Movies
673 Results
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A Last Note (1995)
- Director
- SHINDO Kaneto
- Cast
- SUGIMURA Haruko, OTOWA Nobuko, ASAGIRI Kyoko
Like many works of the director's later period, A Last Note grapples with the theme of aging. It focuses on famed (fictional) actor Yoko, whose retreat to her rural summer residence is interrupted by a visit from Tomie, an old friend and former actor...
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Ikiru (1952)
- Director
- KUROSAWA Akira
- Cast
- SHIMURA Takashi, ODAGIRI Miki, HIMORI Shinichi
Thrown into despair after his terminal cancer diagnosis, a city office bureaucrat fights to turn around his unremarkable life and do something of consequence with his remaining time. This was the first film Kurosawa co-wrote with famed scriptwriters ...
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I Live in Fear (1955)
- Director
- KUROSAWA Akira
- Cast
- MIFUNE Toshiro, MIYOSHI Eiko, SHIMURA Takashi
Convinced that a nuclear war is imminent, an elderly man decides to uproot his entire family and emigrate to Brazil. When they object to his plan, it sends him spiraling deeper and deeper into obsession. Kurosawa reportedly got the idea for the story...
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Forever a Woman aka The Eternal Breasts (1955)
- Director
- TANAKA Kinuyo
- Cast
- TSUKIOKA Yumeji, HAYAMA Ryoji, MORI Masayuki
Tanaka's first directorial work on which she collaborated with a female scriptwriter tells the story of the life of tanka poet NAKAJO Fumiko. Betrayed by her husband, Fumiko moves back to her mother's home together with her daughter. Though determine...
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The Moon Has Risen (1955)
- Director
- TANAKA Kinuyo
- Cast
- KITAHARA Mie, SUGI Yoko, YASUI Shoji
Setsuko plays the role of overzealous matchmaker for her elder sister, but what about when it comes to her own budding romance? Featuring a screenplay by SAITO Ryosuke and OZU Yasujiro, Tanaka's sophomore film about three sisters' love lives skillful...
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Lightning (1952)
- Director
- NARUSE Mikio
- Cast
- TAKAMINE Hideko, MURATA Chieko, MIURA Mitsuko
A screen adaptation by TANAKA Sumie of a HAYASHI Fumiko novel. Frustrated by growing tensions at home – such as her elder sister Mitsuko's being approached by her deceased husband's mistress to provide child support for the child he secretly fathered...
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Wife Be Like a Rose (1935)
- Director
- NARUSE Mikio
- Cast
- CHIBA Sachiko, MARUYAMA Sadao, HANABUSA Yuriko
A film adaptation of the play Futari tsuma ("Two Wives"), written by NAKANO Minoru. When Kimiko pays her estranged father a visit ahead of her upcoming marriage, she ends up discovering the truth behind the remittances being sent to her mother every ...
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The Ghost Story of Yotsuya (1959)
- Director
- NAKAGAWA Nobuo
- Cast
- AMACHI Shigeru, WAKASUGI Katsuko, EMI Shuntaro
Based on a kabuki play by TSURUYA Nanboku. After he is witnessed carrying out a murder, samurai Iemon falls prey to the manipulations of Naosuke. He later drives his wife Oiwa to suicide, incurring the wrath of her vengeful ghost. Nakagawa's bold tra...
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Jigoku (1960)
- Director
- NAKAGAWA Nobuo
- Cast
- AMACHI Shigeru, NUMATA Yoichi, NAKAMURA Torahiko
A bold concoction of a work, Nakagawa's Jigoku looks beyond Eastern values to incorporate Western classics such as Goethe's Faust and Dante's Divine Comedy among its tapestry of influences. When his friend Tamura commits a hit-and-run, it sets in mot...
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A Hen in the Wind (1948)
- Director
- OZU Yasujiro
- Cast
- SANO Shuji, TANAKA Kinuyo, MURATA Chieko
Ozu's second film made upon his return from military service, following 1947's Record of a Tenement Gentleman (Nagaya shinshiroku). Reduced to poverty during the hardship of the immediate post-war years, a woman is forced to prostitute herself to aff...
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Dragnet Girl (1933)
- Director
- OZU Yasujiro
- Cast
- OKA Joji, TANAKA Kinuyo, MIZUKUBO Sumiko
When small-time gangster Joji falls for Kazuko, Joji's mistress Tokiko decides to scare her rival away, only to end up falling for her innocent charms herself. Inspired by Kazuko's example to turn over a new leaf, Tokiko convinces Joji to do the same...
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Where Chimneys Are Seen (1953)
- Director
- GOSHO Heinosuke
- Cast
- UEHARA Ken, TANAKA Kinuyo, AKUTAGAWA Hiroshi
An adaptation of a short story by SHIINA Rinzo. When a middle-aged couple living in the lower-class outskirts of Tokyo find an abandoned child, it ends up sparking a conflict that engulfs the young boarders living above them. The film takes its name ...
