Awards: Kinema Junpo Best Film of the Year (1950-2019)
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- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChishû RyûSetsuko HaraYumeji TsukiokaSeveral people try to talk 27-year-old Noriko into marrying, but all she wants is to keep on caring for her widowed father.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsYoshiko KugaEiji OkadaOsamu TakizawaThe hero Saburo (Okada Eiji) is obstructed by a series of events from meeting Keiko (Kuga Yoshiko), his fiancee.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsSetsuko HaraChishû RyûChikage AwashimaA family chooses a match for their daughter Noriko, but she, surprisingly, has her own plans.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTakashi ShimuraNobuo KanekoShin'ichi HimoriA bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsAkiko TamuraYatsuko Tan'amiKen MitsudaStory 1 : "The Thirteenth Night". Seki turns up at her parents' house in the dead of night, where she breaks down and says she cannot continue to live with her husband, a rich man to whom the family is indebted. After a tearful and long discussion, they convince her to return. On the way home, the rickshaw driver turns out to be an old school friend, and they reminisce about the old days. .... Story 2 : "The Last Day Of The Year". Mine is a hard-working maid in the house of a miserly, slave-driving old woman who is burdened by a wastrel son, who pesters the old woman and her new husband for money to pay off gambling debts. Mine's uncle is her only surviving relative, and the man who raised her, who is very ill and needs money to repay a loanshark. Mine promises to borrow the money from her employer but, although the old woman initially agrees, she breaks that promise on the due date, New Year's Eve. Can honest Mine resist the temptation to steal ? ..... Story 3: "An Inlet of Muddy Water". The trials and tribulations of a group of young to middle-aged whores. All the women in this particular bawdy house look up to and admire the stunning O-Riki. But O-Riki is nevertheless troubled. Gen, a shabby coolie, hangs around and pesters her, despite having a long-suffering wife and a young son, who calls O-Riki "The Demon". One night, desperate for clients, several of the girls lunge at and literally drag some passers-by inside. One of these men is cultured and gentlemanly, and becomes O-Riki's regular client. She looks forward to his visits and hopes he will marry her. Meanwhile, Gen's wife alternates between solicitousness and harassment, and home life becomes tough.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsHideko TakamineItsuo WatanabeMakoto MiyagawaSchoolteacher Hisako Oishi forms an emotional bond with her pupils and teaches them various virtues, while at the same time worrying about their future.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsHideko TakamineMasayuki MoriMariko OkadaA tragic social drama set in post war Japan and concerns a lonely woman trying to find purpose and stability in a devastated Tokyo.
- DirectorHiroshi TeshigaharaStarsEiji OkadaKyôko KishidaKôji MitsuiAn entomologist on vacation is trapped by local villagers into living with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsSeizaburô KawazuKazuo KitamuraTanie KitabayashiLife story of a woman born in poverty trying to succeed. Through her many schemes, she faces her ups and downs in a cyclical nature, fueled mostly by self-interest.
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsFujiko YamamotoHiroo SuzukiEiji FunakoshiHusband and wife Gorô and Chiyo, and their only offspring, an infant son named Tarô, go through the ups and downs of family life living in a cramped modern apartment building in suburban Tokyo. Their story is told in Tarô's second year of life. Many of their issues stem from both Gorô and Chiyo being unsure of themselves as parents, and being different in their perspectives of parenting, Gorô who believes in the traditional roles in which Chiyo is tasked with most of the child rearing responsibilities especially around the home. They also differ in the number of children they want, Gorô who believes Tarô is enough of a handful, while Chiyo really wants at least one more child in the general joy she feels in being a mother despite the problems. The unsurety that Gorô and Chiyo feel about their parenting is confirmed by Tarô, openly in his frequent crying fits when he is unhappy in what his parents or other adults around him have done wrong, and in secret as Tarô provides an inner voice narrative of what he wants and believes as a baby which is often contrary to what Gorô or Chiyo believe Tarô wants or needs. Their situation gets more complicated as Gorô's aged and thus stuck in her ways mother Ino gets directly involved in Gorô, Chiyo and Tarô's home life and thus Tarô's upbringing.
- DirectorSusumu HaniStarsYukio YamadaHirokazu YoshitakeKoichiro YamazakiAn improvisational film depicting life in a boys' reform school.
