Japan: Favourites
by Melvelet | created - 26 Feb 2017 | updated - 28 Jun 2021 | PublicFor the iCM Forum 2017 list: http://www.icmforum.com/topic/10123660
1: 10 stars
2-25: 9 stars
Rest: 8 stars
First 30 ranked
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Not Rated | 89 min | Animation, Drama, War
A young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.
Director: Isao Takahata | Stars: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Akemi Yamaguchi, Yoshiko Shinohara
Votes: 310,293
2. Woman in the Dunes (1964)
Not Rated | 147 min | Drama, Thriller
An entomologist on vacation is trapped by local villagers into living with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.
Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara | Stars: Eiji Okada, Kyôko Kishida, Kôji Mitsui, Hiroko Itô
Votes: 22,691
3. Tsuitô no zawameki (1988)
150 min | Drama
In the slums of Osaka, various marginalized misfits have their own interpretations of love. Completely alienated from the outside world, they commit sexual perversions, violence and cannibalism.
Director: Yoshihiko Matsui | Stars: Toshihiko Hino, Simon Kumai, Yukiko Murata, Mamiko Nakai
Votes: 350
4. Death by Hanging (1968)
Not Rated | 117 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A Korean man is sentenced to death by hanging, but he survives the execution. For the following two hours, his executioners try to work out how to handle the situation in this black farce.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Kei Satô, Do-yun Yu, Fumio Watanabe, Hôsei Komatsu
Votes: 3,344
5. The Face of Another (1966)
Not Rated | 124 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality.
Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Mikijirô Hira, Kyôko Kishida, Miki Irie
Votes: 10,406
6. Ugetsu (1953)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Fantasy, War
A tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyô, Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Mito
Votes: 25,806 | Gross: $0.01M
7. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939)
Not Rated | 148 min | Drama, Romance
The adopted son of a legendary actor, and an aspiring star himself, turns to his infant brother's wet nurse for support and affection - only for her to give up everything for her beloved's glory.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Shôtarô Hanayagi, Kôkichi Takada, Ryôtarô Kawanami, Kinnosuke Takamatsu
Votes: 4,394
8. This Transient Life (1970)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama
Near a remote Buddhist monastery, a young man falls in love with his sister and gets her pregnant. After a monk finds out, the young man becomes an assistant to a master sculptor, only to proceed to complicate matters with his affairs.
Director: Akio Jissôji | Stars: Michiko Tsukasa, Ryô Tamura, Eiji Okada, Isao Sasaki
Votes: 1,378
9. Muddy River (1981)
105 min | Drama
In post-War Japan, a boy from a noodle store-owning family befriends a neighboring boy living in poverty.
Director: Kôhei Oguri | Stars: Takahiro Tamura, Mariko Kaga, Nobutaka Asahara, Makiko Shibata
Votes: 1,036
10. Tokyo Story (1953)
Not Rated | 136 min | Drama
An old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city, but receive little attention.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Chieko Higashiyama, Sô Yamamura, Setsuko Hara
Votes: 68,562
11. Harakiri (1962)
Not Rated | 133 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
When 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.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita, Tetsurô Tanba
Votes: 68,614
12. Onibaba (1964)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Two 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.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Satô, Jûkichi Uno
Votes: 21,852
13. The Insect Woman (1963)
Not Rated | 123 min | Drama
Life story of a woman born in poverty trying to succeed. Through her many schemes, she faces her ups and downs in a cyclical nature, fueled mostly by self-interest.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Seizaburô Kawazu, Kazuo Kitamura, Tanie Kitabayashi, Teruko Kishi
Votes: 2,499
14. The Stranger Within a Woman (1966)
102 min | Crime, Drama
Two friends meet in a bar. Later that night, one friend's flirtatious wife is reportedly in an accident. The other friend doesn't feel well. What's come over him?