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The Yellow Crow (1957)
- Director
- GOSHO Heinosuke
- Cast
- AWASHIMA Chikage, ITO Yunosuke, TANAKA Kinuyo
Hoping to bring pointed significance to the use of color for what was to be his first color film, Gosho turned to the world of child psychology. The film tells the story of Kiyoshi, a young boy emotionally estranged from his parents after his father'...
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The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939)
- Director
- MIZOGUCHI Kenji
- Cast
- HANAYANAGI Shotaro, MORI Kakuko, TAKADA Kokichi
An unparalleled masterwork from Mizoguchi's pre-war period. Kikunosuke, the adopted son of a famous kabuki performer, conceitedly believes he has little left to learn – until Otoku, the wet nurse of his infant brother, devotedly helps him to change h...
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A Story from Chikamatsu (1954)
- Director
- MIZOGUCHI Kenji
- Cast
- HASEGAWA Kazuo, KAGAWA Kyoko, MINAMIDA Yoko
Mizoguchi's quintessential tale of tragic love, based on a classic play by Edo-period dramatist CHIKAMATSU Monzaemon. In seventeenth-century Kyoto, Mohei, the apprentice of a wealthy scroll maker, forges a receipt to help his master's young wife, Osa...
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Don't Look Up (1996)
- Director
- NAKATA Hideo
- Cast
- YANAGI Yurei, SHIRASHIMA Yasuyo, ISHIBASHI Kei
First collaboration between director Nakata Hideo and screenplay writer Takahashi Hiroshi, who went on to ignite the J-horror boom with Ring. Produced as part of the third season in WOWOW's J･Movie･Wars. Murai (Yanagi Yurei) is directing his first f...
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Helpless (1996)
- Director
- AOYAMA Shinji
- Cast
- ASANO Tadanobu, MITSUISHI Ken, TSUJI Kaori
Aoyama Shinji's feature film directorial debut. Coming-of-age drama produced as part of the third season in WOWOW's J・Movie・Wars and shot in Kitakyushu, the director's hometown. In 1989, Kenji (Asano Tadanobu) is an aimless high school student idlin...
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Tokyo Heaven (1990)
- Director
- SOMAI Shinji
- Cast
- MAKISE Riho, NAKAI Kiichi, SHOFUKUTEI Tsurube
This fantasy starring newcomer Makise Rino brings a new twist to the "pop star as heroine" genre. Directed by Somai Shinji, who was recognized for his definitive take on idol films. Campaign girl Yu (Makise Riho) dies in a traffic accident. Upon arr...
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After Life (1998)
- Director
- KORE-EDA Hirokazu
- Cast
- ARATA, ODA Erika, TERAJIMA Susumu
Second film by Kore-eda Hirokazu, whose numerous honors for Maborosi included the Golden Osella Award at the Venice International Film Festival. Fantasy drama about the seven days between a person's death and arrival in the afterlife. Twenty-two dea...
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The Friends (1994)
- Director
- SOMAI Shinji
- Cast
- MIKUNI Rentaro, SAKATA Naoki, OH Taiki
Maestro Somai Shinji adapted the same-named children's novel by Yumoto Kazumi. Set in summertime Kobe, three boys and a lonely old man spend the summer together. Shot by Shinoda Noboru, famed for Love Letter. Sixth graders Kiyama, Kawabe and Yamashi...
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Moving (1993)
- Director
- SOMAI Shinji
- Cast
- NAKAI Kiichi, SAKURADA Junko, TABATA Tomoko
Tenth feature film by masterful director Somai Shinji, who passed away in 2001. This drama deals with the unsettled emotions of an 11-year-old girl whose parents live apart and are about to get divorced. Shot by Kurita Toyomichi, who also works in th...
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Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
- Director
- TSUKAMOTO Shinya
- Cast
- TAGUCHI Tomorowo
Powerful cinematic realization of the explosive drama about a man whose flesh is taken over by metal cells, based on the 1986 8mm film The Phantom of Regular Size. This 16mm film brought Tsukamoto Shinya to the world's attention. One morning, a whit...
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The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987)
- Director
- HARA Kazuo
- Cast
- OKUZAKI Kenzo
Electrifying documentary from world-renowned director Hara Kazuo about Okuzaki Kenzo, an anarchist who used radical means to doggedly confront the Emperor's wartime responsibility. Okuzaki Kenzo runs a battery and used car repair shop with his wife ...
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The Black House (1999)
- Director
- MORITA Yoshimitsu
- Cast
- UCHINO Seiyo, OTAKE Shinobu, NISHIMURA Masahiko
Kishi Yusuke's same-named novel adapted as a psychological horror film by director Morita Yoshimitsu and screenplay writer Omori Sumio, who also teamed up for Keiho. Wakatsuki (Uchino Seiyo) works for a life insurance company in the ancient capital ...
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(Haru) (1996)
- Director
- MORITA Yoshimitsu
- Cast
- FUKATSU Eri, UCHINO Seiyo
Ingenious film about romance released in 1996 by director Morita Yoshimitsu, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 61. His original script portrays a love story between a man and women connected online in the days before the Internet was commonplace....
