Japanese Film
by manfromplanetx | created - 25 May 2017 | updated - 26 Apr 2023 | PublicClassic & contemporary Japanese Cinema... Films with eng. subs. in MY DVD Collection
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1. A Chain of Islands (1965)
116 min | Mystery, Thriller
The appearance of the corpse of a U.S. Army sergeant triggers a series of unexpected events.
Director: Kei Kumai | Stars: Jûkichi Uno, Izumi Ashikawa, Hideaki Nitani, Mizuho Suzuki
Votes: 29
2. The Graceful Brute (1962)
96 min | Comedy, Drama
A greedy, materialistic family attempts to cover-up the embezzlement committed by the son while keeping their other schemes active. They discover there are other, equally conniving players involved.
Director: Yûzô Kawashima | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Yûnosuke Itô, Hisano Yamaoka, Yûko Hamada
Votes: 400
3. Hitokiri (1969)
140 min | Action, Biography, Drama
A destitute ronin allies himself with an established clan, but its ruthless leader tries to turn him into a mindless killer.
Director: Hideo Gosha | Stars: Shintarô Katsu, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yukio Mishima, Yûjirô Ishihara
Votes: 1,228
4. Bamboo Doll of Echizen (1963)
103 min | Drama, Romance
Haunting melodrama focuses on a young bamboo worker who takes his father's prostitute as his wife.
Director: Kôzaburô Yoshimura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Junichiro Yamashita, Tamao Nakamura, Ganjirô Nakamura
Votes: 191
5. Akutô (1965)
119 min | Drama, History
A morally-suspect and self-serving retainer rashly baits her high-ranking employer, a regional governor, with a salacious story of a former acquaintance and catastrophe ensues.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Nobuko Otowa, Kyôko Kishida, Eitarô Ozawa, Isao Kimura
Votes: 110
6. 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
7. Tsuma futari (1967)
94 min | Drama, Mystery
After a random encounter at a bar, two couples collide. Two men, two women, embroiled in a love-and-hate drama that threatens to engulf them. The sexual anxiety between the interwoven ... See full summary »
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Mariko Okada, Kôji Takahashi, Takao Itô
Votes: 76
8. 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: 1,349
9. Diary of a Mad Old Man (1962)
98 min | Comedy, Drama
A wealthy old man, Utsugi has recently suffered a stroke which has paralyzed his right hand and significantly reduced his quality of life. He currently operates a large household with a ... See full summary »
Director: Keigo Kimura | Stars: Sô Yamamura, Ayako Wakao, Keizô Kawasaki, Chieko Higashiyama
Votes: 92
10. Poem (1972)
Not Rated | 119 min | Drama
As a faithful young houseboy fully devotes himself to his spiritual duty, his teacher plans turning over his grandfather's mountain property to realtors for profit.
Director: Akio Jissôji | Stars: Masako Araki, Kanjûrô Arashi, Yasumi Hara, Shin Kishida
Votes: 400
11. Love for an Idiot (1967)
93 min | Comedy, Drama
A 31-year-old man is manipulated by a much younger woman.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Michiyo Yasuda, Shôichi Ozawa, Masakazu Tamura, Isao Kuraishi
Votes: 217
12. Danryû (1957)
94 min | Drama, Romance
A young doctor running a small hospital has to choose between two women: a dedicated nurse or a wealthy girl who has been spoiled.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Jun Negami, Sachiko Hidari, Hitomi Nozoe, Eiji Funakoshi
Votes: 94
13. Death by Hanging (1968)
Not Rated | 117 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A Korean man is sentenced to death by hanging, but he survives the execution. For the following two hours, his executioners try to work out how to handle the situation in this black farce.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Kei Satô, Do-yun Yu, Fumio Watanabe, Hôsei Komatsu
Votes: 3,344
14. The Scarlet Camellia (1964)
117 min | Crime, Drama
A young woman begins murdering all those responsible for her ailing father's condition. Because the girl is so outwardly sweet and innocent, the detective looking into the deaths does not suspect her.