Director: Mikio Naruse | Stars: Keiju Kobayashi, Michiyo Aratama, Mitsuko Kusabue, Tatsuya Mihashi
Votes: 457
15. An Autumn Afternoon (1962)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama
An aging widower arranges a marriage for his only daughter.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Shima Iwashita, Keiji Sada, Mariko Okada
Votes: 10,690
16. Seven Samurai (1954)
Not Rated | 207 min | Action, Drama
Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki
Votes: 366,735 | Gross: $0.27M
17. Princess Mononoke (1997)
PG-13 | 134 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
On 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.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Yôji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yûko Tanaka, Billy Crudup
Votes: 433,585 | Gross: $2.38M
18. Rashomon (1950)
Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The 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.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 180,382 | Gross: $0.10M
19. Woman of the Lake (1966)
102 min | Drama
A married woman lets her lover take naked pictures of her. The photos end up in possession of a man who starts blackmailing the couple.
Director: Yoshishige Yoshida | Stars: Mariko Okada, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi, Tamotsu Hayakawa, Keiko Natsu
Votes: 727
20. Castle in the Sky (1986)
PG | 125 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Mayumi Tanaka, Keiko Yokozawa, Kotoe Hatsui, Minori Terada
Votes: 182,294
21. Spirited Away (2001)
PG | 125 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
During 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.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Miyu Irino, Rumi Hiiragi
Votes: 849,029 | Gross: $10.06M
22. Ran (1985)
R | 160 min | Action, Drama, War
In 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.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryû
Votes: 136,149 | Gross: $4.14M
23. A Page of Madness (1926)
Not Rated | 70 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.
Director: Teinosuke Kinugasa | Stars: Masuo Inoue, Ayako Iijima, Yoshie Nakagawa, Hiroshi Nemoto
Votes: 4,572
24. The Elegant Life of Mr. Everyman (1963)
103 min | Comedy, Drama
This comedy portrays the everyday life of an ordinary salary-man who uses himself as a model to write a novella.
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Keiju Kobayashi, Michiyo Aratama, Eijirô Tôno, Jerry Itô
Votes: 311
25. Profound Desires of the Gods (1968)
Not Rated | 173 min | Drama
An 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.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Rentarô Mikuni, Chôichirô Kawarasaki, Hideko Okiyama, Kanjûrô Arashi
Votes: 1,947
26. The Man Who Left His Will on Film (1970)
94 min | Drama
A metaphysical mystery involving a university student's camera getting stolen, and the thief then committing suicide. Looking back upon the event, the situation comes to be questioned if it happened at all.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Kazuo Goto, Sukio Fukuoka, Kenichi Fukuda, Hiroshi Isogai
Votes: 802
27. Labyrinth of Dreams (1997)
90 min | Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Bus conductor Tomiko falls in love with driver Niitaka, even though she also suspects him of being a serial killer who killed his female conductors after tiring of them.
Director: Gakuryû Ishii | Stars: Rena Komine, Tadanobu Asano, Kotomi Kyôno, Tomoka Kurotani
Votes: 998
28. Fires on the Plain (1959)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, War
In the closing days of WWII, remnants of the Japanese army in Leyte are abandoned by their command and face certain death by starvation.
Director: Kon Ichikawa | Stars: Eiji Funakoshi, Mantarô Ushio, Yoshihiro Hamaguchi, Osamu Takizawa
Votes: 5,321
29. The Only Son (1936)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama
A widow sends her only son away to receive a better education. Years later, she visits him, finding him a poor school teacher with a wife and son.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chôko Iida, Shin'ichi Himori, Masao Hayama, Yoshiko Tsubouchi
Votes: 4,041
30. There Was a Father (1942)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama
A schoolteacher struggles to raise his son Ryohei by himself, having neither money nor future prospects.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Shûji Sano, Shin Saburi, Takeshi Sakamoto
Votes: 3,154
31. The Wind Rises (2013)
PG-13 | 126 min | Animation, Biography, Drama
Jiro Horikoshi studies assiduously to fulfill his aim of becoming an aeronautical engineer. As WWII begins, fighter aircraft designed by him end up getting used by the Japanese Empire against its foes.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Hideaki Anno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Miori Takimoto, Masahiko Nishimura
Votes: 98,716 | Gross: $5.21M
32. Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
PG | 119 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
When an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his legged, walking castle.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Chieko Baishô, Takuya Kimura, Tatsuya Gashûin, Akihiro Miwa
Votes: 449,170 | Gross: $4.71M
33. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
G | 86 min | Animation, Comedy, Family
When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Hitoshi Takagi, Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi
Votes: 380,100 | Gross: $1.11M
34. Ikiru (1952)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama
A bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Shin'ichi Himori, Haruo Tanaka
Votes: 87,534 | Gross: $0.06M
35. Ghost in the Shell (1995)
TV-MA | 83 min | Animation, Action, Crime
A cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.
