Top 5 Nikkatsu Roman Porno

If you don't know, Nikkatsu is the oldest studio in Japan and they were for many years known by their chambara films. However, at the end of the 50's they started to produce youth-themed movies with strong characters and nihilistic themes. Their gangster noir films were recurring productions too. By the beggining of the 70's, because erotic movies were popular and yet mainly produced by smaller companies or none at all, Nikkatsu changed their movie policy again, to save the studio from bankruptcy and conquer a new audience. Thus they began a new line of eroductions called Roman Porno. These productions were somewhat revolutionary because they simbolized the first time erotic movies were taken seriously by a main studio (true, Toei had ero-guro in the 60's but that was always considered excessive and outcast at the time, not being the main focus of the studio) and they usually had big budgets, although their running time was usually sixty, seventy minutes. All kinds of directors and actors emerged, showing the world erotic movies could be much more than just filmed sex. Of course, they were times that none of the directors would care if their movies were more than sex, but other times, some of the productions are exotic, dark and very creative. What I personally enjoy about some Roman Pornos is what I could call "a vision from inside". In these movies, things are seen twisted from their usual sense, creating some sort of claustrophobia of emotions. Sex is just a way to detach the eye into a troubled one, not searching only for pleasure, but for pain. These movies can amaze the viewer, because they depict another world, the world of imanent fears, screams, intimacy... This top is not complete because I didn't watched all those films (and I do think that some of them, like Shinji Somai's Love Hotel, could feature here in the future).

No. 5

Assault! Jack the Ripper! (1978) - directed by Yasuharu Hasebe

Hasebe's Jack The Ripper works like a linear nightmare that gets so intense only to end with no conclusion, suspending the disbelief of the spectator to a point where he can wonder that all is an illusion. Hasebe is known for changing the erotics of Nikkatsu to bleak narratives with violent characters, anti-social actions and with this controversial film, one might wonder if he's awake or asleep.

No. 4

Night of the Felines (1972) - directed by Noboru Tanaka

With this character driven movie, director Noboru Tanaka reworks almost the same themes as Kenji Mizoguchi did in 1956 with his last film, The Street of Shame, but with a more modern background to it. Night of the Felines films the relationships between men and women with a almost sarcastic tone, never forgetting the most dramatic parts and the amazing cinematography (check the last takes, it almost recalls avant-garde films like Oshima's Diary of a Shinjuku Thief).

No. 3
Twisted Path of Love (1973) - directed by Tatsumi Kumashiro

This film by Kumashiro blends almost every good thing that Roman Porno's movies could offer: ecstatic moments of rapture, flirtation with cinema devices (meta-filmic references, anyone?), and the portrait of anguished youth with a great soundtrack - those guitars make me shiver. Kumashiro's movies are almost like if the viewer is listening to a story told by some poor-class worker with great communication skills, but almost illiterate. It's this kind of oral tradition (often musically represented) that Kumashiro masterfully crafts into his ouvre, giving disjointed narratives that seem to go nowhere. Images turn themselves on us, and everything is at the same place: laughter, cries and etc.

No. 2
Sweet Scent of Eros (1973) - directed by Toshiya Fujita

Toshiya Fujita might be most known and acclaimed by his Lady Snowblood films (especially after Tarantino's hommage in Kill Bill) but almost anyone know that he was, at the same time, one of the most groundbreaking Nikkatsu directors, a truly creative voice in the studio. Sweet Scent of Eros is a great example of the genre transforming itself in something else, a bittersweet critique of disoriented youth.

No. 1
Angel Guts: Red Classroom (1979) - directed by Chusei Sone

Director Chusei Sone is the most distinct follower of Seijun Suzuki's oblique style at Nikkatsu. His films are filled with visual alucinations too, mad passions, obsessions and of course haunting images, making him one of the definite masters of Roman Porno. With this thematic sequel to the Angel Guts series (based on the manga by Takashi Ishii, a director in his own right), there is no school exploitation - forget the Classroom in the title - but a tale of deception and sorrowfull erotism. Cinematically speaking, this is maybe one of the most interesting films of the 70's Japanese cinema, one sex scene in particularly feels like the viewer is drunk or high. It's this hard sense of alienation that Sone, with his psychotic camera, captures masterfully.

Kinema Jumpo's Annual Top (1926-2010)

(Kurutta Ippeji, 1926)

1926
1. The Woman Who Touched the Legs (dir. Yutaka Abe)
2. Nichirin: Kohen (dir. Minoru Murata)
3. A Mermaid on Land (dir. Jack Abe)
4. A Page of Madness (dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa)
5. The Collar Button (dir. Hotei Nomura)
6. Junanka (dir. Kiyohiko Ushihara)
7. A Paper Doll's Whisper of Spring (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
8. Tenraku (1926) (dir. Kintaro Inoue)
9. Mito Komon (1926) (dir. Tomiyasu Ikeda)
10. Kumo (1926) (dir. 悪麗之助)

1927
1. Chuji Tabi Nikki: Shinshu Kessho Hen (dir. Daisuke Ito)
2. Kare Wo Meguru Gonin No Onna (dir. Yutaka Abe)
3. Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians (dir. Tomiyasu Ikeda)
4. Chuji Tabi Nikki: Koshu Tate Hen (dir. Daisuke Ito)
5. 海の勇者 (dir. Yasujiro Shimazu)
6. Karakuri Musume (dir. Heinosuke Gosho)
7. The Cuckoo (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
8. 悪魔の星の下に (dir. 二川丈太郎)
9. Gero (dir. Daisuke Ito)
10. Dochuhiki (dir. Kintaro Inoue)

1928
1. Jobless Samurai (dir. Masahiro Makino)
2. Riku No Oja (dir. Kiyohiko Ushihara)
3. Shinpan Ooka Seidan: Dai-Nihen (dir. Daisuke Ito)
4. Sozenji Baba (dir. Masahiro Makino)
5. Kare To Tokyo (dir. Kiyohiko Ushihara)
6. The Villiage Bride (dir. Heinosuke Gosho)
7. Fighting Cocks (dir. Masahiro Makino)
8. Duet of Marriage (dirs. Minoru Murata, Tomotaka Tasaka and Yutaka Abe)
9. Hiratemiki (dir. Seika Shiba)
10. Jujiro (dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa)

1929
1. Beheading Place (dir. Masahiro Makino)
2. Kaijin (dir. Minoru Murata)
3. Ronin-Gai - Dai-San-Wa: Tsukareta Hitobito (dir. Masahiro Makino)
4. A Living Puppet (dir. Tomu Uchida)
5. Matenrou Sotohen (dir. Minoru Murata)
6. The Sword of Enchantment (dir. Daisuke Ito)
7. パイプの三吉 (dir. Eisuke Takizawa)
8. 無理矢理三千石 (dir. Sadaji Matsuda)
9. The Life of Workers In the Big City (dir. Kiyohiko Ushihara)
10. Metropolitan Symphony (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)

1930
1. What Made Her Do It? (dir. Shigeyoshi Suzuki, Yoneo Oba)
2. 若者よなぜ泣くか (dir. Kiyohiko Ushihara)
3. The Humorous Samurai (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
4. Zoku Ooka Seidan (1930) (dir. Daisuke Ito)
5. 旋風時代 (1930) (dir. Kiyohiko Ushihara)
6. Suronin Chuya (1930) (dir. Daisuke Ito)

