Top 10 Japanese films? (+ overall 100)

[johndav]

Mine:

1.Sansho the Bailiff (Mizoguchi)
2.Maborosi (Kore-eda)
3.Seven Samurai (Kurosawa)
4.Tales of the Taira Clan (Mizoguchi)
5.Tokyo Story (Ozu)
6.Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (Mizoguchi)
7.Ugetsu Monogatari (Mizoguchi)
8.Late Spring (Ozu)
9.The Life of Oharu (Mizoguchi)
10.The Human Condition (Kobayashi)

+ also recommend:

Hidden Fortress (Kurosawa)
Early Summer (Ozu)
The Loyal 47 Ronin (Mizoguchi)
Kwaidan (Kobayashi)
Eureka (Aoyama)
The Only Son (Ozu)
Humanity and Paper Balloons (Yamanaka)
Miss Oyu (Mizoguchi)
My Neighbour Totoro (Miyazaki)
Early Spring (Ozu)
Lady of Musashino (Mizoguchi)
The End of Summer (Ozu)
Chikamatsu Monogatari (Mizoguchi)
High and Low (Kurosawa)
Ai no Corrida (Oshima)
Hara-Kiri (Kobayashi)
Yang Kwei Fei (Mizoguchi)
The Eel (Imamura)
Onibaba (Shindo)
Osaka Elegy (Mizoguchi)
Twilight Samurai (Yamada)
Woman of the Dunes (Teshigahara)
Red Beard (Kurosawa)
Twenty Four Eyes (Kinoshita)
Throne of Blood (Kurosawa)
After the Rain (Koizumi)
Sisters of the Gion (Mizoguchi)
Nobody Knows (Kore-eda)
Kiki's Delivery Service (Miyazaki)
Stray Dog (Kurosawa)
Hana-Bi (Kitano)
Snake of June (Tsukamoto)
Rashomon (Kurosawa)
Branded to Kill (Suzuki)
Street of Shame (Mizoguchi)
Vengeance is Mine (Imamura)
Kikujiro (Kitano)
Audition (Miike)
The Burmese Harp (Ichikawa)
Grave of the Fireflies (Takahata)
Spirited Away (Miyazaki)
After Life (Kore-eda)
Dolls (Kitano)
Nausicaa (Miyazaki)
Ran (Kurosawa)
Zatoichi (Kitano)
Double Suicide (Shinoda)
Late Chrysanthemums (Naruse)
Sonatine (Kitano)
Good Morning (Ozu)
Island (Shindo)
A Taxing Woman (Itami)
Warm Water under a Red Bridge (Imamura)
Sanjuro (Kurosawa)
An Actor's Revenge (Ichikawa)
Floating Weeds (Ozu)
Kagemusha (Kurosawa)
Battle Royale (Fukasaku)
Yojimbo (Kurosawa)
Tetsuo (Tsukamoto)
Tokyo Drifter (Suzuki)
Visitor Q (Miike)
Tampopo (Itami)
Ring (Nakata)
Princess Mononoke (Miyazaki)
Lady Snowblood (Fujita)
Ikiru (Kurosawa)
An Autumn Afternoon (Ozu)
Fires on the Plain (Ichikawa)


Naruse, Shimizu, Kinugasa very under-represented through lack of viewing on my part.

Some important films i've still to see (taking it up to 100):

Floating Clouds (Naruse)
Wife be Like a Rose (Naruse)
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Naruse)
Page of Madness (Kinugasa)
Gate of Hell (Kinugasa)
I was Born but (Ozu)
Ball at the House of Anjo (Yoshimura)
My Love has been Burning (Mizoguchi)
Straits of Love and Hate (Mizoguchi)
Profound Desire of the Gods (Imamura)
Intentions of Murder (Imamura)
Enjo (Ichikawa)
Shall we Dance? (Suo)
Himatsuri (Yanagimachi)
The Ceremony (Oshima)
Death by Hanging (Oshima)
A Story of Cruel Youth (Oshima)
Rebellion (Kobayashi)
Diary of Chuji's Travels (Ito)
Howl's Moving Castle (Miyazaki)
Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

The world's greatest film-making country!

[Capo]

Three star films:

Ikiru Living/To Live Akira Kurosawa
Kagemusha The Double/Shadow Warrior Akira Kurosawa
Kumonosu-jo Throne of Blood Akira Kurosawa
Odishon Audition Takashi Miike
Rashômon In the Woods Akira Kurosawa
Sansho dayu Sansho the Bailiff Kenji Mizoguchi
Shichinin no Samurai Seven Samurai Akira Kurosawa
Zatôichi Zatoichi Takeshi Kitano
Ran Chaos Akira Kurosawa (co-funded in France)[/color]

[johndav]

Alas, poor Ozu! Kurosawa 6 Ozu 0. I'll keep working towards 100.

[Capo]

Alas, indeed. Ozu's reputation interests me, but I've never seen any of his work yet.

