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Films from the country "japon", sorted by rating
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Hachiko (1987)
, 1h47Directed by Seijirō Kōyama
Origin Japon
Genres Drama
Themes Films about animals, Seafaring films, Transport films, Films about dogs, Mise en scène d'un mammifère
Actors Takahiro Tamura, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kaoru Yachigusa, Mako Ishino, Hiroyuki Nagato, Shigeru Izumiya
The movie depicts the series of true-to-life events starting from the birth of Hachikō on November 10, 1923 till his death on March 8, 1935.
Fires on the Plain (1959)
, 1h44Directed by Kon Ichikawa
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, War
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Political films
Actors Eiji Funakoshi, Osamu Takizawa, Mickey Curtis, Kyū Sazanka, Yoshio Inaba, Jun Hamamura
In February 1945, the demoralized Imperial Japanese Army on Leyte is in desperate straits, cut off from support and supplies by the Allies, who are in the process of liberating the Philippine island. Private Tamura has tuberculosis and is seen as a useless burden to his company, even though it has been reduced to little more than a platoon in strength. He is ordered to commit suicide if he is unable to get admitted to a field hospital. A sympathetic soldier gives him several yams from the unit's meager supplies.
The Crucified Lovers (1954)
, 1h42Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Romance
Themes Seafaring films, Sports films, Transport films, Martial arts films
Actors Kazuo Hasegawa, Kyōko Kagawa, Ichirō Sugai (菅井一郎), Eitarō Shindō, Eitarō Ozawa, Yōko Minamida
Ishun (Shindo) is a wealthy but miserly scroll-maker in Kyoto, especially regarding his younger wife Osan (Kagawa), who was from an impoverished family, and married Ishun for money.
Yearning (1964)
, 1h38Directed by Mikio Naruse
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Romance
Actors Hideko Takamine, Yūzō Kayama, Mitsuko Kusabue, Yumi Shirakawa, Mie Hama, Yu Fujiki
Reiko Morita (Hideko Takamine) is a widow who loses her husband in war. Bombing destroys his family's shop and the widow stays to rebuild it as the rest of the family flee and runs it for 18 years out of love for her dead husband and his mother. The film starts after 18 years when a new supermarket threatens to put them out of business. The sisters conspire to turn the shop into a supermarket and get rid of their brother's widow. Meanwhile, the surviving younger brother 25-year-old Koji Morita (Yūzō Kayama) loafs around, losing jobs, getting drunk, laid and gambling. In the crisis, he confesses to his shocked sister-in-law, 12 years older, that he has always loved her and can't deal with it. She cares for him, but in the motherly, elder sister way. She rejects him and decides to return home to her family, threatening suicide if he stops her. This suits the sisters, but he follows her onto the long train ride. On the way, she softens and they disembark for a country inn, where they can talk. He resumes his approaches, but at the last minute, she can't face intimacy. He storms out and gets drunk. He calls Reiko up and says he is going back home. In the morning, Reiko looks out the window and sees him being carried into the village on a stretcher, his face covered. Someone says he fell from a cliff. Reiko runs after him but falters. The last shot is of her face, blank, as she realizes what happened.
Twenty-Four Eyes (1954)
, 2h30Directed by Keisuke Kinoshita
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Historical
Themes Films about education
Actors Hideko Takamine, Chishū Ryū, Yumeji Tsukioka, Takahiro Tamura, Shizue Natsukawa, Kuniko Igawa
The movie follows the career of a schoolteacher named Hisako Ōishi (played by Hideko Takamine) in Shōdoshima during the rise and fall of Japanese ultra-nationalism in the beginning of the Shōwa period. The narrative begins in 1928 with the teacher's first class of first grade students and follows her through 1946.
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
, 1h22Directed by Mamoru Oshii, Mizuho Nishikubo
Origin Japon
Genres Science fiction, Action, Animation
Themes Films about altered memories, Films about computing, Films set in the future, Political films, Cyberpunk films, Dystopian films
Actors Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Ōtsuka, Iemasa Kayumi, Kōichi Yamadera, Tamio Ōki, Shigeru Chiba
In 2029, the world is interconnected by a vast electronic network that permeates every aspect of life. Much of humanity has access to this network through cybernetic bodies, or "shells", which possess their consciousness and can give them superhuman abilities.
Shoplifters (2018)
, 2h1Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Thriller, Crime
Actors Sakura Andō, Mayu Matsuoka, Kirin Kiki, Miyu Sasaki, Sōsuke Ikematsu, Chizuru Ikewaki
À Tokyo, un groupe vit pauvrement dans une maison en désordre : Osamu (qui travaille sur un chantier de construction et qui se blessera sans pouvoir prétendre à des indemnités), sa femme Nobuyo (qui travaille dans une blanchisserie industrielle et qui subira une compression de personnel), Aki (qui travaille en cabine privative de peep show dans un hostess et host club), Shōta (un garçon) et Hatsue (une vielle dame qui est propriétaire de la maison).
Kagemusha (1980)
, 3hDirected by Akira Kurosawa, Ishirō Honda
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, War, Action, Historical
Themes Seafaring films, Sports films, Transport films, Martial arts films, Samurai films, Children's films
Actors Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Jinpachi Nezu, Hideji Ōtaki, Masayuki Yui, Kaori Momoi
Lord Shingen Takeda meets with his brother Nobukado, and a thief whom the latter met by chance and spared from crucifixion. Nobukado believes the thief's uncanny resemblance to Shingen would prove useful. The brothers then agree that he would prove useful as a double, and they decide to use the thief as a kagemusha.
