Movies like Time Never Stops (2014)
The best movies like Time Never Stops (2014) are Millennium Actress (2002), The Asadas! (2020) and The Impossible (2012). If Time Never Stops hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMemoir of a Snail (2024)8.1/10 from 859 votes
- NewestRental Family (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseMillennium Actress (2002)Also in Japanese
Millennium Actress (2002)
Documentary filmmaker Genya Tachibana has tracked down the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, who mysteriously vanished at the height of her career. When he presents her with a key she had lost and thought was gone forever, the filmmaker could not have imagined that it would not only unlock the long-held secrets of Chiyoko’s life... but also his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Asadas! (2020)
Masashi is a photographer. He has his parents and an older brother Yukihiro. Through the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Masashi begins to take staged photos of his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Impossible (2012)
In December 2004, close-knit family Maria, Henry and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand. But the day after Christmas, the idyllic holiday turns into an incomprehensible nightmare when a terrifying roar rises from the depths of the sea, followed by a wall of black water that devours everything in its path. Though Maria and her family face their darkest hour, unexpected displays of kindness and courage ameliorate their terror.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisFloating Clouds (1955)
A married Japanese forester during WWII is sent to Indochina to manage forests. He meets a young Japanese typist and promises to leave his wife. He doesn't and after the war, she turns up and the affair resumes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMemoir of a Snail (2024)
Forcibly separated from her twin brother when they are orphaned, a melancholic misfit learns how to find confidence within herself amid the clutter of misfortunes and everyday life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)
The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humorous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life's little conflicts, problems, and joys in their own way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisSuzume (2022)
Suzume, 17, lost her mother as a little girl. On her way to school, she meets a mysterious young man. But her curiosity unleashes a calamity that endangers the entire population of Japan, and so Suzume embarks on a journey to set things right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHimizu (2012)
Two 14-year-olds from troubled, abusive homes come together sharing misery and pain. In the aftermath of an earthquake, the classmates learn how to survive while relying on one another for emotional and physical support.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRestless (2011)
Two outsiders, both shaped by the circumstances that have brought them together, forge a deep and lasting love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Makioka Sisters (1983)
This sensuously beautiful film chronicles the activities of four sisters who gather in Kyoto every year to view the cherry blossoms. It paints a vivid portrait of the pre-war lifestyle of the wealthy Makioka family from Osaka, and draws a parallel between their activities and the seasonal variations in Japan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFukushima 50 (2020)
Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi facility in Japan risk their lives and stay at the nuclear power plant to prevent total destruction after the region is devastated by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe People We Hate at the Wedding (2022)
A dysfunctional family that can't seem to get along and get it together reluctantly reunites for a family wedding. As their many skeletons are wrenched from the closet, it turns out to be just what this singular family needs to reconnect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFamily Romance, LLC (2019)
Love is a business at Family Romance, a company that rents human stand-ins for any occasion. Founder Yuichi Ishii helps make his clients’ dreams come true. But when the mother of 12-year-old Mahiro hires Ishii to impersonate her missing father, the line between acting and reality threatens to blur.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAfter the Storm (2016)
Ryota is an unpopular writer although he won a literary award 15 years ago. Now, Ryota works as a private detective. He is divorced from his ex-wife Kyoko and he has an 11-year-old son Shingo. His mother Yoshiko lives alone at her apartment. One day, Ryota, his ex-wife Kyoko, and son Shingo gather at Yoshiko's apartment. A typhoon passes and the family must stay there all night long.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRomance Doll (2020)
It was a pre-destined love and marriage for Sonoko and Tetsuo. They tied the knot and became husband and wife no questions asked. All is well then. Well, perhaps not. Each holds a secret that even the binds of matrimony cannot untie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisImprint (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 thisRental Family (2025)
An American actor in Tokyo struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese 'rental family' agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. As he immerses himself in his clients' worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like Time Never Stops and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Time Never Stops?
The closest matches to Time Never Stops are Millennium Actress (2002), The Asadas! (2020) and The Impossible (2012). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Time Never Stops?
Start with Millennium Actress (2002), the closest match to Time Never Stops.
What is the highest-rated movie like Time Never Stops?
Memoir of a Snail (2024), rated 8.1/10 by 859 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Time Never Stops?
Rental Family (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Time Never Stops?
Yes: Millennium Actress (2002), The Asadas! (2020) and Shoplifters (2018).
How are movies similar to Time Never Stops chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Time Never Stops, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.