キネマ旬報見るべき映画100本:日本映画編
by eiganerd | created - 15 Nov 2011 | updated - 16 Nov 2011 | PublicThese are the 100 Japanese films that film journal "Kinema Jumpo" lists as required viewing.
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. The Neighbor's Wife and Mine (1931)
64 min | Comedy, Drama
A writer struggles to finish his story against many distractions, but the jazz party next door proves to be too much.
Director: Heinosuke Gosho | Stars: Atsushi Watanabe, Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Ichimura, Satoko Date
Votes: 291
2. I Was Born, But... (1932)
Not Rated | 90 min | Comedy, Drama
Two young brothers throw a tantrum when they discover that their father isn't the most important man in his workplace.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Tatsuo Saitô, Tomio Aoki, Mitsuko Yoshikawa, Hideo Sugawara
Votes: 6,211
3. The Dancing Girl of Izu (1933)
94 min | Drama, Romance
In this adaptation from Kawabata, a young student becomes friends with a brother and sister in a troupe of travelling entertainers, who perform at a geisha house in mining country.
Director: Heinosuke Gosho | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Den Ôhinata, Tokuji Kobayashi, Kinuko Wakamizu
Votes: 120
4. Sisters of the Gion (1936)
95 min | Drama
Two geisha sisters lead a hard life in the Gion district of Kyoto. After one of them feels obliged to support a bankrupt businessman, the other sister sets up various schemes to get rid of him.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Isuzu Yamada, Yôko Umemura, Benkei Shiganoya, Namiko Kawashima
Votes: 3,012
5. Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937)
86 min | Drama
The lives of two slum neighbors, one of a happy-go-lucky gambler and the other of a poor ronin, converge when the two get involved with the affairs of a powerful samurai official and his gangsters.
Director: Sadao Yamanaka | Stars: Chôjûrô Kawarasaki, Kan'emon Nakamura, Tsuruzô Nakamura, Chôemon Bandô
Votes: 2,296
6. The Life of Matsu the Untamed (1943)
100 min | Drama
Matsugoro is a poor rickshaw driver whose animated spirit and optimistic demeanor make him a favorite of the town. Matsu helps an injured boy, Toshio, and is hired by the boy's parents.
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki | Stars: Tsumasaburô Bandô, Keiko Sonoi, Yasushi Nagata, Kamon Kawamura
Votes: 221
7. Anjô-ke no butôkai (1947)
89 min | Drama
After Japan's loss in the war, the wealthy, cultured, liberal Anjo family have to give up their mansion and their way of life. They hold one last ball at the house before leaving. The ... See full summary »
Director: Kôzaburô Yoshimura | Stars: Setsuko Hara, Yumeko Aizome, Osamu Takizawa, Masayuki Mori
Votes: 443
8. Aoi sanmyaku (1949)
92 min | Drama, Romance
When a post-war high school girl is seen with an older boy many find the nontraditional notion unacceptable and try to trick the girl and also assail her right to continue the relationship.... See full summary »
Director: Tadashi Imai | Stars: Setsuko Hara, Ryô Ikebe, Michiyo Kogure, Yôko Sugi
Votes: 200
9. Late Spring (1949)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama
Several people try to talk 27-year-old Noriko into marrying, but all she wants is to keep on caring for her widowed father.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Setsuko Hara, Yumeji Tsukioka, Haruko Sugimura
Votes: 19,318
10. Till We Meet Again (1950)
110 min | Drama, History, Romance
The hero Saburo (Okada Eiji) is obstructed by a series of events from meeting Keiko (Kuga Yoshiko), his fiancee.
Director: Tadashi Imai | Stars: Yoshiko Kuga, Eiji Okada, Osamu Takizawa, Akitake Kôno
Votes: 211
11. Rashomon (1950)
Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 180,371 | Gross: $0.10M
12. Carmen Comes Home (1951)
86 min | Comedy
A girl who had left her home village for life in Tokyo returns to her home years later, and evokes a scandal when the locals discover that she's a stripper.
