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'
I Live In Fear (1955)
7.4/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Eiko Miyoshi, Minoru Chiaki
When a wealthy foundry owner and patriarch decides to move his entire family from Tokyo to Brazil to escape the nuclear holocaust which he believes is... 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
Sansho the Baliff (Sansho Dayu) (Blu-ray) (1954)
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Starring: Eitaro Shindo, Kinuyo Tanaka
In 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 ami... Read more
Seven Samurai (Blu-Ray) (1954)
8.7/10
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Yoshio Inaba, Daisuke Kato, Seiji Miyaguchi, Mi...
A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six... Read more
The Crucified Lovers (1954)
8.2/10
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Starring: Kazuo Hasegawa, Kyoko Kagawa, Yoko Minamida
Kenji Mizoguchi adapts this story of forbidden love from the 17th century story by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, considered the 'Japanese Shakespeare'. Origin... Read more
Her Mother's Profession (1954)
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Starring: Kinuyo Tanaka
Like much of his work, Kenji Mizoguchi directs this film about an aging geisha in Kyoto's Shimabara district longing for something beyond her marginal... Read more
Sansho the Bailiff (Sansho Dayu) (1954)
8.4/10
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Starring: Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyoko Kagawa, Eitaro Shindo
One of the great films, 'Sansho the Bailiff' is set in the harsh feudal world of 11th-century Japan and is based on an ancient legend. When a humane l... Read more
Twenty-Four Eyes (1954)
8.1/10
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita
Starring: Hideko Takamine
A beautifully made, sensitive drama about a teacher (Hideko Takamine) beginning her long career. As the years pass we follow not only her progress, b... Read more
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
Gate of Hell (1953)
7.2/10
Director: Teinosuke Kinugasa
Starring: Kazuo Hasegawa, Machiko Kyo
In this lauded Japanese drama, the samurai Moritoh Enda (Kazuo Hasegawa) performs a heroic act by rescuing the lovely Lady Kesa (Machiko Kyo) from a v... Read more