Directors: Mizuho Nishikubo, Mamoru Oshii | Stars: Atsuko Tanaka, Iemasa Kayumi, Akio Ôtsuka, Kôichi Yamadera
Votes: 156,836 | Gross: $0.52M
36. Throne of Blood (1957)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
A war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 55,925
37. High and Low (1963)
Not Rated | 143 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Yutaka Sada, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyôko Kagawa
Votes: 53,165
38. Late Spring (1949)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama
Several people try to talk 27-year-old Noriko into marrying, but all she wants is to keep on caring for her widowed father.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Setsuko Hara, Yumeji Tsukioka, Haruko Sugimura
Votes: 19,321
39. Nobody Knows (2004)
PG-13 | 141 min | Drama
In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu | Stars: Yûya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura, Momoko Shimizu
Votes: 31,395 | Gross: $0.68M
40. Kwaidan (1964)
Not Rated | 183 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A collection of four Japanese folk tales with supernatural themes.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Rentarô Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe, Kenjirô Ishiyama
Votes: 19,979
41. Stray Dog (1949)
Not Rated | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
During a sweltering summer, a rookie homicide detective tries to track down his stolen Colt pistol.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Awaji, Eiko Miyoshi
Votes: 18,929
42. The Life of Oharu (1952)
Not Rated | 133 min | Drama
Follows a woman's fight and survival amid the vicissitudes of life and the cruelty of society.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Tsukie Matsuura, Ichirô Sugai, Toshirô Mifune
Votes: 7,644
43. Early Summer (1951)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama, Romance
A family chooses a match for their daughter Noriko, but she, surprisingly, has her own plans.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Setsuko Hara, Chishû Ryû, Chikage Awashima, Kuniko Miyake
Votes: 9,669
44. Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
Not Rated | 124 min | Drama
In medieval Japan, a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyôko Kagawa, Eitarô Shindô
Votes: 18,222
45. Blue Spring (2001)
83 min | Drama
A group of a run-down Tokyo high school students face the struggles of growing up, growing apart from their friends and worrying about their future, while living in a highly violent environment.
Director: Toshiaki Toyoda | Stars: Ryûhei Matsuda, Hirofumi Arai, Sôsuke Takaoka, Yûsuke Ôshiba
Votes: 4,379
46. Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
The trials and tribulations of Eddie and other transvestites in Japan.
Director: Toshio Matsumoto | Stars: Pîtâ, Osamu Ogasawara, Yoshimi Jô, Koichi Nakamura
Votes: 7,278
47. Chûgoku no chôjin (1998)
TV-PG | 118 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A salaryman and yakuza are each sent by their bosses to a remote Chinese village but discover more than they expected.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Masahiro Motoki, Renji Ishibashi, Mako, Michiko Kichise
Votes: 4,921
48. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
Not Rated | 111 min | Drama
A middle-aged bar hostess, constantly in debt, is faced with numerous social constraints and challenges posed to her by her family, customers and friends.
Director: Mikio Naruse | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Tatsuya Nakadai, Masayuki Mori, Reiko Dan
Votes: 4,827
49. Good Morning (1959)
Not Rated | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Two boys begin a silence strike to press their parents into buying them a television set.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Keiji Sada, Yoshiko Kuga, Chishû Ryû, Kuniko Miyake
Votes: 11,035
50. Blind Beast (1969)
86 min | Drama, Horror
A blind sculpter and his mother kidnap a young model.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Eiji Funakoshi, Mako Midori, Noriko Sengoku
Votes: 3,903
51. Crazed Fruit (1956)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama, Romance
Spending their summer on an exotic beach, two brothers fall for the same beautiful girl, whose charm and looks may hide more than they they bargained for.
