Japanese Film
by manfromplanetx | created - 25 May 2017 | updated - 6 months ago | PublicClassic & contemporary Japanese Cinema... Films with eng. subs. in MY DVD Collection
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Nihon rettô (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: 26
2. Shitoyakana kedamono (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: 238
3. Hitokiri (1969)
140 min | Action, Drama, History
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: 1,042
4. Echizen take-ningyô (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: 124
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: 92
6. Nikudan (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: 402
7. Fûten Rôjin nikki (1962)
98 min | Drama, Comedy
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: 69
8. Uta (1972)
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: Shin Kishida, Hiroko Sakurai, Saburô Shinoda, Ryô Tamura
Votes: 266
9. 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: 71
10. Kôshikei (1968)
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: 2,644
11. Goben no tsubaki (1964)
163 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: 38
12. 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: 87
13. 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: 93
14. 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, Osamu Abe, Kôichi Fujiyama
Votes: 943
15. Bara no sôretsu (1969)
14A | 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: 5,735
16. Seisaku no tsuma (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: 520
17. Sakura no mori no mankai no shita (1975)
95 min | Fantasy, History, 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: 868
18. Shinobi no mono (1962)
104 min | Action, Drama
Ishikawa Goemon (Ichikawa Raizo), a talented young ninja, becomes ensnared in a twisted scheme to assassinate Oda Nobunaga, an evil warlord bent on ruling feudal Japan with an iron fist. ... See full summary »
Director: Satsuo Yamamoto | Stars: Raizô Ichikawa, Shiho Fujimura, Yûnosuke Itô, Katsuhiko Kobayashi
Votes: 864
19. Shinobugawa (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: 149
20. 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: 128
21. Kaguya-hime no monogatari (2013)
G | 137 min | Animation, Drama, Family
Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthralls all who encounter her, but ultimately she must confront her fate, the punishment for her crime.
Director: Isao Takahata | Stars: Chloë Grace Moretz, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, James Marsden
Votes: 43,288 | Gross: $1.51M
22. Hanaoka Seishû no tsuma (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: 183
23. Yakusoku (1972)
88 min | Crime, 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: 175
24. 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: 72
25. 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: 71
26. Bushidô zankoku monogatari (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: 380
27. Ryoma ansatsu (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: 159
28. Daisan no kagemusha (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: 215
29. Kiga kaikyô (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: 889
30. Hyoten (1966)
96 min | Drama
Director: Satsuo Yamamoto | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Michiyo Yasuda, Eiji Funakoshi, Kei Yamamoto
Votes: 62
31. Sanka (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: 85
32. Nikui an-chikushô (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: 268
33. Tsuma wa kokuhaku suru (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: 548
34. Chikagoro naze ka Charusuton (1981)
116 min | Comedy
A young man gets thrown into detention after an episode of sexual assault; he soon meets several impostors in the same situation.
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Gô Rijû, Yû Fujiki, Ichirô Zaitsu, Eitarô Ozawa
Votes: 37
35. 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: 110
36. Joshuu sasori: Kemono-beya (1973)
16+ | 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: 1,667
37. Gohiki no shinshi (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: 301
38. Fûsen (1956)
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: Shirô Amakusa, Michiyo Aratama, Izumi Ashikawa, Keiko Azuma
Votes: 270
39. Tsuchi (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: 71
40. 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: 39
41. Onibaba (1964)
AA | 103 min | Drama, Horror
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: 18,091
42. Chiyari Fuji (1955)
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: 794
43. Kasen chitai (1961)
79 min | Crime, Drama
Director: Hiromichi Takebe | Stars: Teruo Yoshida, Yôko Mihara, Shigeru Amachi, Jun Tazaki
Votes: 38
44. Karakkaze yarô (1960)
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: 530
45. Suna no utsuwa (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: 1,213
46. Onna wa nido umareru (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: 107
47. Hokusai manga (1981)
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: 381
48. Hotaru no haka (1988)
PG | 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: 256,765
49. Shinobi no manji (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: 16
50. Eburi manshi no yûga-na seikatsu (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: 246
51. Aozora musume (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: 348
52. Umi no koto (1966)
130 min | Drama, Romance
Director: Tomotaka Tasaka | Stars: Yoshiko Sakuma, Katsuo Nakamura, Ganjirô Nakamura, Hisano Yamaoka
