Criterion + Japan + Blu-ray
by Grethiwha | created - 02 Feb 2019 | updated - 2 months ago | PublicThese are my personal rankings and recommendations for the Japanese films released by The Criterion Collection on blu-ray.
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1. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (I) (1959)
Not Rated | 208 min | Drama, History, War
A 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.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Chikage Awashima, Ineko Arima
Votes: 9,362
This 10-hour anti-war drama is, I would argue, the greatest dramatic film of all time. For the potency of its message, and for Tatsuya Nakadai's incredible and incomparable performance.
2. Ikiru (1952)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama
A bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Shin'ichi Himori, Haruo Tanaka
Votes: 87,598 | Gross: $0.06M
There is a small handful of films from the pre-widescreen, pre-colour "golden age of cinema" whose astonishing beauty I truly don't think can ever be replicated. It's a Wonderful Life, Sansho the Bailiff, The Grapes of Wrath... Ikiru is the very best of them: I can not watch it without a tear formed in my eye for almost the entire film. Along with Ran, it is my favourite Kurosawa film, and easily a top 10 of all time movie.
3. Seven Samurai (1954)
Not Rated | 207 min | Action, Drama
Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki
Votes: 366,937 | Gross: $0.27M
My introduction to samurai cinema, and as I've rewatched it, and it's only continued to grow on me, it's remained my favourite samurai movie. It transports and endears me to a time and place, which is at times harsh and tragic, but with such loveable characters, that it's a place I just love being in.
4. Harakiri (1962)
Not Rated | 133 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
When a ronin requesting seppuku at a feudal lord's palace is told of the brutal suicide of another ronin who previously visited, he reveals how their pasts are intertwined - and in doing so challenges the clan's integrity.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita, Tetsurô Tanba
Votes: 68,707
Where Seven Samurai is a good introduction to samurai cinema, Harakiri is probably the ultimate film in the genre. I mean that in the way it so powerfully sums up an idea at the periphery of most Japanese-made samurai films: the samurai are not the good guys. They're the bad guys, the scoundrels, who abuse their power. The heroes are the individuals, the ronin who don't or no longer associate with any clan, who recognize and stand up to corruption. That describes the character of Hanshiro Tsugumo, whose story is perhaps the darkest and most dramatically gripping I've seen in the genre. And Harakiri is perhaps the ultimate statement in film against Bushidō, the way of the samurai.
5. Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
Not Rated | 124 min | Drama
In medieval Japan, a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyôko Kagawa, Eitarô Shindô
Votes: 18,237
Sansho the Bailiff is emotionally devastating but unspeakably beautiful – the saddest jidaigeki film I've seen, but also one of the very best. It's a masterpiece, my favourite of Mizoguchi's films, and it deserves to be recognized as one of the greatest films of all time.
6. Woman in the Dunes (1964)
Not Rated | 147 min | Drama, Thriller
An entomologist on vacation is trapped by local villagers into living with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.
Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara | Stars: Eiji Okada, Kyôko Kishida, Kôji Mitsui, Hiroko Itô
Votes: 22,712
The acting is fantastic. The cinematography and music are unreal. But it's the setting, so unbelievably well realized, which seeps into the recesses of the mind and sticks like sand. There is absolutely nothing else like Woman in the Dunes, an incredibly surprising and compelling, beautiful movie, one of the absolute masterpieces of word cinema. Don't read else anything about this movie. Don't read the premise. Just watch it. Or read the novel.
7. Branded to Kill (1967)
Not Rated | 91 min | Action, Crime, Drama
After a botched assignment, a rice-fetishizing hitman finds himself in conflict with his organization, and one mysterious, dangerous fellow-hitman in particular.
Director: Seijun Suzuki | Stars: Jô Shishido, Mariko Ogawa, Annu Mari, Kôji Nanbara
Votes: 10,211
Like a Bond film stripped of all unnecessary and necessary exposition, as well as all sense of time and space; Branded to Kill is at once baffling and hilarious. It also rewards multiple viewings, for those who want to try and figure out the story and learn to appreciate the way it deconstructs the genre. But regardless which viewing you're on or how confused you are, it's always immensely entertaining.
8. Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980)
PG | 162 min | Drama, History, War
A petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord's double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ken'ichi Hagiwara, Jinpachi Nezu
Votes: 38,187
Not as good as – and a bit slower than – its sister film, "Ran", but if you can get past that, Kagemusha is still one of Kurosawa's best, and it is also perhaps his most visually stunning film. It's composed of one beautifully-made sequence after another, and despite its 3-hour runtime, I can't help revisiting it often.
