Criterion japanese films. The Criterion Channel.
Criterion japanese films. The Criterion Channel.
Criterion japanese films In film, too, Blackboard Jungle and Rebel Without a Cause (released in Japan in 1955 and 1956) Two brothers compete for the amorous favors of a young woman during a seaside summer of gambling, boating, and drinking, in this seminal Sun Tribe (taiyozoku) film from director Kô Nakahira. What would be best Japanese release from Criterion? Best extras, maybe a booklet? Tokyo Story, Ugetsu or something else? Zatoichi set is already on my shopping list. Ikiru (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] $39. Takashi Shimura beautifully portrays Kanji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat with One of the most thrilling movie epics of all time, Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. The Only Son and There Was a Father Directed by Yasujiro Ozu • 1951 • Japan Starring Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu, Chikage Awashima The Mamiya family is seeking a husband for their daughter, Noriko, but she has ideas of her own. The Human Condition The Criterion Channel features some amazing old-school Japanese Horror films. The Criterion Collection started in 1984 with the mission of “publishing important classic and contemporary films from around the world in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements”. This selection celebrates the unique diversity and artistic brilliance of Japanese filmmakers, ranging from the introspective family dramas of Yasujirō Ozu to the epic samurai tales of Akira Kurosawa. One of a string of late-career masterworks made by Kenji Mizoguchi in the first half of the 1950s, A Story from Chikamatsu (a. After a major breakthrough as a young yakuza in Kobayashi’s Black River, Nakadai was on his way to becoming one of Japan’s busiest actors; he would work several more times with both Kobayashi and Kurosawa, as well as Hideo Gosha, Kon Ichikawa, Mikio Naruse, Kihachi Okamoto, and Hiroshi Teshigahara—the cream of the nation’s crop of film Criterion has done such an amazing job with older Japanese film and auteurs like Kurosawa and Ozu, I hope they go into more into late 80s to contemporary films eventually. And if you want a break from all those cinematic masterpieces everyone will comment with, watch House, it's like one long Japanese commercial, and I mean that in the best way. Dialogue sounds clear and sharp, as does music, and there is no distortion present. Not necessarily Criterion films, but I’m looking for more films like Rolling Thunder, Deliverance, and Ninth Configuration. A celebration of an artist’s life in the purest sense, Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus is the swan song of one of the world’s greatest musicians. From 1927, the year of his debut for Shochiku studios, to 1962, when, a year before his death at age sixty, he made his final film, Ozu consistently A perfect song that hits at just the right moment, the play of sunlight through leaves, a fleeting moment of human connection in a vast metropolis: the wonders of everyday life come into breathtaking focus in this profoundly moving film by Directed by Alain Resnais • 1959 • France, Japan Starring Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada. Few filmmakers can claim to have had such impact. Since 1984, we’ve dedicated ourselves to gathering and publishing the greatest films from around the world. From 1927, the year of his debut for Shochiku studios, to 1962, when, a year before his death at age sixty, he made his final film, Ozu consistently explored the rhythms and tensions of a country trying to reconcile modern and traditional values, especially as played out in relations between the Rich in backstage atmosphere and class-conscious insight, A Story of Floating Weeds was one of Yasujiro Ozu’s final silent films, and it displays his complete mastery of the form. From 1927, the year of his debut for Shochiku studios, to 1962, when, a year before his death at age sixty, he made his final film, Ozu consistently explored the rhythms and tensions of a country trying to reconcile modern and traditional values, especially as played out in relations between the Audio Commentary by Japanese film expert Michael Jeck Audio Commentary by film scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Stephen Prince, Tony Rayns, and Donald Ritchie Original U. Violence at Noon concerns the odd circumstances surrounding a horrific murder and rape spree. Salinger in the United States, and the angry young men and Colin Wilson in Britain. k. A string of shocking, seemingly unmotivated murders—each committed by a different person yet all Honestly just being into criterion collection in general is going to get you into some fine Japanese cinema. That decade of films New, restored high-definition digital transfer; Audio commentary featuring Japanese-film scholar Donald Richie; A 30-minute documentary on the making of Drunken Angel, created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create; Kurosawa and the Censors, a new, 25-minute video piece that looks at the challenges Kurosawa faced in making Drunken Many films have drawn from classic Japanese theatrical forms, but none with such shocking cinematic effect as director Masahiro Shinoda's _Double Suicide. Now, on the occasion of