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Shûji Sano, Chishû Ryû, Kuniko Igawa
Votes: 701
13. Ikiru (1952)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama
A bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Shin'ichi Himori, Haruo Tanaka
Votes: 87,528 | Gross: $0.06M
14. Where Chimneys Are Seen (1953)
108 min | Comedy, Drama
Where Chimneys Are Seen focuses primarily on the interconnected lives of two couples in a lower-middle-class neighborhood in Senju, a poor industrial section of Tokyo.
Director: Heinosuke Gosho | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Ken Uehara, Hideko Takamine, Hiroshi Akutagawa
Votes: 326
15. Ugetsu (1953)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Fantasy, War
A tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyô, Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Mito
Votes: 25,804 | Gross: $0.01M
16. What Is Your Name? (1953)
127 min | Drama, Romance
Machiko and Haruki are not allowed to meet. When at last they find each other, Haruki has to part for Europe.
Director: Hideo Ôba | Stars: Keiko Awaji, Chikage Awashima, Haruyo Ichikawa, Kodayû Ichikawa
Votes: 49
17. Tokyo Story (1953)
Not Rated | 136 min | Drama
An old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city, but receive little attention.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Chieko Higashiyama, Sô Yamamura, Setsuko Hara
Votes: 68,559
18. Seven Samurai (1954)
Not Rated | 207 min | Action, Drama
Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki
Votes: 366,711 | Gross: $0.27M
19. Twenty-Four Eyes (1954)
Not Rated | 156 min | Drama
Schoolteacher Hisako Oishi forms an emotional bond with her pupils and teaches them various virtues, while at the same time worrying about their future.
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Itsuo Watanabe, Makoto Miyagawa, Takeo Terashita
Votes: 2,828
20. Godzilla (1954)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
American nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable dinosaur-like beast.
Director: Ishirô Honda | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Akihiko Hirata, Akira Takarada, Momoko Kôchi
Votes: 39,617 | Gross: $2.42M
21. Floating Clouds (1955)
123 min | Drama, Romance
A tragic social drama set in post war Japan and concerns a lonely woman trying to find purpose and stability in a devastated Tokyo.
Director: Mikio Naruse | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Masayuki Mori, Mariko Okada, Isao Yamagata
Votes: 3,145
22. Meoto zenzai (1955)
121 min | Drama
Despite paternal disapproval, the heir of a wealthy family embarks on a relationship with a Geisha.
Director: Shirô Toyoda | Stars: Hisaya Morishige, Chikage Awashima, Yôko Tsukasa, Haruo Tanaka
Votes: 121
23. Crazed Fruit (1956)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama, Romance
Spending their summer on an exotic beach, two brothers fall for the same beautiful girl, whose charm and looks may hide more than they they bargained for.
Director: Kô Nakahira | Stars: Yûjirô Ishihara, Masahiko Tsugawa, Mie Kitahara, Shinsuke Ashida
Votes: 2,254
24. Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate (1957)
Not Rated | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
In the last days of the Shogunate, a resourceful grifter seeks to outwit competing prostitutes, rebellious samurai and other inhabitants of a brothel in order to survive the hardened times.
Director: Yûzô Kawashima | Stars: Furankî Sakai, Sachiko Hidari, Yôko Minamida, Yûjirô Ishihara
Votes: 1,325
25. Stakeout (1958)
116 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two cops on stakeout wait for a murderer.
Director: Yoshitarô Nomura | Stars: Minoru Ôki, Takahiro Tamura, Seiji Miyaguchi, Hideko Takamine
Votes: 441
26. The Ballad of Narayama (1958)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama
A kabuki theatre-inflected story about a poor village whose people have to be carried to a nearby mountain to die once they get old.