I appreciate it can be a little frustrating when a personal favourite is somewhat neglected among a community. I'll have to make a more conscious effort to track his work down.

In his Top 1000 films, John Walker (editor of Halliwell's Film Guide) placed Tokyo Story at the top of the list.

[RNL]

Glad to see some Tsukamoto and Teshigahara on there.

Have you seen Vital yet?

[johndav]

Walker's book: Yes, i bought that but thought it was too conservative, old-fashioned in its taste (too many dated Hollywood and British films), should have been more adventurous films from all corners of the world!

Vital: no, not seen.

[RNL]

I think it's Tsukamoto's best yet. One of the best of 2004.

I agree about Halliwell's.

[Driver]

I haven't seen a lot of Japanese films, but I'm a big fan of Shurayukihime (Lady Snowblood) - Fujita

[johndav]

Ah yes, thanks for the reminder. Big influence on Kill Bill- must add to my 100 list (work in progress).

[Capo]

johndav said:

Walker's book: Yes, i bought that but thought it was too conservative, old-fashioned in its taste (too many dated Hollywood and British films), should have been more adventurous films from all corners of the world!

I passed on buying it; I've only flicked through in Waterstone's. His newest edition revises his star system. Still none for Eraserhead, though. It's odd that Walker includes an E-mail address in his introduction; I've E-mailed him before, and got replies too. But, in including a means of contact, he's really asking for criticism--I totally respect his decision to keep his E-mail in, though.

As a resource guide, if not film reference, it's spot on, I think. My review of his new guide can be found here. I still go with Time Out.

[johndav]

Halliwell's has long been the most overrated guide i think. Time Out is excellent for world cinema, but the best- this may come as a big surprise, and greatly underrated- is the Radio Times Film Guide in the UK. Tidy lay out, good unpretentious reviews, sensible scoring, wide coverage of world films.

And for a much much better listing of 1000 films, get 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (Ed Steven Schneider)

[RNL]

johndav said:

for a much much better listing of 1000 films, get 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (Ed Steven Schneider)

I got that. It's a really great read. But the 2005 edition stopped at Kill Bill, Vol.1 (2003), and I was looking at the 2006 edition recently, and the only films they've added from 2004 are The Aviator and Million Dollar Baby. I can certainly think of quite a few more important titles from that year.

[Mike Sullivan]

Of the three Japanese films I've seen, I rate them all at fourstars. They are the pinnicale of the work of Akira Kurosawa.

Rashomon (1950)
Ikiru (1952)
The Seven Samurai (1954)
They are amoung my favoriite films.

[thug]

I'm not extremely knowledgeable on Japanese cinema, though I love the work of Kurosawa, Ozu, and Mizoguchi, from what I've seen (Mizoguchi has impressed me the most out of the three, then Kurosawa, then Ozu). I've seen more, but haven't enjoyed them nearly as much as I have the work of these three directors. Their best works would have to be, respectively, Seven Samurai, An Autumn Afternoon, and Sansho the Bailiff, out of what I've seen (you seem to agree with me on two of the choices, johndav--welcome, by the way). I may have a chance to view some of Naruse's films in an upcoming nearby retrospective so I'll try to make an effort to view some.

[Jenson71]

Definitely am less than an amateur when it comes to Japanese films.

A ranking would look something like this:

1. Ikiru
2. Tokyo Story
3. Ugehtsu
4. Rashomon
5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

[jrod]

I didnt really enjoy Seven Samurai much, but I watch Ikiru today and absolutley loved it. I intend to watch a lot more Ozu and Kuroshiwa in the near future

[loy]

"Cruel Story Of Youth" by Nagisa Oshima (actually, anything by Oshima, who I consider one of the 4 greatest directors ever, alongside Chaplin, Truffaut, and Wong Kar-Wei)
"The Eel" by Shohei Imamura
"Tokyo Story" by Yasujiro Ozu
"The Yakuza Papers" series by Kinji Fukasaku
"Ikiru" by Akira Kurosawa
"Hara-Kiri" by Masahiro Kobayashi
"After Life" by Hirokazu Kore-eda
"Ugetsu" by Kenji Mizoguchi
"A Woman Ascends The Stairs" by Mikio Naruse
"The Audition" by Takshi Miike

[Pherdy]

all Japanese films I saw (very few classics, indeed)

Shichinin no samurai (Seven Samurai)
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Spirited Away)
Neko no ongaeshi (The Cat Returns)
Appurushîdo (Appleseed)
Ski Jumping Pairs
Rashomon
Tokyo monogatari (Tokyo Story)
Akira
Zatôichi
Chi to hone (Blood and Bones)
Ringu
Honogurai mizu no soko kara (Dark Water)
2LDK
Casshern
Soseiji (Gemini)
Ju-on The Grudge
Survive Style 5+
Inosensu: Kôkaku kidôtai
Megyaku: Akuma no yorokobi (Naked Blood)
Vital
Sayonara Sayo-Nara
Kurenai no buta (Porco Rosso)
Ringu 2
Avalon