Japan - a personal, country favorites log
Part of an ongoing project: lists of films I consider personal favorites from particular countries
10s are the primary inclusions and in alphabetical order, 9s will be honorary mentions (and there will be a lot) and will be ranked
10s are the primary inclusions and in alphabetical order, 9s will be honorary mentions (and there will be a lot) and will be ranked
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36 titles
- DirectorKôhei OguriStarsJun HamamuraTokie HidariTami HonA film about the substantial population of Koreans living in Japan, and the love affair between Kayako, a Japanese girl, and Im, a Korean.
- 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.
- DirectorToshiya FujitaStarsMeiko KajiToshio KurosawaMasaaki DaimonA strikingly beautiful young woman is trained from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.
- DirectorKôhei OguriStarsTadanobu AsanoMai EnokiTokie HidariMachi, a young high school student from a small mountain town, is having fun with her friends inventing the outline of a fantasy tale. They all add an episode to this exquisite invention whilst, in parallel, the adults pursue their daily life.
- DirectorMamoru HosodaStarsAoi MiyazakiTakao OsawaHaru KurokiAfter her werewolf lover unexpectedly dies in an accident while hunting for food for their children, a young woman must find ways to raise the werewolf son and daughter that she had with him while keeping their trait hidden from society.
- DirectorYasuzô MasumuraStarsAyako WakaoTakahiro TamuraNobuo ChibaOn the eve of the Russo-Japanese war at the beginning of the 20th century, small-town girl Okane has married an old wealthy man to escape a life of poverty.
- DirectorTaichi IshidateNaoko YamadaStarsMiyu IrinoSaori HayamiAoi YûkiA young man is ostracized by his classmates after he bullies a deaf girl to the point where she moves away. Years later, he sets off on a path for redemption.
- DirectorKôhei OguriStarsKeiko MatsuzakaIttoku KishibeMidori KiuchiPeriod drama set in the 1950's about a couple isolating themselves from the outside world as they attempt to salvage their faltering marriage, no matter what the costs, after the husband has an affair.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsMasato HagiwaraKoji YakushoTsuyoshi UjikiA frustrated detective deals with the case of several gruesome murders committed by people who have no recollection of what they've done.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsTetsurô TanbaSachiko HidariShinjirô EbaraOne woman's search to find the truth about her husband's death in World War II.
- DirectorKôhei OguriStarsChristine HakimJun HamamuraTokie HidariEver since an accident in the mountains outside town, Takuji's slept in a coma; his neighbors care for him as new events occur every day.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsYûzô KayamaYôko TsukasaMitsuko KusabueA man falls in love with the widow of a man he killed in a car accident. Eventually she falls in love with him in return.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsLily FrankySakura AndôKirin KikiOn the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsGanjirô NakamuraMachiko KyôHaruko SugimuraThe 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.
- DirectorYasuzô MasumuraStarsAyako WakaoKeizô KawasakiKenji SugawaraYuko is sent to the coastal regions to be raised away from the rest of her sophisticated family where she finds out from her ill grandmother that she is actually the love child of her wealthy businessman father and his ex-secretary.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneYûzô KayamaTsutomu YamazakiIn 19th-century Japan, a rough-tempered yet charitable town doctor trains a young intern.
- DirectorKoreyoshi KuraharaStarsTamio KawajiYuko ChiyoEiji GôA juvenile delinquent gets out of the pen and causes reckless mayhem, mostly directed at the girlfriend of the journalist who helped send him up.
- DirectorIsao TakahataStarsShinchô KokonteiMakoto NonomuraYuriko IshidaA community of magical shape-shifting raccoon dogs struggle to prevent their forest home from being destroyed by urban development.
- DirectorRyûsuke HamaguchiStarsMasahiro HigashideErika KarataSairi ItôAsako lives in Osaka. She falls in love with Baku, a free-spirit. One day, Baku suddenly disappears. Two years later, Asako now lives in Tokyo and meets Ryohei. He looks just like Baku, but has a completely different personality.
