PDA

View Full Version : MC's List-Fu IV: Top 99 Japanese Films



dreamdead
11-03-2007, 03:30 PM
Alright, I've been sitting on the results long enough, so let's get this thread rolling. While you'll note that the amount of films included in this thread go beyond conventional top 25/50, that fact is intentional as this thread endeavors to get us beyond some of the requisite classics and into some of the more obscure and esoteric choices. If you want the classics (as voted on by this community), the first couple pages won't be of interest. However, the hope here is that you'll find something of interest or worth in even the early pages. With that, on with the show...

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 03:43 PM
#99 Vital (Shinya Tsukamoto, 2004)

http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/images/movies/vital1.gif

After 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.

#98 Visitor Q (Takashi Miike, 2001)

http://www.natnalin.com/html/images/visitorQ-02.jpg

A father, who is a failed former television reporter tries to mount a documentary about violence and sex among youths. He proceeds to have sex with his daughter who is now a prostitute and films his son being humiliated and hit by classmates. "Q", a perfect stranger somehow gets involved and enter the bizzare family who's son beats his mom, who in turn is also a prostitute and a heroin addict…

#97 Tekkonkinkreet (Michael Arias, 2006)

http://www.jungejournalisten.berlinal e.de/imgCont/JJ_tekkonkinkreet.jpg
BLACK and WHITE, two street urchins, battle an array of old-word Yakuza and alien assassins vying to rule the decaying metropolis of Treasure Town - where the moon smiles and young boys can fly.

#96 Samurai III: Duel on Ganryu Island (Hiroshi Inagaki, 1956)

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare3/samuraiIII/ccsam3_5.JPG
A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader. He's also challenged to fight by the supremely confident and skillful Sasaki Kojiro. Takezo agrees to fight Kojiro in a year's time but rejects Shogun's patronage, choosing instead to live on the edge of a village, raising vegetables. He's followed there by Otsu and later by Akemi, both in love with him. The year ends as Takezo assists the villagers against a band of brigands. He seeks Otsu's forgiveness and accepts her love, then sets off across the water to Ganryu Island for his final contest.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 03:55 PM
#95 Ichi the Killer (Takashi Miike, 2001)

http://annualreport.walkerart.org/2003/images/film.jpg

Yakuza boss Anjo disappears with three hundred million yen. His loyal gang members, lead by the masochist Kakihara, start a search, but their aggressive and gory methods worry the other yakuza gangs. Kakiharas most frightening counterpart is the mysterious Ichi, a psychopathic killer with a dark childhood secret, who is controlled by a retired cop.

#94 The Hidden Blade (Yôji Yamada, 2004)

http://twi-ny.com/thehiddenblade.jpg

During the time of change of the mid-19th Century, Yaichiro is bid farewell by his fellow samurai friends Munezo and Samon as he leaves their clan's fiefdom on the northwest coast of Japan (Unasaka) to take an important position within the shogunate in far away Edo. Munezo has lived modestly with his mother and sister Shino after his father was forced into suicide after the failure of a bridge project. Kie, a farm girl serves them as a maid in their house. As time passes, Munezo's sister marries Samon, his mother dies, Kie is married into a merchant family, and he is required to learn western methods of warfare such as the use of artillery and firearms from an official sent from Edo. Learning that Kie is ill due to abuse, he rescues her from her husband's family. Although sharing mutual affection and respect, a marriage between Munezo and Kie is still impossible due to different castes, and when he, now a bachelor, is criticized for her serving in his house, Munezo sends her back to her father's farm. After being caught in a failed political intrigue, Yaichiro is sent home in disgrace and imprisoned in solitary confinement. After Yaichiro escapes, Munezo is ordered to prove his innocence from complicity by killing his old friend, and he seeks the help of his old teacher, the sword master Kansai Toda. Although Yaichiro had been the better swordsman when they studied together, Toda entrusted the secret of the "Hidden Blade" only to Munezo. Toda now teaches him a new technique to use as he prepares to face Yaichiro, who has taken hostages in a farm house.

#93 Gozu (Takashi Miike, 2003)

http://www.offscreen.com/images/gozu01.jpg

Minami, a member of the Azamawari crew, highly respects his Aniki (brother) Ozaki who has saved his life in the past. However, lately Ozaki's eccentricities (like claiming that a Chihuahua hs sees is a 'Yakuza attack dog') have been making everyone wonder about his sanity. Chairman Azamawari is unsympathetic to Ozaki's little outbursts and secretly orders Minami to take Ozaki to a disposal facility in the city of Nagoya. There, the fate of these two follows a twisted path filled with violence, mother's milk, strange locals, and ultimately the disappearance of Ozaki's corpse which Minami now desperately tries to recover.

#92 Dersu Uzala (Akira Kurosawa, 1975)

http://www.sea.fi/foto/derzu_uzala.jpg

A Russian army explorer who is rescued in Siberia by a rugged Asiatic hunter renews his friendship with the woodsman years later when he returns at the head of a larger expedition. The hunter finds that all his nature lore is of no help when he accompanies the explorer back to civilization.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 04:09 PM
#91 All About Lily Chou-Chou (Shunji Iwai, 2001)

http://www.bangkokdvd.com/ipix/1-17438.jpg

Life isn't easy for a group of high school kids growing up absurd in Japan's pervasive pop/cyber culture. As they negotiate teen badlands- school bullies, parents from another planet, lurid snapshots of sex and death- these everyday rebels without a cause seek sanctuary, even salvation, through pop star savior Lily Chou-Chou, embracing her sad, dreamy songs and sharing their fears and secrets in Lilyholic chat rooms. Immersed in the speed of everyday troubles, their lives inevitably climax in a fatal collision between real and virtual identities, a final logging-off from innocence.

#90 A Snake of June (Shinya Tsukamoto, 2002)

http://www.scifimoviepage.com/dvd/snake2.jpg

A man and woman fall into an erotic nightmare when they are stalked by a disturbed man.

#89 2LDK (Yukihiko Tsutsumi, 2003)

http://www.worldmovies.net/_uploads/images/movies/1238497055.jpg
Nozomi and Lana share an apartment in Tokyo. They have both auditioned for the same role in a movie, and know that the shortlist has been cut down to just the two of them. As they wait the night before finding out who will get the role, their personality clashes erupt into an all-out battle.

#88 Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman (Takeshi Kitano, 2003)

http://www.sunnyblue.net/fab/images/mar04/zatoichi.jpg

Zatoichi is a 19th century blind nomad who makes his living as a gambler and masseur. However, behind this humble facade, he is a master swordsman gifted with a lightning-fast draw and breathtaking precision. While wandering, Zatoichi discovers a remote mountain village at the mercy of Ginzo, a ruthless gang-leader. Ginzo disposes of anyone who gets in his way, especially after hiring the mighty samurai ronin, Hattori, as a bodyguard. After a raucous night of gambling in town, Zatoichi encoutners a pair of geishas--as dangerous as they are beautiful--who've come to avenge their parents' murder. As the paths of these and other colorful characters intertwine, Ginzo's henchmen are soon after Zatoichi. With his legendary cane sword at his side, the stage is set for a riveting showdown.

Sycophant
11-03-2007, 04:50 PM
Dude, our list has Visitor Q on it. That rocks. We're off to a great start. I have a feeling that I should have been watching Tsukamoto films all along. I'll get on that.

Kurosawa Fan
11-03-2007, 05:15 PM
Dersu Uzala making the list is the bees knees. I didn't vote for it because I had enough Kurosawa on there for three posters, but it rocks.

DSNT
11-03-2007, 05:37 PM
So far so good.
<------- I hope this guy makes the top 10.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 05:59 PM
#87 Tokyo Drifter (Seijun Suzuki, 1966)

http://www.3continents.com/cinema/films/images/f1021.jpg

In Tokyo, the gangster Tetsu (Tetsuya Watari) regenerates when his yakuza boss Kurata (Ryuji Kita) decides to quit his criminal life. However, the mobster family leaded by Otsuka (Hideaki Esumi) threatens Kurata's legitimate business, and Tetsu decides to leave Kurata to relief the pressure on him. He leaves also his girlfriend Chiharu (Chieko Matsubara) and becomes a drifter moving to the country. When Tetsu is betrayed, he returns to Tokyo to resolve his situation.

#86 The Street Fighter (Shigehiro Ozawa, 1974)

http://www.lovehkfilm.com/panasia/aj6293/street_fighter.jpg

Terry is a tough, mercenary, master of martial arts. When an important business magnate dies, leaving billions to his daughter, the Mafia and Yakuza try to hire Terry to kidnap the daughter. When they refuse to meet his exorbitant price, then try to kill him to conceal their secret plans, he promptly offers his services to protect her. Much ultra-violent martial-arts fighting action, as expected, ensues. This also includes a subplot of a family's bloodfeud with Terry over a disputed debt.

#85 Mothra vs. Godzilla (Ishirô Honda, 1964)

http://www.scifimoviepage.com/dvd/mothra1.jpg

A hurricane blows Mothra's egg off Infant Island and causes it to drift to Japan. Banzo Torhata sees an opportunity to make money off the egg but Mothra's twin priestesses show up and plead with him to return the egg or else the larva will hatch and cause great damage in search of food. Torahata refuses and tries to kidnap the fairies. They then go to reporters Ichiro Sakai and Junko Nakanishi to try to persuade Torahata to return the egg. Torahata still refuses and the girls leave with the adult Mothra. In the meantime Godzilla reawakens and begins another rampage. Japan's only hope is for Mothra to return and not only save Japan, but her egg as well.

