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Movies like A Family

Key Features:
Yakuza, Loyalty, Family, Crime, Japanese cinema, Gang violence, Tradition, Betrayal, Brotherhood, Moral ambiguity
Tone:
serious, gritty, dramatic
Target Audience:
Crime drama enthusiasts, Fans of Japanese cinema, Viewers interested in moral dilemmas
Emotional Arc:
Loyalty → Conflict

A Family

2021-01-29
A Family Poster - Find Similar Movies

Taken in by the yakuza at a young age, Kenji swears allegiance to his old-school boss, pledging to adhere to the family code amid ever-changing times.

Genres
Crime, Drama
Cast
Go Ayano, Hiroshi Tachi, Machiko Ono, Yukiya Kitamura, Hayato Ichihara, Hayato Isomura, Shinobu Terajima, Ryutaro Ninomiya, Taro Suruga, Ryo Iwamatsu
Crew
Michihito Fujii, Michihito Fujii
Rating
7.3(74 votes)
A FamilyA Family
Select exactly what you are looking for


Brother
Brother(2000)
7.1

A Japanese Yakuza gangster's deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother's gang.



Outrage
Outrage(2010)
6.9

When a tough yakuza gangster is betrayed by his bosses, it means all out war. Bodies pile up as he takes out everyone in his way to the top in a brutal quest for revenge.



Gonin
Gonin(1995)
6.533

Five men plot to steal a large sum of money from the local yakuza, but everything does not go as planned and the men find themselves hunted down by contract killers.



Sonatine
Sonatine(1993)
7.502

Murakawa, an aging Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life, is sent by his boss to Okinawa along with a few of his henchmen to help end a gang war, supposedly as mediators between two warring clans. He finds that the dispute between the clans is insignificant and whilst wondering why he was sent to Okinawa at all, his group is attacked in an ambush. The survivors flee and make a decision to lay low at the beach while they await further instructions.



Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima

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.



Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Proxy War

Shozo Hirono has managed to separate from the Yamamori family and create his own small family, and extend his circle of acquaintances. These new friendships include a powerful underboss of the Muraoka family, Noboru Uchimoto.



Samurai Rebellion
8.212

The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to get her back.



Outrage Coda
6.8

Five years after the all-out war between the Sanno and Hanabishi crime families, former yakuza boss Otomo works in South Korea for Mr. Chang, a noted fixer. When tensions rise between Chang and the Hanabishi, and Chang's life is endangered, Otomo returns to Japan to settle things once and for all.



Hana
Hana(2006)
6.6

In a poor district of Edo lives a young samurai named Soza. He has been sent by his clan to avenge the death of his father. He isn't an accomplished swordsman however, and he prefers sharing the life of the residents, teaching the kids how to write etc. When he finally finds the man he is looking for, he will have to decide whether he follows the way of the samurai or chooses peace and reconciliation.



The Yakuza
7.1

When George Tanner does business with high-ranking Yakuza Tono, Tono kidnaps his daughter, and George summons his old friend, private eye Harry Kilmer, to Japan to investigate.



Battles Without Honor and Humanity

In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.



Beyond Outrage
7

As the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West. What started as an internal strife in Outrage has now become a nationwide war in Outrage Beyond.



A Dirty Carnival

A small-time thug who collects debts for the local triad is torn between his criminal aspirations and his devotion to family.



AKA
AKA(2023)
6.873

A steely special ops agent finds his morality put to the test when he infiltrates a crime syndicate and unexpectedly bonds with the boss' young son.



Violent Cop
7.222

A detective breaks all rules of ethical conduct while investigating a colleague’s involvement in drug pushing and Yakuza activities.



Shinjuku Triad Society

Tatsuhito, a cop, pursues Chinese warlord Wang through the underworld of Shinjuku and over to Taiwan.



Zatoichi on the Road

Zatoichi is sworn to protect the life of a young girl and without any real allies finds himself in the middle of a bloody turf war.



