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Movies like The Big City: Explosion (1930)

The best movies like The Big City: Explosion (1930) are Hands of Stone (2016), Tokyo Family (2013) and The Safety of Objects (2002). If The Big City: Explosion hooked you with its drama, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Hands of Stone (2016)

    The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  2. Tokyo 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 · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  3. The 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

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  4. Hungry Hearts (2015)

    The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  5. Come Sunday (2018)

    Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  6. Harmonium (2016)

    Toshio hires Yasaka to work in his workshop. But then this old acquaintance, who has just been released from prison, begins to meddle in Toshio's family life.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  7. Hardball (2001)

    An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  8. Hounddog (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

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  9. What Maisie Knew (2013)

    In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  10. Lorelei (2020)

    A man is released from prison after 15 years. He reunites with his high school girlfriend, now a single mother of three. What follows is a lyrical take on love, regret and second chances.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  11. The Young One (1960)

    A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  12. The Ballad of Narayama (1983)

    In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die. If anyone should refuse they would disgrace their family. Old Orin is 69. This winter it is her turn to go to the mountain. But first she must make sure that her eldest son Tatsuhei finds a wife.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  13. Tigertail (2020)

    A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. The 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 this
  15. 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 this
  16. Skin (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 this
  17. Holy Lands (2019)

    When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  18. Sakuran (2006)

    Kiyoha rises from the lowly courtesan ranks to the high class position of Oiran in the steamy red-light district of Yoshiwara. She is determined to stand on her own two feet and live life as she pleased.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. The Sound of Silence (2019)

    A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  20. House 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 this

Like The Big City: Explosion and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like The Big City: Explosion?

The closest matches to The Big City: Explosion are Hands of Stone (2016), Tokyo Family (2013) and The Safety of Objects (2002). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after The Big City: Explosion?

Start with Hands of Stone (2016), the closest match to The Big City: Explosion.

What is the highest-rated movie like The Big City: Explosion?

The Ballad of Narayama (1983), rated 7.5/10 by 213 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like The Big City: Explosion?

Lorelei (2020) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there Japanese movies like The Big City: Explosion?

Yes: Tokyo Family (2013), Harmonium (2016) and The Ballad of Narayama (1983).

How are movies similar to The Big City: Explosion chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Big City: Explosion, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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