Movies Like License to Live

If you liked License to Live (1999), a drama and comedy movie directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 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
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…
2
Only Yesterday (1991)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Taeko contemplates the arc of her life, and wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self.
3
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…
4
After the Storm (2016)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
Ryota is an unpopular writer although he won a literary award 15 years ago. Now, Ryota works as a private detective. He is divorced from his ex-wife Kyoko and he has an 11-year-old son Shingo. His mother Yoshiko lives…
5
Tokyo Story (1953)
★ 8.1/10Also drama
The 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…
6
When Marnie Was There (2014)
★ 7.9/10Also drama
Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may…
7
Forgotten Island (2026)
★ 8/10Also comedy
While celebrating their last night together, high school graduates and best friends Jo and Raissa stumble upon a mysterious portal that transports them to the fantastical island of Nakali. When they discover that the…
8
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms (2018)
★ 8.1/10Also drama
Fleeing the war, the immortal Maquia, graced with eternal youth, finds a baby abandoned in the forest and decides to raise it as her own child, sparking a moving story between a mortal and a being who does not age.
9
Premonition (2007)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
A depressed housewife who learns her husband was killed in a car accident the day previously awakens the next morning to find him alive and well at home, and then awakens the day after to a world in which he is still…
10
Maborosi (1995)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
A tragedy strikes a young woman's life without warning or reason. She continues living while searching for meaning in a lonely world.
11
The Yellow Handkerchief (1977)
★ 7/10Also comedy and drama
A convict, newly released from prison for murder, joins two strangers on a road trip through Hokkaido to visit his ex-wife, whom he hasn't seen in four years, knowing that if she puts a yellow handkerchief on the…
12
The Boy and the Heron (2023)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to…
13
The Boy and the Beast (2015)
★ 7.9/10Also drama
Kyuta, a boy living in Shibuya, and Kumatetsu, a lonesome beast from Jutengai, an imaginary world. One day, Kyuta forays into the imaginary world and, as he's looking for his way back, meets Kumatetsu who becomes his…
14
Eureka (2001)
★ 7.8/10Also drama
In rural Japan, the survivors of a tragedy converge and attempt to overcome their damaged selves, all while a serial killer is on the loose.
15
Barnyard (2006)
★ 6/10Also comedy
Otis is a mischievous, carefree Holstein cow who lives on a farm where, unbeknownst to humans, the animals are anthropomorphic. He prefers having fun with his best friends: Pip the mouse, Freddy the ferret, Peck the…
16
Bunny Drop (2011)
★ 7.1/10Also drama and comedy
Daikichi learns that his recently deceased grandfather has an illegitimate daughter with an unknown mother. The girl's name is Rin and she is just 6 years old. Everybody in Daikichi's family looks at the girl as an…
17
Amateur (1994)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy and drama
A man wakes up in an alley, bleeding and with no memory of who he is. He stumbles into a coffee shop and is befriended by a charitable ex-nun who is failing in her attempts to write marketable pornography.
18
Fireworks (1997)
★ 7.7/10Also drama
Beleaguered police detective Nishi takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With those close to him suffering their own tribulations, Nishi's methods become increasingly extreme.
19
Ice Age (2002)
★ 7.4/10Also comedy
Manny the mammoth, Sid the loquacious sloth, and Diego the sabre-toothed tiger go on a comical quest to return a human baby back to his father, across a world on the brink of an ice age.
20
The Girl from the Other Side (2023)
★ 7.8/10Also drama
Once upon a time, in a far, faraway place, there were two lands. The world was divided into an inner land and an outer land. People feared the outer land, inhabited by eerie beings, the carriers of curse. One day, on…