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Hi GAF, recommend me some Japanese cinema, please.

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HAUSU, a trippy 'horror' movie that truly defies description. I know the OP says he is not interested in horror, but Hausu is something unlike any other horror film. It also beats Speed Racer to the punch by about 30 years and looks to be the source of some of the antics in Evil Dead.

Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
Godzilla and other works of Ishiro Honda.
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You should recommend the best Godzilla sequel...

Godzilla vs Hedorah
 
Old boy is not Japanese...
but it's based on Japanese Manga called "Old Boy". Same plot, same beginning etc... except the actual motive of his captivity and the ending.

Of course, in this case, movie > manga. I really didn't like the manga at all... a truely WTF ending for sure.:lol
 
Just to supplement some of the previous suggestions, there are several notable directors (Shohei Imamura, Hiroshi Teshigahara, Seijun Suzuki, Kaneto Shindo...) who had -- and in some cases, still have -- careers that span numerous decades and are jam-packed with fascinating, compelling and amazing work. Teshigahara in particular would probably be of interest to some GAFfers simply because he often worked with Kobo Abe, who's writing clearly inspired Haruki Murakami, and these collaborations share that sense of surreal unease.

As far as modern directors go, Shinji Aoyama (Eureka and Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? are just... wow) Shunji Iwai (Swallowtail Butterfly, Hana & Alice, Lily Chou-Chou), Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Bright Future, Tokyo Sonata, Barren Illusion, Charisma, Seance)...

If you want to go a little crazy and delve into what'll end up being one of the most entertaining excursions of your life, start looking into the '60s and '70s "pinky" films. The genre goes off in any number of directions (from yakuza to high school to nuns to women in prison and everything in between) and you can easily spend a year soaking it all up, but man, what a ride.
 
genjiZERO said:
tampopo.jpg


One of the funniest movies I've ever seen. You'll never look at eating noodles the same way again.
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This is absolutely one of the best. I came in here to recommend it. WATCH TAMPOPO.
 
Cosmic Bus said:
If you want to go a little crazy and delve into what'll end up being one of the most entertaining excursions of your life, start looking into the '60s and '70s "pinky" films. The genre goes off in any number of directions (from yakuza to high school to nuns to women in prison and everything in between) and you can easily spend a year soaking it all up, but man, what a ride.
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I can't really get into the pink film thing. I get what it's about, but the gratuitous sex always derails things for me. It just feels like compromised art because that's what they had to wedge in to make it profitable. The films that try to subvert that genre like Funeral Parade of Roses or The Pornographers are the most interesting to me. That said, my copy of The Glamourous Life of Sachiko Hanai is staying in my collection if only for the George W. Bush scenes.
 
Are there any movies that show of the country of Japan. From the cities to the rural areas, in a very flattering way?

Basically movies with stunning cinematography.
 
I've always wanted to see "I Just Didn't Do It," but never got around to it. I should head over to Scarecrow Video one of these days and rent it.
 
Kagemusha
Ran
Rashomon
Yojimbo
Tsubaki Sanjuro (but don't see the remake, it's utter crap)
Ikiru
Seven Samurai
Dodeskaden
Dreams
After the Rain

Trilogy:
Tasogare Seibei
The Hidden Sword
Twilight Samurai

The Human Condition
24 eyes
Ohayou
Kozure no Okami (not Shogun Assassin!)
Bright Future
Zatoichi (both the remake as the originals are great)
The Taste of Tea
Okuribito
Nobody Knows
Dainipponjin
Tampopo


Maybe:
Spaceship Yamato (2010 release)
 
I'll make a pretty extensive list later but I watched Crows Zero I & II about a week ago and was pleasantly surprised. Outside of the Japanese Rock and some unnecessary comedic bits, the films were pretty damned amazing.
 
I highly recommend you see the original of Shall We Dance, which was later re-made into an American version featuring Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere (trash).
Here's its listing at IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117615/
It's a great, captivating Japanese film. I watched it in my film literature class and the whole class enjoyed it; do yourself a favor and watch this film.
 
adversesolutions said:
One of my favorite films ever. And I've never heard anyone talk about it.

http://blog.drecom.jp/034/img/105/b0145776_1123792.jpg
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I recommended it last year in the Movies you have seen recently? thread.

Another one I keep harping on about to anyone within earshot is Adrift in Tokyo. Easily one of my favourite movies of the past decade.