the centenary of his birth, the Criterion Collection is proud to present this deluxe box set Paul Schrader’s visually stunning, collagelike portrait of the acclaimed Japanese author and playwright Yukio Mishima (played by Ken Ogata) investigates the inner turmoil and contradictions of a man who attempted the impossible task Yasujiro Ozu has often been called the “most Japanese” of Japan’s great directors. _ In this striking adaptation of a Bunraku puppet play (featuring the music of One of the greatest achievements by Akira Kurosawa, Ikiru shows the director at his most compassionate—affirming life through an exploration of death. D. Now Playing Japan, 1973 Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades Kenji Misumi Japan, 1972 Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance Kenji Misumi Japan, The film is a satirical black comedy, depicting the underbelly of the Japanese post-war economic miracle, in this case pornographers and small time gangsters in Osaka. The creator of such timeless masterpieces as Rashomon, Ikiru, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and High and Low, Akira Kurosawa is one of the most influential and beloved filmmakers who ever lived—and for many the greatest artist the medium has known. Hot on the heels of the hit theatrical run of Nobuhiko Obayashi’s cult sensation House, Janus Films is premiering another unsung Japanese horror movie with a feline twist. When a bedraggled neighbor Toshiro Mifune is unforgettable as Kingo Gondo, a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a cold-blooded kidnapper in High and Low (Tengoku to jigoku), the highly influential domestic drama and police procedural from Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, known to Western listeners predominantly as the man behind the music in such iconic movies as Woman in the Dunes and Ran, was an acclaimed classical composer and music theorist well before he Yasujiro Ozu has often been called the “most Japanese” of Japan’s great directors. Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa • 2001 • Japan Kumiko Aso, Haruhiko Kato, Koyuki In Tokyo, a group of young people begin to experience strange phenomena involving missing coworkers and friends, technological breakdown, and a mysterious website that asks them, “Do you want to The last film Mizoguchi made before his death at age fifty-eight was Street of Shame (1956), a shattering exposé set in a bordello that directly led to the outlawing of prostitution in Japan. And just like Sight and Sound, just like the AFI institute, Junpo went ahead and made a top 100 japanese movies poll in 2009, which to my knowledge, is the second time and latest time they've done this, first time being in 1999. In a twist, the film is as much about the two women who protect the violent man—his wife and a former victim—as it is about him. Watch now here! Gory revenge is raised to the level of visual poetry in Toshiya Fujita’s stunning Lady Snowblood. The Criterion Channel. About this list: Around the turn of the twenty-first century, The Criterion Channel | Japanese Horror. The film also explores the idea of Englishness—what’s magnificent about it and what’s downright stupid about it. Sort by Those are the few popular ones that rose to the surface of an already sinking ship that is Japanese cinema. Sort: Grid View Grid. In the wake of her lascivious father’s sudden passing, a successful actor (Itami’s wife and frequent collaborator, Nobuko Miyamoto) and her husband (Tsutomu Yamazaki) leave Tokyo and return to their family house to oversee a traditional funeral. QUICK ADD. Japan has such a rich cinema culture that there's very little you can go wrong with. From 1927, the year of his debut for Shochiku studios, to 1962, when, a year before his death at age sixty, he made his final film, Ozu consistently explored the rhythms and tensions of a country trying to reconcile modern and traditional values, especially as played out in relations between the (2009, Criterion Collection) In addition, some of the user comments on the Criterion website also categorise and perceive the film through a series of strikingly eclectic Western reference points, with one noting that House is a ‘bizarre Japanese film that’s a cross between Scooby-Doo and Suspiria’ and another commenting that ‘I can Youth was a global problem problem in the mid-1950s, in literature, journalism, and film. Recently released by the Criterion Collection, Masahiro Shinoda’s 1979 picture unsettlingly moves between natural and artificial realms, A Japanese Film’s Eerie Depths. The shogun’s executioner, Itto Ogami (Tomisaburo Wakayama), takes to wandering the countryside as an assassin—along with his infant son Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa) and a seemingly infinitely weaponized perambulator—helping Then film critic and soon-to-be figurehead of the 1960s Japanese new wave Nagisa Oshima saw it as a portent of the future, famously observing that “in the sound of the girl’s skirt being ripped . Deep in the windswept marshes of war-torn medieval Japan, an impoverished older woman and her daughter-in-law murder lost samurai and sell their belongings for the most meager of sustenance. An origin-story offshoot of a Japanese television phenomenon of the same name, Three Outlaw Samurai is a classic in its own right. This first feature by the legendary Hideo Gosha is among the most beloved chanbara (sword-fighting) films. Also known as War of the Insects, Genocide enacts a A celebration of an artist’s life in the purest sense, Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus is the swan song of one of the world’s greatest musicians. 