1931
1. The Neighbor's Wife and Mine (dir. Heinosuke Gosho)
2. Kokoro No Jitsugetsu: Retsujitsu Hen - Gekko Hen (dir. Tomotaka Tasaka)
3. Tokyo Chorus (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
4. Ippon-Gatana Dohyo Iri (dir. Hiroshi Inagaki)
5. 舶来文明街 (dir. Taizo Fuyushima)
6. The Revenge Champion (dir. Tomu Uchida)
7. Nani Ga Kanojo O Koroshita Ka (dir. Shigeyoshi Suzuki)
8. Rougoku no Hanayome (dir. Hirofumi Oki)
9. Zoku Ooka Seidan Mazo Kaiketsuhen (dir. Daisuke Ito)
10. ABC Lifeline (dir. Yasujro Shimazu)

1932
1. I Was Born, But... (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
2. Trumpet and a Girl (dir. Yasujiro Shimazu)
3. Dai Chushingura (dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa)
4. お誂次郎吉格子 (dir. Daisuke Ito)
5. Yataro Gasa (dir. Hiroshi Inagaki)
6. Kokushi Muso (dir. Mansaku Itami)
7. Moth-eaten Spring (dir. Mikio Naruse)
8. 白夜の饗宴 (dir. Masahiro Makino)
9. Haru To Musume (dir. Tomotaka Tasaka)
10. Iso No Genta: Dakine No Nagawakizashi (dir. Sadao Yamanaka)
10. First Steps Ashore (dir. Yasujiro Shimazu)

1933
1. Passing Fancy (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
2. The Water Magician (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
3. Every Night Dreams (dir. Mikio Naruse)
4. Two Stone Lanterns (dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa)
5. After Our Separation (dir. Mikio Naruse)
6. Tange Sazen: Kengeki No Maki (dir. Daisuke Ito)
7. Bangaku No Issho (dir. Sadao Yamanaka)
8. Satsuma-Bikyaku: Kenko Aiyoku-Hen (dir. Sadao Yamanaka)
9. Dancing Girl of Izu (dir. Heinosuke Gosho)
10. Hotta Hayato (dir. Daisuke Ito)
10. Gimpei From Koina (dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa)

1934
1. A Story of Floating Weeds (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
2. Our Neighbor, Miss Yae (dir. Yasujiro Shimazu)
3. Ikitoshi Ikerumono (dir. Heinosuke Gosho)
4. Budo Taikan (dir. Mansaku Itami)
5. Ashigaru Shusse-Tan (dir. Sadao Yamanaka)
6. 北進日本 (documentary)
7. Woman of That Night (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
8. A Sword and the Sumo Ring (dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa)
9. Foghorn (dir. Minoru Murata)
10. 雁太郎街道 (dir. Sadao Yamanaka)

1935
1. Wife! Be Like a Rose! (dir. Mikio Naruse)
2. 外人部隊 (dir. Sadao Yamanaka)
3. Okoto and Sasuke (dir. Yasujiro Shimazu)
4. Chuji Uridasu (dir. Mansaku Itami)
5. 男の敵 (dir. Sadao Yamanaka)
6. Burden of Life (dir. Heinosuke Gosho)
7. The Treasure That Is Children (dir. Torajiro Saito)
8. The Girl In the Rumour (dir. Mikio Naruse)
9. An Inn In Tokyo (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
10. Yukinojo's Disguise (dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa)

1936
1. Sisters of the Gion (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
2. Theater of Life: Youth Version (dir. Tomu Uchida)
3. Osaka Elegy (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
4. The Only Son (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
5. Capricious Young Man (dir. Mansaku Itami)
6. Dansei Tai Josei (dir. Yasujiro Shimazu)
7. Ani Imoto (dir. Sotoji Kimura)
8. 彦六大いに笑ふ (dir. Sotoji Kimura)
9. 情熱の詩人啄木（ふるさと篇） (dir. Hisatora Kumagai)
10. Hikyo Nekka (documentary)

1937
1. Kagirinaki Zenshin (dir. Tomu Uchida)
2. Sobo (dir. Hisatora Kumagai)
3. The Straits of Love and Hate (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
4. Children In the Wind (dir. Hiroshi Shimizu)
5. Hadaka No Machi (dir. Tomu Uchida)
6. Young People (dir. Shiro Toyoda)
7. Humanity and Paper Balloons (dir. Sadao Yamanaka)
8. What Did the Lady Forget? (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
9. The Summer Battle of Osaka (dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa)
10. The Lights of Asakusa (dir. Yasujiro Shimazu)

1938
1. Five Scouts (dir. Tomotaka Tasaka)
2. A Pebble By the Wayside (dir. Tomotaka Tasaka)
3. Haha To Ko (dir. Minoru Shibuya)
4. Shanghai (dir. Fumio Kamei)
5. Composition Class (dir. Kajiro Yamamoto)
6. Nightingale (dir. Shiro Toyoda)
7. Crybaby Apprentice (dir. Shiro Toyoda)
8. The Abe Clan (dir. Hisatora Kumagai)
9. Ah, My Home Town (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
10. Children of the Sun (dir. Yutaka Abe)

1939
1. Earth (dir. Tomu Uchida)
2. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
3. Mud and Soldiers (dir. Tomotaku Tasaka)
4. A Brother and His Younger Sister (dir. Yasujiro Shimazu)
5. Shanhai Rikusentai (dir. Hisatora Kumagai)
6. Four Seasons of Children (dir. Hiroshi Shimizu)
7. Warm Current (dir. Kozaburo Yoshimura)
8. Bakuon (dir. Tomotaka Tasaka)
9. Hana Aru Zasso (dir. Hiroshi Shimizu)
10. Tsubanari Ronin (dir. Ryohei Arai)

(Banshun, 1949)

1940
1. Kojima No Haru (dir. Shiro Toyoda)
2. The Story of Tank Commander Nishizumi (dir. Kozaburo Yoshimura)
3. Matasaburo On the Wind (dir. Koji Shima)
4. A Woman of Osaka (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
5. Yokudobanri (dir. Fumito Kurata)
6. Okumura Ioko (dir. Shiro Toyoda)
7. Rekishi: Dai Ichi-Bu - Doran Boshin (dir. Tomu Uchida)
8. Moyuru Ozora (dir. Yutaka Abe)
9. 夫婦二世 (dir. Akira Nobuchi)
10. Mokuseki (dir. Heinosuke Gosho)

1941
1. Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
2. Horse (dir. Kajiro Yamamoto)
3. Introspection Tower (dir. Hiroshi Shimizu)
4. The Life of an Actor (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
5. The Last Days of Edo (dir. Hiroshi Inagaki)
6. Jiro's Story (dir. Koji Shima)
7. Ai No Ikka (dir. Masahisa Sunohara)
8. Umi Wo Wataru Reisai (dir. Hiroshi Inagaki)
9. 大村益次郎 (dir. Eiichi Koishi)
10. Shido Monogatari (dir. Hisatora Kumagai)

1942
1. The War At Sea From Hawaii To Malay (dir. Kajiro Yamamoto)
2. There Was a Father (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
3. Shogun To Sambo To Hei (dir. Tetsu Taguchi)
4. Hahakogusa (dir. Tomotaka Tasaka)
5. Bouquet In the Southern Seas (dir. Yutaka Abe)
6. Shinsetsu (dir. Heinosuke Gosho)
7. The 47 Ronin (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
8. The Hawk of the North (dir. Hiroshi Inagaki)
9. Oomura Mashujiro (1942) (dir. Kazuo Mori)
10. The Day England Fell (dir. Shigeo Tanaka)

1943-1945
Top ten cancelled due to war.

