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Japanese Classics
From the samurai thrillers of Kurosawa to the beautiful melodramas of Naruse, this collection celebrates the extraordinary diversity of Japanese cinema.
While little known in the west until Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon won the Golden Lion at Venice in 1951, Japanese cinema is now regarded as one of the great canons of world film.

RanRan
Drama1985154 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s visually spectacular epic transplants Shakespeare’s King Lear from Celtic Britain to feudal Japan.

Sansho DayuSansho Dayu
Period drama1954125 minsDirector: Kenji Mizoguchi
Mizoguchi’s historical epic is among the greatest of all Japanese films, and a masterpiece of humanist cinema.

Tokyo StoryTokyo Story
Drama1953136 minsDirector: Yasujirō Ozu
A constant fixture in critics' polls, Yasujiro Ozu's most enduring masterpiece is a beautifully nuanced exploration of filial duty, expectation and regret.

Mifune : The Last SamuraiMifune : The Last Samurai
Documentary201680 minsDirector: Steven Okazaki
The on and off-screen character of Toshiro Mifune, Japan’s first international movie star, is explored in this illuminating documentary exploring the life and legacy of this mercurial icon.

100 Years of Japanese Cinema100 Years of Japanese Cinema
Documentary199652 minsDirector: Nagisa Oshima
Archive propels argument in this fascinating exploration of the social and cultural importance of Japan's film heritage.

Tokyo-GaTokyo-Ga
Documentary198592 minsDirector: Wim Wenders
Profiling one of the great directors of World Cinema, Wim Wenders delivers this moving portrait of Japanese auteur Yasujiro Ozu.

Seven SamuraiSeven Samurai
Drama1954207 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Farmers hire a band of samurai to defend them against marauding bandits in Kurosawa’s influential epic, a touchstone for action movies ever since.

The Hidden FortressThe Hidden Fortress
Martial arts1958139 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s thrilling mix of fairy story and samurai movie - a story of rival clans, hidden gold and a princess in distress - was famously a key inspiration for George Lucas’ Star Wars.

Throne of BloodThrone of Blood
Drama1957110 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
A master of period-drama, Kurosawa (Rashomon, Seven Samurai) recasts Macbeth as a Japanese warlord in one of the greatest Shakespearean adaptations.

Good MorningGood Morning
Comedy195994 minsDirector: Yasujirō Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu's cheerful comedy about the silliness of everyday chatter

I Was Born, But...I Was Born, But...
Comedy193287 minsSilentDirector: Yasujirō Ozu
Ozu's silent masterpiece follows two brothers as they try to outwit the local bully.

Equinox FlowerEquinox Flower
Comedy1958118 minsDirector: Yasujirō Ozu
Ozu's deft comedy takes an ironic look at the decline of paternal authority.

Ugetsu MonogatariUgetsu Monogatari
Romance195397 minsDirector: Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi's haunting evocation of a feudal world where brutal realism intermingles with the supernatural.

After LifeAfter Life
Drama1998119 minsDirector: Hirokazu Koreeda
Koreeda's lyrical fantasy challenges the viewer to reflect on the experiences that most make life worth living.

An Actor's RevengeAn Actor's Revenge
Period drama1963114 minsDirector: Kon Ichikawa
Kon Ichikawa's wildly melodramatic tale of a kabuki female impersonator who exacts a long-delayed revenge.

SonatineSonatine
Crime199394 minsDirector: Takeshi Kitano
Takeshi Kitano's masterful and meditative gangster film, about a yakuza sent to the beautiful beaches of Okinawa where he has time to ruminate on his fate.

Shinjuku Triad SocietyShinjuku Triad Society
Gangster1995102 minsDirector: Takashi Miike
Amid a war between Taiwanese Triads and Japanese Yakuza, a mixed-race cop hunts a psychotic criminal who traffics in children's organs.

Youth of the BeastYouth of the Beast
Crime196392 minsDirector: Seijun Suzuki
A mysterious loner plays off rival gangs against one another in Seijun Suzuki's outrageous, kaleidoscopic crime picture.

High and LowHigh and Low
Crime1963143 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s procedural crime masterpiece, from Ed McBain’s gritty novel, follows an industrialist who faces an agonising choice as a result of a botched kidnapping by ruthless criminals.

Stray DogStray Dog
Crime1949122 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s masterful mix of film noir and police thriller set on the sweltering mean streets of occupied Tokyo.

The Bad Sleep WellThe Bad Sleep Well
Crime1960151 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
The first film made by Akira Kurosawa's own production company is a dark tale of greed, corporate corruption and revenge.

AuditionAudition
Horror1999115 minsDirector: Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike burst to international prominence with this deeply disturbing tale of a deadly young woman who turns the tables on her middle-aged suitor.

Tetsuo: The Iron ManTetsuo: The Iron Man
Fantasy198867 minsDirector: Shinya Tsukamoto
Shinya Tsukamoto's wild cyberpunk tale of a businessman's agonising transformation into a walking scrap heap is a jaggedly dehumanised vision of the future.

