Drunken Angel (1948)

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura

Takashi Shimura plays an alcoholic doctor trying to bring about both spiritual and physical recovery of the human debris living in the yakuza-infested... Read more

The Hidden Fortress (1958)

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki

Kurosawa takes the conventional Japanese period film and combines it with fairytale elements, the result is an energetic and brilliant farce. Toshiro... Read more

I Live In Fear (1955)

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

Ju Dou (1989)

Director: Zhang Yimou

Starring: Gong Li, Li Wei, Li Baotian, Zhang Li

This erotic drama follows the passion as a beautiful young bride is drawn to the handsome, strong nephew of her new husband. An exquisitely photograph... Read more

Kwaidan (1964)

Director: Masaki Kobayashi

Starring: Keiko Kishi, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kazuo Nakamura

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, Masaki Kobayashi's 'Kwaidan' features four nightmarish tales adapted from Lafcadio Hearn's classic Japanes... Read more

The Lower Depths (1957)

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Ganjiro Nakamada

Adapted from a play by Maxim Gorky and following the adventures of a boarding home's odd residents, especially the love triangle that develops between... Read more

Rhapsody In August (1991)

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Starring: Sachiko Murase, Richard Gere, Hisashi Igawa

This moving drama, set in Nagasaki, explores the trauma of World War II and the after-effects of the atomic bomb. Four children on a visit to their Gr... Read more

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1991)

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto

Starring: Tomoroh Taguchi, Nobu Kanaoka, Shinya Tsukamoto

More of a companion piece to "Tetsuo: The Iron Man" than a sequel, "Tetsuo II: Body Hammer" sees director Shinya Tsukamoto's disturbing vision of a wo... Read more

Tokyo Drifter (1966)

Director: Seijun Suzuki

Starring: Tetsuya Watari, Hideaki Nitani, Chieko Matsubara

This prime slice of Japanese pulp fiction has Tetsu, a yakuza trying to go straight, roaming the land in his pastel blue suit via a succession of colo... Read more

Ninja Scroll (1993)

Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Ultra-violent anime in which the Koga Ninja team investigates a mysterious village and soon discover the village wells were poisoned by the Eight Devi... Read more