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Teiji Takahashi, Yûko Mochizuki, Danko Ichikawa
Votes: 3,787
27. Kyojin to gangu (1958)
95 min | Comedy, Drama
In the middle of a fierce commercial competition between three caramel companies, an executive builds up a ditsy teenage girl as a mascot while simultaneously trying to uncover the rival companies' plans.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Hitomi Nozoe, Hideo Takamatsu, Michiko Ono
Votes: 1,238
28. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (I) (1959)
Not Rated | 208 min | Drama, History, War
A Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Chikage Awashima, Ineko Arima
Votes: 9,357
29. The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959)
76 min | Horror
The ghost of a samurai's wife takes revenge on her husband.
Director: Nobuo Nakagawa | Stars: Shigeru Amachi, Noriko Kitazawa, Katsuko Wakasugi, Shuntarô Emi
Votes: 1,816
30. Night and Fog in Japan (1960)
107 min | Drama
Long takes and a highly theatrical visual approach combine to form a tense and confrontational look at the decline of a socialist student activists' movement in Japan.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Miyuki Kuwano, Fumio Watanabe, Masahiko Tsugawa, Hiroshi Akutagawa
Votes: 854
31. Brother (1960)
98 min | Drama
Set in 1926 when Japanese tradition was much stronger, this standard drama looks at the inner workings of a small family, especially the relationship between a sister and brother.
Director: Kon Ichikawa | Stars: Keiko Kishi, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Kinuyo Tanaka, Masayuki Mori
Votes: 484
32. The Naked Island (1960)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama
A family of four are the sole inhabitants of a small island where they struggle each day to irrigate their crops.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Nobuko Otowa, Taiji Tonoyama, Shinji Tanaka, Masanori Horimoto
Votes: 6,181
33. Bad Boys (1961)
89 min | Drama
An improvisational film depicting life in a boys' reform school.
Director: Susumu Hani | Stars: Yukio Yamada, Hirokazu Yoshitake, Koichiro Yamazaki, Yasuo Kurokawa
Votes: 142
34. Yojimbo (1961)
Not Rated | 110 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Eijirô Tôno, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yôko Tsukasa
Votes: 131,314
35. Miyamoto Musashi (1961)
Not Rated | 110 min | Action, Drama, History
The film begins when the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi is still named Shinmen Takezo. After being on the losing side of the Battle of Sekigahara, Takezo and his friend manage to escape and come across a young woman and her mother.
Director: Tomu Uchida | Stars: Kinnosuke Nakamura, Akiko Kazami, Wakaba Irie, Isao Kimura
Votes: 279
36. Daigaku no wakadaishô (1961)
94 min
Director: Toshio Sugie | Stars: Yûzô Kayama, Ichirô Arishima, Chôko Iida, Machiko Naka
Votes: 19
37. Kyûpora no aru machi (1962)
99 min | Drama
Set in Kawaguchi, just north of Tokyo in the early 60s, the movie chronicles the lives of poor foundry workers and their families; and one girl's dreams of self-improvement through going on to higher education.
Director: Kiriô Urayama | Stars: Sayuri Yoshinaga, Mitsuo Hamada, Eijirô Tôno, Shôichi Ozawa
Votes: 200
38. The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)
Not Rated | 95 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The adventures of a blind, gambling masseur who also happens to be a master swordsman.
Director: Kenji Misumi | Stars: Shintarô Katsu, Masayo Banri, Ryûzô Shimada, Hajime Mitamura
Votes: 5,902
39. Nippon musekinin jidai (1962)
86 min | Comedy
Director: Kengo Furusawa | Stars: Hitoshi Ueki, Noriko Shigeyama, Hajime Hana, Asami Kuji
Votes: 56
40. Harakiri (1962)
Not Rated | 133 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
When a ronin requesting seppuku at a feudal lord's palace is told of the brutal suicide of another ronin who previously visited, he reveals how their pasts are intertwined - and in doing so challenges the clan's integrity.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita, Tetsurô Tanba
Votes: 68,608
41. Gobanchô Yûgirirô (1963)
137 min | Drama, Romance
A forlorn love story between a young monk and his childhood sweet-heart set in post WWII Japan.
