I like movies that deal with themes related to loneliness and isolation. Here are a few examples:

Kairo -- This is (in my opinion) an excellent Japanese horror movie supposedly inspired by hikikomori. The plot is hard to explain, but it deals with suicides and with people becoming "trapped in loneliness" and vanishing from the world. It's paced very slowly and a lot of things are never explained, but it has a sort of tone that I really like. I recommend checking it out if you like Japanese horror. (There's also an American remake of it called Pulse, but despite having Kristen Bell in it, it's really not good, so avoid that one.)

Moon -- This is a recent movie about a guy working in a mining facility on the moon. The whole first part of the movie is just him alone up there with only a robot to keep him company. I don't want to give away what happens in the rest of the movie... but at any rate, it sort of made me wish that I could take a job like that.

2001: A Space Odyssey -- Kind of a similar situation to Moon... guy in space with no one else around but a computer. Everyone has probably already seen this so I won't say too much about it.

The Shining (yeah, another Kubrick) -- Deals with the effects of isolation on the mind... but with ghosts, I guess.

Those are all movies that have been of particular interest to me because of my reclusive tendencies. Anyone else have any recommendations (or anything to say about any of those)?

Oops... we had the same thoughts.

@Mod/Admin - please delete my post from that "Hikikomori"-thread since it fits here more.
Well, I'll just repeat my movies.

"Loner" - a korean horror movie about a girl who is a shut-in. well it's a good made horror.

"Hinokio" - japanese movie. a 12 years old boy who is a shut-in. he's guiding a robot which goes to the school. very warmhearted movie!!!!


"Kairo", that one Gloomba mentioned, is really cool. I just loved it. ^_____^

If you're looking for a book with some themes of loneliness and hikikomori After Dark by Murakami Haruki is really good

"I Am Legend" starring Will Smith. It's not a choice that he's reclusive, he's the last man on Earth, but it still fits in great as a movie about a recluse. "The Last Man On Earth," Vincent Price's original version of the movie is about the same theme. They're both based off of Richard Matheson's book "I Am Legend."

Another good one would be "Castaway" starring Tom Hanks, but again, it's not his choice to be reclusive. & yet another movie/slash book is "Island of the Blue Dolphins" (Scott O'Dell is the author of the book) which is about a girl who gets stranded on an island alone for 18 years, also, not by choice.

I can't think of any movies where the seclusion is self-induced at the moment.

This one might be a stretch, but Le Feu Follet has one scene that I think captures the feeling of reclusion, anxiety and depression pretty well. It's a french movie made in 1963 so it obviously won't have the term hikikomori thrown around. I found it on youtube:

"Stay" starring Ryan Gosling - It's hard to talk about this movie without spoiling anything, it's kind of similar to concepts you might already seen in other films, but I really liked the film, the plot outline from imdb:
This movie focuses on the attempts of a psychiatrist to prevent one of his patients from committing suicide while trying to maintain his own grip on reality.

Not really about shut ins, but there's a certain level of reclusive theme going on.

Alone in the Wilderness which is a documentary on Dick Proenneke, who on his retirement built a cabin in the remote Alaskan wilderness, theyplay this short movie during pledge week on most PBS stations. I have never seen someone so self sufficient and contented with a life lived alone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Proenneke

Nell.

A woman has lived in the forest in a house most of her life without anyone. She can't talk and she acts autistic.

The Shawshank Redemption's theme reminds of hikikomori.

A scene in particular that makes me think of hikikomori is when Brooks is released from prison. Once released, he tries to embed himself with society by getting a job. He soon realizes that he's been institutionalized for far too long, and ultimately decides to take his life.

I find that to be a hikikomori, for me personally, isn't much different from being trapped in a prison, or at least what I imagine prison to be like.

I watched Moon today Gloomba. I enjoyed it .

The main character reminds me of a recluse.

I love that movie. I've seen almost all of the movies mentioned in this thread, but the main character in this movie is the only one I really identified with.

Goodbye Solo is an interesting movie about loneliness. There's a key character who's old and is disconnected to his loved ones so he plans a trip to commit suicide. His taxi driver, Solo is a likable character who tries to befriend the old man.

There was recently a very interesting movie in TV.

Elling

It's a Norwegian movie and it's about...



I didn't watch the whole movie, I just got the last minutes and they were really touching.

Good Dick
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0944101/

Awesome movie about a reclusive girl.


Lilja 4-ever
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300140/


The Wrestler
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1125849/

Holy Nostalgia.
just hit me

I forgot about this movie.

Tokyo! (2008) - three short films rolled into one. the last one is about a hikikomori.

The only one I could think of was the Korean movie that Mikan mentioned..

Ichi the Killer has a main character that is a hikikomori, but I don't think it's all about him being a hikikomori.

But a lot of these aren't hikikomori movies, are they... Since a hikikomori has no job, no school, never go out, etc. They are just reclusive movies...

yes, there is at least one real hikikomori-movie, norikon. I would like to recomment "Ima Boku Wa (2007)" (or "now, I..."). It's a very quiet, delicate and melancholic japanese indie-movie about a 20-.year-old-hiki who suffers from social anxiety. very touching stuff, especially if you can relate. i really like how real this movie feels, it's almost like a documentary.

since this movie is very hard to get outside of japan (and even inside of the country, i suppose), I think it's not shameful to download it:
http://lets-look.com/index.php?showtopic=34454

hope you enjoy it.

Thanks, Vsnare!

I second this. It's also uploaded on chinky's blog.

just watched it.
was great. except the end.

The Ballad Of Jack And Rose. "The film tells the story of an environmentalist and his teenage daughter who live alone on a secluded island commune, and their complicated relationship as a heart illness brings his life to an end."

Daniel Day-Lewis plays the lead. His relationship with his daughter is very strange, bordering on incestuous. When his girlfriend moves in with them, the daughter feels put out and so starts to act out. It was a interesting film, worth looking at.

I also thought of The Dreamers. A really sexualised film, again with incestuous undertones, this one stars Micheal Pitt (I think that's his name) and Eva Green. Not so much about reclusiveness, but the brother and sister are in their own little world. I actually really enjoyed this film. Plus it has Eva Green naked in it...

As Mikan mentioned, "Loner: Horror of Hikikomori" (2008).
IMO, tis not really the nicest portrayal, but that's the only one I've seen.

Its on this site, if you really wanna watch it: Asian Horror Movies

Personally, I'd go watch the Whispering Corridors series instead, at least two, three, and four.
One was okay, but five stunk on ice.

I'm kind of surprised no one has mentioned this:
Pink Floyds The Wall

I kind of wonder if i'd go insane in a similar fashion as Pink if i had no computer technology.

maybe i'll think of others later...