Movies Like Buddies
If you liked Buddies (1989), a drama movie directed by Yasuo Furuhata, 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
Look Back (2024)
★ 8.2/10Also dramaPopular, outgoing Fujino is celebrated by her classmates for her funny comics in the class newspaper. One day, her teacher asks her to share the space with Kyomoto, a truant recluse whose beautiful artwork sparks a…
- 2
Tokyo Story (1953)
★ 8.2/10Also dramaThe elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't…
- 3
In This Corner of the World (2016)
★ 7.9/10Also dramaJapan, 1943, during World War II. Young Suzu leaves her village near Hiroshima to marry and live with her in-laws in Kure, a military harbor. Her creativity to overcome deprivation quickly makes her indispensable at…
- 4
From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
★ 7.5/10Also dramaYokohama, 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…
- 5
Late Spring (1949)
★ 8/10Also dramaNoriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she…
- 6
The End of Summer (1961)
★ 7.5/10Also dramaThe family of an older man who runs a small sake brewery become concerned with his finances and his health after they discover him visiting an old mistress from his youth.
- 7
Twenty-Four Eyes (1954)
★ 7.7/10Also dramaFrom 1928 to 1946, the lives of 12 young people and their school teacher in a poor Japanese village are profoundly affected by historical events and personal circumstances.
- 8
No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
★ 6.9/10Also dramaAfter her anti-fascist professor father is dismissed, Yukie navigates love, political repression, and wartime upheaval—ultimately forging her own path in pre- and post-WWII Japan.
- 9
Taboo (1999)
★ 6.6/10Also dramaSet 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…
- 10
The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952)
★ 7.5/10Also dramaThe arranged marriage between a capricious woman from Tokyo high society and a quiet rustic man is tested by a marital crisis.
- 11
High and Low (1963)
★ 8.4/10Also dramaA Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
- 12
Starlet (2012)
★ 6.8/10Also dramaAn unlikely friendship forms between 21 year-old Jane and the elderly Sadie after Jane discovers a hidden stash of money inside an object at Sadie's yard sale.
- 13
The Ceremony (1971)
★ 6.8/10Also dramaOshima’s magisterial epic, centering on the ambivalent surviving heir of the Sakurada clan, uses ritual and the microcosm of the traditional family to trace the rise and fall of militaristic Japan across several decades.
- 14
Repast (1951)
★ 7.6/10Also dramaIn post-WWII Osaka, a middle-aged woman is forced to examine her dreary life and marriage when her husband's young and flirtatious cousin arrives for a brief stay to escape an arranged marriage.
- 15
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973)
★ 7.3/10Also dramaRepeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog…
- 16
Maborosi (1995)
★ 7.5/10Also dramaA tragedy strikes a young woman's life without warning or reason. She continues living while searching for meaning in a lonely world.
- 17
Battle Royale (2000)
★ 7.3/10Also dramaIn the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
- 18
Zigeunerweisen (1980)
★ 6.5/10Also dramaA surreal period film following a university professor and his eerie nomad friend as they go through loose romantic triangles and face death in peculiar ways.
- 19
Grave of the Fireflies (2005)
★ 7.9/10Also dramaHisako loses her home in Tokyo to Allied bombing. With her husband fighting somewhere in Asia, she and her two children evacuate to a suburb of Kobe, where they share a house with Hisako's cousin, Kyoko. Kobe is bombed…
- 20
Monster (2023)
★ 7.9/10Also dramaAfter an outburst at school involving her son, a concerned single mother demands answers, triggering a sequence of deepening suspicion and turmoil.