Top 250 Movies Like Dare Yori Mo Mama Wo Aisu

Older, wiser but still a wandering loner, the blind, peace-loving masseur Ichi seeks a peaceful life in a rural village. When he's caught in the middle of a power struggle between two rival Yakuza clans, his reputation as a deadly defender of the innocent is put to the ultimate test in a series of sword-slashing showdowns.

In a dysfunctional family where the mother is a heroin addict and prostitute, beaten by her son, and the father is an ex-TV reporter, sleeping with his daughter and filming his son being beaten up, ‘Q’, a complete stranger enters the bizarre family, changing their lives for the better, finding a balance in their disturbing natures.

After her werewolf lover unexpectedly dies in an accident, a woman must find a way to raise the son and daughter that she had with him. However, their inheritance of their father's traits prove to be a challenge for her.

Getting an opportunity to meet with another half-Caucasian swordsman, Kyoshiro finds himself involved in a series of dangerous encounters.

A childless couple bury a box in their backyard, containing all of their wishes for an infant. Soon, a child is born, though Timothy Green is not all that he appears.

Mitsu Tamura (Kyoka Suzuki) is the mother of 7 sons. Her sons are sent to the battlefield and 6 of her sons die on the battlefield. To mend her broken heart, she talks to 7 paulownia trees which she planted whenever one of her sons left for the battlefield.

The Jones family (without father) head for California to open a bungalow court. To increase business they advertise for families with children and pets. A neighbor threatens to sue.

Volunteer home-care worker Rika is assigned to visit a family, she is cursed and chased by two revengeful fiends: Kayako, a woman brutally murdered by her husband and her son Toshio. Each person that lives in or visits the haunted house is murdered or disappears.

After Detective Shunsaku Aoshima is promoted to section chief he has the daunting task of dealing with eight cases at the same time, which includes a murder case, bomb threat, and a bus hijacking. Complications also arise between Detective Aoshima and his juniors.

Set 2 years after prior film "Bayside Shakedown 3: Set the Guys Loose," a major case occurs that has the potential to take down the entire police organization. For the next 3 days, Shunsaku Aoshima and his colleagues struggle to unravel the case...

When a teenaged girl moves to England, with her brothers and parents into the ancient Canterville Hall, she's not at all happy. Especially as there's a ghost and a mysterious re-appearing bloodstain on the hearth. She campaigns to go back home, and her dad, believing the ghost's pranks are Ginny's, is ready to send her back. But then Ginny actually meets the elusive 17th-century Sir Simon de Canterville (not to mention the cute teenaged duke next door), and she sets her hand to the task of freeing Sir Simon from his curse.

A mother is forced to question her sanity when her daughter disappears and she's told that she's been dead for over an year, igniting a chase for the truth in order to save her little girl's life before it's too late.

A woman goes on the run with her children to escape an abusive husband, who is the District Attorney. He puts out an Amber Alert for them.

When a man is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he takes custody of his misanthropic teenage son, for whom quality time means getting high, engaging in small-time prostitution, and avoiding his father.

In a suburban community, moms and dads, one after the other, mysteriously feel the irresistible impulse to attack and kill their own offspring.

A rebellious ninja in 17th century Japan takes refuge with a fisherman and his family.

Two detectives begin a stakeout based on the slim chance of catching a murderer whom they suspect will try to reunite with an old flame.

Amy is only 13 years old when her mother is killed. She goes to Canada to live with her father, an eccentric inventor who she barely knows. Amy is miserable in her new life... until she discovers a nest of goose eggs that were abandoned when a local forest was torn down. The eggs hatch and Amy becomes "Mama Goose". When Winter comes, Amy, and her dad must find a way to lead the birds South….

A strange meteor lands in Japan and unleashes hundreds of insect-like "Legion" creatures bent on colonizing the Earth. When the military fails to control the situation, Gamera shows up to deal with the ever-evolving space adversary. However the battle may result in Gamera losing his bond with both Asagi and humanity.

A successful Savannah defense attorney gets romantically involved with a sexy, mysterious waitress troubled by psychopaths and dark family secrets.

A comedy centered on the life of Kate Reddy, a finance executive who is the breadwinner for her husband and two kids.

