10 Japanese Movies You Must See!

Might I also suggest Moju, aka Blind Beast:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140384/

Brilliant gem that deserves more attention.

Patrick, now that you mentioned Raizo portraying a Casanova, it reminds me of a Toei-studio flick I saw here in Honolulu during the 1970s that was entitled “Hanjiro,” also a period-piece about a lecherous philanderer. Have you seen that one? I saw it at the Toyo Theatre which screened Toei movies only. Regrettably, the Toyo Theatre has long been torn down. What I lament about its passing is not only the fact that it showed chambara films but also because it included a pond filled with koi-fish. Passing over the koi-pond was a small nihon-bashi, which is the Japanese-type bridge seen in all the chambara films. Gone are the days.

Your list of 10 “must see” films is all pulpy fun stuff rather than established classics. I love these titles too but I’m not Quentin Tarantino and so I just can’t put The Streetfighter ahead of The Seven Samurai. Actually, there are so many great Japanese films that I couldn’t begin to isolate just 10. But I can pick 10 directors whose best films are also Japan’s best.

Yasujiro Ozu: no guns, Yakuza, girls, fast cars, swords, or wild jazz music but he’s the best Japanese director. He’s not flashy but he gets to comedy and emotion unlike any other director. Most people pick Tokyo Story as his masterpiece but I’m more fond of The End of Summer which I think captures everything he wishes to say about zen & society. That said, I Was Born, But…, it’s remake Ohayo, The Only Son, Late Spring, and Early Summer are all equally wonderful.

Seijun Suzuki: guns, Yakuza, girls, fast cars, swords, and wild jazz music! Style over substance and an amazing visual sense. Ironically, his best film is a WW2 movie that takes Bushido to task, The Story of a Prostitute, though it isn’t as much fun as the others.

Akira Kurosawa: I like even the minor ones like Scandal, I Live in Fear, and The Lower Depths. My favorite two are No Regrets For Our Youth and The Hidden Fortress, but nearly every film by him is a wonder.

Kon Ichikawa: His best films are atypical-Tokyo Olympiad which is just amazing, one great image after another, and Alone on the Pacific, which is, again, more visual than narrative. But The Burmese Harp, Enjo, An Actor’s Revenge, Being Two Isn’t Easy, and others are well worth looking at.

Shohei Imamura: Pigs and Battleships, The Insect Woman, Intentions of Murder, The Pornographers, The Profound Desire of the Gods, and The Ballad of Narayama are just amazing.

Kenji Mizoguchi: From his early film The Water Magician through Osaka Elegy, Story of the Last Chrysanthemum, Utamaro and His Five Women, My Love Has Been Burning, Miss Oyu, Ugetsu, Sansho the Bailiff, and even Tales of the Taira Clan, again comes a director whose name is attached to just one great film after another.

Hiroshi Teshigahara: Again most people pick Woman in the Dunes as his masterpiece but I pick another film, The Face of Another, as his best. That said, Pitfall, Summer Soldiers, Antonio Gaudi, and Rikyu are all worth looking at.

Mikio Naruse: I haven’t seen his early comedies but Mother, Repast, Sound of the Mountain, Flowing, Late Chrysanthemum, Floating Clouds, and When A Woman Ascends The Stairs assure him a place in the top 10.

Masaki Kobayashi: Like Teshigahara, he made but a handful of films but The Human Condition, Harikiri, Kwaidan, and Samurai Rebellion are all he had to make.

Yasuzo Masumura: He’s only recently shown up on my radar but Manji and Blind Beast are so incredibly out there that I’m still recovering. Black Test Car and Giants and Toys completely destroy corporate culture once and for all time while Irezumi and Red Angel are the Japanese equivalent of Verdi operas.

In addition to these directors there are one-shot films worth considering. Certainly Funeral Parade of Roses listed above as well as Kazuo Kuroki’s Silence Has No Wings, Hiroshi Shimizu’s Children of the Beehive, Yukio Mishima’s Patriotism, and Nagisa Oshima’s Cruel Story of Youth. The best Kihachi Okamoto (Sword of Doom), Kinji Fukasaku (Blackmail Is My Life & Black Lizard), and Hideo Gosha (The Wolves & Onimasa) films rank not to mention the best J-horror films of the last 20 years. Anime features and series are their own category but some of the all-time best Japanese cinema certainly falls into it, with Hayao Miyazaki being only the tip of an amazing treasure trove.

I would love to hear what anime you are fond of, Alchemist.

Yumiko Katayama
http://rarerecord.img.jugem.jp/20080429_346686.jpg
(not 100% sure …)

Thanks a million, guys! Much appreciated.

BTW, cool book, Martin!

Are people reading comments before posting?

OK, upon further investigation, I realize the kanji for Onigashira can be read as Kito. So my mistake. Cheers, Martin

great list, but no kitano or shuji terayama? lame..

I’d say it’s usually a good sign to look at a “Must See” list and find only one film I’ve seen. I guess I’m ready to be schooled further in pulpy Japanese freakiness.

Dave, I don’t know my guns, but here’s a good guess: Sailor Suit and Machine Gun.

1981, directed by the legendary Shinji Somai and starring super-idol Hiroko Yakushimaru. Stamp exists, too. Later adapted into two TV-shows, first in 1982 with Tomoyo Harada, and then in the 2000′s with someone.

THATS IT!!!!….MAN thats a good feeling to get that off my brain! Thank you guys SO much!..of COURSE I should have known it was some crazy explicit title; “Girl and Gun”..brilliant. I have that stamp back in Canada, and I wanted my girl to do some posing here in Osaka in that style..but I couldnt remember the exact pose or the reference.

Now I am good to go..thanks to you…Big big kudos for your help Mikko and Martin!

Dave

Finally Hittokiri not only ends up on a top 10 list but makes it to no#1 .