Japanese Cinema
by Luftgeist | created - 29 Jul 2013 | updated - 28 Apr 2019 | PublicIncomplete list of Japanese movies I enjoyed. In no specific order.
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1. Go, Go Second Time Virgin (1969)
65 min | Drama, Horror
After being raped in an unknown rooftop, seventeen year-old girl Poppo meets a mysterious boy, and both share their sexual traumas and fears, with fatal consequences.
Director: Kôji Wakamatsu | Stars: Mimi Kozakura, Michio Akiyama, Yôko Yamamoto, Seshio Zenbei
Votes: 2,695
2. Survive Style 5+ (2004)
120 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Five bizarre stories with no apparent connection to one and other eventually become intertwined, resulting in surreal circumstances.
Director: Gen Sekiguchi | Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Reika Hashimoto, Kyôko Koizumi, Hiroshi Abe
Votes: 10,142
3. The Taste of Tea (2004)
143 min | Comedy, Fantasy
A spell of time of a rural family's slightly surreal life.
Director: Katsuhito Ishii | Stars: Maya Banno, Takahiro Satô, Tadanobu Asano, Satomi Tezuka
Votes: 7,187
4. Naisu no mori: The First Contact (2005)
150 min | Comedy, Fantasy
An outrageous collection of surreal, short attention span non-sequiturs largely revolving around Guitar Brother, his randy older sibling, and the pair's portly Caucasian brother.
Directors: Katsuhito Ishii, Hajime Ishimine, Shunichirô Miki | Stars: Andrew Alfieri, Hideaki Anno, Moyoco Anno, Tadanobu Asano
Votes: 2,728
5. Goodbye CP (1972)
Not Rated | 82 min | Documentary
An intimate documentary about a group of people with cerebral palsy in Japan that confronts our preconceptions and prejudices about who they are, what they feel, and how they view their lives.
Director: Kazuo Hara | Stars: Kazuo Hara, Sachiko Kobayashi, Hiroshi Yokota, Kôichi Yokozuka
Votes: 227
6. Extreme Private Eros: Love Song 1974 (1974)
Not Rated | 98 min | Documentary
In this uncomfortably intimate film, documentary filmmaker Kazuo Hara visits his ex-girlfriend Miyuki and records her new relationships.
Director: Kazuo Hara | Stars: Kazuo Hara, Miyuki Takeda, Sachiko Kobayashi
Votes: 402
7. Franz Kafka's a Country Doctor (2007)
21 min | Animation, Short, Horror
Surreal events occur when a hapless country doctor visits an ill boy one cold night.
Director: Kôji Yamamura | Stars: Sensaku Shigeyama, Shigeru Shigeyama, Doji Shigeyama, Shime Shigeyama
Votes: 1,371
8. Bullet Ballet (1998)
Not Rated | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A man sees his life changed forever when his fiancee shoots herself. Baffled, he wants by all means to obtain such a weapon of destruction and he finds himself caught in the middle of a ... See full summary »
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Kirina Mano, Tatsuya Nakamura, Takahiro Murase
Votes: 3,120
9. 19 (2000)
83 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Stylish road movie in which a kidnapped youth becomes friends with his abductors.
Director: Kazushi Watanabe | Stars: Daijirô Kawaoka, Kazushi Watanabe, Takeo Noro, Ryo Shinmyo
Votes: 576
10. Bijitâ Q (2001)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Drama, Horror
A troubled and perverted family find their lives intruded by a mysterious stranger who seems to help find a balance in their disturbing natures.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Ken'ichi Endô, Shungiku Uchida, Kazushi Watanabe, Jun Mutô
Votes: 17,048
11. Vital (2004)
R | 86 min | Drama, Thriller
After a tragic car accident where his girlfriend Ryôko Ooyama (Nami Tsukamoto) died, Hiroshi Takagi (Tadanobu Asano) suffers amnesia with his memories completely blanked. When he sees a ... See full summary »
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Nami Tsukamoto, Kiki, Kazuyoshi Kushida
Votes: 3,369
12. A Snake of June (2002)
R | 77 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A woman is being stalked by a stranger. His stalking turns to blackmail when he sends her copies of photos of her in an embarrassing position. Now he controls her and she has to do anything he says. Anything.
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Asuka Kurosawa, Yûji Kôtari, Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Yukino Asai
Votes: 5,255
13. Gemini (1999)
84 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A successful doctor, Yukio's picture perfect life is gradually wrecked, and taken over by his avenging twin brother, who bumps off his family members one by one and reclaims his lover who is now Yukio's wife.
