100 Years of Japanese Cinema
List of movies that were mentioned in the BFI documentary project.
Source - Skyscore @ ICM: https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/100+years+of+japanese+cinema/skyscore/
Source - Skyscore @ ICM: https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/100+years+of+japanese+cinema/skyscore/
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- DirectorShôzô MakinoStarsMasahiro MakinoMatsunosuke Onoe
- DirectorShôzô MakinoStarsMatsunosuke OnoeSuminojo IchikawaKijaku ÔtaniThe story of Jiraiya, a legendary ninja with great powers who set off on a adventure.
- DirectorMinoru MurataStarsKaoru OsanaiHaruko SawamuraDenmei SuzukiA small town boy dreams of being a famous fiddler; meanwhile, two convicts escape from prison and hide in the woods
- DirectorEiichi MatsumotoStarsJuncho ItoShizuko OzakiRanko Sawa
- DirectorTeinosuke KinugasaStarsMasuo InoueAyako IijimaYoshie NakagawaA man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.
- DirectorDaisuke ItôStarsDenjirô ÔkôchiHideo NakamuraKichiji NakamuraTrilogy about the travels of the kindly bakuto Kunisada Chuji. Film depicts Chuji's attempt to save the geisha Oshina, a rebellion against the rigid social structure of Edo Japan. Part 3. "The Chuji Patrol"
- DirectorTeinosuke KinugasaStarsAkiko ChihayaJunosuke BandôYukiko OgawaAfter falling in love with a courtesan, Rikiya is blinded by ash during a fight in a brothel. Believing the blindness permanent and his opponent dead, Rikiya goes back home to his sister. Okiku, desperate to protect her brother who thinks himself a murderer, wants to sacrifice herself for him and become a prostitute to pay for Rikiya's treatment.
- DirectorTomu UchidaStarsIsamu KosugiTakako IrieYutaka Mimasu
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsIsamu KosugiEiji TakagiKaichi YamamotoLeftist proletarian drama of a young woman who is assisted by a working class youth in finding justice and avenging her seduction by a rich man.
- DirectorShigeyoshi SuzukiYoneo OtaStarsKeiko TakatsuRintarô FujimaYôyô KojimaA girl sets out on a lonely journey when a father decides it is best for his young daughter to go live with his brother and her uncle. The trek begins on a train, but has to continue on foot and by cart when a stranger gives her a lift. Alas, there is not any joy, compassion or kindness to be found; least of all at the uncle's home where she is both a surprise arrival and unwanted. She is sold to servitude and employment soon. Her world and life spirals downward as the girl finds how she is not able to rely on family, humanity or god for an iota of grace or assistance.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsTatsuo SaitôTomio AokiMitsuko YoshikawaTwo young brothers throw a tantrum when they discover that their father isn't the most important man in his workplace.
- DirectorHeinosuke GoshoStarsTatsuo SaitôMitsuko YoshikawaMasao HayamaAn aging couple truffle to pay for their daughter's marriages while keeping their much younger son from feeling left out.
- DirectorYasujirô ShimazuStarsKinuyo TanakaKôkichi TakadaTatsuo SaitôSasuke loves Okoto, a blind musician. When she befalls a terrible disfigurement Sasuke can't bare it which escalates into a shocking climax.
- DirectorMansaku ItamiStarsChiezô KataokaShôsaku SugiyamaSôjin KamiyamaAkanishi 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.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsIsuzu YamadaYôko UmemuraBenkei ShiganoyaTwo geisha sisters lead a hard life in the Gion district of Kyoto. After one of them feels obliged to support a bankrupt businessman, the other sister sets up various schemes to get rid of him.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsIsuzu YamadaYôko UmemuraChiyoko ÔkuraA young woman becomes a mistress of her boss in order to support her family.
- DirectorHiroshi ShimizuStarsReikichi KawamuraMitsuko YoshikawaMasao HayamaTwo young boys are usurped from being the head of their gang of children. Their father is fired and arrested for this, and they are sent to live with their uncle, only to spend their time thinking of ways to escape back home.
