Dolls
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.
Movies Like Dolls
Similar in style, tone, and themes — find your next watch.
The Stranger by the Shore
2020★ 7.9
Abandoned after coming out, Shun befriends Mio just before he has to move. Years later, Mio returns with a confession. How will Shun feel?
Nana 2
2006★ 6.4
Two girls with the same name but very different personalities share an apartment in this sequel to Nana. The rising fame of Nana Osaki's band, the Black Stones, is beginning to take a toll on the best friends' relationship. Meanwhile, Nana Komatsu struggles to make sense of her love triangle with Black Stones' guitarist Nobu and rival group Trapnest's bassist Takumi.
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.
The Sea of Trees
2016★ 6.2
In Japan's Aokigahara Forest, a troubled teacher meets a mysterious lost stranger who takes him on a life-changing journey of love and redemption.
The Sleeping Dictionary
2003★ 6.5
In the 1930s, British officer John Truscott journeys to a remote village in colonial Malaysia to educate and Westernize the local Iban population. There, he's introduced to the lovely Selima. In keeping with tradition, Selima is assigned to sleep with Truscott and teach him the native language and customs. But when they fall in love, both colonists and natives object to their plans to marry.
I Give My First Love to You
2009★ 7.4
Takuma knows that his life is shorter than the others and he feels that his demise is getting near. He chose to stay away from the girl that he loves so that she can easily move on. What he didn't know is that he is under-estimating her.
Fireworks
2017★ 6.6
Moshimo, Japan. The annual fireworks festival is about to take place and a group of schoolboys, arguing over whether they are round or flat when viewed from different angles, set out to find it out.
Millennium Actress
2002★ 7.9
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.
Not Easily Broken
2009★ 6.4
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
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.
Stealing Home
1988★ 6.3
Billy Wyatt, a former high school and minor-league baseball player, receives a telephone call from his mother revealing that his former child-sitter, and later in his teens, his first love, Katie Chandler, has died. Wyatt returns home to deal with this tragedy, reminiscing over his childhood growing up with his father, Katie, and best friend Alan Appleby.
Life in a Year
2020★ 8.2
A 17 year old finds out that his girlfriend is dying, so he sets out to give her an entire life, in the last year she has left.
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.
maboroshi
2023★ 7.3
A factory explosion plunges a small town into a timeless freeze, leaving teenage Masamune and his pals to grapple with a quickly collapsing reality.
Clannad: The Motion Picture
2007★ 7.2
Plagued by a seemingly endless stream of haunting dreams, Tomoya drifts through life with an almost overwhelming sense of anger and emptiness. Then, one fateful day, he meets the mysterious and beautiful Nagisa, and his world begins to change. While helping Nagisa revive the defunct Drama Club at their high school, Tomoya discovers that she has the same dreams. Their story starts beneath the cherry blossoms, but where will fate lead them?
Colorful
2010★ 7.2
Upon reaching the train station to death, a dejected soul is informed that he is lucky and will have another chance at life. He is placed in the body of a 14-year-old boy named Kobayashi Makoto, who has just committed suicide. Watched over by a neutral spirit named Purapura, the soul must figure out what his greatest sin and mistake in his former life was, before his time limit in Makoto's body runs out. He also has a number of other lesser duties he must complete, such as understanding what led Makoto to commit suicide in the first place and learning how to enjoy his second chance at life.
The Best of Me
2014★ 7.5
A pair of former high school sweethearts reunite after many years when they return to visit their small hometown.
Escaflowne: The Movie
2000★ 6.6
Gaea is a mythical realm ruled by sword and sorcery and immersed in blood and violence. Thrust into a conflict she doesn't quite understand, Hitomi Kanzaki helps aid the young Prince Van as they embark upon a journey to fight the Black Dragon Clan. The battle over a legendary suit of dragon armor, Escaflowne, has begun.
Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie
2012★ 7.4
Sixteen years ago, a mysterious masked ninja unleashes a powerful creature known as the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox on the Hidden Leaf Village Konoha, killing many people. In response, the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze and his wife Kushina Uzumaki, the Demon Fox's living prison or Jinchūriki, manage to seal the creature inside their newborn son Naruto Uzumaki. With the Tailed Beast sealed, things continued as normal. However, in the present day, peace ended when a group of ninja called the Akatsuki attack Konoha under the guidance of Tobi, the mysterious masked man behind Fox's rampage years ago who intends on executing his plan to rule the world by shrouding it in illusions.
Ugetsu
1953★ 8.0
In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.