Criterion + Japan + Blu-ray
These are my personal rankings and recommendations for the Japanese films released by The Criterion Collection on blu-ray.
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- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsTatsuya NakadaiMichiyo AratamaChikage AwashimaA Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan.This 10-hour anti-war drama is, I would argue, the greatest dramatic film of all time. For the potency of its message, and for Tatsuya Nakadai's incredible and incomparable performance.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTakashi ShimuraNobuo KanekoShin'ichi HimoriA bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.There is a small handful of films from the pre-widescreen, pre-colour "golden age of cinema" whose astonishing beauty I truly don't think can ever be replicated. It's a Wonderful Life, Sansho the Bailiff, The Grapes of Wrath... Ikiru is the very best of them: I can not watch it without a tear formed in my eye for almost the entire film. Along with Ran, it is my favourite Kurosawa film, and easily a top 10 of all time movie.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraKeiko TsushimaFarmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.My introduction to samurai cinema, and as I've rewatched it, and it's only continued to grow on me, it's remained my favourite samurai movie. It transports and endears me to a time and place, which is at times harsh and tragic, but with such loveable characters, that it's a place I just love being in.
- 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.Where Seven Samurai is a good introduction to samurai cinema, Harakiri is probably the ultimate film in the genre. I mean that in the way it so powerfully sums up an idea at the periphery of most Japanese-made samurai films: the samurai are not the good guys. They're the bad guys, the scoundrels, who abuse their power. The heroes are the individuals, the ronin who don't or no longer associate with any clan, who recognize and stand up to corruption. That describes the character of Hanshiro Tsugumo, whose story is perhaps the darkest and most dramatically gripping I've seen in the genre. And Harakiri is perhaps the ultimate statement in film against Bushidō, the way of the samurai.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsKinuyo TanakaYoshiaki HanayagiKyôko KagawaIn 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.Sansho the Bailiff is emotionally devastating but unspeakably beautiful – the saddest jidaigeki film I've seen, but also one of the very best. It's a masterpiece, my favourite of Mizoguchi's films, and it deserves to be recognized as one of the greatest films of all time.
- 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.The acting is fantastic. The cinematography and music are unreal. But it's the setting, so unbelievably well realized, which seeps into the recesses of the mind and sticks like sand. There is absolutely nothing else like Woman in the Dunes, an incredibly surprising and compelling, beautiful movie, one of the absolute masterpieces of word cinema. Don't read else anything about this movie. Don't read the premise. Just watch it. Or read the novel.
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsJô ShishidoMariko OgawaAnnu MariAfter a botched assignment, a rice-fetishizing hitman finds himself in conflict with his organization, and one mysterious, dangerous fellow-hitman in particular.Like a Bond film stripped of all unnecessary and necessary exposition, as well as all sense of time and space; Branded to Kill is at once baffling and hilarious. It also rewards multiple viewings, for those who want to try and figure out the story and learn to appreciate the way it deconstructs the genre. But regardless which viewing you're on or how confused you are, it's always immensely entertaining.
- 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.Not as good as – and a bit slower than – its sister film, "Ran", but if you can get past that, Kagemusha is still one of Kurosawa's best, and it is also perhaps his most visually stunning film. It's composed of one beautifully-made sequence after another, and despite its 3-hour runtime, I can't help revisiting it often.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsKimiko IkegamiMiki JinboKumiko ÔbaA schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which turns out to be haunted.This is why Japanese films are the best. One of the craziest and most ludicrously entertaining films I've ever seen. It's also probably the film in the collection that I've seen the most times, as it's my favourite movie to show when I have friends over. None have ever been disappointed by it – how could they be?
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsRentarô MikuniMichiyo AratamaMisako WatanabeA collection of four Japanese folk tales with supernatural themes.I think this is literally the most visually stunning movie ever made. I can't say enough about the beautiful, abstract and colourful set design. Moreover, each of the four ghost stories the film tells is visually distinct, atmospheric, and unforgettable.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaIshirô HondaStarsAkira TeraoMitsuko BaishôToshie NegishiA collection of tales based upon eight of director Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams.This is Kurosawa's most audio-visually stunning movie, making it, after Kwaidan, the movie on this list that most necessitates its being released in the blu-ray format. DVD just can't suffice for this film. It's a movie adaptation of Kurosawa's own actual dreams, and in an unusual and beautiful way, I think it's his most personal and revealing film. A film which is, itself, like a dream.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsMasayuki MoriMachiko KyôKinuyo TanakaA tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.Another essential film from the golden age of Japanese cinema, this is a ghost tale, with unparalleled atmosphere and cinematography.