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Masahiro Motoki, Ryô, Yasutaka Tsutsui, Masako Motai
Votes: 2,882
14. 964 Pinocchio (1991)
97 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Pinocchio 964, lobotomised cyborg sex slave, is thrown out onto the street by his owners because of his inability to maintain an erection. He is befriended by a criminally insane, ... See full summary »
Director: Shozin Fukui | Stars: Haji Suzuki, Onn-chan, Kôji Ôtsubo, Kyoko Hara
Votes: 2,314
15. Rubber's Lover (1996)
Not Rated | 91 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Scientists use a brain-altering drug to conduct experiments, after one such project goes astray, they need to find another test subject in this Japanese splatter-punk film.
Director: Shozin Fukui | Stars: Nao, Norimizu Ameya, Yôta Kawase, Mika Kunihiro
Votes: 1,086
16. 46-okunen no koi (2006)
Unrated | 85 min | Drama, Fantasy
A visually stylish tale of two male prisoners bonded by emotion, love and murder.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Ryûhei Matsuda, Masanobu Andô, Shunsuke Kubozuka, Kiyohiko Shibukawa
Votes: 2,100
17. Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
The trials and tribulations of Eddie and other transvestites in Japan.
Director: Toshio Matsumoto | Stars: Pîtâ, Osamu Ogasawara, Yoshimi Jô, Koichi Nakamura
Votes: 7,269
18. Electric Dragon 80.000 V (2001)
55 min | Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
A violent, guitar-playing, electrically charged boxer faces off against an electronic wizard half-merged with a metallic Buddha.
Director: Gakuryû Ishii | Stars: Yoshiki Arizono, Tadanobu Asano, Masakatsu Funaki, Masatoshi Nagase
Votes: 2,712
19. All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001)
Unrated | 146 min | Crime, Drama, Music
The problematic lives of teenager students for whom the singer Lily Chou-Chou's dreamy music is the only way to escape an alienating, violent and insensitive society.
Director: Shunji Iwai | Stars: Hayato Ichihara, Shûgo Oshinari, Ayumi Ito, Takao Osawa
Votes: 11,157 | Gross: $0.02M
20. 9 Souls (2003)
120 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
Nine convicts escape from prison; most are convicted murderers. They commandeer a van from a strip club.
Director: Toshiaki Toyoda | Stars: Yoshio Harada, Ryûhei Matsuda, Michio Akiyama, Yû Fujiki
Votes: 1,912
21. Vibrator (2003)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama
After meeting a handsome truck driver (Nao Omori) in the midst of an urban mini-mart, a 30-something freelance writer (Shinobu Terajima) embarks on a life-changing emotional journey of sexual self-discovery.
Director: Ryûichi Hiroki | Stars: Shinobu Terajima, Nao Ômori, Riho Makise, Jun Murakami
Votes: 969
22. Himatsuri (1985)
126 min | Drama
The villagers in a beautiful remote area of Japan are divided into the woodsmen, who worship the mountain goddess, and the fishermen, who worship the goddess of the sea. These traditions ... See full summary »
Director: Mitsuo Yanagimachi | Stars: Kin'ya Kitaôji, Kiwako Taichi, Norihei Miki, Junko Miyashita
Votes: 311
23. Midori (1992)
Unrated | 47 min | Animation, Drama, Horror
The story based off of the controversial manga by Suehiro Maruo takes place where a little orphaned girl joins a freak-show circus troupe whose members rape and abuse her. She then finds a glimmer of hope in the enigmatic magician who joins the group.
Director: Hiroshi Harada | Stars: Minako Naka, Norihiko Morishita, Keinosuke Okamoto, Kazuyoshi Hayashi
Votes: 3,662
24. Tokyo Decadence (1992)
NC-17 | 112 min | Drama
A submissive hooker goes about her trade, suffering abuse at the hands of Japanese salarymen and Yakuza types. She's unhappy about her work, and is apparently trying to find some sort of ... See full summary »
Director: Ryû Murakami | Stars: Miho Nikaido, Yayoi Kusama, Sayoko Amano, Tenmei Kano
Votes: 3,586 | Gross: $0.28M
25. Ranpo jigoku (2005)
134 min | Fantasy, Horror
This four-part anthology takes its cue from the short fiction of legendary horror writer Edogawa Rampo.