9. House (1977)
Not Rated | 88 min | Comedy, Horror
A schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which turns out to be haunted.
Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi | Stars: Kimiko Ikegami, Miki Jinbo, Kumiko Ôba, Ai Matsubara
Votes: 33,743
This is why Japanese films are the best. One of the craziest and most ludicrously entertaining films I've ever seen. It's also probably the film in the collection that I've seen the most times, as it's my favourite movie to show when I have friends over. None have ever been disappointed by it – how could they be?
10. Kwaidan (1964)
Not Rated | 183 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A collection of four Japanese folk tales with supernatural themes.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Rentarô Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe, Kenjirô Ishiyama
Votes: 19,997
I think this is literally the most visually stunning movie ever made. I can't say enough about the beautiful, abstract and colourful set design. Moreover, each of the four ghost stories the film tells is visually distinct, atmospheric, and unforgettable.
11. Dreams (1990)
PG | 119 min | Drama, Fantasy
A collection of tales based upon eight of director Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams.
Directors: Akira Kurosawa, Ishirô Honda | Stars: Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baishô, Toshie Negishi, Mieko Harada
Votes: 29,194 | Gross: $1.96M
This is Kurosawa's most audio-visually stunning movie, making it, after Kwaidan, the movie on this list that most necessitates its being released in the blu-ray format. DVD just can't suffice for this film. It's a movie adaptation of Kurosawa's own actual dreams, and in an unusual and beautiful way, I think it's his most personal and revealing film. A film which is, itself, like a dream.
12. Ugetsu (1953)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Fantasy, War
A tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyô, Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Mito
Votes: 25,823 | Gross: $0.01M
Another essential film from the golden age of Japanese cinema, this is a ghost tale, with unparalleled atmosphere and cinematography.
13. The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)
Not Rated | 95 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The adventures of a blind, gambling masseur who also happens to be a master swordsman.
Director: Kenji Misumi | Stars: Shintarô Katsu, Masayo Banri, Ryûzô Shimada, Hajime Mitamura
Votes: 5,906
The Zatoichi movies, taken individually, are great samurai flicks – but not greater than some of the ones lower on this list. But, taken as a whole, the series is better than the sum of its individual episodes. Through different writers and directors the Zatoichi films maintain a frankly ridiculous consistency of quality, and I have to credit Katsu for that. His character is one of the most loveable in movie history, and I never tire of seeing him on another adventure.
14. Tokyo Story (1953)
Not Rated | 136 min | Drama
An old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city, but receive little attention.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Chieko Higashiyama, Sô Yamamura, Setsuko Hara
Votes: 68,638
Yasujiro Ozu is not a bold but a gentle director; his movies are very simple, but always strangely compelling. I typically like them a lot, but Tokyo Story I love. It's easily his most beautiful and moving film. Chishu Ryu – the "father of the cinema" as Wim Wenders calls him – is enormously endearing and gives an achingly touching performance, as do Setsuko Hara and Chieko Higashiyama. It's hard not to feel affection for this film.
15. The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Not Rated | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Lured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara
Votes: 42,257
As well as being probably Kurosawa's funniest, most accessible and thoroughly delightful movie, The Hidden Fortress is a true adventure movie: it captures that rare feeling of really making me feel like I'm travelling right along with these wonderful characters through feudal Japan, and I'm thoroughly involved with their adventure.
16. Onibaba (1964)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
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: 21,873
This is one of the all-time great horror movies from Japan. There is something that sticks with you after watching it, something so creepy about the setting – the whole movie is set in this marsh where you can never see over the tall grasses – and the desperate peasants who live there, preying like insects on the disoriented unfortunates who wander through.
17. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
R | 120 min | Biography, Drama
A fictionalized account in four chapters of the life of celebrated Japanese writer Yukio Mishima.