Born in a small town in Japan, a young girl named Ai is sent to a cult commune by her religious maniac mother and lives there for seven long years. After the cult is exposed by the police, Ai starts a new stage of life, going to a normal school for the first time, but she can’t find her place to fit in there. Ai drops out from the school and society, spending her life living with a rock-bottom delinquent family full of gangsters and call girls. In a strange twist of fate she finds herself back in a new and normal life, living with a middle-class family, but her troubled life continues to follow her into more deep and seedy paths.

Detective Nishi is relieved from a stakeout to visit his sick wife in hospital. He is informed that she is terminally ill, and is advised to take her home. During his visit, a suspect shoots one detective dead and leaves Nishi's partner, Horibe, paralyzed. Nishi leaves the police force to spend time with his wife at home, and must find a way to pay off his debts to the yakuza.

A man is shocked to find out that after a deadly car accident involving his wife and daughter, his wife died, but her mind somehow got transfered into their daughter's body.

Lily and her son John live alone in a small town as her husband has been killed fighting the war in France. Or at least that is what she told John, but the arrival of Frank back in the town leads him to find out that she not only has been lying about that but also about the fact that she never married him. When Frank tussles with Lily in her yard she applies for a restraining order, calling on the help of her father (the esteemed judge Stoddard Bell) and his partner (lawyer Harmon Cobb). The case fails and when Frank is found murdered later that night Stoddard is arrested and Cobb has a defence case on his hands.

Based on the life of Hyakken Uchida, a Japanese author and academic. The film opens with Uchida resigning his job as a German professor at the onset of WWII. The story is told mostly in vignettes as he is cared for by former students in his old age.

A stage director and an actress struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal extremes.

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.

The story is about a married couplewith children on the verge of divorce. Their imminent divorce, like many, is due to their mutual lack of respect and compassion for each other and the effect it has on their children. When the family makes a traumatic move to New Orleans they move into an old, Victorian home. There, in the attic, the children think they have found the "magic" to solve their parent's problems. The children accidentally manage to switch the souls of their parents. Now the wife must face the perils of the lockeroom and pressures as family breadwinner and the husband must face pregnancy and bond with his children. Newfound respect and appreciation is gained as the couple finally find out what it's like to walk in the other person's shoes.

An aging couple decide to leave their quiet lives in the country to pay a visit to their children and grandchildren in Tokyo. Once there, they discover that neither their oldest son, a doctor named Koichi, nor their eldest daughter Shigeko - who runs a beauty parlour - has time for them: both are too busy attending to their everyday concerns. Even the youngest son went his own way. The old couple feel lonely and bewildered in the fast-paced metropolis.

Adapted from the bestselling Japanese autobiography of the same title, this gentle coming-of-age drama concerns an adolescent boy, Boku - Masaya, torn between the inherited recklessness of his father Oton and the inherited responsibility, wisdom and emotional strength of his mother Okan. Following a period of intensely rebellious behavior, Boku learns that his mom has contracted cancer; suddenly, his mother comes to live with him in Tokyo the entire emotional landscape of his life is altered.

One of a gang of karaoke loving middle aged women is murdered by a young man. Her friends track him down and kill him. His friends track them down and kill the killer and it escalates!

When the chemical company owned by eccentric Professor Higginbottom files for bankruptcy, the formerly-affluent family loses its income. Levelheaded oldest daughter Lambie struggles to make ends meet but has trouble persuading her carefree, profligate siblings to cut down on their spending. Youngest brother Dick enters a motorcycle race to win $500, but crashes his bike on the speedway and is paralyzed. Shocked into reality by the tragedy, Lambie's younger sister Babs persuades ex-prizefighter Gunboat Bimms to enter the ring one last time in hopes of winning a purse that will pay for Dick's surgery.

A headstrong young girl in Afghanistan, ruled by the Taliban, disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family.

Kyoko, who couldn't believe anything in the world and lived a desolate life, meets Katsuya Honda, who has been assigned as an educational trainee. She is at the mercy of Katsuya, who is rude and has a strong habit, and she is gradually attracted to her. However, she is disowned by her parents in the wake of an incident with her bad fellow. It's a punishment that I've been doing as much as I like. Katsuya appears in front of Kyoko who thinks so...

Thrown for a loop by the unexpected news that Dad has suddenly gone to his reward, the grieving eccentric Scanian clan are drawn together in a test of familial endurance that soon has them at each other's throats.