Director: Yoshitarô Nomura | Stars: Shima Iwashita, Yoshi Katô, Sachiko Hidari, Takahiro Tamura
Votes: 51
15. Tadare (1962)
88 min | Drama
Based on the original novel by Tokuda Shusei, adaptation by Kaneto Shindo, Masumura Yasuzo directs. A battle of woman competing for the same man. Masuko (Ayako Wakao) is the number one ... See full summary »
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Jirô Tamiya, Yaeko Mizutani, Eiji Funakoshi
Votes: 66
16. Tsugaru jongarabushi (1973)
103 min | Drama
The newcomers to a fishing village are a man who is escaping the gangsters after him and his girlfriend who is returning to her hometown. This may be as safe a place as any to lie low. ... See full summary »
Director: Kôichi Saitô | Stars: Kyôko Enami, Akira Oda, Mihoko Nakagawa, Kô Nishimura
Votes: 116
17. Himeyuri no tô (1953)
130 min | Drama, War
High school girls, impressed to provide nursing care for the soldiers on Okinawa, find themselves on the front line during fierce onslaughts by American forces and are left to fend for themselves when the Japanese army dissolves.
Director: Tadashi Imai | Stars: Kyôko Kagawa, Susumu Fujita, Keiko Tsushima, Eiji Okada
Votes: 114
18. 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: 1,239
19. The Hot Little Girl (1970)
92 min | Action, Crime
More of a sex melodrama than an actual yakuza film, but it has yakuza elements.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Mari Atsumi, Ryô Tamura, Yûsuke Kawazu, Ryôichi Tamagawa
Votes: 69
20. 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: 7,282
21. Seisaku's Wife (1965)
93 min | Drama, Romance, War
On the eve of the Russo-Japanese war at the beginning of the 20th century, small-town girl Okane has married an old wealthy man to escape a life of poverty.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Takahiro Tamura, Nobuo Chiba, Yûzô Hayakawa
Votes: 671
22. 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: 1,102
23. The Red Angel (1966)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, Romance, War
During the Sino-Japanese War, a young army nurse gives sympathy to her patients and falls in love with an impotent doctor who's addicted to morphine.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Shinsuke Ashida, Yûsuke Kawazu, Ranko Akagi
Votes: 1,888
24. The Sex Check (1968)
89 min | Drama
Ken Ogata plays Shiro Miyagi, a sprinter with Olympic aspirations whose dreams were shattered by WWII. A broken man, he leads the dissolute life of a gigolo until a chance meeting with a ... See full summary »
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Michiyo Yasuda, Ken Ogata, Mayumi Ogawa, Yûsuke Takita
Votes: 59
25. Ninja, a Band of Assassins (1962)
Not Rated | 104 min | Action, Drama
A young ninja becomes embroiled in a plot to kill a tyrannical warlord. He journeys across feudal Japan, facing deceit, betrayal, and enemy ninja at every turn. Goemon must complete his mission, regain his honor, and survive.
Director: Satsuo Yamamoto | Stars: Raizô Ichikawa, Shiho Fujimura, Yûnosuke Itô, Katsuhiko Kobayashi
Votes: 935
26. The Long Darkness (1972)
120 min | Drama, Romance
Shinobugawa depicts the emerging love of a student, identified only as "I", for a young waitress named Shino.
Director: Kei Kumai | Stars: Gô Katô, Komaki Kurihara, Yasushi Nagata, Kinzô Shin
Votes: 187
27. The Temple of Wild Geese (1962)
98 min | Drama, Romance
Satoko is a mistress by trade, or fate: when her master, the silkscreen artist of the Kohoan Temple in Kyoto, dies, she is given to the temple's lascivious head priest Kikuchi.
Director: Yûzô Kawashima | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Masao Mishima, Isao Kimura, Kuniichi Takami
Votes: 219
28. Night Drum (1958)
95 min | Drama
When a married woman has an affair with a young musician, feudal Japanese law requires that both offenders pay with their lives. However, the woman's husband blames himself for his wife's ... See full summary »
Director: Tadashi Imai | Stars: Rentarô Mikuni, Ineko Arima, Masayuki Mori, Sumiko Hidaka
Votes: 161
29. Women Are Born Twice (1961)
99 min | Drama
Koen is a geisha who has intimate relationships with several men at once. One of them, the mature Tsutsui, proposes to set a step to a change of exclusivity.
