Hibiscus's Favorite Japanese Films
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- DirectorTeinosuke KinugasaStarsMasuo InoueAyako IijimaYoshie NakagawaA man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsShizue AkiyamaSeiichi KatôTomoko NaniwaThe story of a poor insurance salesman who struggles to provide for his wife and family.
- DirectorNobuo NakagawaStarsShigeru AmachiUtako MitsuyaYôichi NumataA group of sinners involved in interconnected tales of murder, revenge, deceit and adultery all meet at the Gates of Hell.
- DirectorHiroshi TeshigaharaStarsMiki IrieTeruko HasegawaYoko MatsushitaFollows Ako, a 16-year-old Japanese girl, as she spends time working in a bakery and going out with her friends.
- DirectorMasahiro ShinodaStarsRyô IkebeMariko KagaTakashi FujikiA 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.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsNobuko OtowaJitsuko YoshimuraKei SatôTwo 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.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsRentarô MikuniMichiyo AratamaMisako WatanabeA collection of four Japanese folk tales with supernatural themes.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsSari AkasakaSakio HirataJinichi IshizakiExperimental short film depicting the life, perhaps real, perhaps a dream, of a young girl named Emi. Emi travels to the city where she encounters her counterpart, Sari, and falls in love with...a vampire?
- DirectorKazuo KurokiStarsMariko KagaHiroyuki NagatoShôichi OzawaFollowing the journey of a caterpillar along the Japanese islands from Nagasaki to Hokkaido, this allegorical and oblique first feature film by Kuroki depicts in exquisite images a series of encounters and life's turning points.
- DirectorYukio MishimaStarsYukio MishimaYoshiko TsuruokaA 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.
- DirectorKôji WakamatsuStarsJûrô KaraReiko KoyanagiMiki HayashiA young man breaks into a nurse's rooming house and one-by-one kills off nurses.
- 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.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsSôsuke YamazakiKen'ichi HagiwaraChikako OkamotoColorfully edited vignettes of young characters having fun in the town of Onomichi.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsKichiemon NakamuraNobuko OtowaKei SatôTwo women are raped and killed by samurai soldiers. Soon they reappear as vengeful ghosts who seduce and brutally murder the passing samurai.
- 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.
- DirectorToshio MatsumotoStarsKatsuo NakamuraJûrô KaraYasuko SanjoAfter being robbed by a geisha, a ronin warrior carves a bloody path to seek revenge.
- DirectorToshio MatsumotoStarsPîtâOsamu OgasawaraYoshimi JôThe trials and tribulations of Eddie and other transvestites in Japan.
- 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.
- DirectorYoshimitsu BannoIshirô HondaStarsAkira YamanouchiToshie KimuraHiroyuki KawaseA toxic, ever-evolving alien life-form from the Dark Gaseous Nebula arrives to consume rampant pollution, threatening to destroy all life in its wake unless Godzilla is able to stop it.
- DirectorAkio JissôjiStarsKôji ShimizuAkiko MoriRyô TamuraTwo student couples stumble upon a cult dedicated to promoting the primordial human state through rape and agriculture.
- DirectorMasahiro ShinodaStarsShima IwashitaMasao KusakariRie YokoyamaA freestyle, imagined telling of the life of shaman queen Himiko, who falls in love with her half-brother, making her powers weaken thus putting her position to risk.
- 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.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsKimiko IkegamiMiki JinboKumiko ÔbaA schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which turns out to be haunted.
- DirectorShûji TerayamaStarsKaoru YachigusaKeiko NiitakaMasumi HarukawaA 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.
- DirectorNaoto YamakawaStarsKassei KumamotoShigeru MuroiKazunao SakaguchiA guy passes by on the street a girl who is "a pure 100% all him".
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsTomoyo HaradaRyôichi TakayanagiToshinori OmiA high-school girl acquires the ability to time travel.