A stubborn farmer is raising his children alone. When his oldest daughter gets a suitor, the father nearly goes on the rampage, but he is forced to change his tune when he is injured, leaving her in charge of the farm.

A woman who has not seen her father for several years and does not have a good relationship with him. An unsociable man who lives near her father's house. Slowly the relationship between the woman, her father, and the man changes.

After Japan's loss in the war, the wealthy, cultured, liberal Anjo family have to give up their mansion and their way of life. They hold one last ball at the house before leaving. The seemingly cold, cynical son secretly grieves for his defeated father and the values that the war destroyed, while the daughter tries to prevent father from taking his life and to find her own place in the new Japan.

He is rejected by his sister when the brother floats the idea that their father move from his house to her apartment. The father has other ideas however and shows up unannounced at her doorstep with his belongings. She has little space, a boyfriend she lives with it and does not need a cranky father.

A meek agent at the Showa Life Insurance company receives a phone call from a customer who says that she's planning to commit suicide and wants to know if her policy will pay out. Concerned about her safety, the agent visits her house only to find that her young son has hanged himself. As he investigates further, more and more people connected with this family start having "accidents," and if he's not careful, he might be next.

A woman named Fujiki Asuka arrives as an acquaintance of a sister in law for a day under the bar master Tamura who had guided Yakuza's escaping as a shoji. Tamura who lives on the second floor of the store for the time being the son who wants to work here. A few days later, Tamura finds a handgun from Yuko's baggage and holds a suspicion ....

Chris Sam and his family lead a quiet suburban life in Danbury, Connecticut. Chris works for a septic company and his wife Lisa teaches special ed. They're raising their three children-Maddy, Chris Jr. and Jake-in Chris's childhood home. Outgoing and bright, the Sam kids are the center of their parent's world: Maddy, the oldest, is thriving in her college classes, while Chris Jr. and Jake are both gifted athletes. They are a tight-knit family, well-liked by friends and neighbors, and living the suburban dream. That is until suddenly the family disappears, cutting off all communication with the rest of the world and leaving no clue as to where they've gone or when they're coming back. Concerned, if not a little intrigued by the Sam's abrupt disappearance, Jairus- once close friends with the Sam family-rounds up his film crew to set out and find them.

The Lowrys are starting a new life, moving to the quiet Northern California town of Placerville. But when they are "adopted" by a clever yet lovable stray Golden Retriever, their lives change in ways they never imagined. It'’s not long before the Lowrys discover that Pilot is pregnant. But when it comes time to find new homes for the puppies, the Lowrys learn how hard it can be to say goodbye… and how a determined Golden Retriever can show them a thing or two about the bonds of family. Pilot wants her puppies back! Can the Lowrys retrieve the Retrievers from the wacky cast of characters that adopted them? The Retrievers is a heartwarming story about how a stray Golden Retriever, along with her litter of pups, teaches the Lowrys some big lessons about life, love, family, and what'’s truly important.

Claire's number one priority is her family. When her husband Dennis loses his stockbroker job, the couple's traditional family roles switch. As Dennis takes on his new stay-at-home role, Claire's furniture design business takes off. Just as she's beginning to master the art of balancing her home and work life, Dennis serves her with divorce papers and charges her with being an unfit mother. Claire discovers that in a modern courtroom there are still traditional biases unsympathetic to the idea of a woman working three jobs, as a wife, an entrepreneur and a mother.

A university student finds himself wrapped up in the bizarre world of his next door neighbor, learning about his history and relationship with a girl who changed his life.

The plans of a trio of burglars are continually thwarted by the arrival of visitors to the house they plan to rob.

Part-time worker Hazuki lives with her younger sister, high school student Koharu, and their mother Sawa. One day they receive word that their estranged father is on his deathbed, so Sawa asks Hazuki and Koharu to visit him and take one last photo to remember him by.

It's Christmas Eve, early 1930s on Walton's Mountain. As the family prepares for the holiday, they anxiously await Pa's return home from his job in the city some 50 miles away. He is late, and Ma and the grandparents hear on the radio a report of a bus accident that worries them. Oldest son John-Boy must step up to help grandfather cut down a Christmas tree, and upon learning the concern about Daddy sets out to find him.

A legal team must work together to figure out the mystery behind a rooftop Christmas tree to keep the owner from going to jail for Christmas -- again.