Director: Yûzô Kawashima | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Sô Yamamura, Jun Fujimaki, Furankî Sakai
Votes: 191
30. The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka (1967)
99 min | Drama, History
The Wife of Seishû Hanaoka is set in feudal Japan. Its two central characters are based on the wife and mother of Japanese physician Seishû Hanaoka (1760-1835). Hanaoka developed a herbal ... See full summary »
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Raizô Ichikawa, Ayako Wakao, Hideko Takamine, Yûnosuke Itô
Votes: 223
31. 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: 222
32. Tengu-tô (1969)
102 min | Drama, War
Recounts the events that the Mito Tengu Group undertook when they attempted to overthrow the Shogunate during the Bakumatsu Period.
Director: Satsuo Yamamoto | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Ayako Wakao, Gô Katô, Yukiyo Toake
Votes: 83
33. Swastika (1964)
91 min | Drama, Romance
A childless housewife falls in love with a beautiful model.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Kyôko Kishida, Eiji Funakoshi, Yûsuke Kawazu
Votes: 1,124
34. Kiku to Isamu (1959)
117 min | Drama
Immediately after the Second World War, sister Kiku and brother Isamu, whose mother was a prostitute and the father was a GI, live with their grandmother in the country. Because their ... See full summary »
Director: Tadashi Imai | Stars: Emiko Takahashi, Tanie Kitabayashi, George Okunoyama, Aiko Asahina
Votes: 91
35. Bushido (1963)
122 min | Action, Drama
After a salary-man's fiancée attempts suicide, he remembers his gruesome family history, which sees his ancestors sacrificing themselves for the sake of their cruel lords, and realizes that he's about to repeat their mistakes.
Director: Tadashi Imai | Stars: Kinnosuke Nakamura, Eijirô Tôno, Kyôko Kishida, Masayuki Mori
Votes: 507
36. Black Statement Book (1963)
94 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
After a businessman is murdered, an investigation identifies a suspect who is then put on trial for that crime.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ken Utsui, Junko Kanô, Hideo Takamatsu, Bontarô Miake
Votes: 248
37. The Assassination of Ryoma (1974)
118 min | Action, Drama, History
The last three days in the life of Ryoma Sakamoto, an imperial loyalist who tried to unite the warring Choshu and Satsuma clans in order to overthrow the Shogunate.
Director: Kazuo Kuroki | Stars: Yoshio Harada, Renji Ishibashi, Rie Nakagawa, Yûsaku Matsuda
Votes: 188
38. The Third Shadow Warrior (1963)
104 min | Action, Drama
A warlords' retainer offers a farmer the chance to become a samurai, but he is instead forced to serve as a double of the warlord at expense of his freedom.
Director: Umetsugu Inoue | Stars: Raizô Ichikawa, Hizuru Takachiho, Masayo Banri, Katsuhiko Kobayashi
Votes: 262
39. 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: 1,298
40. Hyoten (1966)
96 min | Drama
Director: Satsuo Yamamoto | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Michiyo Yasuda, Eiji Funakoshi, Kei Yamamoto
Votes: 79
41. 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
42. I Hate But Love (1962)
106 min | Drama, Romance
A celebrity impulsively leaves fast-paced Tokyo to deliver a much-needed jeep to a remote village. When his controlling manager, the woman he loves, follows, the two must reconcile while dodging reporters.
Director: Koreyoshi Kurahara | Stars: Yûjirô Ishihara, Ruriko Asaoka, Hiroyuki Nagato, Izumi Ashikawa
Votes: 307
43. A Wife Confesses (1961)
91 min | Drama, Mystery
Ayako is charged with murdering her much older academic husband while climbing a mountain. Ayako was having an affair, apparently with her husband's approval, and this complicates the trial.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Eitarô Ozawa, Haruko Mabuchi
Votes: 757
44. Dokufu Takahashi Oden (1958)
74 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Biopic of female Japanese murderer Takahashi Oden.
Director: Nobuo Nakagawa | Stars: Katsuko Wakasugi, Jûzaburô Akechi, Tetsurô Tanba, Akira Nakamura
Votes: 127
45. Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (1973)
Not Rated | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Matsu is sheltered by an incestuous prostitute on her run from the police, her ex-prison mate and a cop whose arm she hacked off.
