Best movies like Koto—The Lake of Tears

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.

A 9-year-old boy moves to a lakeside village and befriends a captain who claims a mythical sea creature named Nessie lives in their peaceful waters

Spring in wartime. Each day a milkman crosses the frontline on a donkey, dodging bullets to bring his precious wares to the soldiers. Blessed with good fortune on his mission, loved by a beautiful villager, a peaceful future seems to await him… until the arrival of a mysterious Italian woman turns his life upside down. Thus begins a story of passionate, forbidden love that will plunge them both into a series of fantastic and dangerous adventures. They have been joined by fate, and nothing and no one seems able to stop them… Two-times Palme D'Or winner Emir Kusturica directs and stars in this story of love and war, rich in emotion, comedy and adventure.

Japan, 250 years ago. Soetsu is a moneylender who is killed by the cruel samurai Shinzaemon. His body is dumped in the Kasenega-Fuchi river. According to legend, all who drown in the river will never surface again. 20 Years later, Shinkichi, the handsome son of Shinzaemon, coincidentally meets Toyoshiga, the daughter of Soetsu. They fall in love. It is a doomed love, as the spirit of Soetsu is far from dead

Toru Hayashi is an unremarkable bachelor who lives with his mother, until one day a young woman named Rumi moves in in the apartment upstairs. Rumi is a self-proclaimed master thief, but she needs socially awkward Toru's help to actually kickstart her so-called career.

In Edo Period Japan, a noblewoman's banishment for her love affair with a lowly page signals the beginning of her inexorable fall.

Su-chan, Mai-chan, Sawako-san follows the lives of three women who are former co-workers. 34-year-old Su-chan works at a coffee shop and has feelings for the manager there. 34-year-old Mai-chan works at an OA machine maker. She is in a relationship with a married man. 39-year-old Sawako works as a web designer and also takes care of her grandmother. -san and her mother take care of her grandmother.

A young girl is being asked about a man with whom she was keeping company, as her grandmother plays a lament on a shamisen. Then the focus changes to a couple arriving from Tokyo - the woman returning to her home, the man an escapee from the yakuza. The man doesn't seem to mind when the woman sells her favours to tourists at the local bar, just as she seems to take his attentions to Yuki, a blind girl, with equanimity.

Is God really the giver of second chances? Can He take a worthless, selfish, self-serving and self-centered, drug addicted broken down life and restore it with forgiveness, mercy and love? Is he able to guide and direct someone facing hopelessly seeming impossible circumstances, and lead them through to amazing grace? TAKE TWO is the True Story about a decadent Hollywood film producer who bottoms out in Los Angeles California and loses everything. Frustrated that he continues to wake up every morning to his same failed life he decides to leave L.A. to seek a new life, only to quickly realize he has taken himself with him. In the beginning of his trek he meets a beautiful young woman in a small bar in Wyoming. Unaware that she is already married and has children, they have a one-night affair that leads to the birth of a baby girl.

Set in the Sengoku Period, Torakage is retired ninja. He lives his life peacefully, but turmoil comes as he becomes involved a fight over treasures.

Kon Ichikawa's retelling of the classic true story of Samurai honor. When a young clan lord is forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide), his loyal followers (now Ronin, masterless Samurai) dedicate their lives to avenging his death.

With its electrifying flight sequences and high-powered cast, The Hunters is a mesmerizing film based on the best-selling novel by veteran fighter pilot James Salter. Set during the height of the Korean War, the story centers on Major Cleve Saville (Robert Mitchum), a master of the newly operational F-86 Sabre fighter jets. But adept as he is at flying, Saville¹s personal life takes a nosedive when he falls in love with his wingman¹s (Lee Philips) beautiful wife (May Britt). To make matters worse, Saville must cope with a loud-mouthed rookie (Robert Wagner) in a daring rescue mission that threatens all their lives in this well-crafted war drama.

In 16th century Japan, a young man has to choose between becoming a master steel maker like his father and grandfather before him, or becoming a samurai so that he can help protect his village from attacks by the various clans which want the high-quality steel made there.

When a friend from his yakuza past gets released from prison, a loan shark and his former-male-host sidekick help the ex-con get back on his feet.

During the bloody era of the Tokugawa Shogunate collapse, a man appeared capable of overthrowing a corrupt government and ending the feud between the Choshu and Satsuma clans. This is the story of Tsukigat Khanpayit, the sword maker of the Choshu clan, who, along with Katsuro Kogoro and Sakamoto Ryoma, sought to fulfill the dream of a new peaceful era in Japan. Can he realize his ideals or will he die in the chaos of internecine fights...