#84 Kwaidan (Masaki Kobayashi, 1964)

http://www.cultfilmsenkutfilms.com/pics/kwaidan_03.jpg

"Black Hair": In ancient Kyoto, a samurai decides to leave his poor but beloved wife and become rich marrying a wealthy wife. He misses his loved wife, and years later, when he returns to her, he finds a surprise waiting for him. "The Woman in the Snow": And old and a young woodman are surprised by a snow storm, and the younger is saved by the spirit of a snow woman. He promises never telling what happened with him. Years later, he breaks his promise, telling the secret to his wife. "Hoichi the Earless": The blind Hoichi lives in a temple and magnificently plays his biwa and tells the sea battle of Dan-No-Ura between the clans of Genji and Heike. One night he is invited to perform his skills to a rich family and their guests in their house. "In a Cup of Tea": a samurai drinks water in a cup of tea, and he sees the soul of a former samurai. Later, he is haunted by the spirit.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 06:13 PM
#83 I Live in Fear (Akira Kurosawa, 1955)

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/30/30_images/kuro_fear1.jpg
Kiichi Nakajima, an elderly foundry owner, is so frightened and obsessed with the idea of nuclear extermination that his family decides to have him ruled incompetent. Nakajima's fervent wish is for his family to join him in escaping from Japan to the relative safety of South America. Harada, a civil volunteer in the case, sympathizes with Nakajima's conviction, but the old man's irrational behaviour prevents the court from taking his fears seriously.

#82 Human Condition I: No Greater Love (Masaki Kobayashi, 1959)

http://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_01_img0348.jpg

First of a trilogy of films. During the Second World War, a Japanese conscientious objector named Kaji works as a supervisor in a Manchurian prison camp. He hopes to avoid duty as a soldier, but he also hopes to be helpful to the welfare of his prisoners. An escape attempt by Chinese prisoners results in Kaji's arrest for collusion. He faces the possibility of transferral to combat--or worse.

#81 End of Evangelion (Hideaki Anno, 1997)

http://www.anime-planet.com/anirec/images/mainimages/endofeva.jpg

With the final Angel defeated, NERV HQ and the Eva pilots think their task is done. But it is soon revealed that all they've been fighting for is a lie: SEELE, the secret parent corporation of NERV, wanted to eliminate the Angels so it would be free to carry out the Human Instrumentality Project, ushering in a new level of human existence. However, SEELE discovers that NERV Director Gendou Ikari has betrayed them, as he plans to initiate his own altered version of the Project for his own plans. SEELE engineers a massive leave-no-survivors assault on Tokyo-3 by the conventional Japanese army, as well as deploying the 9 new mass-production model Eva units. With NERV being overwhelmed, the pilots of their 2 remaining Eva units mentally in no condition to fight, 9 horrifying new Eva's bearing down on the base, and Gendou descending into the bowels of NERV HQ to attempt the bring about Third Impact with Rei, the future of humanity lies in 14 year old Shinji's hands.

#80 Dead or Alive 2: Birds (Takashi Miike, 2000)

http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/2690/doa228kw.jpg

Two contract killers cross paths in the middle of the same job and realize they are childhood friends. Together they take a break from killing and visit the small island they once called home. After reflecting on their past lives they decided to team up and use their talents in killing for good... much to the upset of the crime syndicates.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 06:23 PM
#79 Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (Shichiniro Watanabe, 2001)

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/7/7d/250px-SpikeSpiegelM01.jpg
In 2071, Halloween is a big time national holiday on Mars. However a few days before Hallow's Eve, a tanker truck was blown up in the middle of a busy street. The substance from the explosion contained an unknown virus that's infected several victims. This is the work of a terrorist who has a scheme in using this virus to kill millions of people across the galaxy. 300,000,000 Woolongs is the bounty on the terrorist. That made the Bebop Crew start investigating and finding out who the terrorist is. But when they learned who it is and what the virus is, things become bizarre and peculiar.

#78 Violent Cop (Takeshi Kitano, 1989)

http://www.actualcine.com/weboscar/cineoriental/violentcop/violentcop.JPG
Detective Azuma is a Dirty-Harry style rogue cop who often uses violence and unethical methods to get results. While investigating a series of drug-related homicides, Azuma discovers that his friend and colleague, Iwaki, is supplying drugs from within the police force. After Iwaki is murdered and Azuma's sister is kidnapped, he breaks all the rules to dish out his particular form of justice.

#77 Uzumaki (Higuchinsky, 2000)

http://www.festival-des-neuen-japanischen-films.de/pics/uzumaki1.jpg
In a small town in Japan, Kirie comes upon her boyfriend's father silently videotaping a snail. He seems unaware of her presence and she thinks no more of it. Later, the mans obsession with spirals becomes more and more bizarre, ending in his suicide in a washing machine which turn his body into a spiral. Soon other inhabitants become possesed with different forms of spirals, one student seems to be mutating into a snail, another's hair becomes strangely medusa-like. The entire town becomes possesed.

#76 Tokyo Twilight (Yasujiro Ozu, 1957)

http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/images/films/2004spring/tokyo_twilight.jpg
Two sisters live with their father. The younger sister is embroiled in an affair and becomes pregnant. The elder sister has run away from her husband and returned with her child to her parent's home. Both sisters are astonished when their mother, long thought dead, turns up alive. The sisters are even more stunned when they learn what their mother's life has been.

Kurosawa Fan
11-03-2007, 06:29 PM
The Street Fighter and Violent Cop deserve higher positions, but both making the list is good enough to put a smile on my face.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 06:35 PM
#75 Steamboy (Katsuhiro Ôtomo, 2004)

http://www.sdaff.org/festival/2004/images/films/Steamboy.jpg

Rei is a young inventor living in the U.K. in the middle of the 19th century. Shortly before the first ever World Expo, a marvelous invention called the "Steam Ball", behind which a menacing power is hidden, arrives at his door from his grandfather Roid in the U.S. Meanwhile the nefarious Ohara Foundation has sent men to acquire theSteam Ball so that they can use its power towards their own illicit ends.

#74 Memories (Kôji Morimoto , Tensai Okamura, Katsuhiro Ôtomo, 1995)

http://www.ponpokopon.net/memories1.jpg

"Memories" is made up of three separate science-fiction stories. In the first, "Magnetic Rose," three space travelers are drawn into an abandoned spaceship that contains a world created by one woman's memories. In "Stink Bomb," a young lab assistant accidentally transforms himself into a human biological weapon set on a direct course for Tôkyô. The final episode, "Cannon Fodder," depicts a day in the life of a city whose entire purpose is the firing of cannons at an unseen enemy.

#73 Kiki’s Delivery Service (Hayao Miyazaki, 1989)

http://www.danielthomas.org/Assets/film%20reviews%20pix/kiki2.jpg
Kiki, a young witch-in-training, has reached the age of 13. According to tradition, all witches of that age must leave home for one year, so that they can learn how to live on their own. Kiki, along with her talking cat Gigi, fly away to live in the seaside town of Korico. After starting her own delivery service (using her broom as the delivery vehicle), Kiki must learn how to deal with her new life, especially after she loses the power to fly.

#72 Kagemusha (Akira Kurosawa, 1980)

http://uashome.alaska.edu/~jndfg20/website/kagemusha.gif
In 1572, there is a civil war in Japan, and three powerful clans, leaded by the lords Shingen Takeda (Tatsuya Nakadai), Nobunaga Oda (Daisuke Ryu) and Ieyasu Tokugawa (Masayuki Yui), dispute the conquest of Kyoto. When Shingen is mortally wounded, the Takeda clan hides the incident and uses a poor thief to be the double of the strategist Shingen and keep the respect of their enemies. Along the years, Kagemusha incorporates the spirit of the warrior of the dead warlord.

DSNT
11-03-2007, 06:41 PM
:up: for the underappreciated Steamboy. It had some story problems, but the animation was some of the best I've seen from the genre.

Sycophant
11-03-2007, 06:41 PM
Color me surprised on Steamboy.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 06:48 PM
#71 Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995)

http://thisdistractedglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/Ghost%20In%20The%20Shell%20pic 3.jpg
The year is 2029. The world has become intensively information oriented and humans are well-connected to the network. Crime has developed into a sophisticated stage by hacking into the interactive network. To prevent this, Section 9 is formed. These are cyborgs with incredible strengths and abilities that can access any network on Earth.

#70 Female Prisoner 701 Scorpion (Shunya Ito, 1972)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v702/bleeding_tree/d9f97538.jpg

After being cruelly set up and deceived by Sugimi (Natsuyagi Isao), a conniving and crooked detective she had whole-heartedly fallen in love with (and subsequently lost her virginity to...), Matsushima Nami's desire for revenge knows no bounds. Her failed attempt at stabbing Sugimi on the steps of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Headquarters results in her doing hard time in a female prison run by sadistic and horny male guards. To Sugimi's surprise, Matsushima refuses to testify against him and his connections to the mob, and now the sheer fact that she knows such secrets makes her a liability. So Sugimi and the Japanese mafia orchestrate a plan whereby Matsushima will succumb to an "accidental" death in prison. They enlist the help of Kagiri, another female inmate with ties to both Sugimi and the mafia, thus their formidable plan is quickly set in motion. Little do they realize, however, how hotly Matsushima's desire for revenge burns within her.