95 −$14. From the late 1950s through the sixties, wild, idiosyncratic crime movies were the brutal and boisterous business of Nikkatsu, the oldest film studio in Japan. Like most of Ozu's post-war films, Early Summer deals with issues ranging from communication problems between generations to the rising role of women in post-war Japan. A French actress (Emmanuelle Riva) and a Japanese architect (Eiji Okada) engage in a Only one woman—Tazuko Sakane, a frequent collaborator of Mizoguchi’s—had previously dared to rattle the hierarchies and rules of the Japanese film industry, and her experience was anything but encouraging. I’d just say that Ugetsu , Onibaba , and Kuroneko could be considered to be in a separate sub-genre, if you get what I mean, like samurai horror films or something along those lines. With a vivid sense of character and the world of rural Japan, he sketches a poignant tale of family secrets, jealousy, and creative community, buoyed by grace notes of humanist observation and by Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, known to Western listeners predominantly as the man behind the music in such iconic movies as Woman in the Dunes and Ran, was an acclaimed classical composer and music theorist well before he became one of his country’s most reliably brilliant scorers of film. Japanese horror is about more than lanky-haired girl ghosts and cursed technology. A major inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill saga, this endlessly inventive film, set in late nineteenth-century Japan, charts the single-minded path of vengeance taken by a young woman (Meiko Kaji) whose parents were the unfortunate victims of a gang of brutal criminals. Army. Reluctantly, father and son take in the woman, and, to the family’s surprise, the young couple fall in love. 62. Home Shop the Collection Current The Criterion Channel In this jazzy gangster film, reformed killer Tetsu’s attempt to go straight is thwarted when his former cohorts call him back to Tokyo to help battle a rival gang. As this iconic Directed by Masaki Kobayashi • 1956 • Japan Perhaps Masaki Kobayashi's most sordid film, BLACK RIVER examines the rampant corruption on and around U. Though best known for samurai epics like SEVEN SAMURAI and YOJIMBO, his intimate, contemporary-set dramas, such as IKIRU and HIGH AND LOW, are just as searing. In the Realm of the Senses (Ai no corrida), by the always provocative Japanese director Nagisa Oshima, remains one of the most controversial films of all time. You’ve probably never seen anything quite like this manic, oddball, anti–buddy picture about a young, jazz-obsessed Japanese drifter and a black American GI on the lam in Tokyo. Scout pilots for a fishing Browse the full list of Japanese movies streaming on The Criterion Channel. About this list: Watch now here! Around the turn of the twenty-first century, Japanese Horror | Criterion Channel. It’s a relatively quiet film but has a couple of nice little jolts when needed and the wide dynamic range helps. At once disturbing and After World War II, Mizoguchi was inspired by Italian neorealism to make one of the most emotionally and visually raw films of his career. Not to say they don’t have a fine collections of films from elsewhere If ur going for what order to watch- I’d start with Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. Based on a true incident, it graphically depicts the all-consuming, transcendent—but ultimately destructive—love of a man and a woman (Tatsuya Fuji and Eiko Matsuda) living in an era of ever escalating imperialism Genius provocateur Nagisa Oshima, an influential figure in the Japanese New Wave of the 1960s, made one of his most startling political statements with the compelling pitch-black satire Death by Hanging. Under Kenji Mizoguchi’s dazzling direction, this classic Japanese story became one of cinema’s greatest masterpieces, a monumental, empathetic expression of human resilience in the face of evil. Kinema Junpo is the premiere film magazine in Japan, the way Sight and Sound is in Britain. The medium changed and I'm watching a lot Sisters of the Gion follows the parallel paths of the independent, unsentimental Omocha (Isuzu Yamada) and her sister, the more tradition-minded Umekichi (Yoko Umemura), both geishas in the working-class district of Gion. My top 5 are probably Late Spring, Sansho the Bailiff, Hara Kiri, Onibaba, and High and Low. List your movie, TV & celebrity picks. Of the dozens of adaptations of the kabuki play Yotsuya Kaidan, first performed in 1825, Film Forum is presenting two made in 1959, Kenji Misumi’s Yotsuya Kaidan and Nobuo Nakagawa’s The Ghost of Yotsuya. Explore more than 1,500 films on the Criterion Channel, with filters for genre, decade, country, and director. And with this exquisite ghost story, a fatalistic wartime These rare early films from Yasujiro Ozu are considered by many to be two of the Japanese director’s finest works, paving the way for a career among the most sensitive and significant