Director: Paul Schrader | Stars: Ken Ogata, Masayuki Shionoya, Hiroshi Mikami, Junya Fukuda
Votes: 13,787 | Gross: $0.44M
Intertwining colourful and ultra-stylized sequences based on his novels, with black-and-white sequences based on his personal life, and finally, a documentary-like reenactment of his final day – this is a fascinating and rewardingly multilayered biography of the controversial writer Yukio Mishima. It is also, along with Kwaidan and Dreams, one of the most visually stunning films ever made, with an incredible soundtrack to match. It is easily Paul Schrader's masterpiece, and, thanks to Criterion's inclusion of the original Ken Ogata voiceover, it's 100% a Japanese film (like Eastwood's great "Letters from Iwo Jima"), with zero concessions for an American audience. Despite that, this film has never been released in Japan.
18. Throne of Blood (1957)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
A war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 55,975
Mifune in his most intense performance. This is top-rate Kurosawa – one of my favourites (well, my 11th favourite – I have a lot of favourite Kurosawa movies).
19. Three Outlaw Samurai (1964)
Not Rated | 94 min | Action, Drama
When poor peasants kidnap a magistrate's daughter to coerce him into reducing their unfair taxes, a wandering ronin decides to give them some help.
Director: Hideo Gosha | Stars: Tetsurô Tanba, Isamu Nagato, Mikijirô Hira, Miyuki Kuwano
Votes: 3,994
This is everything good about 60s samurai films – the tight narrative, the camaraderie of the characters, the stark visuals and awesome swordfighting scenes – and it's one of the best I've seen too. Hideo Gosha is a master of badass samurai action, but here, in his first film, he infuses it with enough drama to give his action (which is still completely badass) weight and meaning. I think it's his best film, of the ones I've seen.
20. Sanjuro (1962)
Not Rated | 96 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen trying to save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiju Kobayashi, Yûnosuke Itô
Votes: 41,141
After The Hidden Fortress, Sanjuro is probably Kurosawa's most purely entertaining film, and altogether one of his most enjoyable.
21. Yojimbo (1961)
Not Rated | 110 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Eijirô Tôno, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yôko Tsukasa
Votes: 131,392
Toshiro Mifune doing what he does best. More dark and serious than Sanjuro, but still highly enjoyable.
22. Rashomon (1950)
Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The 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.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 180,530 | Gross: $0.10M
"I just don't understand." The concept for this film is pretty brilliant, but I think it's Takashi Shimura's character who gives the film its emotional core and lasting resonance, without which the whole thing would have been for naught.
23. High and Low (1963)
Not Rated | 143 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Yutaka Sada, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyôko Kagawa
Votes: 53,232
An incredibly sleek and engaging crime drama, and another excellent Kurosawa release. I'd like to see more of Kurosawa's gendaigeki make their way to blu – there are several I like even better than this one.
24. Tokyo Drifter (1966)
Not Rated | 82 min | Action, Crime
After his gang disbands, a yakuza enforcer looks forward to life outside of organized crime but soon must become a drifter after his old rivals attempt to assassinate him.
Director: Seijun Suzuki | Stars: Tetsuya Watari, Chieko Matsubara, Hideaki Nitani, Tamio Kawaji
Votes: 9,712
At once beautiful and illogical, this film does some amazing things with colour while all the while it bewilders with its hilarious idiosyncrasies. I was a little let down by this film after watching the amazing Branded to Kill, but after a second (and much less tired) viewing... yep, I love it.
25. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)
R | 123 min | Drama, War
During WWII, a British colonel tries to bridge the cultural divides between a British POW and the Japanese camp commander in order to avoid bloodshed.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takeshi Kitano
Votes: 20,027 | Gross: $2.31M
Even though I only discovered it a few years ago, there's something like nostalgia that I feel for this film. I kind of love it, even despite some less-than-amazing sequences. I love Bowie, but even more in this film, Takeshi Kitano's performance has really stuck with me.
26. The Life of Oharu (1952)
Not Rated | 133 min | Drama
Follows a woman's fight and survival amid the vicissitudes of life and the cruelty of society.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Tsukie Matsuura, Ichirô Sugai, Toshirô Mifune
Votes: 7,646
My third favourite of three unparalleled masterpieces by the late Kenji Mizoguchi. Like Sansho the Bailiff, it is an epic tragedy.
27. The Naked Island (1960)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama
A family of four are the sole inhabitants of a small island where they struggle each day to irrigate their crops.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Nobuko Otowa, Taiji Tonoyama, Shinji Tanaka, Masanori Horimoto
Votes: 6,183
This is another film, like Shindo's masterpiece Onibaba, that I wasn't immediately taken by, but that's stuck with me years after my initial viewing. It's totally dissimilar to that film in style and content, but both films capture a sense of place that's really incomparable – you never forget these locations. The film is told without dialogue, and it's almost like a documentary, for the first hour or so simply showing the way these farmers live. It should be boring (and maybe it is, slightly), but with its beautiful music and cinematography... it's the ultimate mellow film experience – moreso than actual silent films. And the last part of the movie is truly, unexpectedly engaging.
