Movies like Rice (1957)
The best movies like Rice (1957) are Late Spring (1949), Tokyo Story (1953) and Shoplifters (2018). If Rice hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHigh and Low (1963)8.4/10 from 1,235 votes
- NewestMouse (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseLate Spring (1949)Also in Japanese
Late Spring (1949)
Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTokyo Story (1953)
The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisShoplifters (2018)
In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 · both drama
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 · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAn Autumn Afternoon (1962)
Widower Shuhei Hirayama's caretaker is his 24-year-old daughter, Michiko. Gradually, he comes to realize that Michiko should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952)
The arranged marriage between a capricious woman from Tokyo high society and a quiet rustic man is tested by a marital crisis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTwenty-Four Eyes (1954)
From 1928 to 1946, the lives of 12 young people and their school teacher in a poor Japanese village are profoundly affected by historical events and personal circumstances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSansho the Bailiff (1954)
In 11th-century feudal Japan, following the exile of an idealistic governor, his wife and children are separated by slave traders; the children, Zushio and Anju, are sold into brutal servitude under the cruel bailiff Sansho.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Insect Woman (1963)
A woman, Tome, is born to a lower class family in Japan in 1918. The title refers to an insect, repeating its mistakes, as in an infinite circle. Imamura, with this metaphor, introduces the life of Tome, who keeps trying to change her poor life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlood and Bones (2004)
In 1923, teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe End of Summer (1961)
The family of an older man who runs a small sake brewery become concerned with his finances and his health after they discover him visiting an old mistress from his youth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisProfound Desires of the Gods (1968)
Tokyo engineer Kariya arrives on a primitive tropical island, where he interacts with the Futori clan, to drill a well to power a sugar mill.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKabei: Our Mother (2008)
Set in Tokyo in 1940, the peaceful life of the Nogami Family suddenly changes when the father, Shigeru, is arrested and accused of being a Communist. His wife Kayo works frantically from morning to night to maintain the household and bring up her two daughters with the support of Shigeru's sister Hisako and Shigeru's ex-student Yamazaki, but her husband does not return. WWII breaks out and casts dark shadows on the entire country, but Kayo still tries to keep her cheerful determination, and sustain the family with her love. This is an emotional drama of a mother and an eternal message for peace.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Man (2022)
Akira works as a lawyer. One day, he meets with his former client Rie, who asks Akira to perform a background check on her late husband Daisuke.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOf Mice and Men (1992)
Two drifters, one a gentle but slow giant, try to make money working the fields during the Depression so they can fulfill their dreams.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGod's Creatures (2022)
In a windswept fishing village, a mother is torn between protecting her beloved son and her own sense of right and wrong. A lie she tells for him rips apart their family and close-knit community.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Only Son (1936)
A rural widow sends her only son to Tokyo to receive a better education. Years later, she visits him and finds he has become a night school teacher struggling to support his wife and son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGrave of the Fireflies (2005)
Hisako loses her home in Tokyo to Allied bombing. With her husband fighting somewhere in Asia, she and her two children evacuate to a suburb of Kobe, where they share a house with Hisako's cousin, Kyoko. Kobe is bombed and Kyoko is killed. Hisako is forced to take care of Kyoko's two children in addition to her own, but there is not enough food for everyone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisUndead Lovers (2024)
Rino believes that "the man of her destiny" is Jun who always disappears from her whenever she feels their love for each other. In their lifetime, they meet many times and Rino is 100% focused on him every time. These encounters and separations are repeated in many circumstances. What could be the miraculous result of her persistent love for him?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Burning Plain (2008)
A trailer is burning in the middle of a plain. The bodies of two adulterous lovers are found. Scenes from both families, before and after the dramatic events, suggest an unusual connection between them. But what is their secret?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHigh and Low (1963)
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMouse (2026)
When her closest friendship is suddenly disrupted the summer before senior year, a teenager struggles to find her footing and develops an unexpected, complicated bond with her best friend’s mother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Les Misérables (2026)
After enduring 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, Jean Valjean emerges a hardened man. He seeks redemption by reinventing himself as a respected dignitary under a new identity. He promises Fantine, a dying factory worker, to rescue and protect her daughter Cosette, who is being exploited and mistreated by the deceitful Thénardier family. As Valjean raises Cosette as his own, he is relentlessly pursued by Inspector Javert. Admist the social unrest shaking France, the fates of Valjean, Cosette, her lover Marius, and Javert become intertwined in a turbulent, revolutionary Paris. Through struggles, sacrifices, and a deep yearning for justice, Valjean strives to complete his journey of redemption and offer Cosette a future of love and freedom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIce Princess (2005)
With the help of her coach, her mom, and the boy who drives the Zamboni, nothing can stop Casey Carlyle from realizing her dream to be a champion figure skater.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSherrybaby (2006)
After serving time in prison, former drug addict Sherry Swanson returns home to reclaim her young daughter from family members who have been raising the child. Sherry's family, especially her sister-in-law, doubt Sherry's ability to be a good mother, and Sherry finds her resolve to stay clean slowly weakening.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAutumn Sonata (1978)
After a seven-year absence, Charlotte Andergast travels to Sweden to reunite with her daughter Eva. The pair have a troubled relationship: Charlotte sacrificed the responsibilities of motherhood for a career as a classical pianist. Over an emotional night, the pair reopen the wounds of the past. Charlotte gets another shock when she finds out that her mentally impaired daughter, Helena, is out of the asylum and living with Eva.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLast Exit to Brooklyn (1989)
A gallery of characters in Brooklyn in the 1950s are crushed by their surroundings and selves: a union strike leader discovers he is gay; a prostitute falls in love with one of her clients; a family cannot cope with the fact that their daughter is illegitimately pregnant.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInventing the Abbotts (1997)
In the 1950s, brothers Jacey and Doug Holt, who come from the poorer side of their sleepy Midwestern town, vie for the affections of the wealthy, lovely Abbott sisters. Lady-killer Jacey alternates between Eleanor and Alice, wanting simply to break the hearts of rich young women. But sensitive Doug has a real romance with Pamela, which Jacey and the Abbott patriarch, Lloyd, both frown upon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Rice?
The closest matches to Rice are Late Spring (1949), Tokyo Story (1953) and Shoplifters (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Rice?
Start with Late Spring (1949), the closest match to Rice.
What is the highest-rated movie like Rice?
High and Low (1963), rated 8.4/10 by 1,235 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Rice?
Mouse (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Rice?
Yes: Late Spring (1949), Tokyo Story (1953) and Shoplifters (2018).
How are movies similar to Rice chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Rice, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.