Movies like Monster 2013
If you like "Monster" you are looking for bleak, serious and captivating movies about / with plastic surgery, prostitution, bullying, mature, female protagonist, alienation and identity crisis 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.
Monster (2013)
23
Original name: モンスター
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 114 min.
Story:
A woman has an ugly face. She has been called 'monster' since childhood. A case occurs in her town that leads to her being ejected and a relocation to Tokyo. She obtains plastic surgery and begins working as a prostitute. She makes some dough and extends the plastic surgery to her entire body. She changes her name and begins a new life. The perfect body leads her to think about men and her hometown.
Style:
bleak, serious, captivating, dramatic
Plot:
plastic surgery, prostitution, bullying, mature, female protagonist, alienation, identity crisis, social outcast, prostitute, changing lives, body transformation, transformation, deformity, asian prostitute, survival, loneliness, sexuality, societal hypocrisy, double life, realism, moral ambiguity, coming of age, female empowerment, body image, psychological drama ...
Time:
contemporary
Place:
tokyo
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to Monster
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out captivating, melancholic, serious and psychological films with plots about coming of age, loneliness, alienation, psychological drama, isolation, identity crisis and mature mostly in Drama and Romance genres. Some movies like Monster: Kokoro to Karada (2004), Those Secrets (1992), Downfall (2023), Ritual (2000), Desire (2005). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 83 min.
Story:
A few years ago, when Tomomi (Hiroko Akune) was on the way home from school, she saw her friend Keiko (Misaki Mori) about to be raped by a man. Tomomi hit the man in the head with a stone and saved Keiko. In the present, Keiko, has buried her ...
Style:
bleak, captivating, thrilling, realistic, sentimental ...
Plot:
female nudity, sexual abuse, prostitution, trauma, sex work, character study, survival, female friendship, guilt, mature, alienation, street life ...
Time:
2000s
Place:
tokyo
Similarity:
95%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
A wife and mother drifts back to her life as a call girl.
Style:
noir, serious, realistic, captivating
Plot:
call girl, prostitution, secret life, double life, female protagonist, domestic drama, mature, motherhood, character study, taboo, family conflict, shame ...
Time:
90s
Similarity:
77%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min.
Story:
Kaoru Fukazawa is a manga artist. His manga series was published for eight years, but has now finished. He doesn't have any ideas for his next work. His situation seems bleak, with his editor seeming to not care about him anymore and his ...
Style:
entertaining, captivating, dramatic, melancholic, bleak ...
Plot:
infidelity, desperation, relationships, prostitute, secret, job, life, business, melancholy, writer's block, loneliness, downfall ...
Place:
japan
Similarity:
76%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min.
Story:
A disillusioned filmmaker has an encounter with a young girl who has a ritual of repeating "Tomorrow is my birthday" everyday. He tries to communicate with her through his video camera.
Style:
psychological, serious, emotional, inspirational, independent film ...
Plot:
asian prostitute, dysfunctional family, family life, family in crisis, parents and children, family problems, mental disorder, alienation, artist, outsider, birthday, family relations ...
Time:
20th century, 60s
Place:
tokyo, bahamas, usa
Similarity:
69%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 133 min.
Story:
Yokubo from director Tetsuo Shinohara is based off of the award-winning love story by Mariko Koike. A young man searching for physical comfort and dumb lust, and the world-weary woman drowning in a sea of men that works with him. This is a fantastic ...
Style:
thrilling, captivating, psychological, erotic drama, romantic drama ...
Plot:
desire, social problems, couple relations, male female relationship, love affair, relationships, relationship problems, sexual exploration, character study, loneliness, bittersweet, literary ...
Time:
2000s
Place:
japan
Similarity:
59%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 79 min.
Story:
17 year-old Hiruma is desperate to get laid and takes out his sexual urges on Anpai, a fat boy who has "boobs." His classmate Tomono, a sickly loner, is in a serious relationship with their married teacher.