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsKeiko KishiHiroshi KawaguchiKinuyo TanakaSet in 1926 when Japanese tradition was much stronger, this standard drama looks at the inner workings of a small family, especially the relationship between a sister and brother.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsKinuyo TanakaTeiji TakahashiYûko MochizukiA kabuki theatre-inflected story about a poor village whose people have to be carried to a nearby mountain to die once they get old.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsShinjirô EbaraEijirô TônoYûko MochizukiThe heroes and heroines are all rice farmers, struggling to eke out an existence in an unfriendly world.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsEmiko TakahashiTanie KitabayashiGeorge OkunoyamaImmediately after the Second World War, sister Kiku and brother Isamu, whose mother was a prostitute and the father was a GI, live with their grandmother in the country. Because their colour, hair is different from Japanese, they'd have a hard time, being bullied or treated like unusual creatures. Unfortunately, racism and some other issues such as being different still exist in Japan but the way Kiku portrayed was quite refreshing as she's so strong and fighting against all those stupidity and cliché.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsKôjirô KusanagiSachiko HidariTaketoshi NaitôWhen an elderly couple is murdered, the police pick up the most likely suspect, a young loner. The authorities force a confession out of the suspect, who then insists that he had a pair of accomplices.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsRentarô MikuniChôichirô KawarasakiHideko OkiyamaAn engineer from Tokyo arrives on a drought-ridden tropical island to drill a well to power a nearby sugar mill. He meets the inbred Futori family, hated by the locals for breaking religious customs.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsToshirô MifuneYôko TsukasaGô KatôThe mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to get her back.
- DirectorSatsuo YamamotoStarsJirô TamiyaEijirô TônoTakahiro TamuraZaizen Goro may only be an assistant professor but he has already made a name for himself. His superior, however, does not approve of his attitude towards their profession, and is at odds over who to nominate as his successor. The selection of the new professor reveals a rich and complex political world inside Naniwa University.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneYûzô KayamaTsutomu YamazakiIn 19th-century Japan, a rough-tempered yet charitable town doctor trains a young intern.
- DirectorYôichi HigashiStarsToshiyuki NagashimaTsugiaki YoshidaAiko MorishitaThird (Toshiyuki Nagashima) is an aimless young man who hangs around with a couple of girls who are amateur hookers. One day, while acting as their pimp, he gets into a conflict with a young gangster and winds up killing him.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsKen TakakuraChieko BaishôKaori MomoiThree complete strangers embark on a road-trip to Hokkaido.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsTakako IrieDaisuke ItôKyôko KagawaA documentary film on the life and works of director Kenji Mizoguchi.
- DirectorKei KumaiStarsKomaki KuriharaYôko TakahashiKinuyo TanakaA journalist interviews an old woman who was forced into prostitution, just like many other Japanese women working in Asia outside of Japan during the first half of the 20th century. She worked in a Malaysian brothel called Sandakan 8.
- DirectorKôichi SaitôStarsKyôko EnamiAkira OdaMihoko NakagawaThe newcomers to a fishing village are a man who is escaping the gangsters after him and his girlfriend who is returning to her hometown. This may be as safe a place as any to lie low. Bored and fretting at first the couple find preoccupation in opposite ways. One settles in and becomes part of the community. The other picks up corruption and becomes a betrayer.
- DirectorKei KumaiStarsGô KatôKomaki KuriharaYasushi NagataShinobugawa depicts the emerging love of a student, identified only as "I", for a young waitress named Shino.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsKenzô KawarasakiAtsuko KakuAtsuo NakamuraUpon receiving a shocking telegram from his cousin, a man recounts his early life, as a member of a broad family full of dark secrets that slowly reveal themselves through the clan ceremonies.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsChieko BaishôHisashi IgawaChishû RyûA poor family of miners from Kyushu uproot themselves and make the long journey to what they hope is a better life in Hokkaido. Their journey is beset with hardship and tragedy.
- DirectorMasahiro ShinodaStarsKichiemon NakamuraShima IwashitaShizue KawarazakiA doomed love between a paper merchant and a courtesan.
- DirectorKazuhiko HasegawaStarsYutaka MizutaniMieko HaradaEtsuko IchiharaThough his parents help him run the family business, Jun still feels persecuted by their love; when they bar him from meeting with his girlfriend, tensions increase.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsHitoshi TakagiNoriko HidakaChika SakamotoWhen two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.
- DirectorJûzô ItamiStarsNobuko MiyamotoTsutomu YamazakiMasahiko TsugawaIf tax evasion is an art, wheeler-dealer Hideki Gondo is Rembrandt. And so, a determined taxing woman gets the tough assignment of trying to catch him.
- DirectorKei KumaiStarsEiji OkudaKen WatanabeTakahiro TamuraDowned American fliers in WWII are vivisected by Japanese surgeons in cruel medical experiments.