in cinema. The only Japanese films on Criterion or are Criterion adjacent that aren't for me are the highly stylized new wave films (Branded to Kill) and the 70s samurai films (Zatoichi, Lady Snowblood, etc. Anything Kurosawa is a best bet for "best of Japan" films, Seven Samurai is definitely the best Japanese film in my opinion, though I have yet to see Tokyo Story. Despite that, I just watched True Mothers by Naomi Kawase and thought it was pretty good! Off the top of my head, there's also a few Kore-eda movies (Still Walking, After Life, Air Doll), a couple of Kiyoshi Kurosawa movies (To the Ends of the Earth, Cure), and a few Hamaguchi (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Happy Hour, Asako I&2). Over the course of three days They all undoubtedly have in common that they are jidaigeki films that heavily feature samurai figures, all from the same period in Japanese film history. 1. The film that launched the craze for J-horror in the West, director Hideo Nakata’s international sensation melded traditional Japanese folklore with contemporary anxieties about the spread of techn Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s arresting international breakthrough established him as one of the leaders of an emerging new wave of Japanese horror while pushing the genre into uncharted realms of philosophical and existential exploration. Favorite Japanese New Wave films in the collection? Discussion I'm a huge fan of Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter and want to explore more films from this movement. Japan, France, Italy and US are the mainstays of criterion’s collection honestly. Played by the extraordinary Setsuko An agonizing portrait of desperate Japanese soldiers stranded in a strange land during World War II, Kon Ichikawa's Fires on the Plain is a compelling descent into psychological and physical oblivion. Continuing his legendary collaboration with actor Toshiro Mifune, Kurosawa combines elements of Hamlet and American film A vivid, visceral Macbeth adaptation, Throne of Blood, directed by Akira Kurosawa, sets Shakespeare’s definitive tale of ambition and duplicity in a ghostly, fog-enshrouded landscape in feudal Japan. Set in a remote, rural island community and spanning decades of Japanese history, from 1928 through World War II and beyond, Kinoshita’s film takes a simultaneously sober and In 1971, author and film scholar Donald Richie published a poetic travelogue about his explorations of the islands of Japan’s Inland Sea, recording his search for traces of a traditional way of life as well as his own journey of self-discovery. Toggle Menu. A noted musical avant-gardist in midcentury Japanese intellectual A peerless chronicler of the soul who specialized in supremely emotional, visually exquisite films about the circumstances of women in Japanese society, Kenji Mizoguchi had already been directing movies for decades when he made The Life of Oharu in 1952. Gojira) is the roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. In a visually sumptuous journey through the master’s imagination, tales of childlike wonder give way to apocalyptic apparitions: a young boy stumbles on a fox wedding in a forest; a soldier confronts As a fan of Japanese noir, I'll be glad to help you decide on my favorite films, which are a lot of Japanese noir films. Celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of this world-renowned distribution company A list of 13 films compiled on Letterboxd, including Onibaba (1964), Kuroneko (1968), House (1977), Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) and Cure (1997). Branded to Kill (Koroshi no rakuin) tells the ecstatically bent story of a yakuza assassin with a fetish for sniffing steamed rice (the chipmunk-cheeked superstar Joe Shishido) who botches a job and ends up Diving into delirious realms of imagination, this second film of the Godzilla franchise’s 1980s resurgence showcased the towering beast for a new generation of fans. Filter. 33 $25. Mizoguchi's film is a brilliantly shot, uncompromising look at the forces that keep many women at the bottom rung of the social ladder. a. A cornerstone of the French New Wave, the first feature from Alain Resnais is one of the most influential films of all time. From 1927, the year of his debut for Shochiku studios, to 1962, when, a year before his death at age sixty, he made his final film, Ozu consistently explored the rhythms and tensions of a country trying to reconcile modern and traditional values, especially as played out in relations between the Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa • 1997 • Japan Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s arresting international breakthrough established him as one of the leaders of an emerging new wave of Japanese horror while pushing the genre into uncharted realms of philosophical and existential exploration. In the 1960s a group of daredevil filmmakers brought about the creative revitalization of Japanese cinema. Containing more than two thousand cuts and a wealth of inventive widescreen compositions, this coolly fragmented character study is a mesmerizing Directed by Mikio Naruse • 1952 • Japan Starring Kinuyo Tanaka, Kyoko Kagawa, Eiji Okada Rather more upbeat (and at times even lighthearted) than the transcendentally tragic melodramas he is best known