28. The Ballad of Narayama (1958)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama
A kabuki theatre-inflected story about a poor village whose people have to be carried to a nearby mountain to die once they get old.
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Teiji Takahashi, Yûko Mochizuki, Danko Ichikawa
Votes: 3,790
A beautiful and visually stunning film that feels like Noh theatre come to life. As big a fan of Shohei Imamura as I am, his remake doesn't hold a candle to the sheer atmosphere this film exudes.
29. Cure (1997)
Not Rated | 111 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
A frustrated detective deals with the case of several gruesome murders committed by people who have no recollection of what they've done.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Masato Hagiwara, Koji Yakusho, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa
Votes: 23,079 | Gross: $0.09M
A uniquely atmospheric and subtle modern classic of Japanese horror, this is certainly peak Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
30. The Sword of Doom (1966)
Not Rated | 120 min | Action, Drama
Through his unconscionable actions against others, a sociopath samurai builds a trail of vendettas that follow him closely.
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Yûzô Kayama, Yôko Naitô
Votes: 12,077
A classic samurai flick, featuring an exceptional Nakadai performance, as the haunted and psychotic samurai Ryunosuke Tsukue.
31. Black Cat (1968)
Not Rated | 99 min | Drama, Horror
Two women are raped and killed by samurai soldiers. Soon they reappear as vengeful ghosts who seduce and brutally murder the passing samurai.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Kichiemon Nakamura, Nobuko Otowa, Kei Satô, Rokkô Toura
Votes: 8,583
Not quite as good as the director's earlier "Onibaba", but still an eerie, visually stunning, and all-around great samurai-horror movie.
32. Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972)
Not Rated | 84 min | Action, Adventure
The story of a Ronin (i.e. a masterless samurai) who wanders the countryside of Japan with his small child, having various adventures.
Director: Kenji Misumi | Stars: Tomisaburô Wakayama, Fumio Watanabe, Gô Katô, Tomoko Mayama
Votes: 8,881
Kenji Misumi, who kicked off the wonderful Zatoichi series a decade earlier, directing the first, and several other key instalments in that franchise, also directed most of this series. The Lone Wolf and Cub series is the much more violent and bloody, exploitation-film-tinged younger brother to the Zatoichi series (starring Katsu's older brother). If you enjoy a solid chanbara action film with gratuitous bloodletting, all six of these films are well worth your time.
33. A Story from Chikamatsu (1954)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
Ishun is a wealthy but unsympathetic master printer who has wrongly accused his wife and best employee of being lovers. To escape punishment, the accused run away together, but Ishun is certain to be ruined if word gets out.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Kazuo Hasegawa, Kyôko Kagawa, Eitarô Shindô, Eitarô Ozawa
Votes: 4,947
Another of Mizoguchi's best films, this one stands out in my memory for the way the characters always seem to be forced to be on the move, through this otherworldly Edo-era Japan, which is so hostile to them. In the way it brings this setting to life and involves you in it, harsh and cruel a place as it is for the characters, it is really something special.
34. Vengeance Is Mine (1979)
Not Rated | 139 min | Crime, Drama
Chronological exploits of Iwao Enokizu, a murderous thief on the run.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Ken Ogata, Rentarô Mikuni, Chôchô Miyako, Mitsuko Baishô
Votes: 7,299
Shohei Imamura is my favourite of the 'new wave' Japanese directors, and this is one of his great films (not to mention his most violent). It's a rather disturbing portrait of a murderer with no apparent motive, and though it drags sometimes, it's elevated by Imamura's assured direction and dispassionate take on the material. Here's hoping Criterion will release more of his films on blu-ray soon, like my favourite: the insane and wonderful "Profound Desires of the Gods".
35. Jellyfish Eyes (2013)
Not Rated | 101 min | Comedy, Fantasy
Children are able to communicate and control fantastic creatures, but they are unknowingly being used in an evil plan to collect negative energy.
