Movies like The Geisha House (1999)
The best movies like The Geisha House (1999) are Sisters of the Gion (1936), Female Yakuza Tale (1973) and The Visit (1964). If The Geisha House hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMemoirs of a Geisha (2005)7.6/10 from 3,496 votes
- NewestLorelei (2020)Released 2020
- In JapaneseSisters of the Gion (1936)Also in Japanese
Sisters of the Gion (1936)
A geisha in the Gion district of Kyoto feels obliged to help her lover when he asks to stay with her after going bankrupt and leaving his wife. However, her younger sister opposes this, thinking that they should both find wealthy patrons to support them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFemale Yakuza Tale (1973)
Ocho is accidentally captured by a drug trafficking cartel who use Chinese women to smuggle drugs into Japan by hiding it in their vaginas. She is tortured, and manages to escape, fighting both the male yakuzas and a gang of female thieves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Visit (1964)
Carla Zachanassian had a child by Serge Miller as a teenager. When Serge refused to marry her, she was driven out of town. By her own wit and cunning, she has returned as a multi-millionaire for a visit. The town lays out the red carpet expecting big things from Carla, only to learn that her sole purpose is to see Serge Miller killed...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Geisha (1953)
Fleeing a distressing family situation, Eiko, a very young girl, becomes an apprentice to Miyoharu, a veteran geisha. Both, determined to preserve their professional integrity, must face the selfishness and ambition of several petty people.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZatoichi (2003)
Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 Quiller Memorandum (1966)
After two British Secret Intelligence Service agents are murdered at the hands of a cryptic neo-Nazi group known as Phoenix, the suave agent Quiller is sent to Berlin to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBattles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973)
Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHurry Sundown (1967)
A ruthless Southern opportunist tries to buy his cousin's land, and when thwarted, brings several tragedies to the lives of his loved ones.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome Run (2013)
A pro ball player with a substance abuse problem is forced into rehab in his hometown, finding new hope when he gets honest about his checkered past, and takes on coaching duties for a misfit Little League team
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Million Yen Girl (2008)
A 21-year-old girl is released from prison, only to deal with the neighborhood gossip about her and family conflicts. She decides to save one million yen, move to where no one knows her and keep repeating the process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLorelei (2020)
A man is released from prison after 15 years. He reunites with his high school girlfriend, now a single mother of three. What follows is a lyrical take on love, regret and second chances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBurden (2018)
Ku Klux Klansman Mike Burden opens the Redneck Shop and KKK museum in historic Laurens, SC. He subsequently falls in love with a single mother and, under her influence, quits the Klan and is taken in by an African American Reverend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 thisLittle Forest: Winter/Spring (2015)
Ichiko bakes a cake for an end-of-year party with her friends. In the depths of winter, making mochi and curry keeps the people of Komori warm. Later, spring brings thoughts of her absent mother as well as rice planting and sakura, and she begins to think of leaving Komori behind again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisI Am Elizabeth Smart (2017)
The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNinja (2009)
A westerner named Casey, studying Ninjutsu in Japan, is asked by the Sensei to return to New York to protect the legendary Yoroi Bitsu, an armored chest that contains the weapons of the last Koga Ninja.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMemoirs of a Geisha (2005)
In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn the Realm of the Senses (1976)
A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Scent of Incense (1964)
After her mother runs away from home, Tomoko is raised to be a geisha. One day Tomoko meets her mother in a red-light district in Tokyo and her life deeply gets in trouble.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Violated Paradise (1963)
A modern geisha travels through Japan trying to find a job as entertainer, and ends up by finding love and a job as ama, a pearl diver.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ginza Midnight Story — Utopia (2000)
Japanese gangster drama set in the exclusive Ginza district of Tokyo, following Haruka (Atsuko Sakuraba), a young geisha who is attacked by an influential businessman who plans to abduct her. When she is rescued by the members of a club called 'Utopia', Haruka joins them and becomes a hostess, rapidly establishing herself as one of the most sought-after geisha's in Ginza. At the same time, Haruka learns of a plan by a corrupt, gangster-owned club to set itself up as a rival to Utopia. Such is her loyalty to the club that first helped her, she is willing to do anything to protect it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ginza Midnight Story — Utopia 2 (2000)
In a continuation of "Utopia: Midnight Story, White Flower Bud" Haruka Ichijou follows through in her vow to become the No1 Geisha. She develops intricate schemes and mindful manipulations in changing her "Papa-san's," or Sugar Daddies, on her way up the modern geisha ladder. After she pits one against the other, the men begin to compete for her in elaborate and very expensive ventures, and their fight to win her for their prize in all-consuming frenzy becomes the focus for the No1 Spot. A barrage of young geisha's karate fighting seals their fate at last!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Inferno of Torture (1969)
Japan nineteenth century. High demand for tattooed geisha generates an entire industry for their "production". Europeans pay more for tattooed beauties. Against this background, and considering the gorgeous tattooed women develop the history of confrontation between two highly skilled masters of tattoo.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Tales of a Golden Geisha (1990)
Nayoko, a good-hearted geisha, brings luck to the men she sleeps with, even though most are scoundrels who don’t deserve it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Apart from You (1933)
An aging geisha, whose angry teenage son is ashamed of her profession, works alongside a young geisha, resentful of her family for forcing her into a life of shame.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Wife! Be Like a Rose! (1935)
Kimiko, a Tokyo white-collar working girl, lives with her serious, intellectual, haiku-writing mother. Kimiko seeks to marry her boyfriend but needs her absent father to act as the go-between and negotiate the marriage. Kimiko travels and finds her father living with a second family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Geisha House?
The closest matches to The Geisha House are Sisters of the Gion (1936), Female Yakuza Tale (1973) and The Visit (1964). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Geisha House?
Start with Sisters of the Gion (1936), the closest match to The Geisha House.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Geisha House?
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), rated 7.6/10 by 3,496 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Geisha House?
Lorelei (2020) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like The Geisha House?
Yes: Sisters of the Gion (1936), Female Yakuza Tale (1973) and A Geisha (1953).
How are movies similar to The Geisha House chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Geisha House, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.