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Sweet Bean poster

Movies that feel likeSweet Bean (2015)

The master of a dorayaki pastry store hires a 76-year-old woman whose talents attract customers from all over. But she's hiding a troubling secret. Life's joys are found in the little details, and no matter what may be weighing you down, everyone loves a good pastry.

If you loved Sweet Bean, the closest films we have are Columbus (2017), Corpus Christi (2019) and The Wind Will Carry Us (1999). All three share Sweet Bean's contemplative and cozy feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Vernon, Florida (1981).

πŸ… 84% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.4 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Naomi Kawasecontemplativecozy
6 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video Β· Criterion Channel Β· Film Movement Plus

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If Sweet Bean hit the spot, these will too

Columbus poster
Columbus
2017 Β· dir. Kogonada
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.2drama

Both land stillness and comfort at once

When a renowned architecture scholar falls suddenly ill during a speaking tour, his son Jin finds himself stranded in Columbus, Indiana - a small Midwestern city celebrated for its many significant modernist buildings. Jin strikes up a friendship with Casey, a young architecture enthusiast who works at the local library.

Corpus Christi poster
Corpus Christi
2019 Β· dir. Jan Komasa
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.7drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

A pious 20-year-old juvenile delinquent is sent to work at a sawmill in a small town; on arrival, he dresses up as a priest and accidentally takes over the local parish. The arrival of this young, charismatic preacher is an opportunity for the local community to begin the healing process after a tragedy that happened a year prior.

The Wind Will Carry Us poster
The Wind Will Carry Us
1999 Β· dir. Abbas Kiarostami
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.4drama

Drama with a pulse of comfort, in both cases

Irreverent city engineer Behzad comes to a rural Kurdish village in Iran to keep vigil for a dying relative. In the meanwhile the film follows his efforts to fit in with the local community and how he changes his own attitudes as a result.

Diary of a Country Priest poster
Diary of a Country Priest
1951 Β· dir. Robert Bresson
πŸ… 95%β˜… 7.7drama

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

The difference: 64 years apart, and the 1950s show

An inexperienced, sickly priest shows up in the rural French community of Ambricourt, where he joins the community's clergy. But the locals don't take kindly to the priest, and his ascetic ways and unsociable demeanor make him an outcast. During Bible studies at the nearby girls school, he is continually mocked by his students. Then his attempt to intervene in a family feud backfires into a scandal. His failures, compounded with his declining health, begin to erode his faith.

The Judge poster
The Judge
2014 Β· dir. David Dobkin
πŸ… 49%β˜… 7.4dramaPrime Video

A streak of comfort through both

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

A successful lawyer returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder.

Kes poster
Kes
1970 Β· dir. Ken Loach
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.9dramaPrime Video

The same drama instincts

Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence.

The White Balloon poster
The White Balloon
1995 Β· dir. Jafar Panahi
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.6drama Β· family

Both play drama straight

The difference: Leans harder into family than Sweet Bean does

Several people try to take advantage of a little girl's innocence to hustle money her mom gave to her to buy a goldfish with.

Rio Bravo poster
Rio Bravo
1959 Β· dir. Howard Hawks
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.9western Β· drama

Drama in the same key

The difference: Sits closer to western than Sweet Bean does

A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.

Children of Heaven poster
Children of Heaven
1997 Β· dir. Majid Majidi
πŸ… 83%β˜… 8.2drama Β· family

Drama approached the same way

Zohre's shoes are gone; her older brother Ali lost them. They are poor, there are no shoes for Zohre until they come up with an idea: they will share one pair of shoes. School awaits.

Housekeeping poster
Housekeeping
1987 Β· dir. Bill Forsyth
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.2comedy Β· drama

Cut from the same drama cloth

In the Pacific Northwest during the 1950s, two young sisters whose mother has abandoned them wind up living with their Aunt Sylvie, whose views of the world and its conventions don't quite live up to most people's expectations.

Testament poster
Testament
1983 Β· dir. Lynne Littman
πŸ… 90%β˜… 6.9drama Β· science fiction

Drama of the same temperament

It's just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks β€” many suffer radiation poisoning β€” the Wetherly family tries to survive.

Vernon, Florida poster
Vernon, Florida
1981 Β· dir. Errol Morris
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7documentary

A 1980s cousin in spirit

Early Errol Morris documentary intersplices random chatter he captured on film of the genuinely eccentric residents of Vernon, Florida. A few examples? The preacher giving a sermon on the definition of the word "Therefore," and the obsessive turkey hunter who speaks reverentially of the "gobblers" he likes to track down and kill.

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share Sweet Bean’s defining feeling.