Movies Similar to Koto—The Lake of Tears

Firebrands(2012)

Barely scraping by making an honest living as a rural yakuza, Hachiya (Yasukaze Motomiya) dreams of the City of Flowers. Unable to conceal their growing frustration at their everyday lives, he and his partner, Sagane (Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi), choose to pursue their own paths as yakuza, hiding a new major source of income from the family. But when the family captain (Kazuyoshi Ozawa) shows up for the first time in ten years...

7.0

Memoirs 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.

7.7

To End All Wars(2001)

Based on a real-life story, this drama focuses on a small group of Allied soldiers in Burma who are held captive by the Japanese. Capt. Ernest Gordon, Lt. Jim Reardon and Maj. Ian Campbell are among the military officers kept imprisoned and routinely beaten and deprived of food. While Campbell wants to rebel and attempt an escape, Gordon tries to take a more stoic approach, an attitude that proves to be surprisingly resonant.

6.4

Lost in Translation(2003)

Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.

7.4

Zatoichi(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.

7.2

Ushijima the Loan Shark Part 3(2016)

Sawamura, a contract part-timer dragged into a multi-million yen internet business, and Kamo, an office worker who lavished money on a beautiful club hostess, arrive at Cowcow Finance, the office of black-market lender Ushijima.

7.1

Two Portraits of MIYAGINO(2010)

In Edo-era Japan, a ukiyo-e artist languishes in his master’s shadow. Creatively stifled, he finds consolation in the company of a prostitute, and becomes entangled in a love triangle. A mystery emerges involving two portraits and the sudden disappearance of the artist Sharaku. Helmed by Cannes-selected director Tatsuji Yamazaki, the film employs kabuki-inspired sequences and stylised sets.

7.5

Kids Return: The Reunion(2013)

Set 10 years after "Kids Return." Shinji and Masaru have graduated from high school with different paths in their lives. Shinji attempted to become boxer and Masaru a yakuza. They both tried to rise to the top of their respective fields.

5.5

The Hidden Fortress(1958)

In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.

8.0

Mothra vs. Godzilla(1964)

Journalists Ichiro Sakai and Junko cover the wreckage of a typhoon when an enormous egg is found and claimed by greedy entrepreneurs. Mothra's fairies arrive and are aided by the journalists in a plea for its return. As their requests are denied, Godzilla arises near Nagoya and the people of Infant Island must decide if they are willing to answer Japan's own pleas for help.

7.0

The Great White Tower(1966)

The story contrasts the life of two doctors, former classmates and now both assistant professors at Naniwa University Hospital in Osaka. The brilliant and ambitious surgeon Goro Zaizen stops at nothing to rise to a position of eminence and authority, while the friendly Shuji Satomi busies himself with his patients and research.

6.7

Haru(1996)

A young Tokyo businessman joins an online movie forum and develops a special bond with one of its members through back and forth e-mails.

7.8

The Choice of Our Nation(2021)

The referendum whether nuclear power plants should be banned has been held in Japan. People must decide their future.

0.0

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Sad Boyfriend(2009)

37 year old sales manager Iwatsu is so caught up in work, he's unable to truly live his life. One night while looking at his graduation album on his phone, he receives a sudden call from a girl named Kana. He's taken to his hometown Kobe, where he lived as a teenager. Slowly, by way of Kana, Iwatsu's past is resuscitated.

0.0

Love and Other Cults(2017)

Ai's mother sends her to live with a cult commune, where she remains for seven years. After the cult is broken up by the police, Ai struggles to fit in with society.

7.0

Food and the Maiden(2010)

Young girl Saori, a cook at a diner, loves cooking. There is a regular customer Kujo, a guy who has never touched the plate of her cooking. Saori decides to give him a bag of sandwiches for him to eat at home, but later she finds that he gave it to a Buddhist monk on a street. She does not know that Kujo only eats what he cooked himself. A tragicomedy of 4 couples suffering about eating.

6.5

Light Ahead(2010)

Kii, a young woman who isn't good at studying or sports, finds her passion in life through amateur photography. While trying to take a good shot one afternoon, she meets fledgling singer Yuu by chance and together they move towards the light of accomplishing their dreams.

5.0

Sanjuro(1962)

Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed "Sanjuro." In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.

8.0

Millennium Mambo(2001)

Vicky recalls her romances with her exes Hao Hao and Jack in the neon-lit clubs of Taipei.

7.0

Kagemusha(1980)

Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.

7.8