Movies Like I Was Born, But...

If you liked I Was Born, But... (1932), a comedy and drama movie directed by Yasujirō Ozu, 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
Family Weekend (2013)
★ 6.3/10Also comedy and drama
A 16-year-old girl takes her parents hostage after they miss her big jump-roping competition.
2
The Taste of Tea (2004)
★ 7.5/10Also comedy and drama
A spell of time in the life of the five-piece Haruno family in rural Tochigi Prefecture. Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project. Uncle Ayano, a successful music producer, is…
3
Kids Return (1996)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
Shinji and Masaru spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates and playing pranks. They drop out and Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a local yakuza gang. However, the world…
4
Good Morning (1959)
★ 7.7/10Also comedy and drama
Two boys beg their parents for a television set, nagging them until all patience is lost. The parents order the boys to be quiet and the boys do exactly that--refusing to utter a word. The boys' silence ultimately puts…
5
SubUrbia (1997)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy and drama
A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.
6
Landline (2017)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy and drama
A teenager living with her sister and parents in Manhattan during the 1990s discovers that her father is having an affair.
7
Somewhere in Queens (2023)
★ 6.3/10Also comedy and drama
Leo and Angela Russo live a simple life in Queens, surrounded by their overbearing Italian-American family. When their son finds success on his high school basketball team, Leo tears the family apart trying to make it…
8
Always - Sunset on Third Street (2005)
★ 7.7/10Also comedy and drama
In 1958 postwar Tokyo, the residents of a humble Third Street neighbourhood struggle, dream, and grow together as rapid modernisation transforms their lives beneath the shadow of the newly rising Tokyo Tower.
9
Siberian Education (2013)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
The story of a gang of children growing up in a community of banished criminals, in a forgotten corner of the former Soviet Union. This community rejects the world outside. The only law it obeys… is its own. Against…
10
Kamikaze Girls (2004)
★ 7.2/10Also comedy
Momoko, a strange and seemingly emotionless girl obsessed with 18th century France, befriends a Yanki biker and the two experience the ups and downs of their unusual lives in a rural Japanese town.
11
Shoplifters (2018)
★ 7.8/10Also drama
In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence…
12
Wood Job! (2014)
★ 7.4/10Also drama and comedy
After failing his university entrance exam, Yuki Hirano sets his eyes on the role of a forestry trainee. Setting off for training he doubts his decision many times, but eventually after passing the training course, he…
13
The Joneses (2010)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy and drama
A seemingly perfect family moves into a suburban neighborhood, but when it comes to the truth as to why they're living there, they don't exactly come clean with their neighbors.
14
Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016)
★ 6.1/10Also comedy
An ordinary suburban couple finds it’s not easy keeping up with the Joneses – their impossibly gorgeous and ultra-sophisticated new neighbors – especially when they discover that Mr. and Mrs. “Jones” are covert…
15
Pastoral: To Die in the Country (1974)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
A director faces creative block while working on his latest film – a reimagination of his adolescence growing up in a mountain village in rural Japan.
16
Crows Zero (2007)
★ 7.1/10Also comedy
The students of Suzuran High compete for the King of School title. An ex-graduate yakuza is sent to kill the son of a criminal group, but he can't make himself do it as he reminds him of his youth.
17
My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)
★ 7/10Also comedy
The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humorous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope…
18
In the Soup (1992)
★ 6.8/10Also comedy and drama
An aspiring young filmmaker gets involved with an eccentric gangster for the financing of his first film.
19
Little Secrets (2002)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and comedy
Emily is a plucky preteen who is entrusted with her young neighbors' most private and cherished secrets. Every Wednesday, Emily sets up a booth in her backyard that regularly attracts the guilty young souls of the…
20
Achilles and the Tortoise (2008)
★ 7/10Also comedy and drama
Machisu is a painter. He never had the success he thinks he is entitled to. Regardless of this, he always remains trying to be successful. His wife Sachiko keeps supporting him, despite all setbacks.