Best Of...
Japanese cinema: 1950s
Akasen chitai (1956)
Kenji Mizoguchi
In Yoshiwara, the red light district of Tokyo, five women work in a licensed brothel owned by Kurazô Taya. The oldest of the five is Yumeko, a widow who turned to prostitution to support her son, who is living with her in-laws in the country...
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Kenji Mizoguchi
Early Spring (1956)
Yasujirô Ozu
Shoji Sugiyama is a young salaryman who works for a company that manufactures fire bricks in Tokyo. Every day, he takes a crowded commuter train into the city centre, to the crowded office where he works...
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Yasujirô Ozu
Early Summer (1951)
Yasujirô Ozu
The Mamiyas are an extended family living under one roof in Kamakura. An old couple, Shukichi and Shige, share their house with their son Koichi, a surgeon who is married and has two young sons, and daughter Noriko, who works as a secretary in Tokyo...
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Yasujirô Ozu
Equinox Flower (1958)
Yasujirô Ozu
Wataru Hirayama is a successful Tokyo businessman who is preoccupied with marrying off his eldest daughter Setsuko. When his friend Mikami tells him that his own daughter, Fumiko, has run off with a young musician, he agrees to visit Fumiko at her place of work to try to persuade her to return home...
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Yasujirô Ozu
Floating Weeds (1959)
Yasujirô Ozu
One hot summer, a travelling kabuki theatre company arrives at a provincial seaside town. Whilst the rest of the troupe are busy promoting their show to the townsfolk, its lead actor Komajuro visits his former mistress, Oyoshi, the owner of a small restaurant...
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Yasujirô Ozu
Gate of Hell (1953)
Teinosuke Kinugasa
Japan, 1159, during the Heian Period. In the midst of a bloody uprising, the imperial palace of Sanjo falls to the rebel faction... [More...]
Teinosuke Kinugasa
Japan, 1159, during the Heian Period. In the midst of a bloody uprising, the imperial palace of Sanjo falls to the rebel faction... [More...]
Good Morning (1959)
Yasujirô Ozu
Minoru and Isamu are two young brothers who live in a close-knit community in the suburbs of Tokyo. Their mother, Mrs Hayashi, the chairwoman of a wives' club, has fallen out with a neighbour, Mrs Haraguchi, by starting a rumour that the latter embezzled money from the club's funds to buy herself a washing machine... [More...]
Yasujirô Ozu
Minoru and Isamu are two young brothers who live in a close-knit community in the suburbs of Tokyo. Their mother, Mrs Hayashi, the chairwoman of a wives' club, has fallen out with a neighbour, Mrs Haraguchi, by starting a rumour that the latter embezzled money from the club's funds to buy herself a washing machine... [More...]
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Akira Kurosawa
In war-torn feudal Japan, two peasants, Tahei and Matashichi, attempt to escape across the border from their own country, but are captured by enemy soldiers and forced into slavery... [More...]
Akira Kurosawa
In war-torn feudal Japan, two peasants, Tahei and Matashichi, attempt to escape across the border from their own country, but are captured by enemy soldiers and forced into slavery... [More...]
Hiroshima mon amour (1959)
Alain Resnais
In the summer of 1957, an aspiring French actress travels to Hiroshima in Japan to work on an anti-war film. The city was totally destroyed when the Americans dropped a nuclear bomb on it at the end of the Second World War, but now it has been rebuilt and shows little sign of the past devastation... [More...]
Alain Resnais
In the summer of 1957, an aspiring French actress travels to Hiroshima in Japan to work on an anti-war film. The city was totally destroyed when the Americans dropped a nuclear bomb on it at the end of the Second World War, but now it has been rebuilt and shows little sign of the past devastation... [More...]
I Live in Fear (1955)
Akira Kurosawa
Japan, in the mid-1950s. Convinced that his country faces imminent destruction by atomic bombs, elderly patriarch Kiichi Nakajima plans to sell his foundry and move with his entire family to Brazil... [More...]
Akira Kurosawa
Japan, in the mid-1950s. Convinced that his country faces imminent destruction by atomic bombs, elderly patriarch Kiichi Nakajima plans to sell his foundry and move with his entire family to Brazil... [More...]
The Idiot (1951)
Akira Kurosawa
Having been treated for epilepsy brought about by his wartime experiences, Kinji Kameda returns to his hometown. Penniless, the only person he can turn to for support is his uncle Ono, who is preoccupied with his daughter Ayako's marriage to the wealthy Tohata... [More...]
Akira Kurosawa
Having been treated for epilepsy brought about by his wartime experiences, Kinji Kameda returns to his hometown. Penniless, the only person he can turn to for support is his uncle Ono, who is preoccupied with his daughter Ayako's marriage to the wealthy Tohata... [More...]
Ikiru (1952)
Akira Kurosawa
For thirty years, Kanji Watanabe has worked in the same office in a local government department, hoarding his money because he does not know what to do with it, afraid to take a day off work through fear that no one would miss him... [More...]