#69 Bullet Ballet (Shinya Tsukamoto, 1998)

http://www.thefilmjournal.com/images/BulletBalletImg6.jpg

A man sees his life changed for ever when his fiancee shoots herself. Baffled, he wants by all means to obtain such a weapon of destruction and he finds himself caught in a violent group of young vicious punks. They first beat him severely and then he seeks revenge with his fist, then with a gun.

#68 Tetsuo (Shinya Tsukamoto, 1989)

http://www.filmski.net/slike/automatika/news/2852d.jpg

A strange man known only as the "metal fetishist", who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his body, is hit and possibly killed by a Japanese "salaryman", out for a drive with his girlfriend. The salaryman then notices that he is being slowly overtaken by some kind of disease that is turning his body into scrap metal, and that his nemesis is not in fact dead but is somehow masterminding and guiding his rage and frustration-fueled transformation.

Eleven
11-03-2007, 06:51 PM
If Shinya's got spot #67, there's a conspiracy goin' on.

Watashi
11-03-2007, 06:53 PM
Eh.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 06:57 PM
Eh.

To what?

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 06:59 PM
#67 Samurai Rebellion (Masaki Kobayashi, 1967)

http://www.cyberpat.com/samurai/gifs/mifune&nakadai.jpg

During peace in 1725, aging swordsman Isaburo is living a henpecked life when his clan lord requests that Isaburo's son marry the lord's mistress, with whom he's displeased, even though she's born him a son. Isaburo wants to refuse, but his son Yogoro accepts the woman, Ichi, and they fall deeply in love. Their love renews Isaburo, so when the clan lord's elder son dies and the lord sends for Ichi to return to his side as mother of his heir, Isaburo opposes his lord. Yogoro and Ichi, who now have a baby daughter, stand with him. The clan orders their suicide, then sends soldiers to kill them. Isaburo's only hope is to take his case to Edo to expose the clan's cruelty. Can he?

#66 Life of Oharu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1952)

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/images/NoelMegahey/ladyofmusashino2.jpg
A fifty-year-old prostitute, no longer able to attract men, looks back on her sad life. Once a lady-in-waiting at the imperial court at Kyoto, Oharu fell in love with, and became the lover of, a man below her station. They were discovered, and Oharu and her family were exiled. For Oharu there followed a life filled with one sorrow and humiliation after another.

#65 Fires on the Plain (Kon Ichikawa, 1959)

http://www.popmatters.com/images/features_art/l/labowskie-fires-insd1.jpg
It is the Philipines, 1945. The Japanese Imperial Army has been reduced to a ragtag mob hiding in the jungles. Among them is Pvt. Tamura. The situation goes from bad to worse and in the face of the brutal conditions facing the men, some go insane and resort to murder and cannibalism. In the midst of this, Pvt. Tamura tries to survive without giving up his principles.

#64 The Bird People in China (Takashi Miike, 1998)

http://history.pifan.com/upload/movie2004/Film/china1.jpg

A young Japanese salaryman is sent by his company to a remote Chinese village to evaluate precious Jade that is found there, but before he arrives meets the yakuza who was sent to tail him to protect his bosses interest in the company. When the men finally arrive their mission become sidetracked by their interest in a mysterious young village girl, her haunting English language song and the secret that makes men fly like birds.

Watashi
11-03-2007, 07:02 PM
To what?

To the list so far.

Philosophe_rouge
11-03-2007, 07:04 PM
So far I've only seen Kiki... I'm not particularly surprised, I've seen barely any Japanese films. I'll definetely use this as a source for recommendations though. Keep up the great work.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 07:11 PM
#63 Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (Yoshiaki Kawajiri, 2000)

http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/screenreviews/vampirehunterdbloodlust.jpg

It is many thousand years in the future. Vampires once ruled the night but have seen their numbers reduced by fearless bounty hunters. One such hunter is D, the halfbreed son of a human mother and vampire father. When a girl from a rich family is taken from her home by the vampire Meier Link, her father contracts both D and the Markus brothers (a rival group of hunters) to race to retrieve her. As the heroes fight their way through Meier's hired guards, they begin to suspect that the girl may have gone with him willingly.

#62 Takeshis' (Takeshi Kitano, 2005)

http://www.lovehkfilm.com/panasia/aj6293/takeshis.jpg

Beat Takeshi lives the busy and sometimes surreal life of a showbiz celebrity. One day he meets his blond lookalike named Kitano, a shy convenience store cashier, who, still an unknown actor, is waiting for his big break. After their paths cross, Kitano seems to begin hallucinating about becoming Beat.

#61 Linda Linda Linda (Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2005)

http://www.cinemastrikesback.com/news/subway2006/films/lindalinda/linda1.jpg

A music group of girls need to learn to play a song before the school festival.

#60 Dolls (Takeshi Kitano, 2002)

http://www.celluloid-dreams.de/content/images/asiakritiken-filmbilder/takeshi-kitanos-dolls/takeshi-kitanos-dolls-6.jpg

Three stories of undying love from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano. Bound by a long red cord, a young couple wanders in search of something they have forgotten. An aging yakuza returns to the park where he used to meet his long-lost girlfriend. A disfigured pop star confronts the phenomenal devotion of her biggest fan ... Three stories delicately intertwined by the beauty of sadness.

Stay Puft
11-03-2007, 07:13 PM
I am performing exuberant backflips for Tetsuo and A Snake of June - two of my favorites, easily. I need to seek out more of Tsukamoto's work. (Hiruko is fun, but hardly noteworthy.)

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 07:13 PM
Linda Linda Linda [/B](Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2005)


This is the first one that I really disagree with. It's never less than enjoyable, but it doesn't really possess anything that distinguishes it as a classic, contemporary or otherwise. Good, but kinda perfunctory.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 07:24 PM
#59 Bright Future (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2003)

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/images/04/32/bright_future2.jpg

In Tokyo, the dysfunctional friends Nimura and Mamoru work in a laundry of towels in part time. Nimura sees a bright future only in dreams, and Mamoru is adapting a venom jellyfish in fresh water. Their boss likes them and gives a bonus and proposes a full time work for them. Mamoru kills the boss's family in a attack of rage without any reason and he is sentenced to death. Nimura keeps the jellyfish and releases it in a canal of Tokyo. Meanwhile, Mamoru's father comes to Tokyo for the funeral of his son, and Nimura stays with him, while the jellyfishes threatens the population of Tokyo.

#58 Vengeance is Mine (Shohei Imamura, 1979)

http://www.dvdoutsider.co.uk/dvd/pix/v/vengeance1.jpg

Iwao Enokizu is a middle-aged man who has an unexplainable urge to commit insane and violent murders. Eventually he is chased by the police all over Japan, but somehow he always manages to escape. He meets a woman who runs a brothel. They love each other but how long can they be together?

#57 Tampopo (Juzo Itami, 1985)

http://www.firecracker-media.com/moxiepix/b2_108.jpg

In this humorous paean to the joys of food, the main story is about trucker Goro who rides into town like a modern Shane to help Tampopo set up the perfect fast-food noodle restaurant. Woven into this main story are a number of smaller stories about the importance of food, ranging from a gangster who mixes hot sex with food to an old lady terrorizing a shopkeeper by compulsive squeezing of his wares.

#56 Mind Game (Masaaki Yuasa, 2004)

http://www.lumiere.net.nz/reader/media/images/img_mindgame.jpg
This award-winning film is a journey of self-discovery based on Japan's cult underground comic "Mind Game" by Robin Nishi. The story follows Nishi himself through the life experiences that directly inspired the semi-autobiographical "Mind Game" comic. As a college-age loser addicted to porn and aspiring to write seedy adult comics, Nishi aspires to overcome his addiction to perversion in a tale that is lighthearted yet painful and touching. What starts off as an innocent meeting between old friends quickly turns into a psychedelic extravaganza, filled with violence, sex, love, redemption, and the infinite possibilities of the human mind. Director Masaaki Yuasa rejoices in experimental animation techniques, filling the screen with virtuoso wackiness, mixing in rough lines and storyboards, then inserting photographic touches.

Ezee E
11-03-2007, 08:27 PM
Certainly a good list for some adds to my queue.

soitgoes...
11-03-2007, 08:41 PM
Yeah this first part of the list contains a lot I haven't seen. I'm not nearly as up on my current Japanese film watching as I am the older stuff. That being said I'm ready for the Kurosawa/Miyazaki onslaught to commence.

Saya
11-03-2007, 08:44 PM
Nice to see that Kwaidan made it. Very good list so far.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 09:19 PM
#55 Tokyo Godfathers (Satoshi Kon, 2003)

http://flakmag.com/film/images/tokyogodfathers.jpg

Christmas in Tokyo, Japan. Three homeless friends: a young girl, a transvestite, and a middle-aged bum. While foraging through some trash, they find an abandoned newborn. Hana, the transvestite with delusions of being a mother, convinces the others to keep it overnight. The next day, using a key found with the baby, they start tracking down the parents, with many adventures along the way.

#54 Seppuku (Masaki Kobayashi, 1962)

http://www.dvdclassik.com/V2/img-critiques/harakiri1.jpg

Peace in 17th-century Japan causes the Shogunate's breakup of warrior clans, throwing thousands of samurai out of work and into poverty. An honorable end to such fate under the samurai code is ritual suicide, or hara-kiri (self-inflicted disembowelment). An elder warrior, Hanshiro Tsugumo (Tatsuya Nakadai) seeks admittance to the house of a feudal lord to commit the act. There, he learns of the fate of his son-in-law, a young samurai who sought work at the house but was instead barbarically forced to commit traditional hara-kiri in an excruciating manner with a dull bamboo blade. In flashbacks the samurai tells the tragic story of his son-in-law, and how he was forced to sell his real sword to support his sick wife and child. Tsugumo thus sets in motion a tense showdown of revenge against the house.

