Chikamatsu Monogatari
When the wife of a 17th-century Kyoto scrollmaker is falsely accused of having an affair with his best employee, the pair flee the city and find themselves truly falling for one another.
Movies Like Chikamatsu Monogatari
Similar in style, tone, and themes — find your next watch.
Early Spring
1956★ 7.5
A young salaryman and his wife struggle within the confines of their passionless relationship while he embarks on an extramarital affair.
Dolls
2002★ 7.5
Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter.
The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice
1952★ 7.5
The arranged marriage between a capricious woman from Tokyo high society and a quiet rustic man is tested by a marital crisis.
An Autumn Afternoon
1962★ 7.9
Widower Shuhei Hirayama's caretaker is his 24-year-old daughter, Michiko. Gradually, he comes to realize that Michiko should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.
My Happy Marriage
2023★ 7.3
An unhappy young woman from an abusive family is married off to a fearsome and chilly army commander. But the two learn more about each other, love may have a chance.
Romance Doll
2020★ 7.1
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.
Not Easily Broken
2009★ 6.4
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
High and Low
1963★ 8.4
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
2021★ 7.2
An unexpected love triangle, a seduction trap, and a random encounter are the three episodes, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.
Say 'I Love You'
2014★ 6.8
Mei Tachibana is a high school student. Due to a traumatic incident when she was a kid, Mei has been unable to make friends or have boyfriends. By mistake, Mei then injures the most popular male student named Yamato Kurosawa. Somehow, Yamato Kurosawa likes Mei Tachibana and tells everyone unilaterally that Mei is his friend. One day, Yamato Kurosawa saves Mei Tachibana from a stalker by kissing her. From that kiss, their love story begins.
Throne of Blood
1957★ 7.9
Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.
Ali and Nino
2016★ 6.5
Muslim prince Ali and Georgian aristocrat Nino have grown up in the Russian province of Azerbaijan. Their tragic love story sees the outbreak of the First World War and the world’s struggle for Baku’s oil. Ultimately they must choose to fight for their country’s independence or for each other.
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005★ 7.6
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.
The Lower Depths
1957★ 7.1
Residents of a rundown boardinghouse in 19th-century Japan, including a mysterious old man and an aging actor, get drawn into a love triangle that turns violent. When amoral thief Sutekichi breaks off his affair with landlady Osugi to romance her younger sister, Okayo, Osugi extracts her revenge by revealing her infidelity to her jealous husband.
Restless
2011★ 6.5
Two outsiders, both shaped by the circumstances that have brought them together, forge a deep and lasting love.
The Magic of Ordinary Days
2005★ 7.3
Pregnant out of wedlock, an educated young woman is pressured by her father into an arranged marriage with a lonely farmer in this drama set during WWII.
47 Ronin
2013★ 6.2
Kai—an outcast—joins Oishi, the leader of 47 outcast samurai. Together they seek vengeance upon the treacherous overlord who killed their master and banished their kind. To restore honour to their homeland, the warriors embark upon a quest that challenges them with a series of trials that would destroy ordinary warriors.
Blue Spring Ride
2014★ 6.7
In middle school, Futaba Yoshioka was madly in love with Tanaka Kou but he moves away with his mother. She is reunited with him later in life but he is not the same person anymore.
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
1927★ 7.8
A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.
After the Storm
2016★ 7.2
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.