Tampopo (1985)
, 1h54Directed by Jūzō Itami
Origin Japon
Genres Comedy
Themes Cooking films, Films about sexuality, Erotic films
Actors Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Ken Watanabe, Kōji Yakusho, Fukumi Kuroda, Rikiya Yasuoka
A pair of truck drivers, the experienced Gorō (Tsutomu Yamazaki) and a younger sidekick named Gun (Ken Watanabe), stop at a decrepit roadside ramen (noodle) shop. Outside, Gorō rescues a boy who is being beaten up by three schoolmates. The boy, Tabo, turns out to be the son of the widowed owner of the struggling business, Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto). When a customer called Pisken (Rikiya Yasuoka) harasses Tampopo, Gorō invites him and his men to step outside. Gorō puts up a good fight, but outnumbered by Pisken and his men, he is knocked out and wakes up the next morning in Tampopo's home.
Still Walking (2008)
, 1h54Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Origin Japon
Genres Drama
Themes Films about families
Actors Hiroshi Abe, Yui Natsukawa, You, Yoshio Harada, Kazuya Takahashi, Kirin Kiki
The Yokoyama family come together every year to commemorate the death of the eldest son, Junpei, who drowned accidentally 15 years ago while saving the life of another boy. His father Kyohei, a retired doctor, and mother Toshiko are joined by their surviving son Ryota, who has recently married a widow with a young son, and their daughter Chinami, her husband and their children. The family share nostalgia, humour, sadness and tension as memories are shared and ceremonies performed.
Onibaba (1964)
, 1h43Directed by Kaneto Shindō
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Horror
Themes Seafaring films, Sports films, Transport films, Martial arts films
Actors Nobuko Otowa, Kei Satō, Taiji Tonoyama, Jūkichi Uno
The film is set somewhere in Japan, in the mid-fourteenth century (Hachi tells of an attack from general Takauji Ashikaga, who came to power in the 1330s).
Kwaidan (1965)
, 3h3Directed by Masaki Kobayashi
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Themes Seafaring films, Sports films, Transport films, Martial arts films, Ghost films
Actors Rentarō Mikuni, Keiko Kishi, Takashi Shimura, Michiyo Aratama, Kei Satō, Misako Watanabe
"The Black Hair" (黒髪, Kurokami) was adapted from "The Reconciliation", which appeared in Hearn's collection Shadowings (1900). An impoverished swordsman living in Kyoto divorces his wife, a weaver, for a woman of a wealthy family to attain greater social status. He takes his new wife to his new position as a district governor. However, the swordsman's second marriage proves to be unhappy. His second wife being callous and shallow, the swordsman regrets leaving his more devoted ex-wife.
Love Letter (1995)
, 1h57Directed by Shunji Iwai
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Romance
Actors Miho Nakayama, Etsushi Toyokawa, Bunjaku Han, Miki Sakai, Ranran Suzuki, Ken Mitsuishi
Hiroko Watanabe lives in Kobe and has lost her fiancé Itsuki Fujii in a mountain climbing accident. On the day of his memorial ceremony, two years after his death, Hiroko looks through his high-school yearbook at his parents' house. Mrs. Fujii explains that they used to live in Otaru, and that their old house is now replaced by a highway. Nevertheless, Hiroko records the address she sees under the name "Itsuki Fujii" in the yearbook, and decides to write him a letter. Surprisingly, she receives a reply from Fujii. Unsure who sent the reply, she keeps writing and finds out it was not from her dead fiancé, but from a woman also named Itsuki Fujii who went to high school with her fiancé and bears a striking resemblance to Hiroko. The movie cuts back and forth between Hiroko and Female Itsuki based on the letters they send to each other.
The Sword of Doom (1966)
, 1h59Directed by Kihachi Okamoto
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Action
Themes Seafaring films, Sports films, Transport films, Martial arts films, Samurai films
Actors Tatsuya Nakadai, Yūzō Kayama, Michiyo Aratama, Toshiro Mifune, Ryosuke Kagawa, Kei Satō
The story follows the life of Ryunosuke Tsukue (Tatsuya Nakadai), an amoral samurai and a master swordsman with an unorthodox style. Ryunosuke is first seen when he kills an elderly Buddhist pilgrim who he finds praying for death. He appears to have no feeling. Later, he kills an opponent in self-defense in a fencing competition that was intended to be non-lethal, but became a duel after he coerced his opponent's wife to have sex with him in exchange for throwing the match and allowing her husband to win. His opponent finds out about the affair prior to the match, and is shown giving his wife a notice of divorce. His rage at Ryunosuke during the match causes him to take an illegal lunging attack after the judge proclaims a draw, and Ryunosuke, the better swordsman, parries and kills him with one stroke of his bokken. Ryunosuke flees town after killing the man, and cuts down many of the dead opponent's clansmen who attack him as he is leaving. His opponent's ex-wife asks to go along with him. To make a living, Ryunosuke joins the Shinsengumi, a sort of semi-official police force made up of rōnin that supports the Tokugawa shogunate through murder and assassinations.
The Face of Another (1966)
, 2h2Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Science fiction
Themes Films based on science fiction novels
Actors Tatsuya Nakadai, Machiko Kyō, Eiji Okada, Kyōko Kishida, Mikijirō Hira, Minoru Chiaki
Okuyama's face was disfigured in an industrial accident, and his face is completely covered in burns; he wears bandages to cover them. He visits Dr. Hira, a psychiatrist who is able to fashion a "mask" for Okuyama to wear which is indistinguishable from the face on which it is modeled.