#53 Happiness of the Katakuris (Takashi Miike, 2001)

http://www.filmfortress.com/film/images/happiness_katakuris_review.jpg
The Katakuri family has just opened their guesthouse in the mountains. Unfortunately their first guest commits suicide and in order to avoid trouble they decide to bury him in the backyard. Things get way more complicated when their second guest, a famous sumo wrestler, dies while having sex with his underage girlfriend and the grave behind the house starts to fill up more and more.

#52 Doppelganger (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2003)

http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/images/movies/doppelganger2.gif

Hayasaki is an inventor working on an Artificial Body. It is not going well and he is stressed out and on the verge of being fired from the research division of his company. His doppelganger appears to help him out of the rut he has created for himself.

Mysterious Dude
11-03-2007, 09:22 PM
I'm disappointed that Oharu didn't do a little better, but I guess it's not widely available.

Rowland
11-03-2007, 09:25 PM
Doppelganger at #52? WTF?

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 09:28 PM
#51 Castle in the Sky (Hayao Miyazaki, 1986)

http://www.otakucity.org/IMG/cache-440x331/laputa_castle_in_the_sky001-710x533-440x331.jpg
A young boy stumbles into a mysterious girl who floats down from the sky. The girl, Sheet, was chased by pirates, army and government secret agents. In saving her life, they begin a high flying adventure that goes through all sorts of flying machine, eventually searching for Sheet's identity in a floating castle of a lost civilization.

#50 Sword of Doom (Kihachi Okamoto, 1966)

http://www.asianreporter.com/film/2006/30-p11-Sword%20of%20Doom.jpg
Ryunosuke is a sociopathic samurai without compassion or scruples. When he is scheduled for an exhibition match at his fencing school, the wife of his opponent begs Ryunosuke to throw the match, offering her own virtue in trade. Ryunosuke accepts her offer, but kills her husband in the match. Over time, Ryunosuke is pursued by the brother of the man he killed. The brother trains with the master fencer Shimada. In the meantime, however, Ryunosuke earns the enmity of the band of assassins he runs with, and it becomes a question of who shall face him in final conflict.

#49 Sanjuro (Akira Kurosawa, 1962)

http://brooklynrail.org/article_image/image/1012/FILM_DVD_Wilentz_Yojimbo_1.jpg
In Japan circa Eighteenth Century, nine young men decide to present an accusation of corruption in their clan to the local superintendent. However, the group is betrayed, but the ronin Sanjûrô Tsubaki (Toshirô Mifune) saves them from the superintendent's men. The uncle of the leader of the rebel clansmen, the Chamberlain Mutsuta (Yûnosuke Itô), is kidnapped, and his wife and daughter are detained and made prisoner of the superintendent, and he tries to force Mutsuta to write a fake confession letter declaring being corrupt. Sanjûrô helps the group to rescue the Chamberlain and his family.

#48 Red Beard (Akira Kurosawa, 1965)

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/4/47/Mifune(RedBeard).jpg
In the Nineteenth Century, in Japan, the arrogant and proud just-graduated Dr. Noboru Yasumoto (Yuzo Kayama) is forced to work in the Koshikawa Clinic, a non-profit health facility ruled by Dr. Kyojio Niide (Toshirô Mifune), a.k.a. "Red Beard". "Red Beard" is a good, sentimental, but also very firm, strong and fair man. While in the clinic, Dr. Yasumoto becomes responsible for healing the hurt teenager Otoyo (Terumi Niki), and he learns a lesson of humanity, becoming a better man.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 09:29 PM
Doppelganger at #52? WTF?

iosos put it in tier I, boosting it incredibly high, and a few others had it in tier IV. I blame the resident crazy...

Bosco B Thug
11-03-2007, 09:34 PM
Japanese cinema is probably the country I've least explored. Should get on that. This should help!

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 09:38 PM
#47 My Neighbors the Yamadas (Isao Takahata, 1999)

http://www.animatedbliss.com/images/DVD/M/yamadas_01.jpg
The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humourous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life's little conflicts, problems and joys in their own way.

#46 Metropolis (Rintaro, 2001)

http://www.dvdmaxx.com/photos/metropolis1.jpg
Metropolis is a story of how important emotions are and how they separate humans from everything else. The movie follows a young boy and his uncle (a private investigator). The story is set in the far future where humans and robots live together, unfortunately not in harmony. Many robots are forced underground and are terminated for entering unauthorized areas. They are more or less servants to humankind. The plot starts to unfold when the boy meets a robot named Tima and they get in all kinds of trouble.

#45 Maborosi (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 1995)

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/47/47_images/kore1mabyumiko.jpg
A young woman's husband apparently commits suicide without warning or reason, leaving behind his wife and infant. Yumiko remarries and moves from Osaka to a small fishing village, yet continues to search for meaning in a lonely world.

#44 Kids Return (Takeshi Kitano, 1996)

http://www.kitanotakeshi.com/pictures/kitano/kids1.jpg

Two school-age chums, Shinji and Masaru, spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates, playing pranks, and sneaking to the movies. They decide to drop out and gain their fortunes in the outside world. Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a local Yakuza gang. Over the years the two do well, but their undisciplined nature comes back to haunt them.

Mr. Valentine
11-03-2007, 09:52 PM
great list so far. the only one i disagree with is Steamboy which i hate with a passion. i've given it a chance twice and both times were failures.

Sycophant
11-03-2007, 09:57 PM
iosos put it in tier I, boosting it incredibly high, and a few others had it in tier IV. I blame the resident crazy...
Actually, iosos and I both ranked it tier 1 and Stay Puft put it tier II. I expected it would actually do better. Huh.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 09:57 PM
#43 Gojira / Godzilla (Ishirô Honda, 1954)

http://www.whatdvd.net/WhatDVD-Graphics/main/915.jpg
Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships explode and are sunk. At first the authorities think its either underwater mines or underwater volcanic activity. The authorities soon head to Odo Island, close to where several of the ships were sunk. One night, something comes onshore and destroys several houses and kills several people. A later expedition to the island led by paleontologist Professor Kyohei Yemani, his daughter Emiko and a young navy frogman Hideto Ogata (who also happens to be Emiko's lover even though she is betrothed to Doctor Daisuke Serizawa)soon discover something more devastating than imagined in the form of a 164 foot tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan, but the rest of the world as well. Can the monster be destroyed before it is too late and what role will the mysterious Serizawa play in the battle?

#42 The Taste of Tea (Katsuhito Ishii, 2004)

http://www.offoffoff.com/film/2004/images/hawaii.jpg

A spell of time in the life of a family living in rural Tochigi prefecture, north of Tokyo. Though her husband is busy working at an office, Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project at home. Uncle Ayano has recently arrived, looking to get his head together after living in Tokyo for several years. Meanwhile, Yoshiko's daughter Sachiko is mainly concerned with why she seems to be followed around everywhere by a giant version of herself.

#41 The Burmese Harp (Kon Ichikawa, 1956)

http://www.cinemastrikesback.com/news/films/ichikawawar/monk.jpg
July, 1945: Japan's army is on the run. A platoon in Burma sings to keep its spirit up. Inspiration comes from their self-taught lute player, Mizushima. At war's end, while they await repatriation at Mudon prison camp, Mizushima is sent to convince a Japanese company dug into a mountain that it must surrender. He fails, the British attack, many die, and his companions fear he's been killed. However, he has survived and disguised himself as a Buddhist priest. En route to Mudon to join his comrades, the frequent sight of dead Japanese soldiers overwhelms him. He vows to live a life of prayer, burying bones and bodies; his friends want him to return with them to Japan.

#40 Ringu (Hideo Nakata, 1998)

http://www.sarudama.com/movies/images/stills/ringu011.jpg

After the death of her cousin Tomoko, reporter Reiko hears stories of a videotape that kills everyone who sees it exactly one week after viewing. At first she discounts the rumors, but when she learns that Tomoko's friend (who watched the video with her) died at exactly the same time, she begins to investigate. After viewing the tape herself, strange things start happening, and so she teams up with her ex-husband to try to stop the death clock that has once again begun ticking.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 10:01 PM
Actually, iosos and I both ranked it tier 1 and Stay Puft put it tier II. I expected it would actually do better. Huh.

Hmm, I evidently need to revisit this one, as this was clearly a case of expecting one film and realizing K. Kurosawa was making another. There were sections that were quite solid, but I didn't feel the consistency here that I've felt in some of his other work.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 10:07 PM
#39 Nobody Knows (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2004)

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/images/pics/nobodyknows2.jpg
Four siblings live happily with their mother in a small apartment in Tokyo. The children all have different fathers and have never been to school. The very existence of three of them has been hidden from the landlord. One day, the mother leaves behind a little money and a note, charging her oldest boy to look after the others. And so begins the children's odyssey, a journey nobody knows. Though engulfed by the cruel fate of abandonment, the four children do their best to survive in their own little world, devising and following their own set of rules. When they are forced to engage with the world outside their cocooned universe, the fragile balance that has sustained them collapses. Their innocent longing for their mother, their wary fascination toward the outside world, their anxiety over their increasingly desperate situation, their inarticulate cries, their kindness to each other, their determination to survive on wits and courage.