Director: Tomotaka Tasaka | Stars: Chôichirô Kawarasaki, Yoshiko Sakuma, Michiyo Kogure, Yatsuko Tan'ami
Votes: 35
42. Sleepy Eyes of Death: The Chinese Jade (1963)
Not Rated | 82 min | Action, Drama
Nemuri Kyoshiro, a youthful and cynical ronin with unparalleled skill, is approached by both sides in a game of corruption, ambition, and double crosses. The leader of the Kaga clan, who ... See full summary »
Director: Tokuzô Tanaka | Stars: Raizô Ichikawa, Tamao Nakamura, Shinobu Araki, Saburô Date
Votes: 312
43. Woman in the Dunes (1964)
Not Rated | 147 min | Drama, Thriller
An entomologist on vacation is trapped by local villagers into living with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.
Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara | Stars: Eiji Okada, Kyôko Kishida, Kôji Mitsui, Hiroko Itô
Votes: 22,691
44. A Fugitive from the Past (1965)
183 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Three thieves escape from a heist, one of them killing the other two. He is sheltered by a prostitute and sought after by the police, but only after ten years his true motivation unravels.
Director: Tomu Uchida | Stars: Rentarô Mikuni, Sachiko Hidari, Kôji Mitsui, Yoshi Katô
Votes: 1,297
45. Kwaidan (1964)
Not Rated | 183 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A collection of four Japanese folk tales with supernatural themes.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Rentarô Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe, Kenjirô Ishiyama
Votes: 19,977
46. Tokyo Olympiad (1965)
Not Rated | 170 min | Documentary, Sport
Kon Ichikawa examines the beauty and rich drama on display at the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo, creating a record of observations that range from the expansive to the intimate.
Director: Kon Ichikawa | Stars: Antonio Ambu, Gary Anderson, Gerry Ashworth, Polina Astakhova
Votes: 2,199
47. Shiroi Kyotô (1966)
150 min | Drama
Zaizen Goro may only be an assistant professor but he has already made a name for himself. His superior, however, does not approve of his attitude towards their profession, and is at odds ... See full summary »
Director: Satsuo Yamamoto | Stars: Jirô Tamiya, Eijirô Tôno, Takahiro Tamura, Eitarô Ozawa
Votes: 244
48. Fighting Elegy (1966)
Not Rated | 86 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
During the 1930s, a teenager yearns for a Catholic girl, whose only desire is to reform his sinful tendencies. Hormones raging, the young man channels his unsatisfied lust into the only outlet available: savage, crazed violence.
Director: Seijun Suzuki | Stars: Hideki Takahashi, Junko Asano, Yûsuke Kawazu, Chikako Miyagi
Votes: 1,608
49. Japan's Longest Day (1967)
157 min | Drama, History, War
A dramatization of the 24-hour period in which the Japanese government was deadlocked over the decision to accept or reject the Allies' demand for an unconditional surrender following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Seiji Miyaguchi, Rokkô Toura, Chishû Ryû, Sô Yamamura
Votes: 1,011
50. Big Time Gambling Boss (1968)
95 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Tokyo, 1934. The boss of the clan that controls gambling agonizes and some of his followers propose to Nakai to take his place, but he refuses the offer and suggests they choose Matsuda, who is in prison.
Director: Kôsaku Yamashita | Stars: Kôji Tsuruta, Tomisaburô Wakayama, Hiroshi Nawa, Nobuo Kaneko
Votes: 357
51. The Human Bullet (1968)
116 min | Drama, War
During World War II, a Japanese soldier finds himself assigned to a kamikaze mission against a U.S. battleship.
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Minori Terada, Naoko Ôtani, Yûnosuke Itô, Shinsuke Achiwa
Votes: 478
52. Profound Desires of the Gods (1968)
Not Rated | 173 min | Drama
An engineer from Tokyo arrives on a drought-ridden tropical island to drill a well to power a nearby sugar mill. He meets the inbred Futori family, hated by the locals for breaking religious customs.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Rentarô Mikuni, Chôichirô Kawarasaki, Hideko Okiyama, Kanjûrô Arashi
Votes: 1,947
53. Red Peony Gambler 3: The Flower Cards Game (1969)
98 min | Action
After saving a blind child from being hit by an oncoming train the gambler known as Oryu-The Red Peony is accepted as a guest by a Yakuza boss only to become involved in a romantic dispute between two members of rival clans.
