Movies Like Iemon

The Way of the Strong

1928

A gangster falls for a blind violinist, only for his mobster rivals to kidnap her.

Kokuho

2025

Nagasaki, 1964: Following the death of his yakuza father, 15-year-old Kikuo is taken under the wing of a famous kabuki actor. Alongside Shunsuke, the actor’s only son, he decides to dedicate himself to this traditional form of theatre. For decades, the two young men grow and evolve together – and one will become the greatest Japanese master of the art of kabuki.

The Garden of Sinners: Paradox Spiral

2008

Tomoe Enjou is attacked by bullies from his old school and saved by Shiki Ryougi. He asks her to hide him at her place and admits that he killed someone. Several days later, there are still no broadcasts about the murder as if it didn't happen... and when the victims are found, they're alive and unharmed.

Steamboat Bill, Jr.

1928

The just-out-of-college, effete son of a no-nonsense steamboat captain comes to visit his father whom he's not seen since he was a child.

Pastoral: To Die in the Country

1974

A director faces creative block while working on his latest film – a reimagination of his adolescence growing up in a mountain village in rural Japan.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima

1973

Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.

The Four Devils

1920

One out of three silent adaptations of the novella "Les quatre diables" written by Danish author Herman Bang. The most famous one, although unfortunately lost, is without any doubt F.W. Murnau's "4 Devils". This German version, by Danish director A.W. Sandberg, was done eight years prior to Murnau's American one, and was a big success at the time.

A Page of Madness

1926

A man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.

Blood-C: The Last Dark

2012

Tokyo, Winter. Despite the use of the Youth Ordinance Bill to enforce curfews for minors and regulate the use of the Internet, young people continue to fight for their own freedom through underground methods. One such group calls themselves Surat. They have decided to take on Fumito Nanahara, a man who has great influence on the political world, and basically controls Tokyo with an iron fist. While using the Internet as a weapon to discover more information about Fumito, they learn about "Tower", the secret organization behind Fumito which engages in human experimentation.

The White Heather

1919

Lord Angus Cameron's marriage to a woman of his titled Scottish class is thwarted by his secret marriage years before to Marion Hume, the housekeeper of the castle. Cameron attempts to repudiate the marriage, the only record of which is a certificate in the sunken wreck of a yacht, The White Heather. Marion goes to court to prove her claim and secure the rights of her son by Cameron, but is defeated. Alec McClintock, who is in love with Marion, and Cameron both want to recover the record, so they don diving suits and descend to the wreck. An underwater struggle ensues and Cameron severs his own air tube and drowns while attempting to cut off his rival's air supply. Alec then recovers the marriage record and wins Marion. —AFI

Ichi the Killer

2001

As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of.

Film

1965

A man attempts to evade observation by an all-seeing eye.

The Kid Brother

1927

The timid youngest son of the most important family in town must use his wits to win the respect of his strong father and the love of a beautiful new woman in town.

Noriko's Dinner Table

2005

A teenager named Noriko Shimabara runs away from her family in Toyokawa, to meet Kumiko, the leader of an Internet BBS, Haikyo.com. She becomes involved with Kumiko's family circle, which grows darker after the mass suicide of 54 high school girls.

Imprint

2006

An American journalist travels through 19th-century Japan to find the prostitute he fell in love with but instead learns of the physical and existential horror that befell her after he left.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

1920

A doctor's research into the roots of evil turns him into a hideous depraved fiend.

Carmen

1921

Gemini

1999

When his mother's untimely death quickly follows his father's, a doctor begins to believe a killer may be targeting him and his amnesiac wife.