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'
Seven Samurai (1954)
8.7/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Yoshio Inaba, Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura
One of the most beloved movie epics of all time, Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhab... Read more
Village of Dreams (1999)
7.1/10
Director: Yoichi Higashi
Starring: Keigo Matsuyama, Kyozo Nagatsuka, Mieko Harada, Shogo Matsuyama
An enchanting, blissful look at the magic and terror of childhood. Identical twin brothers, now successful artists, recall the summer of 1948 when the... Read more
The Red Turtle (2016)
7.5/10
Director: Michael Dudok de Wit
If one day Studio Ghibli decides to produce an animator from outside the studio, it will be him, was Miyazakis pronouncement after watching Dudok de... Read more
The Eel (1997)
7.4/10
Director: Shohei Imamura
Starring: Koji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu, Mitsuko Baisho
Winner of the 1997 Cannes Palme d'Or and from the director of "The Ballad of Narayama", (also a Palme d'Or winner) comes this wonderful offering about... Read more
Godzilla ( Gojira ) / Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1954)
Director: Ishiro Honda, Terry Morse
Starring: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura, Raymond Burr
A giant, fire-breathing lizard threatens civilization in this all time classic Japanese monster movie. Now, for the first time ever, you can view the... Read more
The Twilight Samurai (2002)
8.1/10
Director: Yoji Yamada
Starring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa, Nenji Kobayashi, Ren Osugi, Mitsuru Fukikoshi
Set in the late nineteenth century as the feudal Shogun period was giving way to the Meiji Restoration, Seibei Iguchi (Hiroyuki Sanada) is a low-ranki... Read more
Wolf Children (2012)
8.2/10
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
From award-winning director Mamoru Hosoda ("Summer Wars", "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time"), an elegiac animated fantasy which follows the growth and... Read more
Pom Poko (1994)
7.4/10
Director: Isao Takahata
From director Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies) comes a clash between modern civilization and the natural world, the Raccoons of the Tama Hills a... Read more
From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
7.5/10
Director: Goro Miyazaki
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Anton Yelchin, Sarah Bolger, Christina Hendricks
Goro Miyazaki directs this nostalgic coming-of-age animation from Japan's Studio Ghibli. As Japan readies itself for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, fatherle... Read more
Still Walking (2008)
8/10
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Starring: Kazuya Takahashi, Yui Natsukawa, Hiroshi Abe
In "Still Walking", the Yokoyama family come together to celebrate the memory of their youngest son, Junpei, who died fifteen years ago while rescuing... Read more