A sophisticated lawyer (Donna Mills), who is always the bridesmaid but never the bride, gets romantically involved with her down-to-earth secretary (Brian Wimmer).

When Sid comes out as a woman, a 14-year-old boy named Ralph literally shows up at her door announcing that Sid is his dad. Ralph is surprised to discover that his father is now a woman, but thinks having a transgender dad is pretty cool. But Ralph hasn't told his mother and stepdad that he’s tracked down his biological father. And then there is Sid’s boyfriend Daniel, who has yet to tell his family of his relationship with Sid. Daniel is nowhere near ready to accept Ralph as a stepson and complicate his life further. Sid’s coming out has a snowball effect that forces everyone out of the closet. What happens when gender, generations and cultures collide to create a truly modern family?

A single mother from the country raising a 6th grade boy comes to Tokyo, leaves the boy to live with his uncle's family, runs a struggling grocery store, and works a local inn. The boy befriends a girl, the daughter of the innkeeper...

Hotel manager Willow returns to her stunning Virginia hometown to help her sister plan a Christmas wedding at the inn her family once owned. She must work with current owner and single dad David, who wants to let go of the past.

[Period covered: 1616] Kirigakure Saizo (Mist Saizo) returns for the final time as he sets out to assassinate Tokugawa Ieyasu in order to avenge the death of Lord Sanada Yukimura. But first he must contend with Ieyasu’s own ninja group led by the powerful Fuma Daijuro, who has a score to settle with the men of Iga that dates back 280 years to the war between the Genji and the Heike at the Battle of Dan-no-Ura. Tremendous fighting and great plot twists highlight this exceptional look into the lives of the mysterious ninja of Japan.

A young boy in a peaceful seaside town gets more than he bargained for when he takes home a mysterious egg. When it hatches, out comes a baby turtle that grows into a new version of Gamera. But will it become powerful enough in time to defeat the rampaging monster Zedus?

A model gets involved with some gangsters trying to pull a big deal.

Psychological action drama about the activities of a corrupt lawyer.

A naively honorable samurai comes to the bitter realization that his devotion to moral samurai principles makes him an oddity among his peers, and a very vulnerable oddity in consequence. He takes the blame for the misdeeds of others, with the understanding that he will be exiled for one year and restored to the clan's good graces after the political situation dies down. As betrayal begins to heap upon betrayal, he realizes he'll have to live out his life as a master-less ronin, if not hunted down and killed.

Ignoring the protests of his working-class mother, a young man becomes wrapped up in the world of delinquents and yakuza.

A homeless man suffering from memory loss is unbeatable in a fight. He becomes involved with the Yakuza. It is based on a manga by Carib Marley.

When 150 guns are stolen from Iwakuni base and two police officers are shot dead, a detective criminal tries to find out the truth.

Sakai Nobunari an Elder in 'Honmaru' (or the main enclosure) and Mizuno Tadakuni an Elder in 'Nishinomaru' (or the south-east enclosure) have been at odds behind the scenes over the marriage of Tokugawa Ieyoshi, heir to the Shogunate. Kyoshiro, who has come back in Edo after 3 years is involved in it against his will. It's because he gets to know Lady Mihoyo who is a spy for Sakai and looks exactly like his late mother. As she couldn't complete her mission she has nowhere to go. Kyoshiro shelters her from both parties that seek her life. The original story is from "Nemuri Kyoshiro Burai Hikae" written by Shibata Renzaburo. Not only is one of Japan's greatest legends kept alive, but some secrets of Kyoshiro's past are finally revealed for the first time.

Despite his efforts of living a normal life as a banker, the life of Toru, the only son of the Yubari Family, becomes disrupted by trouble brought on by his father. When his father’s battle against his rival group the Miike Family ignites, Toru becomes more involved in the turf war than he wished for.

In a small town on the Kasumigaura coast in the early Showa period, the Masukawa clan from Tokyo is trying to take away the interests of the local Isetoku family. Setsuko, the adopted daughter of the Isetoku family, falls in love with Seijiro, a travelling raven she meets on a whim. However, Koide, a businessman connected to the Masukawa clan, wants Setsuko to become his mistress... Setsuko puts aside her love and her regrets and bets on the greatest female challenge of her life!

