J.L. Carrozza's Top 20 Japanese Films
Filmmaker and Nihonophile J.L. Carrozza (ALISON IN WONDERLAND)'s top 20 Japanese films plus five honorable mentions.
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- DirectorHideaki AnnoKazuya TsurumakiStarsMegumi OgataMegumi HayashibaraYûko MiyamuraConcurrent theatrical ending of the TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995).One of anime's finest hours and one of my favorite movies period. Brutal, mind bending, overtly sexual and visually stunning.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôMasayuki MoriThe rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.Kurosawa's best: an excellent film about the duplicitous quality of human nature and how facts become distorted via the human mind.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsHitoshi TakagiNoriko HidakaChika SakamotoWhen two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.A beautifully animated film with a delightful, child-like sense of wonder and innocence.
- DirectorKihachi OkamotoStarsKeiju KobayashiYûzô KayamaTetsurô TanbaTold from the Japanese perspective, this war drama captures the events of World War II's Battle of Okinawa - a massive amphibious assault by U.S. troops that left more than 150,000 Japanese civilians dead.A viciously brutal and captivating film about the realities of war and one of the bloodiest battles of World War II.
- DirectorIsao TakahataStarsTsutomu TatsumiAyano ShiraishiAkemi YamaguchiA young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.One of the best, most personal anti-war films ever made, a truly devastating tearjerker and intimate view of the consequences of war.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsTatsuya FujiwaraAki MaedaTarô YamamotoIn the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill one another under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.Kinji Fukasaku brings us his final completed film: a ferociously angry and hysterically fun social commentary on the state of Japanese society.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsRentarô MikuniMichiyo AratamaMisako WatanabeA collection of four Japanese folk tales with supernatural themes.One of the most visually lavish Japanese films ever produced: three hours of hauntingly beautiful set pieces.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsTakashi ShimuraAkihiko HirataAkira TakaradaAfter a dinosaur-like beast - awoken from undersea hibernation by atom bomb testing - ravages Tokyo, a scientist must decide if his similarly dangerous weapon should be used to destroy it.Far more than just a monster movie in its uncut Japanese form, this anti-nuclear parable in a B-movie's skin is one of the most influential Japanese films ever made and spawned a beloved franchise.
- DirectorKazuhiko HasegawaStarsBunta SugawaraKenji SawadaKimiko IkegamiA high school science teacher builds an atomic bomb and uses it to extort the nation, but cannot decide what he wants. Meanwhile, a determined cop is catching up to him, as is radiation poisoning.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsKen OgataRentarô MikuniChôchô MiyakoChronological exploits of Iwao Enokizu, a murderous thief on the run.A chilling but compelling portrait of the life and times of an utter sociopath in postwar Japan.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiTsutomu YamazakiKen'ichi HagiwaraA petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord's double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.A beautiful and lushly photographed period piece: every single frame of this marvel looks like a painting.
- DirectorHiroshi TeshigaharaStarsEiji OkadaKyôko KishidaKôji MitsuiAn entomologist on vacation is trapped by local villagers into living with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.A lower budgeted but top notch exercise in haunting, poetic beauty. Teshigahara and Abe's FACE OF ANOTHER is almost equally excellent.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsSumi ShimamotoMahito TsujimuraHisako KyôdaWarrior and pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet.Hayao Miyazaki's own STAR WARS and one of his most underrated films.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsBunta SugawaraHiroki MatsukataKunie TanakaDuring the violent chaos of post-War Japanese black market, a young gangster called Shozo Hirono has to keep up with the rapid shifts of power between unscrupulous bosses.This goes for all five JINGI NAKI TATAKAI films. A sprawling crime epic set against the backdrop of Japan's post war economic miracle.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsNobuko OtowaJitsuko YoshimuraKei SatôTwo women kill samurai and sell their belongings for a living. While one of them is having an affair with their neighbor, the other woman meets a mysterious samurai wearing a bizarre mask.A disturbing and poignant story of a brutal medieval world and the desperate fight for survival going on in it.
- DirectorKihachi OkamotoStarsSeiji MiyaguchiRokkô TouraChishû RyûA dramatization of the 24-hour period in which the Japanese government was deadlocked over the decision to accept or reject the Allies' demand for an unconditional surrender following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.A story of the last 24 hours before Japan's surrender and the clash between those who knew that war had overstayed its welcome vs. the hot headed militarists who wanted to continue the war indefinitely. A captivating drama and the Japanese DOWNFALL.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneYutaka SadaTatsuya NakadaiAn executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.Kurosawa's finest modern film, a brilliant crime thriller and look at the clash between society's most and least privileged.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsTetsurô TanbaSachiko HidariShinjirô EbaraOne woman's search to find the truth about her husband's death in World War II.Fukasaku's angriest film ever, an enraged view of the shameful legacy of Japan's World War II aggression and those who would have it be forgotten.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsKimiko IkegamiMiki JinboKumiko ÔbaA schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which turns out to be haunted.One of the most aesthetically rich films in existence: director Obayashi whips every cinematic technique known to man at the viewer in an all out visual assault and uniquely bizarre experience.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsYoshiko TanakaKazuo KitamuraEtsuko IchiharaThe story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel.The powerful story of the bombing of Hiroshima and its truly tragic aftermath seen through the eyes of the survivors.
- DirectorMamoru OshiiStarsMako HyôdôJinpachi NezuKeiichi NodaA mysterious young girl wanders a desolate, otherworldly landscape, carrying a large egg.An eerie and beautifully crafted anime "head film".
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsAkira KuboKumi MizunoHiroshi KoizumiShipwrecked survivors slowly transform into mushrooms.Honorable mention #1: A beautifully shot and eerie little film mixing human frailty and monster mushrooms.
- DirectorToshio MasudaShûe MatsubayashiShirô MoritaniStarsTetsurô TanbaToshio KurosawaKaoru YumiA scientist fears that the prophecies of Nostradamus, including the end of all life on Earth, are coming true one after another.Honorable mention #3: A grossly underrated, decades of its time plea to stop mankind's destruction of Earth.
- DirectorRobert HoustonKenji MisumiStarsTomisaburô WakayamaKayo MatsuoMinoru ÔkiWhen the wife of the Shogun's Decapitator is murdered and he is ordered to commit suicide by the paranoid Shogun, he and his four-year-old son escape and become assassins for hire, embarking on a journey of blood and violent death.Honorable mention #4: The best Americanization of a Japanese film ever: a wild orgy of theatrical samurai violence.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsRuss TamblynKumi MizunoKenji SaharaA giant, cannibalistic humanoid's rampage through Tokyo is halted by his more docile twin, but neither their reunion nor their scientist caretakers can prevent their eventual duel.Honorable mention #5: Exquisite pulpy monster mayhem, there need to be more films made about giant man-eating Frankensteins.