Director: Kô Nakahira | Stars: Yûjirô Ishihara, Masahiko Tsugawa, Mie Kitahara, Shinsuke Ashida
Votes: 2,254
52. Black Rain (1989)
Not Rated | 123 min | Drama, War
The story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Yoshiko Tanaka, Kazuo Kitamura, Etsuko Ichihara, Shôichi Ozawa
Votes: 3,955
53. The Pornographers (1966)
Not Rated | 120 min | Comedy, Drama
While avoiding the mob and local authorities, a world-weary pornographer finds being a family man the most difficult as he wrestles with his own desires and afflictions.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Shôichi Ozawa, Sumiko Sakamoto, Keiko Sagawa, Masaomi Kondô
Votes: 2,527
54. Double Suicide (1969)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
A doomed love between a paper merchant and a courtesan.
Director: Masahiro Shinoda | Stars: Kichiemon Nakamura, Shima Iwashita, Shizue Kawarazaki, Tokie Hidari
Votes: 2,603
55. Kids Return (1996)
107 min | Crime, Drama, Sport
Dropping out of high school, two friends at first find success, one as a up-and-coming boxer and one as a low level gangster. Yet, their life decisions still find a way of catching up with them.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Ken Kaneko, Masanobu Andô, Leo Morimoto, Hatsuo Yamaya
Votes: 6,767
56. Cruel Story of Youth (1960)
Not Rated | 96 min | Crime, Drama
A harsh young man seduces a freeloading young woman and eventually takes advantage of her knack for hitch-hiking to rob middle-class men.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Miyuki Kuwano, Yûsuke Kawazu, Yoshiko Kuga, Fumio Watanabe
Votes: 2,535
57. Pigs and Battleships (1961)
Not Rated | 108 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A young hoodlum decides to work for a criminal organization that is tearing itself apart.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Hiroyuki Nagato, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Masao Mishima, Tetsurô Tanba
Votes: 2,587
58. Tokyo Twilight (1957)
Not Rated | 140 min | Drama
Two sisters find out the existence of their long-lost mother, but the younger cannot take the truth of being abandoned as a child.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Setsuko Hara, Ineko Arima, Chishû Ryû, Isuzu Yamada
Votes: 4,934
59. Vibrator (2003)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama
After meeting a handsome truck driver (Nao Omori) in the midst of an urban mini-mart, a 30-something freelance writer (Shinobu Terajima) embarks on a life-changing emotional journey of sexual self-discovery.
Director: Ryûichi Hiroki | Stars: Shinobu Terajima, Nao Ômori, Riho Makise, Jun Murakami
Votes: 970
60. The Burmese Harp (1956)
Not Rated | 116 min | Drama, Music, War
A conscience-driven Japanese soldier traumatized by the events of WWII adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.
Director: Kon Ichikawa | Stars: Rentarô Mikuni, Shôji Yasui, Tatsuya Mihashi, Jun Hamamura
Votes: 6,460
61. Branded to Kill (1967)
Not Rated | 91 min | Action, Crime, Drama
After a botched assignment, a rice-fetishizing hitman finds himself in conflict with his organization, and one mysterious, dangerous fellow-hitman in particular.
Director: Seijun Suzuki | Stars: Jô Shishido, Mariko Ogawa, Annu Mari, Kôji Nanbara
Votes: 10,207
62. Pastoral: To Die in the Country (1974)
104 min | Drama, Fantasy
A young boys' coming of age tale set in a strange, carnivalesque village becomes the recreation of a memory that the director has twenty years later.