- DirectorSadao YamanakaStarsChôjûrô KawarasakiKan'emon NakamuraTsuruzô NakamuraThe lives of two slum neighbors, one of a happy-go-lucky gambler and the other of a poor ronin, converge when the two get involved with the affairs of a powerful samurai official and his gangsters.
- DirectorTomotaka TasakaStarsIsamu KosugiBontarô MiakeIchirô IzawaA patrol of Japanese troops in China goes on a patrol into enemy territory in this realistic ,if propagandistic, war drama.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsMusei TokugawaNoriko HonmaAkira UbukataFather of nine children cannot find a job. Despite their aspirations, the children are encouraged by both parents to hold down menial jobs and contribute to the family expenses. Eventually one rebels, with the support and sympathy of the other children.
- DirectorFumio KameiIn the middle of 1938, Kamei Fumio and his film crew got themselves attached to an infantry regiment which they followed around through China for about four months, filming their marching and their fighting and their waiting and their dying - in short, their suffering, and not theirs alone, but also that of the people around them, their designated enemies.
- DirectorKajirô YamamotoStarsDenjirô ÔkôchiYatarô KurokawaSetsuko HaraWhen a boy who is in the navy college returns home for vacation he meets his young cousin who also wants to join in order to become a pilot. However, the younger man's mother is antagonistic knowing the folly of war. When the younger man recruits his cousin to speak to the mother the enlisted man is successful and the mother relents. The younger cousin is soon in the navy and training to become a pilot. He graduates too, but one night loses his friend yet has no time to reflect on the event as japan draws nearer to war with the West. The pilot and his fellow pilots are told to embark on a mission, but initially not told their purpose or destination. Only later it is revealed that the destination is Hawaii, USA. Pearl Habour looms.
- DirectorHiroshi InagakiStarsTsumasaburô BandôKeiko SonoiYasushi NagataMatsugoro is a poor rickshaw driver whose animated spirit and optimistic demeanor make him a favorite of the town. Matsu helps an injured boy, Toshio, and is hired by the boy's parents.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsHaruko SugimuraToshinosuke NagaoShin TokudaijiA Japanese family weathers much hardship after their military uncle comes to live with them during WWII.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsSetsuko HaraSusumu FujitaDenjirô ÔkôchiThe daughter of a politically disgraced university professor struggles to find a place for herself in love and life, in the uncertain world of Japan leading into WWII.
- DirectorKôzaburô YoshimuraStarsSetsuko HaraYumeko AizomeOsamu TakizawaAfter Japan's loss in the war, the wealthy, cultured, liberal Anjo family have to give up their mansion and their way of life. They hold one last ball at the house before leaving. The seemingly cold, cynical son secretly grieves for his defeated father and the values that the war destroyed, while the daughter tries to prevent father from taking his life and to find her own place in the new Japan.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiFumio KameiSatsuo YamamotoStarsRyô IkebeYasuhiko IshizuHajime IzuHis family believes him dead when a member of the Japanese imperial army deployed to China during the occupation of the latter by the former does not return home following the cessation of the war. When he appears back home alive the family is confronted with a change man who, having witnessed the evils of war, has turned his back to militarism and evolved to appreciate left-wing thoughts and pacifism.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsSetsuko HaraRyô IkebeMichiyo KogureWhen a post-war high school girl is seen with an older boy many find the nontraditional notion unacceptable and try to trick the girl and also assail her right to continue the relationship. Cue her teacher who not only supports the girl, but encourages her pupils to do as they wish and ignore what society indoctrinates. Not everyone agrees with the teacher and her modern ideas however.
- DirectorSenkichi TaniguchiStarsRyô IkebeShirley YamaguchiEitarô OzawaMikami, a Japanese soldier serving in China, is captured by the Chinese. Although he is able to escape, his troubles are far from over. He returns to his unit but is treated with contempt for the disgrace of having been captured. Mikami falls in love with Harumi, a prostitute. She tries to convince him to desert from the army, with fatal results.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôMasayuki MoriThe 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.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsSetsuko HaraChishû RyûChikage AwashimaA family chooses a match for their daughter Noriko, but she, surprisingly, has her own plans.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsKen UeharaSetsuko HaraYukiko ShimazakiMichiyo lives in a small home in Osaka and is not happy with her marriage; all she does is cook and clean for her husband.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsKinuyo TanakaTsukie MatsuuraIchirô SugaiFollows a woman's fight and survival amid the vicissitudes of life and the cruelty of society.