1946
1. Morning For the Osone Family (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
2. No Regrets For Our Youth (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
3. Lord For a Night (dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa)
4. Machiboke No Onna (dir. Masahiro Makino)
5. The Girl I Love (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)

1947
1. The Ball At the Anjo House (dir. Kozaburo Yoshimura)
2. War and Peace (dir. Tadashi Imai, Fumio Kamei)
3. Ima Hitotabi No (dir. Heinosuke Gosho)
4. Record of a Tenement Gentleman (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
5. Actress (dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa)
6. One Wonderful Sunday (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
7. Snow Trail (dir. Senkichi Taniguchi)
8. Four Love Stories (dir. Kajiro Yamamoto, Kenta Yamazaki)
9. 花咲く家族 (dir. Yasuki Chiba)
10. Invitation To Happiness (dir. Yasuki Chiba)

1948
1. Drunken Angel (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
2. Te O Tsunagu Kora (dir. Hiroshi Inagaki)
3. Women of the Night (dir Kenji Mizoguchi)
4. Children of the Beehive (dir. Hiroshi Shimizu)
5. The Bright Day of My Life (dir. Kozaburo Yoshimura)
6. Apostasy (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
7. A Hen In the Wind (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
8. The King (dir. Daisuke Ito)
9. Ikiteiru Gazo (dir. Yasuki Chiba)
10. Daini No Jinsei (dir. Hideo Sekigawa)

1949
1. Late Spring (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
2. The Green Mountains (dir. Tadashi Imai)
3. Stray Dog (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
4. A Broken Drum (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
5. Forgotten Children (dir. Hiroshi Inagaki)
6. Here's To the Girls (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
7. Onna No Issho (dir. Fumio Kamei)
8. The Quiet Duel (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
9. Waltz At Noon (dir. Kozaburo Yoshimura)
10. Ohara Shosuke-San (dir. Hiroshi Shimizu)

(Rashomon, 1950)

1950
1. Till We Meet Again (dir. Tadashi Imai)
2. Kikyo (dir. Hideo Oba)
3. Morning Escape (dir. Senkichi Taniguchi)
4. Shikko Yuyo (dir. Shin Saburi)
5. Rashomon (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
6. Scandal (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
7. The Munekata Sisters (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
8. Boryoku No Machi (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
9. Light Snowfall (dir. Yutaka Abe)
10. 七色の花 (dir. Masahisa Sunohara)

1951
1. Early Summer (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
2. Repast (dir. Mikio Naruse)
3. Itsuwareru Seiso (dir. Kozaburo Yoshimura)
4. Carmen Comes Home (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
5. Dokkoi Ikiteru (dir. Tadashi Imai)
6. Fusetsu 20 Nen (dir. Shin Saburi)
7. The Tale of Genji (dir. Kozaburo Yoshimura)
8. あゝ青春 (dir. Shin Saburi)
9. Inochi Uruwashi (dir. Hideo Oba)
10. Story of a Beloved Wife (dir. Kaneto Shindo)

1952
1. Ikiru (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
2. Lightning (dir. Mikio Naruse)
3. Honjitsu Kyushin (dir. Minoru Shibuya)
4. Gendai-Jin (dir. Minoru Shibuya)
5. Carmen Falls In Love (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
6. Vacuum Zone (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
7. Mother (dir. Mikio Naruse)
8. 山びこ学校 (dir. Tadashi Imai)
9. Life of Oharu (dir. Mikio Naruse)
10. Doukoku (dir. Shin Saburi)

1953
1. An Inlet of Muddy Water (dir. Tadashi Imai)
2. Tokyo Story (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
3. Ugetsu (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
4. The Four Chimneys (dir. Heinosuke Gosho)
5. Older Brother, Younger Sister (dir. Mikio Naruse)
6. A Japanese Tragedy (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
7. Himeyuri Lily Tower (dir. Tadashi Imai)
8. The Mistress (dir. Shiro Toyoda)
9. Gion Bayashi (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
10. Shukuzu (dir. Kaneto Shindo)

1954
1. Twenty-Four Eyes (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
2. Woman's World (dir. Keisuke Kinsohita)
3. The Seven Samurai (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
4. Black Tide (dir. So Yamamura)
5. The Crucified Lovers (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
6. The Thunder of the Mountain (dir. Mikio Naruse)
7. Late Chrysanthemums (dir. Mikio Naruse)
8. Medals (dir. Minoru Shibuya)
9. Sansho the Bailiff (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
10. An Inn At Osaka (dir. Heinosuke Gosho)

1955
1. Floating Clouds (dir. Mikio Naruse)
2. Meoto Zenzai (dir. Shiro Toyoda)
3. She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
4. I Live In Fear (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
5. Koko Ni Izumi Ari (dir. Tadashi Imai)
6. Policeman's Diary (dir. Seiji Hisamatsu)
7. The Maid's Kid (dir. Tomotaka Tasaka)
8. A Bloody Spear On Mount Fuji (dir. Tomu Uchida)
9. The Traveling Players (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
10. Ginza No Onna (dir. Kozaburo Yoshimura)

1956
1. Darkness At Noon (dir. Tadashi Imai)
2. River of the Night (dir. Kimisaburo Yoshimura)
3. Karakorumu (Documentary)
4. A Cat, Two Women, and One Man (dir. Shiro Toyoda)
5. The Burmese Harp (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
6. Early Spring (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
7. Typhoon (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
8. Flowing (dir. Mikio Naruse)
9. The Rose On His Arm (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
10. I'll Buy You (dir. Masaki Kobayashi)

1957
1. The Rice People (dir. Tadashi Imai)
2. The Story of Pure Love (dir. Tadashi Imai)
3. Times of Joy and Sorrow (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
4. The Sun Legend of the End of the Tokugawa Era (dir. Yuzo Kawashima)
4. Throne of Blood (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
6. The Unbalanced Wheel (dir. Minoru Shibuya)
7. Dotanba (dir. Tomu Uchida)
8. Bakuon To Daichi (dir. Hideo Sekigawa)
9. Stepbrothers (dir. Miyoji Ieki)
10. The Lower Depths (dir. Akira Kurosawa)

1958
1. Ballad of Narayama (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
2. The Hidden Fortress (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
3. Equinox Flower (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
4. Conflagration (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
5. Naked Sun (dir. Miyoji Ieki)
6. Night Drum (dir. Tadashi Imai)
7. The Rickshaw Man (dir. Hiroshi Inagaki)
8. The Chase (dir. Yoshitaro Nomura)
9. The Naked General (dir. Hiromichi Horikawa)
10. Giants and Toys (dir. Yasuzo Masumura)

1959
1. Kiku To Isamu (dir. Tadashi Imai)
2. Fires On the Plain (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
3. My Second Brother (dir. Shohei Imamura)
4. Niguruma No Uta (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
5. The Human Condition I (dir. Masaki Kobayashi)
6. Ningen No Kabe (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
7. Chikamatsu's Love In Osaka (dir. Tomu Uchida)
8. Lucky Dragon No. 5 (dir. Kaneto Shindo)
9. Odd Obsession (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
10. The Human Condition II (dir. Masaki Kobayashi)

(Buta to Gunkan, 1961)

1960
1. Her Brother (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
2. Kuroi Gashu: Aru Sarariman No Shogen (dir. Horimichi Horikawa)
3. The Bad Sleep Well (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
4. The River Fuefuki (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
5. Late Autumn (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
6. The Naked Island (dir. Kaneto Shindo)
7. Pigs and Battleships (dir. Shohei Imamura)
8. The Last Gunfight (dir. Kihachi Okamoto)
9. Mystery of the Himalayas (dir. Suketaro Shimada)
10. Night and Fog In Japan (dir. Nagisa Oshima)

1961
1. Bad Boys (dir. Susumu Hani)
2. Yojimbo (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
3. Immortal Love (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
4. The Human Condition III (dir. Masaki Kobayashi)
5. Happiness of Us Alone (dir. Zenzo Mastuyama)
6. Conspirator (dir. Daisuke Hito)
7. Arega Minato No Hi Da (dir. Tadashi Imai)
8. Hadakakko (dir. Tomotaka Tasaka)
9. The Catch (dir. Nagisa Oshima)
10. Ten Dark Women (dir. Kon Ichikawa)

