The Best Japanese Films of the New Millennium (2019 Edition)
An updated version of the old list.
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- DirectorTetsuichirô TsutaStarsRina TakedaShima ÔnishiMin TanakaAs a tunnel construction project threatens the natural order of one of Japan's last untouched regions, an old man and his granddaughter Haruna's humble lifestyle begins to influence the outlook of a man from Tokyo.Somewhere between civilization and nature, home and elsewhere.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsHiroshi AbeYui NatsukawaYouA family gathers together for a commemorative ritual whose nature only gradually becomes clear.A timeless walk through the psychological landscape of a Japanese family.
- 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.Adorably mundane and breathtakingly haunting.
- 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.Blurring boundaries and definitions of fundamental concepts.
- 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.Gloomily hits all the right notes on teenage alienation.
- DirectorSion SonoStarsTakahiro NishijimaHikari MitsushimaSakura AndôA bizarre love triangle forms between a young Catholic upskirt photographer, a misandric girl and a manipulative cultist.When a romance blows out of proportion not just for shit and giggles.
- DirectorMasaaki YuasaKôji MorimotoStarsKôji ImadaSayaka MaedaTakashi FujiiAfter a deadly encounter with two yakuza, a loser with a crush on his childhood girlfriend goes to heaven and back, embarking on a psychedelic self-discovery experience with her and his friends.The cinematic equivalent of a boner.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsDaveigh ChaseSuzanne PleshetteMiyu IrinoDuring her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.The quintessential modern fairy tale.
- DirectorHideaki AnnoStarsShunji IwaiAyako FujitaniJun MurakamiA disillusioned filmmaker has an encounter with a young girl who has a ritual of repeating "Tomorrow is my birthday" everyday. He tries to communicate with her through his video camera.Empty shells banging against each other.
- DirectorKôji FukadaStarsTadanobu AsanoMariko TsutsuiTaiga NakanoToshio hires Yasaka in his workshop. This old acquaintance, who has just been released from prison, begins to meddle in Toshio's family life.That moment when a stranger takes a dump on your lawn.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsMasaharu FukuyamaKoji YakushoSuzu HiroseA courtroom drama centered around the murder of a factory president.A wild goose chase for truth disguised as a courtroom drama.
- DirectorYûya IshiiStarsHikari MitsushimaKôtarô ShigaRyô IwamatsuAfter 5 years in Tokyo, 5 part-time jobs, 5 boyfriends, Sawako's life is going nowhere. When her father gets seriously ill she have to take over his struggling factory. Gradually she becomes the decider of her own life.Shouting at the top of lower-class lungs.
- DirectorShin'ichirô UedaStarsTakayuki HamatsuYuzuki AkiyamaHarumi ShuhamaThings go badly for a hack director and film crew shooting a low budget zombie movie in an abandoned WWII Japanese facility, when they are attacked by real zombies.Rolling on the bloody meta floor laughing.
- DirectorAkihiko ShiotaStarsAoi MiyazakiSeiichi TanabeTetsu SawakiFollowing the divorce of her parents, her mother's suicide attempt, and the rumors of an affair with her teacher, a lonely 7th grader starts skipping school in an attempt to find herself.Soul searching in the gutter.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsMasaharu FukuyamaMachiko OnoYôko MakiRyota is a successful workaholic businessman. When he learns that his biological son was switched with another boy after birth, he faces the difficult decision to choose his true son or the boy he and his wife have raised as their own.When bloodlines don't hold up.
- DirectorMahiro MaedaMasayukiKazuya TsurumakiStarsMegumi OgataMegumi HayashibaraYûko MiyamuraFourteen years have passed since the near Third Impact. Most of the world has changed, except for Shinji Ikari, who awakens in a strange new environment without having aged.Revisiting past sins and ending up even more haunted.
- 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.Children who cope with matters they should be spared until adulthood.
- DirectorNobuhiro YamashitaStarsBae DoonaAki MaedaYû KashiiA music group of girls need to learn to play a song before the school festival.The energy of youthful passion and full-blown comedy meets slow burn cinema.
- DirectorSatoshi KonKô MatsuoStarsMiyoko ShôjiShôzô ÎzukaMami KoyamaA TV interviewer and his cameraman meet a former actress and travel through her memories and career.You're gonna carry that weight.
- DirectorNoriyuki KitanoharaKazuya SakamotoNoriko TakaoStarsAya HiranoTomokazu SugitaMinori ChiharaA week before Christmas, Kyon wakes up in a world where the SOS Brigade doesn't exist. Mikuru and Yuki don't recognize him, and Haruhi and Itsuki seem to have vanished.The world reconstructed overnight for the simplest of reasons.
- DirectorMasashi AbeTakao AboTakahiro HaradaStarsYûichi NakamuraAya EndôMegumi NakajimaA young stunt pilot named Alto Saotome's life is changed after he joins SMS, a military company on the Frontier. By some fate, Alto begins to fall for the galactic idol, Sheryl Nome, along with his friend and rising pop star, Ranka Lee.Space opera in the most literal sense of the word.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsHiroshi AbeYôko MakiSatomi KobayashiAfter the death of his father, a private detective struggles to find child support money and reconnect with his son and ex-wife.The regrets of failed manhood and fatherhood.
- DirectorNobuhiro YamashitaStarsKeishi NagatsukaHiroshi YamamotoMachiko OnoTsuboi and Kinoshita have just arrived at a desolate town. Both of them are amateur filmmakers. Tsuboi is a screenwriter and Kinoshita a director. They have come to this town because Funaki, an actor, has tempted them to come here, but he has yet to arrive. Tsuboi and Kinoshita start wandering around the town and happen to meet a young woman, Atsuko. The three of them go on a journey together and become friends. But one day, Atsuko disappears.Pathetically, miserably hilarious.
- DirectorTatsushi ÔmoriStarsHirofumi AraiJoe HyûgaMansaku IkeuchiA child's horrific murder brings to light the haunted truth of an affair between her mother and a neighbor. As a magazine reporter investigates the case, he finds that nothing is as it seems.Not letting wounds heal.
- DirectorShinji AoyamaStarsKoji YakushoAoi MiyazakiMasaru MiyazakiThe traumatized survivors of a murderous bus hijacking come together and take a road trip to attempt to overcome their damaged selves. Meanwhile a serial killer is on the loose.Not drowning, but not swimming either.