- DirectorYoshimitsu MoritaStarsYûsaku MatsudaMiwako FujitaniKaoru KobayashiDaisuke (Yusaku Matsuda) is supposed to be out looking for a respectable job and equally respectable wife. He is 30 years old and devotes his attention to music and literature; his family is wealthy and can support his interests. When his friend Hiraoka (Kaoru Kobayashi) returns with his wife Michiyo (Miwako Fujitani), problems arise.
- DirectorJûzô ItamiStarsTsutomu YamazakiNobuko MiyamotoKin SugaiWhen 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.
- DirectorYoshimitsu MoritaStarsYûsaku MatsudaJûzô ItamiSaori YukiJapanese parents hire a tutor for their foolish son and get a critic of their lifestyle.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsKeiko MatsuzakaMorio KazamaMitsuru HirataA lowly obsequious member of a movie star's entourage agrees to marry his boss's pregnant mistress so he can continue his feckless lifestyle. He then takes up dangerous work as a stunt man to support his new family. Duty and loyalty turn into something deeper.
- DirectorKôhei OguriStarsTakahiro TamuraMariko KagaNobutaka AsaharaIn post-War Japan, a boy from a noodle store-owning family befriends a neighboring boy living in poverty.
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsYoshio HaradaNaoko ÔtaniKisako MakishiA surreal period film following an university professor and his eerie nomad friend as they go through loose romantic triangles and face death in peculiar ways.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsKen OgataRentarô MikuniChôchô MiyakoChronological exploits of Iwao Enokizu, a murderous thief on the run.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoKayoko KishimotoRen ÔsugiNishi leaves the police in the face of harrowing personal and professional difficulties. Spiraling into depression, he makes questionable decisions.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsKoji YakushoMisa ShimizuMitsuko BaishôA businessman kills his adulterous wife and is sent to prison. After the release, he opens a barbershop and meets new people, talking almost to no one except an eel he befriended while in prison.
- DirectorMasayuki SuôStarsKoji YakushoTamiyo KusakariNaoto TakenakaA successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsHaruko SugimuraNobuko OtowaHideo KanzeYoko is a famous actress who goes to a mountain chalet for a few days rest. There, she learns a secret from her companion Toyoko.
- DirectorKazuo HaraStarsMitsuharu InoueYutaka HaniyaTetsu HijikataAn intimate portrait of the last years in the life of eccentric novelist Mitsuharu Inoue.
- DirectorYôichi SaiStarsGorô KishitaniRuby MorenoMoeko EzawaStory of everyday life and romance of a taxi driver who is a Korean resident in Japan.
- DirectorMasayuki SuôStarsMasahiro MotokiMisa ShimizuNaoto TakenakaChronicling the turmoil and pandemonium that ensues at a derelict university sumo club, and the rise of some unlikely heroes.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsRentarô MikuniMasatoshi NagaseEmi WakuiTetsuo is a young man living in Tokyo, who falls in love with a deaf-mute factory girl. He has always felt jealous of his college- educated brother, but ultimately wins both the girl and his father's acceptance and support in a touching and refreshing way.
- DirectorShun NakaharaStarsHiroko NakajimaMiho TsumikiYasuyo ShirashimaAt an all-girls school, a group of girls prepare for a stage performance of Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard".
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsYoshiko TanakaKazuo KitamuraEtsuko IchiharaThe story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel.
- DirectorYôjirô TakitaStarsMasahiro MotokiRyôko HirosueTsutomu YamazakiSoon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo learns that his orchestra is disbanding. He moves back to his hometown with his wife, where he answers an ad for what Daigo thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary.
- DirectorMasayuki SuôStarsRyô KaseAsaka SetoKôji YamamotoA young man is falsely accused of molesting a high-school girl on a train. He is arrested and charged, and goes through endless court sessions, all the while insisting that he is innocent.
- DirectorSang-il LeeStarsYasuko MatsuyukiEtsushi ToyokawaYû AoiYoung women in a small Japanese town look to revive their home's declining fortunes by building a Hawaiian village tourist attraction.
- DirectorKazuyuki IzutsuStarsShun ShioyaSôsuke TakaokaErika SawajiriKyoto 1968. Several high school students deal with their life as Korean-Japanese trying to earn each other's love and respect. But the times are not kind to them.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsYûya YagiraAyu KitauraHiei KimuraIn a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsHiroyuki SanadaRie MiyazawaNenji KobayashiAs the feudal Japan era draws to a close, a widower samurai experiences difficulty balancing clan loyalties, 2 young daughters, an aged mother, and the sudden reappearance of his childhood sweetheart.
- DirectorIsao YukisadaStarsYôsuke KubozukaKô ShibasakiTarô YamamotoSugihara, born in Japan but with North Korean parents, falls in love with a Japanese girl after changing from a North Korean school to a Japanese school. His boxer dad teaches him boxing - skills used a lot.