#38 The Hidden Fortress (Akira Kurosawa, 1958)

http://www.dailycal.org/images/art/12.05.review.hidden.jpg
In the Sixteenth Century, in Japan, Tahei (Minoru Chiaki) and Matakishi (Kamatari Fujiwara), two rascals and greedy peasants, are trying to return to the city of Akizuki through Hayakawa, after an unsuccessful attempt of making money with the war between the clans of Yamana and Akizuki. While warming themselves in a fire, they find gold with the symbol MT. Suribachi of the Akizuki hidden in the firewood, and they decide to search for other branches. Tahei and Matakishi meet General Rokurota Makabe (Toshirô Mifune), who is secretly protecting Princess Yukihime (Misa Uehara), and without knowing their identities, they accept to escort and help them in the transportation of the gold through the enemy lines to Akizuki.

#37 When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Mikio Naruse, 1960)

http://www.bfi.org.uk/images/whatson/releases/when_a_woman_420_01.jpg
This is the story of Mama, a.k.a. Keiko, a middle-aged geisha who must choose to either get married or buy a bar of her own. Her family hounds her for money, her customers for her attention, and she is continually in debt. The life of a geisha is examined as well as the way in which the system traps and sometimes kills those in it.

#36 Eureka (Shinji Aoyama, 2000)

http://home.foni.net/~vhummel/Film/Eureka.jpg
Eureka tells an enormously soul searching and moving story about three people's attempt to find meaning and purpose after experiencing a grizzly "busjack" (i.e. a bus hijack). Thus, its "subject matter" and the problem with which it deals is as old as philosophy itself: finding meaning and hope in a world where such senseless acts of violence and evil occurs. The three characters are Kozue (girl) and Naoki (boy), who are middle school aged siblings, and Makoto, who is the driver of the hijacked bus. They are eventually joined by the children's college-aged uncle, Akihiko.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 10:20 PM
#35 Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)

http://blog.afi.com/100movies/user-uploads/post1336.jpg
In mediaeval Japan a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.

#34 Porco Rosso (Hayao Miyazaki, 1992)

http://amr.nextstudio.net/images/porco_rosso.png
In Early 1930's era Italy, air pirates, bounty hunters and high flyers of all sorts rule the skies. The most cunning and skilled of these pilots is Porco Rosso, a man cursed with the head of a pig after watching the spirits of the pilots killed in the last air battle he fought in rise to the heavens. He now makes a living taking jobs, such as rescuing those kidnapped by air pirates. Donald Curtis, Porco's rival in the air and in catching the affections of women, provides a constant challenge to the hero, culminating in a hilarious, action packed finale.

#33 Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds (Hayao Miyazaki, 1984)

In the far future, a thousand years after a nuclear war left the Earth as a nuclear holocaust. The Valley of the Wind, a small kingdom ruled by King Jil struggles for survival as the community tries to defend the Valley from gigantic Ohm creatures and toxic plants that live beyond the Valley in the Sea of Decay, whilst Jil's daughter and heiress to the throne, Princess Nausicaa tries to understand and feels it is wrong to destroy the toxic jungle. The Valley is attacked by the Tolmekian people who plan to destroy the Sea of Decay by using the greatest warriors that started the holocaust. After Nausicaa is taken prisoner, Nausicca escapes and goes beneath the Sea of Decay where she discovers the toxic plants are not poisoning the air and are purifying the world by draining the air of radiation and toxins. With everything at stake, Nausicaa unites with the Ohms and set out to the Valley and foil the Tolmekians plan of unleashing the Great Warrior which will start another holocaust.

#32 Paprika (Satoshi Kon, 2006)

http://www.filmfresh.com/images/blog/recommend_PAPRIKA.jpg
When a machine that allows therapists to enter their patient's dreams is stolen, all hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist can stop it: Paprika.

#31 Kikujiro (Takeshi Kitano, 1999)

http://www.filmfestivals.com/cannes99/img/kikujiro2.jpg
Brash, loudmouthed and opportunistic, Kikujiro hardly seems the ideal companion for little Masao who is determined to travel long distances to see the mother he has never met. Their excursion to the cycle races is the first of a series of adventures for the unlikely pair which soon turns out to be a whimsical journey of laughter and tears with a wide array of surprises and odd ball characters to meet along the way.

soitgoes...
11-03-2007, 11:01 PM
Since I think The Burmese Harp is the best thing to come out of Japan outside of sushi, I'm a bit disappointed at it being only #41. Same could be said for Harakiri.

Sycophant
11-03-2007, 11:03 PM
Yay for Kikujiro (though I wish it had been slightly higher). I wish I had seen Sansho the Bailiff in time to help it rank higher.

DSNT
11-03-2007, 11:11 PM
Great to see Nobody Knows included, but I think it could have been a little higher.

Ringu @ #40? Wow. Don't agree there.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 11:12 PM
#30 Early Summer (Yasujiro Ozu, 1951)

http://www.tottori-fc.jp/bakushu.jpg

In postwar Tokyo, this household is loving and serene: older parents, their 28-year-old daughter Noriko, their married son, his devoted wife, and two rascally sons. Their only discontent is Noriko's lack of a husband. Society is changing: she works, she has women friends who tease and argue, her brother sees her independence as impudence, she sees it as normal. When her boss suggests that she marry a 40-year-old bachelor who is his friend, all the members of her family press her to accept. Without seeking their advice, and to their chagrin, Noriko determines her own course of action.

#29 The Twilight Samurai (Yôji Yamada, 2002)

http://www.international.ucla.edu/cms/images/5-07_Twilight%20Samurai.jpg
Seibei Iguchi, a low-ranking samurai, leads a life without glory as a bureaucrat in the mid-XIX century Japan. A widower, he has charge of two daughters (whom he adores) and a senile mother; he must therefore work in the fields and accept piecework to make ends meet. New prospects seem to open up when Tomoe, his long-time love, divorces a brutal husband. However, even as the Japanese feudal system is unraveling, Seibei remains bound by the code of honour of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedences. The consequences are cruel.

#28 Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961)

http://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_01_img0546.jpg
Sanjuro, a wandering samurai enters a rural town in nineteenth century Japan. After learning from the innkeeper that the town is divided between two gangsters, he plays one side off against the other. His efforts are complicated by the arrival of the wily Unosuke, the son of one of the gangsters, who owns a revolver. Unosuke has Sanjuro beaten after he reunites an abducted woman with her husband and son, then massacres his father's opponents. During the slaughter, the samurai escapes with the help of the innkeeper; but while recuperating at a nearby temple, he learns of innkeeper's abduction by Unosuke, and returns to the town to confront him.

#27 Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, 1998)

http://www.faq-mac.com/mt/archives/img/manga/PERFECT_BLUE2.jpg
Mima leaves the idol group CHAM, in order to pursue her dream as an actress. Mima climbs up the rocky road to success by performing as rape victims and posing nude for magazines, but is haunted by her reflections of the past.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 11:20 PM
#26 Hana-bi (Takeshi Kitano, 1997)

http://www.orange.co.uk/images/editorial/hanabi_apr07_rex250.jpg
Nishi is a cop whose wife is slowly dying of Leukemia. One of his partners gets shot on the job and is confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life and becomes suicidal. Nishi, feeling guilt over his partners accident, tries to help him in any way he can. At the same time, Nishi leaves the police force to spend more time with his dying wife. However, in order to do the right things for those he loves, Nishi must do wrong things. Spiraling deeper into desperation and slowly building up to tragedy.

#25 Stray Dog (Akira Kurosawa, 1949)

http://moviemasterworks.com/blog/wp-content/PostImages/straydogblog.jpg
Murukami, a young homicide detective, has his pocket picked on a bus and loses his pistol. Frantic and ashamed, he dashes about trying to recover the weapon without success until taken under the wing of an older and wiser detective, Sato. Together they track the culprit.

#24 Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2001)

http://www.international.ucla.edu/cms/images/pulse-lrg.jpg
After one of their friends commits suicide, strange things begin happening to a group of young Tokyo residents. One of them sees visions of his dead friend in the shadows on the wall, while another's computer keeps showing strange, ghostly images. Is their friend trying to contact them from beyond the grave, or is there something much more sinister going on?

#23 High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963)

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/images/05/cteq/high_and_low.jpg
An executive mortgages all he owns to stage a coup and gain control of the National Shoe Company, with the intent of keeping the company out of the hands of incompetent and greedy executives. He needs the same money, though, to pay the ransom that will possibly save a child's life. His resolution of that dilemma -- the certain loss of the company vs. the probable loss of the child -- makes for one distinct drama, and an ensuing elaborate police procedure makes for a second.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 11:21 PM
I'm rather surprised by the placement of Hana-Bi here, since it pwned the MC foreign film list (#9 or so).

I need to see Stray Dog, apparently.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 11:29 PM
#22 Whisper of the Heart (Yoshifumi Kondo, 1995)

http://media.monstersandcritics.com/articles/1148582/article_images/whispercap1.jpg
A young girl finds that all the books she chooses in the library have been previously checked out by the same boy. Later she meets a very infuriating fellow... could it be her "friend" from the library? The boy's grandfather has a violin sales and service shop. The boy wants to be a violin maker like his grandfather.