When Kat Walker, an exotically beautiful free spirit, takes a job at rustic Tamarack Lodge, she appears to have little in common with her strange new companions. Soon, amazing interconnections between them are revealed and their lives intertwine with passion and humor as they challenge one another on the steepest slopes of the body, mind and soul. After an avalanche traps Kat and her friends in the isolated lodge, she becomes increasingly haunted by seductive and terrifying visions. As a secret world unfolds, her mysterious past emerges and her new life awakens. With its fascinating characters and compelling story, LOST LAKE is a captivating journey into the light and shadows of the human heart.

Buck is a half German Shepard half Saint Bernard whose life is peaceful and happy living with the Millers in California. However, one day he is tricked and sold off. He ends up in the snowy North where he has become a sled dog during the Gold Rush. His story takes many twists and turns and he has to fight for his own survival.

Twenty-six-year-old Hiroto Suwa; his wife, Naho; and their old high school classmates—Takako Chino, Azusa Murasaka, and Saku Hagita—visit Mt. Koubou to view the cherry blossoms together. While watching the setting sun, they reminisce about Kakeru Naruse, their friend who died 10 years ago. Mourning for him, they decide to visit Kakeru's old home, where they learn the secret of his death from his grandmother.

The story will center on a high school girl named Tamahi, who encounters strange creatures while navigating a gigantic apartment building.

A young woman in a decaying apartment complex finds herself seeing worms and moths everywhere, bursting out of beetles, animals, and people, and sets out to find how this is related to a rash of murders across the city.

In the year 1926, Machiko Hasegawa is a 6-year-old child and lives in Fukuoka. She is a bright girl, who enjoys playing outdoors. At home, she loves to draw. Her father is a handsome mining engineer and he loves his family more than anything else. When Machiko is 14-years-old her father passes away. The rest of her family decides to move to Tokyo. Her mother than makes a quick decision and sends 15-year-old Machiko to manga artist Tagawa as his student. Machiko's life is peaceful, but the oncoming war makes things tense. Machiko's family moves back to Fukuoka. When the war is about to end, the local newspaper asks Machiko to publish a serial manga. Machiko has difficulties in coming up with an idea for the manga series and decides to go to the nearby Momochi Seaside Park. She watches the ocean and comes up with the idea for manga series "Sazae-san".

Satoshi Murayama, the shogi (Japanese chess) master known as the arch-rival of Yoshiharu Habu, the shogi genius of the century, died of an intractable disease at age 29. Satoshi devoted his life to fighting not only the disease but also his rivals, feverishly pursuing the highest title, at risk to his life. Director Yoshitaka Mori (Hyakuhachi (2008), Space Brothers (2012)) depicts Murayama's true struggling life, full of love from his parents and teacher, based on the non-fiction novel written by Yoshio Osaki. Kenichi Matsuyama intensely portrays Satoshi and physically embodies the character.

Masato is a bad boy, but very in love with music. He meets a girl, Miki, who has serious diseases but is optimistic toward life. They start to work together in a CD shop and catch every chance to show their talents. Under the efforts of Masato, his company at last becomes an entertainment giant in Japan.

A rural gentleman's peaceful life takes a turn for the worse when a couple from Tokyo move to his neck of the woods.

A once-thriving village is in dire need of women to help with diving duties. Times are tough and the current diver is definitely no spring chicken, so the mayor’s son finds some beautiful maidens to fill the position. The arrival of the new recruits gets a rise out of the village’s male members.

A blend of reality and fiction, "Open Five" follows the story of Jake, a struggling musician and his sidekick, Kentucker, a maker of "poor" films and what happens when two girls (Lucy and Rose) venture down to Memphis for a long weekend.

Ikaros is an Angeloid and falls out of the sky. Tomoki Sakurai is a boy who believes the most important thing is to live a peaceful life. The two live tougher. Tomoki Sakurai has never seen Ikaros smile. Tomoki Sakurai sees Nymph and Astraea laugh after they got free from the master’s rule. He hopes Ikaros can laugh like an ordinary girl. This movie wraps up the story of Tomoki Sakurai and his relationship with the Angeloid from the sky, Ikaros.

