20 movies like The Ballad of Narayama, ordered by similarity : Shepherds and Butchers(2016), Caterpillar(2010), Okaasan(1952), Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison(1951), Happiness and Tears(2001), The Battleship Island(2017), Mother India(1957), Woodpeckers(2017), Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles(2005), The Noose(1928), Midnight Express(1978), After the Storm(2016) ...
Drama
Japan
1983
130 Minutes
Sumiko Sakamoto Ken Ogata Aki Takejô
grandmother son elderly woman wife shocking chilling moving valley mountain village japan aging death marriage rape ritual sacrifice wretched excess quest 19th century
In a poor 19th century rural Japanese village, everyone who reaches the age of 70 has to climb a nearby mountain to die. An old woman is getting close to the cut-off age, and we follow her last days with her family.
Drama
South Africa|USA|Germany
2016
106 Minutes
Andrea Riseborough Steve Coogan Deon Lotz Robert Hobbs Garion Dowds Marcel van Heerden Nicola Hanekom Eduan van Jaarsveldt Carel Nel
lawyer prison guard judge wife murderer prisoner prisoners death row inmate brutal chilling emotional gripping intense moving powerful raw sad shocking south africa cape town
A lawyer takes on a case of a prison guard in South Africa who is traumatized by the executions he's witnessed.
War, Drama, History
2010
85 Minutes
Shinobu Terajima Keigo Kasuya Emi Masuda Sabu Kawahara Shima Ônishi
soldier husband wife villager war hero disabled person disheartening melodramatic sad japan village household second sino-japanese war military disfigurement marriage heroism disability quest transformation
In 1940s Japan a villager must fulfill her duty to her husband, a decorated soldier who returned from war a quadruple amputee.
Drama
Japan
1952
100 Minutes
Kinuyo Tanaka Masao Mishima Akihiko Katayama Kyoko Kagawa Eiji Okada
mother husband daughter sister son japanese man melodramatic tender moving japan family home street factory mother/daughter relationship family postwar japan poverty marriage hard times sacrifice
A teenaged girl witnesses her widowed mother's attempt to sustain her family.
Drama
USA
1951
87 Minutes
Steve Cochran David Brian Philip Carey Ted de Corsia Scott Forbes Michael Tolan Dick Wesson Paul Picerni William Campbell
warden prison guard prisoner prison official sergeant inmate brooding intense engaging emotional brutal bleak folsom state prison reformation prison life prison riot prison break humanity human rights escape
At California's Folsom Prison, escape attempts and riots are on the rise due to the old-school sadistic style of management of a brutal warden.
Comedy, Drama
2001
209 Minutes
Amitabh Bachchan Jaya Bhaduri Kajol Hrithik Roshan Kareena Kapoor Rani Mukherji Simone Singh Himani Shivpuri Shah Rukh Khan
adopted son patriarch mother son wife sister-in-law melodramatic emotional fiery spectacular bombay, india london mansion village parental pressure family honor father/son relationship class distinctions arranged marriage indian life
Drama, History
South Korea
2017
132 Minutes
Jeong-min Hwang So Ji-sub Song Joong Ki Lee Jung-hyun Su-an Kim Kyeong-ho Yoon Seung-hwan Shin Seong-il Park
korean person prisoner japanese soldier rebel leader officer bleak brutal disturbing frenetic frightful shocking island prison japan labor camp ship imprisonment uprising power
During the Japanese colonial era, roughly 400 Korean people, who were forced onto Battleship Island ("Hashima Island") to mine for coal, attempt to a dramatic escape.
Musical, Drama
India
1957
180 Minutes
Nargis Sunil Dutt Rajendra Kumar Mukri Raaj Kumar Kanhaiya Lal Jilloo Maa
wife husband peasant son money lender village elder melodramatic powerful touching moving india farm village field poverty perseverance injury motherhood death marriage
In this melodrama, a poverty-stricken woman raises her sons through many trials and tribulations. But no matter the struggles, always sticks to her own moral code.
Drama
2017
106 Minutes
Jean Jean Ramón Emilio Candelario Judith Rodriguez Jose Cruz Manuel Raposo Karina Valdez Aleja Johnson Carlota Carretero Keunis Álvarez Orestes Amador
prison guard prisoner prisoners messenger gangsters love interest romantic interest romantic rival rival dark disturbing emotional engaging gripping intense moving passionate powerful raw tense
Incarcerated in the Dominican Republic, an inmate uses sign language to communicate with his imprisoned girlfriend at an adjacent institution.
Drama
China|Japan|Hong Kong
2005
107 Minutes
Ken Takakura Shinobu Terajima Kiichi Nakai Qiu Lin Yang Zhenbo Ken Nakamoto
fisherman son wife singer father moving dark tokyo mountain village hospital family illness father/son relationship friendship movie making redemption discovery sacrifice quest
A Japanese father travels to China's Yunnan province in the place of his ailing son to film a folk-opera singer.
