My favorite Japanese Films
By: WBA
I’m a huge fan of Japanese cinema. I think it all began, when I saw Shinji Aoyama’s Eureka (2000) subtitled on TV some 10 years ago. And then there was no stopping me from the many delights of the east. Anyways, here’s my personal list, inspired by Cedric’s and Kenji’s. :-)
I’ll just list all films chronologically, as preferences change over time. And as I haven’t seen that many Japanese films so far, I’ve yet no need of limiting myself. Thus, this list will also be regularly updated.
I won’t try to look at Mubi to find out which of them they have listed in the Database and which not. I find this to be too much work – and it doesn’t rhyme witth my chronological endeavor anyway. ;-) As Mubi requires me to list at least one film, I have tried to choose one of the most mindblowing ones.
Goketsu Jiraiya “Jiraiya the Hero” [fragment] (Shôzô Makino / 1921)
Ukigusa Monogatari “A Story of Floating Weeds” (Yasujirô Ozu / 1934)
Kon’yaku samba-garasu “The Trio’s Engagement” (Yasujiro Shimazu / 1937)
Ninjo kami fusen “Humanity and Paper Balloons” (Sadao Yamanaka / 1937)
Rashômon “Rashomon” (Akira Kurosawa / 1950)
Bakushû “Early Summer” (Yasujirô Ozu / 1951)
Saikaku ichidai onna “The Life of Oharu” (Kenji Mizoguchi / 1952)
Sanshô dayû “Sansho the Bailiff” (Kenji Mizoguchi / 1954)
Ukigumo “Floating Clouds” (Mikio Naruse / 1955)
Kurutta kajitsu “Crazed Fruit” (Kô Nakahira / Japan / 1956)
Soshun “Early Spring” (Yasujirô Ozu / 1956)
Donzoko “The Lower Depths” (Akira Kurosawa / 1957)
Kuchizuke “Kisses” (Yasuzô Masumura / 1957)
Kumonosu-jô “Throne of Blood” (Akira Kurosawa / 1957)
Yorokobi mo kanashimi mo ikutoshitsuki “Years of Joy and Sorrow” (Keisuke Kinoshita / 1957)
Borei kaibyo yashiki “The Mansion of the Ghost Cat” (Nobuo Nakagawa / 1958)
Dokufu Takahashi Oden “A wicked Woman” (Nobuo Nakagawa / 1958)
Hateshinaki yokubo “Endless Desire” (Shôhei Imamura / 1958)
Kakushi-toride no san-akunin “Hidden Fortress” (Akira Kurosawa / 1958)
Narayama bushiko “Ballad of Narayama” (Keisuke Kinoshita / Japan / 1958)
Dokuritsu gurentai “Desperado Outpost” (Kihachi Okamoto / 1959)
Tokaido Yotsuya kaidan “Ghost Story of Yotsuya” (Nobuo Nakagawa / 1959)
Hadaka no shima “Naked Island” (Kaneto Shindô / 1960)
Karakkaze yarô “Afraid to Die” (Yasuzô Masumura / 1960)
Taiyô no hakaba “The Sun’s Burial” (Nagisa Ôshima / 1960)
Sanma no aji “An Autumn Afternoon” (Yasujirô Ozu / 1962)
Sen-hime to Hideyori “Princess Sen and Hideyori” (Masahiro Makino / 1962)
Dai tozoku “The Great Bandit” (Senkichi Taniguchi / 1963)
Kanojo to kare “She and He” (Susumu Hani / 1963)
Kaidan “Kwaidan” (Masaki Kobayashi / 1964)
Manji “Swastika” (Yasuzô Masumura / 1964)
Suna no onna “Woman in the Dunes” (Hiroshi Teshigahara / 1964)
Dai-bosatsu tôge “Sword of Doom” (Kihachi Okamoto / 1965)
Shunpu den “Story of a Prostitute” (Seijun Suzuki / 1965)
Tôkyô nagaremono “Tokyo Drifter” (Seijun Suzuki / 1966)
Chijin no ai “Love for an Idiot” (Yasuzô Masumura / 1967)
Jôi-uchi: Hairyô tsuma shimatsu “Samurai Rebellion” (Masaki Kobayashi / 1967)
Koroshi no rakuin “Branded to Kill” (Seijun Suzuki / 1967)
Midaregumo “Scattered Clouds” (Mikio Naruse / 1967)
Hatsukoi: Jigoku-hen “Nanami: The Inferno of First Love” (Susumu Hani / 1968)
Yabu no naka no kuroneko “The Black Cat from the Grove” (Kaneto Shindô / 1968)
Kyôsô jôshi-kô “Running in Madness, Dying in Love” (Kôji Wakamatsu / 1969)
Watashi ga suteta onna “The Girl I Abandoned” (Kiriro Urayama / 1969)
Yuke yuke nidome no shojo “Go, Go Second Time Virgin” (Kôji Wakamatsu / 1969)
Tokyo senso sengo hiwa “The Man Who Left His Will on Film” (Nagisa Ôshima / 1970)
Joshuu 701-gô: Sasori “Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion” (Shunya Ito / 1972)
Tenshi no kôkotsu “Ecstasy of the Angels” (Kôji Wakamatsu / 1972)
Joshuu sasori: Kemono-beya “Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable” (Shunya Ito / 1973)
Shurayukihime “Lady Snowblood” (Toshiya Fujita / 1973)
(Maruhi) shikijô mesu ichiba “Secret Chronicle: She Beast Market” (Noboru Tanaka / 1974)