Style:
independent film, captivating, dramatic, sincere, controversial ...
Plot:
coming of age, teenager, teenage sexuality, boy, mature, sexual abuse, high school, teacher student relationship, school, sex, teenage angst, teenage sex ...
Time:
2000s
Place:
japan
Similarity:
59%
Genre: Drama
Country: Serbia, Croatia
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
The movie is based on the fascinating, true story of a feral boy whom hunters found among wolves in a forest in the mountains of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) in the mid-1980s. The boy was sent to the institution for children in an attempt to socialize ...
Style:
serious, touching, captivating, intense, bleak ...
Plot:
boy, neglected child, friendship, children, orphanage, forest, bullying, wolf, feral child, coming of age, child soldier, bosnian war ...
Time:
80s, 90s
Place:
serbia, bosnia herzegovina, bosnia, croatia
Similarity:
54%
345
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
Classmates Shuji and Eri becomes friends, both young people have family problems. When Eri is taken away to Tokyo by her relatives, Shuji becomes increasingly isolated at school and drifts into criminal activity.
Style:
psychological, suspenseful, captivating, thrilling, melancholic ...
Plot:
male female relationship, problem, brothers, relationships, family relations, brother brother relationship, priest, life is a bitch, faith, brother, small town, coming of age ...
Place:
japan, tokyo
Similarity:
50%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
CHOIR GIRL is a gritty drama about a lonely photographer, Eugene, who becomes obsessed with an underage prostitute, Josephine, in his rundown neighbourhood. She has escaped a worn-torn country only to be trapped in the illegal sex trade by ...
Style:
bleak, dark drama, serious, suspenseful, exciting ...
Plot:
sex scene, photograph, prostitute, sexploitation, obsession, moral ambiguity, innocence lost, street prostitution, human trafficking, photographer, bandit, gang ...
Time:
90s
Similarity:
45%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 136 min.
Story:
Kazu attacks a bar in Kabukicho, a Tokyo red-light district, and flees to his hometown with abducts Machiko, a pole dancer he's been stuck on. They begin living together, but their happiness is short lived as their pasts torment them both.
Style:
psychological, thrilling, captivating, suspenseful, crime drama ...
Plot:
gambler, male female relationship, changing lives, lifestyle change, relationships, troubled past, love affair, couple relations, prostitute, mysterious past, confronting the past, red light district ...
Place:
tokyo, japan
Similarity:
44%
19
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan, France
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
A meeting in the middle of Tokyo between Jan, a middle age French photographer who is living his life carelessly, and Flare, a 17 years old runaway girl with a complicate family background. Charmed by Jan’s works, a budding of love soon developed ...
Style:
romantic drama, melancholic, art house, sensual, intercultural ...
Plot:
coming of age, loneliness, bittersweet, family conflict, self discovery, mature, sexual tension, urban, intimate, forbidden love, identity crisis, nightlife ...
Place:
tokyo
Similarity:
43%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
Nagisa is transgender. She grew up in Hiroshima as a man, but now lives in Shinjuku, Tokyo as a woman. Due to an incident, she begins to live with middle school student Ichika, who is a distant relative. Ichika has been neglected by her mother ...
Style:
sincere, serious, captivating, emotional, melancholic ...
Plot:
trans woman, transgender, transsexuality, motherhood, family drama, desire for fame, character study, lgbtq, relatives, relationships, instinct, transsexual ...
Place:
japan, tokyo
Similarity:
43%
34
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
L stopped enjoying life as a little girl. She flees abuse at the hands of her adoptive parents and heads for the big city. There, L's life is wrecked by a string of bad relationships, and she takes the fall for a friend who commits murder and ...
Style:
emotional, thrilling, captivating, psychological, melancholic ...
Plot:
female protagonist, love, loneliness, character study, psychological trauma, relationships, love story, love affair, love interest, mature, city life, alienation ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
japan
Similarity:
42%
677
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan, Thailand
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
A young woman leaves her job and lover in Japan to start a new life in Thailand.
