Movies like Unlucky Woman's Blues (2014)
The best movies like Unlucky Woman's Blues (2014) are Sakuran (2006), Gate of Flesh (1988) and Tokyo Family (2013). If Unlucky Woman's Blues hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTokyo Godfathers (2003)7.9/10 from 1,597 votes
- NewestStardom Nighter in Korakuen 2026 Apr.2 (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseSakuran (2006)Also in Japanese
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 thisGate of Flesh (1988)
Prostitutes in burnt out Tokyo ghetto of post-WWII Japan peddle their flesh and save one-third of their money for a proposed dancehall to be named Paradise. The hookers live in a bombed-out building, but they accept the precarious situation with typical resolve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTokyo 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 thisThe 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 thisBattles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)
In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Outsider (2018)
A former American G.I. joins a yakuza family after his release from prison in post-World War II Osaka.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFemale 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 · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCafé Lumière (2004)
In a distinctly contemporary Tokyo that looks backwards to the city’s disappearing past, Yoko is a writer investigating the life of a modernist composer of the 1930s. She is pregnant by a man she does not want to marry and has found a kindred spirit in a used bookstore owner who aids her research.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalomé (2013)
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLey Lines (1999)
The story follows a trio of Japanese youths of Chinese descent who escape their semi-rural upbringing and relocate to Shinjuku, Tokyo, where they befriend a troubled Shanghai prostitute and fall foul of a local crime syndicate. Like many of Miike's works, the film examines the underbelly of respectable Japanese society and the problems of assimilation faced by non-ethnically Japanese people in Japan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSwallowtail Butterfly (1996)
The struggles of a group of outcasts living in "Yentown", in an alternate-future Japan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisFemale Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972)
After being cruelly set up and deceived by Sugimi, a detective in cahoots with the mob with whom she was whole-heartedly in love, Matsushima’s desire for revenge knows no bounds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisHouse 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 thisAngel Guts: Red Classroom (1979)
A porn magazine editor stumbles upon an amateur gang rape film and, struck by the girl's acting, decides to find her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCome 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
SnoozefestMovies like thisStreet 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 · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLady Snowblood (1973)
A strikingly beautiful young woman is trained from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLalapipo (2009)
Adapted from a sex-stuffed cult novel, LALAPIPO (a play on the phrase “A Lot of People”) follows divergent seedy strands of sexual and narrative spaghetti through the sticky Tokyo night. There’s a chubby freelance writer who’s so obsessed with masturbating to the sound of his upstairs neighbors going at it that he forgets to deal with his own love life and when he finally does have sex he is immediately filled with self-loathing. The upstairs neighbor’s story then splits off like an amoeba: she’s an office lady seduced by a “talent scout” who is falling down the sex industry ladder, moving from hostess, to massage girl, to private karaoke attendant. The talent scout’s story then splits off and runs in its own direction, revealing the sorry state of this young pimp’s soul. From there, the movie takes more and more time to consider the lives of more and more characters until the entire Japanese sex industry is filled with the wailing of lost souls.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
TJPW Grand Princess '24 (2024)
Grand Princess '24 was a professional wrestling event promoted by Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling (TJPW), held on March 31, 2024 at Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan. In the main event, Miyu Yamashita defended the Princess of Princess Championship against Miu Watanabe.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
DDT Change Age 2026 ~Extraordinary Zenkai Power~ (2026)
Change Age 2026 ~Extraordinary Zenkai Power~ was a professional wrestling event promoted by DDT Pro-Wrestling, held on April 5, 2026 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. It featured a retirement ceremony for long-time star and former KO-D Openweight Champion Kazusada Higuchi, and the remaining members of his Harimao stable competed together one last time in the main event.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Stardom Cinderella Tournament 2023 ~Finals~ (2023)
Cinderella Tournament 2023 ~Finals~ was a professional wrestling event promoted by World Wonder Ring Stardom, held on April 15, 2023, at Yoyogi National Stadium No.2 Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. It primarily involved the semi-final and final matches for company's annual single-elimination tournament, as well as other featured matches.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Stardom Nighter in Korakuen 2026 Apr. (2026)
Stardom Nighter in Korakuen 2026 Apr. was a professional wrestling event promoted by World Wonder Ring Stardom, held on April 8, 2026 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Stardom in Korakuen 2026 Apr. (2026)
Stardom in Korakuen 2026 Apr. was a professional wrestling event promoted by World Wonder Ring Stardom, held on April 11, 2026 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Stardom Nighter in Korakuen 2026 Apr.2 (2026)
Stardom Nighter in Korakuen 2026 Apr.2 was a professional wrestling event promoted by World Wonder Ring Stardom, held on April 23, 2026 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. It featured Saki Kashima's last advertised match before her retirement, teaming with God's Eye stablemate Syuri against AZM and the returning Momo Watanabe. The show also served as the final build for All Star Grand Queendom 2026 - in the main event, H.A.T.E.'s Saya Kamitani and Konami faced their separate championship challengers for Yokohama Arena, Sayaka Kurara and Hanan, in a tag team match.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (2023)
A lost cat, a giant talkative frog and a tsunami help a bank employee without ambition, his frustrated wife and a schizophrenic accountant to save Tokyo from an earthquake and find a meaning to their lives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
On Christmas Eve, three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo discover a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find its parents.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIzo (2004)
Izo is an assassin in the service of a Tosa lord and Imperial supporter. After killing dozens of the Shogun's men, Izo is captured and crucified. Instead of being extinguished, his rage propels him through the space-time continuum to present-day Tokyo. Here Izo transforms himself into a new, improved killing machine.
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 Unlucky Woman's Blues?
The closest matches to Unlucky Woman's Blues are Sakuran (2006), Gate of Flesh (1988) and Tokyo Family (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Unlucky Woman's Blues?
Start with Sakuran (2006), the closest match to Unlucky Woman's Blues.
What is the highest-rated movie like Unlucky Woman's Blues?
Tokyo Godfathers (2003), rated 7.9/10 by 1,597 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Unlucky Woman's Blues?
Stardom Nighter in Korakuen 2026 Apr.2 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Unlucky Woman's Blues?
Yes: Sakuran (2006), Gate of Flesh (1988) and Tokyo Family (2013).
How are movies similar to Unlucky Woman's Blues chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Unlucky Woman's Blues, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.