1962
1. Being Two Isn't Easy (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
2. Foundry Town (dir. Kiriro Urayama)
3. Harakiri (dir. Masaki Kobayashi)
4. The Sin (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
5. Sanjuro (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
6. Ningen (dir. Kaneto Shindo)
7. The Pitfall (dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara)
8. An Autumn Afternoon (dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
9. Kigeki: Nippon No Oba-Chan (dir. Tadashi Imai)
10. Akitsu Springs (dir. Yoshishige Yoshida)

1963
1. The Insect Woman (dir. Shohei Imamura)
2. High and Low (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
3. Gobancho Yugiriro (dir. Tomotaka Tasaka)
4. Alone in the Pacific (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
5. Cruel Tales of Bushido (dir. Tadashi Imai)
6. The Graceful Brute (dir. Yuzo Kawashima)
7. She and He (dir. Susumu Hani)
8. Mother (dir. Kaneto Shindo)
9. Pressure of Guilt (dir. Hiromichi Horikawa)
10. Hiko Shojo (dir. Kiriro Urayama)

1964
1. Woman In the Dunes (dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara)
2. Kwaidan (dir. Masaki Kobayashi)
3. The Scent of Incense (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
4. Intentions of Murder (dir. Shohei Imamura)
5. Straits of Hunger (dir. Tomu Uchida)
6. Echigo Tsutsuishi Oyashirazu (dir. Tadashi Imai)
7. Kizudarake No Sanga (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
8. Sweet Sweat (dir. Shiro Toyoda)
9. Vengeance (dir. Tadashi Imai)
10. Could I But Live (dir. Zenzo Matsuyama)

1965
1. Red Beard (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
2. Tokyo Olympiad (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
3. Nihon Retto (dir. Kei Kumai)
4. Nippon Dorobo Monogatari (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
5. Shonin No Isu (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
6. Hiya-Meshi To Osan To Chan (dir. Tomotaka Tasaka)
7. Woman of Osore Mansion (dir. Heinosuke Gosho)
8. The Song of Bwana Toshi (dir. Susumu Hani)
9. The Conquest (dir. Kaneto Shindo)
10. A Story Written With Water (dir. Yoshishige Yoshida)

1966
1. The Great White Tower (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
2. The Pornographers (dir. Shohei Imamura)
3. The River Kino (dir. Noboru Nakamura)
4. Lake of Tears (dir. Tomotaka Tasaka)
5. The Face of Another (dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara)
6. Bride of the Andes (dir. Susumu Hani)
7. Libido (dir. Kaneto Shindo)
8. Kokoro No Sanmyaku (dir. Kozaburo Yoshimura)
9. Violence At High Noon (dir. Nagisa Oshima)
10. The Stranger Within a Woman (dir. Mikio Naruse)

1967
1. Samurai Rebellion (dir. Masaki Kobayashi)
2. A Man Vanishes (dir. Shohei Imamura)
3. Japan's Longest Day (dir. Kihachi Okamoto)
4. Two In the Shadow (dir. Mikio Naruse)
5. The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka (dir. Yasuzo Masumura)
6. Portrait of Chieko (dir. Noboru Nakamura)
7. The Thirst For Love (dir. Koreyoshi Kurahara)
8. Clouds At Sunset (dir. Masahiro Shinoda)
9. Lovely Flute and a Drum (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
10. Tales of the Ninja (dir. Nagisa Oshima)

1968
1. Profound Desires of the Gods (dir. Shohei Imamura)
2. The Human Bullet (dir. Kihachi Okamoto)
3. Death By Hanging (dir. Nagisa Oshima)
4. Tunnel To the Sun (dir. Kei Kumai)
5. Kubi (dir. Shiro Moritani)
6. Nanami: The Inferno of First Love (dir. Susumu Hani)
7. Hymn To a Tired Man (dir. Masaki Kobayashi)
8. The Ruined Map (dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara)
9. Jinsei-Gekijo: Hishakaku To Kiratsune (dir. Tomu Uchida)
10. Fukeba Tobuyona Otokodaga (dir. Yoji Yamada)

1969
1. Double Suicide (dir. Masahiro Shinoda)
2. The Girl I Abandoned (dir. Kiriro Urayama)
3. Boy (dir. Nagisa Oshima)
4. Heat Wave Island (dir. Kaneto Shindo)
5. River Without a Bridge (dir. Tadashi Imai)
6. Tora-San, Our Lovable Tramp (dir. Yoji Yamada)
7. Vietnam (dir. Takashi Koizumi, Kentaro Masuda)
8. Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (dir. Nagisa Oshima)
9. Tora-San's Cherished Mother (dir. Yoji Yamada)
10. Under the Banner of Samurai (dir. Hiroshi Inagaki)

(Mo Hozue wa Tsukanai, 1979)

1970
1. Where Spring Comes Late (dir. Yoji Yamada)
2. Men and War (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
3. Dodes'ka-den (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
4. Eros Plus Massacre (dir. Yoshishige Yoshida)
5. Apart From Life (dir. Kei Kumai)
6. This Transient Life (dir. Akio Jissoji)
7. The Shadow Within (dir. Yoshitaro Nomura)
8. Tora-San's Runaway (dir. Yoji Yamada)
9. Hashi No Nai Kawa 2 (dir. Tadashi Imai)
10. Live Today, Die Tomorrow! (dir. Kaneto Shindo)

1971
1. The Ceremony (dir. Nagisa Oshima)
2. Silence (dir. Masahiro Shinoda)
3. En Toiu Onna (dir. Tadashi Imai)
4. Men and War, Part Two (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
5. Inn of Evil (dir. Masaki Kobayashi)
6. Swords of Death (dir. Tomu Uchida)
7. Those Quiet Japanese (dir. Yoichi Higashi)
8. Tora-San's Love Call (dir. Yoji Yamada)
9. Throw Away Your Books, Rally In the Streets (dir. Shuji Terayama)
10. Wet Sand In August (dir. Toshiya Fujita)

1972
1. The Long Darkness (dir. Kei Kumai)
2. Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (dir. Kinji Fukasaku)
3. Home From the Sea (dir. Yoji Yamada)
4. Journey Into Solitude (dir. Koichi Saito)
5. The Rendezvous (dir. Koichi Saito)
6. Tora-San's Dear Old Home (dir. Yoji Yamada)
7. Kaigun Tokubetsu Nensho Hei (dir. Tadashi Imai)
8. Sayuri Ichijo: Following Desire (dir. Tatsumi Kumashiro)
9. Summer Soldiers (dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara)
10. Shiroi Yubi No Tawamure (dir. Toru Murakawa)

1973
1. Jongara (dir. Koichi Saito)
2. The Yakuza Papers, Vol. 1: Battles Without Honor and Humanity (dir. Kinji Fukasaku)
3. Seigen-Ki (dir. Toichiro Narushima)
4. The Wanderers (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
5. Senile Person (dir. Shiro Toyoda)
6. World of Geisha (dir. Tatsumi Kumashiro)
7. Coup D'Etat (dir. Yoshishige Yoshida)
8. The Yakuza Papers: Proxy War (dir. Kinji Fukasaku)
9. Tora-San's Forget Me Not (dir. Yoji Yamada)
10. Man and War, Part III (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)

1974
1. Sandakan 8 (dir. Kei Kumai)
2. The Castle of Sand (dir. Yoshitaro Nomura)
3. The Family (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
4. Seishun No Satetsu (dir. Tatsumi Kumashiro)
5. The Assassination of Ryoma (dir. Kazuo Kuroki)
6. My Way (dir. Kaneto Shindo)
7. The Yakuza Papers, Vol. 4: Police Tactics (dir. Kinji Fukasaku)
8. The Tattered Banner (dir. Kozaburo Yoshimura)
9. Aka Chochin (dir. Toshiya Fujita)
10. Imouto (dir. Toshiya Fujita)

