Best of Japanese Movies
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- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsMasaharu FukuyamaMachiko OnoYôko MakiRyota is a successful workaholic businessman. When he learns that his biological son was switched with another boy after birth, he faces the difficult decision to choose his true son or the boy he and his wife have raised as their own.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsHaruka AyaseMasami NagasawaKahoThree sisters who live in their grandmother's home invite their thirteen-year-old half sister, whom they have just met, to join them.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsHiroshi AbeYui NatsukawaYouA family gathers together for a commemorative ritual whose nature only gradually becomes clear.
- DirectorJae-young KwakStarsHaruka AyaseKeisuke KoideRisa AiA lonely university student develops a romance with a beautiful interesting woman, who turns out to be a cyborg from the future.
- DirectorTakahiro MikiStarsTakumi KitamuraMasaki SudaTôko MiuraA salesman named Kosuke Okuda happens to meet Mao Watarai, a friend from his middle school days. Back then Mao was bullied, but now she is an attractive woman. Kosuke and Mao fall in love and decide to marry, but Mao has a secret.
- 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.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsSachiko MuraseRichard GereHisashi IgawaThree generations' responses to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaIshirô HondaStarsAkira TeraoMitsuko BaishôToshie NegishiA collection of tales based upon eight of director Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsMaksim MunzukYuriy SolominMikhail BychkovThe Russian army sends an explorer on an expedition to the snowy Siberian wilderness where he makes friends with a seasoned local hunter.
- DirectorYuri KanchikuStarsNozomi SasakiShôsuke TaniharaHikaru YamamotoSeventeen year old high school student Rio Ozawa is always the center of attention due to her beauty. Yet Rio has never cared about anyone but herself due to her traumatic past. Her friends exist only so she can use them for her gains. Rio is only interested in money. She is involved in "compensated dating" and extortion. One day Rio's photographs get mixed up at the store with those of another person of last name Ozawa. She then meets 35 year old college professor Kouki Ozawa, and falls in love for the first time. Rio feels confused by her emotions. She changes from a confident, mature person, to something more like a typical schoolgirl with a huge crush. She follows Kouki around, asks him to tutor her, and wants to date him. Although Kouki becomes interested in Rio, there is a reason he doesn't pursue the relationship. However, Rio is very insistent and starts changing her whole world for the better in order to be with him. Suddenly Kouki disappears without saying goodbye, and Rio is crushed. Her friends, with the help of Kouki's relative, find him working at another school. Rio then finds out that he is dying of brain cancer, which is why he wanted to keep his distance, in order to avoid breaking her heart. She convinces him to get a risky operation, even if it means he cannot remember her, so that they can have more time together. In the end, he survives the operation, and they get together again, though it isn't clear if he remembers her.
- DirectorNaoto KumazawaStarsMikako TabeHaruma MiuraMisako RenbutsuA girl that resemble "Sadako" of the movie Ring is being feared by her classmates. She is avoided by everyone.While everyone is avoiding her, the popular boy Shota Kazehaya befriends her, and their love begins to grow.
- DirectorNobuhiro DoiStarsYûko TakeuchiShidô NakamuraAkashi TakeiA young woman returns from the dead to her guilt-ridden husband and son, but she cannot remember them.
- DirectorNaomi KawaseStarsKirin KikiMasatoshi NagaseKyara UchidaBurdened with a heavy and ever-increasing debt, a dorayaki baker hires a kind ageing woman, after tasting her delicious surprise. Little by little, she unravels her beautiful inner world. Could she be holding the secret to his success?
- DirectorTakashi YamazakiStarsShôta SometaniEri FukatsuAi HashimotoThe humanity is suffering from murders all over the globe, called "Mincemeat murders". High school student, Izumi Shinichi has a parasite living off him, having replaced his right hand, and he might be the discoverer of truth.
- DirectorTakashi YamazakiStarsTadanobu AsanoShôta SometaniJun KunimuraHumanity is under attack by human-mimicking flesh-eating alien parasites. One parasite bonds with his young high school student host, and he convinces the parasite to help him stop the others.
- StarsTakayuki YamadaErika SawajiriNao MatsushitaWhile working at a seaside inn with his high school buddies, Fujishiro Koji meets Kaoru Amane, a street musician. Kaoru is suffering from an incurable disease called XP (xeroderma pigmentosum), and can't be exposed to the sun. Under the sun, the two would never have met. Still, destiny brings the two together. Since the day he suddenly lost his job, Koji has lost sight of his dreams. But when he meets Kaoru,who is making positive efforts to become a singer, Koji regains his long-forgotten passion for music.