Director: Tai Katô | Stars: Sumiko Fuji, Ken Takakura, Kanjûrô Arashi, Teruo Ishiyama
Votes: 220
54. Double Suicide (1969)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
A doomed love between a paper merchant and a courtesan.
Director: Masahiro Shinoda | Stars: Kichiemon Nakamura, Shima Iwashita, Shizue Kawarazaki, Tokie Hidari
Votes: 2,603
55. Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp (1969)
91 min | Drama, Comedy, Romance
Tora-San, an itinerant peddler who is thrown out of his father's house twenty years before but reconnects with his aunt, uncle and sister Sakura. Tora wreaks some havoc in their lives, like getting drunk and silly at a marriage meeting.
Director: Yôji Yamada | Stars: Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baishô, Sachiko Mitsumoto, Chishû Ryû
Votes: 572
56. Eros + Massacre (1969)
Not Rated | 216 min | Biography, Drama
Two interwoven stories. The first is a biography of anarchist Sakae Osugi which follows his relationship with three women in the 1920s. The second centers around two 1960s students researching Osugi's theories.
Director: Yoshishige Yoshida | Stars: Mariko Okada, Toshiyuki Hosokawa, Yûko Kusunoki, Kazuko Inano
Votes: 2,322
57. Wet Sand in August (1971)
92 min | Action, Drama
One summer morning, Kiyoshi (Shosuke Hirose) is racing on his bike down the beach. While there, a girl with her clothes torn up is thrown out from a green convertible. This is how he and ... See full summary »
Director: Toshiya Fujita | Stars: Masasuke Hirose, Takenori Murano, Naoto Nakazawa, Midori Fujita
Votes: 106
58. Yakusoku (1972)
88 min | Drama, Romance
This sad Japanese romantic melodrama tells the brief love story of a very alert young man and an extremely beautiful woman who meet, fall in love and part during a train ride.
Director: Kôichi Saitô | Stars: Keiko Kishi, Yoshie Minami, Ken'ichi Hagiwara, Rentarô Mikuni
Votes: 221
59. Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)
Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama
During the violent chaos of post-War Japanese black market, a young gangster called Shozo Hirono has to keep up with the rapid shifts of power between unscrupulous bosses.
Director: Kinji Fukasaku | Stars: Bunta Sugawara, Hiroki Matsukata, Kunie Tanaka, Eiko Nakamura
Votes: 4,308
60. The Castle of Sand (1974)
143 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Detectives investigate the murder of an old man found in a Tokyo rail yard.
Director: Yoshitarô Nomura | Stars: Tetsurô Tanba, Gô Katô, Kensaku Morita, Yôko Shimada
Votes: 1,534
61. Sandakan No. 8 (1974)
120 min | Drama, History, War
A journalist interviews an old woman who was forced into prostitution, just like many other Japanese women working in Asia outside of Japan during the first half of the 20th century. She worked in a Malaysian brothel called Sandakan 8.
Director: Kei Kumai | Stars: Komaki Kurihara, Yôko Takahashi, Kinuyo Tanaka, Takiko Mizunoe
Votes: 755
62. Pastoral: To Die in the Country (1974)
104 min | Drama, Fantasy
A young boys' coming of age tale set in a strange, carnivalesque village becomes the recreation of a memory that the director has twenty years later.
Director: Shûji Terayama | Stars: Kaoru Yachigusa, Keiko Niitaka, Masumi Harukawa, Kan Mikami
Votes: 2,407
63. Bullet Train (1975)
Not Rated | 152 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Criminals plant a bomb on a high-speed train. It will explode when the train slows down, unless a ransom is paid.
Director: Jun'ya Satô | Stars: Ken Takakura, Shin'ichi Chiba, Kei Yamamoto, Eiji Gô
Votes: 1,731
64. The Inugami Family (1976)
146 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
When a tycoon passes away, he unexpectedly leaves the family fortune to outsider Tamayo on the condition that she marries one of the grandsons, pitting blood against blood.
