Movies like The Munekata Sisters (1950)
The best movies like The Munekata Sisters (1950) are The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952), The Pumpkin Eater (1964) and Early Summer (1951). If The Munekata Sisters hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLate Spring (1949)8.0/10 from 507 votes
- NewestButterfly (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseThe Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952)Also in Japanese
The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952)
The arranged marriage between a capricious woman from Tokyo high society and a quiet rustic man is tested by a marital crisis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Pumpkin Eater (1964)
Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEarly Summer (1951)
In postwar Tokyo, Noriko lives with her extended family. Although she enjoys her career and her social life, her more traditional family worries about her single marital status at the advanced age of 28. 40-year-old business associate Takako proposes, Noriko's family press her into accepting, but when her widowed childhood friend Kenkichi returns to the neighborhood, she finds her heart leading in another direction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHere (2024)
An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPassion (2008)
A young couple's announcement of their engagement to their friends is followed by a series of interactions and conflicts that forces everyone to reflect on their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Wish (2011)
Twelve-year-old Koichi, who has been separated from his brother Ryunosuke due to his parents' divorce, hears a rumor that the new bullet trains will precipitate a wish-granting miracle when they pass each other at top speed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOur Little Sister (2015)
After the death of their estranged father, 3 adult sisters invite their teenaged half-sister to live with them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLate Spring (1949)
Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLove Streams (1984)
Two closely-bound, emotionally wounded siblings reunite after years apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEffie Gray (2014)
A look at the mysterious relationship between Victorian art critic John Ruskin and his teenage bride Effie Gray.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNobody Knows (2004)
In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRachel Getting Married (2008)
A young woman who has been in and out from rehab for the past 10 years returns home for the weekend for her sister's wedding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ceremony (1971)
Oshima’s magisterial epic, centering on the ambivalent surviving heir of the Sakurada clan, uses ritual and the microcosm of the traditional family to trace the rise and fall of militaristic Japan across several decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFaces (1968)
Middle-aged suburban husband Richard abruptly tells his wife, Maria, that he wants a divorce. As Richard takes up with a younger woman, Maria enjoys a night on the town with her friends and meets a younger man. As the couple and those around them confront a seemingly futile search for what they've lost -- love, excitement, passion -- this classic American independent film explores themes of aging and alienation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrotherly Love (2015)
West Philadelphia basketball star Sergio Taylor deals with the pressures of fame while his brother and sister have their own issues with ambition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGoodbye June (2025)
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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 · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Skeleton Twins (2014)
Estranged twins Maggie and Milo coincidentally cheat death on the same day, prompting them to reunite and confront the reasons their lives went so wrong. As the twins' reunion reinvigorates them, they realize the key to fixing their lives may just lie in repairing their relationship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHail, Hero! (1969)
Carl Dixon decides to quit school and enlist in the Army, even though he's already run afoul of the law as a Vietnam protestor. It is our hero's intention to use love, rather than bullets, to combat the Viet Cong. Needless to say, his idealism is no match for the harsher realities of war.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Beyond (2014)
A suspenseful sci-fi journey tracking the turbulent relationship of Cole and Maya as they struggle to survive in a world where the human population has been left decimated after an extra-terrestrial attack.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Stud Boob (2020)
Two sisters in a bathroom debate their different approaches to the patriarchy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Gemini (2025)
Colly leaves her home planet of Gliese to find her twin sister, Josi, who was left on earth as an infant. The two are faced with the hardest decision of their lives; be split up and accept their fate on their respective home planets or fight and hunt on Earth to stay together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Pushing Hands (1991)
Mr. Chu is an elderly widower who teaches tai chi chuan in Beijing. He moves to America to live with his son's family, but finds the cultural adjustment difficult. Since his daughter-in-law is a white woman who does not speak Chinese, Mr. Chu's son, Alex, must mediate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnita (2021)
This long-awaited biopic provides a vivid account of the remarkable life of Anita Mui in and behind the limelight, chronicling her journey from a child performer to becoming one of world's most recognized music icons.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Last Shift (2020)
Stanley, an aging fast food worker, prepares to work his final graveyard shift after 38 years. When he's asked to train his replacement, Jevon, Stanley's weekend takes an unexpected turn.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFour Sisters (1962)
A story about the lives of four sisters and their manipulative mother who must come to terms with each of their decisions in life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Butterfly (2026)
Two sisters raised on a charter resort in Gran Canaria. After 27 years, they reluctantly return to their childhood island to deal with their parents death, and end up with a half-finished esoteric retreat center in the Canary Islands.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sister Italy (2012)
Sister Italy is a heartfelt, hilarious, culinary escapade that follows the fortunes of two Italian-American sisters, Italia and Maria, who are rival cooks. They clash in an intriguing cooking competition.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The Munekata Sisters and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Munekata Sisters?
The closest matches to The Munekata Sisters are The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952), The Pumpkin Eater (1964) and Early Summer (1951). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Munekata Sisters?
Start with The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952), the closest match to The Munekata Sisters.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Munekata Sisters?
Late Spring (1949), rated 8.0/10 by 507 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Munekata Sisters?
Butterfly (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like The Munekata Sisters?
Yes: The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952), Early Summer (1951) and Passion (2008).
How are movies similar to The Munekata Sisters chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Munekata Sisters, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.