One downside to every single Japanese movie recommendation thread is that no one ever bothers to list Koki Mitani's work nor Juzo Itami's other work outside of Tampopo.

Mitani's Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald borders upon brilliance, whilst Itami's Taxing Woman and A Quiet Life are also excellent.


After Life and Nobody Knows gets mentioned quite a lot which warms my heart, but Koreeda's Still Walking is probably his best effort and should be placed alongside the greats of Japanese family drama films.


kid ness said:
I highly recommend you see the original of Shall We Dance, which was later re-made into an American version featuring Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere (trash).
Here's its listing at IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117615/
It's a great, captivating Japanese film. I watched it in my film literature class and the whole class enjoyed it; do yourself a favor and watch this film.
Click to expand...
Cannot come highly recommended enough. Was the movie that really got me into Japanese cinema, let alone Asian cinema as a whole. Suo is a brilliant director and I also recommend people to check out his earlier efforts; specifically Sumo Do, Sumo Don't and Fancy Dance where each movie takes upon quite an interesting view of Japanese culture (i.e. sumo wrestling and buddhism monasteries specifically).
 
el jacko said:
Vengeance is Mine
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Seconded.

Plus you have an earthbound avatar. Nice.

I also second Branded to Kill. Awesome movie.

Departures was a really great movie. It is kind of meaningless theater filler sap, but done just in the right way to make it really great. It's hard to explain, but I'm definitely not putting it down.

Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Rashomon are my favorite Kurosawa films. I also think Dreams is underrated but YMMV.
 
Came here to post Godzilla, but I see it's gotten a handful of mentions already. In terms of the many many sequels that followed, you should check out Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster, Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

Oh, and Godzilla vs. Megalon just for "WTF?" value.

Count Dookkake said:
You should recommend the best Godzilla sequel...

Godzilla vs Hedorah
Click to expand...

Fun fact; the actor who wore the Hedorah suit required an emergency appendectomy, and because of the complicated costume there wasn't enough time to remove it. The same actor also found out that he was immune to anesthesia during this operation.

That said, wearing the Godzilla suit, even with the vomit-inducing heat and swimming-in-your-own-sweat discomfort... that's one hell of an awesome job. I had to wear a giraffe costume during a stint at Toys R Us, and I can assure you; running around roaring in a giant suit is fucking awesome. I feel bad for the kids though... sometimes. :lol
 
speedpop said:
After Life and Nobody Knows gets mentioned quite a lot which warms my heart, but Koreeda's Still Walking is probably his best effort and should be placed alongside the greats of Japanese family drama films.
Click to expand...

aruitemo.jpg

The truth. Koreeda's best work since Maboroshi. One of those movies where you don't want it to end, where you want to see more of these characters and their lives. A rip sits on my desktop because I can't come to terms with removing it.

speedpop said:
Cannot come highly recommended enough. Was the movie that really got me into Japanese cinema, let alone Asian cinema as a whole. Suo is a brilliant director and I also recommend people to check out his earlier efforts; specifically Sumo Do, Sumo Don't and Fancy Dance where each movie takes upon quite an interesting view of Japanese culture (i.e. sumo wrestling and buddhism monasteries specifically).
Click to expand...

Fancy Dance is one of my favorite movies. Masahiro Motoki, I've become of a fan of. I was surprised he was an 80's jp idol. No surprise I liked "The Departures".
 
RobotChant said:
Fancy Dance is one of my favorite movies. Masahiro Motoki, I've become of a fan of. I was surprised he was an 80's jp idol. No surprise I liked "The Departures".
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He's certainly a very dependable actor no matter the role and if I was gay I'd jump him. Apparently they call him the Brad Pitt of Japan.
 
Okay, I've now watched my round 1 of the movies.


Okuribito - Departures:

This was a really interesting movie. Good story, and sort of a "slice of life" feel into it.

Cha no Aji - Taste of Tea:

I liked this one. It was very relaxing, has some funny wtf moments, and the little girl and the grandpa really crown the whole movie.

Vengeance Is Mine:

This was quite a deep movie. A lot of stuff happened, and some things made me just go "wat". I'm not sure if I understood the main characters motives either.

Rashomon:

Just fantastic. Do I really need to say more about this one?

Battles Without Honor and Humanity:

This was really good. I'm sort of interested in the yakuza world, and this really gives a great (not sure how accurate) image of the old times of that world.



