Mainichi Film Award Best Film
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- DirectorHeinosuke GoshoStarsMieko TakamineIchirô RyûzakiHaruo TanakaA romance with political overtones about the relationship of a sheltered bourgeois woman and a doctor who devotes himself to caring for the poor. Over a ten-year period - from 1936 through the war - they find each other and are separated again by the events of those tumultuous days.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTakashi ShimuraToshirô MifuneReizaburô YamamotoA drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChishû RyûSetsuko HaraYumeji TsukiokaSeveral people try to talk 27-year-old Noriko into marrying, but all she wants is to keep on caring for her widowed father.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsYoshiko KugaEiji OkadaOsamu TakizawaThe hero Saburo (Okada Eiji) is obstructed by a series of events from meeting Keiko (Kuga Yoshiko), his fiancee.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsKen UeharaSetsuko HaraYukiko ShimazakiMichiyo lives in a small home in Osaka and is not happy with her marriage; all she does is cook and clean for her husband.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTakashi ShimuraNobuo KanekoShin'ichi HimoriA bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsAkiko TamuraYatsuko Tan'amiKen MitsudaStory 1 : "The Thirteenth Night". Seki turns up at her parents' house in the dead of night, where she breaks down and says she cannot continue to live with her husband, a rich man to whom the family is indebted. After a tearful and long discussion, they convince her to return. On the way home, the rickshaw driver turns out to be an old school friend, and they reminisce about the old days. .... Story 2 : "The Last Day Of The Year". Mine is a hard-working maid in the house of a miserly, slave-driving old woman who is burdened by a wastrel son, who pesters the old woman and her new husband for money to pay off gambling debts. Mine's uncle is her only surviving relative, and the man who raised her, who is very ill and needs money to repay a loanshark. Mine promises to borrow the money from her employer but, although the old woman initially agrees, she breaks that promise on the due date, New Year's Eve. Can honest Mine resist the temptation to steal ? ..... Story 3: "An Inlet of Muddy Water". The trials and tribulations of a group of young to middle-aged whores. All the women in this particular bawdy house look up to and admire the stunning O-Riki. But O-Riki is nevertheless troubled. Gen, a shabby coolie, hangs around and pesters her, despite having a long-suffering wife and a young son, who calls O-Riki "The Demon". One night, desperate for clients, several of the girls lunge at and literally drag some passers-by inside. One of these men is cultured and gentlemanly, and becomes O-Riki's regular client. She looks forward to his visits and hopes he will marry her. Meanwhile, Gen's wife alternates between solicitousness and harassment, and home life becomes tough.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsHideko TakamineItsuo WatanabeMakoto MiyagawaSchoolteacher Hisako Oishi forms an emotional bond with her pupils and teaches them various virtues, while at the same time worrying about their future.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsHideko TakamineMasayuki MoriMariko OkadaA tragic social drama set in post war Japan and concerns a lonely woman trying to find purpose and stability in a devastated Tokyo.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsKôjirô KusanagiSachiko HidariTaketoshi NaitôWhen an elderly couple is murdered, the police pick up the most likely suspect, a young loner. The authorities force a confession out of the suspect, who then insists that he had a pair of accomplices.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsShinjirô EbaraEijirô TônoYûko MochizukiThe heroes and heroines are all rice farmers, struggling to eke out an existence in an unfriendly world.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsKinuyo TanakaTeiji TakahashiYûko MochizukiA kabuki theatre-inflected story about a poor village whose people have to be carried to a nearby mountain to die once they get old.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsEmiko TakahashiTanie KitabayashiGeorge OkunoyamaImmediately after the Second World War, sister Kiku and brother Isamu, whose mother was a prostitute and the father was a GI, live with their grandmother in the country. Because their colour, hair is different from Japanese, they'd have a hard time, being bullied or treated like unusual creatures. Unfortunately, racism and some other issues such as being different still exist in Japan but the way Kiku portrayed was quite refreshing as she's so strong and fighting against all those stupidity and cliché.
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsKeiko KishiHiroshi KawaguchiKinuyo TanakaSet in 1926 when Japanese tradition was much stronger, this standard drama looks at the inner workings of a small family, especially the relationship between a sister and brother.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsTatsuya NakadaiMichiyo AratamaTamao NakamuraHis ideals challenged by life as a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist faces ever greater tests in his fight for survival.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsTatsuya NakadaiAkira IshihamaShima IwashitaWhen a ronin requesting seppuku at a feudal lord's palace is told of the brutal suicide of another ronin who previously visited, he reveals how their pasts are intertwined - and in doing so challenges the clan's integrity.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneYûzô KayamaTsutomu YamazakiIn 19th-century Japan, a rough-tempered yet charitable town doctor trains a young intern.