Drama
USA
1928
75 Minutes
Richard Barthelmess Montagu Love Robert E. O'Connor Jay Eaton Lina Basquette Thelma Todd Ed Brady Fred Warren William B. Davidson Alice Joyce William Walling
blackmailer governor wife mother son father melodramatic shocking tense suspenseful death row city cabaret prison murder capital punishment blackmail father/son relationship crime family
A crook blackmails a governor because of knowing his wife's dark past.
Biography, Drama
UK|USA
1978
121 Minutes
Brad Davis Randy Quaid John Hurt Bo Hopkins Paul L. Smith Mike Kellin Norbert Weisser Irene Miracle Paolo Bonacelli Michael Ensign Kevork Malikyan
prison guard prisoner police officer girlfriend judge bleak gutsy shocking istanbul prison airport prison life prison break drug trafficking foreign relations torture escape transformation wretched excess 1970s
Billy Hayes, an American college student, is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.
Drama
Japan
2016
117 Minutes
Hiroshi Abe Yôko Maki Kirin Kiki Taiyô Yoshizawa
private detective family estranged father son mother mourner brooding charming emotional inspiring moving rousing japan town detective agency home family relationships second chance determination
After the death of his father, a private detective struggles to find child support money and reconnect with his son and ex-wife.
Drama, History
UK|France|Germany
2016
103 Minutes
Emma Thompson Brendan Gleeson Daniel Brühl Mikael Persbrandt Katharina Schüttler Louis Hofmann Lars Rudolph Uwe Preuss Jacob Matschenz Godehard Giese
mother father husband wife adolf hitler nazi detective ss officer son chilling emotional engaging moving tense suspenseful berlin germany death grief loss
After a Nazi German working class couple loses their son in World War II, they decide to retaliate by secretly leafletting handwritten cards in Berlin denouncing their government.
Drama
UK
2016
101 Minutes
Rafe Spall Emilia Fox Elaine Cassidy William Stagg Matthew Stagg Richard Cordery Susan Jameson Ross McCormack
father single father deceased mother son young boy brother moving emotional engaging endearing england life lessons mother's death mother/son relationship father/son relationship breast cancer disease death challenge love
A woman dying of incurable breast cancer creates a list of memories and lessons for the husband and sons she is about to leave behind.
Drama
2006
111 Minutes
Ozkan Ozen Ali Bey Kayali Elit Iscan Taner Birsel
villager young boy young girl teacher religious person solemn emotional dreamy turkey school family home village mountain mountain life friendship gender roles father/son relationship childhood growing up sacrifice
Adventure, History, Biography, Drama
USA|Czech Republic|Spain
2017
133 Minutes
Charlie Hunnam Rami Malek Roland Møller Nina Senicar Tommy J. Flanagan Eve Hewson Christopher Fairbank Brian Vernel
convict innocent man prison guard prisoner escape artist friend tense bleak thrilling suspenseful incredible intricate prison island prison cell paris french guiana apartment prison prison break
Wrongfully convicted for murder, Henri Charriere forms an unlikely relationship with fellow inmate and quirky convicted counterfeiter Louis Dega, in an attempt to escape from the notorious penal colony on Devil's Island.
Romance, Comedy, Drama
USA
2010
91 Minutes
Jay Duplass John C. Reilly Jonah Hill Marisa Tomei Catherine Keener Matt Walsh Diane Mizota Kathy Wittes Katie Aselton
man son mother girlfriend ex-wife hilarious emotional quirky house party park mother/child relationship moving dating marriage loneliness competition love rivalry quest
John and Molly, a divorced middle aged man and a single mother meet at a friends party and start up a small relationship, all John has to do now is meet Molly's son... Cyrus
Biography, Drama
UK|Cayman Islands|Denmark|USA
2008
92 Minutes
Tom Hardy Kelly Adams Luing Andrews Katy Barker Amanda Burton Mark Devenport Paul Donnelly Andrew Forbes Jon House Matt King James Lance
prisoner fighter prison guard promoter wife teacher brutal unrestrained gritty england prison cell solitary confinement prison life michael peterson solitary confinement crime criminal justice system alter ego underdog
A young man who was sentenced to seven years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending three decades in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter-ego, Charles Bronson.
Drama
1970
140 Minutes
Yoshitaka Zushi Kin Sugai Toshiyuki Tonomura Shinsuke Minami Yûko Kusunoki Junzaburô Ban Kiyoko Tange Michio Hino Keiji Furuyama Tappei Shimokawa Kunie Tanaka
disabled person mother father son artist young woman moving engaging japan slum dump shack poverty outsider's life aspirations family rape alcoholism adventure growing up
Drama
Switzerland|UK|France|Burkina Faso|Germany
1990
81 Minutes
Rasmane Ouedraogo Ina Cissé Roukietou Barry Assane Ouedraogo Sibidou Sidibé Moumouni Ouedraogo Mariam Barry
villager father son fiancé father-in-law second wife melodramatic powerful suspenseful burkina faso village desert africa village life family feud infidelity death penalty on the run love triangle forbidden love
Set in a pre-colonial African past, Tilai is about an illicit love affair and its consequences. Saga returns to his village after an extended absence to discover that his father has taken ... See full summary »