- DirectorHeinosuke GoshoStarsKinuyo TanakaKen UeharaHideko TakamineWhere Chimneys Are Seen focuses primarily on the interconnected lives of two couples in a lower-middle-class neighborhood in Senju, a poor industrial section of Tokyo.
- DirectorShirô ToyodaStarsHideko TakamineHiroshi AkutagawaJûkichi UnoA lowly divorcee is tricked into becoming the mistress of a despised moneylender but soon falls in love with a student.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChishû RyûChieko HigashiyamaSô YamamuraAn old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city, but receive little attention.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsMasayuki MoriMachiko KyôKinuyo TanakaA tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsMieko TakamineHideko TakamineKeiko KishiA student at a woman's university takes a controversial action against the school's old-fashioned doctrines.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraKeiko TsushimaFarmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
- DirectorKô NakahiraStarsYûjirô IshiharaMasahiko TsugawaMie KitaharaSpending their summer on an exotic beach, two brothers fall for the same beautiful girl, whose charm and looks may hide more than they they bargained for.
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsHiroshi KawaguchiKeizô KawasakiSeiji MiyaguchiNothing 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.
- DirectorYasuzô MasumuraStarsHiroshi KawaguchiHitomi NozoeAiko MimasuStory of a young couple whose fathers are prison bound.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsHiroyuki NagatoMisako WatanabeKô NishimuraEndless Desire is a black comedy on the spoils of war much extended and enhanced by the greed, treachery, laziness, and lust of the postwar decade.
- DirectorKihachi OkamotoStarsMakoto SatôIzumi YukimuraMisa UeharaWhen Sergeant Okubo's brother is murdered at a Japanese outpost in Northern China during the Second World War, Okubo poses as a war correspondent and seeks out his brother's killer. The command is wiped out by Chinese forces and Okubo escapes and joins a tribe of bandits.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsTatsuya NakadaiMichiyo AratamaChikage AwashimaA 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.
- DirectorTsutomu TamuraStarsKayoko HonooMasao MishimaMasahiko TsugawaIn a small mining town, a young woman named Hide survives a suicide attempt while her lover dies. Blaming her for the death of his brother, Tatsuo and his gang of thugs try their best to drive the woman out of town. Eventually, Hide's days become a routine of delivering leftovers to a local pig farmer to make some money, being bullied by children on the streets and occasionally beaten by Tatsuo's men. Although it has become almost unbearable, she remains unimpressed by any of these ordeals. One day, a young man named Yasuo comes into town to work in the local quarry. His physical weakness and his stuttering make him an easy target for the workers as well as Tatsuo's men who tease and bully him. As a proof of his manhood, he is forced to sleep with Hide, but the situation creates a connection between the two of them, revealing a dark secret and the reason Yasuo had to escape from where he came from originally.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsNobuko OtowaTaiji TonoyamaShinji TanakaA family of four are the sole inhabitants of a small island where they struggle each day to irrigate their crops.
- DirectorOsamu TakahashiStarsTsutomu HaruyamaKazuo KobayashiAkiko KoyamaTwo detectives prowl through a city in search of a rapist-murderer on the loose.
- DirectorMasahiro ShinodaStarsKazuya KosakaNoriko MakiHideo AsamiThe backstage romances of an egotistical singer and his under-valued manager, a lovelorn bandman and a nude dancer.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsMiyuki KuwanoFumio WatanabeMasahiko TsugawaLong takes and a highly theatrical visual approach combine to form a tense and confrontational look at the decline of a socialist student activists' movement in Japan.
- DirectorYoshishige YoshidaStarsMasahiko TsugawaHizuru TakachihoYûsuke KawazuA bored young student falls for the young secretary of his rich friend's father. She senses some good in him and tries to make him discard his aimless lifestyle.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsMiyuki KuwanoYûsuke KawazuYoshiko KugaA harsh young man seduces a freeloading young woman and eventually takes advantage of her knack for hitch-hiking to rob middle-class men.