Tetsuo II: Body HammerTetsuo II: Body Hammer
Horror199181 minsDirector: Shinya Tsukamoto
Shinya Tsukamoto's sequel has the Iron Man transforming into a cyberkinetic gun when a gang of vicious skinheads kidnap his son.

When a Woman Ascends the StairsWhen a Woman Ascends the Stairs
1960111 minsDirector: Mikio Naruse
Mikio Naruse’s best-known film is a masterful study of Ginza hostess struggling under constant pressures to compromise her honour.

Floating CloudsFloating Clouds
Drama1955123 minsDirector: Mikio Naruse
Mikio Naruse’s masterpiece about a wandering woman trying to find her identity amid the devastation of post-war Japan.

Late ChrysanthemumsLate Chrysanthemums
Drama1954101 minsDirector: Mikio Naruse
The story of four ageing geishas as they struggle to make ends meet in post-war Japan, from acclaimed filmmaker Mikio Naruse.

Late AutumnLate Autumn
Drama1960128 minsDirector: Yasujirō Ozu
Comedy turns to pathos in Yasujiro Ozu's tale of a group of businessmen who conspire to match-make for a widow and her daughter.

Tokyo TwilightTokyo Twilight
Drama1957141 minsDirector: Yasujirō Ozu
Abandoned by their mother, sisters Akiko (Ineko Arima) and Takako (Setsuko Hara) live with their father Shukichi (Chishu Ryu). When Akiko falls into desperate trouble, she turns away from her family.

The Flavour of Green Tea Over RiceThe Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice
Drama1952116 minsDirector: Yasujirō Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu’s beautiful domestic drama is piercing portrait of a marriage coming quietly undone in post-war Tokyo.

KwaidanKwaidan
Horror1964183 minsDirector: Masaki Kobayashi
This stunningly beautiful anthology of Japanese ghost stories is one of the most meticulously crafted supernatural films ever made.

Woman of the DunesWoman of the Dunes
Animation & Artists Moving Image1964147 minsDirector: Hiroshi Teshigahara
Hiroshi Teshigahara's mystifying, serene and provocative fable about an entomologist who becomes trapped in a young widow’s desert shack.

OnibabaOnibaba
Period drama1964102 minsDirector: Kaneto Shindo
Stylish, symbolic and erotically charged Japanese horror in which the fortunes of a murderous mother-and-daughter team are upended by a strangely masked samurai.

RashomonRashomon
Crime195088 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Credited with bringing Japanese cinema to worldwide audiences, Akira Kurosawa’s breakthrough tells the story of a murder in the woods from four differing perspectives.

IkiruIkiru
Drama1952143 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Takashi Shimura is superb as a bureaucrat diagnosed with cancer in Akira Kurosawa’s lyrical and moving film about how we find meaning in our lives.

Dodes'Ka-DenDodes'Ka-Den
Drama1970140 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s first colour film is an eccentric and joyous account of a group of disparate people living in a city dump.

Late SpringLate Spring
Drama1949108 minsDirector: Yasujirō Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu's influential masterpiece is a tender meditation on family politics, sacrifice and the status quo.

Early SummerEarly Summer
Drama1951125 minsDirector: Yasujirō Ozu
Ozu's wonderfully poised ensemble work presents the intricacies and contradictions of three generations who have lived through the end of an era and are looking towards the new.

An Autumn AfternoonAn Autumn Afternoon
Drama1962113 minsDirector: Yasujirō Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu's elegiac final film charts the inevitable eclipse of older generations by irreverent youth.

YojimboYojimbo
Crime1961111 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa’s classic about a drifting samurai who plays two gangs off against each other, famously remade as A Fistful of Dollars.

SanjuroSanjuro
Crime196296 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
In Akira Kurosawa's comedy of manners, a ronin runs rings around nine young, clean-cut samurai while cleaning up a spot of corruption in local government.

Red BeardRed Beard
Drama1965180 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa’s episodic, poignant story of a 19th-century doctor (Toshiro Mifune) working in a clinic for the poor and his tumultuous friendship with young intern.

Gate of HellGate of Hell
Drama195389 minsDirector: Teinosuke Kinugasa
Teinosuke Kinugasa’s sumptuous period drama astonished audiences with its dramatic force and spectacular colour cinematography.

The Saga of AnatahanThe Saga of Anatahan
War195391 minsDirector: Josef von Sternberg
Legendary director Josef von Sternberg brings to life this vulnerable tale of human trauma, survival and redemption, telling the story of twelve Japanese WWII seamen stranded on a forgotten island for seven years.

Cruel Story of YouthCruel Story of Youth
Drama196097 minsDirector: Nagisa Oshima
Nagisa Ôshima’s breakthrough portrait of alienated youth is a stinging castigation of an indolent, self-indulgent youth culture.

More Japanese films on our Japan 2020 landing page