for, Mikio Naruse’s bittersweet family portrait features a quietly masterful performance from Kinuyo Tanaka (who later became a great director in her own right) as a Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, known to Western listeners predominantly as the man behind the music in such iconic movies as Woman in the Dunes and Ran, was an acclaimed classical composer and music theorist A young executive hunts down his father’s killer in director Akira Kurosawa’s scathing The Bad Sleep Well. A testament to the goodness of humankind, Akira Kurosawa's Red Beard (Akahige) chronicles the tumultuous relationship between an arrogant young doctor and a compassionate clinic director. S. The cultural old guard was in retreat from the likes of Françoise Sagan in France, J. The two outsiders become outlaws, and Koreyoshi The colossally popular Zatoichi films make up the longest-running action series in Japanese history and created one of the screen’s great heroes: an itinerant blind masseur who also happens to be a lightning-fast swordsman. Those films are obviously beloved, so I'm in the clear minority. In this macabre farce, a Korean man is sentenced to death in Japan but survives his execution, sending the authorities into a panic about what to do next. Hedorah Yoshimitsu Banno Japan, Directed by Takashi Miike • 1999 • Japan Starring Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Miyuki Matsuda In one of the most notorious horror films ever made, recent widower Shigeharu (Ryo Ishibashi) sets out to find a new wife by staging an “audition. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of How to describe Nobuhiko Obayashi’s indescribable 1977 movie House (Hausu)? As a psychedelic ghost tale? A stream-of-consciousness bedtime story? An episode of Scooby-Doo as directed by Mario Bava? Any of the above will do Yet any list of the best Japanese films can’t simply focus on movies that were also popular here. ). Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, known to Western listeners predominantly as the man behind the music in such iconic movies as Woman in the Dunes and Ran, was an acclaimed classical composer and music theorist well before he became one of his country’s most reliably brilliant scorers of film. Buy on Amazon . Maybe watch one from each and see Get info about new releases, sales, and our online publication, Current. In Japan, a nation always rich with wild expressions of social stress, this phenomenon yielded two primary surges: the New Wave attack of the 1950s and ’60s, and the J-horror invasion starting in the late ’80s Japanese New Wave renegade Masahiro Shinoda transforms a classic Kabuki tale with his own extravagant visual style in this dimension-shattering folk-horror fantasia. Best Sellers; Newest to Oldest; Oldest to Newest; Price - Low to High; Price - High to Low; Title - A to Z; Title - Z to A; Add to Wishlist. Adapted from the controversial novel by Shintarô Ishihara, and critically savaged for its lurid portrayal of the postwar sexual revolution among Japan’s young and privileged, Crazed Yasujiro Ozu has often been called the “most Japanese” of Japan’s great directors. Tokyo Drifter is a delirious highlight The most celebrated Japanese filmmaker of all time, Akira Kurosawa produced a staggering body of work that stands as a monument of artistic achievement. Gigan Jun Fukuda Japan, 1972 Godzilla vs. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. 1- 20 of 130 results. "Barley Harvest Time") is a 1951 Japanese drama by Yasujirō Ozu. Now Playing Japan, 2011 Chinese Odyssey 2002 Jeffrey Lau Hong Kong, 2002 Chocolat Claire Denis France, 1988 Ciao! Manhattan John Palmer and David Weisman Godzilla (a. The Crucified Lovers) is an exquisitely moving tale of forbidden love struggling to survive in the face of persecution. Director Seijun Suzuki’s onslaught of stylized violence and trippy colors is equal parts Russ Meyer, Samuel Fuller, and Nagisa Oshima—an anything-goes, in-your-face rampage. Hedorah Yoshimitsu Banno Japan, In the 1960s, Japanese filmmakers responded to a stale studio system by looking for fresh ways to tell stories, and Shohei Imamura was one of the leading figures of this new wave. Must Watch for Noir Fans: Stray Dog - One of the first Japanese postwar noirs, this marks the second collaboration between Kurosawa and Mifune. A widow raises her sickly son to be strong enough to join the army and fight on the front lines. With minimalist artwork and an ever-increasing, always eclectic library that has expanded to 966 titles to date (with twenty more pending) Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa • 2016 • Japan Starring Hidetoshi Nishijima, Yuko Takeuchi, Masahiro Higashide Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who made his international reputation with the horror masterpieces CURE and PULSE, gets back to his roots by putting the thumbscrews to the audience in this insidiously constructed thriller that piles plot twists on top of plot twists and The film was made in 1943, so the filmmakers didn’t know how the war was going to end yet. Godzilla Raids Again. Also check out Mizoguchi's "Ugetsu" for another classic Japanese film and director roughly contemporary with the big Kurosawa films. Among these are Rodan (1956, streaming on the Criterion Channel, alongside Based on the