Votes: 24
53. 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: 81
54. Mizu de kakareta monogatari (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: 355
55. Tôkyô sensô sengo hiwa (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: 653
56. Naniwa no koi no monogatari (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: 82
57. Juhyô no yoromeki (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, for whom she had platonic feelings.
Director: Yoshishige Yoshida | Stars: Mariko Okada, Isao Kimura, Yukio Ninagawa, Miyoko Akaza
Votes: 280
58. Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta (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: 159,179
59. Kuro no chôtokkyu (1964)
94 min | Crime, Drama
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Jirô Tamiya, Eiji Funakoshi, Yukiko Fuji, Daisuke Katô
Votes: 74
60. Gan no tera (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: 164
61. Hikinige (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: 162
62. Rikugun Nakano gakko (1966)
95 min | Drama
A young officer must choose between love and duty.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Raizô Ichikawa, Sachiko Murase, Mayumi Ogawa, Daisuke Katô
Votes: 133
63. Tampopo (1985)
14A | 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, Kôji Yakusho
Votes: 17,708 | Gross: $0.22M
64. 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: 947
65. Den-en ni shisu (1974)
104 min | Drama, Fantasy
A young boys' coming of age tale set in a strange, carnivalesque village becomes the recreation of a memory that the director has twenty years later.
Director: Shûji Terayama | Stars: Kaoru Yachigusa, Keiko Niitaka, Masumi Harukawa, Kan Mikami
Votes: 1,764
66. Goyôkin (1969)
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: 2,297
67. Kazoku (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: 240
68. 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: 102
69. Mo hozue wa tsukanai (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: 100
70. Bakuchiuci: Sôchô Tobaku (1968)
95 min | Crime, 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: 112
71. Gishiki (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: 1,045
72. Akanishi Kakita (1936)
77 min | 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: 104
73. Karami-ai (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: 847
74. Kome (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: 78
75. Manji (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: 937
76. Jokyô (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: 116
77. 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: 116
78. Mujô (1970)
16+ | 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: 1,024
79. 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, Hideo Fujino, Chôko Iida
Votes: 54
80. Onna no mizûmi (1966)
102 min | Drama
A married woman lets her lover take naked pictures of her. The photos end up in possession of a man who starts blackmailing the couple.
Director: Yoshishige Yoshida | Stars: Mariko Okada, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi, Tamotsu Hayakawa, Keiko Natsu
Votes: 635
81. Niguruma no uta (1959)
145 min
Director: Satsuo Yamamoto | Stars: Yûko Mochizuki, Rentarô Mikuni, Sachiko Hidari, Tokie Hidari
Votes: 21
82. Chijin no ai (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: 159
83. Shônen (1969)
105 min | Drama
A young boy reluctantly aids his swindling father in a threatening scam.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Fumio Watanabe, Akiko Koyama, Toshi Amatsu, Tsuyoshi Kinoshita
Votes: 1,566
84. 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: 64
85. Asaki yumemishi (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: 116
86. Akai tenshi (1966)
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: 1,359
87. Kuro no hôkokusho (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, Shigeru Kôyama
Votes: 133
88. Washi to taka (1957)
115 min
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, Ruriko Asaoka, Yumeji Tsukioka
Votes: 20
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: 22
90. Matatabi (1973)
96 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: 131
91. Ningen (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: 177
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: 86
93. Kuchizuke (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: 480
94. Neko to Shôzô to futari no onna (1956)
136 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
A timid man who has spent much of his life attempting without success to get out from under the domination of his mother, finds that marriage is no answer. His first wife is boring and ... See full summary »
Director: Shirô Toyoda | Stars: Hisaya Morishige, Isuzu Yamada, Kyôko Kagawa, Yuko Minami
Votes: 88
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: 195
96. Shokei no heya (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: 192
97. Nigorie (1953)
130 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: 130
98. Chi no mure (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: 38
99. Koruto wa ore no pasupooto (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: 1,933
100. Yûhi ni akai ore no kao (1961)
82 min | Action, Crime
A young journalist turns to an assassin for help when a team of hired killers comes gunning for her.
Director: Masahiro Shinoda | Stars: Yûsuke Kawazu, Shima Iwashita, Kayoko Honoo, Fumio Watanabe
Votes: 251
Tell Your Friends