Movies Like Neon Ambition

If you liked Neon Ambition (1985), a drama movie directed by Satoru Kobayashi, 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
Taboo (1999)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering on a…
2
Flow (1996)
★ 7.7/10Also drama
A filmmaker talks about his work and love life with an unseen friend behind the camera. We also watch four of his short films.
3
Tokyo Decadence (1992)
★ 6/10Also drama
A submissive hooker goes about her trade, suffering abuse at the hands of Japanese salarymen and Yakuza types. She's unhappy about her work, and is apparently trying to find some sort of appeasement for the fact that…
4
Call Boy (2018)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Ryo Morinaka is a university student and works part-time at a bar. He is bored with his daily life and exists in a state of torpor. One day, his friend Shinya Tajima brings the owner of a host bar over to the place…
5
Pink Narcissus (1971)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
An outrageous erotic poem focusing on the daydreams of a beautiful boy prostitute who, from the seclusion of his ultra-kitsch apartment, conceives a series of interlinked narcissistic fantasies populated by matadors…
6
Female Yakuza Tale (1973)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
Ocho is accidentally captured by a drug trafficking cartel who use Chinese women to smuggle drugs into Japan by hiding it in their vaginas. She is tortured, and manages to escape, fighting both the male yakuzas and a…
7
Saint Jack (1979)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
Jack Flowers is an American hustler trying to make his fortune in 1970s Singapore in small time pimping. His dreams of building a fortune by running a brothel himself and returning to the States is materialized when he…
8
Pretty Boy (2015)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
Sean is taken to a motel and is given a prostitute for his 18th birthday by his father. He must sleep with her to "fix" his questionable homosexuality. "Pretty Boy" is a coming of age story of a young bullied teen…
9
BLUE LOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI- (2024)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
When apathetic gamer Nagi agrees to join his rich classmate Mikage in soccer, their partnership leads to the famous Blue Lock program — and to changes.
10
Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
Fourteen years after Third Impact, Shinji Ikari awakens to a world he does not remember. He hasn't aged. Much of Earth is laid in ruins, NERV has been dismantled, and people who he once protected have turned against…
11
My Brother the Devil (2012)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
Fourteen-year-old Mo is a lonely, sensitive boy whose hunger for the rant and banter of buddies makes him prone to tread dangerous territories. He idolizes his handsome older brother, Rashid, a charismatic…
12
Pimp (2018)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
An urban love story set on the hard streets of the Bronx. A struggling female pimp, named Wednesday, grows up learning the game from her dad. Once he's gone she's left to look out for her prostitute mother and…
13
Hands of Stone (2016)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
14
The Eel (1997)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
A businessman kills his adulterous wife and is sent to prison. After his release, he opens a barbershop and meets new people, talking to almost no one except for an eel he befriended while in prison.
15
Tokyo Fist (1995)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
A businessman, Tsuda, runs into a childhood friend, Kojima, on the subway. Kojima is working as a semiprofessional boxer. Tsuda soon begins to suspect that Kojima might be having an affair with his fiancée Hizuru…
16
Heatwave (2022)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
A woman's life takes an unexpected turn when she falls for her boss's wife. She must soon defend herself as she becomes entangled in a web of malice.
17
Kisses (2008)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
Two kids, Dylan and Kylie, run away from home on Christmas Day and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.
18
Trafficked (2017)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
In this story inspired by real characters, three girls from America, Nigeria and India are trafficked through an elaborate global network and enslaved in a Texas brothel, and must together attempt a daring escape to…
19
Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
In 1960s Tokyo, Gonda owns a bar in which the gay, cross-dresser, and trans scenes meet. Gonda is in a relationship with the madam of the bar, Leda. As the younger Eddie starts a passionate affair with Gonda, she…
20
The Enforcer (2022)
★ 7/10Also drama
A noir thriller set in Miami, the film follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cyber sex trafficking, putting a young runaway he’s befriended at risk. He sacrifices everything to…