Blue Ribbon Award 2000-2009
Movies to watch awarded or nominated in the Blue Ribbon Awards in the '00s
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- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsTatsuya FujiwaraAki MaedaTarô YamamotoIn the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill one another under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
- DirectorGenjiro AratoStarsTakijiro OnishiShima ÔnishiShinobu TerajimaA man is trying to flee from his past, and he ends up in an underworld filled with strange characters. He finds a job skewering meat in a dirty old room in a shabby old house filled with prostitutes, gangsters and a weird old tattoo master. He clearly doesn't fit in to this new world, and the inhabitants of it immediately despise him.
- 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.
- DirectorYûichi SatôStarsShun OguriYûsuke SantamariaKeisuke KoideFive devoted fans of a late idol gather for a commemorative meeting, only to uncover surprising revelations about her untimely death, leading them to question what they thought they knew.
- DirectorMasato HaradaStarsShin'ichi TsutsumiMasato SakaiMachiko OnoA newspaper editor (played by Shin'ichi Tsutsumi) who deals with the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123.
- DirectorDaisaku KimuraStarsTadanobu AsanoTeruyuki KagawaRyûhei MatsudaIn 1907, a group of men climb an unconquered peak in the last unmapped region of Japan.
- DirectorMiwa NishikawaStarsTsurube ShôfukuteiEita NagayamaTeruyuki KagawaA young medical intern student is dismayed when he is assigned to work in a remote countryside village.
- 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.
- DirectorYukihiko TsutsumiStarsKen WatanabeKanako HiguchiKenji SakaguchiA successful businessman's family life is shattered by an early onset of Alzheimer's.
- DirectorKiyoshi SasabeStarsAkira TeraoMieko HaradaHidetaka YoshiokaSoichiro Kaji killed his wife who suffers from Parkinson's disease, he surrenders to police two days later. Tops of the police wish an early settlement of the affair by fair means or foul because he is a former detective and an instructor at police academy now. Detective Shiki questions Kaji closely about what he did two days after the murder, however Kaji keeps silent about it. What was he doing for two days? Why doesn't he confess it?
- DirectorYûzô AsaharaStarsToshiyuki NishidaRentarô MikuniReiko TakashimaHama-chan's supervisor is promoted after many frustrating years with his wayward, fishing-obsessed underling, and Hama-chan's new boss naively tries to retrain him. Later, Su-san and Hama-chan go on a business trip, where they meet a beautiful, warm-hearted truck driver.
- DirectorKazuyuki IzutsuStarsToshiyuki NishidaTakako TokiwaTarô YamamotoA James Brown fanatic gangster decided to disband his own gang and see his long lost daughter before entering prison. Hoping to change his mind, his underlings planned to kidnap James Brown to convince him to perform privately for their boss.
- DirectorJunji SakamotoStarsKim Byeong-seAkira EmotoKyôko EnamiIn 1973, while exiled in Japan, South Korea's Kim Dae-Jung is kidnapped. Five days later he mysteriously reappears in Seoul. He will go on to become president of a democratic South Korea and he will win the Nobel peace prize. See the events leading up to the kidnapping and what happened during the five days Kim was held. Masuo Tomita is a Japanese intelligence officer who is in love with Korean teacher Lee Jeong-Mi. In an attempt to save her he is caught up in the plan to kidnap and kill Kim Dae-Jung.
- DirectorYôjirô TakitaStarsMansai NomuraHideaki ItôHiroyuki SanadaWhen samurai Hiromasa comes to Seimei, Kyoto's court Onmyoji (a fortune teller in commune with the spirits), to warn of a plot against the government, the two discover that the court's formidable magician, Doson, is indeed planning a coup.
- DirectorSetsurô WakamatsuStarsYûji OdaNanako MatsushimaKôichi SatôA group of terrorists has taken hold of the largest dam in Japan. They also capture the workers as hostages, and demanded JPY$5 billion from the government with a 24 hour deadline in exchange for the lives of the hostages. To make things more complicated, there was a snowstorm and no one can get in or out near the area. Fortunately, the terrorists did not capture Togashi, the dam controller, and he is the only person who can rescue those hostages from the terrorists...