Director: Takashi Murakami | Stars: Takuto Sueoka, Himeka Asami, Masataka Kubota, Shôta Sometani
Votes: 560
This children's film by visual artist Takashi Murakami starts off an odd combination of adolescent bullying, Pokémon battles, serious Fukushima-related themes, and evil black-robed teenaged scientists, and it only gets stranger from there. It was about two thirds of the way through the movie I realized that A) I was no longer following the movie, logically, at all (Wait, why did that guy jump off the roof and why is he alive again and evil now? Who is this kid and why is he making his anime lady beat people up? Why is that boy's head being attacked by lightning?), and B) I was kind of loving the movie, the sheer balmy spectacle of it all! If you want to see something different, I heartily recommend giving this one a look!
36. Gate of Hell (1953)
Not Rated | 89 min | Drama, History
A samurai pursues a married lady-in-waiting.
Director: Teinosuke Kinugasa | Stars: Machiko Kyô, Kazuo Hasegawa, Isao Yamagata, Yatarô Kurokawa
Votes: 4,280
As well as being a feast for the eyes, Gate of Hell tells a highly compelling story of unrequited love. I love the ending.
37. Late Spring (1949)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama
Several people try to talk 27-year-old Noriko into marrying, but all she wants is to keep on caring for her widowed father.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Setsuko Hara, Yumeji Tsukioka, Haruko Sugimura
Votes: 19,347
I like Ozu a lot, and this is definitely one of his strongest movies. That said, the only Ozu films I've seen that I quite like enough to buy are "Tokyo Story", and possibly "There Was a Father".
38. Godzilla (1954)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
American nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable dinosaur-like beast.
Director: Ishirô Honda | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Akihiko Hirata, Akira Takarada, Momoko Kôchi
Votes: 39,688 | Gross: $2.42M
Lots of cool 50s varyingly-convincing special-effects destruction in this one. But the final sequence of the film is surprisingly stunning and resonates on a human level I wasn't really expecting... I haven't seen the rest of the Showa-era Godzilla films which Criterion has also released now, except for Godzilla vs. Mothra, which is enjoyably campy, but I imagine they are, at best, just that, enjoyably campy, and lack the power of the original.
39. Floating Weeds (1959)
Not Rated | 119 min | Drama
The head of a Japanese theatre troupe returns to a small coastal town where he left a son who thinks he is his uncle, and tries to make up for the lost time, but his current mistress grows jealous.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Ganjirô Nakamura, Machiko Kyô, Haruko Sugimura, Ayako Wakao
Votes: 8,981
Because it's one of his late-period colour films, and because of the quaint coastal village it's set in, this is probably Yasujiro Ozu's most charming film on a visual level. It's a good one; Roger Ebert ranked it as one of his 10 favourite films of all time. I still need to watch the original, silent version.
40. Good Morning (1959)
Not Rated | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Two boys begin a silence strike to press their parents into buying them a television set.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Keiji Sada, Yoshiko Kuga, Chishû Ryû, Kuniko Miyake
Votes: 11,056
Very cute movie... Ozu's focus on children over adult characters in this film makes it stand out amongst his filmography, and I consider it one of his best.
41. An Autumn Afternoon (1962)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama
An aging widower arranges a marriage for his only daughter.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Shima Iwashita, Keiji Sada, Mariko Okada
Votes: 10,711
By and large, this movie blends in my mind with countless other Ozu films, but the remarkably melancholic ending stands out to me, right up there with Late Spring, and solidifies this film as one of Ozu's more touching works.
42. Still Walking (2008)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama
A family gathers together for a commemorative ritual whose nature only gradually becomes clear.
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu | Stars: Hiroshi Abe, Yui Natsukawa, You, Kazuya Takahashi
Votes: 18,625 | Gross: $0.16M
Not Kore-eda's best (that would be "Nobody Knows"), but definitely one of his better films and worth seeing. Ozu fans will love it.
43. Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954)
Not Rated | 93 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
Depicts the early life of the legendary warrior Musashi Miyamoto; his years as an aspiring warrior, an outlaw and finally a true samurai.
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Mariko Okada, Rentarô Mikuni, Kurôemon Onoe
Votes: 9,511
I find the Samurai Trilogy really uneven. Part 3 is great. Part 2 is pretty weak. Part 1 is somewhere in between. Overall I can't say I think these are especially memorable samurai flicks.
44. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939)
Not Rated | 148 min | Drama, Romance
The adopted son of a legendary actor, and an aspiring star himself, turns to his infant brother's wet nurse for support and affection - only for her to give up everything for her beloved's glory.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Shôtarô Hanayagi, Kôkichi Takada, Ryôtarô Kawanami, Kinnosuke Takamatsu
Votes: 4,398
Before making a string of masterpieces in the early 50s, right before he died, Mizoguchi, to get that good, as one of the Japanese interviewees in the Sansho special features said, had to make a LOT of bad movies. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum is, according to Criterion's description, the "pinnacle of Mizoguchi's early career", but in fact it was around his 60th or 70th film, made about midway through his career. It's still one of the earliest I've seen of his movies, and probably my favourite of any of his pre-1950s films that I've seen – It's definitely a good movie and not a bad movie – but I don't remember much of it since I saw it and I definitely don't think it holds a candle to The Life of Oharu, Sansho the Bailiff, Ugetsu, or the Crucified Lovers, amongst the best films ever made.
45. I Was Born, But... (1932)
Not Rated | 90 min | Comedy, Drama
Two young brothers throw a tantrum when they discover that their father isn't the most important man in his workplace.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Tatsuo Saitô, Tomio Aoki, Mitsuko Yoshikawa, Hideo Sugawara
Votes: 6,214
The predecessor to Good Morning (included as an extra on the Good Morning blu-ray) is also very cute – actually it's one of the more enjoyable silent films I've seen – though I ultimately prefer the "remake" for it's colourful visuals.
46. An Actor's Revenge (1963)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama
Yukinojo, a Kabuki actor, seeks revenge by destroying the three men who caused the deaths of his parents. Also involved are the daughter of one of Yukinojo's targets, two master thieves, and a swordsman who himself is out to kill Yukinojo.
Director: Kon Ichikawa | Stars: Kazuo Hasegawa, Fujiko Yamamoto, Ayako Wakao, Eiji Funakoshi
Votes: 2,870
A highly theatrical film, about a theatre actor/female impersonator seeking to avenge his parent's deaths. This is a solid film by all accounts, and there's enough that's quite unique about it to make it stand out from other films of the era. But I would also say it falls patently short of "greatness".
47. The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952)
Not Rated | 116 min | Drama
A childless middle-aged couple faces a marital crisis.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Shin Saburi, Michiyo Kogure, Kôji Tsuruta, Chishû Ryû
Votes: 3,689
I liked this movie well enough when I saw it, at least as much as I like the average Ozu film. But nothing particularly stands out in my mind about it, except that it inspired me to try green tea over rice once – the flavour of which I found pretty underwhelming! Of the Ozu films Criterion's released on blu-ray, I think this is by far the least memorable.
48. Death by Hanging (1968)
Not Rated | 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: 3,344
This is an odd one by Oshima. For the first five minutes it is almost a documentary about the death penalty. Then for the next fifty minutes it devolves into a sort of weird comedy about an inept police officer attempting to convince an unresponsive amnesiac that he's a rapist and murderer. And then in the second half the movie goes completely off-the-rails, into a sort of artsy, surreal territory, in pursuit of its political message. But it never really works for me.
49. Lady Snowblood (1973)
Not Rated | 97 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A strikingly beautiful young woman is trained from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.
Director: Toshiya Fujita | Stars: Meiko Kaji, Toshio Kurosawa, Masaaki Daimon, Miyoko Akaza
Votes: 16,309
You can see what Quentin Tarantino borrowed from Lady Snowblood, and you can also surely see that he made something much much better with it. These Meiko Kaji exploitation films have a cult following, but they're no great masterpieces. That said, they're a good entertainment, stylish schlock, though I far prefer the Female Prisoner Scorpion films to Lady Snowblood, and especially Lady Snowblood 2, which takes everything that was wrong with the first Lady Snowblood, and discards the rest.
50. The Funeral (1984)
Not Rated | 124 min | Comedy
When Wabisuke's father-in-law unexpectedly dies, the family goes through a series of events and occurrences as the funeral unfolds over three days in their home.
Director: Jûzô Itami | Stars: Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Kin Sugai, Hideji Ôtaki
Votes: 1,854
Comparable to an Ozu film for the most part, The Funeral is a little different from those classic Japanese family dramas, in the way it looks for humour by dwelling on every awkward aspect of getting a funeral together. Whether it actually finds enough humour and charm there to outweigh the kind of inherent tedium of these situations, that's another question.