Director: Shûji Terayama | Stars: Kaoru Yachigusa, Keiko Niitaka, Masumi Harukawa, Kan Mikami
Votes: 2,408
63. Floating Weeds (1959)
Not Rated | 119 min | Drama
The head of a Japanese theatre troupe returns to a small coastal town where he left a son who thinks he is his uncle, and tries to make up for the lost time, but his current mistress grows jealous.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Ganjirô Nakamura, Machiko Kyô, Haruko Sugimura, Ayako Wakao
Votes: 8,971
64. 46-okunen no koi (2006)
Unrated | 85 min | Drama, Fantasy
A visually stylish tale of two male prisoners bonded by emotion, love and murder.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Ryûhei Matsuda, Masanobu Andô, Shunsuke Kubozuka, Kiyohiko Shibukawa
Votes: 2,100
65. The Ballad of Narayama (1983)
Not Rated | 130 min | Drama
In a poor 19th century rural Japanese village, everyone who reaches the age of 70 has to climb a nearby mountain to die. An elderly woman is reaching close to her cut-off age during her last days with her family.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Ken Ogata, Sumiko Sakamoto, Tonpei Hidari, Aki Takejô
Votes: 9,120
66. The Ceremony (1971)
123 min | Comedy, Drama
Upon receiving a shocking telegram from his cousin, a man recounts his early life, as a member of a broad family full of dark secrets that slowly reveal themselves through the clan ceremonies.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Kenzô Kawarasaki, Atsuko Kaku, Atsuo Nakamura, Kiyoshi Tsuchiya
Votes: 1,231
67. The Pleasures of the Flesh (1965)
104 min | Crime, Drama
After Atsushi commits murder, he is blackmailed into keeping a suitcase full of embezzled money. What follows is a descent into lustful, reckless actions and regret.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Katsuo Nakamura, Mariko Kaga, Yumiko Nogawa, Masako Yagi
Votes: 1,711
68. The Red Angel (1966)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, Romance, War
During the Sino-Japanese War, a young army nurse gives sympathy to her patients and falls in love with an impotent doctor who's addicted to morphine.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Shinsuke Ashida, Yûsuke Kawazu, Ranko Akagi
Votes: 1,887
69. The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987)
Not Rated | 122 min | Documentary
A documentary following Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old WW2 veteran notorious for his protests against Emperor Hirohito, as he tries to expose the needless executions of two Japanese soldiers during the war.
Director: Kazuo Hara | Stars: Kenzo Okuzaki, Riichi Aikawa, Masaichi Hamaguchi, Toshio Hara
Votes: 2,124
70. Violence at Noon (1966)
99 min | Crime, Drama
Two young women must come to terms with the fact that a man they're deeply linked to is a murdering rapist.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Saeda Kawaguchi, Akiko Koyama, Kei Satô, Rokkô Toura
Votes: 1,192
71. An Actor's Revenge (1963)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama
Yukinojo, a Kabuki actor, seeks revenge by destroying the three men who caused the deaths of his parents. Also involved are the daughter of one of Yukinojo's targets, two master thieves, and a swordsman who himself is out to kill Yukinojo.
Director: Kon Ichikawa | Stars: Kazuo Hasegawa, Fujiko Yamamoto, Ayako Wakao, Eiji Funakoshi
Votes: 2,869
72. Boy (1969)
97 min | Drama
A young boy reluctantly aids his swindling father in a threatening scam.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Fumio Watanabe, Akiko Koyama, Tetsuo Abe, Tsuyoshi Kinoshita
Votes: 1,883
73. Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947)
72 min | Drama
A young boy follows Tashiro home to his tenement housing complex on the outskirts of Tokyo, the boy who was separated from his carpenter father somehow and somewhere in Kudan. All Tashiro ... See full summary »
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chôko Iida, Hôhi Aoki, Eitarô Ozawa, Mitsuko Yoshikawa
Votes: 2,252
74. The Inheritance (1962)
107 min | Drama
A dying businessman intends to will two hundred million yen to his three illegitimate children, but his associates scheme to take advantage of the situation.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Keiko Kishi, Tatsuya Nakadai, Sô Yamamura, Seiji Miyaguchi
Votes: 1,067
75. The Human Bullet (1968)
116 min | Drama, War
During World War II, a Japanese soldier finds himself assigned to a kamikaze mission against a U.S. battleship.
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Minori Terada, Naoko Ôtani, Yûnosuke Itô, Shinsuke Achiwa
Votes: 478
76. Himiko (1974)
100 min | Drama, Fantasy, History
A freestyle, imagined telling of the life of shaman queen Himiko, who falls in love with her half-brother, making her powers weaken thus putting her position to risk.
