Based on a novel by Tsutomu Mizukami, a celebrated writer whose fictions Read More »
Tag Archives: japanese
Young Girls in Love AKA Koisuru onnatachi (1986) Kazuki Ômori, Yuki Saitô, Haruko Sagara, Mamiko Takai
The story of a young girl’s first love is told from the heroine’s point of view. Read More »
Tora-san 37 AKA Otoko wa tsurai yo: Shiawase no aoi tori (1986) Yôji Yamada, Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baisho, Etsuko Shihomi
During his travels, Tora-san comes across a traditional theater he used to visit Read More »
Tora-san 36 AKA Otoko wa tsurai yo: Shibamata yori ai wo komete (1985) Yôji Yamada, Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baisho, Masami Shimojô
Tora-san’s family’s neighbor, Akemi, who had been married Read More »
Snow Trail AKA Ginrei no hate (1947) Senkichi Taniguchi, Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Yoshio Kosugi
Three bank robbers, Eijima, Nojiri, and Takasugi, flee the police and escape into the mountains. Read More »
Love Letter AKA Koibumi (1953) Kinuyo Tanaka, Masayuki Mori, Yoshiko Kuga, Jûkichi Uno
This valiant melodrama is the brilliant debut as a moviemaker of the great Japanese actress Kinuyo Tanaka Read More »
Cannonball Wedlock AKA Konzen tokkyû (2011) Kôji Maeda, Yuriko Yoshitaka, Ryô Kase, Kenta Hamano
A slapstick comedy about a woman who has led a life of noncommittal romance Read More »
Cats on Park Avenue AKA Kôendôri no nekotachi (1989) Shin’ichi Nakada, Nekohachi Edoya, Ayumu Hasegawa, Izumi Igarashi
A group of young dancers prepare for a stage musical based on the street cats of their neighborhood. Read More »
Bullet Wound AKA Dankon (1969) Shirô Moritani, Yûzô Kayama, Kiwako Taichi, Kei Satô
Thriller about a Japanese-American CIA agent (Kayama) in Japan. Read More »
The Biggest Gamble AKA Sengo Saidai no Toba (1969) Kôsaku Yamashita, Kôji Tsuruta, Ken Takakura, Akiko Koyama
When Honjo is selected as Kansai district’s chairman, Iwasa of the rival gang asks Itsuki to do everything possible Read More »
Tora-San 1: Our Lovable Tramp AKA Otoko wa tsurai yo (1969) Yôji Yamada, Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baishô, Sachiko Mitsumoto
Tora-San, an itinerant peddler who is thrown out of his father’s house twenty years Read More »
Sharaku (1995) Masahiro Shinoda, Hiroyuki Sanada, Furankî Sakai, Shima Iwashita
A crippled kabuki player is taken into a strolling company of itinerant actors. Read More »
Love/Juice (2000) Kaze Shindô, Mika Okuno, Chika Fujimura, Toshiya Nagasawa
Twenty-something lesbian Chinatsu shares a one-bedroom apartment with heterosexual Kyoko. Read More »
Black Lizard AKA Kurotokage (1962) Umetsugu Inoue, Machiko Kyô, Minoru Ôki, Junko Kanô
Kurotokage (1962, aka Black Lizard) has its origins in a 1934 detective novel Read More »
The Bad Sleep Well AKA Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru (1960) Akira Kurosawa, Toshirô Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Kyôko Kagawa
It is a high-profile wedding: the daughter of Mr Iwabuchi, a wealthy businessman Read More »