Limeko - Japanese films
by limguela | created - 20 Feb 2013 | updated - 3 months ago | PublicFavorite Japanese films
Favorite Japanese films reviews on La Saveur (in French) :
https://lasaveurdesgoutsamers.wordpress.com/tag/limeko-japanese-films/
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1. Rashomon (1950)
Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 150,533 | Gross: $0.10M
2. Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
Not Rated | 124 min | Drama
In medieval Japan, a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyôko Kagawa, Eitarô Shindô
Votes: 14,290
3. Miss Oyu (1951)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama
Shinnosuke is introduced to Shizu as a prospective wife, but he falls in love with her widowed sister Oyu. Convention forbids Oyu to marry because she has to raise her son as the head of ... See full summary »
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Nobuko Otowa, Yûji Hori, Kiyoko Hirai
Votes: 1,389
4. The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Not Rated | 126 min | Adventure, Drama
Lured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara
Votes: 34,095
5. The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961)
Not Rated | 190 min | Drama, History, War
His ideals challenged by life as a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist faces ever greater tests in his fight for survival.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Tamao Nakamura, Yûsuke Kawazu
Votes: 4,990
6. Red Beard (1965)
Not Rated | 185 min | Drama
In 19th-century Japan, a rough-tempered yet charitable town doctor trains a young intern.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Yûzô Kayama, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Reiko Dan
Votes: 16,470
7. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
Not Rated | 111 min | Drama
A middle-aged bar hostess, constantly in debt, is faced with numerous social constraints and challenges posed to her by her family, customers and friends.
Director: Mikio Naruse | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Tatsuya Nakadai, Masayuki Mori, Reiko Dan
Votes: 3,678
8. White Beast (1950)
97 min | Drama
Keiko Yukawa is a former prostitute and the newest inmate at White Lily, a female rehabilitation facility.
Director: Mikio Naruse | Stars: Mitsuko Miura, Sô Yamamura, Eiji Okada, Kimiko Iino
Votes: 86
9. Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (1935)
92 min | Comedy, Drama
A man gets rid of a cheap pot without knowing it contains a map to a treasure. As word spreads, many join in hunting it.
Director: Sadao Yamanaka | Stars: Denjirô Ôkôchi, Kiyozo, Kunitarô Sawamura, Reizaburô Yamamoto
Votes: 908
10. Muddy River (1981)
105 min | Drama
In post-War Japan, a boy from a noodle store-owning family befriends a neighboring boy living in poverty.
Director: Kôhei Oguri | Stars: Takahiro Tamura, Mariko Kaga, Nobutaka Asahara, Makiko Shibata
Votes: 755
11. A False Student (1960)
94 min | Comedy, Drama
After failing the entrance exam for university for the fourth time, a young man pretends to be a student to avoid the shame of his family.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Jerry Fujio, Jun Fujimaki, Eiji Funakoshi
Votes: 72
12. Samurai Assassin (1965)
122 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
February 17 to March 3, 1860, inside Edo castle. A group of assassins wait by Sakurada Gate to kill the lord of the House of Ii, a powerful man in the Tokugawa government, which has ruled ... See full summary »
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Keiju Kobayashi, Michiyo Aratama, Yûnosuke Itô
Votes: 1,903
13. Suzaki Paradise: Red Light District (1956)
81 min | Drama
A couple stand indecisively on a bridge in Asakusa. Tsutae and Yoshiji have lost confidence and passion for their future as they get on the bus for Tsukishima and get off at Suzaki. Across ... See full summary »
Director: Yûzô Kawashima | Stars: Michiyo Aratama, Yukiko Todoroki, Seizaburô Kawazu, Tatsuya Mihashi
Votes: 643
14. She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum (1955)
100 min | Drama, Romance
An old man, being rowed along a river, sees a field of daisies (or Wild Chrysanthemums, as they are described in the title, or starworts, as they are referred to in the subtitles), and ... See full summary »
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita | Stars: Noriko Arita, Chishû Ryû, Haruko Sugimura, Takahiro Tamura
Votes: 258
15. Seven Samurai (1954)
Not Rated | 207 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki
Votes: 312,095 | Gross: $0.27M
16. Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji (1955)
Not Rated | 94 min | Adventure, Drama
A samurai travels to Edo with his two servants. On their way, they meet many people and encounter great injustice.
Director: Tomu Uchida | Stars: Chiezô Kataoka, Ryûnosuke Tsukigata, Chizuru Kitagawa, Yuriko Tashiro
Votes: 639
17. Sanjuro (1962)
Not Rated | 96 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiju Kobayashi, Yûnosuke Itô
Votes: 32,336
18. Departures (2008)
PG-13 | 130 min | Drama, Music
A newly unemployed cellist takes a job preparing the dead for funerals.
