No Regrets for Our Youth
After her anti-fascist professor father is dismissed, Yukie navigates love, political repression, and wartime upheaval—ultimately forging her own path in pre- and post-WWII Japan.
The Ceremony
Oshima’s magisterial epic, centering on the ambivalent surviving heir of the Sakurada clan, uses ritual and the microcosm of the traditional family to trace the rise and fall of militaristic Japan across several decades.
Record of a Tenement Gentleman
A hard-hearted old woman in a bombed-out Tokyo neighborhood reluctantly takes in an abandoned boy, leading to a heartwarming bond between them.
東京シンデレラ娘
The Last War
A Japanese family is torn apart by the tensions of an avoidable nuclear world war between the superpowers.
Kawakami Tetsuji, No. 16
A biopic about Japanese baseball player, Tetsuharu Kawakami.
Mahjong Horoki
A mahjong neophyte loses everything to game master only to hone his skills, take on all challenges and plan for an ultimate revenge match.
Blood and Law
After the war, Noboru Ando, a former kamikaze soldier, returns to a devastated Tokyo. Enraged by the violence prevalent in society, he immerses himself in the yakuza world, believing that "violence must be met with violence." Gaining notoriety for his natural bravery and fighting skills, he becomes known as the "intellectual yakuza" and creates the Ando-gumi, a gang that controls the Shibuya district. Ando's first series of yakuza films is based on his autobiography. He labored at his first studio, Shochiku, to only minor success before leaving and going onto true stardom at Toei Studios. These films were awfully early in Ando’s career - a novice actor and former yakuza given immense notoriety by his newspaper-serialized bio upon his release from prison. 1 of 5 films.
The Elegant Life of Mr. Everyman
An intoxicated man promises two magazine editors that he will write a masterpiece. Once he sobers up, he commits to his promise and writes a story based on his life.
Tokyo Joe
An American veteran returns to Tokyo to try to pick up the threads of his pre-World War II life there, but finds himself squeezed between criminals and the authorities.
Shadow of Fire
In the black market, a war orphan is confronted with the struggles of people living in the immediate aftermath of WWII.
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Complete Saga
The 224-minute compilation edition of Battles Without Honor and Humanity compiles these four movies: Battles Without Honor and Humanity, Deadly Fight in Hiroshima, Proxy War, Police Tactics.
Akitsu Hot Springs
Just after WW2, a romance between an innkeeper and a man with tuberculosis unravels near a thermal spring.
The Wolves
A group of five rookie insurance salespersons, driven to desperation by the impossibility of their work in Japan's failing postwar economy, form a plan to rob a cash delivery truck in order to provide for their families.
Women of the Night
In early post-war Osaka, three women—war widow Fusako, her Korean expat sister Natsuko, and Kumiko, Fusako's sister-in-law—descend into prostitution, all for their individual reasons.
Shimane Prison Riot
Japan, 1948: Hiroki Matsukata stars as a man facing a nine year prison sentence. He incites prisoners of Shimane Prison to the biggest riot in jail history. A fighter by heart, he sees a way out of any situation, but will he survive this, the gutsiest assault ever attempted?
Buddies
Based on a celebrated book by Kuniko Mukoda, this film directed by Yasuo Furuhata tells of a close friendship undone by love.
Rice
A touching story depicting the harsh lives of farmers in Kasumigaura. An attempt to start a fishery business to revive an ailing farming community creates friction amongst the proud residents.
Downtown
A woman struggles to raise her young son on her own in postwar Japan, finding companionship with a kind laborer while still hoping for the return of her missing husband.
My Voiceless Friends
A man who survived the war carries the will of his comrades in arms, walking across the country visiting the bereaved families.