Jun Tatara

An opportune salaryman moves his family into a model mansion for 12 months; unfortunately, they must allow prospective buyers to trek through their home during business hours.

牢を出たばかりの座頭市は、漁師・儀肋の家にやっかいになった。その小さな漁村では五右衛門一家が賭場を開き、市もつきに任せて遊んでいた。跡目を継いだばかりの若き五右衛門は宿場一体を仕切るために八州取締役に取り入ろうとしていた。大勝ちした市を撫然とした五右衛門一家が取り囲むが、女親分のおはんが取りなした。帰り道で市は刺客に襲われるが、得意な居合い斬りで片づけた。市は旅先で絵を描く浪人と知り合い、色を教えてもらった。その間も五右衛門一家の刺客が襲いかかるが、市の居合い斬りの前には歯が立たない。八州取締役は赤兵衛に五右衛門と対抗するために銃を買うことを勧めた。しかし、赤兵衛は五右衛門と八州が通じていることを知っており、市を用心棒に顧った。一方五右衛門は浪人を新しい用心棒に顧っていた。赤兵衛の宿場で八州は薄幸の少女おうめを手込めにしようとするが、市に斬られた。浪人は湯治場で一度市を見逃すが、五右衛門一家はついに赤兵衛一家を襲う。壮絶な斬り合いの末、赤兵衛は五右衛門の前に倒れた。その時坂の上から早桶が転ってきて、中から現われたのは八州の首を持った市だった。そして市は数十人の五右衛門一家の子分を絶滅させ、最後に五右衛門と浪人も倒すのだった。

Set in Japan during the bubble era, this unique home comedy cheerfully and humorously depicts the daily life of a strange family that works together to accumulate a small amount of money, while mixing irony and satire.

ワケあって日本を飛び出し、密入国したハワイのダウンタウンで暮らすチンピラの達彦と翔史。茶葉の販売を名目に、マリフアナの密売で生計を立てる2人は、言葉もろくに通じない異国の地での自由な生活を満喫していた。だがそんなある日、2人は不法滞在や麻薬密売の件で警察に目を付けられてしまう。警察は、しょせん小物の2人の悪事に目をつぶる代わりに、裏社会の大物モランの逮捕に協力するよう求める。

瀬戸内海のある島を舞台に起る、連続殺人事件を追う金田一耕肋の活躍を描く。横溝正史の同名の小説の映画化で、脚本は「幸福号出帆」の清水邦夫、監督は「夜叉ヶ池」の篠田正浩、撮影も同作の宮川一夫がそれぞれ担当。

Kensho Yamashita's directorial debut.

A rock singer who has returned to the U.S. approaches his former musician friends with the soulful sound of reggae that he encountered during his stay in the U.S. However, his friends lost their old energy and were busy chasing only the songs that would sell, and did not pay attention to reggae. Eventually, the lonely and violent rock singer turns to mass indiscriminate murder out of repugnance to the blurred times and humanity.

菅原が日本最大の暴力団組長に果敢に挑む。仁義なき戦いシリーズでは主人公が組長に利用され翻弄される役割であったが、遂に暴れ犬文太の真骨頂をこの最終作で見ることができる。

A young woman fails her university entrance exam and starts shoplifting.

A con man sets up a consulting firm where he poses as a doctor specializing in curing people of their sexual problems and hang-ups.

A musical comedy.

A young girl named Oichi is abandoned by her mother and blinded by a lightning strike. When her guardian is killed, she learns to wield a sword from a traveling ronin. As she develops into a master swordsman, her profession becomes that of a bounty hunter. Many test her sword and many die by her skills. She travels throughout the countryside to seek her mother and her revenge.

Japanese comedy film.

The first film in the 2 part series about Ryuzen, a renegade martial-arts priest who, in addition to breaking all the commandments against sex and gambling, opens his own gambling den in direct defiance of the local yakuza boss. Exciting action and a twisty plot this movie breaks new barriers in Japanese cinema. Katsu Shintaro is superb in one of his better non-Zato Ichi roles as he fights off the advances of a love-lorn woman and risks his life to defeat the powerful gambling boss who has a stranglehold on the town.