- DirectorRyûichi HirokiStarsSakura AndôErika AsakuraNana EikuraIn the wake of her grandmother's death, Tsugumi Dozono, who used to work at a large electronics company in Tokyo, decides to move from to the home her grandmother left behind, in the countryside, and work from home. One day, a mysterious middle-aged man named Jun Kaieda arrives at the home wanting to stay the night. He tells Tsugumi that he is her grandmother's ex-student and her grandmother gave him a key to the annex house. Tsugumi doesn't quite understand the nature of the relationship Kaieda had with her grandmother, but the two begin living together in an awkward arrangement.
- DirectorTakehiko ShinjôStarsKento YamazakiSuzu HiroseAnna IshiiA piano prodigy who lost his ability to play after suffering a traumatic event in his childhood is forced back into the spotlight by an eccentric girl with a secret of her own.
- DirectorRyûsuke HamaguchiStarsMasahiro HigashideErika KarataSairi ItôAsako lives in Osaka. She falls in love with Baku, a free-spirit. One day, Baku suddenly disappears. Two years later, Asako now lives in Tokyo and meets Ryohei. He looks just like Baku, but has a completely different personality.
- DirectorRyôta NakanoStarsRie MiyazawaHana SugisakiAoi ItôA strict, but caring mother has an awakening when she is told she has cancer and it is terminal. She has a few months. She needs to complete her tasks in that short time frame.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsLily FrankySakura AndôKirin KikiOn the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence.
- 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.
- DirectorJirô ShônoStarsTakayuki YamadaTetsuji TamayamaErika SawajiriHow have you been? Takeshi's letter is delivered one each month to his younger brother, Naoki. Takeshi is serving a life term in prison for the crime that he had committed to save his brother. But the crime's aftereffect extends to Naoki, and, branded as a "murderer's brother," Naoki is deprived of his love, career and dream. His desperate situation gradually changes when he finds true love with Yumiko, who always stands by him. To protect the love that he has finally found, Naoki begins writing a letter to Takeshi - The touching story of a man who was powerless against his irreversible fate, but still tried to overcome it in the quest for his dream.
- DirectorRyôta NakanoStarsYû AoiElenKisetsu FujiwaraMari and Humi learn from their mother that their father has dementia on his 70th birthday. They help prepare their mother for his farewell and prepare themselves for the emotions to follow.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsKôki MaedaOshiro MaedaRyôga HayashiTwelve-year-old Koichi, who has been separated from his brother Ryunosuke due to his parents' divorce, hears a rumor that the new bullet trains will precipitate a wish-granting miracle when they pass each other at top speed.
- DirectorTakahisa ZezeStarsTakeru SatohTao TsuchiyaTetta SugimotoHisashi and Mai are set to have their wedding ceremony in three months. Unfortunately, Mai falls ill and lapses into a coma.
- DirectorJun IchikawaStarsIssei OgataRie MiyazawaShinohara TakahumiWhen technical illustrator Tony Takitani asks his wife to resist her all-consuming obsession for designer clothes, the consequences are tragic.
- DirectorTakashi ShimizuStarsGô AyanoEdward BoscoAmber Lee ConnorsTruth and illusion blurs when a homeless amnesiac awakens from an experimental medical procedure with the ability to see people's innermost traumas.
- DirectorNaomi KawaseStarsMasatoshi NagaseAyame MisakiTatsuya FujiA passionate writer of film versions for visually impaired people meets an older photographer who is slowly losing his eyesight.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsHiroshi AbeYôko MakiSatomi KobayashiAfter the death of his father, a private detective struggles to find child support money and reconnect with his son and ex-wife.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsAtsuko MaedaShôta SometaniTokio EmotoA young Japanese woman finds her cautious and insular nature tested when she travels to Uzbekistan to shoot the latest episode of her travel variety show.
- DirectorYoshihiro MoriStarsTakehiro HiraRich TingSanyee YuanProdded by a friend request, a forty-something recalls his past relationships from the 90s onward, looking for his vanished hopes and dreams.
- DirectorJunta YamaguchiStarsKazunari TosaRiko FujitaniGôta IshidaA cafe owner discovers that the TV in his cafe suddenly shows images from the future, but only two minutes into the future.
- DirectorShinobu YaguchiStarsFumiyo KohinataEri FukatsuYuki IzumisawaAfter a sudden worldwide power cut, a Tokyo family are caught up in the chaos as millions traverse the country in search of electricity.
- DirectorMark MylodStarsRalph FiennesAnya Taylor-JoyNicholas HoultA young couple travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.