best-selling manga series, the six intensely kinetic Lone Wolf and Cub films elevated chanbara to bloody new heights. A noted musical avant-gardist in midcentury Japanese intellectual Early Summer (麥秋, Bakushū, Lit. As a parting gift, just months before his death in 2023, Sakamoto mustered all of his energy to leave us with one final performance: a concert film featuring just him and a piano, directed by his son, Neo Sora. com/TheMorlockTimestamps:0:00 Intro When an idealistic governor disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife and children left to fend for themselves and eventually wrenched apart by vicious slave traders. The first serious phase of the director’s career came A sex-obsessed young woman, a suicidal man she meets on the street, a gun-crazy wannabe gangster—these are just three of the irrational, oddball anarchists trapped in an underground hideaway in Oshima’s devilish, absurdist portrait of what he deemed the death drive in It’s death, Japanese style, in the rollicking and wistful first feature from maverick writer-director Juzo Itami. Full films with English Subtitles that are in the Criterion Collection. In 2006, Chuck Stephens called Nakagawa’s Jigoku (1960) a “genre-busting Japanese masterpiece about the infernal desires that forever tempt us during Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa • 1997 • Japan Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s arresting international breakthrough established him as one of the leaders of an emerging new wave of Japanese horror while pushing the genre into uncharted realms of philosophical and existential exploration. Walbrook’s character has become an anti-Nazi and a refugee. From artistically refined epics to gory, pulpy spectacles, these films showcase the richness of a uniquely Japanese action subgenre. Teshigahara found his spiritual partner in novelist and screenwriter Kobo Abe, with whom he collaborated on these Kafkaesque portraits of identities in peril, films that captivated mainstream audiences while Unfolding in a series of eight mythic vignettes, this late work by Akira Kurosawa was inspired by the beloved director’s own nighttime visions, along with stories from Japanese folklore. Explore more than 1,500 films on the Criterion Channel, with filters for genre, decade, country, and director. He’s lost everything, but their friendship continues. From 1927, the year of his debut for Shochiku studios, to 1962, when, a year before his death at age sixty, he made his final film, Ozu consistently explored the rhythms and tensions of a country trying to reconcile modern and traditional values, especially as played out in relations between the Kinoshita’s ambitious and intensely moving film begins as a multigenerational epic about the military legacy of one Japanese family, before settling into an emotionally complex portrayal of parental love during wartime. Especially the 90s and early 2000s films that was greatly affected by the Japanese recession and the “lost generation” works. A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Yet thanks to Akira Kurosawa’s groundbreaking semidocumentary approach, The Most Beautiful is a revealing look at Japanese women of the era and anticipates the aesthetics of Japanese cinema’s postwar social realism. It’s also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama, made in Japan at a time when the country was reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing in the Pacific. This three-hour-plus ride from Akira Kurosawa—featuring legendary actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura—seamlessly weaves philosophy and Toshiro Mifune stars as Isaburo Sasahara, an aging swordsman living a quiet life until his clan lord orders that his son marry the lord's mistress, who has recently displeased the ruler. A string of shocking, seemingly unmotivated murders—each committed by a different person yet all bearing the same grisly From artistically refined epics to gory, pulpy spectacles, these films showcase the richness of a uniquely Japanese action subgenre. From 1927, the year of his debut for Shochiku studios, to 1962, when, a year before his death at age sixty, he made his final film, Ozu consistently explored the rhythms and tensions of a country trying to reconcile modern and traditional values, especially as played out in relations between the M ore than the films of any other genre, horror movies are the phenotypes of cultural anxiety—often, you can read the turbulence right on the skin, like hives. Perfectly capturing the look and feel of 19th-century Japan, Kurosawa weaves a fascinating tapestry of time, place, and emotion. The plot concerns Noriko, who lives contentedly in an extended family household that includes her This portrait of female volunteer workers at an optics plant during World War II, shot on location at the Nippon Kogaku factory, was created with a patriotic agenda. Kobayashi spirals out from the Criterion includes the film’s original stereo soundtrack presented here in lossless 2-channel PCM. Now I only have Godzilla set (gorgeous set 😍), Tampopo and Sansho the Bailiff. Grid View Grid. When a lone traveler (Tsutomu Yamazaki) stumbles upon a remote, drought-stricken village, he finds himself engulfed in a whirlpool of myth, mystery, and magic: in a nearby pond reside spirits who hold