Movies like Departures

If you like "Departures" you are looking for sad, philosophical and psychological movies about / with self discovery, funeral, father son relationship, pregnant wife, workplace, small town and character study themes of Drama genre shot in Japan.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps: 1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below). 2. Look for them in the presented list.
Departures (2008)
 8.0
 55K
Departures (2008)
Original name: おくりびと
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 130 min.
Story: Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.
Style: sad, philosophical, psychological, touching, thought provoking, inspirational, atmospheric, emotional, contemplative, sentimental ...
Plot: self discovery, funeral, father son relationship, pregnant wife, workplace, small town, character study, new job, small town life, music, melancholy, heartwarming, classical music, ritual, asian, husband wife relationship, couples, redemption, loss, death of father, buddhism, existentialism, lifestyle change, wanderlust, musician ...
Time: year 2008, 21st century, contemporary
Place: japan, asia, tokyo
Keyword: educational film, retrospective

Movie in categories

Most similar movies to Departures

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out serious, realistic, touching and sincere films with plots about hopes, family relations, husband wife relationship, parents and children, self discovery, father son relationship and grief mostly in Drama, Music and Romance genres. Some movies like Departures: Red Beard (1965), The Eel (1997), Life as a House (2001), After the Wedding (2006), Hide Away (2011). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Watch Trailers From This List to Choose a Movie
 8.3
 21K
Red Beard (1965)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 185 min.
Story: Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but ...
Style: black and white, cerebral, realistic, emotional, touching ...
Plot: samurai, doctor, poverty, medical profession, medical, medieval, intern, medicine, asian, japanese history, knight, time travel ...
Time: 19th century, year 1965, 1800s
Place: japan, asia, tokyo
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.3
 6K
The Eel (1997)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 117 min.
Story: White-collar worker Yamashita finds out that his wife has a lover visiting her when he's away, suddenly returns home and kills her. After eight years in prison, he returns to live in a small village, opens a barber shop (he was trained as a ...
Style: enigmatic, captivating, psychological, touching, independent film ...
Plot: self discovery, starting over, human nature, social relations, hopes, crimes of passion, haunted by the past, murder, suicide attempt, prison, adultery, obsession ...
Time: year 1997, 90s, 80s
Place: japan, asia
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Life as a House (2001)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min.
Story: When a man is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he takes custody of his misanthropic teenage son, for whom quality time means getting high, engaging in small-time prostitution, and avoiding his father.
Style: emotional, sentimental, touching, sincere, sad ...
Audience: teens, chick flick, teen drama
Plot: terminal illness, father son relationship, dying, cancer, dysfunctional family, relationships, reconciliation, illness, divorce, fighting illness, redemption, family relations ...
Time: year 2001
Place: california, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
After the Wedding (2006)
Genre: Drama
Country: Denmark, Sweden, UK, Norway
Duration: 120 min.
Story: A manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.
Style: sincere, touching, emotional, realistic, melancholic ...
Plot: wedding, marriage, poverty, family bonds, wealth, family relations, nordic, family problems, family secret, couple relations, hopes, financial problem ...
Time: year 2006, 90s, 21st century
Place: denmark, copenhagen, india, bombay india
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
 5.7
 1K
Hide Away (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min.
Story: A successful businessman attempting to resurrect his life buys and boards a dilapidated sailboat.
Style: realistic, sentimental, emotional, captivating, psychological ...
Plot: starting over, self discovery, friendship, hopes, haunted by the past, small town, father daughter relationship, death of wife, redemption, society, bittersweet, friends ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.8
 67K
The Chorus (2004)
Genre: Drama, Music
Country: France, Switzerland, Germany
Duration: 97 min.
Story: Set in 1940's France, a new teacher at a school for disruptive boys gives hope and inspiration.
Style: touching, inspirational, uplifting, sentimental, feel good ...
Audience: kids, teens, teen drama
Plot: boarding school, teacher, childhood, music, teachers and students, children, boss, boarding school life, musician, friendship, orphan, school ...
Time: 1940s, 20th century, year 2004
Place: france, new york, switzerland, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min.
Story: Gilbert has to care for his brother Arnie and his obese mother, which gets in the way when love walks into his life.
Style: melancholic, touching, emotional, depressing, sad ...
