Movies like Ikiru (1952)

10 films to watch after Ikiru, ranked by how well they match its tone — not just its genre.

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

1

Tokyo Story (1953)

Fit 80%

Shares Drama with Ikiru.

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 have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.
2

An Autumn Afternoon (1962)

Fit 77%

Shares Drama with Ikiru.

Widower Shuhei Hirayama's caretaker is his 24-year-old daughter, Michiko. Gradually, he comes to realize that Michiko should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.
3

Perfect Days (2023)

Fit 70%

Shares Drama with Ikiru.

Hirayama is content with his life as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine, he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Through unexpected encounters, he reflects on finding beauty in the world.
4

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)

Fit 68%

Shares Drama with Ikiru.

After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labour chief at a large mining operation in Manchuria, which also grants him exemption from military service. He accepts and moves with his newlywed wife Michiko, but when he tries to put his ideas of more humane treatment into practice, he finds himself at odds with scheming officials, cruel foremen, and the military police.
5

The Last Laugh (1924)

Fit 63%

Shares Drama with Ikiru.

An aging doorman, after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel, is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbours and society.
6

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)

Fit 61%

Shares Drama with Ikiru.

The deep conversation between a Japanese architect and a French actress forms the basis of this celebrated French film, considered one of the vanguard productions of the French New Wave. Set in Hiroshima after the end of World War II, the couple -- lovers turned friends -- recount, over many hours, previous romances and life experiences. The two intertwine their stories about the past with pondering the devastation wrought by the atomic bomb dropped on the city.
7

Viridiana (1962)

Fit 58%

Shares Drama with Ikiru.

Viridiana is preparing to start her life as a nun when she is sent, somewhat unwillingly, to visit her aging uncle, Don Jaime. He supports her; but the two have met only once. Jaime thinks Viridiana resembles his dead wife. Viridiana has secretly despised this man all her life and finds her worst fears proven when Jaime grows determined to seduce his pure niece. Viridiana becomes undone as her uncle upends the plans she had made to join the convent.
8

Van Gogh (1991)

Fit 54%

Shares Drama with Ikiru.

After leaving the asylum, Vincent van Gogh settles in the home of Doctor Gachet, where he keeps painting amidst the torments of his failing mental health. He begins an affair with his host’s daughter, however, she soon realizes that he doesn’t love her and that his heart beats only for art.
9

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

Fit 45%

Shares Drama with Ikiru.

A Black hitman who models after the samurai of old finds himself targeted for death by the mob.
10

Hereafter (2010)

Fit 45%

Shares Drama with Ikiru.

Three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — are touched by death in different ways.