Akira Kurosawa
For thirty years, Kanji Watanabe has worked in the same office in a local government department, hoarding his money because he does not know what to do with it, afraid to take a day off work through fear that no one would miss him... [More...]
The Life of Oharu (1952)
Kenji Mizoguchi
In 17th Century Japan, a fifty-year-old prostitute named Oharu looks back on her life in sorrow. When she was a young woman, she brought disgrace on herself and her family by falling in love with a man from an inferior caste... [More...]
Kenji Mizoguchi
In 17th Century Japan, a fifty-year-old prostitute named Oharu looks back on her life in sorrow. When she was a young woman, she brought disgrace on herself and her family by falling in love with a man from an inferior caste... [More...]
The Lower Depths (1957)
Akira Kurosawa
Japan in the mid-19th century. A rundown tenement in a slum area is home to a bedraggled hodge-podge of thieves, gamblers and prostitutes, lowlife who have no future and who live on futile dreams... [More...]
Akira Kurosawa
Japan in the mid-19th century. A rundown tenement in a slum area is home to a bedraggled hodge-podge of thieves, gamblers and prostitutes, lowlife who have no future and who live on futile dreams... [More...]
Oyû-sama (1951)
Kenji Mizoguchi
In late 19th century Japan, a young carpenter named Shinnosuke must choose a woman to take as his bride. So far his aunt's attempts to find him a suitable wife have failed, but he is no hurry to marry... [More...]
Kenji Mizoguchi
In late 19th century Japan, a young carpenter named Shinnosuke must choose a woman to take as his bride. So far his aunt's attempts to find him a suitable wife have failed, but he is no hurry to marry... [More...]
Rashomon (1950)
Akira Kurosawa
In 11th Century Japan, a woodcutter and a priest are sheltering from a torrential downpour in the ruins of the ancient Rashomon gate... [More...]
Akira Kurosawa
In 11th Century Japan, a woodcutter and a priest are sheltering from a torrential downpour in the ruins of the ancient Rashomon gate... [More...]
Sansho dayu (1954)
Kenji Mizoguchi
In 11th Century Japan, an aristocratic woman, Tamaki, and her two young children, Zushio and Anju, leave their home to look for their father... [More...]
Kenji Mizoguchi
In 11th Century Japan, an aristocratic woman, Tamaki, and her two young children, Zushio and Anju, leave their home to look for their father... [More...]
Scandal (1950)
Akira Kurosawa
In present day Japan, Ichiro Aoye is an artist who makes the fatal mistake of offering a lift on his motorcycle to a famous singer, Miyako Saijo... [More...]
Akira Kurosawa
In present day Japan, Ichiro Aoye is an artist who makes the fatal mistake of offering a lift on his motorcycle to a famous singer, Miyako Saijo... [More...]
Seven Samurai (1954)
Akira Kurosawa
Japan in the sixteenth century is riven by civil wars which allow gangs of maraudiung bandits to tyrannise village communities across the country... [More...]
Akira Kurosawa
Japan in the sixteenth century is riven by civil wars which allow gangs of maraudiung bandits to tyrannise village communities across the country... [More...]
Throne of Blood (1957)
Akira Kurosawa
Sent by the Lord Tzuzuki, two samurai warriors, Washizu and Miki, succeed in crushing a local uprising led by a treacherous warlord... [More...]
Akira Kurosawa
Sent by the Lord Tzuzuki, two samurai warriors, Washizu and Miki, succeed in crushing a local uprising led by a treacherous warlord... [More...]
Tokyo Story (1953)
Yasujirô Ozu
Shukichi and Tomi Hirayama, a retired couple in their sixties, undertake a long journey from their home in the Japanese town of Onomichi to visit their grown-up children in Tokyo... [More...]
Yasujirô Ozu
Shukichi and Tomi Hirayama, a retired couple in their sixties, undertake a long journey from their home in the Japanese town of Onomichi to visit their grown-up children in Tokyo... [More...]
Tokyo Twilight (1957)
Yasujirô Ozu
Shukichi Sugiyama is a senior bank employee who lives in Tokyo with his two grown-up daughters, Akiko and Takako. It has been many years since Shukichi's wife walked out on him and his daughters to pursue an affair with another man, and now history appears to be repeating itself... [More...]
Yasujirô Ozu
Shukichi Sugiyama is a senior bank employee who lives in Tokyo with his two grown-up daughters, Akiko and Takako. It has been many years since Shukichi's wife walked out on him and his daughters to pursue an affair with another man, and now history appears to be repeating itself... [More...]
Ugetsu monogatari (1953)
Kenji Mizoguchi
In 16th Century Japan, Genjurô and Tôbei are peasant farmers who live on the shore of Lake Biwa with their wives, Miyagi and Ohama... [More...]
Kenji Mizoguchi
In 16th Century Japan, Genjurô and Tôbei are peasant farmers who live on the shore of Lake Biwa with their wives, Miyagi and Ohama... [More...]