Fireworks
Fireworks(1997)
7.686

Beleaguered police detective Nishi takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With his wife suffering from leukemia and his business partner paralyzed from a brutal gangster attack, Nishi borrows from a yakuza loan shark and then robs a bank to clear his debt.



Brother
Brother(1997)
7.6

Danila goes to his successful brother, Victor, in Petersburg to start a new life. Unknown to Danila, Victor is a contract killer, but is in hiding after asking for too much money to assassinate a Chechen mob boss. To avoid exposure, Victor convinces Danila to kill the boss instead.



Youth of the Beast
6.888

When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo's underworld explodes with violence.



A Better Tomorrow
6.065

An idealistic policeman must bring down his estranged older brother, now a powerful gangster in a South Korean port city.



Graveyard of Honor
6.2

A barkeeper saves a Yakuza boss' life and thus makes his way up in the organization. However, his fear of nothing soon causes problems.



The Return of Sister Street Fighter

When Koryu's childhood friend Shurei is abducted by gangsters, the desperate young woman recruits a female martial artist and a tough-as-nails stranger to join her for a dangerous rescue mission.



Goyokin
Goyokin(1969)
7.46

A guilt-haunted samurai warrior attempts to stop a massacre taking place.



MOTHER
MOTHER(2020)
6.995

Shuhei is leading a tough life. His alcoholic mother Akiko can only hook up with bad guys and order Shuhei to go get money from his disapproving grandparents instead of going to school. Except raising the little half-sister, his rock-bottom life seems to have no end.



The Outsider
6.172

A former American G.I. joins a yakuza family after his release from prison in post-World War II Osaka.



Mr. Six
Mr. Six(2015)
6.8

Many years ago Mr. Six was a notorious gangster. That was back when there was still such a thing as honour among thieves, when criminals earned respect and maintained principles. These days Mr. Six is all but forgotten, a living relic residing in a narrow alley. One day Six's son, Xiaobo, is abducted by some spoiled punks after he scratches their precious Ferrari. Mr. Six realizes that he must do whatever it takes to get his son back — even if that means returning to the life he thought he had left behind.



Familia
Familia(2024)
6.961

Luigi has lived with his mother and little brother since their abusive father Franco left when he was 10. Now a young man brimming with rage, he joins a far-right gang in search of belonging, but Franco's return poisons everything.



Exiled
Exiled(2006)
7.232

A friendship is formed between an ex-gangster, and two groups of hitmen - those who want to protect him and those who were sent to kill him.



Fudoh: The New Generation

In order to settle a business dispute, a mob leader murders one of his own teenage sons. The surviving son vows to avenge his brother's death, and organizes his own gang of teenage killers to destroy his father's organization.



Graveyard of Honor
6.58

A self-destructive man becomes a powerful member of the yakuza but quickly loses his self-control. Based on the true story of Rikio Ishikawa.



Young and Dangerous
6.481

Five young hoodlums sing karaoke, murder, joke around, get beaten up, win and lose women, and learn the value of blind loyalty.



Yakuza Apocalypse

When young protege Akira Kageyama is bitten by his dying vampire boss, Genyo Kamiura, he must get used to his new powers before seeking revenge.



Commitment
7.3

The son of a North Korean spy decides to follow in his father's footsteps to protect his little sister.



El Chicano
6.6

A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.



Yojimbo
Yojimbo(1961)
8.1

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.



When the Last Sword Is Drawn

Kanichiro Yoshimura is a Samurai and Family man who can no longer support his wife and children on the the low pay he receives from his small town clan, he is forced by the love for his family to leave for the city in search of higher pay to support them.



A Geisha
A Geisha(1953)
7.527

Fleeing a distressing family situation, Eiko, a very young girl, becomes an apprentice to Miyoharu, a veteran geisha. Both, determined to preserve their professional integrity, must face the selfishness and ambition of several petty people.



Crows Zero
7.1

The students of Suzuran High compete for the King of School title. An ex-graduate yakuza is sent to kill the son of a criminal group, but he can't make himself do it as he reminds him of his youth.



Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Former yakuza underling Kazuma Kiryū has recently been released from prison after a lengthy incarceration and is trying to piece his life together and distance himself from his yakuza past. Unfortunately, Kiryū's problems slowly escalate as he is pursued by a former associate, the baseball-bat-wielding psycho Gorō Majima, who has a grudge to settle with Kiryū.



Samurai Assassin
7.3

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.



Protégé
Protégé(2007)
6.8

A special agent has for 8 years been deep undercover in Asia's lucrative organized crime trade as he plays protégé to one of the key players, Banker. Now, Nick has but he has started to feel loyalty to his new environment and to the money.



New World
New World(2013)
7.413

An undercover cop has his loyalties tested when the boss of the corporate gang he's spent years infiltrating dies.



A Man
A Man(2022)
7

Akira works as a lawyer. One day, he meets with his former client Rie, who asks Akira to perform a background check on her late husband Daisuke.



A Sun
A Sun(2019)
7.7

A family of four fractures under the weight of unmet expectations, unexpected tragedy, and uncompromising pride.



Harmonium
Harmonium(2016)
6.543

Toshio hires Yasaka to work in his workshop. But then this old acquaintance, who has just been released from prison, begins to meddle in Toshio's family life.



A Company Man
6.822

A contract killer becomes disenchanted with his line of work and spares the lives of his two latest would-be-victims. But the assassination company he works for has no intentions of letting him quit.



Boss
Boss(2013)
5.556

Disowned by his father as a boy, Surya is taken in by a crime boss. When his brother Shiv is wrongly imprisoned, his father pleads for Surya's help.



Rainy Dog
Rainy Dog(1997)
6.776

A Japanese assassin stranded in Taiwan must take work from a local crime boss to make ends meet when suddenly a woman from his past delivers a son to him.



Mafia Inc.
6.6

The Gamache, tailors from father to son, have been dressing the Mafia family Paternò for three generation. Vincent "Vince" Gamache works on behalf of Frank the godfather with his eldest son Giaco. Vince, reckless and rash, seeks to earn his stripes by impressing the godfather. Without the Paternò knowing, he stages a big operation and is promoted. Fuming with jealousy, Giaco discovers that Vince committed a monstrous act during his stroke. The Gamache disown Vince and war begins.



Ayan
Ayan(2009)
7

Deva works for Arumugam, a smuggler, who has taken care of him for many years. However, when his best friend gets killed, Deva decides to help the police to nab a dangerous drug lord.



Like Father, Like Son
7.688

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.



The Crew
The Crew(2016)
6.176

One of the members of a gang of thieves commits a serious mistake that force them to work for a ruthless gang of drug dealers, endangering the future of the team, their lives and those of their families.



Pale Flower
7.3

A gangster gets released from prison and has to cope with the recent shifts of power between the gangs, while taking care of a thrill-seeking young woman, who got in bad company while gambling.



Three Outlaw Samurai
7.434

Shiba, a wandering ronin, encounters a band of peasants who have kidnapped the daughter of their dictatorial magistrate, in hopes of coercing from him a reduction in taxes. Shiba takes up their fight, joined by two renegades from the magistrate's guard, Sakura and Kikyo. The three outlaws find themselves in a battle to the death.



We Own the Night
6.693

A New York nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian mafia hitmen.



A Gang Story
6.8

After growing up in a poor gypsy camp, Edmond Vidal, aka Momon, has retained a sense of family, unfailing loyalty and pride in his origins. Most of all, he has remained friends with Serge Suttel, with whom he first discovered prison life - for stealing cherries. The two of them inevitably got involved in organized crime. The team they formed, the Ganf Des Lyonnais, made them the most notorious armed robbers of the early 1970s. Their irresistible rise ended in 1974 with a spectacular arrest. Today, as he nears 60, Momon would like to forget that part of his life. He has found peace by retiring from the "business". He tends to his wife Janou, who suffered so in the past, and to his children and grandchildren, all of whom have great respect for this man of simple and universal values, so clear-headed and full of kindness. But then Serge Suttel, who has disowned nothing of his past, comes back into the picture.



