Japanese Movie Recomendations
In no particular order.
List activity
14K views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
37 titles
- DirectorSabuStarsShin'ichi TsutsumiYasuko MatsuyukiRen ÔsugiA simple funeral turns a man's world topsy turvy.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsKen'ichi EndôShungiku UchidaKazushi WatanabeA troubled and perverted family find their lives intruded by a mysterious stranger who seems to help find a balance in their disturbing natures.
- DirectorNaoto KumazawaStarsHayato IchiharaJuri UenoYû AoiIncompetent film set gopher Tomoya finds out that the girl he loved has died in a plane crash, after he e-mails a picture of a rainbow to her. While her family sets off to retrieve a body, he recalls the love affair they never really had.
- DirectorTetsuya NakashimaStarsTakako MatsuYoshino KimuraMasaki OkadaA psychological thriller of a grieving mother turned cold-blooded avenger with a twisty master plan to pay back those who were responsible for her daughter's death.
- DirectorYôjirô TakitaStarsMasahiro MotokiRyôko HirosueTsutomu YamazakiSoon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo learns that his orchestra is disbanding. He moves back to his hometown with his wife, where he answers an ad for what Daigo thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary.
- DirectorNorio TsurutaStarsYukie NakamaSeiichi TanabeKumiko AsôIn this prequel to Ring, a young Sadako becomes an actress in hopes of escaping her troubled past. But strange visions and terrifying powers begin to manifest...
- DirectorSion SonoStarsMasumi MiyazakiIssei IshidaRie KuwanaThe erotic novelist Taeko is writing a morbid story of a family destroyed by incest, murder and abuse. Her assistant, Yuji, sets on a mission to uncover the reality of this story, but the reality might be too much to bear.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsMasatoshi NagaseTakako MatsuHidetaka YoshiokaA 19th Century samurai, held in low esteem due to an action by his late father, must resolve his history with a maid and with his close friend.
- DirectorMasayuki SuôStarsRyô KaseAsaka SetoKôji YamamotoA young man is falsely accused of molesting a high-school girl on a train. He is arrested and charged, and goes through endless court sessions, all the while insisting that he is innocent.
- DirectorYôjirô TakitaStarsRyôko HirosueKaoru KobayashiKen KanekoA man is shocked to find out that after a deadly car accident involving his wife and daughter, his wife died, but her mind somehow got transferred into their daughter's body.
- DirectorSion SonoStarsTakahiro NishijimaHikari MitsushimaSakura AndôA bizarre love triangle forms between a young Catholic upskirt photographer, a misandric girl and a manipulative cultist.
- DirectorIsshin InudôStarsSatoshi TsumabukiChizuru IkewakiJuri UenoTsuneo is a university student working part-time in a mah-jong parlour. Lately the customers have been talking about an old lady who pushes a baby carriage through the streets. They say she is carrying something for a crime syndicate, and they wonder what it is she has in the carriage. Money? Drugs? One day, the owner of the mah-jong parlour sends Tsuneo out to walk his dog. A baby carriage comes rolling down a hill and crashes into a guard rail. The old lady asks him to look into the carriage, where he finds a young woman clutching a knife. This is how Tsuneo first meets the girl who calls herself Josée.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsMorio KazamaKumiko AkiyoshiTsurutarô KataokaA recently divorced writer is reunited with the ghosts of his parents who died when he was a boy. However, every time he sees them he loses more life energy. Now, he must choose between starting a new life or staying forever in the past.
- DirectorIsshin InudôStarsJoe OdagiriKô ShibasakiMin TanakaSaori is a young woman who struggles to make a living, with no financial or romantic prospects in her life. One rainy day, she receives a visit at work from a handsome young man called Haruhiko. He claims to be the boyfriend of her estranged father, Himiko, who now runs a seaside rest home for elderly gays. He tells her that her father is dying of cancer. Saori still harbors resentment toward her father for abandoning her and her mother years ago. However, Haruhiko makes her a financial offer she can't refuse, and she agrees to go and work at House of Himiko.
- DirectorIsao YukisadaStarsTakao OsawaKô ShibasakiMasami NagasawaWhile searching for his fiancee Ritsuko, Sakutarou rediscovers through flashbacks the void deep within him caused by the events from his high school days.
- DirectorNobuhiro DoiStarsYûko TakeuchiShidô NakamuraAkashi TakeiA young woman returns from the dead to her guilt-ridden husband and son, but she cannot remember them.
- DirectorNorio TsurutaStarsHiroshi MikamiNoriko SakaiMaki HorikitaA newspaper predicts the deaths of a man's (Hiroshi Mikami) family members and friends.
