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'
Wild Zero (2000)
6.6/10
Director: Tetsuro Takeuchi
Starring: Guitar Wolf, Drum Wolf, Bass Wolf, Masashi Endo, Kwancharu Shitichai
When aliens start turning the population into flesh-eating zombies, only rock fan Ace and his favourite band, Guitar Wolf (and they're a real band!) h... Read more
Wolf Children (2012)
8.2/10
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
From award-winning director Mamoru Hosoda ("Summer Wars", "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time"), an elegiac animated fantasy which follows the growth and... Read more
Woman of the Dunes (1964)
Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara
Starring: Eiji Okuda, Kyoko Kishida, Koji Mitsui, Hiroko Ito
When teacher Junpei Niki misses his last bus home after a day out collecting insects on a remote stretch of coast, he is invited by a local villager t... Read more
Yakuza Apocalypse (2015)
5.5/10
Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Hayato Ichihara, Yayan Ruhian
From acclaimed cult director Takashi Miike (13 Assassins, Ichi The Killer, Audition). In the ruthless underground world of the yakuza, no one is more... Read more
Yakuza Deka 1: Secret Police (1970)
Director: Yukio Noda
Starring: Sonny Chiba, Tetsuro Tanpa
Sonny Chiba plays a hard-bitten undercover cop trying to win the confidence of two rival yakuza gangs in order to bust their illegal drugs operations.... Read more
Yakuza Deka 2: The Assassin (1970)
Director: Yukio Noda
Starring: Sonny Chiba, Ryohei Uchida, Fumio Watanabe, Osman Yusuf, Giant Baba
Sonny Chiba returns as undercover cop Hayata. This time he's after a marijuana syndicate, and he's going to have to go very undercover to net these g... Read more
Yatterman (2009)
6.1/10
Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Kyoko Fukada, Saki Fukuda, Kendo Kobayashi, Sho Sakurai, Anri Okamoto, Katsuhisa...
Gan Takada and his girlfriend Ai-chan are just normal teens who like to tinker away at robotic inventions - that is, when they're not out keeping the... Read more
Yojimbo (1961)
8.3/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Eijiro Tono, Seizaburo Kawazu, Toshiro Mifune
Kurosawa's first full-length comedy. Toshiro Mifune is the unemployed samurai warrior who comes to a small village torn apart by two warring factions... Read more
Young Thugs: Innocent Blood (1997)
6.7/10
Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Koji Chihara, Seiji Chihara, Sarina Suzuki, Kyosuke Yabe, Moeko Ezawa, Marie Kik...
A vaguely autobiographical and sometimes violent comedy/drama from the eclectic and prolific Takashi Miike which he followed with the prequel, 'Young... Read more
Young Thugs: Nostalgia (1998)
6.7/10
Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Naoto Takenaka, Saki Takaoka, Yuki Nagata, Shonusuke Shofukutei
This prequel to 'Innocent Blood' has been called by director Takashi Miike his favourite of all his many films. Set in 1969 Japan, this gritty coming... Read more