Audience: teens, chick flick, teen drama
Plot: dysfunctional family, disability, self discovery, mental illness, small town, mentally challenged, responsibility, life philosophy, brothers, coming of age, family drama, family problems ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, year 1993, 60s, 70s
Place: iowa, texas, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
32%
Like Father, Like Son (2013)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min.
Story: Ryota Nonomiya is a successful businessman driven by money. He learns that his biological son was switched with another child after birth. He must make a life-changing decision and choose his true son or the boy he raised as his own.
Style: touching, disturbing, psychological, sincere, intense ...
Audience: family friendly
Plot: family drama, family reunited, boy, parents and children, architect, father son relationship, family relations, self discovery, moral dilemma, introspection, identity crisis, life turned upside down ...
Time: year 2013, 21st century
Place: japan, tokyo, asia
⇓ similarity ⇓
31%
Movie in collections
 7.9
 18K
Still Walking (2008)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min.
Story: Twelve years after their beloved eldest son, Junpei, drowned while saving a stranger's life, Kyohei and Toshiko welcome their surviving children home for a family reunion. Younger son Ryota still feels that his parents resent that he isn't ...
Style: serious, contemplative, realistic, touching, sincere ...
Plot: family reunited, family gatherings, family life, generation gap, bereavement, dealing with death, reconciliation, parents and children, old age, generation, father daughter relationship, love ...
Time: year 2008, 2000s
Place: japan, east asia, asia
⇓ similarity ⇓
30%
 6.9
 22K
Courageous (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min.
Story: As law enforcement officers, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, and their partners are confident and focused. They willingly stand up to the worst the streets have to offer. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly ...
Style: christian film, uplifting, inspirational, realistic, sentimental ...
Audience: family outing
Plot: christian, faith, christianity, fatherhood, religion, family relations, god, religious, father son relationship, church, idealism, courage ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
29%
Tony Takitani (2004)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 75 min.
Story: Tony Takitani had a solitary childhood. Being alone was normal since his mother died young and his father was always away with his jazz band. At school he studied art, but while his sketches are accurate and detailed they lack feeling. Used to being ...
Style: captivating, serious, atmospheric, psychological, realistic ...
Plot: emotionless, loneliness, obsession, couples, life is a bitch, alone, love and romance, fall in love, hopes, solitude, jazz, human nature ...
Time: 21st century
Place: japan, asia, tokyo
⇓ similarity ⇓
29%
Be Sure to Share (2009)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 109 min.
Story: Shiro’s struggle with his father’s cancer and impending death leads to a realization that he must communicate his love and admiration for him before it’s too late. A series of flashbacks reveals their relationship over time, and the trouble ...
Style: realistic, touching, contemplative, emotional, psychological ...
Plot: family relations, redemption, terminal illness, coping, parents and children, estrangement, unfulfillment, family in crisis, father son relationship, asian prostitute, family problems, dealing with death ...
Time: 21st century
Place: japan, asia
⇓ similarity ⇓
29%
 7.2
 124K
Pay It Forward (2000)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min.
Story: Like some other kids, 12-year-old Trevor McKinney believed in the goodness of human nature. Like many other kids, he was determined to change the world for the better. Unlike most other kids, he succeeded.
Style: touching, inspirational, emotional, motivational, sentimental ...
Audience: chick flick, kids, teens, teen drama
Plot: teacher, childhood, single parent, teachers and students, alcoholic, life philosophy, good deed, disfigurement, death, boy, alcoholism, addiction ...
Time: year 2000, 90s, 20th century
Place: tibet, nevada, usa, las vegas
⇓ similarity ⇓
28%
 8.1
 117K
Paris, Texas (1984)
Genre: Drama
Country: West Germany, France, UK, USA
Duration: 145 min.
Story: A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier.
Style: road movie, surreal, touching, emotional, atmospheric ...
Plot: desert, father son relationship, on the road, road trip, amnesia, relationships, storytelling, parenthood, loneliness, drifter, sibling relationship, reconciliation ...
Time: 80s, year 1984, 20th century
Place: texas, los angeles, america, nebraska, midwest ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
28%
 7.5
 11K
Tokyo Sonata (2008)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan, Netherlands, Hong Kong
Duration: 120 min.
