Japanese Cinema
Japanese cinema flourished early on and silent films were being made right through the 1930s. Most were accompanied by a 'benshi' or live narrator telling the story as well as live music. Very little survives from this era however; the 1923 earthquake, the bombings of WW2 and the country's high humidity destroyed many of these historical works. Of those that survive, the early works of Kenji Mizoguchi are highly regarded and he went on to make the classic 'The Life of Oharu' in 1952. Of course no discussion on Japanese cinema is possible without mention of their best known son, Akira Kurosawa. With a career spanning 60 years Kurosawa's ground-breaking films (e.g. 'Seven Samurai', 'Kagemusha', 'Ran') influenced film makers around the world. Most recently Japanese cinema hero 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano revitalised the Yakuza genre; and young mavericks like Takashi Miike ('Audition', 'Ichi the Killer) and Hideo Nakata ('Ring', 'Dark Water') have breathed new life into the horror flick, their films often (and promptly!) remade by US production houses.
For Japanime, use the animation link to the left.
Pictured: Kurosawa teamed once more with the incomparable Toshiro Mifune for 'Seven Samurai'
Princess Raccoon (2005)
6.8/10
Director: Seijun Suzuki
Starring: Zhang Ziyi, Jo Odagiri, Hiroko Yakushimaru
To lovers of romance, there is nothing unusual in the story of how Amechiyo, an exiled prince, meets the exotic and mysterious girl, Tanuki-hime, in t... Read more
Pulse (2001)
6.6/10
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Starring: Haruhiko Kato, Kumiko Aso, Koyuki , Kurume Arisaka, Masatoshi Matsuo
After one of their friends commits suicide, strange things begin happening to a group of young Tokyo residents. One sees visions of his dead friend in... Read more
Rampo Noir (2005)
6.4/10
Director: Akio Jissoji, Sato Hisayasu, Takeuchi Suguru, Kaneko Atsushi
Starring: Tadanobu Asano
Sensuality and shock bleed together in these vivid adaptations of the short stories by Taro Hirai - the 'Japanese Edgar Allan Poe'. Four auteur direct... Read more
Ran (1985)
8.2/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu
A Kurosawa masterpiece, a decade-in-the-making version of 'King Lear' that brilliantly blends Japanese history with Shakespeare's themes. A triumphant... Read more
Ran (4K Ultra HD) (1985)
8.2/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu
A Kurosawa masterpiece, a decade-in-the-making version of 'King Lear' that brilliantly blends Japanese history with Shakespeare's themes. A triumphant... Read more
Ran (Blu-ray) (1985)
8.2/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu
A Kurosawa masterpiece, a decade-in-the-making version of 'King Lear' that brilliantly blends Japanese history with Shakespeare's themes. A triumphant... Read more
Rashomon (1950)
8.3/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori
Akira Kurosawa's first huge international success is this superlative study of truth and human nature; four people involved in a rape-murder tell vary... Read more
Red Angel (Blu-ray) (1966)
7.8/10
Starring: Ayako Wakao
During the Sino-Japanese War, a young army nurse gives sympathy to her patients and falls in love with an impotent doctor who's addicted to morphine. Read more
Red Beard (1965)
8.3/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Yuzo Kayama, Yoshio Tsuchiya
A testament to the goodness of humankind, Akira Kurosawa's 'Red Beard' chronicles the tumultuous relationship between an arrogant young doctor and a c... Read more
Red Lion (1969)
7.1/10
Director: Kihachi Okamoto
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Shima Iwashita, Etsushi Takahashi, Ito Yonosuke
The always mesmerizing Toshiro Mifune plays an enthusiastic, if dim-witted imperial emissary, sent to break the good news about the fall of the shogun... Read more