Director: Masahiro Shinoda | Stars: Shima Iwashita, Masao Kusakari, Rie Yokoyama, Chôichirô Kawarasaki
Votes: 734
77. Fighting Elegy (1966)
Not Rated | 86 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
During the 1930s, a teenager yearns for a Catholic girl, whose only desire is to reform his sinful tendencies. Hormones raging, the young man channels his unsatisfied lust into the only outlet available: savage, crazed violence.
Director: Seijun Suzuki | Stars: Hideki Takahashi, Junko Asano, Yûsuke Kawazu, Chikako Miyagi
Votes: 1,608
78. Yearning (1964)
98 min | Drama, Romance
After a bombing raid destroys the family store and her husband, Reiko rebuilds and runs the shop out of love stopped short by destruction.
Director: Mikio Naruse | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Yûzô Kayama, Mitsuko Kusabue, Yumi Shirakawa
Votes: 2,065
79. Silence Has No Wings (1966)
100 min | Drama
Following the journey of a caterpillar along the Japanese islands from Nagasaki to Hokkaido, this allegorical and oblique first feature film by Kuroki depicts in exquisite images a series of encounters and life's turning points.
Director: Kazuo Kuroki | Stars: Mariko Kaga, Hiroyuki Nagato, Shôichi Ozawa, Fumio Watanabe
Votes: 483
80. Nanami: The Inferno of First Love (1968)
X | 87 min | Drama, Romance
A teenage goldsmith with a dark past tragically falls in love with a young nude model.
Director: Susumu Hani | Stars: Haruo Asanu, Kazuko Fukuda, Kuniko Ishii, Ichirô Kimura
Votes: 927
81. Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1969)
96 min | Comedy, Drama
Story of a bookstore thief named Birdey who is led through various adventures in Tokyo's Shinjuku district by salesgirl Umeko.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Tadanori Yokoo, Rie Yokoyama, Moichi Tanabe, Tetsu Takahashi
Votes: 835
82. The Sea and Poison (1986)
123 min | Drama
Downed American fliers in WWII are vivisected by Japanese surgeons in cruel medical experiments.
Director: Kei Kumai | Stars: Eiji Okuda, Ken Watanabe, Takahiro Tamura, Kyôko Kishida
Votes: 323
83. Kisses (1957)
74 min | Drama, Romance
Story of a young couple whose fathers are prison bound.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Hitomi Nozoe, Aiko Mimasu, Eitarô Ozawa
Votes: 554
84. Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (1935)
92 min | Comedy, Drama
A man gets rid of a cheap pot without knowing it contains a map to a treasure. As word spreads, many join in hunting it.
Director: Sadao Yamanaka | Stars: Denjirô Ôkôchi, Kiyozo, Kunitarô Sawamura, Reizaburô Yamamoto
Votes: 1,236
85. A Story Written with Water (1965)
120 min | Drama
A young man who's about to marry is torn between his fiancée and the love for his mother. His past, dreams and desires unfold simultaneously.
Director: Yoshishige Yoshida | Stars: Mariko Okada, Yasunori Irikawa, Ruriko Asaoka, Isao Yamagata
Votes: 440
86. Mr. Thank You (1936)
76 min | Comedy, Drama
A friendly bus driver and his passengers over the duration of one journey through the mountains to the nearest train station.
Director: Hiroshi Shimizu | Stars: Ken Uehara, Ryuji Ishiyama, Einosuke Naka, Michiko Kuwano
Votes: 1,274
87. Coup d'Etat (1973)
Not Rated | 110 min | Biography, Drama, History
A freestyle biopic of Ikki Kita, the ultranationalist intellectual whose ideas inspired the failed military coup in 1936.
Director: Yoshishige Yoshida | Stars: Rentarô Mikuni, Yasuo Miyake, Akiko Kurano, Tadahiko Sugano
Votes: 536
88. Mandara (1971)
Not Rated | 132 min | Drama
Two student couples stumble upon a cult dedicated to promoting the primordial human state through rape and agriculture.
Director: Akio Jissôji | Stars: Kôji Shimizu, Akiko Mori, Ryô Tamura, Hiroko Sakurai
Votes: 540
89. The Affair (1967)
97 min | Drama, Romance
A woman, unhappily married to a cheating executive, starts meeting her dead mother's lover and gets thrown into a romantic dilemma after succumbing to a rough laborer.
