Both films are, in their own ways, about one person trying to learn about the life of another person, who they previously did not know everything about. Both films handle this by showing us our main guy, in present day, meeting people and learning about the person through stories, and then, we, the audience, are shown flashbacks where we too learn about the life of the person.
Memories of Matsuko is about a young man piecing together the life of his now deceased aunt, who he didn't even know about beforehand, while The World of Kanako is about a father whose daughter goes missing, and as he doesn't have a close relationship with her, he learns about her from others and has to piece together her life in order to track where she's gone.
Both films are quite dark (World of Kanako is more unsettling and graphic while Memories of Matsuko is more tragic and depressing). If you've seen The World of Kanako, you can handle Memories of Matsuko, but if you're coming from Memories of Matsuko, please be aware that The World of Kanako is a lot more graphic.
Memories of Matsuko is about a young man piecing together the life of his now deceased aunt, who he didn't even know about beforehand, while The World of Kanako is about a father whose daughter goes missing, and as he doesn't have a close relationship with her, he learns about her from others and has to piece together her life in order to track where she's gone.
Both films are quite dark (World of Kanako is more unsettling and graphic while Memories of Matsuko is more tragic and depressing). If you've seen The World of Kanako, you can handle Memories of Matsuko, but if you're coming from Memories of Matsuko, please be aware that The World of Kanako is a lot more graphic.