Movies like I Want to Be a Shellfish (2008)
The best movies like I Want to Be a Shellfish (2008) are The Scarlet and the Black (1983), Danny Boy (2021) and Escape from Sobibor (1987). If I Want to Be a Shellfish hooked you with its tv movie and war, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)8.2/10 from 307 votes
- NewestStardom 16th Goddesses of Stardom Tag League in Korakuen Vol.1 (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseWife of a Spy (2020)Also in Japanese
The Scarlet and the Black (1983)
Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His activities become so large that the Nazis decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDanny Boy (2021)
Soldier Brian Wood, is accused of war crimes in Iraq by the human rights lawyer Phil Shiner. The two men go head to head in a legal and moral conflict that takes us from the battlefield, at so-called Checkpoint Danny Boy, to the courtroom and one of Britain’s biggest ever public inquiries, the Al-Sweady Inquiry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEscape from Sobibor (1987)
The true story of WWII's notorious Sobibor Nazi death camp, where a courageous inmate orchestrates and leads the escape of over 300 prisoners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWaiting for Anya (2020)
During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTo End All Wars (2001)
Based on a real-life story, this drama focuses on a small group of Allied soldiers in Burma who are held captive by the Japanese. Capt. Ernest Gordon, Lt. Jim Reardon and Maj. Ian Campbell are among the military officers kept imprisoned and routinely beaten and deprived of food. While Campbell wants to rebel and attempt an escape, Gordon tries to take a more stoic approach, an attitude that proves to be surprisingly resonant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe One That Got Away (1957)
Based on the true story of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, the only German prisoner of war captured in Britain to escape back to Germany during the Second World War.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCloak and Dagger (1946)
Italian partisans help a professor sent by the OSS to find an atomic scientist held by Nazis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn Ordinary Man (2017)
A war criminal in hiding forms a relationship with his only connection to the outside world - his maid.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWife of a Spy (2020)
It’s 1940, and the population of Japan is divided over its entry into World War II. Satoko, the wife of a fabric merchant, is devoted to her husband but is beginning to suspect he’s up to something. Soon she allows herself to be drawn into a game in which she enigmatically conceals her intentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBattleground (1949)
Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 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 · both war & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted By Murder (2022)
A murder investigation is reignited in a house that is considered haunted by the Lawrenceton locals and where years ago Aurora and Sally, as teenagers, discovered a body.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWalking with the Enemy (2014)
Regent Horthy is the leader of Hungary and a German ally, but his favorable standing with Hitler changes as the war comes to an end. Forced to cede Hungary’s power or else witness the execution of his son, Regent Horthy gives up control of his country to the Nazis, who quickly move Hungarians to ghettos and death camps, with no hope in sight. But the despair changes when a young man named Elek emerges. Separated from his family during the relocations and aided by the woman he loves , Elek defies the enemy by becoming one of them. In a race against time, disguised as a Nazi Officer he embarks on a mission to save his family and thousands of his countrymen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTaking Sides (2002)
One of the most spectacular and renowned conductors of the 1930s, Wilhelm Furtwangler's reputation rivaled that of Toscanini's. After the war, he was investigated as part of the Allies' de-Nazification programme. In the bombed-out Berlin of the immediate post-war period, the Allies slowly bring law and order to bear on an occupied Germany. An American major is given the Furtwangler file, and is told to find everything he can and to prosecute the man ruthlessly. Tough and hard-nosed, Major Steve Arnold sets out to investigate a world of which he knows nothing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
A dramatization of the American general and his court martial for publically complaining about High Command's dismissal and neglect of the aerial fighting forces.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmperor (2012)
As the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBehold a Pale Horse (1964)
Manuel Artiguez, a famous bandit during the Spanish civil war, has lived in French exile for 20 years. When his mother is dying he considers visiting her secretly in his Spanish home town. But his biggest enemy, the Spanish police officer Vinolas, prepared a trap at the hospital as a chance to finally catch Artiguez.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMen in War (1957)