Style:
captivating, psychological, disturbing, romantic drama, melancholic ...
Plot:
female protagonist, self discovery, introspection, nature, lifestyle change, changing lives, relationships, new life, escape, loneliness, identity, travel ...
Place:
thailand, japan
Similarity:
41%
Genre: Drama
Country: Slovakia, Czech Republic
Duration: 84 min.
Story:
A grittily realistic tale of prostitution at an Eastern European border town
Style:
serious, realistic, touching, sexy, bleak ...
Plot:
life is a bitch, exploitation, down on your luck, seamstress, prostitute, roommate, female protagonist, survival, small town, desperation, young woman, poverty ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
slovakia, eastern europe, czech republic
Similarity:
41%
Genre: Drama
Country: Turkey, USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
A young foreign girl comes to LA to learn English but learns instead that life in the States is not what she saw on TV and film. She finds herself being dragged into a world not only foreign in language but completely outside her cultural values. ...
Style:
melancholic, romantic drama, independent film
Plot:
language barrier, culture shock, empathy, deaf, alienation, identity crisis, coming of age, language learning, misunderstanding, loneliness, realism, isolation ...
Place:
los angeles
Similarity:
40%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
Based on a 2016 novel by Mana Sakura, “The Lowlife” shows the stories of three women who work in Japan’s adult video industry .
Style:
captivating, independent film, melancholic, contemplative
Plot:
porn actress, japanese schoolgirl, female protagonist, adult film industry, sex work, women, erotica, relationships, social problems, life, mother daughter relationship, family relations ...
Place:
tokyo, japan
Similarity:
39%
12K
Genre: Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
A man's life, thoughts, feelings and his very own darkness... Adapted from Dostoevsky's novel "Notes from Undergroud", Demirkubuz follows Muharrem as he gets himself invited to a party where he is not welcome, just to find ...
Style:
realistic, psychological, contemplative, serious, art house ...
Plot:
cause and meaning, introspection, artists and showbiz, writer's life, hopes, humiliation, loneliness, existentialism, losing-it hero, party, advice, alienation ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
balkan, middle east, turkey
Similarity:
38%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Jackie is an average young woman living an average life in the suburbs when she meets handsome, Nasir, and it's love at first sight. They get married and baby Sasha is born. Over a period of time Jackie realises the man she married is not the ...
Style:
intense, dramatic, realistic, tragic
Plot:
domestic violence, childhood trauma, mother daughter relationship, female protagonist, protective mother, motherhood, abuse, psychological abuse, dysfunctional family, survival, resilience, mature ...
Similarity:
37%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
After experiencing failure in business and his marriage, Mitsutoshi Yashiro (Shinsuke Kato) walks around looking for a place to die. He decides to stop at a red light district shop to have sex for one last time. He meets Hina (Rina Fujisaki) who ...
Style:
captivating, dramatic, sincere, psychological, serious ...
Plot:
prostitution, nudity, japanese woman, sex scene, prostitute, suicidal thoughts, couples, bare breasts, sex, male female relationship, relationships, regret ...
Place:
tokyo
Similarity:
37%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
Hanka is a young woman who suddenly abandons her stable life for no obvious reason, and undertakes a trip without any clear destination, meeting strangers on her way. At the same time, her boyfriend desperately tries to find her.
Style:
melancholic, existential
Plot:
road trip, self discovery, female protagonist, identity crisis, missing person, loneliness, escape, uncertainty, character study, alienation, coming of age, female empowerment ...
Similarity:
36%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy, France, West Germany
Duration: 118 min.
Story:
The drawbacks and difficulties of military life are explored in this film. Paolo Passeri is a college graduate, somewhat spoiled, somewhat effete, who finds himself in an officer training program under the stern martinet, Captain Asciutto. He ...
