Films and TV shows that feel like Kyoto by Phoebe Bridgers

A brisk, sunny-sounding song about guilt, a strained father-son-style estrangement and emotional distance, where a tour in Japan becomes a backdrop for numbness and avoidance.

1. Lost in Translation (2003): Jet-lagged isolation in Tokyo and Kyoto, with disconnection and quiet melancholy in hotel rooms.
2. Past Lives (2023): Distance, longing and unspoken feeling, with an emotional restraint that stings.
3. Aftersun (2022): A daughter looks back at a father she couldn't fully reach, with sadness underneath a sunny holiday.
4. Perfect Days (2023): Quiet, lonely routines in Tokyo, with a hint of family estrangement.
5. Almost Famous (2000): Touring life, young musicians and the loneliness that sits behind the road.
6. Fleabag (2016): Dry humor covers grief and guilt, and a strained family dynamic runs through it.
7. Lady Bird (2017): Californian family tension, with love and resentment tangled together in a funny, tender way.
8. BEEF (2023): Numbness, anger and depression bubble beneath a darkly comic surface, with Asian-American family strain.