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'
Zatoichi 16: The Outlaw (1967)
Director: Satsuo Yamamoto
Starring: Shintaro Katsu, Rentaro Mikuni
Zatoichi, played of course by the brilliant Shintaro Katsu, wanders into yet another village in turmoil as rival gambling houses are putting the squee... Read more
Yakuza Deka 1: Secret Police (1970)
Director: Yukio Noda
Starring: Sonny Chiba, Tetsuro Tanpa
Sonny Chiba plays a hard-bitten undercover cop trying to win the confidence of two rival yakuza gangs in order to bust their illegal drugs operations.... Read more
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
6.2/10
Director: Ishiro Honda
Starring: Katsuhiko Sasaki, Akihiko Hirata, Tomoko Ai, Katsumasa Uchida
Aliens rebuild Mechagodzilla with the help of a demented scientist who has discovered a creature called Titanosaurus, which they intend to team up to... Read more
Youth of the Beast (1963)
7.6/10
Director: Seijun Suzuki
Starring: Joe Shishido
Unique Japanese filmmaker Seijun Suzuki helms this audacious wild ride into the world of 1960s Japanese Yakuza. Police detective Jo Shishido winds up... Read more
Genius Party Beyond (2009)
7.2/10
Director: Koji Morimoto, Mahiro Maeda, Kazuto Nakazawa, Shinya Ohira, Tatsuyuki Tanaka
From the cutting edge anime production house STUDIO4ºC ('The Animatrix', 'Tekkonkinkreet') comes this collection of five new films from five anime hea... Read more
Shin Ultraman (2022)
6.4/10
Starring: Takumi Saito, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Masami Nagasawa, Daiki Arioka, Akari Hayami
After the accidental death of a human during battle, Ultraman takes on the man's appearance and place at the S-Class Species Suppression Protocol to p... Read more
Naked Youth (1960)
7/10
Director: Nagisa Oshima
Starring: Yoshiko Kuga
A harsh young man seduces a freeloading young woman and eventually takes advantage of her knack for hitch-hiking to rob middle-class men. Read more
Return of the Street Fighter (1974)
6.4/10
Director: Shigehiro Ozawa
Starring: Sonny Chiba
Martial arts sensation Sonny Chiba is back! Having well earned his reputation as a man who gets things done, he is hired by a gang to silence a squeal... Read more
Tomie: Rebirth (2001)
5.3/10
Director: Takashi Shimizu
Starring: Miki Sakai, Kumiko Endo, Masaya Kikawada, Satoshi Tsumabuki
She's at it again! In this third installment of the series, based on the popular manga by Junji Ito, Tomie is modelling for an art student. Naturally... Read more
Score (1995)
6.4/10
Director: Atsushi Muroga
Starring: Hitoshi Ozawa, Kazuyoshi Ozawa, Hiroshi Miyasaka, Ryushi Mizukami
Out on bail, tough guy Chance is forced to commit a string of bank robberies to pay off his debt. Given the opportunity to pull off a jewel heist in e... Read more