1975
1. Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director (dir. Kaneto Shindo)
2. Preparation For the Festival (dir. Kazuo Kuroki)
3. Kinkanshoku (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
4. The Fossil (dir. Masaki Kobayashi)
5. Tora-San, Love Under One Umbrella (dir. Yoji Yamada)
6. Pastoral: To Die In the Country (dir. Shuji Terayama)
7. Bullet Train (dir. Jun'ya Sato)
8. Jingi No Hakaba (dir. Kinji Fukasaku)
9. The Village (dir. Yoji Yamada)
10. A Woman Called Sada Abe (dir. Noboru Tanaka)

1976
1. Young Murderer (dir. Kazuhiko Hasegawa)
2. Tora-San's Sunrise and Sunset (dir. Yoji Yamada)
3. Lullaby of the Earth (dir. Yasuzo Masumura)
4. Fumo Chitai (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
5. The Inugami Family (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
6. Older Sister, Younger Brother (dir. Tadashi Imai)
7. A!! Hana No Oendan (dir. Chusei Sone)
8. Yakuza Burial: Jasmine Flower (dir. Kinji Fukasaku)
9. Farewell, O Summer's Light (dir. Shigeyuki Yamane)
10. The Watcher In the Attic (dir. Noboru Tanaka)

1977
1. The Yellow Handkerchief (dir. Yoji Yamada)
2. The Life of Chikuzan (dir. Kaneto Shindo)
3. Banished Orin (dir. Masahiro Shinoda)
4. Mount Hakkoda (dir. Shiro Moritani)
5. The Gate of Youth Part 2 (dir. Kiriro Urayama)
6. The Devil's Ballad (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
7. Mother (Documentary)
8. The Boxer (dir. Shuji Terayama)
9. Totsuzen Arashi No Youni (dir. Shigeyuki Yamane)
10. The Far Road (dir. Sachiko Hidari)

1978
1. Third Base (dir. Yoichi Higashi)
2. Double Suicide of Sonezaki (dir. Yasuzo Masumura)
3. Empire of Passion (dir. Nagisa Oshima)
4. The Incident (dir. Yoshitaro Nomura)
5. Kaerazaru Hibi (dir. Toshiya Fujita)
6. The Demon (dir. Yoshitaro Nomura)
7. Dynamite Bang Bang (dir. Kihachi Okamoto)
8. Winter's Flower (dir. Yasuo Furuhata)
9. Rape and Death of a Housewife (dir. Noboru Tanaka)
10. Hakatakko Junjo (dir. Chusei Sone)

1979
1. Vengeance Is Mine (dir. Shohei Imamura)
2. The Man Who Stole the Sun (dir. Kazuhiko Hasegawa)
3. Keiko (dir. Claude Gagnon)
4. The Woman With Red Hair (dir. Tatsumi Kumashiro)
5. My Son! My Son! (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
6. Gassan (dir. Tetsutaro Murano)
7. The Nineteen Year-Old's Map (dir. Mitsuo Yanagimachi)
8. No More Easy Life (dir. Yoichi Higashi)
9. Oh! The Nomugi Pass (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto)
10. Sono Go No Jingi Naki Tatakai (dir. Eiichi Kudo)

(Zigeunerweisen, 1980)

1980
1. Zigeunerweisen (dir. Seijun Suzuki)
2. Kagemusha (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
3. Disciples of Hippocrates (dir. Kazuki Ohmori)
4. Heaven Sent (dir. Yoichi Maeda)
5. A Distant Cry From Spring (dir. Yoji Yamada)
6. Chichi Yo Haha Yo! (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
7. Shiki Natsuko (dir. Yoichi Higashi)
8. Kaicho-On (dir. Hojin Hashiura)
9. Crazy Thunder Road (dir. Sogo Ishii)
10. Child of the Sun (dir. Kiriro Urayama)

1981
1. Muddy River (dir. Kohei Oguri)
2. Distant Thunder (dir. Kichitaro Negishi)
3. Kagero-Za (dir. Seijun Suzuki)
4. Station (dir. Yasuo Furuhata)
5. A! Onnatachi: Waika (dir. Tatsumi Kumashiro)
6. Lonely Heart (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
7. Empire of Kids (dir. Kazuyuki Izutsu)
8. Edo Porn (dir. Kaneto Shindo)
9. Why Not? (dir. Shohei Imamura)
10. At This Late Date, the Charleston (dir. Kihachi Okamoto)

1982
1. Fall Guy (dir. Kinji Fukasaku)
2. Farewell To the Land (dir. Mitsuo Yanagimachi)
3. I Are You, You Am Me (dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi)
4. Suspicion (dir. Yoshitaro Nomura)
5. Nippon-Koku Furuyashiki-Mura (dir. Shinsuke Ogawa)
6. Tattoo (dir. Banmei Takahashi)
7. A Pool Without Water (dir. Koji Wakamatsu)
8. The Legend of Sayo (dir. Tetsutaro Murano)
9. To Trap a Kidnapper (dir. Shunya Ito)
10. The Living Koheiji (dir. Nobuo Nakagawa)

1983
1. The Family Game (dir. Yoshimitsu Morita)
2. Makioka Sisters (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
3. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (dir. Nagisa Oshima)
4. Tokyo Trial (dir. Masaki Kobayashi)
5. Ballad of Narayama (dir. Shohei Imamura)
6. Ryuji (dir. Toru Kawashima)
7. The Catch (dir. Shinji Somai)
8. Amagi Pass (dir. Haruhiko Mimura)
9. Mosquito On the Tenth Floor (dir. Yoichi Sai)
10. Hometown (dir. Seijiro Koyama)

1984
1. The Funeral (dir. Juzo Itami)
2. W's Tragedy (dir. Shin'ichiro Sawai)
3. MacArthur's Children (dir. Masahiro Shinoda)
4. Mahjong Horoki (dir. Makoto Wada)
5. Farewell to the Ark (dir. Shuji Terayama)
6. Ohan (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
7. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds (dir. Hayao Miyazaki)
8. For Kayako (dir. Kohei Oguri)
9. Shinjuro (dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi)
10. Chi-n-pi-ra (dir. Toru Kawashima)

1985
1. And Then (dir. Yoshimitsu Morita)
2. Ran (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
3. Fire Festival (dir. Mitsuo Yanagimachi)
4. Typhoon Club (dir. Shinji Somai)
5. Lonelyheart (dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi)
6. Love Letter (dir. Tatsumi Kumashiro)
7. Ikiteru Uchiga Hana Nanoyo Shin-Dara Sore Madeyo To Sengen (dir. Azuma Morisaki)
8. The Burmese Harp (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
9. Early Spring Story (dir. Shin'ichiro Sawai)
10. Gray Sunset (dir. Shunya Ito)

1986
1. The Sea and Poison (dir. Kei Kumai)
2. Comic Magazine (dir. Yojiro Takita)
3. Whooh! Exploration Unit (dir. Kichitaro Negishi)
4. A Promise (dir. Yoshishige Yoshida)
5. House On Fire (dir. Kinji Fukasaku)
6. Gonza the Spearman (dir. Masahiro Shinoda)
7. Young Girls In Love (dir. Kazuki Ohmori)
8. Laputa: Castle In the Sky (dir. Hayao Miyazaki)
9. Final Take: The Golden Age of Movies (dir. Yoji Yamada)
10. Jazz Daimyo (dir. Kihachi Okamoto)