In Korea, on 6 September 1950, Lieutenant Benson's platoon finds itself isolated in enemy-held territory after a retreat. Soon they are joined by Sergeant Montana, whose overriding concern is caring for his catatonic colonel. Benson and Montana can't stand each other, but together they must get the survivors to Hill 465, where they hope the division is waiting. It's a long, harrowing march, fraught with all the dangers the elusive enemy can summon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wings of the Kirin (2012)
A man's body is found under the statue of a winged kirin in the Nihombashi area of Tokyo. A suspect named Yashima has a car accident and falls unconscious while he is attempting to run away. Yashima's lover Kaori comes from Fukushima and tells detectives that he is absolutely not a criminal. Meanwhile, Detective Kyoichiro Kaga's (Hiroshi Abe) investigates and uncovers a point of contact between the dead body and Yashima. A hidden fact of the victim is revealed which even his children did not know about...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDevotion (2022)
The harrowing true story of two elite US Navy fighter pilots during the Korean War. Their heroic sacrifices would ultimately make them the Navy's most celebrated wingmen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStardom Ittenyon Stardom Gate 2024 (2024)
Stardom Ittenyon Stardom Gate 2024 was a professional wrestling event promoted by World Wonder Ring Stardom, held on January 4, 2024 at Tokyo Dome City Hall in Tokyo, Japan. It was headlined by Mayu Iwatani defending the IWGP Women’s Championship against Syuri.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Stardom 10th Anniversary ~Hinamatsuri All Star Dream Cinderella~ (2021)
10th Anniversary ~Hinamatsuri All Star Dream Cinderella was a professional wrestling event promoted by World Wonder Ring Stardom, held on March 3, 2021 at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. The super-show commemorated the promotion's 10th anniversary, and featured a highly emotional, hair vs. hair match between Giulia and Tam Nakano for the Wonder of Stardom Championship in the main event.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Snowman and the Snowdog (2012)
Charming animated sequel to Raymond Briggs's classic The Snowman. When a young boy and his mother move house, he builds a Snowman and a Snowdog who magically come to life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHere Be Dragons (2022)
A war crimes investigator goes to Belgrade to hunt a man whom everybody thought was dead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStardom 16th Goddesses of Stardom Tag League in Korakuen Vol.1 (2026)
16th Goddesses of Stardom Tag League in Korakuen Vol.1 was a professional wrestling event promoted by World Wonder Ring Stardom, held on November 11, 2026 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. It served as the fourth show for the company's annual round-robin tag team tournament.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Stardom Nighter in Korakuen 2026 Oct.1 (2026)
Nighter in Korakuen 2026 Oct.1 was a professional wrestling event promoted by World Wonder Ring Stardom, held on October 20, 2026 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. In the main event, Cosmic Angels' co-leaders Sakurara (Aya Sakura and Sayaka Kurara) defended the New Blood Tag Team Championship against Itoh Respect Gundan's Meni☆Mani (Kikyo Furusawa and Rian).
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Stardom Nighter in Korakuen 2026 Oct.2 (2026)
Nighter in Korakuen 2026 Oct.2 was a professional wrestling event promoted by World Wonder Ring Stardom, held on October 27, 2026 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Stardom 16th Goddesses of Stardom Tag League ~Opening Round~ (2026)
16th Goddesses of Stardom Tag League ~Opening Round~ was a professional wrestling event promoted by World Wonder Ring Stardom, held on November 1, 2026 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. It served as the first show for the company's annual round-robin tag team tournament.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Shape of Night (1964)
Yoshie Nogami, a factory worker by day, works as a bar hostess at night. She begins a passionate affair with one of her regulars, but his changing demeanor and constant demands for money lead Yoshie down a dark path.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like I Want to Be a Shellfish and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like I Want to Be a Shellfish?
The closest matches to I Want to Be a Shellfish are The Scarlet and the Black (1983), Danny Boy (2021) and Escape from Sobibor (1987). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after I Want to Be a Shellfish?
Start with The Scarlet and the Black (1983), the closest match to I Want to Be a Shellfish.
What is the highest-rated movie like I Want to Be a Shellfish?
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959), rated 8.2/10 by 307 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like I Want to Be a Shellfish?
Stardom 16th Goddesses of Stardom Tag League in Korakuen Vol.1 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like I Want to Be a Shellfish?
Yes: Wife of a Spy (2020), The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959) and The Wings of the Kirin (2012).
How are movies similar to I Want to Be a Shellfish chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside I Want to Be a Shellfish, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.