Now, to pick the next batch of stuff! I'm trying to find myself copies of Crows Zero 1 & 2, because I love the manga, and the stereotype of japanese school thugs interest me.

Other movies on my to-do list:

Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
Sumo Do, Sumo Don't
Still Walking
Nobody Knows

Man, I'm drowning into the imdb tabs that I keep making when I'm blindly searching all the suggestions :lol Anyway, thanks for all the suggestions, and let's keep this thread going.

I think I want to see more crime movies! Yakuza or whatever. Modern age movies mainly, though. I've plowed through so much samurai stuff already.
 
Osaka said:
Vengeance Is Mine:

This was quite a deep movie. A lot of stuff happened, and some things made me just go "wat". I'm not sure if I understood the main characters motives either.
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I don't know if this means you liked it or not, but if you want something that is much less "deep" check out this:

A Colt is My Passport

This movie is basically all yakuza action, which from what I gather would be exactly what you're looking for.

EDIT: since you liked Taste of Tea you should look for Survive Style 5+, since it shares a lot of thematic elements with it (but is much more manic and fast-paced).
 
Tony Takitani
Tokyo story
Nobody knows
Three fantastic japanese movies, i don't think have been mentioned in this thread yet.
 
Besdies the Korean flicks, i would agree with most of the recommendations.

I'll just add another Kitano flick: Dolls
dolls.jpg

One of the more tragic films i've seen. It looks beautiful too accompanied by a moving soundtrack

EDIT:
Was Tetsuo: Iron Man ever mentioned? If you've seen any of the following: Eraserhead/Holy Mountain/Irreversible/Begotten; then its pretty much a must see
 
I was going to come in and mention Dare mo shiranai... and went to check the English title and it's already been mentioned (Nobody Knows).

I love that movie. It's so fucked up, and being a parent, makes it even harder. I thought the kids in the movie did a great job as well.

I really enjoyed DaiNipponJin, which took a bizarre documentary style to the traditional giant monster movie, but it's full of comedians and it completely loses touch with reality by the ending. It's funny, but at the same time if you think about what's going on in the documentary sections, it's pretty depressing.

Speaking of giant monsters, if that's your cup of tea, Miike's Great Yokai War was pretty fun. Lots of traditional weird Japanese ghosts and monsters. I liked it.

Wild Zero was dissapointing. I was hyped up after seeing Guitar Wolf live and in Sore Losers, and was totally let down after this movie. Had so much potential.
 
Dookkake has already shown up to extol Love Exposure like the wonderful man he is, and Wild Zero has been given the love it deserves, so let me add the following:

Fish Story - a movie about a punk song that invariably saves the world; is amazing.
House - bizarre, psychedelic horror-comedy that is out of its mind; is amazing.
Vampire Girl Vs. Frankenstein Girl - Tokyo Gore Police on speed; is amazing.

For something a little more "martial-artsy" (since that's what you're looking for), Be A Man: Samurai School isn't great, but it's entertaining. Its director - fight-scene choreographer Tak Sakaguchi - also put out Yoroi Samurai Zombie last year, but I haven't seen it.

K-20: Legend of the Mask is also fun if you wanna watch an incredibly "Hollywood" movie but in Japanese. Children of the Dark and The Clone Returns Home are also pretty good if you're looking for something a little more dramatic and involved (though I'd argue that Children of the Dark absolutely falls apart at the end).
 
Dolls was excellent.

I saw Miike's Shangri-la (aka tougenkyou no hitobito) at a film festival years ago and it was pretty awesome as well. Anyone ever seen a DVD of this with subtitles?
 
Desiato said:
The Twilight Samurai

The Hidden Blade

Both are by Yamada Yoji, a very respected director in Japan. I should really check out some more movies of his. Out of these two, I prefer The Hidden Blade.

I Just didn't do it.

Good movie portraying everything that's wrong with the Japanese judicial system.

The Machine Girl

Something completely different, but awesome nonetheless.:lol

Man, I really need to catch up with the movies mentioned in this thread.
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Why did I miss this post completely? I love you.

Anyway, I watched Nobody Knows. I have to say it's one of the most depressing movies I've seen. The children's acting really brought out the stories of how hard their life was. Especially Akira and Kyoko. There were so many heartbreaking Akira moments about his wishes for a normal school kid life. After reading a bit about the real incident that inspired the movie, it made me even more sad to know that what really happened was even more depressing than the movie.
 
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