Director: Yoshishige Yoshida | Stars: Mariko Okada, Yoshie Minami, Tadahiko Sugano, Shigako Shimegi
Votes: 439
90. Night and Fog in Japan (1960)
107 min | Drama
Long takes and a highly theatrical visual approach combine to form a tense and confrontational look at the decline of a socialist student activists' movement in Japan.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Miyuki Kuwano, Fumio Watanabe, Masahiko Tsugawa, Hiroshi Akutagawa
Votes: 854
91. Typhoon Club (1985)
115 min | Drama, Romance
The movie takes place in the five-day period before, during and after a ferocious, seemingly liberating typhoon, which several students endure while marooned in their school gymnasium.
Director: Shinji Sômai | Stars: Yuichi Mikami, Yûki Kudô, Tomokazu Miura, Tomoko Aizawa
Votes: 973
92. Punishment Island (1966)
87 min | Drama, Mystery
Seeking revenge against the guard who tormented him, a young man returns to the island where he was imprisoned in reform school. But his plans for vengeance are disturbed when he encounters a strange and beautiful young woman.
Director: Masahiro Shinoda | Stars: Akira Nitta, Kei Satô, Kinzô Shin, Taiji Tonoyama
Votes: 261
93. Suzaki Paradise: Red Light District (1956)
81 min | Drama
A couple stand indecisively on a bridge in Asakusa. Tsutae and Yoshiji have lost confidence and passion for their future as they get on the bus for Tsukishima and get off at Suzaki. Across ... See full summary »
Director: Yûzô Kawashima | Stars: Michiyo Aratama, Yukiko Todoroki, Seizaburô Kawazu, Tatsuya Mihashi
Votes: 821
94. Where Chimneys Are Seen (1953)
108 min | Comedy, Drama
Where Chimneys Are Seen focuses primarily on the interconnected lives of two couples in a lower-middle-class neighborhood in Senju, a poor industrial section of Tokyo.
Director: Heinosuke Gosho | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Ken Uehara, Hideko Takamine, Hiroshi Akutagawa
Votes: 326
95. Ako (1964)
29 min | Short, Drama
Follows Ako, a 16-year-old Japanese girl, as she spends time working in a bakery and going out with her friends.
Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara | Stars: Miki Irie, Teruko Hasegawa, Yoko Matsushita
Votes: 444
96. A Wife Confesses (1961)
91 min | Drama, Mystery
Ayako is charged with murdering her much older academic husband while climbing a mountain. Ayako was having an affair, apparently with her husband's approval, and this complicates the trial.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Eitarô Ozawa, Haruko Mabuchi
Votes: 757
97. Anjô-ke no butôkai (1947)
89 min | Drama
After Japan's loss in the war, the wealthy, cultured, liberal Anjo family have to give up their mansion and their way of life. They hold one last ball at the house before leaving. The ... See full summary »
Director: Kôzaburô Yoshimura | Stars: Setsuko Hara, Yumeko Aizome, Osamu Takizawa, Masayuki Mori
Votes: 443
98. I Was Born, But... (1932)
Not Rated | 90 min | Comedy, Drama
Two young brothers throw a tantrum when they discover that their father isn't the most important man in his workplace.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Tatsuo Saitô, Tomio Aoki, Mitsuko Yoshikawa, Hideo Sugawara
Votes: 6,212
99. All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001)
Unrated | 146 min | Crime, Drama, Music
The problematic lives of teenager students for whom the singer Lily Chou-Chou's dreamy music is the only way to escape an alienating, violent and insensitive society.
Director: Shunji Iwai | Stars: Hayato Ichihara, Shûgo Oshinari, Ayumi Ito, Takao Osawa
Votes: 11,167 | Gross: $0.02M
100. Riarizumu no yado (2003)
83 min | Comedy, Drama
Tsuboi and Kinoshita have just arrived at a desolate town. Both of them are amateur filmmakers. Tsuboi is a screenwriter and Kinoshita a director. They have come to this town because Funaki... See full summary »
Director: Nobuhiro Yamashita | Stars: Keishi Nagatsuka, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Machiko Ono, Sunny Francis
Votes: 283
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