Great Japanese Films
1.
Pale Flower (1964)
Starring: Ryô Ikebe, Mariko Kaga, Takashi Fujiki, Chisako Hara, Eijirô Tôno
Director: Masahiro Shinoda
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List Price:$29.95 $26.99
Starring: Ryô Ikebe, Mariko Kaga, Takashi Fujiki, Chisako Hara, Eijirô Tôno
Director: Masahiro Shinoda
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"Pale Flower is a sublimely made yakuza film that expands and transcends the genre, becoming somewhat nihilist and existential. Shinoda, the director, said this about it, "I decided to pursue my own evil through the film. The heroes would be people who do evil deeds." See also the Criterion Collection's Double Suicide."
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2.
Japan's Longest Day (1968)
Starring: Seiji Miyaguchi, Rokko Toura, Chishû Ryû, Sô Yamamura, Toshirô Mifune
Director: Kihachi Okamoto
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List Price:$29.98 $26.99
Starring: Seiji Miyaguchi, Rokko Toura, Chishû Ryû, Sô Yamamura, Toshirô Mifune
Director: Kihachi Okamoto
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"Japan's Longest Day is a striking and sometimes humorous (like all Okamoto films, a very dark comedy) narrative about the last day when Japan surrendered to the allied forces. Also worth buying is the Criterion Collection release of Okamoto's Sword of Doom."
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3.
Late Spring - (The Criterion Collection) (1949)
Starring: Chishû Ryû, Werner Herzog, Yuuharu Atsuta, Chris Marker, Setsuko Hara
Director: Wim Wenders
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List Price:$39.95 $37.49
Starring: Chishû Ryû, Werner Herzog, Yuuharu Atsuta, Chris Marker, Setsuko Hara
Director: Wim Wenders
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"Ozu is one of the three best known Japanese filmmakers and Late Spring (Banshun) is a great way to start. Here are all of the elements that make Ozu so popular: zen-like meditative elliptical narratives, an extremely subtle sense of irony, gorgeous compositions, and ability to move one emotionally."
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4.
The Family Game (Foreign Film Favorites) (1984)
Starring: Yûsaku Matsuda, Juzo Itami, Saori Yuki, Ichirôta Miyakawa, Junichi Tsujita
Director: Yoshimitsu Morita
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List Price:$29.98
Starring: Yûsaku Matsuda, Juzo Itami, Saori Yuki, Ichirôta Miyakawa, Junichi Tsujita
Director: Yoshimitsu Morita
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"Morita Yoshimitsu made, like many Japanese directors in the 80s, overtly commercial films. But this, made for the relatively underground ATG (Art Theatre Guild) is extremely subversive and humorous in it's exposing the turbulence of the modern Japanese family (and their society and school system in general.)"
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5.
The Lower Depths (Kurosawa 1957) / The Lower Depths (Renoir 1936) - Criterion Collection (1937)
Starring: Jean Gabin, Suzy Prim, Louis Jouvet, Jany Holt, Vladimir Sokoloff
Director: Akira Kurosawa
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List Price:$39.95 $35.99
Starring: Jean Gabin, Suzy Prim, Louis Jouvet, Jany Holt, Vladimir Sokoloff
Director: Akira Kurosawa
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"There really isn't much to say about Kurosawa Akira. He was a master storyteller, and I believe at his height in this adaptation of Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths. The Criterion DVD also has, free of charge, Renoir's 1936 version as well."
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6.
Red Angel (1971)
Starring: Ayako Wakao, Shinsuke Ashida, Yûsuke Kawazu, Ranko Akagi, Jotaro Senba
Director: Yasuzo Masumura
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List Price:$19.98 $17.99
Starring: Ayako Wakao, Shinsuke Ashida, Yûsuke Kawazu, Ranko Akagi, Jotaro Senba
Director: Yasuzo Masumura
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"Masumura Yasuzo presents a stark portrayal of World War II from the perspective of an innocent front line nurse. This film was a huge inspiration for the Japanese New Wave."
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7.
The Pornographers - Criterion Collection (1966)
Starring: Shoichi Ozawa, Sumiko Sakamoto, Masaomi Kondo, Keiko Sagawa, Ganjiro Nakamura
Director: Shôhei Imamura
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List Price:$29.95 $26.99
Starring: Shoichi Ozawa, Sumiko Sakamoto, Masaomi Kondo, Keiko Sagawa, Ganjiro Nakamura
Director: Shôhei Imamura
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"Imamura's depiction of an at home pornographer and his perverse family life is subversive in a dozen or better ways. The title literally translates as "The Pornographers: Introduction to Antropology"."