1987
1. A Taxing Woman (dir. Juzo Itami)
2. The Emperor's Naked Army Marches (dir. Kazuo Hara)
3. Magino Village: A Tale (dir. Shinsuke Ogawa)
4. Eien No 1/2 (dir. Kichitaro Negishi)
5. Actress (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
6. Jiro Monogatari (dir. Tokihisa Morikawa)
7. Zegen (dir. Shohei Imamura)
8. Bu Su (dir. Jun Ichikawa)
9. Luminous Woman (dir. Shinji Somai)
10. Paper Lantern (dir. Shunichi Kajima)

1988
1. My Neighbor Totoro (dir. Hayao Miyazaki)
2. Tomorrow (dir. Kazuo Kuroki)
3. The Discarnates (dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi)
4. Rock Yo Shizukani Nagareyo (dir. Shunichi Nagasaki)
5. Remembrance (dir. Takehiro Nakajima)
6. Grave of the Fireflies (dir. Isao Takahata)
7. Sakura-Tai Chiru (dir. Kaneto Shindo)
8. The Yen Family (dir. Yojiro Takita)
9. Revolver (dir. Toshiya Fujita)
10. Kaito Ruby (dir. Makoto Wada)

1989
1. Black Rain (dir. Shohei Imamura)
2. Knockout (dir. Junji Sakamoto)
3. Death of a Tea Master (dir. Kei Kumai)
4. Untamagiru (dir. Go Takamine)
5. Kiki's Delivery Service (dir. Hayao Miyazaki)
6. Beijing Watermelon (dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi)
7. Rikyu (dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara)
8. Violent Cop (dir. Takeshi Kitano)
9. Company-Sponsored Funeral (dir. Toshio Masuda)
10. Buddies (dir. Yasuo Furuhata)

(Byoin de Shinu to iu Koto, 1993)

1990
1. The Cherry Orchard (dir. Shun Nakahara)
2. Childhood Days (dir. Masahiro Shinoda)
3. The Sting of Death (dir. Kohei Oguri)
4. Dreams (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
5. Swimming Upstream (dir. Joji Matsuoka)
6. Ware Ni Utsu Yoi Ari (dir. Koji Wakamatsu)
7. Boiling Point (dir. Takeshi Kitano)
8. Ronin-Gai (dir. Kazuo Kuroki)
9. Tugumi (dir. Jun Ichikawa)
10. The Pale Hand (dir. Seijiro Koyama)

1991
1. My Sons (dir. Yoji Yamada)
2. Rainbow Kids (dir. Kihachi Okamoto)
3. Rhapsody In August (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
4. Nowhere Man (dir. Naoto Takenaka)
5. Us Two (dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi)
6. A Scene At the Sea (dir. Takeshi Kitano)
7. Gentle 12 (dir. Shun Nakahara)
8. Checkmate (dir. Junji Sakamoto)
9. Only Yesterday (dir. Isao Takahata)
10. Shimanto River (dir. Hideo Onchi)

1992
1. Sumo Do, Sumo Don't (dir. Masayuki Suo)
2. The Rocking Horsemen (dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi)
3. Living On the River Agano (dir. Makoto Sato)
4. Porco Rosso (dir. Hayao Miyazaki)
5. Original Sin (dir. Takashi Ishii)
6. The River With No Bridge (dir. Yoichi Higashi)
7. Double Cross (dir. Kinji Fukasaku)
8. Netorare Sosuke (dir. Koji Wakamatsu)
9. The Strange Tale of Oyuki (dir. Kaneto Shindo)
10. Twinkle (dir. Joji Matsuoka)

1993
1. All Under the Moon (dir. Yoichi Sai)
2. Moving (dir. Shinji Somai)
3. Dying At a Hospital (dir. Jun Ichikawa)
4. Sonatine (dir. Takeshi Kitano)
5. Made In Japan (dir. Yojiro Takita)
6. A Class To Remember (dir. Yoji Yamada)
7. About Love, Tokyo (dir. Mitsuo Yanagimachi)
8. Bloom In the Moonlight (dir. Shin'ichiro Sawai)
9. A Night In Nude (dir. Takashi Ishii)
10. Madadayo (dir. Akira Kurosawa)

1994
1. A Dedicated Life (dir. Kazuo Hara)
2. Crest of Betrayal (dir. Kinji Fukasaku)
3. Ghost Pub (dir. Takayoshi Watanabe)
4. Like a Rolling Stone (dir. Tatsumi Kumashiro)
5. The Friends (dir. Shinji Somai)
6. 119 (dir. Naoto Takenaka)
7. 800 Two Lap Runners (dir. Ryuichi Hiroki)
8. Pom Poko (dir. Isao Takahata)
9. A New Love In Tokyo (dir. Banmei Takahashi)
10. It's a Summer Vacation Everyday (dir. Shusuke Kaneko)

1995
1. A Last Note (dir. Kaneto Shindo)
2. The Tokyo Siblings (dir. Jun Ichikawa)
3. Love Letter (dir. Shunji Iwai)
4. Maborosi (dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
5. Sharaku (dir. Masahiro Shinoda)
6. Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (dir. Shusuke Kaneko)
7. Deep River (dir. Kei Kumai)
8. Kamikaze Taxi (dir. Masato Harada)
9. Marks (dir. Yoichi Sai)
10. Tokyo Fist (dir. Shinya Tsukamoto)
10. Like Grains of Sand (dir. Ryosuke Hashigushi)

1996
1. Shall We Dance? (dir. Masayuki Suo)
2. Kids Return (dir. Takeski Kitano)
3. Sleeping Man (dir. Kohei Oguri)
4. (Haru) (dir. Yoshimitsu Morita)
5. Village of Dreams (Yoichi Higashi)
6. Boys Be Ambitious (dir. Kazuyuki Izutsu)
7. Tokiwa: The Manga Apartment (dir. Jun Ichikawa)
8. Gakko II (dir. Yoji Yamada)
9. Biriken (dir. Junji Sakamoto)
10. Shabu Gokudo (dir. Tatsuoki Hosono)

1997
1. The Eel (dir. Shohei Imamura)
2. Princess Mononoke (dir. Hayao Miyazaki)
3. Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald (dir. Koki Mitani)
4. Tokyo Lullaby (dir. Jun Ichikawa)
5. Onibi: The Fire Within (dir. Rokuro Mochizuki)
6. Bounce Ko Gals (dir. Masato Harada)
7. Abduction (dir. Takao Okawara)
8. Mi Mo Kokoro Mo (dir. Haruhiko Arai)
9. Tokyo Biyori (dir. Naoto Takenaka)
10. Moonlight Serenade (dir. Masahiro Shinoda)
10. Moe No Suzaku (dir. Naomi Kawase)

1998
1. Hana-Bi (dir. Takeshi Kitano)
2. Begging For Love (dir. Hideyuki Hirayama)
3. Give It All (dir. Itsumichi Isomura)
4. Dr. Akagi (dir. Shohei Imamura)
5. Cure (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
6. Gakko III (dir. Yoji Yamada)
7. Dog Race (dir. Yoichi Sai)
8. Scarred Angels (dir. Junji Sakamoto)
9. Diary of Early Winter Shower (dir. Shin'ichiro Sawai)
10. The Bird People In China (dir. Takashi Miike)
10. Bonds (dir. Kichitaro Negishi)

1999
1. Wait and See (dir. Shinji Somai)
2. Spellbound (dir. Masato Harada)
3. Keiho (dir. Yoshimitsu Morita)
4. Poppoya (dir. Yasuo Furuhata)
5. M/Other (dir. Nobuhiro Suwa)
6. Amateur Singing Contest (dir. Kazuyuki Izutsu)
7. Kikujiro No Natsu (dir. Takeshi Kitano)
8. Osaka Story (dir. Jun Ichikawa)
9. Don't Look Back (dir. Akihiko Shiota)
10. Coquille (dir. Shun Nakahara)

(Riri Shushu no Subete, 2001)