Akumyo: shima arashi “Akumyo: Notorious Dragon” (Yasuzô Masumura / 1974)
Sûpâ robotto Maha Baronu “The Iron Man” (Koichi Takano / 1974)
Meikyu-tan “Labyrinth Tale” (Shûji Terayama / 1975)
Chikuzan hitori tabi “The Life of Chikuzan” (Kaneto Shindô / 1977)
Issunbushi o kijutsu suru kokoromi (Shûji Terayama / 1977)
Kage no eiga – nito onna (Shûji Terayama / 1977)
Keshigomu “The Eraser” (Shûji Terayama / 1977)
Maldoror no uta “Les chants de Maldoror” (Shûji Terayama / 1977)
Shoken-ki (Shûji Terayama / 1977)
Kagemusha (Akira Kurosawa / 1980)
Bakuretsu toshi “Burst City” (Sogo Ishii / 1982)
Shirobara gakuen: Soshite zen’in okasareta “White Rose Campus: Then Everybody Gets Raped” (Koyu Ohara / Japan / 1982)
Darossu “Dallos” (Mamoru Oshii / 1983)
Ran (Akira Kurosawa / 1985)
Tenshi no tamago “Angel’s Egg” (Mamoru Oshii / 1985)
M.D. Geist (Hayato Ikeda / 1986)
Jigoku no banken: akai megane “The Red Spectacles” (Mamoru Oshii / 1987)
Akira (Katsuhiro Ôtomo / 1988)
Hotaru no haka “Grave of the Fireflies” (Isao Takahata / 1988)
Tetsuo “Tetsuo, the Iron Man” (Shinya Tsukamoto / 1988)
Tonari no Totoro “My Neighbor Totoro” (Hayao Miyazaki / 1988)
Majo no takkyûbin “Kiki’s Delivery Service” (Hayao Miyazaki / 1989)
3-4 x jûgatsu “Boiling Point” (Takeshi Kitano / Japan / 1990)
Yume “Dreams” (Akira Kurosawa, Ishirô Honda / 1990)
Gô-hime “Basara – The Princess Goh” (Hiroshi Teshigahara / 1992)
Topâzu “Tokyo Decadence” (Ryû Murakami / 1992)
Sonatine (Takeshi Kitano / 1993)
Uchiage hanabi, shita kara Miruka? Yoko kara Miruka? “Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?” (Shunji Iwai / 1993)
Nihon eiga no hyaku nen “100 Years of Japanese Cinema” (Nagisa Ôshima / 1994)
Kôkaku kidôtai “Ghost in the Shell” (Mamoru Oshii / 1995)
Maboroshi no hikari “Maboroshi” (Hirokazu Kore’eda / 1995)
Tokyo Fist (Shinya Tsukamoto / 1995)
Dangan ranna “D.A.N.G.A.N. Runner” (Sabu / 1996)
Himitsu no hanazono “My Secret Cache” (Shinobu Yaguchi / 1996)
Moe no suzaku “Suzaku” (Naomi Kawase / 1996)
Suwarôteiru “Swallowtail” (Shunji Iwai / 1996)
Hana-bi “Fireworks” (Takeshi Kitano / 1997)
Kyua “Cure” (Kiyoshi Kurosawa / 1997)
Mononoke-hime “Princess Mononoke” (Hayao Miyazaki / 1997)
Tokyo Eyes (Jean-Pierre Limosin / 1997)
Yume no ginga “Labyrinth of Dreams” (Sogo Ishii / 1997)
Jin-Rô “Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade” (Hiroyuki Okiura / 1998)
Kanzo sensei “Dr. Akagi” (Shohei Imamura / 1998)
Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon / 1998)
Wandâfuru raifu “After Life” (Hirokazu Kore’eda / 1998)
Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha “Dead or Alive” (Takashi Miike / Japan / 1999)
Gohatto “Taboo” (Nagisa Ôshima / 1999)
Nabbie no koi “Nabbie’s Love” (Yuji Nakae / 1999)
Batoru rowaiaru “Battle Royale” (Kinji Fukasaku / 2000)
Blood: The Last Vampire (Hiroyuki Kitakubo / 2000)
Brother (Takeshi Kitano / 2000)
Eureka (Shinji Aoyama / 2000)
Monday (Sabu / 2000)
Akai hashi no shita no nurui mizu “Warm Water Under a Red Bridge” (Shohei Imamura / 2001)
Avalon (Mamoru Oshii / 2001)
Koroshiya 1 “Ichi the Killer” (Takashi Miike / 2001)
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi “Spirited Away” (Hayao Miyazaki / 2001)
Unloved (Kunitoshi Manda / 2001)
Dolls (Takeshi Kitano / 2002)
Japan (Shohei Imamura / 2002)
Kôfuku no kane “Blessing Bell” (Sabu / 2002)
Rokugatsu no hebi “Snake of June” (Shinya Tsukamoto / 2002)
Shin jingi no hakaba “Graveyard of Honor” (Takashi Miike / 2002)
Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu “Gozu” (Takashi Miike / 2003)
Dare mo shiranai “Nobody Knows” (Hirokazu Kore’eda / 2004)
Tony Takitani (Jun Ichikawa / 2004)
Kagami jigoku (Akio Jissoji / 2005)
Mizu no hana “Water Flower” (Yusuke Kinoshita / 2005)
46-okunen no koi “Big Bang Love, Juvenile A” (Takashi Miike / 2006)
Ai no mukidashi “Love Exposure” (Sion Sono / 2008)
Sukai kurora “The Sky Crawlers” (Mamoru Oshii / 2008)
Kanikôsen ( Sabu / 2009)
Viyon no tsuma “Villon’s Wife” (Kichitaro Negishi / 2009)
Kyoto Uzumasa monogatari “Kyoto Story” (Tsutomu Abe, Yoji Yamada / 2010)
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01Noboru Tanaka