Style:
serious, tense, period piece, grim, grotesque
Plot:
bullying, military, military life, conscription, discipline, conformity, machismo, realism, accomplice, hierarchy, sergeant, character study ...
Time:
70s
Similarity:
36%
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
A journey through the memories of teenager Paul Varderman as he reflects on the events leading to the fatal moment his life is cut short. Paul moves to a new school and becomes involved with 'The Freaks', a group on the periphery of school ...
Style:
realistic, serious, bleak, suspense, captivating ...
Audience:
teen drama
Plot:
high school, gang, teenage life, youth, high school life, downfall, kids in trouble, bullying, teen angst, tragedy, coming of age, outsider ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
england
Similarity:
35%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 70 min.
Story:
It is difficult to stand out at a Ginza club where every hostess wants to be number one. It is competitive. One of them is a virgin and also just eighteen years old. She wants to become the number one hostess to help pay the bills for her family. ...
Style:
enigmatic, dark, dramatic, captivating, erotic ...
Plot:
young woman, japanese woman, japanese girl, club, feminine wiles, young girl, virgin, virginity, competitor, competitiveness, nightlife, urban ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
tokyo
Similarity:
34%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 123 min.
Story:
Downed American fliers in WW II are vivisected by Japanese surgeons in medical experiments.
Style:
serious, bleak, historical drama, disturbing, intense ...
Plot:
world war two, nurse, vivisection, guilt, accomplice, mature, atrocity, moral ambiguity, ethical dilemma, war crime, mental disorder, trauma ...
Time:
1940s, year 1945
Place:
japan
Similarity:
34%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, France, Egypt
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
Two sisters are abruptly separated, the eldest, Hasna, struggles to find her identity and place in the world.
Style:
suspenseful, thrilling, captivating, psychological, melancholic ...
Plot:
female protagonist, resistance, identity crisis, personality change, sisters, sister, secret, losing-it hero, sister sister relationship, changing lives, lifestyle change, trauma ...
Similarity:
34%
250
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
Based on the novel "Kanojo no Jinsei wa Machigai ja Nai" (literal translation: Her life is not at fault) by Director Hiroki, it is a powerful story of survivors, who are all trying to find their own silver linings in life.
Style:
psychological, captivating
Plot:
prostitute, orphan, family problems, loss of mother, tragic event, family tragedy, social problems, prostitution, social relations, life is a bitch, society, money problems ...
Place:
tokyo
Similarity:
34%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 135 min.
Story:
Mishima Kiko was exploited by her own family. When she was little, her mother neglected her. After her mother remarried, Kiko was abused mentally and physically by her mother, stepfather, and younger stepbrother. She didn't belong to this ...
Style:
thrilling, captivating, psychological, melancholic, heartbreaking ...
Plot:
domestic abuse, abuse, trauma, domestic violence, neglect, bullying, dysfunctional family, social problems, life is a bitch, traumatic past, violence, family problems ...
Place:
japan
Similarity:
33%
1K
Genre: Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Fifteen year old Deborah meets Jennifer who steers her into a career as an escort. Under the alias Bo she begins a new life that she cannot handle and starts a downward spiral that only she can end.
Style:
serious, realistic, captivating, rough, erotic ...
Plot:
teenage prostitution, prostitute, downfall, destructive relationship, lifestyle, teenage life, woman in danger, juvenile delinquency, life is a bitch, youth, society, drug abuse ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
antwerp, belgium, europe
Similarity:
32%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada, Switzerland
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
Aïcha is a troubled teenage girl who cannot forgive her mother for kicking out the stepfather she adored. Aïcha longs for him to come back and take her away. When she meets Baz, a man twice her age, it’s love at first sight for her; the real ...
Style:
serious, suspenseful, dramatic, captivating, tense ...
Plot:
mother daughter relationship, teenager, adolescence, romantic obsession, teenage girl, family conflict, infatuation, obsession, relationships, love, teenage life, teenage love ...
Place:
quebec
Similarity:
31%
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