Movies Similar to Beetle, Ship, Apricot

To be Near You(2019)

Centers on a boy named Osamu who receives an umbrella as a gift from Sayu, but it goes missing. That umbrella transforms into a girl who goes gallivanting around town on a rainy day.

Little Carp Jumps Over the Dragon Gate(1958)

Xiao Hei, a little carp, jumps over the bridge pier and gets cheers from his four friends. His grandma says that he is capable only if he can jump over the Dragon Gate like his ancestors did.

Over Dinner(2013)

Their last dinner before he leaves to join the Army. The reality of the situation begins to break in through the four surrounding walls.

An Cailleach Bhéarra(2007)

"The Cailleach was dependent on this one thing... every hundred years she must get back to the water and immerse herself so that she might become young again." This film is an interpretation of fragments of the ancient myth of the "cailleach", old hag, otherworld female, mother earth, sovereignty queen, or witch. Told using a large scale puppet and actors moving through real landscape.

Camilla(2008)

The Battle for Miggershausen(1937)

This technically quite well-made cartoon from pre-war Nazi Germany is a commercial (or propaganda piece) for Volksempfänger ("people's receiver"), inexpensive radios. First we see agricultural statistics: the far-away village of Miggershausen is quite below standards in milk and egg production. An anthropomorphic radio undertakes the long voyage by express train, steam train, hay carriage to Miggershausen to advertise its services. It is not well received. Then, it collects and leads an army of radios to try again. They flood all the farmhouses and seem to be more convincing that way - at day, they spread agricultural knowledge to bring milk and egg production up to standards; later, they just play music and illustrate how various people enjoy various kinds of music.

Romie-0 and Julie-8(1979)

Two rival robotics companies in the future release their latest creations at a robotics convention, claiming each to be the latest and greatest in technological advances. Mega Stellar Company's release is a robot boy named Romie-O, while Super Solar Cybernetics has released a girl robot named Julie-8. Unforeseen to each of the company's creators, is how each of the advanced robots soon falls in love with the other.

The Circus(2010)

In the vestibule of a hospital room, a young boy waits to see his dying mother. The clamor and spiralling movements of bodies around him intensify, forming a grotesque circus—a cacophonous circle that pushes the child back, depriving him of one final touch of his mother's hand. Using rotoscoped drawings suggestive of charcoal sketches, as well as 3D and object animation techniques, The Circus compels viewing with its unsettling realism. Colour is employed metaphorically to subtly express the promise and the memory of maternal affection. Nicolas Brault's highly personal film, suffused with poetic modesty, casts a poignantly sincere gaze on the heartbreak of a child facing the fearful, mysterious experience of his mother's death.

Zing(2011)

Day in, day out, Mr. Grimm is busy with his job as the Reaper, harvesting people's lives. One day, his monotonous existence is interrupted by the doorbell. It's a little girl. She wants her cat back. Little does she know that she's the next life on Mr. Grimm's list.

Snow - Salt

Once in a while my mom says: my heart yearns for the snowy Siberian Plains... and then she takes a ride to the Dead Sea…A short animated film developed and produced with "Gesher fund" as part of "90 Seconds of Longing" project.

Jabberwocky(1971)

In stop-motion animation, a wardrobe moves through the countryside. It arrives in a house, a child's voice recites Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky," and various objects, such as toys and dolls, move about, disintegrate, and play out archetypal scenes. Like Carroll's verse, the images are at once familiar and unfamiliar. A child's play suit, hanging in the wardrobe, becomes the adventure's protagonist.

Dimensions of Dialogue(1983)

Three surreal depictions of failures of communication that occur on all levels of human society.

URVAN(2021)

This work, "URVAN", is a mysterious and somewhat nostalgic cyberpunk action that mixes "unusual" and "everyday" with the motif of Obon, which welcomes and sends out spirits in Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture.

The Astronomer's Sun(2010)

A young man, accompanied by his mysterious mechanical bear, visits an abandoned observatory to confront memories of his past and follow his Father on a journey into the unknown.

Stained Smell(2022)

The film expresses the sense of being left behind. It stems from the realities of my childhood and how they did not match up with what I was feeling back then.

Fourth Period Swimming Class(2022)

The fourth-grade protagonist is going through physical and emotional changes and feels awkward as she can't help but compare herself to her friends. One day, she is blown away by her classmate Aya's swimming and realizes that she has feelings for her.

The House of Loss(2022)

The elderly at the nursing home have their heads shaved. The protagonist who works there sees them but can't read their expressions. However, from one instance, he finds himself looking closely at their faces.

919(2022)

A man is walking along the beach. Then a demon, the man’s pain, appears and chases him. The pain is unbearable, coursing through his entire body. He somehow manages to get away, but eventually, he returns to the ocean even though he knows that the demon will appear again if he goes there.

Before Dawn(2022)

One cold and damp morning, two weasels were wandering the quiet streets. They get separated at one point but are reunited. Just then, bells and alarms began to ring through the city, and dawn came.

Howl from Beyond the Fog(2019)

Set during the Meiji reformation era in a small village in Kyushu, Japan. The story revolves around a young boy named Izana and a blind woman named Takiri, the two encounter the large monster Nebula who since ancient times was feared as the god of lake Amenosagiri. Theme of the film focuses on the Japanese concept of light and darkness, as told by puppetry and model miniaturization of the films’ world with practical special effects by Keizo Murase.