2000
1. Face (dir. Junji Sakamoto)
2. Nabbie's Love (dir. Yuji Nakae)
3. Taboo (dir. Nagisa Oshima)
4. Fifteen (Yoji Yamada)
5. Battle Royale (dir. Kinji Fukasaku)
6. By Player (dir. Kaneto Shindo)
7. Pickpocket (dir. Kazuo Kuroki)
8. Boy's Choir (dir. Akira Ogata)
9. After the Rain (dir. Takashi Koizumi)
10. First Love (dir. Tetsuo Shinohara)

2001
1. Go (dir. Isao Yukisada)
2. Hush! (dir. Ryosuke Hashigushi)
3. Spirited Away (dir. Hayao Miyazaki)
4. Eureka (dir. Shinji Aoyama)
5. Kaza-Hana (dir. Shinji Somai)
6. Bad Company (dir. Tomoyuki Furumaya)
7. All About Lily Chou-Chou (dir. Shunji Iwai)
8. Waterboys (dir. Shinobu Yaguchi)
9. Rain of Light (dir. Banmei Takahashi)
10. Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (dir. Shohei Imamura)

2002
1. Twilight Samurai (dir. Yoji Yamada)
2. Doing Time (dir. Yoichi Sai)
3. KT (dir. Junji Sakamoto)
4. Out (dir. Hideyuki Hirayama)
5. Aiki (dir. Daisuke Tengan)
6. The Laughing Frog (dir. Hideyuki Hirayama)
7. Letter From the Mountain (dir. Takashi Koizumi)
8. Sorry (dir. Shin Togashi)
9. Ping Pong (dir. Fumihiko Sori)
10. A Woman's Work (dir. Kentaro Ohtani)

2003
1. A Boy's Summer In 1945 (dir. Kazuo Kuroki)
2. Akame 48 Waterfalls (dir. Genjiro Arato)
3. Vibrator (dir. Ryuichi Hiroki)
4. Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (dir. Isshin Inudo)
5. Like Asura (dir. Yoshimitsu Morita)
6. Women In the Mirror (dir. Yoshishige Yoshida)
7. Zatoichi (dir. Takeshi Kitano)
8. Warabi No Kou (dir. Hideo Onchi)
9. Doppelganger (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
10. My House (dir. Junji Sakamoto)

2004
1. Nobody Knows (dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
2. Blood and Bones (dir. Yoichi Sai)
3. Kamikaze Girls (dir. Tetsuya Nakashima)
4. The Face of Jizo (dir. Kazuo Kuroki)
5. The Hidden Blade (dir. Yoji Yamada)
6. The Reason (dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi)
7. Swing Girls (dir. Shinobu Yaguchi)
8. Niwatori Wa Hadashi Da (dir. Azuma Morisaki)
9. Summer of Chirusoku (dir. Kiyoshi Sasebe)
10. Translucent Tree (dir. Kichitaro Negishi)

2005
1. Break Through! (dir. Kazuyuki Izutsu)
2. Always - Sunset On Third Street (dir. Takashi Yamazaki)
3. The Milkwoman (dir. Akira Ogata)
4. La Maison De Himiko (dir. Isshin Inudo)
5. A Stranger of Mine (dir. Kenji Uchida)
6. Linda Linda Linda (dir. Nobuhiro Yamashita)
7. Canary (dir. Akihiko Shiota)
8. Yamato (dir. Jun'ya Sato)
9. Hanging Garden (dir. Toshiaki Toyoda)
10. The Whispering of the Gods (dir. Tatsushi Omori)

2006
1. Hula Girls (dir. Lee Sang-Il)
2. Sway (dir. Miwa Nishikawa)
3. What the Snow Brings (dir. Kichitaro Negishi)
4. The Youth of Kamiya Etsuko (dir. Kazuo Kuroki)
5. Love and Honor (dir. Yoji Yamada)
6. Memories of Matsuko (dir. Tetsuya Nakashima)
7. The Professor and His Beloved Equation (dir. Takashi Koizumi)
8. Memories of Tomorrow (dir. Yukihiko Tsutsumi)
9. Kamome Diner (dir. Naoko Ogigami)
10. Who's Camus, Anyway? (dir. Mitsuo Yanagimachi)

2007
1. I Just Didn't Do It (dir. Masayuki Suo)
2. A Gentle Breeze In the Village (dir. Nobuhiro Yamashita)
3. Talk, Talk, Talk (dir. Hideyuki Hirayama)
4. Sad Vacation (dir. Shinji Aoyama)
5. Summer Days With Coo (dir. Keiichi Hara)
6. Dog In a Sidecar (dir. Kichitaro Negishi)
7. The Matsugane Potshot Affair (dir. Nobuhiro Yamashita)
8. Tamamoe! (dir. Junji Sakamoto)
9. Yunagi City, Sakura Country (dir. Kiyoshi Sakebe)
10. Funuke: Show Some Love, You Losers! (dir. Daihachi Yoshida)

2008
1. Okuribito (dir. Yojiro Takita)
2. All Around Us (dir. Ryosuke Hashigushi)
3. United Red Army (dir. Koji Wakamatsu)
4. Tokyo Sonata (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
5. Still Walking (dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
6. Children of the Dark (dir. Junji Sakamoto)
7. Our Mother (dir. Yoji Yamada)
8. The Climbers High (dir. Masato Harada)
9. The Kiss (dir. Kunitoshi Manda)
10. After School (dir. Kenji Uchida)

2009
1. Dear Doctor (dir. Miwa Nishikawa)
2. Villon's Wife (dir. Kichitaro Negishi)
3. Mt. Tsurugidake (dir. Daisaku Kimura)
4. Love Exposure (dir. Sion Sono)
5. The Unbroken (dir. Setsuro Wakamatsu)
6. Air Doll (dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
7. Ultra Miracle Love Story (dir. Satoko Yokohama)
8. Summer Wars (dir. Mamoru Hosoda)
9. The Guardian (dir. Ryoichi Kimizuka)
10. Feel the Wind (dir. Sumio Ohmori)

2010
1. Villain (dir. Lee Sang-Il)
2. Confessions (dir. Tetsuya Nakashima)
3. Heaven's Story (dir. Takahisa Zeze)
4. 13 Assassins (dir. Takashi Miike)
5. Sawako Decides (dir. Yuya Ishii)
6. Caterpillar (dir. Koji Wakamatsu)
7. Sword of Desperation (dir. Hideyuki Hirayama)
8. The Hero Show (dir. Kazuyuki Izutsu)
9. Sketches of Kaitan City (dir. Kazuyoshi Kumakiri)
10. A Night In Nude: Salvation (dir. Takashi Ishii)

Kinema Jumpo's Top 100 (1995 Version)

In 1995 the notable Japanese Film magazine Kinema Jumpo released this top 100 Japanese Films. [See the 1999 version on Wildgrounds]

(Tokyo Monogatari, 1953)