13 Assassins
7.3

A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.



Black Souls
6.757

A former narcotics smuggler, now living peaceably in the Calabrian hills, is drawn back into his family’s drug-trade dynasty by his impetuous teenage son.



Shinjuku Incident
6.7

A simple Chinese immigrant wages a perilous war against one of the most powerful criminal organizations on the planet.



Animal Kingdom
6.8

Joshua “J” is taken in by his extended family after his mother dies of an overdose. The clan, ruled by J’s scheming grandmother, is heavily involved in criminal activities, and J is soon indoctrinated into their way of life. But J is given a chance to take another path when a cop seeks to help him.



Ley Lines
Ley Lines(1999)
6.343

The story follows a trio of Japanese youths of Chinese descent who escape their semi-rural upbringing and relocate to Shinjuku, Tokyo, where they befriend a troubled Shanghai prostitute and fall foul of a local crime syndicate. Like many of Miike's works, the film examines the underbelly of respectable Japanese society and the problems of assimilation faced by non-ethnically Japanese people in Japan.



The Enforcer
6.693

An undercover cop struggling to provide for his son and ailing wife, must infiltrate a ruthless gang. But things turn sour when another cop blows his cover and he quickly finds himself battling for his life and the lives of his family.



Pray for Death
6

Akira Saito, a Japanese businessman lives in Tokyo with his Japanese-American wife Aiko and their children, Takeshi and Tomoya. When the family has a chance to move to the United States so that Aiko can teach the children about their American heritage, they pack up and head for Houston, Texas and run a restaurant. This is where the trouble begins....



Boy
Boy(1969)
7.2

A family of four lives off of scams in which they pretend to be injured by automobiles.



Adrift in Tokyo
7.095

A thug offers to pay a law student's gambling debt if the student will accompany him on a trip across Tokyo.



Tokyo Drifter
7.1

After yakuza boss Kurata dissolves his own criminal empire, a rival kingpin offers a position to Kurata's top operative, Tetsuya "Phoenix Tetsu" Hondo. When the fiercely loyal Tetsu declines, Otsuka taps unstoppable Tatsuzo the "Viper", a ruthless gun-for-hire, to assassinate him. As the Viper trails his target through the countryside, the agile Phoenix Tetsu grows concerned that one of his former associates has betrayed him.



Crows Explode
6.1

A month after Genji Takiya graduates, a new battle for supremacy at Suzuran All-Boys High School begins. Transfer student Kaburagi Kazeo combats Kagami Ryohei for the coveted top spot, amidst a brewing inter-school conflict with Kurosaki Industrial High.



Yakuza Princess
6.1

In Brazil, Akemi finds out that she's the heiress to the Yakuza empire. Just after that, her destiny enters a spiral of violence and mystery, where a gaijin (foreigner) who's been protecting her all this time, Shirô, may have been actually sent to kill her.



Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen

Ryuzo and his 7 former henchmen are all retired yakuza, but they now live as regular old men. One day, Ryuzo becomes the victim of a phishing fraud. He calls his 7 men together to reform their society.



Shogun Assassin
6.9

A Shogun who grew paranoid as he became senile sent his ninjas to kill his samurai. They failed but did kill the samurai’s wife. The samurai swore to avenge the death of his wife and roams the countryside with his toddler son in search of vengeance.



Contract Killer
7.014

Financially troubled, a newbie hitman reluctantly takes the job of finding the plotted killer of a Japanese tycoon.



Taboo
Taboo(1999)
6.56

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.



Hwayi: A Monster Boy
7.412

After being kidnapped as a small child and raised by the five men who abducted him, a teenage boy is now forced to join their life in crime.



A Colt Is My Passport

A gang lord hires Kamimura, a hit man, to take out a rival boss who's gotten greedy.



Chekka Chivantha Vaanam

A bloody power struggle erupts between three brothers who are vying to take over the family business following the death of their father.



