Movies like Johan-ma (1977)
The best movies like Johan-ma (1977) are Tokyo Decadence (1992), One Million Yen Girl (2008) and Hounddog (2008). If Johan-ma hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAntiporno (2017)6.6/10 from 462 votes
- NewestAll Day and a Night (2020)Released 2020
- In JapaneseTokyo Decadence (1992)Also in Japanese
Tokyo Decadence (1992)
A submissive hooker goes about her trade, suffering abuse at the hands of Japanese salarymen and Yakuza types. She's unhappy about her work, and is apparently trying to find some sort of appeasement for the fact that her lover has married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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 · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIron Jawed Angels (2004)
Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Trials of Cate McCall (2013)
In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPastoral: To Die in the Country (1974)
A director faces creative block while working on his latest film – a reimagination of his adolescence growing up in a mountain village in rural Japan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRitual (2000)
A disillusioned filmmaker has an encounter with a young woman who has a ritual of repeating "Tomorrow is my birthday" everyday. He tries to communicate with her through his video camera.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCall Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAntiporno (2017)
Kyôko, a traumatized young Japanese girl, finds herself struggling with her self-confidence in her adult life. Growing up in a family without her mother and her sister, she constantly questions the rationale of sex and the notion of liberty in modern Japanese society.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisXiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIrezumi (1966)
Otsuya, the daughter of a rich merchant, elopes with her lover Shinsuke, an employee of her father's. During their flight, Otsuya's beauty attracts the gaze of Seikichi, a mysterious master tattooist who sees her pristine white skin as the perfect canvas for his art. The image of the large demonic spider that he emblazons across Otsuya's back marks her as the property of another man, radically altering her relationships with all around her as her personality seems to transform under its influence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Poker House (2008)
Agnes and her two sisters struggle through a day in a home overrun by gamblers, thieves, and johns.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPimp (2018)
An urban love story set on the hard streets of the Bronx. A struggling female pimp, named Wednesday, grows up learning the game from her dad. Once he's gone she's left to look out for her prostitute mother and girlfriend Nikki.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIntentions of Murder (1964)
The neglected common-law wife of a Japanese librarian is repeatedly harassed by a young man with a heart condition who seduces her with the prospect of a better life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisThe Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMarried Woman Boutique: Women Indulging in Scandalous Love Affair (2002)
Kimie steps into a boutique each day to support her household in place of her husband, who is unable to work due to heart disease—while her own spirit aches with longing. She surrenders willingly to the irresistible pull of Tsukuda, the dashing apparel‐maker’s salesman whose whispered promises slip between her legs like silk. Kenji, burning to reclaim his former glory, watches his world unravel when he discovers the affair that simmered beneath Kimie’s restraint. And as the truth of Kimie’s glowing secret—her pregnancy—dawns on him, his reproaches choke in his throat, meeting instead a startling, fervent embrace from the woman he thought he knew…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dark Story of a Japanese Rapist (1967)
Study about a young disturbed man, who rapes and kills women and collects their bodies in a cave. A work based on the case of Yoshio Kodaira, a serial rape murder case shortly after the war.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Toyomaru's Pervert Clinic (1988)
Akemaru is the female director of Shumaru Clinic and a singer at a live spot at night. She treats perversions, but her treatment methods are unorthodox...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Kōshoku hana densha (1981)
After a man racks up a huge debt, his wife and his father are “persuaded” to perform together in a sex show in order to pay it off.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Osoe! (1978)
A woman wants revenge on a corporation for its role in the death of her parents, and she is willing to go to great lengths to achieve her goal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mitsuryōzuma: oku no uzuki (1981)
In the sweltering heat a wife searches for men to satisfy her insatiable lust. But someone is watching… and learning.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dosukebe okusan: Kanjiru soriato (1995)
Kenichi, a leading figure in the world of Japanese literature, accepts an essay on the recent popularity of shaved pubic hair, but never made any progress. Instead, he indulges in affairs during his breaks from writing, such as arranging sashimi on the female body of his mistress, or pursuing his dictating scribe...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Oda Kaoru: Kifujin O-jô no etsuraku (1995)
Manako, the intelligent and elegant president's wife, is exhausted, although she doesn't show it on the surface. Her husband, a one-man company president and an energetic man, makes his secretary and club hostess his mistress. There was Kusaka, a subordinate of hers, who had feelings for Manako, but Manako's pride would not allow her to have a cheap affair. Her Manako had a twin sister, Mimiko, but this was her family's secret that even her husband didn't know about. Mimiko is a congenital infomaniac (nymphomaniac), and she is imprisoned in a villa near the sea...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Hitozuma furin: Nokezoru (1996)
Kyoko wants to have a child with her husband but he is infertile. This leads her to other men...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Married Woman Assault Apartment (1985)
Koichi and Mariko are a married couple. Both husband and wife have their own careers. Koichi is a civil servant who returns home on time, while Mariko returns home late at night, leaving their love life cold.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Johan-ma?
The closest matches to Johan-ma are Tokyo Decadence (1992), One Million Yen Girl (2008) and Hounddog (2008). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Johan-ma?
Start with Tokyo Decadence (1992), the closest match to Johan-ma.
What is the highest-rated movie like Johan-ma?
Antiporno (2017), rated 6.6/10 by 462 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Johan-ma?
All Day and a Night (2020) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Johan-ma?
Yes: Tokyo Decadence (1992), One Million Yen Girl (2008) and Pastoral: To Die in the Country (1974).
How are movies similar to Johan-ma chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Johan-ma, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.