Kaoru Tōno heard a rumor: the laws of space and time mean nothing to the Urashima Tunnel. If you find it, walk through and you'll find your heart's desire on the other side… in exchange for years of your own life. On the night Kaoru just so happens to find himself standing in front of a tunnel that looks suspiciously like the one the rumor describes, he finds himself thinking of Karen, the sister he lost in an accident five years ago. To Kaoru's surprise, he's been followed by the new transfer student Anzu Hanashiro, who promises to help him experiment with the mysterious tunnel—but what does she want from Kaoru in exchange? And what will he have left to give, after the tunnel's done with him?

The movie of Natsume's Book of Friends series. Natsume has been busy, navigating between humans and Yokai when he coincidentally reunites with an old classmate, Yuki. It brings back painful memories of a certain Yokai. Meanwhile, Natsume also became acquainted with Yorie Tsumura, a woman in the memories of a Yokai whose name he had returned. Yorie knew much about Reiko, but now lived a peaceful life with her only son, Mukuo. Being with this family was comforting for Natsume, but apparently a mysterious Yokai has been lurking in their town. On the way back from investigating, a "Yokai seed" that had latched itself to Nyanko Sensei drops into the Fujiwaras' garden and grows overnight into a fruit tree. When Nyanko Sensei eats a fruit that is somehow shaped like himself, he suddenly splits into three!

Utamaro was an artist who lived in Edo (which was later to become modern-day Tokyo) in the late 18th century. This film, which has a complex and wide-ranging storyline, recreates the world of that time, as it appeared in Utamaro's paintings.

Spin-off of the long-running, beloved franchise Life with Derek that picks up fifteen years later and follows Derek and Casey as they each navigate parenthood and raise distinctly different teenagers. Derek is a successful musician in Paris and the single dad of a 14-year-old girl named Skyler who is smart, funny, and studious and who has recently been testing the boundaries set by her father. Casey is a lawyer and a married mother of three in Toronto and is quite comfortable setting limits, though her eldest, 14-year-old Luca is constantly crossing them. Both Derek and Casey spontaneously decide to surprise their own parents at their recently constructed ‘forever home’ in rural Ontario but encounter each other instead. Casey and Derek are happy to see each other, but the teenaged cousins —who have barely seen each other over the years (and never really liked what they saw)— don’t get along at all, uniting only to get into serious trouble.

The story takes place after the TV drama series Ossan's Love (2018). It's been a year since Haruta and Maki pledged their undying love. Haruta has now come back and receives a warm welcome from familiar faces, his boss Musashi Kurosawa and other colleagues. Justice Yamada, a recruit who has been recently assigned to this branch, welcomes him too. One day, completely out of the blue, the headquarter-based project team "Genius 7" shows up at the Second Sales Branch. Project leader Jin Mamiana orders the Sales team to support them in their big project. Maki, who had been transferred and works now at the head office, is among the project team members with Mamiana. Haruta and Maki grow apart, and Haruta teams up with Justice. Then Kurosawa gets involved in an accident and loses his memory, but the loss of his memory is selective and he has forgotten only Haruta. However, when Kurosawa sees Haruta, he falls in love again.. Hilarious and heartwarming, the final battle of Ossan's Love begins.

Guitarist Ko-chan is a mess of sexual repression after a childhood at the mercy of two elder sisters eager to use him as a guinea pig for their make-up skills. Bassist Gaku-chan keeps a bucket in the wings for whenever his nerves get the better of him, and drummer Momo-chan is doomed to forever carrying the botched childhood attempts at self-tattooing. It's not until this foursome is forced to look for an additional guitar player after Jin's dad burns his Stratocaster, that attitude and musical ability enter into the equation. Leather-clad, shade-wearing Tani (Tamaki), inseparable from his black Les Paul, is introduced as the king of R'n'R cool and Jinnai keeps him firmly seated on his throne throughout the film, retroactively proclaiming the guitarist, rather than himself, as the band's true hero.

An ex-boxer working for a game parlor owner gets caught up in a complex blackmail operation he doesn't understand. Before long he's caught between two yakuza bosses and a mysterious thief who motivation is unknown. Add in the boss' daughter who has a crush on him and watch him struggle to make sense of it all and come out alive.

Life seems to be good for Shintoto, an up-and-coming rakugo artist who has just had his first sexual experience at a local brothel. Lucky for him, he gets to date the beautiful sex worker he meets that day, and a younger high school rakugo aficionado is also vying for his attention. But for clumsy, heart-on-his-sleeve Shintoto, life doesn’t stay rosy for long.