- DirectorKenji MisumiStarsShintarô KatsuMasayo BanriRyûzô ShimadaThe adventures of a blind, gambling masseur who also happens to be a master swordsman.The Zatoichi movies, taken individually, are great samurai flicks – but not greater than some of the ones lower on this list. But, taken as a whole, the series is better than the sum of its individual episodes. Through different writers and directors the Zatoichi films maintain a frankly ridiculous consistency of quality, and I have to credit Katsu for that. His character is one of the most loveable in movie history, and I never tire of seeing him on another adventure.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChishû RyûChieko HigashiyamaSô YamamuraAn old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city, but receive little attention.Yasujiro Ozu is not a bold but a gentle director; his movies are very simple, but always strangely compelling. I typically like them a lot, but Tokyo Story I love. It's easily his most beautiful and moving film. Chishu Ryu – the "father of the cinema" as Wim Wenders calls him – is enormously endearing and gives an achingly touching performance, as do Setsuko Hara and Chieko Higashiyama. It's hard not to feel affection for this film.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMisa UeharaMinoru ChiakiLured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines.As well as being probably Kurosawa's funniest, most accessible and thoroughly delightful movie, The Hidden Fortress is a true adventure movie: it captures that rare feeling of really making me feel like I'm travelling right along with these wonderful characters through feudal Japan, and I'm thoroughly involved with their adventure.
- 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.This is one of the all-time great horror movies from Japan. There is something that sticks with you after watching it, something so creepy about the setting – the whole movie is set in this marsh where you can never see over the tall grasses – and the desperate peasants who live there, preying like insects on the disoriented unfortunates who wander through.
- DirectorPaul SchraderStarsKen OgataMasayuki ShionoyaHiroshi MikamiA fictionalized account in four chapters of the life of celebrated Japanese writer Yukio Mishima.Intertwining colourful and ultra-stylized sequences based on his novels, with black-and-white sequences based on his personal life, and finally, a documentary-like reenactment of his final day – this is a fascinating and rewardingly multilayered biography of the controversial writer Yukio Mishima. It is also, along with Kwaidan and Dreams, one of the most visually stunning films ever made, with an incredible soundtrack to match. It is easily Paul Schrader's masterpiece, and, thanks to Criterion's inclusion of the original Ken Ogata voiceover, it's 100% a Japanese film (like Eastwood's great "Letters from Iwo Jima"), with zero concessions for an American audience. Despite that, this film has never been released in Japan.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMinoru ChiakiIsuzu YamadaA war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.Mifune in his most intense performance. This is top-rate Kurosawa – one of my favourites (well, my 11th favourite – I have a lot of favourite Kurosawa movies).
- DirectorHideo GoshaStarsTetsurô TanbaIsamu NagatoMikijirô HiraWhen poor peasants kidnap a magistrate's daughter to coerce him into reducing their unfair taxes, a wandering ronin decides to give them some help.This is everything good about 60s samurai films – the tight narrative, the camaraderie of the characters, the stark visuals and awesome swordfighting scenes – and it's one of the best I've seen too. Hideo Gosha is a master of badass samurai action, but here, in his first film, he infuses it with enough drama to give his action (which is still completely badass) weight and meaning. I think it's his best film, of the ones I've seen.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTatsuya NakadaiKeiju KobayashiA crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen trying to save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.After The Hidden Fortress, Sanjuro is probably Kurosawa's most purely entertaining film, and altogether one of his most enjoyable.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneEijirô TônoTatsuya NakadaiA crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.Toshiro Mifune doing what he does best. More dark and serious than Sanjuro, but still highly enjoyable.
- 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."I just don't understand." The concept for this film is pretty brilliant, but I think it's Takashi Shimura's character who gives the film its emotional core and lasting resonance, without which the whole thing would have been for naught.
- 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.An incredibly sleek and engaging crime drama, and another excellent Kurosawa release. I'd like to see more of Kurosawa's gendaigeki make their way to blu – there are several I like even better than this one.
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsTetsuya WatariChieko MatsubaraHideaki NitaniAfter his gang disbands, a yakuza enforcer looks forward to life outside of organized crime but soon must become a drifter after his old rivals attempt to assassinate him.At once beautiful and illogical, this film does some amazing things with colour while all the while it bewilders with its hilarious idiosyncrasies. I was a little let down by this film after watching the amazing Branded to Kill, but after a second (and much less tired) viewing... yep, I love it.
- 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.Even though I only discovered it a few years ago, there's something like nostalgia that I feel for this film. I kind of love it, even despite some less-than-amazing sequences. I love Bowie, but even more in this film, Takeshi Kitano's performance has really stuck with me.