#21 Late Spring (Yasujiro Ozu, 1949)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/207/451204012_716d705ea0.jpg
Noriko is 27 years old and is still living with her father Somiya, a widower. Noriko just recovered from an illness she developed in the war, and now the important question pops up: when will Noriko start thinking about marriage? Everybody who is important in her life tries to talk her into it: her father, her aunt, a girlfriend. But Noriko doesn't want to get married, she seems extremely happy with her life. She wants to stay with her father to take care of him. After all, she knows best of his manners and peculiarities. But Noriko's aunt doesn't want to give up. She arranges a partner for her and thinks of a plan that will convince Noriko her father can be left alone.

#20 After Life (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 1998)

http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/images/issue/420/after-life_420.jpg
Every Monday morning, a team of advisors welcome in a facility a group of people that has just died with the mission of helping each one of them to select their best memory that will last for the eternity in the first three days. On Thursday, filmmakers begin to recreate the selected memory, and in the end of the week they screen it in a movie theater and he or she moves to Heaven.

#19 Woman in the Dunes (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1964)

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/images/directors/03/26/dunes.jpg
An amateur entomologist searching for insects by the sea is trapped by local villagers into living with a mysterious woman who spends almost all her time preventing her home from being swallowed up by advancing sand dunes. The woman and the trapped man begin a strange and erotic relationship that stretches over years, as the man's hope for escape dims.

dreamdead
11-03-2007, 11:50 PM
#18 Onibaba (Kaneto Shindo, 1964)

http://ruthlessreviews.com/pics4/onibaba1.jpg
After enlisting as a volunteer in a war in 14th century Japan, his wife and mother remain living in a swamp. They eke out their living by ambushing worn-out warriors, killing them and selling their belongings to a greedy merchant. The woman comes to mistrust her daughter-in-law who has coupled up with a deserter, and begins to wear a facial mask she has taken from a slain samurai. Soon the mask will not come off again. In this disguise she is at first taken for a demon by her daughter.

#17 Millennium Actress (Satoshi Kon, 2001)

http://www.hometheatermag.com/images/archivesart/1205talks.5.jpg
A movie studio is being torn down. TV interviewer Genya Tachibana has tracked down its most famous star, Chiyoko Fujiwara, who has been a recluse since she left acting some 30 years ago. Tachibana delivers a key to her, and it causes her to reflect on her career; as she's telling the story, Tachibana and his long-suffering cameraman are drawn in. The key was given to her as a teenager by a painter and revolutionary that she helped to escape the police. She becomes an actress because it will make it possible to track him down, and she spends the next several decades acting out that search in various genres and eras.

#16 Lady Snowblood (Toshiya Fujita, 1973)

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/images/04/30/lady_snowblood.jpg
Yuki's family is nearly wiped out before she is born due to the machinations of a band of criminals. These criminals kidnap and brutalize her mother but leave her alive. Later her mother ends up in prison with only revenge to keep her alive. She creates an instrument for this revenge by purposefully getting pregnant. Though she dies in childbirth, she makes sure that the child will be raised as an assassin to kill the criminals who destroyed her family. Young Yuki never knows the love of a family but only killing and revenge.

#15 Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki, 1997)

http://www.toysnjoys.com/wallscrolls/z145.jpg
A prince is infected with an incurable disease by a possessed boar/god. He is to die unless he can find a cure to rid the curse from his body. It seems that his only hope is to travel to the far east. When he arrives to get help from the deer god, he finds himself in the middle of a battle between the animal inhabitants of the forest and an iron mining town that is exploiting and killing the forest. Leading the forest animals in the battle is a human raised by wolves, Princess Mononoke.

Gizmo
11-03-2007, 11:54 PM
So i've seen 3 of these, and heard of about 10. Good thing I didn't even attempt joining in on this one, though I expect some Kurasowa's I've seen to show up from here.

dreamdead
11-04-2007, 12:03 AM
#14 My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)

http://www.whatdvd.net/WhatDVD-Graphics/main/810.jpg
Two young girls, Satsuke and her younger sister Mei, move into a house in the country with their father to be closer to their hospitalized mother. Satsuke and Mei discover that the nearby forest is inhabited by magical creatures called Totoros. They soon befriend these Totoros, and have several magical adventures.

#13 Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997)

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/4619/97curevc4.jpg

A wave of gruesome murders is sweeping Tokyo. The only connection is a bloody "X" carved into the neck of each of the victims. In each case the murderer is found near the victim and remembers nothing of the crime. Detective Takabe and psychiatrist Sakuma are called in to figure out the connection but their investigation goes nowhere. An odd, young man is arrested near the scene of the latest murder, who has a strange effect on everyone who comes into contact with him. Detective Takabe starts a series of interrogations to determine the man's connection with the killings.

#12 Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku, 2000)

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/images/battleroyale2.jpg
In the near future, when the society of Japan is crumbling, forty-two students find that their field trip is actually a military-sponsored game known as "Battle Royale". The kids' sadistic former teacher Kitano sends them to an isolated island and gives them three days to kill each other until only one remains. Two of the kids, Shuya and Noriko, stay together and further develop their already-formed bond. A transfer student, Kawada, sympathizes with the two and chooses to help them. Others develop a plan to bring down the military game, try to find their crush before they die, or lose their minds and go on killing sprees.

#11 Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata, 1988)

http://www.danielthomas.org/Assets/film%20reviews%20pix/fireflies.jpg
Setsuko and Seita are brother and sister living in wartime Japan. After their mother is killed in an air raid they find a temporary home with relatives. Having quarreled with their aunt they leave the city and make their home in an abandoned shelter. While their father's destiny who was a soldier is unknown the two must depend on each other to somehow keep a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs. When everything is in short supply, they gradually succumb to hunger and their only entertainment is the light of the fireflies.

soitgoes...
11-04-2007, 12:05 AM
Interesting. I thought Pulse was held in higher regard than Cure around these parts.

dreamdead
11-04-2007, 12:11 AM
#10 Akira (Katsuhiro Ôtomo, 1988)

http://www.digital.anime.org.uk/pics3/news/akira3.jpg
Kaneda is a bike gang leader whose close friend Tetsuo gets involved in a government secret project known as Akira. On his way to save Tetsuo, Kaneda runs into a group of anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists and a powerful military leader. The confrontation sparks off Tetsuo's supernatural power leading to bloody death, a coup attempt and the final battle in Tokyo Olympiad where Akira's secrets were buried 30 years ago.

#9 Ugetsu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953)

http://www.cinematical.com/media/2006/07/ugetsu.jpg
In the civil wars of 16th century Japan, two ambitious peasants want to make their fortunes. The potter Genjuro intends to sell his wares for vast profits in the local city, while his brother-in-law Tobei wishes to become a samurai. Their village is sacked by the marauding armies, but Genjuro's kiln miraculously survives, and they and their wives head for the city. However, Genjuro soon sends his wife Miyagi back home, promising to return to her soon, and Tobei, in his keenness to follow the samurai, abandons his wife Ohama. Meanwhile, a wealthy noblewoman, the Lady Wakasa, shows an interest in Genjuro's pots, and invites him to her mansion.

#8 Audition (Takashi Miike, 1999)

http://www.jahsonic.com/Audition.jpg
A lonely Japanese widower whose son is planning to move out of the house soon expresses his sadness to a friend and fellow film producer, who becomes inspired to hold an audition for a non-existent film so that the widower can select a new potential bride from the resulting audition pool. The widower ultimately becomes enamored with and fascinated by one particular young woman...but first impressions can often be horribly wrong....

#7 Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953)

http://static.flickr.com/40/110366315_73c8ca6132_o.jpg
An elderly couple journey to Tokyo to visit their children and are confronted by indifference, ingratitude and selfishness. When the parents are packed off to a resort by their impatient children, the film deepens into an unbearably moving meditation on mortality.

DSNT
11-04-2007, 12:16 AM
I guess Spirited Away is going to be the highest anime? I would have preferred Grave of the Fireflies or My Neighbor Totoro, but all of them in the top 15 is great.

dreamdead
11-04-2007, 12:20 AM
#6 Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)

http://dryden.eastmanhouse.org/media/rashomon.jpg
In ancient Japan, a woman is raped and her husband killed. The film gives us four viewpoints of the incident - one for each defendant - each revealing a little more detail. Which version, if any, is the real truth about what happened ?

#5 Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)

http://geo.channel4.com/film/media/images/Channel4/film/R/ran_xl_01--film-B.jpg

A story of Greed, a lust for power, and ultimate revenge. The Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) has decided to step aside to make room for the younger blood of his three sons, Taro (Akira Terao), Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), and Saburo (Daisuke Ryu). The Lord's only wish now being to live out his years as an honored guest in the castle of each of his sons in turn. While the older two sons flatter their father, the youngest son attempts to warn him of the folly of expecting the three sons to remain united, enraged at the younger sons' attempt to point out the danger, the father banishes him. True to the younger sons' warning however, the Oldest Son soon conspires with the Second Son to strip The Great Lord of everything, even his title.

#4 Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/38/38_images/spiritedaway.jpg
While moving to a new home in Japan, Chihiro and her parents take a wrong turn down a mysterious wooded path. They come across an ominous-looking tunnel of which only Chihiro is scared. Going through the tunnel, they are lead them to a mysterious town filled with restaurants that have all kinds of delicious food on display. Chihiro's parents quickly sit down and start gorging themselves, assuming they will pay the restaurant upon their return. Chihiro's doubt of this strange town leads her to wander off, and she comes across a building of titanic size, where a young boy warns her to leave before nightfall. However, as the sun sets, the town begins to fill up with the gods of Japan's mythology, and Chihiro returns to find her parents mysteriously turned into pigs. The young boy, Haku, works in the building, which is a bathhouse for 8 Million gods.

