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Movies like Runin: Banished (2004)

The best movies like Runin: Banished (2004) are Pigs and Battleships (1961), The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959) and Papillon (1973). If Runin: Banished hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Pigs and Battleships (1961)

    In the city of Yokosuka, Kinta and his lover Haruko, both involved with yakuza, brave the post-occupation period with a goal to be together.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  2. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)

    After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labour chief at a large mining operation in Manchuria, which also grants him exemption from military service. He accepts and moves with his newlywed wife Michiko, but when he tries to put his ideas of more humane treatment into practice, he finds himself at odds with scheming officials, cruel foremen, and the military police.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  3. Papillon (1973)

    A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  4. Tokyo 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

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  5. Sansho 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

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  6. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)

    Island of Java, 1942, during World War II. British Major Jack Celliers arrives at a Japanese prison camp, run by the strict Captain Yonoi. Colonel John Lawrence, who has a profound knowledge of Japanese culture, and Sergeant Hara, brutal and simpleton, will witness the struggle of wills between two men from very different backgrounds who are tragically destined to clash.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  7. The 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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  8. House of Whipcord (1974)

    Somewhere in the middle of the English countryside a former judge and a group of former prison warders, including his lover, run their own prison for young women who have not been held properly to account for their crimes. Here they mete out their own form of justice and ensure that the girls never return to their old ways.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

  9. The Grudge (2004)

    An American nurse living and working in Tokyo is exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse, one that locks a person in a powerful rage before claiming their life and spreading to another victim.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

  10. Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972)

    After being used and betrayed by the detective she had fallen in love with, young Matsu is sent to a female prison full of sadistic guards and disobedient prisoners.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  11. Ikiru (1952)

    Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  12. Street of Shame (1956)

    Follows five prostitutes employed at a Japanese brothel while the nation debates the passage of an anti-prostitution law.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  13. Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)

    Searching for his brother, Ryota stows away on a boat belonging to a criminal alongside two other teenagers. The group shipwrecks on Letchi island and discover the Infant Island natives have been enslaved by a terrorist organization controlling a crustacean monster. Finding a sleeping Godzilla, they decide to awaken him to defeat the terrorists and liberate the natives.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. The 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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  15. Level 16 (2018)

    The teenage girls of Vestalis Academy are meticulously trained in the art of being “clean girls,” practicing the virtues of perfect femininity. But what exactly are they being trained for? Vivien intends to find out.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  16. Graveyard of Honor (1975)

    A self-destructive man becomes a powerful member of the yakuza but quickly loses his self-control. Based on the true story of Rikio Ishikawa.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  17. The Life of Oharu (1952)

    During the Edo Period, a noblewoman's banishment for her love affair with a lowly page signals the beginning of her inexorable fall.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  18. Paradise Road (1997)

    A group of English, American, Dutch and Australian women creates a vocal orchestra while being imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp on Sumatra during World War II.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. Imprint (2006)

    An American journalist travels through 19th-century Japan to find the prostitute he fell in love with but instead learns of the physical and existential horror that befell her after he left.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  20. The 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 this

Like Runin: Banished and something else?

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

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Runin: Banished?

The closest matches to Runin: Banished are Pigs and Battleships (1961), The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959) and Papillon (1973). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Runin: Banished?

Start with Pigs and Battleships (1961), the closest match to Runin: Banished.

What is the highest-rated movie like Runin: Banished?

Ikiru (1952), rated 8.3/10 by 1,427 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Runin: Banished?

Level 16 (2018) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there Japanese movies like Runin: Banished?

Yes: Pigs and Battleships (1961), The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959) and Tokyo Story (1953).

How are movies similar to Runin: Banished chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Runin: Banished, 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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