Movies Similar to The Domain: The Naniwa Story

Black Rain(1989)

Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. However, in Japan he manages to escape, and as they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game—the Japanese way.

6.6

The Pornographers(1966)

Subu makes pornographic films. He sees nothing wrong with it. They are an aid to a repressed society, and he uses the money to support his landlady, Haru, and her family. From time to time, Haru shares her bed with Subu, though she believes her dead husband, reincarnated as a carp, disapproves. Director Shohei Imamura has always delighted in the kinky exploits of lowlifes, and in this 1966 classic, he finds subversive humor in the bizarre dynamics of Haru, her Oedipal son, and her daughter, the true object of her pornographer-boyfriend’s obsession. Imamura’s comic treatment of such taboos as voyeurism and incest sparked controversy when the film was released, but The Pornographers has outlasted its critics, and now seems frankly ahead of its time.

7.3

Osaka Loan Shark(2021)

Haruo Sugimura is fresh from serving a two-year stint in prison for assaulting someone when he is recruited by a loan shark named Sakai to help collect money for a company called Minami Hachi Ban Kogyo, baesd in Osaka. Their rates are ruthless: 10% interest is added every 10 days. Their customers are desperate: a hostess who owes money to other loan sharks, a man made suicidal because his family don’t love him anymore. Haruo learns about the art of the loan shark as well as the dark side of peoples personalities.

6.0

The Makioka Sisters(1983)

This sensuously beautiful film chronicles the activities of four sisters who gather in Kyoto every year to view the cherry blossoms. It paints a vivid portrait of the pre-war lifestyle of the wealthy Makioka family from Osaka, and draws a parallel between their activities and the seasonal variations in Japan.

7.4

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum(1939)

In late 19th century Tokyo, Kikunosuke Onoue, the adopted son of a legendary actor, himself an actor specializing in female roles, discovers that he is only praised for his acting due to his status as his father's heir. Devastated by this, he turns to Otoku, a servant of his family, for comfort, and they fall in love. Kikunosuke becomes determined to leave home and develop as an actor on his own merits, and Otoku faithfully follows him.

7.8

Repast(1951)

Michiyo lives in the small place Osaka and is not happy with her marriage; all she does is cook and clean for her husband.

7.5

King of Sha-kin(1997)

In late 90s Osaka, three people from various walks of life meet by chance. They team up to orchestrate a complex financial con targeting crooked businessmen in an attempt to solve their respective financial woes.

7.0

Missing(2022)

Depressed and in debt, Santoshi tells his young daughter that he is going to find an infamous serial killer and collect a reward. However, when Santoshi disappears without a trace, she starts to fear the worst and begins searching for him.

7.1

This Greedy Old Skin(1960)

A kind of modern dress "Donzoko" "The Lower Depths", about slum life in Osaka, where a greedy widow (Mimasu) takes advantage of her poor roomers, including her own son, who makes a meagre living stripping taxicabs.

0.0

Women of the Night(1948)

In early post-war Osaka, three women, war widow Fusako, her sister Natsuko, an expatriate from Korea, and Kumiko, Fusako's sister-in-law, descend into prostitution, all for their individual reasons.

7.1

Operation Plazma in Osaka(1976)

Amidst Japan's postwar economic boom, yakuza factions in Osaka fight for survival when Japan's largest crime syndicate plans a hostile takeover.

6.5

Princess Toyotomi(2011)

National Audit Bureau member Hajime Matsudaira (Shinichi Tsutsumi), Tadako Torii (Haruka Ayase) & Asahi Gainsbourg (Masaki Okada) travel from their homebase of Tokyo to the city of Osaka. Their mission is to discover any financial irregularities & to ensure the correct use of federal money in the Osaka city government. Their initial audits go smoothly, but things turn more interesting once they enter the Karahori shopping district - the area with a long history reaching back to the Meiji era.

5.9

Noisy Requiem(1988)

In the slums of Osaka, various marginalized misfits have their own interpretations of love. Completely alienated from the outside world, they commit sexual perversions, violence and cannibalism.

6.3

The Fable(2019)

The Fable is a legendary yakuza hitman equal to none—but his boss orders him and his sultry associate to lay low and learn how to live a "normal life" in Osaka.

6.7

The Drug King(2018)

Busan, South Korea, 1970s. Lee Doo-sam is a small-time smuggler. After helping a drug gang to smuggle meth, he falls into the dark crime world. Quick-witted and full of ambition, he eventually takes over the drug underworld and starts to lead a double life: a good community leader during the day but an infamous drug lord during the night.

6.3

Lovers Lost(1982)

A poignant love story between a 29-year-old woman, who has once been a prostitute but is now the mistress of a wealthy jewelry merchant, and a 19-year-old college student.

7.1

Kyrie(2023)

Luca lost her family in the Great East Japan Earthquake causing her not to be able to speak. However, her singing voice shakes the hearts of those who listen to her. It is a hymn of compassion played by Luca and the people.

8.0

Another Lonely Hitman(1995)

After serving ten years due to a drug-induced assassination of a rival gang boss, Tachibana enters a world that's nothing like it was when he went in. Once a respected and feared Yakuza mastermind, he now must try and adapt within the confines of the new generations vision of honor. As he still garners a somewhat decent amount of respect he just tries to get by. Hooking up with a prostitute he's been in passing by with he begins to feel some sense of comfort. Upon stumbling across her being beaten down by her pimp, Tachibana can't just sit by and do nothing. So he commences in putting down an old school Yakuza ass whipping, thus beginning a showdown with the 'now' boss, Sato.

5.8

An Inn at Osaka(1954)

An Inn at Osaka, rarely seen outside Japan, follows the story of an insurance company executive from Tokyo, Mr. Mito, who is demoted to the Osaka office. He takes a room at a small inn and tries to rebuild his life. Notable for its exquisite framing and cinematography, An Inn at Osaka allows its complicated plotlines to disappear behind the minutiae of penury and humiliation that Mito and others suffer during the post-war economic and social reconstruction.

7.3

Osaka Hamlet(2008)

A film about family life in Osaka. Following the death of their father, three boys struggle to find their own identity with the help of their outgoing mother and weak-willed uncle.

0.0