- DirectorTakashi ItôStarsBin ShimadaHaunting light and haunted spaces, otherworldly movement and abstracted time. A ghost visits an apartment complex.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsYoriko DôguchiJûzô ItamiKensô KatôA country girl visits Tokyo in search of her college heartthrob. Here she meets horny students, a psychology professor in search of the theory of shame, and Yoshioka who has become a campus nobody.
- DirectorJûzô ItamiStarsKen WatanabeTsutomu YamazakiNobuko MiyamotoA 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.
- DirectorMamoru OshiiStarsMako HyôdôJinpachi NezuKeiichi NodaA mysterious young girl wanders a desolate, otherworldly landscape, carrying a large egg.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsKiwako HaradaNoriko WatanabeRiki TakeuchiAfter a failed romance, a temperamental young biker meets a carefree rural girl while riding through her island hometown and gets her obsessed about riding a motorcycle.
- DirectorIkko OnoA trip on a chartered plane with a number of other thrill-seekers (most of whom are anthropomorphic fruits and vegetables) and hop from island to island, each of which offer their own unique visual delights.
- DirectorShin'ya TsukamotoStarsTomorô TaguchiKei FujiwaraNobu KanaokaA businessman accidentally kills The Metal Fetishist, who gets his revenge by slowly turning the man into a grotesque hybrid of flesh and rusty metal.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaIshirô HondaStarsAkira TeraoMitsuko BaishôToshie NegishiA collection of tales based upon eight of director Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams.
- DirectorSion SonoStarsSion SonoMasahiro SugiyamaHiroko YamamotoUnder-achievers Shiro and Keita manage to survive delivering newspapers. They are otherwise on their own since their peers had all left for university three years earlier. Passing the entrance exam is the main problem. Shiro, however, is more interested in finishing a super-8 movie they had begun in secondary school than studying. But Keita feels more pressure on him to pass, and can't share Shiro's enthusiasm. To further complicate Keita's life, he hears that Kyoko, his ex-girlfriend, is coming back for a visit from her studies in Tokyo.
- DirectorShozin FukuiStarsHaji SuzukiOnn-chanKôji ÔtsuboPinocchio 964, lobotomised cyborg sex slave, is thrown out onto the street by his owners because of his inability to maintain an erection. He is befriended by a criminally insane, memory-wiped, homeless girl. Meanwhile, the corporate entity who manufactured and sold him plots to kill him because of his malfunction.
- DirectorHisayasu SatôStarsKiyomi ItôMomori AsanoKyôko NakamuraErotic drama set in an underground Tokyo club called The Bedroom, where the female clientele are drugged into a trance-like state and are subjected to different styles of bizarre, fetishistic sex by the male clientele.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsRyô AmamiyaAiko AsanoTadanobu AsanoIt is 1965. High-school student Takeyoshi Fujiwara Yasufumi Hayashi) hears "Pipeline" by the Ventures, and is mesmerized by their unique sound. With three friends, he forms a band called "The Rocking Horsemen." A warm and comic glimpse into high-school and small-town life in Japan in the 60's.
- DirectorJun KurosawaExperimental film in which three girls and one boy lead playful lives. Just as a game, in which the course is determined from beginning to end by certain rules, can be played time and again, their lives are also endless repetition.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsDuncanTokie HidariAkiji KobayashiObsessed with the idea of owning his first car so he can have sex in it, a young man takes any job he can find and ends up in an escalating series of crazy situations.
- DirectorHideaki AnnoKazuya TsurumakiStarsMegumi OgataMegumi HayashibaraYûko MiyamuraConcurrent theatrical ending of the TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995).
- DirectorSatoshi KonStarsJunko IwaoRica MatsumotoShinpachi TsujiA pop singer gives up her career to become an actress, but she slowly goes insane when she starts being stalked by an obsessed fan and what seems to be a ghost of her past.
- CreatorYasuyuki UedaStarsKaori ShimizuBridget HoffmanDan LorgeStrange things start happening when a withdrawn girl named Lain becomes obsessed with an interconnected virtual realm known as "The Wired".