- DirectorShin'ya TsukamotoStarsShin'ya TsukamotoCoccoYûko NakamuraWhen a single mother suffers a nervous breakdown, she is suspected of child abuse and her child is taken away. Her mental suffering escalates as she succumbs to her darkest fantasies.
- DirectorTetsuya NakashimaStarsKoji YakushoNana KomatsuSatoshi TsumabukiAs former detective Akikazu searches for his missing daughter, Kanako, he soon learns she has a mysterious secret life.
- DirectorMitsuo YanagimachiThe 1970s in Japan saw the rise of motorcycle gangs, which drew the interest of the media. The movie follows a member of the "Black Emperors" gang and his interaction with his parents after he gets in trouble with the police.
- DirectorAkihiko ShiotaStarsTasuku NagaokaYuki MamiyaYûmi AkagiWhen a successful, but tired Tokyo-based playwright who has sworn off easy women and casual encounters takes refuge in the countryside, his plans are disrupted by a horny woman who pedals fast into his life and is unrelenting.
- DirectorHikariStarsEita OkunoMakiko WatanabeNanami KawakamiYuma is a young Japanese woman with cerebral palsy. Torn between her obligations towards her family and her dream to become a manga artist, she struggles to lead a self-determined life.
- DirectorHaruo SotozakiStarsNatsuki HanaeAkari KitôYoshitsugu MatsuokaAfter his family was brutally murdered and his sister turned into a demon, Tanjiro Kamado's journey as a demon slayer began. Tanjiro and his comrades embark on a new mission aboard the Mugen Train, on track to despair.
- DirectorKô NakahiraStarsYûjirô IshiharaMasahiko TsugawaMie KitaharaSpending 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.
- DirectorShinji AoyamaStarsKoji YakushoAoi MiyazakiMasaru MiyazakiThe traumatized survivors of a murderous bus hijacking come together and take a road trip to attempt to overcome their damaged selves. Meanwhile a serial killer is on the loose.
- DirectorSusumu HaniStarsHaruo AsanuKazuko FukudaKuniko IshiiA teenage goldsmith with a dark past tragically falls in love with a young nude model.
- DirectorYûzô KawashimaStarsFurankî SakaiSachiko HidariYôko MinamidaIn the last days of the Shogunate, a resourceful grifter seeks to outwit competing prostitutes, rebellious samurai and other inhabitants of a brothel in order to survive the hardened times.
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsJô ShishidoKôji WadaYumiko NogawaAn injured thief on the run finds sanctuary within a brothel of united, ruthless women.
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsTamio KawajiYumiko NogawaIsao TamagawaIn WW2 Manchuria, a prostitute grows to resent an abusive adjutant and falls in love with his aide.
- DirectorTomu UchidaStarsRentarô MikuniSachiko HidariKôji MitsuiThree thieves escape from a heist, one of them killing the other two. He is sheltered by a prostitute and sought after by the police, but only after ten years his true motivation unravels.
- DirectorYasuzô MasumuraStarsAyako WakaoAkio HasegawaGaku YamamotoA seductive woman gets kidnapped into prostitution. After getting a spider tattoo made on her back, she grows vengeful, leaving several men in her path.
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsEimei EsumiChieko MisakiKeisuke NoroAnother subversion of audience expectations has Kobayashi acting somewhat cowardly in the snow-bound final showdown, an unheard-of trait in a ninkyô yakuza hero. Also with Tamio Kawaji as a sword-wielding assassin in Zero-cape-and -hat(!)
- DirectorYûzô KawashimaStarsMichiyo AratamaYukiko TodorokiSeizaburô KawazuA 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 the bridge they see the sign for Suzaki Paradise, a red-light district where Tsutae once worked as a prostitute. Tsutae spots an ad for a waitress at a bar near the bridge and she rushes in to get the job. The kind hearted madam, Tokuko, helps them out by hiring Tsutae and finding work for Yoshiji delivering noodles. But the wanton Tsutae is soon attracted to Ochiai, a rich, generous man who owns an electrical shop specializing in radios.
- DirectorShunji IwaiStarsHayato IchiharaShûgo OshinariAyumi ItoThe 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.