- DirectorJunji SakamotoStarsNaomi FujiyamaEtsushi ToyokawaMichiyo YasudaWith no parents left to keep the peace and order two sisters, who could not be any more different, allow their frustrations and animosity to come to a head.
- DirectorKazuo KurokiStarsTasuku EmotoYoshio HaradaTokie HidariIn a film that recalls the memories of the director's youth in Miyazaki Prefecture in Southern Japan during World War II, the local population is working hard in factories, on the road and the land aiding the war effort and preparing to defend against the impending invading American army. Life goes on amidst the deaths, turmoil and tragedy, but these are not usual times.
- DirectorMiwa NishikawaStarsTsurube ShôfukuteiEita NagayamaTeruyuki KagawaA young medical intern student is dismayed when he is assigned to work in a remote countryside village.
- DirectorSang-il LeeStarsEri FukatsuSatoshi TsumabukiDendenA young woman's murder provokes reflection on the ugliness and villainy of modern society.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsEtsushi ToyokawaShinobu ÔtakeNaomasa MusakaToward the end of World War II, middle-aged soldier Keita is entrusted with a postcard from a comrade who is sure he will die in battle. After the war ends, Keita visits his comrade's wife Yuko and bears witness to the tragic life she has led. This year's Oscar entry from Japan finds SHINDO in top form and his 49th and reportedly last film as fresh and poignant as ever.
- DirectorYong-hi YangStarsSakura AndôArata IuraYang Ik-joonBased on the director's own experience, Our Homeland follows a Korean family living in Japan, of which the father (Masane Tsukayama) decided to take North Korean nationality because of his strong belief decades ago. In 1997, Sonho (Arata Iura), the son of the family who was sent to North Korea under a "repatriation program" with the promise of a "paradise" free of discrimination, returns to Japan for the first time in 25 years to seek treatment for his brain tumor due to the difference in medical technology between the two countries. Allowed to stay for only three months and closely monitored by a North Korean officer (Yang Ik-Joon), Sonho is welcomed and embraced by his family and old friends but his father, who is still sticking to the belief but also feeling guilty about sending his son to North Korea at the same time, while Sonho's younger sister Rie (Sakura Andô) develops the aversion to North Korea and its political ideas.
- DirectorAzuma MorisakiStarsNaoto TakenakaRyô KaseWakana MatsumotoYuuichi Okano is a baby boomer born and raised in Nagasaki, Japan. His bald-head looks like a pecoross, a small onion. His Mother, Mitsue has dementia that began soon after her husband, Satoru, passed away 10 years ago... The film depicts their daily life that is full of humor and sweet sorrow. The theme of this film is nursing care and dementia that take up as serious social issue in Japan; the aging of population is advancing rapidly. But the Director, Azuma Morisaki, the age of 85, he is now the oldest active film director in Japan, got through with this film as the light and heart-warming movie.
- DirectorMipo OhStarsGô AyanoChizuru IkewakiMasaki SudaTwo troubled souls living on the fringes of a port town fall in love, but their trials are far from over.
- DirectorRyosuke HashiguchiStarsTamae AndôLily FrankyRyô IkedaAtsushi is a civic construction worker who was widowed following a random murder. Toko's husband is neither interested in her nor in how his mother treats his wife. Shinomiya is a lawyer whose homosexuality has lead to mismatched love. The three separate stories tread a thread of hope, love, rejection and abandonment. Three relative cinema newcomers act in roles for which they were auditioned and specially hired.
- DirectorSunao KatabuchiStarsNonAva PickardKenna PickardA spirited 18-year-old woman is married off to a man she barely knows as she combats the daily struggles of living in Hiroshima during World War II.
- DirectorYûya IshiiStarsShizuka IshibashiSôsuke IkematsuRyûhei MatsudaNewcomer Shizuka Ishibashi throws herself into the role of Mika, a nurse by day, a 'girlie bar' hostess by night, subject to feelings of anxiety and isolation, and unable to reach through a hard outer shell that stops her from expressing tenderness to anyone else. Sosuke Ikematsu, one of Japan's most important young actors, stars as Shinji, who struggles as a day-hire construction worker with a sense of impending doom, but who still tries to find the source of an unnamable hope he feels inside. The setting is Tokyo in 2017, where empty words, a sense of doom, and feelings of isolation co-exist with hope, trust, and love. In the sense of real life conjured up in these two people is a new kind of film: the densest kind of love story.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsLily FrankySakura AndôKirin KikiOn the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence.
- DirectorShinji SômaiStarsKôichi SatôYuki SaitôTsutomu YamazakiA happily married and well-educated executive meets a beggar who claims to be his father.