Japanese New Wave
by philipvanaalst | created - 31 Dec 2014 | updated - 31 Dec 2014 | PublicCriterion Themes
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1. Black Sun (1964)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Music, Thriller
One is a young, jazz-obsessed Japanese drifter and other is a black American GI on the lam in Tokyo. The two outsiders become outlaws and the movie depicts their growing bond as an alternately absurd and tragic culture clash.
Director: Koreyoshi Kurahara | Stars: Tamio Kawaji, Chico Lourant, Yuko Chishiro, Hideji Ôtaki
Votes: 484
2. Branded to Kill (1967)
Not Rated | 91 min | Action, Crime, Drama
After a botched assignment, a rice-fetishizing hitman finds himself in conflict with his organization, and one mysterious, dangerous fellow-hitman in particular.
Director: Seijun Suzuki | Stars: Jô Shishido, Mariko Ogawa, Annu Mari, Kôji Nanbara
Votes: 10,213
3. 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
4. Cruel Gun Story (1964)
87 min | Action, Crime
A convict fresh out of prison, with a handicapped sister, is coerced by a wealthy mob boss into organizing an armored racetrack car heist.
Director: Takumi Furukawa | Stars: Jô Shishido, Chieko Matsubara, Tamio Kawaji, Yûji Odaka
Votes: 1,193
5. 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: 2,604
6. 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: 10,431
7. 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: 1,609
8. Gate of Flesh (1964)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama
An injured thief on the run finds sanctuary within a brothel of united, ruthless women.
Director: Seijun Suzuki | Stars: Jô Shishido, Kôji Wada, Yumiko Nogawa, Tomiko Ishii
Votes: 3,377
9. 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
10. The Insect Woman (1963)
Not Rated | 123 min | Drama
Life story of a woman born in poverty trying to succeed. Through her many schemes, she faces her ups and downs in a cyclical nature, fueled mostly by self-interest.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Seizaburô Kawazu, Kazuo Kitamura, Tanie Kitabayashi, Teruko Kishi
Votes: 2,502
11. Intentions of Murder (1964)
Not Rated | 150 min | Drama
A housewife living under her tyrannical husband has her life stressfully turned upside down after getting raped by a burglar.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Masumi Harukawa, Kô Nishimura, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi, Yûko Kusunoki
Votes: 1,820
12. Intimidation (1960)
65 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A bank manager is blackmailed into robbing his own bank.
Director: Koreyoshi Kurahara | Stars: Kô Nishimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Mari Shiraki, Jun Hamamura
Votes: 900
13. Double Suicide: Japanese Summer (1967)
98 min | Crime, Drama
Over the course of a night, a sex-obsessed young woman, a suicidal man, and a gun-crazy wannabe gangster are taken prisoner of a gang awaiting a shootout between a rival gang at dawn.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Kei Satô, Keiko Sakurai, Rokkô Toura, Shunsuke Mizoguchi
Votes: 887
14. Kill! (1968)
Not Rated | 115 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
Two ronin - an ex-samurai and an ex-farmer - get caught up in a local official's complex game of murder and betrayal.
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Etsushi Takahashi, Yuriko Hoshi, Tadao Nakamaru
Votes: 3,178
15. 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: 20,003
16. 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: 21,882
17. Pale Flower (1964)
Not Rated | 96 min | Action, Crime
A gangster gets released from prison and has to cope with the recent shifts of power between the gangs, while taking care of a thrill-seeking young woman, who got in bad company while gambling.
Director: Masahiro Shinoda | Stars: Ryô Ikebe, Mariko Kaga, Takashi Fujiki, Naoki Sugiura
Votes: 4,393
18. Patriotism (1966)
Not Rated | 30 min | Drama, Short
A Noh dramatization of the suicides of Lt. Shinji Takeyama and his wife Reiko. After participating in a failed 1936 coup and being ordered to execute his friends, he bids his wife an intimate farewell and commits harakiri.
Director: Yukio Mishima | Stars: Yukio Mishima, Yoshiko Tsuruoka
Votes: 2,037
19. Pigs and Battleships (1961)
Not Rated | 108 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A young hoodlum decides to work for a criminal organization that is tearing itself apart.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Hiroyuki Nagato, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Masao Mishima, Tetsurô Tanba
Votes: 2,592
20. Pitfall (1962)
Not Rated | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
A man wanders into a seemingly deserted town with his young son in search of work. But after a bit of bad luck, he joins the town's population of lost souls.
Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara | Stars: Hisashi Igawa, Sumie Sasaki, Sen Yano, Hideo Kanze
Votes: 4,332
21. The Pleasures of the Flesh (1965)
104 min | Crime, Drama
After Atsushi commits murder, he is blackmailed into keeping a suitcase full of embezzled money. What follows is a descent into lustful, reckless actions and regret.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Katsuo Nakamura, Mariko Kaga, Yumiko Nogawa, Masako Yagi
Votes: 1,713
22. The Pornographers (1966)
Not Rated | 120 min | Comedy, Drama
While avoiding the mob and local authorities, a world-weary pornographer finds being a family man the most difficult as he wrestles with his own desires and afflictions.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Shôichi Ozawa, Sumiko Sakamoto, Keiko Sagawa, Masaomi Kondô
Votes: 2,528
23. Samurai Spy (1965)
Not Rated | 99 min | Action, Drama
The legendary samurai Sasuke Sarutobi gets caught in a web of political intrigue, deception and espionage during the early 17th century.
Director: Masahiro Shinoda | Stars: Hiroshi Aoyama, Jun Hamamura, Osamu Hitomi, Minoru Hodaka
Votes: 1,859
24. Sing a Song of Sex (1967)
103 min | Drama
Four high school students preparing for their university entrance exam fantasize about a classmate, and meet up with their inebriated teacher, while singing bawdy drinking songs.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Ichirô Araki, Kazuko Tajima, Jûzô Itami, Akiko Koyama
Votes: 875
25. Story of a Prostitute (1965)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Romance, War
In WW2 Manchuria, a prostitute grows to resent an abusive adjutant and falls in love with his aide.
Director: Seijun Suzuki | Stars: Tamio Kawaji, Yumiko Nogawa, Isao Tamagawa, Shôichi Ozawa
Votes: 1,602
26. The Sword of Doom (1966)
Not Rated | 120 min | Action, Drama
Through his unconscionable actions against others, a sociopath samurai builds a trail of vendettas that follow him closely.
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Yûzô Kayama, Yôko Naitô
Votes: 12,079
27. Sword of the Beast (1965)
Not Rated | 85 min | Action, Drama
After killing a counselor of his clan, a fugitive samurai befriends a couple poaching the shogun's gold in the mountains.
Director: Hideo Gosha | Stars: Mikijirô Hira, Gô Katô, Shima Iwashita, Toshie Kimura
Votes: 3,091
28. 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
29. Three Resurrected Drunkards (1968)
80 min | Action, Comedy
A carefree afternoon at the beach turns into a comic misadventure when three young Japanese men are mistaken for illegal Korean residents.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Kazuhiko Kato, Osamu Kitayama, Norihiko Hashida, Kei Satô
Votes: 703
30. Tokyo Drifter (1966)
Not Rated | 82 min | Action, Crime
After his gang disbands, a yakuza enforcer looks forward to life outside of organized crime but soon must become a drifter after his old rivals attempt to assassinate him.
Director: Seijun Suzuki | Stars: Tetsuya Watari, Chieko Matsubara, Hideaki Nitani, Tamio Kawaji
Votes: 9,714
31. 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: 2,205
32. Violence at Noon (1966)
99 min | Crime, Drama
Two young women must come to terms with the fact that a man they're deeply linked to is a murdering rapist.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Saeda Kawaguchi, Akiko Koyama, Kei Satô, Rokkô Toura
Votes: 1,192
33. The Warped Ones (1960)
Not Rated | 75 min | Crime, Drama
A juvenile delinquent gets out of the pen and causes reckless mayhem, mostly directed at the girlfriend of the journalist who helped send him up.
Director: Koreyoshi Kurahara | Stars: Tamio Kawaji, Yuko Chiyo, Eiji Gô, Hiroyuki Nagato
Votes: 1,049
34. 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: 22,718
35. Youth of the Beast (1963)
Not Rated | 92 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
A violent thug plays opposing yakuza bosses against each other.
Director: Seijun Suzuki | Stars: Jô Shishido, Misako Watanabe, Tamio Kawaji, Minako Katsuki
Votes: 3,918
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