In Da Cut is a comically inspiring story of a young aspiring film maker, fresh out of school, who feels ready to take on the world - by chasing the illusion of beautiful women, big cash and quick recognition in the film circuit. On the path of fulfilling his life long dreams he comes to the shocking revelation that nothing in Hollywood is personal; it's just show business!

Mark Knopfler is one of the most successful musicians in the world. During the past 30 years he has written and recorded over 300 songs including some of the most famous in popular music. In this in-depth documentary he talks about how these songs have defined him and how they have been influenced by his own life and roots. It features previously unseen photographs from his personal collection and comprehensive footage spanning his career from a struggling musician playing in pubs in Leeds in the 1970s, to the record-breaking success with Dire Straits and his world tour as a solo artist. Looking back over the 25 years since he wrote the iconic Brothers In Arms album, the film takes an affectionate look at how this formidable, creative man has operated as a musician for three decades and how he continues to do so as a solo artist who is as much in demand as ever.

Showtime's "In the 20th Century" is a millennium-related strand of feature-length documentaries in which famous directors take on major subjects of their choosing. In the last of the six films, "The American Tapestry," filmmaker Gregory Nava takes viewers on an uplifting and challenging journey through the memoirs of five immigrant families, each one on a quest for its own American Dream. Beautifully interweaving accounts from several generations, Nava composes an astonishing tapestry of personal triumphs and tragedies, as each story of courage unfolds. The American Dream is an elusive thing, and the lives of the people in Nava's film are both triumphant and tragic, teeming with optimism and sometimes despair. They expose the finest and worst in America as well as what we feel most magnificent and dreadful. They are part of the many contrasting threads that make up the American tapestry — a complex portrait of a nation at the turn of the millennium.

The documentary traces Saint-Gaudens' life, both personally and professionally, from his birth in Dublin, Ireland to his work in New York City and Paris to his death in Cornish, New Hampshire. The film discusses how Saint-Gaudens' projects ranged in scope from large public monuments and portraits in relief to cameos and gold coins. The story of his personal life is woven around in-depth studies of six of his major works of art.

Kikunosuke was born as a child outside marriage and raised by Tatsukichi, who is the female manager of Japanese traditional restaurant. Tatsukichi drills Kikunosuke hard in a Japanese traditional string instrument, Shamisen, and continence. However, Kikunosuke becomes a “man” by a Geisha, Botan when he turns 18, then he becomes a man who do sex for female and compensates for their unsatisfied physical and mental emptiness as his job, called “Saoshi (The rod master).” Also, he sets up for himself as a master of Shamisen. One day, a lonely club hostess, Nami, appears in front of Kikunosuke. Nami cannot get satisfied with sex and comes to Kikunosuke. He tried to make her happy with using various techniques, yet he gives up. With despaired and humiliated, Kikunosuke goes on a trip to become the best “Saoshi.” Then, Kikunosuke meets Yukino, has many struggles, at a bar, and he decides to sleep with Yukino. However, a mysterious man watching at them from outside.

Mio is 20 years old. Having lost her parents early, she and her grandmother run a traditional inn in Nagano. However, her grandmother gets sick. Mio moves to Tokyo and lives with her father’s best friend, Kyosuke. He runs a public bath. She begins to work at the public bath, but it is scheduled to be demolished to make way for redevelopment.

Two Tokyo co-workers come across a destitute young lady in search of a place to live.

This is the story of Betsy a model who is nearly 30. Now in the world of modeling that is considered to be the age of retirement. She then sets out to see what else she can do and at the same time try to straighten out her personal life cause her husband has demanded that she should be either a full time wife or give him a divorce. And she has also taken an aspiring model under her wing, and is considering also being a photographer.

Based on accounts of the firebombing of Fukuoka. The year is 1945. Everything as usual in the Fukuoka city. Some places in Japan have already been scorched by the fire of war, but here it is relatively peaceful and calm. The school still working, and the boys play war in their spare time. Daichi and his friend are the commanders of rival squads. One day a newcomer appears in the class - Yoriko, a girl evacuated from Tokyo. Yoriko takes life very seriously, she has good reasons - her childhood ended after the loss of loved ones in the bombing. Children get to know each other and become friends. They, as the rest of the city, do not yet know that on June 19 their life will be divided into "before" and "after".

Set in 1945 at the end of World War II. Saku arrives on Kakeromajima as the head of navy special forces. He is admired by the children on the island and he is interested in learning the island song as well as drinking with his men. Toe is an elementary school teacher on Kakeromajima and she has feelings for Saku.