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8.
Maborosi (1997)
Starring: Makiko Esumi, Takashi Naitô, Tadanobu Asano, Gohki Kashiyama, Naomi Watanabe
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
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List Price:$29.95
Starring: Makiko Esumi, Takashi Naitô, Tadanobu Asano, Gohki Kashiyama, Naomi Watanabe
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
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"A simple and enigmatic film about losing a loved one. The films emotional power can only be compared to it's formal beauty, and it put it's director, Koreeda Hirokazu, in the international map."
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9.
Harakiri - Criterion Collection (1964)
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Rentarô Mikuni, Shima Iwashita, Akira Ishihama, Shichisaburo Amatsu
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
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List Price:$39.95
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Rentarô Mikuni, Shima Iwashita, Akira Ishihama, Shichisaburo Amatsu
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
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"Surely one of the best Jidai-geki (samurai films) ever made, it also posits the fuedal system as completely devoid of all the bushido honor it promises. The film, and anything else made by it's director Kobayashi Masaki, should be sought after."
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10.
Fires on the Plain - Criterion Collection (1962)
Starring: Eiji Funakoshi, Mantarô Ushio, Yoshihiro Hamaguchi, Osamu Takizawa, Mickey Curtis
Director: Kon Ichikawa
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List Price:$29.95 $26.99
Starring: Eiji Funakoshi, Mantarô Ushio, Yoshihiro Hamaguchi, Osamu Takizawa, Mickey Curtis
Director: Kon Ichikawa
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"Ichikawa Kon's Fires on the Plain is a thunderous attack on the idea of war, and "man's inhumanity to man". Ichikawa and his wife, Nado Watto, deemed the political system of the time not worthy of respect."
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11.
Zigeunerweisen (1980)
Starring: Yoshio Harada, Naoko Otani, Toshiya Fujita, Michiyo Ookusu, Kisako Makishi
Director: Seijun Suzuki
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List Price:$29.95 $26.99
Starring: Yoshio Harada, Naoko Otani, Toshiya Fujita, Michiyo Ookusu, Kisako Makishi
Director: Seijun Suzuki
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"Suzuki's ghost film about the Taisho era (Japan in the 20s) is a haunting lyrical film, which is difficult to explain or fully understand, but is almost impossible not to be absorbed and in some way amazed by. It's a radical departure from his yakuza or pulp style films, which are all worth seeking out."
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12.
My Neighbors the Yamadas ()
Starring: Tôru Masuoka, Yukiji Asaoka, Masako Araki, Naomi Uno, Akiko Yano
Director: Isao Takahata
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List Price:$29.99 $25.99
Starring: Tôru Masuoka, Yukiji Asaoka, Masako Araki, Naomi Uno, Akiko Yano
Director: Isao Takahata
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"An episodic and comedic look at modern family life in Japan. Beautifully animated with a computer, made to look like a newspaper comic strip brought to life with watercolors. First of three animated Japanese films I'll recommend, all animated by Studio Ghibli."
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13.
Whisper of the Heart ()
Starring: Youko Honna, Kazuo Takahashi, Takashi Tachibana, Shigeru Muroi, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi
Director: Yoshifumi Kondo
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List Price:$29.99 $25.99
Starring: Youko Honna, Kazuo Takahashi, Takashi Tachibana, Shigeru Muroi, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi
Director: Yoshifumi Kondo
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"Surely one of the world's greatest animated films, and also one of the most inspiring and uplifting films I've ever seen is Kondo's Whispers of the Heart. The late director made only this one picture before passing, and a finer cinematic legacy is hard to find."
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14.
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1985)
Starring: Sumi Shimamoto, Mahito Tsujimura, Hisako Kyôda, Gorô Naya, Ichirô Nagai
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
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List Price:$29.99 $19.49
Starring: Sumi Shimamoto, Mahito Tsujimura, Hisako Kyôda, Gorô Naya, Ichirô Nagai
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
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"Last of the animation (and I could go on naming these films forever, but these are a great start) is Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. A scifi parable concerning war and the environment, but also one of the most captivating adventure movies ever made."
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15.
Ugetsu - Criterion Collection (1954)
Starring: Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyô, Kinuyo Tanaka, Eitarô Ozawa, Ikio Sawamura
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
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List Price:$39.95 $32.99
Starring: Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyô, Kinuyo Tanaka, Eitarô Ozawa, Ikio Sawamura
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
The list author says:
"There really isn't much to be said about Ugetsu, except that it's probably the most "Japanese" of Japanese films (and that can be a very contentious statement.)"
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