Monga
Monga(2010)
6.573

Set in the 1980s, “Monga” centers on five boys (Mosquito, Monk, Dragon, White Monkey and A-Lan) who join the "Gang of Princes" who are tired of being pushed around. As the "Gang of Princes" rise in stature, they come into conflict with other gangs jealous of their rising power.



A Better Tomorrow
7.4

A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.



Love and Honor
7.5

A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.



Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto

Struggling to elevate himself from his low caste in 17th century Japan, Miyamoto trains to become a mighty samurai warrior.



Dead or Alive
6.3

Ryūichi and his small gang of Triad vie for control of the Japanese underworld in a crime-ridden Shinjuku quarter while Detective Jojima tries to bring it down.



Broken Rage
6.6

A seemingly unremarkable man called “Mouse” is caught by the police. In exchange for his freedom, he goes undercover, infiltrates a drug ring, and arranges a fake deal, but an unexpected turn of events occurs.



Full Metal Yakuza
5.8

After being brutally murdered in a gangster-style execution, Kensuke Hagane finds himself brought back to life by a mad scientist and rebuilt as a robot-human hybrid with a serious thirst for vengeance and the tools to carry it out.



Drug War
Drug War(2012)
6.879

A drug cartel boss is arrested in a raid and coerced into betraying his former accomplices as part of an undercover operation.



Tokyo Story
8.2

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.



Branded to Kill
7.2

After botching his latest assignment, a third-ranked Japanese hit man becomes the target of another assassin.



Bound by Honor
8.131

Based on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on half-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo. It opens in 1972, as the three are members of an East L.A. gang known as the "Vatos Locos", and the story focuses on how a violent crime and the influence of narcotics alter their lives. Miklo is incarcerated and sent to San Quentin, where he makes a "home" for himself. Cruz becomes an exceptional artist, but a heroin addiction overcomes him with tragic results. Paco becomes a cop and an enemy to his "carnal", Miklo.



The Bad Guys: Reign of Chaos

A respectable village head decides to keep his son away from the violent politics of rural life. However, fate intervenes, forcing the young man to not only return home, but also take up the sickle.



Pigs and Battleships

In the city of Yokosuka, Kinta and his lover Haruko, both involved with yakuza, brave the post-occupation period with a goal to be together.



Kabali
Kabali(2016)
5.988

A gangster in Malaysia goes in search of his family after 25 years of imprisonment.



Museum
Museum(2016)
6.7

In Tokyo, Japan, several grotesque murders take place on rainy days. Detective Sawamura, who is in charge of the case, soon discovers that his own family is connected to the crimes.



Darc
Darc(2018)
6.096

To bring down a global human trafficking ring, an Interpol agent recruits the help of a brutal criminal with inside knowledge of the yakuza.



Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell

With most of his family already dead at Ogami Itto's hands, Retsudo launches one final plot to destroy him, and when that fails, unleashes the fury of every remaining member of the Yagyu clan.



Kill!
Kill!(1968)
6.9

A pair of down-on-their-luck swordsmen arrive in a dusty, windblown town, where they become involved in a local clan dispute. One, previously a farmer, longs to become a noble samurai. The other, a former samurai haunted by his past, prefers living anonymously with gangsters. But when both men discover the wrongdoings of the nefarious clan leader, they side with a band of rebels who are under siege at a remote mountain cabin.



Made in Italy
6.067

Riko is an honest and hardworking man who can count on a group of real friends and a loving wife. Things change after he loses his job and experiences a midlife crisis.



The Hidden Blade
7.428

Set in 19th Century Japan a young samurai who finds himself in love with a farm girl leaves his home to begin a new life. He has to take stock of his new life when he is put to the test and ordered to kill a traitor who just happens to be his dearest friend.



Blood Ties
6.129

Two brothers, on either side of the law, face off over organized crime in Brooklyn during the 1970s.



Four Brothers
6.8

Four adopted brothers return to their Detroit hometown when their mother is murdered and vow to exact revenge on the killers.



Ichi the Killer
6.994

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.

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