Third film of the yoidore hakase series

After being mistaken for an Interpol agent, a man who was just supposed to go on vacation gets mixed up in a war between two gangs intent on winning the favor of a notorious arms dealer.

やくざ、上級生、くそ喰らえ！女なんていちころや！大胆奔放、青春を生きるなんでもこいの悪たれ野郎！昭和初期、大阪南部に生まれ育った鈴木重吉は、中学校の風紀委委員からクラスメイトが滅茶苦茶な制裁を加えられたことに怒りを爆発させる...。

Organized thieves battle against the Shogun’s ruthless ruling in attempt to get back their land.

Second part of the series where sex magic skills of female and Iga ninjas clash over enourmous treasure of the Toyotomi family, discovered in connection with the plot to overthrow the shogunate.

Young Lord Takenaka stands to succeed his father until a series of violent actions lead his retainers to think that he has gone mad with blood-lust. Never offering any explanation, he continues his seemingly unprovoked attacks until he is sent away from his domain.

丹波哲郎、平幹二朗、長門勇。若き日の大御所３人が暴れまわり、当時大人気となったTVシリーズの映画化。五社英雄の記念すべき初監督作品でもある。時代劇全盛期の迫力ある殺陣は今でもまったく色褪せない。

In this exciting sequel to the popular samurai-ninja movie Ukyunosuke On Patrol, his mission to avenge his father's death continues. His discovery of a mysterious note written by his father, Inspector Sena, held a clue to the inspector's murder 18 years ago. As Ukyunosuke continues further with his investigation into the conspiracy to uncover the truth behind his father's death, he must confront those eager to take his life. The great Okawa Hashizo shines in one of his signature roles bringing the ultimate conclusion of this epic tale of murder and revenge!

Hokkaido at the end of the Taisho era is Kitami. On the day his wife died of a dystocia, Bakuro Yonetaro fell asleep after being kicked by a sick woman Yuki at a vague shop after violence.

A gritty, noirish gangster saga.

The great Okawa Hashizo, in one of his most powerful roles risks his life and limb to help save the lovely Onaka from a terrible lifestyle. Starting out as a down on his luck gambler, Hantaro refuses to accept punishment for running up a 10 ryo debt in a crooked dice game. Forced from his village he must go on the run and learn how to fend for himself. After 3 years on the road, his past finally catches up to him, when he gets spotted by a pair of gang members. The action heats up after he saves Onaka from committing suicide and the two find themselves battling all odds for survival. This is a serious film with a strong story and exciting sword action!

A wandering vagrant, Hantaro, risks his life to save a beautiful blind girl and her father from con artists.

Kamio a mistreated samurai clerk of Edo Castle and ronin (“Sir Quarrel”) Ibara, take up a vendetta against 17 wicked castle men.

Considered one of the finest late Naruses and a model of film biography, A Wanderer’s Notebook features remarkable performances by Hideko Takamine – Phillip Lopate calls it “probably her greatest performance” – and Kinuyo Tanaka as mother and daughter living from hand to mouth in Twenties Tokyo. Based on the life and career of Fumiko Hayashi, the novelist whose work Naruse adapted to the screen several times, A Wanderer’s Notebook traces her bitter struggle for literary recognition in the first half of the twentieth century – her affairs with feckless men, the jobs she took to survive (peddler, waitress, bar maid), and her arduous, often humiliating attempts to get published in a male-dominated culture.

An injured Edo official is rescued by a vassal whose appearance is exactly like himself, and swears to sweep out the criminals from the town on his behalf.

Bunkichi disguises himself as a yakuza to solve a mysterious death.

Japanese drama film.

Friendship between an ambitious young thief and an artist during the Warring States period.

In the third, and final chapter of this epic tale, handsome swordsman Genji helps a vulnerable princess who is in search of a missing scroll that belongs to the Shogun. This is one of the most highly regarded trilogies featuring a youthful Nakamura Kinnosuke in one of his best roles. This was Kinnosuke at the height of his career, with charm, honor and a vicious sword. If you enjoyed the first two films in the series, you can't miss the exciting conclusion. Even without know-ledge of the first two films, this movie stands on its own with great action throughout!

1962 Japanese movie

Tange Sazen interferes with an evil plot against the Iga Yagyu family.

5 criminals organize a jailbreak in search of a cache of stolen diamonds.