Director: Kon Ichikawa | Stars: Kôji Ishizaka, Yôko Shimada, Teruhiko Aoi, Mieko Takamine
Votes: 1,155
65. The Yellow Handkerchief (1977)
109 min | Comedy, Drama
Three complete strangers embark on a road-trip to Hokkaido.
Director: Yôji Yamada | Stars: Ken Takakura, Chieko Baishô, Kaori Momoi, Tetsuya Takeda
Votes: 1,297
66. Hakkodasan (1977)
169 min | Drama
Two infantry regiments of the Imperial Japanese Army tackled Mount Hakkoda in the winter of 1902 to prepare for war with Russia.
Director: Shirô Moritani | Stars: Shôgo Shimada, Ken Takakura, Hideji Ôtaki, Kin'ya Kitaôji
Votes: 215
67. Fuyu no hana (1978)
121 min | Crime, Drama
A thug is released after fifteen years in prison for the murder of a yakuza gang boss. Things were never going to be simple and bygones were never going to be bygones of course, but to make... See full summary »
Director: Yasuo Furuhata | Stars: Ken Takakura, Kimiko Ikegami, Kin'ya Kitaôji, Bin Amatsu
Votes: 162
68. The Woman with Red Hair (1979)
73 min | Comedy, Drama
At his working place, Kozo and his colleague gangrape the boss' teenage daughter. Then, on the highway, he picks up a red-haired woman walking on the road back to his home. She ends up ... See full summary »
Director: Tatsumi Kumashiro | Stars: Junko Miyashita, Renji Ishibashi, Ako, Moeko Ezawa
Votes: 309
69. Vengeance Is Mine (1979)
Not Rated | 139 min | Crime, Drama
Chronological exploits of Iwao Enokizu, a murderous thief on the run.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Ken Ogata, Rentarô Mikuni, Chôchô Miyako, Mitsuko Baishô
Votes: 7,291
70. Galaxy Express 999 (1979)
PG | 129 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
The adventures of a brave young boy who travels from planet to planet in a determined quest to avenge his mother's death.
Director: Rintarô | Stars: Masako Nozawa, Masako Ikeda, Yôko Asagami, Miyoko Asô
Votes: 2,370
71. The Man Who Stole the Sun (1979)
Not Rated | 147 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A high school science teacher builds an atomic bomb and uses it to extort the nation, but cannot decide what he wants. Meanwhile, a determined cop is catching up to him, as is radiation poisoning.
Director: Kazuhiko Hasegawa | Stars: Bunta Sugawara, Kenji Sawada, Kimiko Ikegami, Kazuo Kitamura
Votes: 1,297
72. No More Easy Life (1979)
103 min | Drama
A wistful slice-of-life drama about a college student's attempts to manage her relations with two men.
Director: Yôichi Higashi | Stars: Kaori Momoi, Eiji Okuda, Leo Morimoto, Jûzô Itami
Votes: 132
73. Zigeunerweisen (1980)
Not Rated | 144 min | Horror, Mystery
A surreal period film following an university professor and his eerie nomad friend as they go through loose romantic triangles and face death in peculiar ways.
Director: Seijun Suzuki | Stars: Yoshio Harada, Naoko Ôtani, Kisako Makishi, Akaji Maro
Votes: 1,499
74. Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980)
PG | 162 min | Drama, History, War
A petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord's double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ken'ichi Hagiwara, Jinpachi Nezu
Votes: 38,164
75. Muddy River (1981)
105 min | Drama
In post-War Japan, a boy from a noodle store-owning family befriends a neighboring boy living in poverty.
Director: Kôhei Oguri | Stars: Takahiro Tamura, Mariko Kaga, Nobutaka Asahara, Makiko Shibata
Votes: 1,036
76. Distant Thunder (1981)
135 min | Drama
Urban sprawl and corrupt materialism have a devastating effect on farming families near Tokyo.