#3 Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa, 1957)

http://www.hawaii.edu/art/szostak/feb/-throne-of-blood.jpg
A transposition of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' to medieval Japan. After a great military victory, Lords Washizu and Miki are lost in the dense Cobweb Forest, where they meet a mysterious old woman who predicts great things for Washizu and even greater things for Miki's descendants. Once out of the forest, Washizu and Miki are immediately promoted by the Emperor. Washizu, encouraged by his ambitious wife, plots to make even more of the prophecy come true, even if it means killing the Emperor...

dreamdead
11-04-2007, 12:23 AM
#2 Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952)

http://brendoman.com/media/users/wendytime/ikiru1952-1.jpg
In a Post-War Tokyo, when the bureaucratic chief of department of the City Hall Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) finds that he has a terminal cancer, he decides to intensively live his last months of life. While dying, he finds the meaning of life, and fights for the construction of a playground in a poor zone of the city and the legacy of his existence.

#1 The Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)

http://www.ica.org.uk/thumbnail.php?max=408&id=1407
A veteran samurai, who has fallen on hard times, answers a village's request for protection from bandits. He gathers 6 other samurai to help him, and they teach the townspeople how to defend themselves, and they supply the samurai with three small meals a day. The film culminates in a giant battle when 40 bandits attack the village.

dreamdead
11-04-2007, 12:25 AM
Here be the voting results:

1. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa) 540
2. Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952) 530
3. Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa, 1957) 460
4. Spirited Away (2001 / Hayao Miyazaki) 420
5. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985) 410
6. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950) 390
7. Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953) 380
8. Audition (Miike) 330
9. Ugetsu (Mizoguchi, 1953) 330
10. Akira (Otomo) 320
11. Grave of the Fireflies (Takahata) 320
12. Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku, 2000) 310
13. Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997) 310
14. My Neighbor Totoro (Miyazaki, 1988) 300
15. Princess Mononoke (1997 / Hayao Miyazaki) 280
16. Lady Snowblood (Toshiya Fujita) 260
17. Millennium Actress (Satoshi Kon, 2001) 260
18. Onibaba (Kaneto Shindo, 1964) 250
19. Woman in the Dunes (Teshigahara, 1964) 250
20. After Life (Kore-eda) 230
21. Late Spring (Yasurjiro Ozu, 1949) 230
22. Whisper of the Heart (Yoshifumi Kondo) 230
23. High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963) 200
24. Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2001) 200
25. Stray Dog (Akira Kurosawa, 1949) 200
26. Hana-bi (Takeshi Kitano) 190
27. Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon) 190
28. Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961) 190
29. Twilight Samurai, The (Yamada, 2002) 180
30. Early Summer - (Yasujiro Ozu, 1951) 170
31. Kikujiro (Takeshi Kitano) 170
32. Paprika (Satoshi Kon) 170
33. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds(Hayao Miyazaki) 160
34. Porco Rosso (Hayao Miyazaki) 160
35. Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi) 160
36. Eureka (Shinji Aoyama, 2000) 150
37. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Naruse) 150
38. Hidden Fortress (Akira Kurosawa) 140
39. Nobody Knows (Kore-eda) 140
40. Ringu (Hideo Nakata) 140
41. Burmese Harp, The (Ichikawa, 1956) 130
42. Taste of Tea, The (Ishii, 2004) 130
43. Gojira (Ishiro Honda) 120
44. Kids Return (Takeshi Kitano, 1996) 120
45. Maborosi (Hirokazu Kore-eda) 120
46. Metropolis (Rintaro) 120
47. My Neighbors the Yamadas (Takahata, 1999, Japan) 120
48. Red Beard (Akira Kurosawa) 120
49. Sanjuro (Akira Kurosawa, 1962) 120
50. Sword of Doom (Okamoto) 120
51. Castle in the Sky (Miyazaki, 1986) 110
52. Doppelganger (Kurosawa, 2003, Japan) 110
53. Happiness of the Katakuris (Miike) 110
54. Harakiri/Seppuku (Masaki Kobayashi) 110
55. Tokyo Godfathers (Satoshi Kon) 110
56. Mind Game (2004 / Masaaki Yuasa) 100
57. Tampopo (Juzo Itami) 100
58. Vengeance is Mine (Imamura) 100
59. Bright Future (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) 90
60. Dolls (Kitano) 90
61. Linda Linda Linda (Yamashita) 90
62. Takeshis' (Kitano, 2005) 90
63. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000 / Yoshiaki Kawajiri) 90
64. Bird People in China, The (Miike, Japan) 80
65. Fires on the Plain (Ichikawa) 80
66. Life of Oharu (Kenji Mizoguchi) 80
67. Samurai Rebellion (Masaki Kobayashi) 80
68. Tetsuo (Shinya Tsukamoto, 1989) 80
69. Bullet Ballet (Shinya Tsukamoto, 1998) 70
70. Female Prisoner 701 Scorpion (Shunya Ito) 70
71. Ghost in the Shell (1995 / Mamoru Oshii) 70
72. Kagemusha (Akira Kurosawa) 70
73. Kiki’s Delivery Service (Miyazaki) 70
74. Memories (Koji, Tensai, Katsuhiro) 70
75. Steamboy (Katsuhiro Otomo) 70
76. Tokyo Twilight (Yasujiro Ozu) 70
77. Uzumaki (Higuchinsky) 70
78. Violent Cop (Kitano) 70
79. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (Shichiniro Watanabe) 60
80. Dead or Alive 2: Birds (Miike, Japan) 60
81. End of Evangelion (Anno) 60
82. Human Condition I: No Greater Love (Masaki Kobayashi) 60
83. I Live in Fear (Akira Kurosawa) 60
84. Kwaidan 60
85. Mothra vs. Godzilla (Honda) 60
86. Street Fighter, The (Shigehiro Ozawa) 60
87. Tokyo Drifter (Suzuki, 1966) 60
88. Zatoichi (Takeshi Kitano) 60
89. 2LDK (Yukihiko Tsutsumi) 50
90. A Snake of June (Shinya Tsukamoto) 50
91 All About Lily Chou-Chou (Iwai) 50
92. Dersu Uzala (Akira Kurosawa) 50
93. Gozu 50
94. Hidden Blade, The 50
95. Ichi the Killer (2001 / Takashi Miike) 50
96. Samurai III: Duel on Ganryu Island (Hiroshi Inagaki) 50
97. Tekkonkinkreet - Michael Arias 50
98. Visitor Q (Miike, 2001) 50
99. Vital (Shinya Tsukamoto, 2004) 50
An Actor's Revenge (Kon Ichikawa) 40
An Autumn Afternoon (Ozu) 40
Ballad of Narayama (Imamura, 1983) 40
Cafe Lumiere (Hou Hsiao-hsien) 40
Chushingura 40
Crazed Fruit (Kô Nakahira, 1956) 40
Floating Clouds (Mikio Naruse) 40
Humanity and Paper Balloons (Sadao Yamanaka, 1937) 40
Madadayo (Akira Kurosawa) 40
Ninja Scroll (Yoshiaki Kawajiri) 40
Place Promised in our Early Days (Makoto Shinkai) 40
Return of the Street Figther (Shigehiro Ozawa) 40
Sisters of the Gion (Kenji Mizoguchi) 40
Sonatine (Kitano) 40
Tales of a Pale and Mysterious Moon After the Rain (Kenji Mizoguchi) 40
47 Ronin, The (Kenji Mizoguchi) 30
A Story of Floating Weeds (Yasujiro Ozu) 30
An Inn in Tokyo (Ozu) 30
Angel's Egg (Oshii) 30
Cruel Story of Youth (Nagisa Oshima, 1960) 30
Daimajin (Yasuda) 30
Destroy All Monsters (Honda) 30
Double Suicide 30
Dreams (Kurosawa) 30
Early Spring (Yasujiro Ozu) 30
Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (Ozu) 30
Floating Weeds (Yasujiro Ozu) 30
Gamera Trilogy, The (Kaneko) 30
Goyokin (Hideo Gosha) 30
Hausu 30
Haze (Shinya Tsukamoto, 2005) 30
Howl’s Moving Castle (Miyazaki) 30
Love Letter (Iwai, 1995, Japan) 30
Lower Depths, The (Donzoko) (Kurosawa) 30
Marebito (2004 / Takashi Shimizu) 30
Naked Island (Kaneto Shindo) 30
Only Yesterday (Takahata, 1991) 30
Osaka Elegy (Kenji Mizoguchi) 30
Pistol Opera 30
Red Angel (Masumura) 30
Samurai Fiction - Hiroyuki Nakano 30
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (Hiroshi Inagaki) 30
Sound of the Mountain (Naruse) 30
Story of the Last Chrysanthemums, The (Mizoguchi, 1939) 30
Strange Circus 30
Bad Sleep Well, the (Akira Kurosawa, 1963) 30
Tale of Zatoichi 30
Versus - (Kitamura) 30
Yakuza Graveyard (1976 / Kinji Fukasaku) 30
A Geisha (Kenji Mizoguchi) 20
A Scene at the Sea (Takeshi Kitano) 20
Battlefield Baseball 20
Branded to Kill (Seijun Suzuki) 20
Death Trance - Yûji Shimomura 20
Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence (Oshii) 20
Go, Go Second Time Virgin (Koji Wakamatsu) 20
Hanging Garden (Toshiaki Toyoda, 2005) 20
In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Oshima) 20
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (Okiura) 20
Late Autumn (Ozu) 20
Lightning (Mikio Naruse) 20
Memories of Matsuko (Tetsuya Nakashima, 2006) 20
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (Paul Schrader) 20
My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me? (Shinji Aoyama, 2005) 20
Repast (Naruse) 20
Scene at the Sea, A (Kitano, 1991) 20
Street of Shame (Kenji Mizoguchi) 20
Tattooed Life (1965 / Seijun Suzuki) 20
Tony Takitani (J. Ichikawa) 20
April Story (Iwai) 10
Beautiful Dreamer (Oshii, 1984) 10
Giants and Toys (Yasuzo Masumura) 10
Go (Isao Yukisada, 2000) 10
Late Chrysanthemums (Mikio Naruse) 10
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance 10
Love & Pop (Anno, 1998, Japan) 10
Pitfall - (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1962) 10
Quiet Duel, The (Kurosawa) 10
Seance 10

D_Davis
11-04-2007, 01:18 AM
Nice work - and I totally forgot to vote. Glad to see Mind Game, shocked to see Steam Boy.