The story is of two people. One is deaf, the other deaf and mute. They marry after meeting at a school reunion, and the film follows their trials and tribulations ... and joys.

A comedy about a free-spirited man Shosuke, whose life is turned upside down when he is ordered to serve the clan lord.

The film depicts the scarring of Yosaburo at the hands of yakuza thugs who catch him with mistress of the gang boss. Despite the physical and emotional scars he now carries with him, Yosaburo falls for a young noblewoman. The rest of the film follows the two as they fend off attacks from gangs and the police.

Jidaigeki by Tai Kato

夫を亡くした圭子は、外国人マスターが経営する銀座のバー“ライラック”の雇われマダムだった。よく店に来ていた利権屋の美濃部が、かつて圭子の下で働いていたユリに店を持たせ、そちらへ頻繁に出入りしているようだ。マスターからはユリのように体を張って売り上げを回復させろと言われてしまう。ある日、狂言自殺をするつもりだったユリが本当に死亡した。葬儀の席で圭子は美濃部に食ってかかるが、血を吐いて倒れてしまう。酒の飲み過ぎで胃潰瘍にかかっていたのだ。やがて圭子は客に体を許すようになるが、その度に裏切られてしまう。

Kaji is sent to the Japanese army labeled Red and is mistreated by the vets. Along his assignment, Kaji witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against the recruit Obara. He also sees his friend Shinjô Ittôhei defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Russian tanks division.

Drama which shows the struggle of Fumiko, a female teacher, at work and at home.

The inventor of a ground-breaking glue, Sanada, becomes rich thanks to his discovery a high executive in his company. Because of this promotion, his world is changing completely : his wife behaves like never before, considering she's now rich and has the right to do whatever she wants, even having an affair. (Also occasionally known in English as “Overflow”)

On a post-war peaceful day in Japan, Toyomatsu Shimizu, a barber as well as a good father and husband, is suddenly arrested by the Prefectural Police as a war criminal and sued for murder.

Kiku and her brother Isamu are social outcasts, children of a prostitute mother and black GI father, in postwar Japan.

A young woman tries to keep her family together after her father disowns her sister.

When an altercation with a gangster forces Kikutaro to leave Edo, he is sent by his father to Hamamatsu to find a better direction in life. However, trouble seems to follow Kikutaro on the road leading him eventually to come face to face with his rival, Gonkuro.

In this film in the long running series, Tange Sazen and his friends are asked to guard a dragon-shaped incense burner that holds the key to hidden treasures. This is the most exciting film in the series, and contains some of the best action sequences of Otomo's distinguished career. Sazen is the strongest swordsman of his time, and his sense of honor and justice are called upon more than once to set things right.

Alongside Tokyo's Sumida River is a ragpickers' settlement known as Ant Village. One night, a young Catholic girl, Satoko Kitahara, who has been baptized under the name of Maria, comes to offer her services. However, Ant Village is not just an ordinary vagrants' community but a fine autonomous organization, and as the municipal authorities have long been demanding that the people of Ant Village leave the site, Satoko is utilized to publicize the Village and win public sympathy. While being utilized in this manner, Satoko is nevertheless glad to be able to help the people of Ant Village, especially the children, and when the summer vacation comes she decides to take the children on an excursion to Hakone. To raise funds for this purpose she becomes a rag-picker herself.

Historical drama about a sleepy-eyed ronin.

The humorous tale of Jimbei, a miller, and his wife Osen who live in complete happiness. But Osen's beauty attracts numerous would-be lovers among whom is the local governor, a timid creature, who is dominated by his high-born and beautiful wife, who dresses in a scarlet battle-tunic, a sign of his family's military merit around which he fabricates fantastic tales of his prowess in war. During the traditional festival when the villagers are released from observance of all social customs and restrictions, it is permissible for any man to attempt win the favors of the one he loves. However, the timid but romantic governor goes to the length of having the miller arrested to clear the way for his seduction of Osen. But Osen fights off his advances with an old hunting gun and dashes out of the mill. Jimbei, meanwhile, has escaped from jail and dashes home to finds the governor in his bed. Convinced that his wife has been violated, he decides to take an eye for an eye.