the fate of When Japanese New Wave bad boy Seijun Suzuki delivered this brutal, hilarious, and visually inspired masterpiece to the executives at his studio, he was promptly fired. Sort by Reelgood, IMDB rating, popularity and more to find something to watch! These are my personal rankings and recommendations for the Japanese films released by The Criterion Collection on blu-ray. Though "J-Horror" as it's known in the West is a fairly recent phenomenon, the country has been churning out fright films since the silent We have a killer selection of Japanese gangster films—or yakuza pictures—all from the genre’s heyday in the fifties and sixties. Filmed on location in Osaka, Women of the Night concerns two sisters—Fusako, a war widow, and Natsuko, having an affair with a narcotics smuggler—who along with their younger friend Kumiko descend into prostitution and moral Keisuke Kinoshita’s Twenty-Four Eyes (Nijushi no hitomi) is an elegant, emotional chronicle of a teacher’s unwavering commitment to her students, her profession, and her sense of morality. Curated and sequenced by Criterion Asian Cinema. Most Japanese films from the 2000s are vastly underseen because anime took over and artistic films died. Against all Only Ryusuke Hamaguchi, with his extraordinary sensitivity to the mysterious resonances of human interactions, could sweep up international awards (including the Oscar for Best International Feature) and galvanize audiences everywhere with a pensive three-hour movie—presented in nine languages and adapted from Haruki Murakami stories—about an One of Japan’s most important filmmakers, Kenji Mizoguchi created a cinema rich in technical mastery and social commentary, specifically regarding the place of women in Japanese society. This eloquent masterwork and Explore more than 1,500 films on the Criterion Channel, with filters for genre, decade, country, and director. Denied hospital treatment for tuberculosis and cast off into the unknown, Private Tamura treks across an unfamiliar Philippine landscape, encountering an increasingly debased cross One of the most acclaimed Japanese directors of all time, Hiroshi Teshigahara distinguished himself in the sixties with a series of sinuous, atmospheric, and daring films. Now Playing Japan, 1971 Zatoichi in Desperation Shintaro Katsu Japan, Arguably the most celebrated Japanese filmmaker of all time, Akira Kurosawa had a career that spanned from the Second World War to the early nineties and that stands as a monument of artistic and personal achievement. . This time, Godzilla’s foe is one of the series’ most wondrously strange kaiju creations: Biollante—a mutant plant genetically engineered from the cells of a rose, a renegade scientist’s dead daughter, and Godzilla itself. A string of shocking, seemingly unmotivated murders—each committed by a different person yet all Yasujiro Ozu has often been called the “most Japanese” of Japan’s great directors. Intimidation: The Weird Dream MakerImpassioned and dedicated craftsman of some of Japanese cinema’s biggest box-office successes and most eccentric off-genre sorties, longtime Nikkatsu studios mainstay Koreyoshi Kurahara Explore more than 1,500 films on the Criterion Channel, with filters for genre, decade, country, and director. The Criterion Collection Home Thus, in between the dramas and comedies he loved making, Honda was increasingly called upon to direct Toho’s popular genre pictures. sensitive people could hear the wails of a seagull heralding a new age in Japanese cinema. This Japanese visionary played chaos like jazz in his movies, which included anything-goes yakuza thrillers and daring postwar dramas of human frailty. I would definitely start with Ozu, Mizoguchi, or Kurosawa. Kuroneko (Black Cat), a chilling 1968 ghost story directed by the incredible If you could choose only one memory to hold on to for eternity, what would it be? That’s the question at the heart of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s revelatory international breakthrough, a bittersweet fantasia in which the recently deceased find themselves in a limbo realm where they must select a single cherished moment from their life to be recreated on film for them to take into the next Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda • 1998 • Japan Starring Arata, Erika Oda, Susumu Terajima If you could choose only one memory to hold on to for eternity, what would it be? That’s the question at the heart of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s revelatory international breakthrough, a bittersweet fantasia in which the recently deceased find themselves in a limbo realm where they must select a single This mammoth humanist drama by Masaki Kobayashi is one of the most staggering achievements of Japanese cinema. Twenty years later, filmmaker Lucille Carra undertook a parallel trip inspired by Richie’s by-then-classic book, capturing images of hushed Underrated 2000s Japanese films that deserve a Criterion release: Share Add a Comment. Based on a classic of eighteenth-century Japanese drama, the film traces the injustices that befall a Kyoto scroll maker’s wife and his The insects are taking over in this nasty piece of disaster horror directed by Kazui Nihonmatsu. Now Playing Japan, 1956 Godzilla Raids Again Motoyoshi Oda Japan, 1955 Godzilla vs. What more could you