Thanks for putting this together!

Stay Puft
11-04-2007, 01:23 AM
Needs more Akira Kurosawa.

D_Davis
11-04-2007, 01:30 AM
Needs more Akira Kurosawa.

And Miyazaki.

;)

Philosophe_rouge
11-04-2007, 01:06 AM
I love Battle Royale so I'm happy to see it quite high. Aside from the few Miyazaki's though, and Ran/Rashomon I pretty much need to see the ENTIRE list.

Rowland
11-04-2007, 01:14 AM
5 of the top 6 are Kurosawa?

http://matchcut.org/images/smiles/icon_neutral.gif

D_Davis
11-04-2007, 01:25 AM
5 of the top 6 are Kurosawa?

http://matchcut.org/images/smiles/icon_neutral.gif

Well, he is one of the only three Japanese directors that matter.

Boner M
11-04-2007, 01:56 AM
Awesome to see Eureka so high for a film that isn't available in the US.

I have a few quibbles, but they're boring ones.

Nice work, dd!

jenniferofthejungle
11-04-2007, 02:24 AM
I would like to see about 50 of the ones listed. There are a few I have no interest in and I've seen about 35 of the winners.

Qrazy
11-04-2007, 07:24 AM
Quite a good list... a few complaints.

1. Too much Kitano.
2. The order but that's to be expected given the nature of a thing like this.
3. Could/should have about 30-40 percent less contemporary films imho.

Ezee E
11-04-2007, 07:48 AM
5 of the top 6 are Kurosawa?

http://matchcut.org/images/smiles/icon_neutral.gif
You thought something bizarro would happen?

Qrazy
11-04-2007, 08:58 AM
13. Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997) 310
16. Lady Snowblood (Toshiya Fujita) 260
20. After Life (Kore-eda) 230
21. Late Spring (Yasurjiro Ozu, 1949) 230
24. Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2001) 200
30. Early Summer - (Yasujiro Ozu, 1951) 170
31. Kikujiro (Takeshi Kitano) 170
36. Eureka (Shinji Aoyama, 2000) 150
39. Nobody Knows (Kore-eda) 140
40. Ringu (Hideo Nakata) 140
41. Burmese Harp, The (Ichikawa, 1956) 130
42. Taste of Tea, The (Ishii, 2004) 130
43. Gojira (Ishiro Honda) 120
44. Kids Return (Takeshi Kitano, 1996) 120
52. Doppelganger (Kurosawa, 2003, Japan) 110
53. Happiness of the Katakuris (Miike) 110
58. Vengeance is Mine (Imamura) 100
59. Bright Future (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) 90
60. Dolls (Kitano) 90
61. Linda Linda Linda (Yamashita) 90
64. Bird People in China, The (Miike, Japan) 80
70. Female Prisoner 701 Scorpion (Shunya Ito) 70
76. Tokyo Twilight (Yasujiro Ozu) 70
77. Uzumaki (Higuchinsky) 70
80. Dead or Alive 2: Birds (Miike, Japan) 60
85. Mothra vs. Godzilla (Honda) 60
86. Street Fighter, The (Shigehiro Ozawa) 60
89. 2LDK (Yukihiko Tsutsumi) 50
90. A Snake of June (Shinya Tsukamoto) 50
91 All About Lily Chou-Chou (Iwai) 50
93. Gozu 50
94. Hidden Blade, The 50
95. Ichi the Killer (2001 / Takashi Miike) 50
99. Vital (Shinya Tsukamoto, 2004) 50

Aside from the Ozu's and the Ichikawa, which of these should I prioritize? Something tells me the Kore-eda's and the Kiyoshi Kurosawa's.

Cult
11-04-2007, 09:25 AM
Could/should have about 30-40 percent less contemporary films imho.
Pfft, you big snob. (There would be a wink or tongue smiley here to suggest I'm just playin', but they all look a bit odd to me and are freaking me out.)

I think it's admirable that it was as contemporary as it was. If it's going to be less so, then first we need to wait until there are a few more region 1 releases from people other than those certain three. Otherwise that's just boring.

Also, Vital >>> Snake of June. As far as Kurosawa's, yes, there were too many hogging the top spots, but it's good to see Throne up there...higher than Ran.

Llopin
11-04-2007, 11:25 AM
Hmm, I wish I could've participated in this... the list is rather strange, some directors (deservedly or not) suffer from over-saturation and some others remain sadly forgotten, and the ranking is a bit bizarre. I agree with most selections, anyhow, and it is a list I'd be willing to share to people interested on japanese cinema (after undergoing a personal slight shaping, of course... =P ).

And there is no such thing as "too much Kitano". Besides, some of his great films are absent, so it's not even a valid point.

Kurosawa Fan
11-04-2007, 02:00 PM
Kurosawa for teh win!!!1

Actually, Kurosawa for teh domination in this case. Now I know what it's like to be a Patriots fan.

DSNT
11-04-2007, 02:04 PM
I'm a huge Kiyoshi Kurosawa fan, but I was surprised by how much he was represented on this list, especially Doppelganger and Bright Future. I also would have expected Pulse to be higher than Cure, but I know a lot of people hate it.

Sven
11-04-2007, 02:14 PM
I'm a huge Kiyoshi Kurosawa fan, but I was surprised by how much he was represented on this list, especially Doppelganger and Bright Future. I also would have expected Pulse to be higher than Cure, but I know a lot of people hate it.

Doppelganger and Bright Future are my two favorites of his.

Rowland
11-04-2007, 04:00 PM
Doppelganger and Bright Future are my two favorites of his.That's because you're crazy.

;)

Rowland
11-04-2007, 04:33 PM
This list reminds me that I need to see more Tsukamoto. I loved Tetsuo and hated Bullet Ballet, despite the two sharing so many similarities, which is in and of itself intriguing.

Sycophant
11-04-2007, 04:44 PM
Cure and Doppelganger are easily my two favorite K. Kurosawas.

I've seen 57 of our top 99. To each of the remaining 42, I said "Augh! Why haven't I seen this yet?"

Qrazy
11-04-2007, 06:46 PM
Hmm, I wish I could've participated in this... the list is rather strange, some directors (deservedly or not) suffer from over-saturation and some others remain sadly forgotten, and the ranking is a bit bizarre. I agree with most selections, anyhow, and it is a list I'd be willing to share to people interested on japanese cinema (after undergoing a personal slight shaping, of course... =P ).

And there is no such thing as "too much Kitano". Besides, some of his great films are absent, so it's not even a valid point.

Meh, I've found my Kitano experiences almost unilaterally underwhelming... particularly Sonatine... which granted only made the extended list.

Sycophant
11-04-2007, 09:45 PM
Hmm, I evidently need to revisit this one, as this was clearly a case of expecting one film and realizing K. Kurosawa was making another. There were sections that were quite solid, but I didn't feel the consistency here that I've felt in some of his other work.I'd definitely recommend a second spin. It was actually the first of Kiyoshi's work I checked out and--as the region 1 box art led me to believe--I sat down to experience the ultimate in J-horror. It took me a while to figure out what was going on, but once I clicked into what it was doing, I had an absolute blast. It actually shares a lot of thematic elements with Kurosawa's best horror films, and has, I think, a pretty strong voice from start to finish.

Rowland
11-04-2007, 09:50 PM
It actually shares a lot of thematic elements with Kurosawa's best horror films, and has, I think, a pretty strong voice from start to finish.Sure, it undoubtedly indulges in the same themes that permeate the rest of his body of work. Maybe I'll like it more a second time, given that I'm more well-versed with his work and in tune with his sensibilities than I may have been when I first saw it.

That said, his funniest movie is easily Eyes of the Spider. I hope that gets an R1 release someday.

Qrazy
11-07-2007, 11:27 PM
Pfft, you big snob. (There would be a wink or tongue smiley here to suggest I'm just playin', but they all look a bit odd to me and are freaking me out.)

I think it's admirable that it was as contemporary as it was. If it's going to be less so, then first we need to wait until there are a few more region 1 releases from people other than those certain three. Otherwise that's just boring.

Also, Vital >>> Snake of June. As far as Kurosawa's, yes, there were too many hogging the top spots, but it's good to see Throne up there...higher than Ran.

Any true cineaste would have a beta max and a vhs and should be out rummaging around their local library and/or local trash can for all the obscure fare and older films they can find.

On another note I watched Violent Cop and 2LDK today and both were crap.

I think Throne is his best work too.