The story of Muhōmatsu, a rickshaw man who becomes a surrogate father to the child of a recently widowed woman.

時は八代将軍・徳川吉宗の世。隻眼隻手の怪剣士・丹下左膳は、ひょんなことから柳生藩主の弟・柳生源三郎が無くしてしまった“こけ猿の壺”を手に入れたことから、源三郎と意気投合。だが、この天下の名宝には、柳生家の秘宝の地図が隠されていた。それをめぐって幕府の陰謀が渦巻く中、やがて大争奪戦が巻き起こり･･･。

東京の深川で2人組の犯人による質屋強盗殺人事件が発生。主犯は逮捕されたものの、共犯の石井は目下逃走中。彼が昔の恋人に会いたがっていたという主犯の証言をもとに、2人の刑事、柚木と下岡が、暑い夏のさなか、横浜駅から満員の夜行列車に乗り込み、九州の佐賀県まで出向くことに。彼らは、いまや人妻となっているさだ子という女性を見張るため、彼女の家の真向かいにある宿の2階の部屋に陣取り、辛抱強く張り込みを続ける。

東京の深川で2人組の犯人による質屋強盗殺人事件が発生。主犯は逮捕されたものの、共犯の石井は目下逃走中。彼が昔の恋人に会いたがっていたという主犯の証言をもとに、2人の刑事、柚木と下岡が、暑い夏のさなか、横浜駅から満員の夜行列車に乗り込み、九州の佐賀県まで出向くことに。彼らは、いまや人妻となっているさだ子という女性を見張るため、彼女の家の真向かいにある宿の2階の部屋に陣取り、辛抱強く張り込みを続ける。

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.

オートレース場で大穴が出た瞬間、サラリーマン風の男がガックリと倒れる。群衆を掻き分けて、警視庁捜査一課が遺体の検証に乗り出す。目撃者を尋ねても、観衆が熱狂していた中での出来事であり、何ら手掛かりがなく、証拠品は、手製拳銃による銃弾代わりのパチンコ玉と長田部長刑事がスタンドの隅で拾った焼け焦げた手拭いの端切れのみ。捜査一課は大穴の賞金を払い戻した怪しい男を探り当てる。ダフ屋の池本雄一という男だった。急遽、雄一のヤサに踏み込むが、タッチの差で取り逃がしてしまう。そして、雄一の立ち寄った呑み屋から山村刑事らが指紋つきのコップを押収していると、突如背後から私製拳銃の銃弾に曝され、長田刑事が撃たれてしまう。

It's a man's world. Shimamura, an artist, comes to this snowbound town to rejuvenate himself. He connects with Komako, a geisha he met on a previous trip, and it seems like love. She's the foster daughter of a local family, almost engaged to the family's son Yukio, now dying of consumption. He's tended by his sister Yuko who's angry at Komako for abandoning her brother. Shimamura returns to Tokyo but promises he will be back soon. In anticipation of his return, Komako breaks with her patron and her family loses their home. Complications arise when Shimamura doesn't come back as promised. Then Komako discovers that he and Yuko knew each other in Tokyo. Can Komako escape destiny?

A girl rebels against her mother, who runs a brothel in Yokohama, and attempts to find freedom on her own.

In this Golden Globe winner for Best Foreign-Language Film, director Heinosuke Gosho -- a master chronicler of Japanese middle-class life -- presents the story of Kiyoshi Yoshida (Koji Shitara), who feels estranged from both parents after his father returns from war. How the boy adapts to life with the virtual stranger his father has become is the film's focus. Chikage Awashima, Yûnosuke Itô and Yoshiko Kuga also star.

Shochiku Production on typhoon

A talent scout moves sharply, dead-set on signing a promising athlete to the baseball team the Toyko Flowers.

Dotanba - Last Minute

Poor social conditions badly affect the relationship between a married couple, when the husband, who is desperately searching for work, fails to notice the terrible sacrifices made by his wife when she accepts a job at a local inn.

Japanese film.