Story: Ryûhei Sasaki (Teruyuki Kagawa) is keeping a secret from his wife, Megumi (Kyôko Koizumi), and his two teenage sons. Even though he leaves the house every day, he's not really going to work. He's going to an employment office. He ...
Style: lyrical, stylized, talky, serious, touching ...
Plot: family relations, unemployment, rebellion, youth, job seeking, housewife, layoff, hopes, family secret, chinawoman, human nature, dishonesty ...
Time: year 2008, 2000s, 21st century
Place: tokyo, japan, east asia, asia, china
⇓ similarity ⇓
28%
 8.0
 543K
Rain Man (1988)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min.
Story: Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt's father left a fortune to his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie; they travel cross-country.
Style: road movie, sincere, uplifting, touching, inspirational ...
Audience: family friendly
Plot: autism, road trip, redemption, disability, runaway, brother brother relationship, mentally challenged, siblings relations, family relations, casino, mental illness, mathematics ...
Time: 20th century, year 1988, 80s
Place: las vegas, california, ohio, cincinnati ohio, missouri ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
28%
 8.0
 27K
Winter Light (1963)
Genre: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 81 min.
Story: A Swedish pastor fails a loving woman, a suicidal fisherman and God.
Style: philosophical, psychological, depressing, art house, black and white ...
Plot: religion, existentialism, suicide, priest, winter, faith, midlife crisis, spirituality, great ending, philosophy, art, small town ...
Time: year 1963, 20th century, 60s
Place: scandinavia, eastern europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Genre: Drama
Country: Sweden, France, West Germany
Duration: 188 min.
Story: Through the eyes of ten-year-old Alexander, we witness the delights and conflicts of the Ekdahl family, a sprawling bourgeois clan in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Sweden.
Style: disturbing, philosophical, art house, visual, surreal ...
Plot: childhood, ghost, christmas, children, coming of age, grief, brother sister relationship, child abuse, christmas eve, abusive stepfather, marriage as hell, boy ...
Time: turn of the century, year 1982, 20th century, victorian era, 1910s ...
Place: scandinavia, eastern europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
Movie in collections
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea, Germany
Duration: 103 min.
Story: This South Korean film takes place on an isolated lake, where an old monk lives in a small floating temple. The monk has a young boy living with him, learning to become a monk. We watch as seasons and years pass by.
Style: philosophical, atmospheric, melancholic, meditative, spiritual ...
Plot: buddhism, life & death, coming of age, isolation, meditation, existentialism, buddhist monk, monk, buddhist, beautiful scenery, nature, life changing experience ...
Time: year 2003, 2000s, 21st century
Place: south korea, korea, east asia, tibet, asia
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
 7.5
 316K
Babel (2006)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, Mexico, France
Duration: 143 min.
Story: Tragedy strikes a married couple on vacation in the Moroccan desert, touching off an interlocking story involving four different families.
Style: non-linear, bleak, sincere, emotional, depressing ...
Audience: adult
Plot: multiple storylines, redemption, desert, woman urinating, deaf girl, mexican border, society, guilt, parenthood, depression, tragic event, immigrant ...
Time: year 2006, 2000s, 21st century
Place: morocco, japan, tokyo, africa, mexico ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
 7.9
 105K
Amour (2012)
Genre: Drama
Country: Austria, France, Germany
Duration: 127 min.
Story: Georges and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day, Anne has a stroke, and the couple's bond of love is severely tested.
Style: philosophical, sad, sincere, art house, reflective ...
Plot: elderly, aging, death, old couple, life & death, elderly lovers, husband wife relationship, life philosophy, illness, love, family relations, daughter ...
Time: 2010s, year 2012, 21st century
Place: paris france, germany, nebraska, france
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
 7.6
 44K
The Visitor (2007)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story: A college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.
Style: realistic, depressing, touching, independent film, philosophical ...
Plot: immigrant, professor, life, friendship, self discovery, loneliness, society, jazz, lawyer, existentialism, midlife crisis, complex characters ...
Time: year 2007
Place: new york, michigan, connecticut, senegal, syria ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: A drop-out from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil-rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.
Style: road movie, realistic, serious, thought provoking, captivating ...
Plot: road trip, character study, dysfunctional family, on the road, drifter, alienation, hitchhiker, working class, piano, self discovery, pianist, bowling ...