10 years ago Hide, a college student, meets Yuki Gakuko, an older woman, through work. They become lovers with Hide falling hard for Yuki Gakuko. The following year, Yuki abruptly announces one day that she is going to marry another man. This devastates Hide. Hide eventually finishes college and finds a job, but his yearning for Yuki leads him into depression and alcoholism. Meanwhile, Yuki is involved in a car accident and suffers a life altering injury. Now, 10 years later the two former lovers come across each other once again. They are both shells of their former selves ...

A male corpse is discovered with a smashed face and burned hands. Strangely, the cause of death is determined to be strangulation. When Detective Kaoru Utsumi attempts to corroborate the victim’s ex-wife’s alibi she discovers the mysterious neighbor and only a few small clues to help her disprove a seemingly "airtight" alibi...

In this drama set on Shikina Island, a far-flung island of the Japanese archipelago located more than six hours from the Japanese main islands, the young physician Kensuke Goto arrives at the island and has to deal with the island's inhabitants, not eager to accept him, at a clinic lacking sufficient medical equipment. Here's a human drama showing how Dr. Coto values the dignity of human life while unflinchingly facing disease with a serious attitude.

Three siblings share a home with their parents living a happy life. The oldest one is good-looking guy, which is something of a contrast from his younger brother who is at school. The youngest one is the girl and has two brothers to protect her. And then there is Sakura, the family's dog who is always by their side. The fate of this quirky but happy family changes drastically after Hajime, the family's hero-like figure, encounters a tragic accident...

Daikichi is a 70-year-old man and lives on a small island. Since his wife died, he has lived with his cat Tama. Daikichi was born and raised on the small island and enjoys relaxing days with his childhood friends including Iwao and his cat Tama. Daikichi has a son Tsuyoshi who lives in Tokyo. Tsuyoshi worries a bit about his father living alone on the island, but Daikichi is content with his life. After his close friend passes away, Daikichi worries about his physical condition. His daily life begins to change. Based on manga series "Neko to Jiichan"

Ever since an accident in the mountains outside town, Takuji's slept in a coma; his neighbors care for him as new events occur every day.

One year has passed since the Kidojis' eldest son Otohiko was arrested for his part in a terrorist kidnapping, which resulted in multiple deaths. Although the parents of all the other perpetrators have either resigned from their professional positions or taken their own lives, Nobuyuki Kidoji tries to remain adamant that he was not responsible for his son's actions.

The shock of her fiance's sudden dissolution of their relationship causes university student, Miki, to lose her voice. While recuperating in a hospital in her hometown of Hakodate, she learns of the tragic life of her deceased mother, Kaoru, from her grandmother.

Natsumi wants to become a photographer. She takes a bike which her late father left behind and goes to a forest to find a firefly she saw with her father. In the forest, Natsumi meets old mother Yasu and old son Jizo. They run a general store. Natsumi learns how to live in nature from them. She has happy summer days there. One day, Jizo tells her that he became estranged from his son in the past.

A student travels back to Kobe for the summer. Once there, he meets his friend Rat, hangs on the usual place, listening to the Beach Boys and meets a mysterious twin girl.

Considered one of the finest late Naruses and a model of film biography, A Wanderer’s Notebook features remarkable performances by Hideko Takamine – Phillip Lopate calls it “probably her greatest performance” – and Kinuyo Tanaka as mother and daughter living from hand to mouth in Twenties Tokyo. Based on the life and career of Fumiko Hayashi, the novelist whose work Naruse adapted to the screen several times, A Wanderer’s Notebook traces her bitter struggle for literary recognition in the first half of the twentieth century – her affairs with feckless men, the jobs she took to survive (peddler, waitress, bar maid), and her arduous, often humiliating attempts to get published in a male-dominated culture.

An abandoned car is discovered near a camping ground and inside it is the body of an identified middle-aged man and a dog who seems to have died months later. This is the story of the life of the loving and faithful dog and his owner told from the dog's point of view. City hall employee Kyousuke Okutsu is assigned to uncover the man's identity for a proper funeral. As he investigates the situation, he remembers his late family and his own dog's unfailing loyalty.

This drama of middle-class life in postwar Japan tells the story lower-middle-class workers in the city of Kawasaki, and their troubles and travails.