Takes place in one place, a beer hall, over the course of one evening. Uchida employs this concentration of setting and time to fashion a microcosm for a group portrait of Japan. One by one, the regulars of the bar appear: the pianist who dreams of becoming a composer but has disappeared from the music world after a knifing; a stripper who had planned to be a ballet dancer; an elderly painter trying to make a living at pachinko, and who rues his art having been used for militarist propaganda during the war; a young waitress considering elopement; a colonel turned real estate broker who attempts to rouse the crowd in military song until he realizes the tune has been transformed by marchers in the street into a leftist chant. The "twilight" is more than just a time of day; here, it is a state of being, a suspension between past and present, between the camaraderie of the saloon and the harsh world outside.

Yasuichiro Isa, who works in the labor section of Sone Mining Tokyo Headquarters, paid a monthly fee for his younger brother, Reiji, who was in trouble because he had a bonus of 10,000 yen more.

Lending money, job hunting for civilians and babysitting. All these things are usually not listed on a policeman's job description. But for the officers of this local police station, it‘s part of their daily routine. One day, patrolman Yoshii (Hisaya Morishige) finds an abandoned baby and a six year old girl standing in front of the station. When he's declined by the welfare office, orphanage and local health clinic to take them in, he decides to take care of them himself.

In this four part mystery-adventure, detective Kogoro Akechi and the members of the Boy Detectives Club must capture the Bronze Monster, a giant metal monster that steals valuable clocks.

An ethical, young tax collector new to his area encounters increasingly absurd individuals and groups coping with their post-war woes.

麦の刈入れが終わる頃。とある農村では野武士たちの襲来を前に恐怖におののいていた。百姓だけで闘っても勝ち目はないが、麦を盗られれば飢え死にしてしまう。百姓たちは野盗から村を守るため侍を雇うことを決断する。やがて、百姓たちは食べるのもままならない浪人たち7人を見つけ出し、彼らとともに野武士に対抗すべく立ち上がる……。

An Inn at Osaka, rarely seen outside Japan, follows the story of an insurance company executive from Tokyo, Mr. Mito, who is demoted to the Osaka office. He takes a room at a small inn and tries to rebuild his life. Notable for its exquisite framing and cinematography, An Inn at Osaka allows its complicated plotlines to disappear behind the minutiae of penury and humiliation that Mito and others suffer during the post-war economic and social reconstruction.

An adaptation of the Kawabata Yasunari short story.

Each one of us lives differently. So, there are many tragedies and comedies in our lives. She feels many conflicts in living her life between truth and love.

A young woman becomes president of a business.

At the close of the war in Japan, a widowed mother makes every possible sacrifice to bring up her ungrateful son and daughter who are unimpressed with their poor standard of living at home. They gradually reject her in search of the material comforts that working as a maid cannot provide. The mother's despair becomes interminable.

1953 Toho adaptation of Natsume's novel.

1953 Hiroshi Inagaki movie.

Motoko Fujikawa works in the Seisen Church as an assistant to pastor Maki Inokichi. Motoko falls in love with Inokichi's virtuous character and devotes herself to the rehabilitation of a delinquent girl, gradually finding her job at the institution more worthwhile than the marriage recommended by her parents. Meanwhile, inside Inokichi's heart a flame of unknowing love for the single-minded Motoko begins to burn...

Follows six male friends from elementary school whose career paths diverge—newspaper reporter, engineer, boxer, sushi restaurant owner—but whose romantic lives intersect. (MoMA)

Carmen falls in love with an artist in this sequel to Carmen Comes Home. The film is noted for being entirely shot with canted (Dutch) camera angles.

Office worker comedy by Nobuo Nakagawa

A section chief at the Bureau of Construction is in a shady relationship with a construction company. Then a new, young and honest subordinate is assigned to work under the section chief. Once he learns about the shady relationship, however, the new subordinate skillfully conceals the corruption and joins the corrupt, shady relationship.

Shows the devastation caused by the atomic bomb, and by use of a fictional storyline, portrays the struggle of the ordinary Japanese people in dealing with the aftermath.

Having completed the first year at his new medical practice, a doctor plans to relax on his day off. However, it is not to be: on this hectic day a man just back from the war front visits the doctor with a medical emergency, followed by a woman who claims to have been molested. Then a yakuza arrives to ask the doctor to cut his finger off...

Obscure Japanese movie by director Kyotaro Namiki

An attempt is made to suppress a journalist's investigation of collusion between a rural police chief and the local gangster bosses.