Time: 20th century, 70s, year 1970
Place: california, usa, oregon, washington state, northern california ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Movie in collections
music movies
2033
feel good movies
13548
 7.5
 7K
Maborosi (1995)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 110 min.
Story: A young woman's husband apparently commits suicide without warning or reason, leaving behind his wife and infant. Yumiko remarries and moves from Osaka to a small fishing village, yet continues to search for meaning in a lonely world.
Style: art house, atmospheric, contemplative, slow cinema, retro ...
Plot: suicide, stepbrother stepsister relationship, death, self discovery, arranged marriage, train, memory, drinking, water, asian, meditation, mental disorder ...
Time: year 1995, 90s
Place: japan, venice, asia, europe, italy ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min.
Story: Amidst her own personality crisis, southern housewife Evelyn Couch meets Ninny, an outgoing old woman who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, two young women who experienced hardships and love in Whistle Stop, Alabama in the ...
Style: feel good, sentimental, touching, captivating, inspirational ...
Audience: chick flick, girls' night, kids, teen drama
Plot: friendship, small town, lesbian, feminism, self discovery, small town life, cannibalism, female bonding, midlife crisis, female protagonist, discrimination, lesbian love ...
Time: 1920s, 90s, year 1991, 20th century
Place: alabama, southern usa, usa, georgia, louisiana
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
 7.7
 123K
Nebraska (2013)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story: An aging, booze-addled father takes a trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim what he believes to be a million-dollar sweepstakes prize.
Style: road movie, black and white, depressing, humorous, realistic ...
Plot: aging, road trip, small town, dysfunctional family, elderly, on the road, old age, obsessive quest, honest, relationships, tragedy, eccentricity ...
Time: year 2013, 2010s, 21st century
Place: nebraska, montana, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
 7.4
 99K
Reign Over Me (2007)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min.
Story: A man who lost his family in the September 11 attack on New York City runs into his old college roommate. Rekindling the friendship is the one thing that appears able to help the man recover from his grief.
Style: touching, depressing, sincere, inspirational, heartbreaking ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: grief, friendship, 9/11, dealing with death, mental illness, friends, tragic event, loss of loved one, loss, alone, mental disorder, buddies ...
Time: september 11 2001, year 2007, 21st century
Place: new york, usa, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Scent of a Woman (1992)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 156 min.
Story: Charlie Simms is a student at a private preparatory school who comes from a poor family. To earn the money for his flight home to Gresham, Oregon for Christmas, Charlie takes a job over Thanksgiving looking after retired U.S. Army officer Lieutenant ...
Style: inspirational, sentimental, dramatic, realistic, touching ...
Audience: teens
Plot: friendship, blindness, mentor, blind character, thanksgiving, tango, human spirit, human nature, loneliness, coming of age, disability, preparatory school ...
Time: 20th century, 90s
Place: new york, new england, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 7.8
 13K
Poetry (2010)
Genre: Drama
Country: South Korea, France
Duration: 139 min.
Story: Grandmother Mi Ja works part-time as a caretaker, and struggles to raise a teen grandson by herself. Despite her tough situation, she speaks softly, dresses fashionably, and approaches the world with child-like curiosity. Enrolling in a poetry ...
Style: touching, sincere, emotional, realistic, lyrical ...
Plot: loneliness, bullying, self discovery, teenage rape, suicide, existentialism, teenager, introspection, society, life is a bitch, juvenile delinquency, grandparent and grandchild ...
Time: 2010s, year 2010, 21st century
Place: korea, japan, south korea, asia
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 7.9
 30K
Nostalgia (1983)
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy, Soviet Union
Duration: 125 min.
Story: The Russian poet Andrei Gorchakov, accompanied by guide and translator Eugenia, is traveling through Italy researching the life of an 18th-century Russian composer. In an ancient spa town, he meets the lunatic Domenico, who years earlier had ...
Style: atmospheric, philosophical, art house, cerebral, contemplative ...
Plot: art, existentialism, philosophy, dream, poetry, storytelling, obsession, great ending, memory, redemption, writer's life, culture clash ...
Time: year 1983, 80s
Place: soviet union, russia, ussr, rome italy, europe ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
Watch Trailers From This List to Choose a Movie