Movies Like The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939)

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum is a 1939 drama, romance film from Kenji Mizoguchi with a MovieMagicScore of 7.8/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with 20th Century Boys: Beginning of the End and There Will Be Blood.

Drama Romance

20th Century Boys: Beginning of the End

2008

In 1969, Kenji, an elementary school kid and his friends built a secret base during their summer holidays. They fantasized that they had to fight villains who were out to conquer the world and wrote them in the Book of Prophecies. Years later in 1997, Kenji becomes a convenience store manager and leads a regular life after giving up his dreams to become a rock star. His boring life is suddenly turned upside down when his old classmate dies mysteriously and an entire family in the neighbourhood disappears. At the same time, a religious cult and its mysterious leader, Friend emerges and a strange chain of events duplicating exactly the events described in the Book of Prophecies follow. Is this the beginning of the end of the world? Who is Friend?

6.7

MagicScore

There Will Be Blood

2007

Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview's motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.

8.1

MagicScore

Piccolo mondo antico

1941

Franco, a young man of noble descent, marries Luisa, daughter of a humble clerk, against his grandmother's will.

6.8

MagicScore

Samurai Assassin

1965

Japan, 1860. The men of the Mito clan, victims of the Ansei purge, anxiously prowl around the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle with the intention of assassinating Naosuke Ii of Hikone, tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate and responsible for their misfortune.

7.3

MagicScore

The Reckoning

2004

In 14th Century England, this tale of murder and mystery follows a fugitive priest who falls in with a troupe of actors. As they arrive in a small town, the actors encounter a woman being sentenced to death for practicing witchcraft and murder. Discarding the expected bible stories, the actors now stage a performance based on the crime. Through the performance of the play, they discover a mystery.

6.4

MagicScore

Sayonara

1957

Air Force Major Lloyd Gruver is reassigned to a Japanese air base and is confronted with US racial prejudice against the Japanese people. The issue is compounded because a number of the soldiers become romantically involved with Japanese women, in defiance of US military policy. Ordinarily, a by-the-book officer, Gruver must take a position when a buddy of his, an enlisted man, Joe Kelly, falls in love with a Japanese woman, Katsumi, and marries her. Gruver risks his position by serving as best man at the wedding ceremony.

6.7

MagicScore

Kokuho

2025

Nagasaki, 1964: Following the death of his Yakuza father, 15-year-old Kikuo is taken under the wings 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.

7.8

MagicScore

A Story of Floating Weeds

1934

An aging actor returns to a small town with his troupe and reunites with his former lover and illegitimate son, a scenario that enrages his current mistress and results in heartbreak for all.

7.1

MagicScore

An Actor's Revenge

1963

In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.

6.6

MagicScore

#10

Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.

1991

A streetwise New York police officer transforms into the world's most unusual superhuman hero.

5.6

MagicScore

#11

The Makioka Sisters

1983

This sensuously beautiful film chronicles the activities of four sisters who gather in Kyoto every year to view the cherry blossoms. It paints a vivid portrait of the pre-war lifestyle of the wealthy Makioka family from Osaka, and draws a parallel between their activities and the seasonal variations in Japan.

7.4

MagicScore

#12

The Pornographers

1966

Subu makes pornographic films. He sees nothing wrong with it. They are an aid to a repressed society, and he uses the money to support his landlady, Haru, and her family. From time to time, Haru shares her bed with Subu, though she believes her dead husband, reincarnated as a carp, disapproves. Director Shohei Imamura has always delighted in the kinky exploits of lowlifes, and in this 1966 classic, he finds subversive humor in the bizarre dynamics of Haru, her Oedipal son, and her daughter, the true object of her pornographer-boyfriend’s obsession. Imamura’s comic treatment of such taboos as voyeurism and incest sparked controversy when the film was released, but The Pornographers has outlasted its critics, and now seems frankly ahead of its time.

7.2

MagicScore

#13

Hello!

2017

Avinash/Seenu is a street urchin brought up by his loving adoptive parents Saru and Prakash. The love of his life is the girl he meets during childhood Junnu/Priya, whom fate had snatched away from him. Fourteen long years and they still wait for the day they will meet again. Will destiny help them?

7.2

MagicScore

#14

To Each His Own

1946

During World War I, small-town girl Josephine Norris has an illegitimate son by an itinerant pilot. After a scheme to adopt him ends up giving him to another family, she devotes her life to loving him from afar.

6.9

MagicScore

#15

Second Best

1994

The difficult relationship between a british postal officer and his adoptive son.

6.7

MagicScore

#16

Luce

2019

A star athlete and top student, Luce's idealized image is challenged by one of his teachers when his unsettling views on political violence come to light, putting a strain on family bonds while igniting intense debates on race and identity.

6.4

MagicScore

#17

A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries

1998

This fictionalized story, based on the family life of writer James Jones, is an emotional slice-of-life story. Jones is portrayed here as Bill Willis, a former war hero turned author who combats alcoholism and is starting to experience health problems. Living in France with his wife, daughter, and an adopted son, the family travels an unconventional road which casts them as outsiders to others. Preaching a sexual freedom, his daughter's sexual discovery begins at an early age and betrays her when the family moves to Hanover in America. Her overt sexuality clashes with the values of her teenage American peers and gives her a problematic reputation. Meanwhile, her brooding brother copes with his own interior pain regarding his past, only comfortable communicating within the domestic space.

6.1

MagicScore

#18

Loggerheads

2005

A troubled woman seeks out the child she gave up for adoption; a gay motel owner takes in a handsome drifter; and the wife of a preacher frets that a gay couple has moved in across the street. All of their lives will intersect as Loggerheads subtly draws out their secret losses and desires.

5.8

MagicScore

#19

Repast

1951

Michiyo lives in the small place Osaka and is not happy with her marriage; all she does is cook and clean for her husband.

7.5

MagicScore

#20

Muddy River

1981

Two boys, whose parents ply their trade by the mouth of a muddy river in Osaka, become close friends.

7.2

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum?

The top films similar to The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum by MovieMagicScore are 20th Century Boys: Beginning of the End (6.7), There Will Be Blood (8.1), Piccolo mondo antico (6.8). Each shares drama/romance themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum worth watching?

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.8/10 from 123 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum?

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939) is a drama, romance film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, starring Shōtarō Hanayagi, Kakuko Mori, Kōkichi Takada.

Where can I find more recommendations like The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more drama recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like 20th Century Boys: Beginning of the End Movies like There Will Be Blood Movies like Piccolo mondo antico Movies like Samurai Assassin Movies like The Reckoning Movies like Sayonara

About movies like The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum

This ranked list pairs The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939), a drama and romance film from Kenji Mizoguchi, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Shōtarō Hanayagi take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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