Director: Shun'ya Itô | Stars: Meiko Kaji, Mikio Narita, Reisen Ri, Yayoi Watanabe
Votes: 2,106
46. Cash Calls Hell (1966)
92 min | Action, Crime
Fresh out of prison, a broken man reluctantly takes a job to kill three men, but changes his mind when some gangsters target the same men. He then tries to find out why the men are being targeted in the first place.
Director: Hideo Gosha | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Ichirô Nakatani, Hisashi Igawa, Kunie Tanaka
Votes: 385
47. The Balloon (1956)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
Haruki Murakami is a successful family man and the head of a camera company. Unbeknownst to Murakami, his arrogant son oscillates between a mistress and a new lover who sings at a nightclub... See full summary »
Director: Yûzô Kawashima | Stars: Masayuki Mori, Tatsuya Mihashi, Mie Kitahara, Sachiko Hidari
Votes: 309
48. Yakuza Masterpiece (1970)
92 min | Action, Crime
A yakuza member's half-sister means much more to him in a film that repeatedly depicts realities other than what normal societal rules allow. The overly protective and loving brother; ... See full summary »
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Shintarô Katsu, Naoko Ôtani, Masakazu Tamura, Yûsuke Kawazu
Votes: 95
49. Earth (1939)
142 min | Drama
The setting is that of a farming family in Ibaraki from where also the originating writers hailed. The film depicts the events of a year during the Meiji era and occurrences and actualities... See full summary »
Director: Tomu Uchida | Stars: Isamu Kosugi, Akiko Kazami, Donguriboya, Kaichi Yamamoto
Votes: 102
50. Nippon dorobô monogatari (1965)
117 min | Comedy
Gisuke is an illegal dentist by day and a thief by night. One night during an attempted robbery he witnesses a derailment. Later communists are found guilty of the incident, but he knows it was not them.
Director: Satsuo Yamamoto | Stars: Rentarô Mikuni, Yûnosuke Itô, Shin'ichi Chiba, Shinjirô Ebara
Votes: 51
51. Onibaba (1964)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Two women kill samurai and sell their belongings for a living. While one of them is having an affair with their neighbor, the other woman meets a mysterious samurai wearing a bizarre mask.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Satô, Jûkichi Uno
Votes: 21,877
52. Kasen chitai (1961)
79 min | Crime, Drama
Two young crooks who scam betters in the race track are employed by a yakuza gang called the Shigemori Syndicate to steal a shipment of handguns from a rival gang.
Director: Hiromichi Takebe | Stars: Teruo Yoshida, Yôko Mihara, Shigeru Amachi, Jun Tazaki
Votes: 55
53. Afraid to Die (1960)
Not Rated | 96 min | Action, Crime
Takeo is a young yakuza who renounces his former criminal activities after being released from prison. But sometimes escaping the past is not so easy.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Yukio Mishima, Ayako Wakao, Eiji Funakoshi, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 628
54. 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: 1,537
55. Edo Porn (1981)
Not Rated | 119 min | Biography, Drama, History
The famous woodblock artist Hokusai (1760-1849), a widower in need of a steady income, lives with his daughter Oei in the house of his friend Bakin.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Ken Ogata, Toshiyuki Nishida, Yûko Tanaka, Kanako Higuchi
Votes: 465
56. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Not Rated | 89 min | Animation, Drama, War
A young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.
Director: Isao Takahata | Stars: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Akemi Yamaguchi, Yoshiko Shinohara
Votes: 310,655
57. The Secret of the Fylfot (1968)
89 min
The freelancing ninja Shiinusho Toma is assigned security at the Eno Castle. When he meets his match in the form of whip-wielding kunoichi femme-fatale Kageroi, a deadly romance blooms.
Director: Norifumi Suzuki | Stars: Isao Natsuyagi, Yukiko Kuwahara, Hiroko Sakuramachi, Minoru Ôki
Votes: 20
58. The Elegant Life of Mr. Everyman (1963)
103 min | Comedy, Drama
This comedy portrays the everyday life of an ordinary salary-man who uses himself as a model to write a novella.