The story of a young man who has felt since childhood utterly alien from others around him. Since that time he has learned to put on a face to hide his alienation. He feels incapable of belonging to the human society, especially so by society's refusal to take him seriously. He then follows a descent into alcohol, drugs, & suicide ...

Woodwork artist Takumi moves to the small village Asuka in Nara Prefecture. He remodels old homes and lives a peaceful existence with nature. Takumi then meets Kayoko, a woman who went to the same school as Takumi. Kayoko is fascinated with the color crimson. She dyes scarves with the color of hanezu. Kayoko lives with boyfriend Tetsuya, who works as an editor of a PR magazine. They live together. Soon, Kayoko falls in love with Takumi.

A shy country girl chooses a part-time job at a maid cafe where she serves customers while dressed up as a maid.

Romi, a Japanese woman living in Paris, works in a karaoke bar. At home in the suburbs, she tends to her paraplegic lover Milou. To pass the time she recounts to him a story alluding to a period they once spent together in Japan. Soon, the mystery of a man named Mr. Ono begins to unsettle everything. Weaving together personal history, anecdotes and myths, the story takes a dark turn.

A 1920s playwright meets a beautiful woman who may be the ghost of his patron's deceased wife.

"The slow and subtle repeated rhythms of daily life provide the material for this 12 part film. The pace is slow with the intention of inviting viewers into a more visceral and less verbally analytical state of mind. The 'action,' small events like the mail arriving, the storm coming, and the grass getting mowed, are secondary to the way of perceiving those events. In many ways this film reaches back into a kind of personal memory one might recall from early childhood." –Leighton Pierce

GHOST-CAT RHAPSODY is a fresh take on the classic legend of the ghost cat. The popular horror tale was once popular with Japoanese studios, who released dozens of movies such as THE GHOST CAT AND THE MYSTERIOUS SHAMISEN (1938), GHOST CAT OF NABESHIME (1949), THE GHOST CAT OF OUMA CROSSING (1954), BLACK CAT MANSION (1958) and THE GHOST CAT OF OTAMA POND (1960). As with their previous projects, 3Y Film is looking to revive a long-lost tokusatsu genre for the modern age.

January 16, 1995. Tsuyoshi Takahashi, a young student at Shiokaze elementary, is driven solely to get excellent grades. Because of this he often ignores those around him in his pursuit of perfection. Miho, a young girl in his class that wishes he would appreciate the people around him. Kazu a sickly and bed ridden classmate that lives near him. January 17, the 1995 Kobe / Hyogoken-Nanbu Earthquake strikes killing more than 6000 people and leaving 300 000 more homeless. Measuring 6.9 on the Richter Scale, it was the largest Earthquake to hit Japan since the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. In the aftermath of the quake, Tsuyoshi's finds his priorities changing. Dealing with the death of one friend while helping another to cope with a very personal loss, Tsuyoshi is forced to mature into someone who can no longer ignore the suffering around him.

At a young age, Nitaroh is stricken with an illness that leaves him blind. He inherits the shamisen guitar once used by his mother and is taught its basics by a blind travelling shamisen player. In time with the help of friends old and new, he walks the paths that leads to his ultimate fate - that of founder of the Tsugaru style of shamisen play.

In the Andromeda galaxy there's a planet of a highly developed human civilisation. The gentle Prince Itaka and another kingdom's beautiful Princess Lilia are about to enter a love-marriage and take over the throne, when they discover a strange object on the nightsky. Later it lands on the planet, and an alien, mechanic civilization invades King Itaka's peaceful country making nearly everybody their slave. On a fateful night Queen Lilia gives birth to twins, and to avoid misfortune, the nanny Tarama takes one of the babies away, and entrusts it to the gladiator Balga. They still don't know, that the children were born with strong powers, and hold the key to the fight against the enemy that's searching to destroy every human civilisation on the planet... (from myanimelist)

Disappearances... What if a magical fairy beyond human knowledge is lurking in the shadows of incidents that could occur in our daily lives? Mysterious disappearances and slaughters in a seemingly peaceful and ordinary port town are so bizarre that all the bodies found have been mummified. Detective Junpei investigates this mysterious case. His father, who was also a detective, disappeared 20 years ago while investigating another strange case.

Riko is 27, working as a love simulation game designer, and she no longer has big expectations for a man in her life. One day app company TIMEIS, lead by Soichiro, hires her to work on their latest game.

A history of the ill-fated 1994 production of “The Fantastic Four” that was executive produced by Roger Corman.