Movies like The Bicycle Thief Was Bad (2006)
The best movies like The Bicycle Thief Was Bad (2006) are Pulse (2001), I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020) and Love & Pop (1998). If The Bicycle Thief Was Bad hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedShoplifters (2018)7.8/10 from 2,413 votes
- NewestIcefall (2025)Released 2025
- In JapanesePulse (2001)Also in Japanese
Pulse (2001)
In the immense city of Tokyo, the darkness of the afterlife lures some of its inhabitants desperately trying to escape the sadness and isolation of the modern world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)
Nothing is as it seems when a woman experiencing misgivings about her new boyfriend joins him on a road trip to meet his parents at their remote farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove & Pop (1998)
Tokyo schoolgirl Hiromi and her friends engage in a practice known as enjo kosai, or "compensated dating", where older men pay young girls for dates. Hiromi plunges deeper into this world to raise money for an expensive ring.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
The eccentric and childish Pee-wee Herman embarks on a big adventure when his beloved bicycle is stolen. Armed with information from a fortune-teller and a relentless obsession with his prized possession, Pee-wee encounters a host of odd characters and bizarre situations as he treks across the country to recover his bike.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDetective Conan: Magician of the Silver Sky (2004)
Once again, Kaitou Kid crosses swords with Conan Edogawa in this annual installment of the Detective Conan movie franchise. After receiving a letter from the thief, famous actress Juri Maki seeks the help of private detective Kogorou Mouri to protect the Star Sapphire—the "Jewel of Destiny," said to represent faith, fate, and hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThrow Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets (1971)
An experimental, psychedelic odyssey through Japanese subculture experienced via the eyes of a disillusioned young man, who must contend with intense familial dysfunction, psychosexual alienation, and existentialist malaise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStray Dog (1949)
A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLupin the Third vs. Detective Conan: The Movie (2013)
Conan Edogawa sets out to apprehend Lupin the Third, the suspect of stealing a jewel called Cherry Sapphire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Page of Madness (1926)
An elderly man visits his mentally ill wife in a psychiatric hospital. Years earlier, she had tried to drown their child and then take her own life. Crushed by guilt and powerless to change what has happened, he remains at the clinic as a janitor. Soon, their daughter arrives to inform him of her upcoming wedding, and with her arrival come painful memories and tormenting visions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKamikaze Girls (2004)
Momoko, a strange and seemingly emotionless girl obsessed with 18th century France, befriends a Yanki biker and the two experience the ups and downs of their unusual lives in a rural Japanese town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPastoral: To Die in the Country (1974)
A director faces creative block while working on his latest film – a reimagination of his adolescence growing up in a mountain village in rural Japan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEarthquake Bird (2019)
Tokyo, Japan, 1989. Lucy Fly, a foreigner who works as a translator, begins a passionate relationship with Teiji, a mysterious man obsessed with photography.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisIcefall (2025)
A young Indigenous game warden arrests an infamous poacher only to discover that the poacher knows the location of a plane carrying millions of dollars that has crashed in a frozen lake. When a group of criminals and dirty cops are alerted to the poacher’s whereabouts, the warden and the poacher team up to fight back and escape across the treacherous lake before the ice melts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSketch (2025)
When a young girl’s sketchbook falls into a strange pond, her drawings come to life—chaotic, real, and on the loose. As the town descends into chaos, her family must reunite and stop the monsters they never meant to unleash.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRage (2016)
A man brutally murders a married couple and leaves the word “ikari” (“rage”) written with their blood. The killer undergoes plastic surgery and flees. At three different locations in Japan, a male stranger appears. People suspect that the stranger might be the murderer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUzumaki (2000)
The inhabitants of a small Japanese town become increasingly obsessed with and tormented by spirals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAngel Dust (1994)
Every Monday, a young woman is murdered in the subway, leading psychiatrist Setsuko Suma to investigate Dr. Rei Aku's deprogramming of former sect members.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSamaritan (2022)
Thirteen year old Sam Cleary suspects that his mysteriously reclusive neighbor Mr. Smith is actually the legendary vigilante Samaritan, who was reported dead 25 years ago. With crime on the rise and the city on the brink of chaos, Sam makes it his mission to coax his neighbor out of hiding to save the city from ruin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Bicycle Thief Was Bad?
The closest matches to The Bicycle Thief Was Bad are Pulse (2001), I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020) and Love & Pop (1998). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Bicycle Thief Was Bad?
Start with Pulse (2001), the closest match to The Bicycle Thief Was Bad.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Bicycle Thief Was Bad?
Shoplifters (2018), rated 7.8/10 by 2,413 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Bicycle Thief Was Bad?
Icefall (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like The Bicycle Thief Was Bad?
Yes: Pulse (2001), Love & Pop (1998) and Detective Conan: Magician of the Silver Sky (2004).
How are movies similar to The Bicycle Thief Was Bad chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Bicycle Thief Was Bad, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.