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Keiju Kobayashi, Michiyo Aratama, Eijirô Tôno, Jerry Itô
Votes: 311
59. We'll Meet Again (1957)
88 min | Comedy, Drama
Yuko is sent to the coastal regions to be raised away from the rest of her sophisticated family where she finds out from her ill grandmother that she is actually the love child of her wealthy businessman father and his ex-secretary.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Keizô Kawasaki, Kenji Sugawara, Ryûji Shinagawa
Votes: 526
60. Echigo Tsutsuishi Oyashirazu (1964)
112 min | Crime, Drama
Gonsuke has had to leave town to find employment and is working at a sake brewery far from his hometown. He travels back to his hometown to see and be with his mother when he hears that she... See full summary »
Director: Tadashi Imai | Stars: Yoshiko Sakuma, Shôichi Ozawa, Rentarô Mikuni, Tanie Kitabayashi
Votes: 98
61. A Story Written with Water (1965)
120 min | Drama
A young man who's about to marry is torn between his fiancée and the love for his mother. His past, dreams and desires unfold simultaneously.
Director: Yoshishige Yoshida | Stars: Mariko Okada, Yasunori Irikawa, Ruriko Asaoka, Isao Yamagata
Votes: 441
62. The Man Who Left His Will on Film (1970)
94 min | Drama
A metaphysical mystery involving a university student's camera getting stolen, and the thief then committing suicide. Looking back upon the event, the situation comes to be questioned if it happened at all.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Kazuo Goto, Sukio Fukuoka, Kenichi Fukuda, Hiroshi Isogai
Votes: 804
63. Chikamatsu's Love in Osaka (1959)
105 min | Romance
A wealthy man falls in love with a prostitute.
Director: Tomu Uchida | Stars: Kinnosuke Nakamura, Ineko Arima, Kinuyo Tanaka, Keiko Yukishiro
Votes: 101
64. Affair in the Snow (1968)
97 min | Drama, Romance
In an isolated mountain resort, a woman gets involved in a love triangle between herself, her volatile lover, and her ex-boyfriend, who she had platonic feelings for.
Director: Yoshishige Yoshida | Stars: Mariko Okada, Isao Kimura, Yukio Ninagawa, Miyoko Akaza
Votes: 322
65. Castle in the Sky (1986)
PG | 125 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Mayumi Tanaka, Keiko Yokozawa, Kotoe Hatsui, Minori Terada
Votes: 182,447
66. Super-Express (1964)
94 min | Crime, Drama
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Jirô Tamiya, Eiji Funakoshi, Yukiko Fuji, Daisuke Katô
Votes: 97
67. Moment of Terror (1966)
100 min | Crime, Drama
A child is killed in a hit and run. The mother plots her revenge by posing as a maid in the house of the murderer.
Director: Mikio Naruse | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Yôko Tsukasa, Eitarô Ozawa, Daisuke Katô
Votes: 204
68. The School of Spies (1966)
95 min | Drama, War
A young officer must choose between love and duty.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Raizô Ichikawa, Sachiko Murase, Mayumi Ogawa, Daisuke Katô
Votes: 201
69. Saikô shukun fujin (1959)
95 min | Comedy, Drama
In the forties in Japan, a group of brilliantly qualified university students are selected to break all ties with their previous lives and form the Japanese spy service.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Eiji Funakoshi, Seiji Miyaguchi
Votes: 106
70. The Steel Edge of Revenge (1969)
PG | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A guilt-haunted samurai warrior attempts to stop a massacre taking place.
Director: Hideo Gosha | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tetsurô Tanba, Yôko Tsukasa, Ruriko Asaoka
Votes: 2,618
71. Where Spring Comes Late (1970)
106 min | Drama
A poor family of miners from Kyushu uproot themselves and make the long journey to what they hope is a better life in Hokkaido. Their journey is beset with hardship and tragedy.
Director: Yôji Yamada | Stars: Chieko Baishô, Hisashi Igawa, Chishû Ryû, Gin Maeda
Votes: 284
72. Kita no hotaru (1984)
125 min | Drama
During the Meiji era, a brutal prison warden terrorizes convicts sentenced to forced labor to build the roads needed to open up the territory in the icy wilderness of Hokkaido.