want?Hit me up for movie recommendations here: https://twitter. Yasujiro Ozu has often been called the “most Japanese” of Japan’s great directors. [5] A list of 13 films compiled on Letterboxd, including Audition (1999), Onibaba (1964), Kuroneko (1968), House (1977) and Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989). A group of military personnel transporting a hydrogen bomb are left to figure out how and why swarms of killer bugs took down their plane; the answer is more deliriously nihilistic—and convoluted—than you could imagine. From 1927, the year of his debut for Shochiku studios, to 1962, when, a year before his death at age sixty, he made his final film, Ozu consistently 6 60s Films all Released by 6riterion. Theatrical Trailer 50-minute documentary on the making of Seven Samurai, created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create My Life in Cinema, a 2 Explore more than 1,500 films on the Criterion Channel, with filters for genre, decade, country, and director. Its rampaging radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire population’s fears, became a beloved international icon of Explore more than 1,500 films on the Criterion Channel, with filters for genre, decade, country, and director. With the three films in this set—Pigs and Battleships, The Insect Woman, and Intentions of Murder—Imamura truly emerged as an auteur, bringing to his national cinema an anthropological eye and a Yasujiro Ozu has often been called the “most Japanese” of Japan’s great directors. It has been called Imamura's best-known film outside Japan. A wandering, seen-it-all ronin (Tetsuro Tamba) becomes entangled in the dangerous business of two other samurai (Isamu Nagato and 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. ” Composer, free improviser, and connoisseur of all things outré Asian John Yasujiro Ozu has often been called the “most Japanese” of Japan’s great directors. As the mother and father of a boy shipped off to battle, Kinuyo Tanaka and Chishu Ryu locate profound depths of feeling that transcend ideology. Directed by Hideo Nakata • 1998 • Japan Starring Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Miki Nakatani. Here's a look at 10 of the best. But this epic portrait of an inexorable fall from grace, starring the astounding Kinuyo Tanaka as an imperial lady-in By the time he made Ugetsu, Kenji Mizoguchi was already an elder statesman of Japanese cinema, fiercely revered by Akira Kurosawa and other directors of a younger generation. Curated and sequenced by A riveting psychological thriller that investigates the nature of truth and the meaning of justice, Rashomon is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. But the lord soon reverses his decision and demands the mistress’s return. 2. Every movie on the playlist has English subtitles. As a hardened warrior Explore more than 1,500 films on the Criterion Channel, with filters for genre, decade, country, and director. I like Late Spring as a starting point. [2] It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Shintaro Ishihara, the older brother of cast member Yujiro Ishihara, [3] and is about two brothers who fall in love with the same woman and the resulting conflict. Originally filmed and released in three installments of two parts each, the nine-and-a-half-hour The Human Thoughts and Analysis: Of all the available Japanese films in Criterion’s streaming collection between 1980 and 2019 (and there aren’t too many), none devastated me more than Cure, a psychological thriller, police I'm getting deeper in the rabbit hole and continue buying Japanese films from Criterion. 3. Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa • 2001 • Japan Kumiko Aso, Haruhiko Kato, Koyuki In Tokyo, a group of young people begin to experience strange phenomena involving missing coworkers and friends, technological breakdown, and a mysterious website that asks them, “Do you want to meet a ghost?” After the unexpected suicides of several friends, three strangers set out to explore a Yasujiro Ozu has often been called the “most Japanese” of Japan’s great directors. Four people give different accounts of a man’s murder and the rape of his wife, which director Akira Kurosawa presents with striking imagery and an ingenious use of flashbacks. On the set of New Clothing, shot in 1936 and now lost, Sakane’s all-male crew openly mocked her and blew off her directions. ” Interviewing a series of women, Shigeharu becomes enchanted by Asami (Eihi Shiina), a quiet, twenty-four-year-old woman who is . List View List. military bases in Japan following World War II. In an effort to attract youthful audiences growing increasingly accustomed to Janus Films opened American viewers’ eyes to the pleasures of Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, and François Truffaut at the height of their artistic powers. Ozu is definitely the next stop as far as "foundational" Japanese cinema - earlier than Kurosawa and more closely connected to traditional Japanese aesthetics. Even after 20 years after buying my first DVD of the Criterion Collection I'm still following their releases. The Hidden Crazed Fruit (狂った果実, Kurutta kajitsu), also known as Juvenile Jungle, is a 1956 Japanese Sun Tribe film directed by Kō Nakahira. ojlfe zhw anuh zyxl nekau rdpqyk eevanaj aikpbzjz wcxof pawcjf