- DirectorEiichirô HasumiStarsHaruka AyaseMunetaka AokiTôru NakamuraA female teacher takes charge of a high school volleyball club and promises to show the students her breasts if they can win the next game.
- DirectorRyosuke HashiguchiStarsLily FrankyTae KimuraMasaaki AkahoriIn 1993 Kanao and Shoko are a Tokyo couple awaiting the arrival of their first child. Although both have studied art, Kanao works as a shoe repairman, which doesn't stretch his rather laid-back style, and Shoko works in a small publishing firm. Their home life is marked by some clashes between her attempts at regimentation, including scheduling their sex life on a calendar, and his flirting with other women. Kanao is offered work as a courtroom sketch artist and becomes a witness to the most sensational murder trials of Japan through the next eight years. He must cope with the ugliness and breakdown in civility he encounters. Shoko also re-discovers her artistic side as she confronts the dark side of life when struggling with depression over the loss of a child and the dysfunctional aspects of the lives of her mother and brother.
- DirectorKiyoshi SasabeStarsRena TanakaKumiko AsôHisashi Yoshizawa"Thirteen years afterward, I wonder if those who bombed Hiroshima are looking at me and saying: 'We did it. We were able to kill another person!' They should be," murmurs Minami (played by Kumiko Aso), one of the two leading female characters in Yunagi no Machi, Sakura no Kuni, as she lies dying in 1958, her life brought to a premature end by sickness resulting from her exposure to atomic bomb radiation.This is a story about those who at least initially survived the first U.S. atomic bombing of 1945 and their descendants in contemporary times. Nanami (Rena Tanaka), the leading female character in the contemporary part of the film, is the daughter of Minami's brother, Asahi (Masaaki Sakai), who had evacuated to Ibaraki Prefecture when Hiroshima was bombed. An ordinary 28-year-old, Nanami has no idea about her dad's past or the existence of her late aunts, but she finds out about them when she follows her father to Hiroshima one day, suspicious of his unusual behavior.
- DirectorMasahiro TakadaStarsShô SakuraiYû AoiYûsuke IseyaThe lives of four art students change forever when gifted young artist Hagumi arrives at their school and befriends their group as each student experiences turbulence in love.
- DirectorToshiaki ToyodaStarsKyôko KoizumiAnne SuzukiItsuji ItaoA family struggling to live together even with the outrageous behaviors from each family members.
- DirectorKazuo KurokiStarsRie MiyazawaYoshio HaradaTadanobu AsanoBased on a play by Hisashi Inoue, it focuses on the sufferings of the survivors of Hiroshima. The film takes place during 4 days in the summer of 1948, as the ghost of her father visits Mitsué (Rié Miyama). He had somehow learned that she has fallen in love, and tries to convince her to start her new life. But Mitsué obstinately refuses his warm and humorous encouragements : « People were killed in my place. I do not have the right to find happiness », she says.
- DirectorRyûichi HirokiStarsShinobu TerajimaNao ÔmoriRiho MakiseAfter meeting a handsome truck driver (Nao Omori) in the midst of an urban mini-mart, a 30-something freelance writer (Shinobu Terajima) embarks on a life-changing emotional journey of sexual self-discovery.
- DirectorRyosuke HashiguchiStarsReiko KataokaKazuya TakahashiSeiichi TanabeSoon after the disparate yet compatible Naoya and Katsuhiro start to settle into a relationship, a slightly unhinged young woman named Asako asks Katsuhiro to father her child.
- DirectorMasato HaradaStarsYûki AmamiAtsuro WatabeEugene HaradaAkira, the young new schoolteacher in town falls for secretive Miki, an older woman who takes care of her family's urn that supposedly holds a forest wolf-spirit, inugami. People soon start disappearing and the town blames Akira.
