If you loved Lady Maiko, try Talking the Pictures
A bridge between a film you've already seen and one most people haven't. Here's what they share, and what the second one does that the first one doesn't.
What they share
Both films are directed by Masayuki Suō, and they both carry the foreign gem, tender mood tags, and they sit in Comedy / Drama territory. If that's the register that drew you to Lady Maiko, the second film will land in a comparable space — through a different lens.
foreign gemtender
What Talking the Pictures is
The film considers what passed for entertainment in Japan a century ago. A young man finds work at a rural cinema, hoping to become a benshi. His dreams hinge on providing live narration to silent films. It's quite a niche aspiration, then and now.
Ask 
ChatGPT
Claude
Grok
Le Chat
Perplexity
for a deeper bridge
ChatGPTClaudeGrokLe ChatPerplexity