Director: Hideo Gosha | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Shima Iwashita, Kôichi Satô, Ai Saotome
Votes: 123
73. 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
74. 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: 360
75. The Ceremony (1971)
123 min | Comedy, Drama
Upon receiving a shocking telegram from his cousin, a man recounts his early life, as a member of a broad family full of dark secrets that slowly reveal themselves through the clan ceremonies.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Kenzô Kawarasaki, Atsuko Kaku, Atsuo Nakamura, Kiyoshi Tsuchiya
Votes: 1,232
76. Capricious Young Man (1936)
77 min | Comedy, Drama
Akanishi Kakita moved from the countryside to a big city. Although he comes from the samurai class, he now lives in poverty among the common people in times of rebellion, but the failed Kakita is not skilled in martial arts.
Director: Mansaku Itami | Stars: Chiezô Kataoka, Shôsaku Sugiyama, Sôjin Kamiyama, Yôko Umemura
Votes: 124
77. The Inheritance (1962)
107 min | Drama
A dying businessman intends to will two hundred million yen to his three illegitimate children, but his associates scheme to take advantage of the situation.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Keiko Kishi, Tatsuya Nakadai, Sô Yamamura, Seiji Miyaguchi
Votes: 1,067
78. Rice (1957)
118 min | Drama
The heroes and heroines are all rice farmers, struggling to eke out an existence in an unfriendly world.
Director: Tadashi Imai | Stars: Shinjirô Ebara, Eijirô Tôno, Yûko Mochizuki, Masako Nakamura
Votes: 98
79. A Woman's Testament (1960)
100 min | Drama, Romance
Three stories about modern women. The first works in a nightclub and plans to marry the boss. The second is used by a real estate agent as a lure for customers. The third is a retired geisha who waits to be reunited with her jailed lover.
Directors: Kon Ichikawa, Yasuzô Masumura, Kôzaburô Yoshimura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Sachiko Hidari, Junko Kanô
Votes: 153
80. Keisatsukan (1933)
121 min | Crime, Drama
Itami, a young policeman, meets his high school friend, Tetsuo, a gangster, at a roadblock. As they rekindled their friendship, a complex relationship is established between them.
Director: Tomu Uchida | Stars: Eiji Nakano, Isamu Kosugi, Taisuke Matsumoto, Sôji Ubukata
Votes: 148
81. This Transient Life (1970)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama
Near a remote Buddhist monastery, a young man falls in love with his sister and gets her pregnant. After a monk finds out, the young man becomes an assistant to a master sculptor, only to proceed to complicate matters with his affairs.
Director: Akio Jissôji | Stars: Michiko Tsukasa, Ryô Tamura, Eiji Okada, Isao Sasaki
Votes: 1,379
82. Shunkinsho: Okoto to Sasuke (1935)
100 min | Drama
Sasuke loves Okoto, a blind musician. When she befalls a terrible disfigurement Sasuke can't bare it which escalates into a shocking climax.
Director: Yasujirô Shimazu | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Kôkichi Takada, Tatsuo Saitô, Hideo Fujino
Votes: 75
83. Ballad of the Cart (1959)
145 min | Drama
Director: Satsuo Yamamoto | Stars: Yûko Mochizuki, Rentarô Mikuni, Sachiko Hidari, Tokie Hidari
Votes: 48
84. Boy (1969)
97 min | Drama
A young boy reluctantly aids his swindling father in a threatening scam.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Fumio Watanabe, Akiko Koyama, Tetsuo Abe, Tsuyoshi Kinoshita
Votes: 1,884
85. Jun'ai monogatari (1957)
133 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Junai Monogatari is about two poor youths, Mitsuko and Kando, rebelling against society in various ways, who are desperately trying to be together despite tortuous circumstances.
Director: Tadashi Imai | Stars: Shinjirô Ebara, Hitomi Nakahara, Eiji Okada, Isao Kimura
Votes: 75
86. Oh! The Nomugi Pass (1979)
154 min | Drama, History
The story of the silk industry and the young girls who worked as silk spinners in the early 1900's in Japan. The silk mills were located in Okaya which lies just beyond the Nomugi Pass. The... See full summary »
Director: Satsuo Yamamoto | Stars: Shinobu Ôtake, Mieko Harada, Chikako Yuri, Yûko Kotegawa
Votes: 57
87. It Was a Faint Dream (1974)
120 min | Drama
After a number of stressful affairs, a court lady becomes a nun in order to pursue a life without desire.