- DirectorTakahisa ZezeStarsHydeGacktLeehom WangThe story of love and friendship on the harsh streets of 2014 Mallepa, a small corner in Asia.
- DirectorYôichi SaiStarsTakeshi KitanoHirofumi AraiTomoko TabataIn 1923, the Korean teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees. He makes fortune, abuses and destroys the lives of his wife and family, having many mistresses and children and showing no respect to anybody. Later he closes the factory, lending the money with high interests and becoming a loan shark. His hatred behavior remains until his last breath, alone in North Korea.
- DirectorJong-tae ChoiStarsLee Joon-giLee Mun-shikNam Heon-junJang Ga-Pil is an ordinary middle-aged father. One day, he returns home to learn that his teenage daughter was assaulted by a group of guys at a karaoke bar. He then concocts a plan to stab the boy on his way to school.
- DirectorMiwa NishikawaStarsJoe OdagiriTeruyuki KagawaMasatô IbuOn the anniversary of the death of the mother of a hip and happening Tokyo-based photographer, the son returns to his hometown for the funeral. What follows is a return to the past that is more than just a trek home. Old relationships, love, conflicts and memories resurface and collide. Apparently, old perspectives don't wither.
- DirectorNobuhiro YamashitaStarsTamae AndôHirofumi AraiHyôe EnokiSome hapless losers are introduced to the results of their stupidity.
- DirectorSatoshi MikiStarsJoe OdagiriTomokazu MiuraKyôko KoizumiTakemura has no friends and no family. He's a law student but he doesn't have any particular ambitions. A thug offers to pay Takemura's considerable gambling debt if the student accompanies him on a trip across Tokyo.
- DirectorHideki TakeuchiStarsJuri UenoHiroshi TamakiEita NagayamaAspiring conductor Chiaki Shinichi and talented but undisciplined pianist Noda Megumi (nicknamed "Nodame") travel to Paris to pursue careers as classical musicians. Chiaki finds himself at the helm of an orchestra that has fallen on hard times while Nodame pursues her studies at a conservatory. The actors reprise their roles from the television series "Nodame Cantabile."
- 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.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeEisuke NaitôHatsuki YokooStarsShô SakuraiSaki FukudaKyôko FukadaA toy shop owner/hero and his assistant/heroine battle a leather-clad vixen and her minions to prevent them from acquiring the pieces of a mystical skull.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsHiroshi AbeYui NatsukawaYouA family gathers together for a commemorative ritual whose nature only gradually becomes clear.
- DirectorDaihachi YoshidaStarsEriko SatôAimi SatsukawaHiromi NagasakuTraumatic incidents, conflicts, and bloody quarrels awaits the Wago family members who return home to bury their parents.
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsKôji IshizakaYôko ShimadaTeruhiko AoiWhen a tycoon passes away, he unexpectedly leaves the family fortune to outsider Tamayo on the condition that she marries one of the grandsons, pitting blood against blood.
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsZiyi ZhangJoe OdagiriHiroko YakushimaruAmechiyo (The banished prince) falls in love with Tanukihime (a princess of raccoon dog disguised to human). This is an Operetta which includes comedy, singing and dancing, and a love story.
- DirectorIsao YukisadaStarsTakao OsawaKô ShibasakiMasami NagasawaWhile searching for his fiancee Ritsuko, Sakutarou rediscovers through flashbacks the void deep within him caused by the events from his high school days.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoTadanobu AsanoYui NatsukawaThe blind masseur/swordsman comes to a town in control of warring gangs, and while bunking with a farming family, he meets two women with their own agenda.
- DirectorTakashi KoizumiStarsAkira TeraoYoshiko MiyazakiShirô MifuneDuring a downpour, a generous ronin and his supporting wife are stranded at a country inn. The ronin comes to the attention of a lord who wants to hire him as an instructor for his men, who treat the ronin with disrespect.