Director: Kichitarô Negishi | Stars: Toshiyuki Nagashima, Johnny Ohkura, Eri Ishida, Rie Yokoyama
Votes: 143
77. Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (1981)
131 min | Action, Romance
A teenage delinquent schoolgirl named Izumi Hoshi inherits her father's Yakuza clan.
Director: Shinji Sômai | Stars: Hiroko Yakushimaru, Tsunehiko Watase, Rentarô Mikuni, Yuki Kazamatsuri
Votes: 903
78. I Are You, You Am Me (1982)
113 min | Comedy
9th-graders Kazuo (boy) and Kazumi (girl) take a tumble at a temple in a small seacoast town in Japan. Through supernatural intervention, their minds and bodies are switched, and the result... See full summary »
Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi | Stars: Satomi Kobayashi, Toshinori Omi, Makoto Satô, Sayuri Ishibashi
Votes: 526
79. Fall Guy (1982)
109 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A lowly obsequious member of a movie star's entourage agrees to marry his boss's pregnant mistress so he can continue his feckless lifestyle. He then takes up dangerous work as a stunt man ... See full summary »
Director: Kinji Fukasaku | Stars: Keiko Matsuzaka, Morio Kazama, Mitsuru Hirata, Chika Takami
Votes: 789
80. The Family Game (1983)
107 min | Comedy, Drama
Japanese parents hire a tutor for their foolish son and get a critic of their lifestyle.
Director: Yoshimitsu Morita | Stars: Yûsaku Matsuda, Jûzô Itami, Saori Yuki, Ichirôta Miyakawa
Votes: 1,117
81. Antarctica (1983)
G | 143 min | Adventure, Drama
Two Japanese scientists, Ushioda and Ochi, develop a bond with their sled dogs while on an expedition in Antarctica. Ushioda and Ochi eventually leave Antarctica, only to return to search for the dogs inadvertently marooned there.
Director: Koreyoshi Kurahara | Stars: Ken Takakura, Tsunehiko Watase, Eiji Okada, Masako Natsume
Votes: 1,767
82. The Funeral (1984)
Not Rated | 124 min | Comedy
When Wabisuke's father-in-law unexpectedly dies, the family goes through a series of events and occurrences as the funeral unfolds over three days in their home.
Director: Jûzô Itami | Stars: Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Kin Sugai, Hideji Ôtaki
Votes: 1,852
83. A Taxing Woman (1987)
127 min | Comedy, Crime
If tax evasion is an art, wheeler-dealer Hideki Gondo is Rembrandt. And so, a determined taxing woman gets the tough assignment of trying to catch him.
Director: Jûzô Itami | Stars: Nobuko Miyamoto, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Masahiko Tsugawa, Yasuo Daichi
Votes: 2,242
84. The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987)
Not Rated | 122 min | Documentary
A documentary following Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old WW2 veteran notorious for his protests against Emperor Hirohito, as he tries to expose the needless executions of two Japanese soldiers during the war.
Director: Kazuo Hara | Stars: Kenzo Okuzaki, Riichi Aikawa, Masaichi Hamaguchi, Toshio Hara
Votes: 2,124
85. The Cherry Orchard (1990)
96 min | Drama
At an all-girls school, a group of girls prepare for a stage performance of Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard".
Director: Shun Nakahara | Stars: Hiroko Nakajima, Miho Tsumiki, Yasuyo Shirashima, Miho Miyazawa
Votes: 272
86. All Under the Moon (1993)
109 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Story of everyday life and romance of a taxi driver who is a Korean resident in Japan.
Director: Yôichi Sai | Stars: Gorô Kishitani, Ruby Moreno, Moeko Ezawa, Masato Furuoya
Votes: 184
87. Love Letter (1995)
PG | 117 min | Drama, Romance
When exchanging letters two women discover new things about a man they knew.
Director: Shunji Iwai | Stars: Miho Nakayama, Etsushi Toyokawa, Bunjaku Han, Katsuyuki Shinohara
Votes: 10,992
88. Shall We Dance? (1996)
PG | 136 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons.