51. Antonio Gaudí (1984)
Not Rated | 72 min | Documentary
The work of Catalan architect Antonio Gaudí, as seen by Japanese New Wave director Hiroshi Teshigahara.
Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara | Stars: Isidro Puig Boada, Antoni Gaudí, Seiji Miyaguchi
Votes: 1,743
The marriage of Gaudí's architecture with the film's cinematography has some good aesthetic value. Beyond that, there isn't much to this documentary. Your mileage will vary. Personally, I'd much rather have more of Teshigahara's narrative films on blu-ray.
52. Tokyo Olympiad (1965)
Not Rated | 170 min | Documentary, Sport
Kon Ichikawa examines the beauty and rich drama on display at the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo, creating a record of observations that range from the expansive to the intimate.
Director: Kon Ichikawa | Stars: Antonio Ambu, Gary Anderson, Gerry Ashworth, Polina Astakhova
Votes: 2,203
It should be pretty obvious that one's enjoyment of this movie will correlate pretty closely with one's interest in the actual Olympics. Personally, I didn't know if I'd be able to sit through a three hour sports documentary, but then, like the last time I remember the live Olympics being on TV, I found myself drawn in by the opening ceremony, and then just interested enough to catch bits and pieces here and there – or to watch the highlights collected in this movie piecemeal.
53. After Life (1998)
Not Rated | 119 min | Drama, Fantasy
After death, people have a week to choose only one memory to keep for eternity.
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu | Stars: Arata Iura, Erika Oda, Susumu Terajima, Takashi Naitô
Votes: 13,760 | Gross: $0.80M
Hirokazu Kore-eda is pretty hit-or-miss for me. Like Yasujiro Ozu, his films can be quite emotionally engaging, but others can be pretty dull. After Life is one of his more popular films, and I give it points for the novelty of its premise, but I find it to be on the dull side of the spectrum.
54. Like Someone in Love (2012)
Not Rated | 109 min | Drama
In Tokyo, a young sex worker develops an unexpected connection with a widower over a period of two days.
Directors: Abbas Kiarostami, Banafsheh Modaressi | Stars: Rin Takanashi, Tadashi Okuno, Ryô Kase, Denden
Votes: 13,086 | Gross: $0.22M
Not a bad film. It’s moderately intriguing throughout, but it is too languid and uneventful for my taste – its style more characteristic of the foreign crew, I think.
55. Pale Flower (1964)
Not Rated | 96 min | Action, Crime
A 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.
Director: Masahiro Shinoda | Stars: Ryô Ikebe, Mariko Kaga, Takashi Fujiki, Naoki Sugiura
Votes: 4,392
This one sadly didn't do much for me.
56. Tampopo (1985)
Not Rated | 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, Koji Yakusho
Votes: 22,576 | Gross: $0.22M
The endless fetishization of dead animals (including a brief real turtle killing scene) is enough to make my stomach turn, and mars an otherwise mostly charming and novel – if overly long and further dragged out by pointless non-sequitur scenes – film about a truck driver in a cowboy outfit helping a widowed noodle shop owner reach her full culinary potential.
57. The Makioka Sisters (1983)
Not Rated | 140 min | Drama, Romance
The orphaned Makioka sisters look for a husband for their third sister, Yukiko, as the rebellious youngest sister, Taeko, is kept waiting her turn.
Director: Kon Ichikawa | Stars: Yoshiko Sakuma, Sayuri Yoshinaga, Yûko Kotegawa, Jûzô Itami
Votes: 1,718
I just found this movie very boring. But I'll admit I probably didn't 'get' it.
58. Drive My Car (2021)
Unrated | 179 min | Drama
A renowned stage actor and director learns to cope with a big personal loss when he receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima.
Director: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi | Stars: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tôko Miura, Reika Kirishima, Masaki Okada
Votes: 65,831
If this movie was shorter, it would be merely dull. At 3 hours, it's a slog. I really don't get why these types of films are popular.
59. In the Realm of the Senses (1976)
NC-17 | 109 min | Drama, Romance
A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Tatsuya Fuji, Eiko Matsuda, Aoi Nakajima, Yasuko Matsui
Votes: 22,811
Except perhaps in the last 20 minutes, I found nothing to like about this film. And I'm a bit sore the simultaneously released "Empire of Passion" got the snub on the blu-ray front – that's actually my favourite Oshima film.
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