- DirectorSusumu HaniStarsYukio YamadaHirokazu YoshitakeKoichiro YamazakiAn improvisational film depicting life in a boys' reform school.
- DirectorHiroshi TeshigaharaStarsHisashi IgawaSumie SasakiSen YanoA 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.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsSeizaburô KawazuKazuo KitamuraTanie KitabayashiLife 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.
- DirectorTetsuji TakechiStarsKanako MichiAkira IshihamaChôjûrô HanakawaWhile under sedation in a dentist's office, a young art student has sex fantasies about naked women, vampires and a beautiful patient he saw in the office.
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsHideki TakahashiMasako IzumiHiroko ItôAfter his own gang sets him up to kill a rival mobster, a hit man is forced to flee with his younger brother.
- DirectorTetsuji TakechiStarsKotobuki HananomotoChitose KurenaiChieko MurataBlack Snow tells the tale of a disturbed young man who, after spying on his mother with a black serviceman, finds himself unable to attain sexual arousal unless fondling a loaded gun. Later that night, he murders the GI before running amok through the building and finally slaying his mother's sister...
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsHideki TakahashiJunko AsanoYûsuke KawazuDuring 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.
- DirectorKôji WakamatsuStarsMiharu ShimaHatsuo YamayaA man keeps a young employee tied up in his small apartment and tortures her. She is undressed, subjected to various types of bondage, whipped, and tortured with a razor blade.
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsJô ShishidoMariko OgawaAnnu MariAfter a botched assignment, a rice-fetishizing hitman finds himself in conflict with his organization, and one mysterious, dangerous fellow-hitman in particular.
- DirectorKôji WakamatsuStarsJûrô KaraReiko KoyanagiMiki HayashiA young man breaks into a nurse's rooming house and one-by-one kills off nurses.
- DirectorSusumu HaniStarsHaruo AsanuKazuko FukudaKuniko IshiiA teenage goldsmith with a dark past tragically falls in love with a young nude model.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsKei SatôDo-yun YuFumio WatanabeA 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.
- DirectorShinsuke OgawaFarmers in a collective of ancient villages near Tokyo fight back one summer ,with the help of student activists, against plans by the Japanese government to demolish their homes to make way for the expansion of an airport used by American planes headed for Viet Nam.
- DirectorKihachi OkamotoStarsMinori TeradaNaoko ÔtaniYûnosuke ItôDuring World War II, a Japanese soldier finds himself assigned to a kamikaze mission against a U.S. battleship.
- DirectorToshio MatsumotoStarsPîtâOsamu OgasawaraYoshimi JôThe trials and tribulations of Eddie and other transvestites in Japan.
- DirectorYoshishige YoshidaStarsMariko OkadaToshiyuki HosokawaYûko KusunokiTwo interwoven stories. The first is a biography of anarchist Sakae Osugi which follows his relationship with three women in the 1920s. The second centers around two 1960s students researching Osugi's theories.
- DirectorNoriaki TsuchimotoThis film documents student preparations for the final phases of the 1969 protests against the renewal of the security treaty.
- DirectorMasahiro ShinodaStarsKichiemon NakamuraShima IwashitaShizue KawarazakiA doomed love between a paper merchant and a courtesan.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsFumio WatanabeAkiko KoyamaTetsuo AbeA young boy reluctantly aids his swindling father in a threatening scam.
- DirectorKei KumaiStarsMizuho SuzukiHiroko KinoMugihitoDr. 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".
- DirectorAkio JissôjiStarsMichiko TsukasaRyô TamuraEiji OkadaNear 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.
- DirectorKazuo KurokiStarsYôsuke EnomotoTatsumi HijikataEiko HoriiMurase is a bodyguard in a yakuza group. Ochiai is a police officer who once was a student activist. When they meet, they are surprised how identical they look. They decide to trade places with each other.
- DirectorKunio ShimizuSôichirô TaharaStarsRenji IshibashiTatsuharu IwabuchiKeizô KanieTakeru, a young rebel, is traveling alone in the North of Honshu. He once used to practice pole vaulting but he gave up and became a robber. Along his trip he crosses the path of a young couple doing a performance for a super market. Fascinated by both of them but probably a bit attracted by the mysterious silent girl, he decides to follow them.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsKenzô KawarasakiAtsuko KakuAtsuo NakamuraUpon 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.