Directors: Akio Jissôji, Atsushi Kaneko, Hisayasu Satô, Suguru Takeuchi | Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Yûko Daike, Chisako Hara, Masami Horiuchi
Votes: 1,195
26. Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl (1998)
R | 108 min | Mystery, Action, Thriller
In dreamlike mountain scenery, Toshiko makes a daring escape from her sexually warped Uncle Sonezaki. Fortunately, she met Samehada as she runs for her life, which is also escaping from ... See full summary »
Director: Katsuhito Ishii | Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Sie Kohinata, Shingo Tsurumi, Kimie Shingyôji
Votes: 2,298
27. Party 7 (2000)
Not Rated | 104 min | Comedy
Seven characters, introduced at the start of the film, get thrown together into the same hotel room: a thief who's stolen a suitcase of money from the mob, his ex-girlfriend, her obsessive ... See full summary »
Director: Katsuhito Ishii | Stars: Masatoshi Nagase, Akemi Kobayashi, Yoshinori Okada, Keisuke Horibe
Votes: 725
28. The Face of Another (1966)
Not Rated | 124 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality.
Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Mikijirô Hira, Kyôko Kishida, Miki Irie
Votes: 10,402
29. The Embryo Hunts in Secret (1966)
72 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A man keeps a young employee tied up in his small apartment and tortures her. She is undressed, subjected to various types of bondage, whipped, and tortured with a razor blade.
Director: Kôji Wakamatsu | Stars: Miharu Shima, Hatsuo Yamaya
Votes: 928
30. Blind Beast (1969)
86 min | Drama, Horror
A blind sculpter and his mother kidnap a young model.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Eiji Funakoshi, Mako Midori, Noriko Sengoku
Votes: 3,903
31. Irezumi (1966)
86 min | Drama
A seductive woman gets kidnapped into prostitution. After getting a spider tattoo made on her back, she grows vengeful, leaving several men in her path.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Akio Hasegawa, Gaku Yamamoto, Kei Satô
Votes: 1,348
32. After Life (1998)
Not Rated | 119 min | Drama, Fantasy
After death, people have a week to choose only one memory to keep for eternity.
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu | Stars: Arata Iura, Erika Oda, Susumu Terajima, Takashi Naitô
Votes: 13,739 | Gross: $0.80M
33. Enjeru dasuto (1994)
116 min | Drama, Horror, Romance
Every Monday at 6 pm a young woman is murdered in the subway. The psychiatrist Setsuko Suma is called in to assist the police. The trail leads to another psychiatrist - Dr Rei Aku - who ... See full summary »
Director: Gakuryû Ishii | Stars: Kaho Minami, Takeshi Wakamatsu, Etsushi Toyokawa, Ryôko Takizawa
Votes: 1,304
34. Gerumaniumu no yoru (2005)
107 min | Drama
Director: Tatsushi Ômori | Stars: Hirofumi Arai, Leona Hirota, Megumi Sawara, Keita Kimura
Votes: 184
35. Neji-shiki (1998)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama
It has been two years since unsuccessful cartoonist, Tsube (Asano), started to live with Kuniko (Fujitani) casually in a small apartment. They are in the depths of poverty and can no longer... See full summary »
Director: Teruo Ishii | Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Miki Fujitani, Yûko Fujimori, Kazuhiko Kanayama
Votes: 268
36. Perfect Blue (1997)
R | 81 min | Animation, Crime, Drama
A pop singer gives up her career to become an actress, but she slowly goes insane when she starts being stalked by an obsessed fan and what seems to be a ghost of her past.
Director: Satoshi Kon | Stars: Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji, Masaaki Ôkura
Votes: 95,186 | Gross: $0.78M
37. Tokyo Fist (1995)
Not Rated | 87 min | Action, Drama, Horror
Suspecting that his childhood friend, a professional boxer, is having a love affair with his fiancée, a businessman starts training rigorously in order to take him down.
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Kaori Fujii, Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Kôji Tsukamoto, Naomasa Musaka
Votes: 4,007
38. Hatsujô kateikyôshi: Sensei no aijiru (2003)
90 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Sachiko Hanai is a call girl. One day she is caught up in a gunfight and is shot in the forehead. Instead of killing her, the bullet in her head gives her psychic powers. She also ... See full summary »
Director: Mitsuru Meike | Stars: Kyôko Hayami, Kikujirô Honda, Yukijirô Hotaru, Yûichi Ishikawa
Votes: 767 | Gross: $0.00M
39. 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: 87,489 | Gross: $0.06M
40. Tampopo (1985)
Not Rated | 114 min | Comedy
A truck driver stops at a small family-run noodle shop and decides to help its fledgling business. The story is intertwined with various vignettes about the relationship of love and food.