Director: Masayuki Suô | Stars: Koji Yakusho, Tamiyo Kusakari, Naoto Takenaka, Eri Watanabe
Votes: 11,730 | Gross: $9.68M
89. Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald (1997)
103 min | Comedy
Just before the live airing of a radio play, an actress decides to change the name of her character. This cascades into a battle of egos by all involved that causes continual script changes while the play is on-air live.
Director: Kôki Mitani | Stars: Toshiaki Karasawa, Kyôka Suzuki, Masahiko Nishimura, Keiko Toda
Votes: 2,093 | Gross: $0.01M
90. Ringu (1998)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Mystery
A reporter and her ex-husband investigate a cursed video tape that is rumored to kill the viewer seven days after watching it.
Director: Hideo Nakata | Stars: Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani, Yûko Takeuchi, Hitomi Satô
Votes: 77,461
91. Fireworks (1997)
103 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Nishi leaves the police in the face of harrowing personal and professional difficulties. Spiraling into depression, he makes questionable decisions.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Ôsugi, Susumu Terajima
Votes: 33,159 | Gross: $0.23M
92. Bayside Shakedown (1998)
119 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Aoshima, a police detective working in the Bayside Precinct, is continually frustrated by the hierarchy and red tape that plague the system. His friend Muroi is climbing the ladder of the ... See full summary »
Director: Katsuyuki Motohiro | Stars: Yûji Oda, Toshirô Yanagiba, Eri Fukatsu, Miki Mizuno
Votes: 951
93. Railroad Man (1999)
112 min | Drama
The touching reminiscing of an elderly railroad-station manager is interrupted by the sudden appearance of some good-natured girls.
Director: Yasuo Furuhata | Stars: Ken Takakura, Shinobu Ôtake, Ryôko Hirosue, Hidetaka Yoshioka
Votes: 1,324
94. Battle Royale (2000)
Not Rated | 114 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill one another under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
Director: Kinji Fukasaku | Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarô Yamamoto, Chiaki Kuriyama
Votes: 194,392
95. Spirited Away (2001)
PG | 125 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Miyu Irino, Rumi Hiiragi
Votes: 848,981 | Gross: $10.06M
96. Waterboys (2001)
91 min | Comedy, Sport
In a Japanese high school, a class of adolescent geeks joins the new synchronized swimming teacher and takes up the challenge to take part in the competition, in spite of the mockeries of the "real sportsmen".
Director: Shinobu Yaguchi | Stars: Satoshi Tsumabuki, Hiroshi Tamaki, Akifumi Miura, Kôen Kondô
Votes: 3,059
97. Go (2001)
122 min | Drama, Romance
Sugihara, born in Japan but with North Korean parents, falls in love with a Japanese girl after changing from a North Korean school to a Japanese school. His boxer dad teaches him boxing - skills used a lot.
Director: Isao Yukisada | Stars: Yôsuke Kubozuka, Kô Shibasaki, Tarô Yamamoto, Hirofumi Arai
Votes: 3,014
98. The Twilight Samurai (2002)
129 min | Drama, Romance
As the feudal Japan era draws to a close, a widower samurai experiences difficulty balancing clan loyalties, 2 young daughters, an aged mother, and the sudden reappearance of his childhood sweetheart.
Director: Yôji Yamada | Stars: Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa, Nenji Kobayashi, Ren Ôsugi
Votes: 25,491
99. A Boy's Summer in 1945 (2002)
118 min | Drama, History
In a film that recalls the memories of the director's youth in Miyazaki Prefecture in Southern Japan during World War II, the local population is working hard in factories, on the road and ... See full summary »
Director: Kazuo Kuroki | Stars: Tasuku Emoto, Yoshio Harada, Tokie Hidari, Wakaba Irie
Votes: 67
100. Nobody Knows (2004)
PG-13 | 141 min | Drama
In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu | Stars: Yûya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura, Momoko Shimizu
Votes: 31,394 | Gross: $0.68M
Tell Your Friends