Director: Akio Jissôji | Stars: Janet Hatta, Shin Kishida, Minori Terada, Chisako Hara
Votes: 150
88. The Eagle and the Hawk (1957)
115 min | Crime, Drama
In this murder mystery musical, trouble comes in pairs on a cargo ship, when two brawlers come aboard and two female stowaways are subsequently discovered.
Director: Umetsugu Inoue | Stars: Yûjirô Ishihara, Rentarô Mikuni, Yumeji Tsukioka, Hiroyuki Nagato
Votes: 36
89. Kaze to onna to tabigarasu (1958)
90 min | Action, Drama
A meeting between two traveling gamblers leads to a case of mistaken identity that has deadly consequences.
Director: Tai Katô | Stars: Kinnosuke Nakamura, Rentarô Mikuni, Satomi Oka, Yumiko Hasegawa
Votes: 25
90. The Wanderers (1973)
100 min | Comedy, Drama
Follows the fluctuating fortunes of three wanderers who travel through feudal Japan selling their services to whichever lord will fill their rice bowls.
Director: Kon Ichikawa | Stars: Isao Bitô, Tadao Futami, Ken'ichi Hagiwara, Reiko Inoue
Votes: 196
91. Human (1962)
117 min | Drama
The ship Kaijin Maru is left adrift after losing all means of navigation in a storm. The four people on the ship are becoming increasingly desperate as food and water run out.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Taiji Tonoyama, Nobuko Otowa, Kei Satô, Kei Yamamoto
Votes: 222
92. Onna shikeishû no datsugoku (1960)
78 min | Crime
Rich industrialist Imai wishes to marry his elder daughter Kyoko off to Aoki, who he sees as the ideal candidate to take over his business. Kyoko, however, prefers the rugged but poor Soichi to Aoki's goody-two-shoes.
Director: Nobuo Nakagawa | Stars: Miyuki Takakura, Tatsuo Terashima, Yôichi Numata, Takashi Wada
Votes: 103
93. Kisses (1957)
74 min | Drama, Romance
Story of a young couple whose fathers are prison bound.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Hitomi Nozoe, Aiko Mimasu, Eitarô Ozawa
Votes: 555
94. A Cat and Two Women (1956)
106 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
A timid and aimless man's love for his cat is his only solace in a life dominated by his mother and the two women she chooses for him to marry.
Director: Shirô Toyoda | Stars: Hisaya Morishige, Isuzu Yamada, Kyôko Kagawa, Yuko Minami
Votes: 155
95. 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
96. Shôri-sha (1957)
97 min | Drama
Intersecting circles of obligation link a former boxer, the youth he vows to make a champion, and the ex-showgirl whose ballet training he funds, in a story balanced between the Ginza ... See full summary »
Director: Umetsugu Inoue | Stars: Yûjirô Ishihara, Keiji Itami, Mie Kitahara, Tatsuya Mihashi
Votes: 31
97. Punishment Room (1956)
96 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Nothing less than a phenomenal, astonishing and pioneering film. This spectacle of an angry, ego-driven youth tormented by his own emotional impotence, low self-esteem and resentment towards his parents.
Director: Kon Ichikawa | Stars: Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Keizô Kawasaki, Seiji Miyaguchi, Ayako Wakao
Votes: 223
98. Nigorie (1953)
104 min | Drama
Story 1 : "The Thirteenth Night". Seki turns up at her parents' house in the dead of night, where she breaks down and says she cannot continue to live with her husband, a rich man to whom ... See full summary »
Director: Tadashi Imai | Stars: Akiko Tamura, Yatsuko Tan'ami, Ken Mitsuda, Hiroshi Akutagawa
Votes: 173
99. Apart from Life (1970)
127 min | Drama
Dr. Unan is asked to treat a young girl with A-bomb disease symptoms but her mother denies being in Nagasaki at the time of the bombing. Another young girl, Tokuko, asks Unan to write her a "Proof of Rape".
Director: Kei Kumai | Stars: Mizuho Suzuki, Hiroko Kino, Mugihito, Izumi Hara
Votes: 50
100. A Colt Is My Passport (1967)
84 min | Action, Crime
A hit man is hired to kill a mob boss. After the deed is done, he and his driver are wanted dead by rival gangs who joined forces.
Director: Takashi Nomura | Stars: Jô Shishido, Jerry Fujio, Chitose Kobayashi, Ryôtarô Sugi
Votes: 2,314
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