Movies Like Kaju

If you liked Kaju (1979), a movie directed by Sadashi Aoyama, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki (2017)
★ 7.4/10
A look at legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki following his retirement in 2013.
2
The Pornographers (1966)
★ 7.3/10
A former Buddhist monk turned erotic filmmaker, Subuyan lives with hairdresser Haru and her two teenage children. Shooting two skin flicks per day, he somehow manages to stay out of the clutches of the yakuza, but real…
3
The Moment You Fall in Love (2016)
★ 7.5/10
Following Natsuki Enomoto's confession rehearsals with Yuu Setoguchi, their younger siblings Kotarou and Hina struggle to confess their own love. Despite a disastrous first meeting in middle school with her…
4
Love Like the Falling Petals (2022)
★ 7.9/10
Haruto Asakura falls in love with hairdresser Misaki Ariake and asks her out. Watching Misaki Ariake work hard to achieve what she wants, Haruto Asakura, who almost gave up his dream to become a photographer, begins to…
5
Restless (2011)
★ 6.5/10
Two outsiders, both shaped by the circumstances that have brought them together, forge a deep and lasting love.
6
My Life Without Me (2003)
★ 6.1/10
A fatally ill mother with only two months to live creates a list of things she wants to do before she dies without telling her family of her illness.
7
Empire of Passion (1978)
★ 6.8/10
A married woman and her lover murder her husband and dump his body into a well, but his ghost returns to haunt them as the local gossip intensifies.
8
Ocean Waves (1993)
★ 6.4/10
At Kichijōji Station, Tokyo, Taku Morisaki glimpses a familiar woman on the platform opposite boarding a train. Later, her photo falls from a shelf as he exits his apartment before flying to Kōchi Prefecture. Picking…
9
Floating Weeds (1959)
★ 7.5/10
A theater troupe master's visit with his old flame unintentionally sets off a chain of unexpected events with devastating consequences.
10
Drive My Car (2021)
★ 7.4/10
Yusuke Kafuku, a stage actor and director, still unable, after two years, to cope with the loss of his beloved wife, accepts to direct Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he meets Misaki, an…
11
Val (2021)
★ 7.2/10
For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood's most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors, has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm…
12
Lost in Translation (2003)
★ 7.4/10
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…
13
From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
★ 7.5/10
Yokohama, 1963. Japan is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the 1964 Olympics—and the mood is one of both optimism and conflict as the young generation struggles to throw off…
14
Maborosi (1995)
★ 7.5/10
A tragedy strikes a young woman's life without warning or reason. She continues living while searching for meaning in a lonely world.
15
Detective Conan: The Disappearance of Conan Edogawa - The Worst Two Days in History (2015)
★ 7.1/10
Conan Edogawa comes to a bathhouse with Ran Mouri and Ai Haibara. There, he sees suspicious men in the dressing room of the men's bath. However, Conan falls down in the bathhouse and loses consciousness. The two…
16
A Page of Madness (1926)
★ 7.3/10
An elderly man visits his mentally ill wife in a psychiatric hospital. Years earlier, she had tried to drown their child and then take her own life. Crushed by guilt and powerless to change what has happened, he…
17
Millennium Actress (2002)
★ 7.9/10
Documentary filmmaker Genya Tachibana has tracked down the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, who mysteriously vanished at the height of her career. When he presents her with a key she had lost and thought was gone…
18
Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid (2023)
★ 7.7/10
Finally, the day of Mai's high school graduation has arrived. While Sakuta eagerly waits for his girlfriend, an elementary schooler who looks exactly like her appears before him. Suspicious, and for all the wrong…
19
The Kirishima Thing (2012)
★ 6.9/10
A story about the disappearance of Kirishima, a star athlete of the volleyball club, and how his disappearance affects every person in school.
20
Lonely Castle in the Mirror (2022)
★ 7.1/10
Shy outcast Kokoro has been avoiding school for weeks when she discovers a portal in her bedroom mirror. She reaches through and finds herself transported to an enchanting castle where she is joined by six other…