Best Japanese Films Kinema Junpo (1926-2025)

A footballing law student tutors an undergraduate, developing into a romance that soon enough goes awry.

Story of the last three days in the life of Sakamoto Ryoma (1836-1867), the imperial loyalist who tried to unite the Choshu and Satsuma clans and prepared the way for the Meiji Restoration (1868).

Based on a true story, an elderly woman resiliently spends nine months attempting to retrieve her husband's dead body, fighting government bureaucracy and indifference all along the way.

1974 Japanese yakuza film directed by Kinji Fukasaku

A young and newly-married couple in Tokyo lives a hard life moving repeatedly because of their unfamiliar relationships with their surroundings.

When his wife, the outspoken feminist Miyuki Takeda, announced that she was leaving him in order to find herself, Kazuo Hara began this raw, intensely personal documentary as a way to both maintain a connection to the woman he still cared for and to make sense of their complex relationship. Granted at times shockingly intimate access to Miyuki’s personal life, Hara follows her wayward journey toward liberation as she explores her sexuality with both men and women, becomes pregnant and raises a family as a single mother, and grows increasingly disenchanted with the constraints of traditional social structures.

After Torajiro's latest attempt to find a bride goes awry, he starts traveling again and runs into Utako (last seen in Tora-san's Dear Old Home), now a widow.

The world is in turmoil with the October Revolution of 1917, riots over the inflationary price of rice, and the military expedition to Siberia in 1918. But Shinsuke, a brothel owner, spends his days in the arms of geishas, paying little heed to the events happening around him.

A traveling troupe of strippers do their stuff at various venues. One of the women has a sleazy boyfriend who leaves her to recruit his own group of strippers.

It's the evening before the day all brothels must be shut-down, according to the new law, in 1958. At the Kofukuya's (literally, the house that sells happiness), five prostitutes decide to celebrate the day. Eroticism, drama, and comedy mix as each hour a different event passes, in which all the women's stories come to the surface.

Set in 13th century Kyoto, where the Imperial court is under control of the clergy. Shijo was a peasant girl sold to a powerful daima as a concubine. Bored by her life in seclusion she starts an affair with State Councillor and the brother of a retired Emperor. Realising that she is only a plaything of the court, she becomes a nun and wanders the country.

At Nemunoki, children and young adults with physical, intellectual or familial difficulties are gently encouraged to discover and develop their talents through such activities as painting, music, tea ceremony and dancing.

A strong-willed young prostitute, her mentally challenged brother, and her aging prostitute mother attempt to survive in 1970s Osaka.

1974 film by Kinji Fukasaku

The myth of the Sun Goddess who founded Japanese society is seen through the lens of a modern view of history.

Agent Zero is a cop that uses her own methods for dealing with criminals. After she unlawfully kills a rapist in a violent fashion, she is sent to prison and stripped of her badge. But very soon after, a rich politician's daughter is kidnapped by a ruthless gang. Agent Zero is let out of prison with the mission of going undercover to find the politician's daughter and return her safely. Using her deadly red handcuffs, she disposes of the criminals one by one.

A team of geophysicists investigating seismic activity on the seafloor discover that the islands of Japan, after suffering from massive volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, will be pulled into the ocean, killing millions.

Two inmates are simultaneously released from jail, but go their separate ways, only to cross paths again in the nearest brothel. There they make the acquaintance of a would-be prostitute. They help her escape and decide to guide her on her quest for sunken contraband somewhere off the coast.

This is the final part in the Tough Guy or Bad Reputation series that starred Shintaro Katsu as Asakichi (sort of like a early 20th century yakuza non-blind Zatoichi). The series ran for sixteen films, with a number of famous Japanese directors (Tanaka, Makino, Mori) and you can read more about it here: link
I'm fairly certain the DVDr I sourced for this was taped off of Hawaiian television at some point (it has that "look") and hopefully it will be released officially on DVD somewhere and these subtitles can be added to it (the rest of the series is available on DVD in Japan, but not this one.) The video quality *obviously* leaves much to be desired, but I noticed that there was a lot of Masumura activity on KG so this might be of interest.
A quick summary by dbborroughs from imdb:
Quote:
Set in 1937, this is the story of Asakichi, who is played by Shiuntaro Katsu, best known as being Zatoichi in 26 films. Asakichi has been disowned by his father for gambling, so he heads off to make his living in cockfighting. He, in quick order, wins some money, takes up with a fallen geisha and quickly comes in conflict with the yakuza. Besting their top man, Asakichi, is drawn into the life of a yakuza despite his efforts to remain outside of it.

A young girl is being asked about a man with whom she was keeping company, as her grandmother plays a lament on a shamisen. Then the focus changes to a couple arriving from Tokyo - the woman returning to her home, the man an escapee from the yakuza. The man doesn't seem to mind when the woman sells her favours to tourists at the local bar, just as she seems to take his attentions to Yuki, a blind girl, with equanimity.