- DirectorShunji IwaiStarsAnne SuzukiYû AoiTomohiro KakuWhen two best friends develop a crush on the same boy, they develop a plan to trick him into dating them.
- DirectorTakashi ShimizuStarsYûkaKarinaKippei ShînaA Japanese actress begins having strange visions and experiences after landing a role in a horror film about a real-life murder spree that took place over forty years ago.
- DirectorGen SekiguchiStarsTadanobu AsanoReika HashimotoKyôko KoizumiFive bizarre stories with no apparent connection to one and other eventually become intertwined, resulting in surreal circumstances.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsKô ShibasakiShin'ichi TsutsumiKazue FukiishiPeople mysteriously start receiving voicemail messages from their future selves, foretelling their deaths.
- DirectorTetsuya NakashimaStarsKyôko FukadaAnna TsuchiyaHiroyuki MiyasakoMomoko, a strange and seemingly emotionless girl obsessed with 18th century France, befriends a Yanki biker and the two experience the ups and downs of their unusual lives in a rural Japanese town.
- DirectorTetsuya NakashimaStarsMiki NakataniEita NagayamaYûsuke IseyaWhen Matsuko is murdered, her nephew, Sho, gets to progressively unveil the many details of her mysterious past, discovering she wasn't just a forgotten outcast and had led an intriguing yet bizarre life.
- DirectorTetsuya NakashimaStarsKoji YakushoAyaka WilsonSatoshi TsumabukiAn old grumpy man called Onuki visits an heir in search of a book. The girl reads the book everyday as if it is all new and,in fact, to her it is. As she has already forgotten it the day repeats again for her with the story as if anew. There is something about the man that she remembers however. Thanks to her the old man's compassion and kindness multiplies.
- DirectorTen ShimoyamaStarsYukie NakamaJoe OdagiriTomoka KurotaniStar-crossed lovers must fight on opposing sides in a battle that will determine the next Shogun.
- DirectorShinobu YaguchiStarsSeiichi TanabeSaburô TokitôHaruka AyaseA great variety of aviation professionals such as pilots, flight attendants, the ground crew, mechanics, dispatchers, controllers, and the bird patrol crew all support a single flight. They have only one mission: to secure the safety of the passengers! Today was supposed to be any other day on the job, departing on schedule and heading safely to Honolulu, but
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsYûya YagiraAyu KitauraHiei KimuraIn a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
- DirectorYûichi SatôStarsShun OguriYûsuke SantamariaKeisuke KoideFive devoted fans of a late idol gather for a commemorative meeting, only to uncover surprising revelations about her untimely death, leading them to question what they thought they knew.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsTatsuya FujiwaraAki MaedaTarô YamamotoIn the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill one another under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsTadanobu AsanoNao ÔmoriShin'ya TsukamotoAs sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of achieving.
- DirectorMamoru HosodaStarsRiisa NakaTakuya IshidaMitsutaka ItakuraA high-school girl named Makoto acquires the power to travel back in time, and decides to use it for her own personal benefits. Little does she know that she is affecting the lives of others just as much as she is her own.
- DirectorYôjirô TakitaStarsKiichi NakaiKôichi SatôYui NatsukawaA samurai goes to extraordinary lengths to provide for his family.
- DirectorShinobu YaguchiStarsJuri UenoYûta HiraokaShihori KanjiyaA tale of delinquent and lazy school girls. In their efforts to cut remedial summer math class, they end up vitiating and replacing the schools brass band.
- DirectorRyôichi KimizukaStarsKôichi SatôMirai ShidaRyûhei MatsudaRyoichi Kimizuka's riveting exploration of the Japanese media's feeding frenzy focuses on a15-year-old girl forced into police protection to escape from the journalistic hordes after her brother is arrested for murder. It plays out like a propulsive edge-of-your-seat thriller that's sure to leave you breathless.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsHiroyuki SanadaRie MiyazawaNenji KobayashiAs the feudal Japan era draws to a close, a widower samurai experiences difficulty balancing clan loyalties, 2 young daughters, an aged mother, and the sudden reappearance of his childhood sweetheart.
- DirectorShunji IwaiStarsHayato IchiharaShûgo OshinariAyumi ItoThe problematic lives of teenager students for whom the singer Lily Chou-Chou's dreamy music is the only way to escape an alienating, violent and insensitive society.
- DirectorShunji IwaiStarsMiho NakayamaEtsushi ToyokawaBunjaku HanWhen exchanging letters two women discover new things about a man they knew.