- DirectorSatsuo YamamotoStarsJirô TamiyaEijirô TônoTakahiro TamuraZaizen Goro may only be an assistant professor but he has already made a name for himself. His superior, however, does not approve of his attitude towards their profession, and is at odds over who to nominate as his successor. The selection of the new professor reveals a rich and complex political world inside Naniwa University.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsToshirô MifuneYôko TsukasaGô KatôThe mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to get her back.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsRentarô MikuniChôichirô KawarasakiHideko OkiyamaAn engineer from Tokyo arrives on a drought-ridden tropical island to drill a well to power a nearby sugar mill. He meets the inbred Futori family, hated by the locals for breaking religious customs.
- DirectorMasahiro ShinodaStarsKichiemon NakamuraShima IwashitaShizue KawarazakiA doomed love between a paper merchant and a courtesan.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsChieko BaishôHisashi IgawaChishû RyûA poor family of miners from Kyushu uproot themselves and make the long journey to what they hope is a better life in Hokkaido. Their journey is beset with hardship and tragedy.
- DirectorMasahiro ShinodaStarsDavid LampsonDon KennyTetsurô TanbaTwo Jesuit priests encounter persecution when they travel to Japan in the 17th century to spread Christianity and to locate their mentor.
- DirectorKei KumaiStarsGô KatôKomaki KuriharaYasushi NagataShinobugawa depicts the emerging love of a student, identified only as "I", for a young waitress named Shino.
- DirectorKôichi SaitôStarsKyôko EnamiAkira OdaMihoko NakagawaThe newcomers to a fishing village are a man who is escaping the gangsters after him and his girlfriend who is returning to her hometown. This may be as safe a place as any to lie low. Bored and fretting at first the couple find preoccupation in opposite ways. One settles in and becomes part of the community. The other picks up corruption and becomes a betrayer.
- DirectorYoshitarô NomuraStarsTetsurô TanbaGô KatôKensaku MoritaDetectives investigate the murder of an old man found in a Tokyo rail yard.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsShin SaburiMayumi OgawaKeiko KishiA detailed look at a Tokyo business tycoon (played by Shin Saburi) given a diagnosis of terminal cancer who must now re-assess his life and values.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsKen TakakuraChieko BaishôKaori MomoiThree complete strangers embark on a road-trip to Hokkaido.
- DirectorSatsuo YamamotoStarsTatsuya NakadaiKumiko AkiyoshiShiho FujimuraAfter 11 years in Siberia as a war criminal, a man joins a corporation making fighter planes to sell to the government but other corporations are competing with his firm for the enormous profit of such a deal.
- DirectorYoshitarô NomuraStarsKeiko MatsuzakaShinobu ÔtakeToshiyuki NagashimaThe body of Sakai Hatsuko, a woman of 23 who has been slain with a knife, has been found in a forest. Some days later, Ueda Hiroshi, a 19-year-old shipyard worker, is arrested and charged with the murder. At Ueda's trial, a complex story unfolds. "The Incident" is a study in unrestrained passion and jealousy.
- DirectorSatsuo YamamotoStarsShinobu ÔtakeMieko HaradaChikako YuriThe story of the silk industry and the young girls who worked as silk spinners in the early 1900's in Japan. The silk mills were located in Okaya which lies just beyond the Nomugi Pass. The women and girls worked in a hot, humid atmosphere without rest, and endured those conditions and sexual harassment to earn money for their poor families. Across the ocean, it was the great depression in America.
- 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.
- DirectorKôhei OguriStarsTakahiro TamuraMariko KagaNobutaka AsaharaIn post-War Japan, a boy from a noodle store-owning family befriends a neighboring boy living in poverty.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsKeiko MatsuzakaMorio KazamaMitsuru HirataA lowly obsequious member of a movie star's entourage agrees to marry his boss's pregnant mistress so he can continue his feckless lifestyle. He then takes up dangerous work as a stunt man to support his new family. Duty and loyalty turn into something deeper.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsDavid BowieTom ContiRyuichi SakamotoDuring WWII, a British colonel tries to bridge the cultural divides between a British POW and the Japanese camp commander in order to avoid bloodshed.
- DirectorShin'ichirô SawaiStarsHiroko YakushimaruYoshiko MitaMasanori SeraYoung college student Shizuka is given the opportunity to act in a stage play with professionals. Shizuka is willing to go to great lengths to master this role of a lifetime, but as the plot unfolds, she realizes that real life events are beginning to parallel events in the play.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiAkira TeraoJinpachi NezuIn Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.
- DirectorKei KumaiStarsEiji OkudaKen WatanabeTakahiro TamuraDowned American fliers in WWII are vivisected by Japanese surgeons in cruel medical experiments.
- DirectorJûzô ItamiStarsNobuko MiyamotoTsutomu YamazakiMasahiko TsugawaIf tax evasion is an art, wheeler-dealer Hideki Gondo is Rembrandt. And so, a determined taxing woman gets the tough assignment of trying to catch him.
- 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.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsYoshiko TanakaKazuo KitamuraEtsuko IchiharaThe story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel.