- DirectorShûji TerayamaStarsEimei SasakiMasahiro SaitoYukiko KobayashiAn angst-ridden teen dealing with his dysfunctional family hits the streets. The story is inter-cut with various psychedelic, energetic vignettes.
- DirectorSeiichiro YamaguchiStarsHidemi HaraMari TanakaSumiko MinamiTwenty-year-old Kazuo is in love with his college girlfriend, Hisako, but he can't help but be intrigued by a mysterious older woman named Kyoku, a promiscuous woman unsatisfied with her marriage. As time goes on, both Kazuo and Hisako are pulled into the seemingly rules free, borderless world of Kyoku - with all of its many pains and pleasures.
- DirectorTatsumi KumashiroStarsMoeko EzawaKeiko AikawaGô Awazu
- DirectorTôru MurakawaStarsIchirô ArakiHiroko IsayamaGô AwazuA girl falls for a pickpocketer who gets arrested, so she hooks up with his ex-girlfriend and his ex-cellmate.
- DirectorKôji WakamatsuStarsKen YoshizawaRie YokoyamaYuki AresaA revolutionary faction steals some hand bombs. While escaping, several soldiers are killed. The movement's highest authority deems October unfit and sends the leader of another faction to take the remaining bombs.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsBunta SugawaraHiroki MatsukataKunie TanakaDuring the violent chaos of post-War Japanese black market, a young gangster called Shozo Hirono has to keep up with the rapid shifts of power between unscrupulous bosses.
- DirectorTatsumi KumashiroStarsRie NakagawaToru OheMoeko EzawaKatsu, a fugitive youth on the run from the yakuza, returns to his birthplace and begins an affair with the cinema owner.
- DirectorNoboru TanakaStarsRie NakagawaYuri YamashinaHijiri AbeMembers of the Japanese royal family seeking to appease a "Death Goddess" through ritualistic temple sex.
- DirectorToshiya FujitaStarsKumiko AkiyoshiHiroyuki NagatoKenji TakaokaStudent residents of a girls-only university dormitory commit petty crimes like stealing items from stores in groups. They are found out by a store employee one day and only two of them successfully run away. One girl is a virgin. The other is not. They cannot return to their residence as their friends are arrested and their identity is revealed. With nowhere to go they roam the town. A guy wants to help them. The three become friends and the girls stay at his place. After a few days they have to return to their hometown. They ask the man for money to make the trip. The man wants to go with them in return for the cash. Police is waiting for them at their hometown so they are again stranded.
- DirectorNoboru TanakaStarsJunko MiyashitaEimei EsumiGenshû HanayagiA true-life tale of a broken woman whose hedonistic tryst with a high-class restaurateur resulted in a horrific crime of passion that littered Tokyo headlines in 1936.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsKiyoshi AtsumiChieko BaishôMasami ShimojôTraveling through Hokkaido with a disgruntled salaryman seeking a lost love (Eiji Funakoshi), Tora-san runs into Lily, who has gotten divorced since they last saw each other in Tora-san's Forget Me Not (1973) and is working as an itinerant singer. After a spat in the scenic town of Otaru, they split and meet again in Tora-san's hometown of Shibamata, where they reconcile. With sparks reignited between the pair, will the perpetual bachelor Tora-san finally find a chance at love?
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsTatsuya FujiEiko MatsudaAoi NakajimaA passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
- DirectorKazuki ÔmoriStarsMasato FuruoyaRan ItôMasahiro MitsutaA medical student wonders if he's really cut out to be a doctor.
- DirectorGakuryû IshiiStarsTatsuo YamadaMasamitsu OhikeKôji NanjôWhen the leader of the once-notorious biker gang of Tokyo falls in love with a barmaid and quickly loses his rebellious ideals, the rest of the gang feels betrayed. Especially the reputedly troubled kid Ken revolts against his former friend.
- DirectorYoshimitsu MoritaStarsYûsaku MatsudaJûzô ItamiSaori YukiJapanese parents hire a tutor for their foolish son and get a critic of their lifestyle.