Stuck in a fishing village in Hokkaido, Tadao's grand-daughter Haru is desperate to visit Tokyo, a trip Tadao is reluctant to make.

High school student Takumi lives with his two mothers in a beautiful house in Tokyo. Moving into a house across the street is Sora and her two fathers. One day Takumi and Sora begin a quest to seek answers long hidden and silent in their unconventional families. Takumi sets out to determine the identity of his father, and Sora devises a plan to integrate herself fully into her family. The ordeals of these households stretch the traditional notions of family, convention and tradition.

Karin has lived alone in a secluded mountain village with her consumptive mother since her father died. Her worried grandfather advises her to send her mother to a sanatorium and be adopted by him, although she refuses to accept. On the Buddhist All Soul’s Day Festival in August, a messenger from her grandfather pays a sudden visit to her house.

When a young soldier is killed while trying to prevent his younger sister, Kaoru, from being sold into a life of prostitution, his commander, Col. Miyagi, tries to honor his dying wish to rescue his sister. Upon finding Kaoru at a party working as a geisha and later rescuing her from committing suicide, Col. Miyagi allows her to move in with him. Over time, the two grow close, but in spite of Kaoru's growing feelings for him, Col. Miyagi is unable to bring himself to return her love. On the night of his deployment to war, Col. Miyagi finally admits his feelings for Kaoru, but will they ever be able to enjoy a peaceful life together now that a very violent and bloody military revolt is under way...

One day poison is discovered in the shogun's food. The brilliant swordsman Mondo sets out to save Japan's leader from certain death.

Both Hitomi and her daughter Eri are cellists. One day, they are involved in a traffic accident and Hitomi loses her sight. She wears camera-equipped contact lenses and Eri, injured and hospitalized, wears VR goggles, and the two share one vision.

Tarao’s services are called upon to solve the mysterious death of bride-to-be, Mariko, who was found dead with an eerie mask of a devil.

Yuko is in love with an old poet who happens to be also a married man. She waits patiently for him and only him, yet she is constantly being lust by others.

Junai Monogatari AKA Story of Pure Love is about two poor youths, Mitsuko and Kando, rebelling against society in various ways, who are desperately trying to be together despite tortuous circumstances. The film depicts their lives as thieves, menial laborers who can get little pay, society outcasts, and of course, lovers. Junai Monogatari depicts, mostly, their struggles within the Japanese reformatory system and Mitsuko's worsening sickness.

Roman Porno from 1986. A man and a woman make love without knowing one another's names. Afterwards, they introduce themselves as Emi Ichinose and Haruji Kobayashi, and they begin a relationship. Emi feels empty without a man. Kobayashi has a wife and child but wants Emi's body and seeks something from her that his wife cannot provide.

University student Akira meets the lovely 14-year-old Yumi, whom he had tutored years ago. Her mother is told by her doctor that the schoolgirl has leukaemia and has only 6 months to live.

This is a story of love between a society girl and a yakuza boy. Mami lives an ordinary life in Tokyo, being with her friends and studying. Her biggest interest is ladies hats. She is rather well off, as her father is the ambassador of Japan in Spain. One day when she is out driving, she is attacked by a group of yakuza, but is saved by the honorable yakuza Jiro. This will change her life forever.

Having failed with his business and gone absolutely penniless, Masao (45) divorced with his wife, and is currently leading a hopeless life in Ibaraki. One day, a mysterious high school girl, going by the name Emiko, showed up before Masao. Every now and then, Masao would be toyed around by Emiko, but little by little he started taking a liking to her loveliness. As days went by, Masao started opening up to Emiko – something that he rarely did to others. However, there was just something about Emiko – something that bothered Masao - that wouldn’t go away.

Keiko Inagawa (Asami Kobayashi) pays a visit to neurologist Aizawa about her fiancé Tatsuo Tamura (Kaoru Kobayashi). A mysterious case involving the disappearance of Tatsuo’s three brothers, one after the other, is yet to be resolved and now Tatsuo, seized with the idea that he too may disappear, has had a nervous breakdown. Aizawa suggests that Tatsuo recount his dreams as a means of solving the mystery, since human beings have an instinct that foretells the near future in the form of a dream. Keiko and Tatsuo eventually discover that the three disappearances have a strange connection…