Best Of...
Japanese cinema: All genres
A Hen in the Wind (1948)
Yasujirô Ozu
In a slum district of Tokyo, not long after the end of WWII... With her husband Shuichi still awaiting repatriation, Tokiko struggles to bring up their four year old son alone...
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Yasujirô Ozu
A Mother Should Be Loved (1934)
Yasujirô Ozu
Whilst they are at school, two brothers - Sadao and Kosaku - learn that their father has just died from a heart attack. After the funeral, Okazuki, their uncle, visits their mother, Chieko, and asks her to carry on raising Sadao as if he were her own son...
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Yasujirô Ozu
A Page of Madness (1926)
Teinosuke Kinugasa
In a state asylum, an old man works as a janitor so that he can be near to his wife, who is incarcerated as one of the patients...
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Teinosuke Kinugasa
A Story of Floating Weeds (1934)
Yasujirô Ozu
A kabuki troupe, led by the ageing actor Kihachi Ichikawa, arrives in a small seaside town. Without telling anyone, Kihachi takes the opportunity to visit a former mistress of his, Otsune, who bore him a son many years ago and now runs a restaurant...
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Yasujirô Ozu
A.K. (1985)
Chris Marker
In the autumn of 1984, independent filmmaker Chris Marker joins the cast and crew of Akira Kurosawa's latest epic film Ran on the windy slopes of Mount Fuji in Japan...
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Chris Marker
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... [More...]
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... [More...]
An Autumn Afternoon (1962)
Yasujirô Ozu
Shuhei Hirayama is a comfortably off widower in his late fifties who lives in the suburbs of Tokyo with his grown up son Kazuo and daughter Michiko... [More...]
Yasujirô Ozu
Shuhei Hirayama is a comfortably off widower in his late fifties who lives in the suburbs of Tokyo with his grown up son Kazuo and daughter Michiko... [More...]
An Inn in Tokyo (1935)
Yasujirô Ozu
Accompanied by his two young sons, Zenko and Masako, Kihachi wanders around the industrial outskirts of Tokyo, desperately looking for work... [More...]
Yasujirô Ozu
Accompanied by his two young sons, Zenko and Masako, Kihachi wanders around the industrial outskirts of Tokyo, desperately looking for work... [More...]
The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
Akira Kurosawa
In modern day Japan, Iwabuchi is the Vice President of one of the country's most important construction companies. Not long ago, the company was implicated in a corruption scandal, although the matter was hushed up after one of its executives, Furuya, killed himself by jumping from a seventh floor window at the corporate headquarters... [More...]
Akira Kurosawa
In modern day Japan, Iwabuchi is the Vice President of one of the country's most important construction companies. Not long ago, the company was implicated in a corruption scandal, although the matter was hushed up after one of its executives, Furuya, killed himself by jumping from a seventh floor window at the corporate headquarters... [More...]
The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941)
Yasujirô Ozu
The Todas, a respectable, upper-class Japanese family, gather for a family photograph on the occasion of their father's 69th birthday... [More...]
Yasujirô Ozu
The Todas, a respectable, upper-class Japanese family, gather for a family photograph on the occasion of their father's 69th birthday... [More...]
Crossroads (1928)
Teinosuke Kinugasa
In the 18th century, a young man named Rikiya lives with his sister Okiku in a cheap rented apartment in the Red Light district of Edo... [More...]
Teinosuke Kinugasa
In the 18th century, a young man named Rikiya lives with his sister Okiku in a cheap rented apartment in the Red Light district of Edo... [More...]
Dodes'ka-den (1970)
Akira Kurosawa
Roku-chan lives with his mother in a small shack on a rubbish dump. A retarded young man with no hope of finding work, Roku-chan spends his days driving an imaginary tram around the dump... [More...]
Akira Kurosawa
Roku-chan lives with his mother in a small shack on a rubbish dump. A retarded young man with no hope of finding work, Roku-chan spends his days driving an imaginary tram around the dump... [More...]
Dragnet Girl (1933)
Yasujirô Ozu
By day, Tokiko leads a respectable life, working as an office typist for a large corporation. By night, she drops her pretence of respectability and becomes the mistress of a small time hoodlum, Jyoji... [More...]
Yasujirô Ozu
By day, Tokiko leads a respectable life, working as an office typist for a large corporation. By night, she drops her pretence of respectability and becomes the mistress of a small time hoodlum, Jyoji... [More...]
Drunken Angel (1948)
Akira Kurosawa
In post-war Japan, Sanada, a disillusioned doctor suffering from alcoholism, reluctantly extracts a bullet from the hand of a young hoodlum named Matsunaga... [More...]
Akira Kurosawa
In post-war Japan, Sanada, a disillusioned doctor suffering from alcoholism, reluctantly extracts a bullet from the hand of a young hoodlum named Matsunaga... [More...]
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... [More...]
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... [More...]
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... [More...]
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... [More...]
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... [More...]
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... [More...]
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... [More...]
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... [More...]
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...]
High and Low (1963)
Akira Kurosawa
Kingo Gondo is a wealthy executive for a leading Japanese shoe manufacturing company. One evening, he hosts a meeting with several other executives at his luxurious house, which is perched high on a hill overlooking the city of Yokohama... [More...]
Akira Kurosawa
Kingo Gondo is a wealthy executive for a leading Japanese shoe manufacturing company. One evening, he hosts a meeting with several other executives at his luxurious house, which is perched high on a hill overlooking the city of Yokohama... [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 Flunked, But... (1930)
Yasujirô Ozu
Takahasi spends most of his time in college idling about with his four friends. When the exams come round, these five devise various schemes to cheat their way to success, including writing notes on their shirts... [More...]
Yasujirô Ozu
Takahasi spends most of his time in college idling about with his four friends. When the exams come round, these five devise various schemes to cheat their way to success, including writing notes on their shirts... [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...]
I Was Born, But... (1932)
Yasujirô Ozu
Yoshi has recently moved with his family to the suburbs of Tokyo. His two young sons, Keiji and Ryoichi, become the victims of a local bully and are put off from attending school... [More...]
Yasujirô Ozu
Yoshi has recently moved with his family to the suburbs of Tokyo. His two young sons, Keiji and Ryoichi, become the victims of a local bully and are put off from attending school... [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 Lady and the Beard (1931)
Yasujirô Ozu
As a college student, Kiichi Okajima impresses everyone with his mastery of the Japanese martial art of Kendo. But, once he has graduated, the world seems not to appreciate his devotion to Japan's cultural traditions... [More...]
Yasujirô Ozu
As a college student, Kiichi Okajima impresses everyone with his mastery of the Japanese martial art of Kendo. But, once he has graduated, the world seems not to appreciate his devotion to Japan's cultural traditions... [More...]
Late Autumn (1960)
Yasujirô Ozu
Mamiya, Taguchi and Hirayama, three prosperous middle-aged men, meet up to attend the seventh memorial service of their mutual college friend Miwa... [More...]
Yasujirô Ozu
Mamiya, Taguchi and Hirayama, three prosperous middle-aged men, meet up to attend the seventh memorial service of their mutual college friend Miwa... [More...]