- DirectorYôichi SaiStarsTsutomu YamazakiTeruyuki KagawaTomorô TaguchiA man serving a sentence in a minimum-security prison. Life in the jail is rigid and organized, eventually leading all of the cell-mates to abandon their individuality.
- DirectorYoshimitsu MoritaStarsShinobu ÔtakeHitomi KurokiEri FukatsuThe ups and downs of the Takezawa family after one of the four daughters found out that their father had been in an unknown love affair.
- DirectorJun'ya SatôStarsTakashi SorimachiShidô NakamuraKyôka SuzukiThe movie follows 3 Japanese friends from embarking on Yamato, the world's largest battleship, until it's sunk 3 1/2 years later on April 7, 1945 on it's way to Okinawa to stop American advance at the end of WWII.
- DirectorFumihiko SoriStarsYôsuke KubozukaArata IuraSam LeeAs a child, the introverted Smile was being bullied by a gang of kids until the brash Peco came by and chased all of them away. Peco then takes Smile under his wing and teaches him how to play the game of ping pong. From there, a lifelong best friend relationship comes into existence between these two polar opposite kids. Fast forward a decade later, and Smile and Peco are now about to compete in a high-stakes regional ping pong tournament. While Peco has always wanted to be the best ping pong player in the world, he has never had the drive to fully devote himself to the game. Rather than finding him practicing in the high school gym, you would more often than not find Peco hustling other kids out of money at the local ping pong parlor. This is in contrast with Smile, who has the god-given talents to actually become the worlds best ping pong player but is too humble to destroy his opponents. More often than not, he allows his opponents to win points and even entire games out of sympathy for them. Now these two best friends try to deal with their own inner turmoils as they move further and further into the regional ping pong tournament. Peco has to overcome a knee injury while trying to rediscover the fun aspects of the game of Ping Pong. Meanwhile, Smile now seems to have gained the killer instinct by going through a rigorous training regiment instilled by his high school coach. As the tournament progresses, it becomes more likely that these two best friends will face off against each other in the final match.
- DirectorTetsuya NakashimaStarsKyôko FukadaAnna TsuchiyaHiroyuki MiyasakoMomoko, a strange and seemingly emotionless girl obsessed with 18th century France, befriends a Yanki biker and the two experience the ups and downs of their unusual lives in a rural Japanese town.
- DirectorKatsuhito IshiiStarsMaya BannoTakahiro SatôTadanobu AsanoA spell of time of a rural family's slightly surreal life.
- DirectorTakahiko AkiyamaStarsMasatoshi NakamuraKanata HongôMikako TabeSatoru (Kanata Hongo), a wheelchair-bound elementary student, locks himself away from the outside world after his mother dies. His father designs a remote-controlled robot to go to school for him, allowing him to interact with people and do normal things.
- DirectorYoshimitsu MoritaStarsKuranosuke SasakiMuga TsukajiMiyuki NakajimaWhat do two nerdy brothers have to do to finally gain acceptance, become popular and meet women? Why, throw a curry party of course. Who to invite? How about the girl at the video store, the co-worker and the girls we could never ever get?
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsTakuya KimuraRei DanMitsugorô BandôA look at the relationship between a young blind samurai (Kimura) and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.
- 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.
- DirectorNatsuki ImaiStarsYui AragakiHaruma MiuraYûko AsanoMika is a fresh high school student who starts texting a mysterious boy. She is shocked when he reveals who he is - Hiro, a delinquent attending her school. What she doesn't know is that Hiro isn't as bad as he seems.
- DirectorYukio NinagawaStarsYuriko YoshitakaKengo KôraArata Iura19 year old Rui finds life deeply disappointing until she falls in love with Ama in Shibuya, Tokyo. She was attracted by his piercings so decided to have her tongue pierced too. Pain is the only way that she can feel she is alive. The tatoo designer, Shiba, is also getting curious about Rui due to his sadist split. Ama protects Rui with violence and Shiba is using violence to love her. A strange love triangle of violence and sex and Rui's body changed with a tatoo and a large piercing.
- 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.