- DirectorHideaki AnnoStarsTadanobu AsanoMitsuru FukikoshiMegumi HayashibaraA high school girl engages in compensated dating in order to buy an expensive ring before the day ends.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsArata IuraErika OdaSusumu TerajimaAfter death, people have a week to choose only one memory to keep for eternity.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsKazuki KitamuraTomorô TaguchiDan LiA group of Chinese youths living in Japan struggle to make their way in life and eventually find trouble with the local crime syndicate.
- CreatorKazuya TsurumakiStarsJun MizukiMayumi ShintaniIzumi KasagiMysterious things start happening when 12-year-old Naota meets a strange woman on a Vespa wielding a big guitar.
- DirectorHideaki AnnoStarsShunji IwaiAyako FujitaniJun MurakamiA disillusioned filmmaker has an encounter with a young girl who has a ritual of repeating "Tomorrow is my birthday" everyday. He tries to communicate with her through his video camera.
- DirectorHideaki AnnoStarsSie KohinataSuzuki MatsuoKiyoshi KobayashiRyusei-Kacho is renowned for his unmatchable skills in securing a seat on the infamous Japanese commuter trains. Never once has he failed until he meets the beautiful and talented Automatic Maria.
- DirectorGakuryû IshiiStarsYoshiki ArizonoTadanobu AsanoMasakatsu FunakiA violent, guitar-playing, electrically charged boxer faces off against an electronic wizard half-merged with a metallic Buddha.
- DirectorTatsuo SatôMasaaki YuasaA young anthropomorphic cat goes on a psychedelic journey with his sister in order to save her soul.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsKen'ichi EndôShungiku UchidaKazushi WatanabeA troubled and perverted family find their lives intruded by a mysterious stranger who seems to help find a balance in their disturbing natures.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsDaveigh ChaseSuzanne PleshetteMiyu IrinoDuring her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsMiho KannoHidetoshi NishijimaTatsuya MihashiThree stories of never-ending love.
- DirectorKatsuhito IshiiStarsMaya BannoTakahiro SatôTadanobu AsanoA spell of time of a rural family's slightly surreal life.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsYûta SoneKimika YoshinoShohei HinoA yakuza enforcer is ordered to secretly drive his beloved colleague to be assassinated. But when the colleague unceremoniously disappears en route, the trip that follows is a twisted, surreal and horrifying experience.
- DirectorSatoshi KonStarsMegumi HayashibaraTôru EmoriKatsunosuke HoriWhen a machine that allows therapists to enter their patients' dreams is stolen, all hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist, Paprika, can stop it.
- DirectorSion SonoStarsTakahiro NishijimaHikari MitsushimaSakura AndôA bizarre love triangle forms between a young Catholic upskirt photographer, a misandric girl and a manipulative cultist.
- DirectorHitoshi MatsumotoStarsHitoshi MatsumotoDavid QuinteroLuis AccinelliA man wakes up in a white room empty other than buttons on the walls, he must find out which button to push to get what he wants.
- DirectorTetsuya NakashimaStarsKoji YakushoNana KomatsuSatoshi TsumabukiAs former detective Akikazu searches for his missing daughter, Kanako, he soon learns she has a mysterious secret life.
- DirectorSion SonoStarsAmi TomiteMariko TsutsuiFujikoJapan's oldest major movie studio asks a batch of venerable filmmakers to revive its high-brow soft-core Roman Porno series.
- DirectorMeisekimu GenshiStarsHaruka KuwanaAyaka TakezakiJet Linda
- DirectorNao YoshigaiStarsHanna ChanA helpless woman confronts a "black object" with a power greater than hers.
- DirectorMahiro MaedaKatsuichi NakayamaKazuya TsurumakiStarsMegumi OgataMegumi HayashibaraYûko MiyamuraMisato and her anti-NERV group WILLE arrive in Paris, a city now red from core-ization. Crew from the flagship Wunder land on a containment tower.