Director: Jûzô Itami | Stars: Ken Watanabe, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Koji Yakusho
Votes: 22,536 | Gross: $0.22M
41. Blue Spring (2001)
83 min | Drama
A group of a run-down Tokyo high school students face the struggles of growing up, growing apart from their friends and worrying about their future, while living in a highly violent environment.
Director: Toshiaki Toyoda | Stars: Ryûhei Matsuda, Hirofumi Arai, Sôsuke Takaoka, Yûsuke Ôshiba
Votes: 4,376
42. 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: 1,946
43. Rabudo gan (2004)
111 min | Drama, Thriller
A story about a hitman named Hayamada who carries a distinctive red gun and his reason for his work, and how he came to be alone. His aim right now is to reach a destination, but he's late.... See full summary »
Director: Kensaku Watanabe | Stars: Masatoshi Nagase, Aoi Miyazaki, Hirofumi Arai, Ittoku Kishibe
Votes: 267
44. Kikujiro (1999)
PG-13 | 122 min | Drama, Comedy
A young, naive boy sets out alone on the road to find his wayward mother. Soon he finds an unlikely protector in a crotchety man and the two have a series of unexpected adventures along the way.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Yusuke Sekiguchi, Kayoko Kishimoto, The Great Gidayû
Votes: 22,159 | Gross: $0.20M
45. Himiko (1974)
100 min | Drama, Fantasy, History
A freestyle, imagined telling of the life of shaman queen Himiko, who falls in love with her half-brother, making her powers weaken thus putting her position to risk.
Director: Masahiro Shinoda | Stars: Shima Iwashita, Masao Kusakari, Rie Yokoyama, Chôichirô Kawarasaki
Votes: 732
46. The Most Beautiful (1944)
Not Rated | 85 min | Drama
World War II film about female volunteer workers at an optics plant who do their best to meet production targets.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Sôji Kiyokawa, Ichirô Sugai, Takako Irie
Votes: 2,402
47. Thirst for Love (1966)
98 min | Drama
Etsuko, after her husbands death, moves in with her in-laws. With ambivalence, she finds herself sexually involved with her father-in-law. She then finds herself desiring young gardener Saburo, who has a relationship with the maid Miyo.
Director: Koreyoshi Kurahara | Stars: Nobuo Nakamura, Ruriko Asaoka, Akira Yamanouchi, Yûko Kusunoki
Votes: 424
48. In the Realm of the Senses (1976)
NC-17 | 109 min | Drama, Romance
A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Tatsuya Fuji, Eiko Matsuda, Aoi Nakajima, Yasuko Matsui
Votes: 22,790
49. Typhoon Club (1985)
115 min | Drama, Romance
The movie takes place in the five-day period before, during and after a ferocious, seemingly liberating typhoon, which several students endure while marooned in their school gymnasium.
Director: Shinji Sômai | Stars: Yuichi Mikami, Yûki Kudô, Tomokazu Miura, Tomoko Aizawa
Votes: 971
50. Ballad of Orin (1977)
109 min | Drama
A blind traveling musician is abused and oppressed while she tours the country, even though the modern world imposes changes on people's behavior.
Director: Masahiro Shinoda | Stars: Shima Iwashita, Yoshio Harada, Tomoko Naraoka, Kirin Kiki
Votes: 644
51. Hymn (1972)
112 min | Drama
The story tells of the adoration of Sasuke for his mistress, the blind Shamisen teacher Shunkin, who treats him imperiously and subjects him to cruel beatings.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Nobuko Otowa, Tokuko Watanabe, Jiro Kawarazaki, Daijirô Harada
Votes: 117
52. Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees (1975)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A mountain man captures a beautiful, but a manipulative city woman and goes to excessive lengths to please her every whim.
Director: Masahiro Shinoda | Stars: Tomisaburô Wakayama, Shima Iwashita, Hiroko Isayama, Kô Nishimura
Votes: 1,098
53. Suzaku (1997)
95 min | Drama
Depicts the dissolution of a small family in a remote Japanese timber village.
Director: Naomi Kawase | Stars: Jun Kunimura, Machiko Ono, Sachiko Izumi, Kôtarô Shibata
Votes: 1,480
54. 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: 22,678
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