox on the Hidden Leaf Village Konoha, killing many people. In response, the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze and his wife Kushina Uzumaki, the Demon Fox's living prison or Jinchūriki, manage to seal the creature inside their newborn son Naruto Uzumaki. With the Tailed Beast sealed, things continued as normal. However, in the present day, peace ended when a group of ninja called the Akatsuki attack Konoha under the guidance of Tobi, the mysterious masked man behind Fox's rampage years ago who intends on executing his plan to rule the world by shrouding it in illusions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Yamada Village Waltz?
The closest matches to Yamada Village Waltz are The Village (2023), The Taste of Tea (2004) and Maborosi (1995). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Yamada Village Waltz?
Start with The Village (2023), the closest match to Yamada Village Waltz.
What is the highest-rated movie like Yamada Village Waltz?
Ugetsu (1953), rated 8.0/10 by 676 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Yamada Village Waltz?
The Village (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Yamada Village Waltz?
Yes: The Village (2023), The Taste of Tea (2004) and Maborosi (1995).
How are movies similar to Yamada Village Waltz chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Yamada Village Waltz, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.



















