Japanese Cinema
Japanese cinema flourished early on and silent films were being made right through the 1930s. Most were accompanied by a 'benshi' or live narrator telling the story as well as live music. Very little survives from this era however; the 1923 earthquake, the bombings of WW2 and the country's high humidity destroyed many of these historical works. Of those that survive, the early works of Kenji Mizoguchi are highly regarded and he went on to make the classic 'The Life of Oharu' in 1952. Of course no discussion on Japanese cinema is possible without mention of their best known son, Akira Kurosawa. With a career spanning 60 years Kurosawa's ground-breaking films (e.g. 'Seven Samurai', 'Kagemusha', 'Ran') influenced film makers around the world. Most recently Japanese cinema hero 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano revitalised the Yakuza genre; and young mavericks like Takashi Miike ('Audition', 'Ichi the Killer) and Hideo Nakata ('Ring', 'Dark Water') have breathed new life into the horror flick, their films often (and promptly!) remade by US production houses.
For Japanime, use the animation link to the left.
Pictured: Kurosawa teamed once more with the incomparable Toshiro Mifune for 'Seven Samurai'
Ugetsu (1953)
8.2/10
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Starring: Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyo, Kinuyo Tanaka
Aka "Ugetsu Monogatari". Quite simply one of the greatest of filmmakers, said Jean-Luc Godard of Kenji Mizoguchi. And "Ugetsu", a ghost story like n... Read more
Ponyo (2008)
7.7/10
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Aka "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea". When five-year-old Sosuke finds a fish named Ponyo near his seaside home, they quickly become the best of friends... Read more
Shogun Assassin (1981)
7.4/10
Director: Kenji Misumi, Robert Houston
Starring: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Masahiro Tomikawa
A stunning visual ballet of violence and bloodletting that tells the tale of a samurai warrior who travels across the countryside pushing his young so... Read more
Yojimbo (1961)
8.3/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Eijiro Tono, Seizaburo Kawazu, Toshiro Mifune
Kurosawa's first full-length comedy. Toshiro Mifune is the unemployed samurai warrior who comes to a small village torn apart by two warring factions... Read more
Shoplifters (2018)
8.1/10
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Starring: Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Sosuke Ikematsu
On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders is united by fierce loyalty and a penchant for petty theft. When the young son is arrested,... Read more
Fear and Trembling (2003)
7.1/10
Director: Alain Corneau
Starring: Sylvie Testud, Kaori Tsuji, Taro Suwa, Bison Katayama, Yasunari Kondo, Sokyu Fuj...
This comedy of cultural errors sees Belgian Amelie (Sylvie Testud) returning to Japan after pleasant memories from her childhood there. However as a... Read more
Cafe Lumiere (2003)
7/10
Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Starring: Yo Hitoro, Tadanobu Asano, Masato Hagiwara, Kimiko Yo
Inspired by the centenary of acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu's birth, Hou Hsiao-Hsien's luminous portrait of modern Japan chronicles the lif... Read more
Akira (1988)
8.1/10
Director: Katsuhiro Otomo
Starring: Voices Of, Lewis Lemay, Jimmy Flanders, Drew Thomas
Groundbreaking Japanese animated epic set in the post-WWIII metropolis of Neo-Tokyo. The labyrinthine plot revolves around a battle between oppressive... Read more
Audition (2000)
6.8/10
Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Jun Kunimura
Extreme drama from rebel Japanese director Miike Takashi tells of Aoyama, a lonely widower owner of a video production company, who joins forces with... Read more
Nobody Knows (2004)
8.1/10
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Starring: Yuya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura, Momoko Shimizu, Hanae Kim
Inspired by incredible true events, this is the story of 12-year-old Akira who one day finds a note from his mother saying she'll be gone for a while,... Read more