- DirectorMasahiro ShinodaStarsTetsuya FujitaYuji HoriokaKatsuhisa YamazakiBombing during World War II resulted in whole urban populations fleeing to the countryside, and this created a meeting of urban and rural cultures. Shinji (a young boy evacuated from Tokyo) and his new schoolmates (who are villagers) don't exactly know what is going on in the war. They see the B-29 bombers and the glow of cities on fire, but the problems of being separated from one's mother and surviving among one's peers loom larger than international politics.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsRentarô MikuniMasatoshi NagaseEmi WakuiTetsuo is a young man living in Tokyo, who falls in love with a deaf-mute factory girl. He has always felt jealous of his college- educated brother, but ultimately wins both the girl and his father's acceptance and support in a touching and refreshing way.
- DirectorMasayuki SuôStarsMasahiro MotokiMisa ShimizuNaoto TakenakaChronicling the turmoil and pandemonium that ensues at a derelict university sumo club, and the rise of some unlikely heroes.
- DirectorYôichi SaiStarsGorô KishitaniRuby MorenoMoeko EzawaStory of everyday life and romance of a taxi driver who is a Korean resident in Japan.
- DirectorKazuo HaraStarsMitsuharu InoueYutaka HaniyaTetsu HijikataAn intimate portrait of the last years in the life of eccentric novelist Mitsuharu Inoue.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsHaruko SugimuraNobuko OtowaHideo KanzeYoko is a famous actress who goes to a mountain chalet for a few days rest. There, she learns a secret from her companion Toyoko.
- DirectorMasayuki SuôStarsKoji YakushoTamiyo KusakariNaoto TakenakaA successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsYôji MatsudaYuriko IshidaYûko TanakaOn a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and Tatara, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.
- DirectorHideyuki HirayamaStarsMieko HaradaMaho NonamiFumiyo KohinataA woman with an abusive childhood travels back to taiwan from japan with her daughter in order to find her father's missing ashes, confronting her past along the way, discovering many secrets that were hidden from her throughout her life.
- DirectorYasuo FuruhataStarsKen TakakuraShinobu ÔtakeRyôko HirosueThe touching reminiscing of an elderly railroad-station manager is interrupted by the sudden appearance of some good-natured girls.
- DirectorJunji SakamotoStarsNaomi FujiyamaEtsushi ToyokawaMichiyo YasudaWith no parents left to keep the peace and order two sisters, who could not be any more different, allow their frustrations and animosity to come to a head.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsDaveigh ChaseSuzanne PleshetteMiyu IrinoDuring her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsHiroyuki SanadaRie MiyazawaNenji KobayashiAs the feudal Japan era draws to a close, a widower samurai experiences difficulty balancing clan loyalties, 2 young daughters, an aged mother, and the sudden reappearance of his childhood sweetheart.
- DirectorGenjiro AratoStarsTakijiro OnishiShima ÔnishiShinobu TerajimaA man is trying to flee from his past, and he ends up in an underworld filled with strange characters. He finds a job skewering meat in a dirty old room in a shabby old house filled with prostitutes, gangsters and a weird old tattoo master. He clearly doesn't fit in to this new world, and the inhabitants of it immediately despise him.
- DirectorYôichi SaiStarsTakeshi KitanoHirofumi AraiTomoko TabataIn 1923, the Korean teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees. He makes fortune, abuses and destroys the lives of his wife and family, having many mistresses and children and showing no respect to anybody. Later he closes the factory, lending the money with high interests and becoming a loan shark. His hatred behavior remains until his last breath, alone in North Korea.
- DirectorKazuyuki IzutsuStarsShun ShioyaSôsuke TakaokaErika SawajiriKyoto 1968. Several high school students deal with their life as Korean-Japanese trying to earn each other's love and respect. But the times are not kind to them.
- DirectorMiwa NishikawaStarsJoe OdagiriTeruyuki KagawaMasatô IbuOn the anniversary of the death of the mother of a hip and happening Tokyo-based photographer, the son returns to his hometown for the funeral. What follows is a return to the past that is more than just a trek home. Old relationships, love, conflicts and memories resurface and collide. Apparently, old perspectives don't wither.
- DirectorMasayuki SuôStarsRyô KaseAsaka SetoKôji YamamotoA young man is falsely accused of molesting a high-school girl on a train. He is arrested and charged, and goes through endless court sessions, all the while insisting that he is innocent.
- DirectorYôjirô TakitaStarsMasahiro MotokiRyôko HirosueTsutomu YamazakiSoon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo learns that his orchestra is disbanding. He moves back to his hometown with his wife, where he answers an ad for what Daigo thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary.
- DirectorSetsurô WakamatsuStarsKen WatanabeShun SugataTae KimuraA drama based on the 1985 plane crash that caused 520 deaths, the worst aviation event in Japanese history.
- DirectorSang-il LeeStarsEri FukatsuSatoshi TsumabukiDendenA young woman's murder provokes reflection on the ugliness and villainy of modern society.