Japanese Cinema
Incomplete list of Japanese movies I enjoyed. In no specific order.
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- DirectorKôji WakamatsuStarsMimi KozakuraMichio AkiyamaYôko YamamotoAfter being raped in an unknown rooftop, seventeen year-old girl Poppo meets a mysterious boy, and both share their sexual traumas and fears, with fatal consequences.
- DirectorGen SekiguchiStarsTadanobu AsanoReika HashimotoKyôko KoizumiFive bizarre stories with no apparent connection to one and other eventually become intertwined, resulting in surreal circumstances.
- DirectorKatsuhito IshiiStarsMaya BannoTakahiro SatôTadanobu AsanoA spell of time of a rural family's slightly surreal life.
- DirectorKatsuhito IshiiHajime IshimineShunichirô MikiStarsAndrew AlfieriHideaki AnnoMoyoco AnnoAn outrageous collection of surreal, short attention span non-sequiturs largely revolving around Guitar Brother, his randy older sibling, and the pair's portly Caucasian brother.
- DirectorKazuo HaraStarsKazuo HaraSachiko KobayashiHiroshi YokotaAn intimate documentary about a group of people with cerebral palsy in Japan that confronts our preconceptions and prejudices about who they are, what they feel, and how they view their lives.
- DirectorKazuo HaraStarsKazuo HaraMiyuki TakedaSachiko KobayashiIn this uncomfortably intimate film, documentary filmmaker Kazuo Hara visits his ex-girlfriend Miyuki and records her new relationships.
- DirectorKôji YamamuraStarsSensaku ShigeyamaShigeru ShigeyamaDoji ShigeyamaSurreal events occur when a hapless country doctor visits an ill boy one cold night.
- DirectorShin'ya TsukamotoStarsShin'ya TsukamotoKirina ManoTatsuya NakamuraA man sees his life changed forever when his fiancee shoots herself. Baffled, he wants by all means to obtain such a weapon of destruction and he finds himself caught in the middle of a violent group of young vicious punks. They first beat him severely and then he seeks revenge with his fist, then with a gun. Everything from then on is a complete downward spiral.
- DirectorKazushi WatanabeStarsDaijirô KawaokaKazushi WatanabeTakeo NoroStylish road movie in which a kidnapped youth becomes friends with his abductors.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsKen'ichi EndôShungiku UchidaKazushi WatanabeA troubled and perverted family find their lives intruded by a mysterious stranger who seems to help find a balance in their disturbing natures.
- DirectorShin'ya TsukamotoStarsTadanobu AsanoNami TsukamotoKikiAfter a tragic car accident where his girlfriend Ryôko Ooyama (Nami Tsukamoto) died, Hiroshi Takagi (Tadanobu Asano) suffers amnesia with his memories completely blanked. When he sees a book about dissection, he decides to join the medical school with the support of his parents. In the dissection class, his group participates of the autopsy of a young woman, and while cutting apart the tissue, he partially recalls his accident. Later, when he sees a tattoo in the arm of the corpse, he discloses that she was his girlfriend and becomes obsessed to go further in the examination of the body.
- DirectorShin'ya TsukamotoStarsAsuka KurosawaYûji KôtariShin'ya TsukamotoA woman is being stalked by a stranger. His stalking turns to blackmail when he sends her copies of photos of her in an embarrassing position. Now he controls her and she has to do anything he says. Anything.
- DirectorShin'ya TsukamotoStarsMasahiro MotokiRyôYasutaka TsutsuiA successful doctor, Yukio's picture perfect life is gradually wrecked, and taken over by his avenging twin brother, who bumps off his family members one by one and reclaims his lover who is now Yukio's wife.
- DirectorShozin FukuiStarsHaji SuzukiOnn-chanKôji ÔtsuboPinocchio 964, a lobotomised cyborg sex slave, is abandoned by his owners due to his inability to maintain an erection, while the corporate entity plans to kill him.
- DirectorShozin FukuiStarsNaoNorimizu AmeyaYôta KawaseScientists use a brain-altering drug to conduct experiments, after one such project goes astray, they need to find another test subject in this Japanese splatter-punk film.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsRyûhei MatsudaMasanobu AndôShunsuke KubozukaA visually stylish tale of two male prisoners bonded by emotion, love and murder.
- DirectorToshio MatsumotoStarsPîtâOsamu OgasawaraYoshimi JôThe trials and tribulations of Eddie and other transvestites in Japan.
- DirectorGakuryû IshiiStarsYoshiki ArizonoTadanobu AsanoMasakatsu FunakiA violent, guitar-playing, electrically charged boxer faces off against an electronic wizard half-merged with a metallic Buddha.
- DirectorShunji IwaiStarsHayato IchiharaShûgo OshinariAyumi ItoThe problematic lives of teenager students for whom the singer Lily Chou-Chou's dreamy music is the only way to escape an alienating, violent and insensitive society.
- DirectorToshiaki ToyodaStarsYoshio HaradaRyûhei MatsudaMichio AkiyamaNine convicts escape from prison; most are convicted murderers. They commandeer a van from a strip club.
- 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.
- DirectorMitsuo YanagimachiStarsKin'ya KitaôjiKiwako TaichiNorihei MikiThe villagers in a beautiful remote area of Japan are divided into the woodsmen, who worship the mountain goddess, and the fishermen, who worship the goddess of the sea. These traditions are threatened by a planned marine park. Tatsuo is a macho lumberjack who hunts boars and monkeys with the young Ryota. Tatsuo is married with two children, has four elder sisters, and is under pressure to sell the family land to the developers. When the fish pens are deliberately contaminated by oil, the fishermen suspect Tatsuo. Kimiko, an old girlfriend of Tatsuo, returns to the village to find money to pay off her debts. During the annual fire festival, Tatsuo becomes angry when the old traditions are not preserved.
- DirectorHiroshi HaradaStarsMinako NakaNorihiko MorishitaKeinosuke OkamotoThe story based off of the controversial manga by Suehiro Maruo takes place where a little orphaned girl joins a freak-show circus troupe whose members rape and abuse her. She then finds a glimmer of hope in the enigmatic magician who joins the group.
- DirectorRyû MurakamiStarsMiho NikaidoYayoi KusamaSayoko AmanoA submissive hooker goes about her trade, suffering abuse at the hands of Japanese salarymen and Yakuza types. She's unhappy about her work, and is apparently trying to find some sort of appeasement for the fact that her lover has married.
- DirectorAkio JissôjiAtsushi KanekoHisayasu SatôStarsTadanobu AsanoYûko DaikeChisako HaraThis four-part anthology takes its cue from the short fiction of legendary horror writer Edogawa Rampo.