Director: Yôjirô Takita | Stars: Masahiro Motoki, Ryôko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kazuko Yoshiyuki
Votes: 48,144 | Gross: $1.50M
19. 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: 1,244
20. The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (II) (1959)
Not Rated | 181 min | Drama, History, War
As a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist struggles to maintain his determination to keep his ideals.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Kokinji Katsura, Jun Tatara
Votes: 5,118
21. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (I) (1959)
Not Rated | 208 min | Drama, History, War
A Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Chikage Awashima, Ineko Arima
Votes: 6,406
22. The Life of Oharu (1952)
Not Rated | 133 min | Drama
Follows a woman's fight and survival amid the vicissitudes of life and the cruelty of society.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Tsukie Matsuura, Ichirô Sugai, Toshirô Mifune
Votes: 6,099
23. The Idiot (1951)
Not Rated | 166 min | Drama, Romance
A Japanese veteran, driven partially mad from the war, travels to the snowy island of Hokkaido where he soon enters a love triangle with his best friend and a disgraced woman.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Setsuko Hara, Masayuki Mori, Toshirô Mifune, Yoshiko Kuga
Votes: 4,451
24. 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: 2,472
25. 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, Hiroko Itô, Kôji Mitsui
Votes: 17,115
26. Onibaba (1964)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Horror
Two women kill samurais 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: 15,987
27. The Naked Island (1960)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama
A family of four are the sole inhabitants of a small island, where they struggle each day to irrigate their crops.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Nobuko Otowa, Taiji Tonoyama, Shinji Tanaka, Masanori Horimoto
Votes: 4,901
28. The Twilight Samurai (2002)
129 min | Drama, History, Romance
As the feudal Japan era draws to a close, a widower samurai experiences difficulty balancing clan loyalties, 2 young daughters, an aged mother, and the sudden reappearance of his childhood sweetheart.
Director: Yôji Yamada | Stars: Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa, Nenji Kobayashi, Ren Osugi
Votes: 22,058
29. Snow Country (1957)
133 min | Drama, Romance
It's a man's world. Shimamura, an artist, comes to this snowbound town to rejuvenate himself. He connects with Komako, a geisha he met on a previous trip, and it seems like love. She's the ... See full summary »
Director: Shirô Toyoda | Stars: Ryô Ikebe, Keiko Kishi, Kaoru Yachigusa, Akira Kubo
Votes: 124
30. The Ballad of Narayama (1983)
Not Rated | 130 min | Drama
In a poor 19th century rural Japanese village, everyone who reaches the age of 70 has to climb a nearby mountain to die. An old woman is getting close to the cut-off age, and we follow her last days with her family.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Ken Ogata, Sumiko Sakamoto, Tonpei Hidari, Aki Takejô
Votes: 7,187
31. Bakumatsu zankoku monogatari (1964)
99 min | Action, Drama
A headstrong young man seeks to join the Shinsengumi, but as his determination impresses his superiors, questions begin to arise as to his true identity and intentions.
Director: Tai Katô | Stars: Sumiko Fuji, Chôichirô Kawarasaki, Isao Kimura, Takeya Nakamura
Votes: 81
32. Yoru no tsuzumi (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: 103
33. 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: 2,077
34. 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: 3,062
35. Black Rain (1989)
Not Rated | 123 min | Drama
The story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Yoshiko Tanaka, Kazuo Kitamura, Etsuko Ichihara, Shôichi Ozawa
Votes: 2,918
36. Kiri no hata (1965)
111 min | Crime, Drama
Kiriko attempts to hire a well-known lawyer to defend her brother's murder case. The lawyer turns Kiriko down as she cannot afford him. Some time later, Kiriko encounters the lawyer again, but this time it is he who needs her help.
Director: Yôji Yamada | Stars: Chieko Baishô, Osamu Takizawa, Michiyo Aratama, Yûsuke Kawazu
Votes: 114
37. Vengeance Is Mine (1979)
Not Rated | 139 min | Crime, Drama
Chronological exploits of Iwao Enokizu, a murderous thief on the run.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Ken Ogata, Rentarô Mikuni, Chôchô Miyako, Mitsuko Baishô
Votes: 5,781
38. Older Brother, Younger Sister (1953)
86 min | Drama
In Older Brother, Younger Sister, director Mikio Naruse's adaptation of an oft-filmed popular novel by Saisei Murô, the eldest daughter (Machiko Kyô) of a rural family comes home pregnant, ... See full summary »
Director: Mikio Naruse | Stars: Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Yoshiko Kuga, Yûji Hori
Votes: 335
39. 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: 317
40. 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: 438
41. A Story from Chikamatsu (1954)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, History, Romance
Ishun is a wealthy, but unsympathetic, master printer who has wrongly accused his wife and best employee of being lovers. To escape punishment, the accused run away together, but Ishun is certain to be ruined if word gets out.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Kazuo Hasegawa, Kyôko Kagawa, Eitarô Shindô, Eitarô Ozawa
Votes: 3,681
42. Till We Meet Again (1950)
110 min | Drama, History
The hero Saburo (Okada Eiji) is obstructed by a series of events from meeting Keiko (Kuga Yoshiko), his fiancee.
Director: Tadashi Imai | Stars: Yoshiko Kuga, Eiji Okada, Osamu Takizawa, Akitake Kôno
Votes: 116
43. A Woman's Life (1963)
126 min | Drama
A woman remember's her own marriage when dealing with the love life of her son.
Director: Mikio Naruse | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Akira Takarada, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Yuriko Hoshi
Votes: 145
44. Yearning (1964)
98 min | Drama
After a bombing raid destroys the family store and her husband, Reiko rebuilds and runs the shop out of love stopped short by destruction.
Director: Mikio Naruse | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Yûzô Kayama, Mitsuko Kusabue, Yumi Shirakawa
Votes: 1,308
45. Floating Clouds (1955)
123 min | Drama, Romance