Catalog Search Results
Language
日本語
Formats
Description
Master filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Pulse, Cure, Tokyo Sonata) won the Silver Lion (Best Director) at the **Venice Film Festival** for this riveting, gorgeously crafted, old-school Hitchockian thriller shot in stunning 8K. The year is 1940 in Kobe, on the eve of the outbreak of World War II. Local merchant and amateur filmmaker Yusaku (Issey Takahashi, Kill Bill) senses that things are headed in an unsettling direction. Following a trip to Manchuria,...
Language
日本語
Formats
Description
Sixty-one years ago, the United States and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Decades later, hundreds of letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them. Leading the defense is Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi. With little defense other than sheer will and the volcanic rock of the island itself, Gen. Kuribayashi's unprecedented tactics...
Series
Criterion collection volume 2
Language
日本語
Appears on list
Formats
Description
This epic masterpiece is about a group of 16th century samurai who are hired to defend a small Japanese village that finds itself annually raided by an army of bandits who steal the meager crops harvested by the peasants. Tired of relinquishing their food supply but woefully inept in combat skills, the villagers decide to hire a band of samurai to protect them. In addition to the primary conflict between the villagers and the bandits, much of the...
4) Ran
Series
Language
日本語
Formats
Description
"Set in 16th century Japan, Ran related the tale of how an aging ruler, Lord Hidetora, announces his intention to divide his land equally among his three sons. This decision to step down unleashes a power struggle among the three, as Hidetora falls prey to the false flattery bestowed upon him by the two older sons and banishes the youngest when he speaks the truth. The ruthless betrayal ultimately drives Hidetora insane, destroying his entire family...
5) Kingdom
Language
日本語
Description
In ancient China, a young boy dreams of becoming the greatest general of the Qin Kingdom.
6) Proxy war
Series
Yakuza papers volume 3
Language
日本語
Description
Set in 1960, a power vacuum is formed within the Muraoka family when underboss Uchimoto (Takeshi Kato) refuses to avenge the assassination of a superior. With the help of series hero Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara), Uchimoto pledges loyalty to the powerful Akashi gang, but is soon expelled from the Muraoka for the act. Meanwhile, Akashi rivals the Shinwa Group form their own pact with Muraoka, and the enmity between the two gangs threatens to erupt...
Language
日本語
Description
Set in 1963, Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara), expelled from the Yamamori gang, has allied himself with the cowardly Uchimoto (Takeshi Kato) and the Akashi family, who are engaged in a power struggle with the Shinwa Group, allied with the Yamamori. But mainstream society, enjoying unprecedented economic prosperity, will no longer tolerate their violent criminal activities. The police begin a major crackdown, putting the gangs on the defensive. But rogue...
Series
Yakuza papers volume Vol. 2
Language
日本語
Description
Set in Hiroshima, 1950. Demobilized kamikaze pilot Shoji Yamanaka (Kinya Kitaoji) is released from prison and finds himself hungry and broke. Following a bust up with a local gang, he earns the psychotic wrath of local underboss Otomo (Chiba), but Yamanaka's suicidal impulses are soon put to good use as a hitman for another gang, befriending series hero Shozo Hirono in the process. Despite a budding but forbidden romance with the boss's niece (Kaji),...
Series
Criterion collection volume 379
Language
日本語
Description
"An Imperial Japanese Army regiment surrenders to British forces in Burma at the close of World War II and finds harmony through song. A private, thought to be dead, stumbles upon spiritual enlightenment disguising himself as a Buddhist monk and stumbles upon spiritual enlightenment. Magnificently shot in hushed black and white"--Container.
Series
Language
日本語
Description
In 1945, the United States and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Decades later, hundreds of letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them. Leading the defense is Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi. With little defense other than sheer will and the volcanic rock of the island itself, Gen. Kuribayashi's unprecedented tactics transform...
Language
日本語
Description
Rurouni Kenshin Part III takes place after Kenshin's confrontation with Shishio ends in defeat. Kenshin Himura awakens at the home of his old Master. With his mind set on revenge, he trains day and night to learn the final technique of his deadly fighting style. While he builds up his strength, Shishio and his army attack the coastline and force the new government to name Kenshin a wanted man.
13) Gate of hell
Series
Criterion collection volume 653
Language
日本語
Formats
Description
In the midst of epic, violent intrigue in twelfth-century Japan, an imperial warrior falls for a lady-in-waiting; even after he discovers she is married, he goes to extreme lengths to win her love.
Series
Language
日本語
Description
An exquisitely moving tale of forbidden love struggling to survive in the face of persecution. Based on a classic of eighteenth-century Japanese drama, the film traces the injustices that befall a Kyoto scroll maker₂s wife and his apprentice after each is unfairly accused of wrongdoing. Bound by fate in an illicit, star-crossed romance, they go on the run in search of refuge from the punishment prescribed them: death.
15) The sun
Language
日本語
Description
Chronicles the events leading up to Emperor Hirohito's momentous speech, the historic renunciation of his divine status, and his meetings with General Douglas MacArthur, the commander-in-chief of the occupying American forces, who advises his own president not to declare the Japanese leader a war criminal.
17) Black rain
Language
日本語
Description
A middle-aged couple lead a tranquil village existence with their 25-year-old niece.
Language
日本語
Description
Set in 18th century Japan, the film tells the story of a young lord, Asano, who travels to the capital city of Edo to assume state duties. After refusing to bribe the Grand Master of Ceremonies for teaching him official etiquette, he is goaded into drawing his sword in the Shogun's palace, a capital offense for which he is sentenced to commit harakiri suicide. This leaves the warriors of Ako as rōnin, masterless samurai, with nowhere to go and no...
Language
日本語
Description
Sanshiro Sugata: Akira Kurosawa's effortless debut is based on a novel by Tsuneo Tomita about the rivalry between judo and jujitsu.
The most beautiful: This portrait of female volunteer workers at an optics plant during world War II, shot on location at the Nippon Kogaku factory, was created with a patriotic agenda.
Sahshiro Sugata, part two: This sequel is a hugely entertaining adventure, reuniting most of the major players from the original and...
Language
日本語
Description
Toyotomi Hideyoshi is defeated, but feudal Japan isn't safe yet. The fallen villain's most loyal and lethal minion-Ishida Mitsunari-is obsessed with carrying on Toyotomi's legacy of violence in the name of vengeance, Ishida brutally cuts a bloody path across the countryside, even as the nation's other warlords rally toward an era of harmony. Unfortunately, for peace to finally be achieved, the fires of war must be unleashed once more. With Japan's...