1 Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953)
2 Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
3 Floating Clouds (Mikio Naruse, 1955)
4 Humanity and Paper Balloons (Sadao Yamanaka, 1937)
5 The Life of Oharu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1952)
6 A Fugitive from the Past (Tomu Uchida, 1965)
7 Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
8 To Live (Akira Kurosawa, 1952)
9 Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (Sadao Yamanaka, 1935)
10 The Sun Legend of the End of the Tokugawa (Yuzo Kawashima, 1957)
11 Early Summer (Yasujiro Ozu, 1951)
12 Tales of Ugetsu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953)
13 Night and Fog in Japan (Nagisa Oshima, 1960)
14 A Diary of Chuji's Travels (Daisuke Ito, 1927)
15 The Crucified Lovers (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)
16 The Life of Matsu the Untamed (Hiroshi Inagaki, 1943)
17 Twenty-Four Eyes (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1954)
18 Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961)
19 Naniwa Elegy (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1936)
20 The Ghost of Yotsuya (Nobuo Nakagawa, 1959)
21 The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (Hara Kazuo, 1987)
22 Battles Without Honour & Humanity (Kinji Fukasaku, 1973)
23 Crimson Comet (Toshio Masuda, 1967)
24 Cruel Story of Youth (Nagisa Oshima, 1960)
25 Late Autumn (Yasujiro Ozu, 1960)
26 Intentions of Murder (Shohei Imamura, 1964)
27 Till We Meet Again (Tadashi Imai, 1950)
28 Kagirinaki zenshin (Tomu Uchida, 1937)
29 The Naked Island (Kaneto Shindo, 1960)
30 The Insect Woman (Shohei Imamura, 1963)
31 Kiru (Kenji Misumi, 1962)
32 Muddy River (Kohei Oguri, 1981)
33 Capricious Young Man (Mansaku Itami, 1936)
34 Heaven and Hell (Akira Kurosawa1 1963)
35 Big Time Gambling Boss (Kosaku Yamashita. 1968)
36 Sisters of the Gion (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1936)
37 Vacuum Zone (Satsuo Yamamoto, 1952)
38 The Garden of Women (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1954)
39 Fighting Elegy (Seijun Suzuki, 1966)
40 Fire Festival (Mitsuo Yanagimachi, 1985)
41 In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Oshima, 1976)
42 Zigeunerweisen (Seijun Suzuki, 1980)
43 Godzilla (Ishiro Honda, 1954)
44 Drunken Angel (Akira Kurosawa, 1948)
45 A Japanese Tragedy (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1953)
46 Meoto Zenzai (Shiro Toyoda, 1955)
47 Samurai Vendetta (Kazuo Mori, 1959)
48 Harakiri (Masaki Kobayashi, 1962)
49 The Husband Witnessed (Yasuzo Masumura, 1964)
50 One Man of the Gambler's Code (Tai Kato, 1966)
51 The Yellow Handkerchief (Yoji Yamada, 1977)
52 The Green Mountains (Tadashi Imai, 1949)
53 The Human Condition (Masaki Kobayashi, 1959-61)
54 Stray Dog (Akira Kurosawa, 1949)
55 Yearning (Mikio Naruse, 1964)
56 I Was Born, But... (Yasujiro Ozu, 1932)
57 A Woman With Red Hair (Tatsumi Kumashiro, 1979)
58 Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)
59 Tokyo Olympiad (Kon Ichikawa, 1965)
60 Cupola (Kiriro Urayama, 1962)
61 The Graceful Brute (Yuzo Kawashima, 1962)
62 Narita - Heta Village (Shinsuke Ogawa, 1973)
63 Enjo (Kon Ichikawa, 1958)
64 The 47 Ronin (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1941)
65 The Song Lantern (Mikio Naruse, 1943)
66 The Army (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1994)
67 Younger Brother (Kon Ichikawa, 1960)
68 Repast (Mikio Naruse, 1951)
69 She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1955)
70 Confidential: Sexual Market (Noboru Tanaka, 1974)
71 The Ceremony (Nagisa Ôshima, 1971)
72 Ichijo's Wet Lust (Tatsumi Kumashiro, 1972)
73 18 Who Cause a Storm (Yoshishige Yoshida, 1963)
74 Zirou Takeshi Kingdoms (series) (Masahiro Makino, 1952-54)
75 The Profound Desire of the Gods (Shohei Imamura, 1968)
76 Stakeout (Yoshitaro Nomura, 1958)
77 Singing Lovebirds (Masahiro Makino, 1939)
78 The Ball at the Anjo House (Kozaburo Yoshimura, 1947)
79 Boy (Nagisa Oshima, 1969)
80 Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa, 1957)
81 Magino Village: A Tale (Shinsuke Ogawa, 1987)
82 Graveyard of Honor (Kinji Fukasaku, 1975)
83 Branded to Kill (Seijun Suzuki, 1967)
84 An Autmn Afternoon (Yasujiro Ozu, 1962)
85 The Thirteen Assassins (Eiichi Kudo, 1963)
86 Iso no Genta: Dakine no nagawakizashi (Sadao Yamanaka, 1932)
87 Sandakan No. 8 (Kei Kumai, 1974)
88 Family Game (Yoshimitsu Morita, 1983)
89 Kaoyaku (Teruo Ishii, 1965)
90 Once upon a song (Tamizo Ishida, 1939)
91 Mr. Thank You (Hiroshi Shimizu, 1936)
92 Outlaw Killers: Three Mad Dog Brothers (Kinji Fukasaku, 1972)
93 Tokyo Drifter (Seijun Suzuki, 1966)
94 Eros Plus Massacre (Yoshishige Yoshida, 1969)
95 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Hayao Miyazaki, 1984)
96 Tokyo Brothers (Jun Ichikawa, 1995)
97 Vengeance is Mine (Shohei Imamura, 1979)
98 The Age of Assassins (Kihachi Okamoto, 1967)
99 The Ballad of Narayama (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1958)
100 Scattered Clouds (Mikio Naruse, 1967)

101 Darkness of Noon (Tadashi Imai, 1956)
102 Japan's Longest Day (Kihachi Okamoto, 1967)
103 A Japanese Village - Furuyashikimura (Shinsuke Ogawa, 1982)
104 The Man Who Stole the Sun (Kazuhiko Hasegawa, 1979)
105 My Little Neighbor, Yae (Yasujiro Shimazu, 1933)
106 My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)
107 A Wife Confesses (Yasuzo Masumura, 1961)

Blogathon Top #3 - Great Trailers

And because making trailers is an art too, here goes my favorite Japanese trailers:


Death by Hanging (1968) - Nagisa Oshima

A passionate and insightful introduction by Nagisa Oshima himself on the objectives of this piece of revolutionary filmmaking. This trailer could be somehow a sort of a foreword to the film. It works quite well as a manifesto too.

Funeral Parade of Roses (1969) - Toshio Matsumoto
A long, bizarre trailer that reflects the general mood of this experimental film by Toshio Matsumoto.

The Man Who left his Will on Film (1970) - Nagisa Oshima
Oshima Nagisa does it again! Although this trailer is directed by Masao Adachi (one of the first landscape theorics) it clearly reflects the main themes of the movie: real and irreal coexisting toghether in some sort of a dream-like world, filled with enigmatic landscapes. «-Mr. Oshima, does the man really exist? - I don't know.»

Mandala (1971) - Akio Jissoji
Just experience this terrific montage of still images and freeze-frames. Jissoji's erotic film must be exactly like this: mystic, unexplainable, sacred.

Throw away your books, Rally in the Streets (1971) - Shuji Terayama
Terayama's mind-blowing exercise on teen-angst, helped by the exquisite sounds by J.A Seazer is here in its pure anarchic form. A fantastic trailer in form of a wild visual synopsis!

Ryoma's Assassination (1973) - Kazuo Kuroki
Maybe tied with Shura , Ryoma's Assassination is one of the best chambara trailers ever. Its dark chorus in the beggining plus its pace delivers us a single experience, wishing that the movie could be avaible with English subtitles!

To Sleep so as to dream (1986) - Kaizo Hayashi
Kaizo Hayashi's tribute to silent films creates a misterious trailer with a nostalgic music, remembering lost images that maybe will never rise again.

Boiling Point (1990) - Takeshi Kitano
This one is Kitano on acids! I can never forget the random remix of the Exorcist music, the advice notes that appear on the screen and best of all, the voice in the end repeating the mad title of the movie, while Kitano's autistic gaze is upon us.

Ley Lines (1999) - Takashi Miike
Although we can say that Miike has done better, Ley Lines trailer is just the best.I love the melancholic music by Koji Endo and Naoto Takenaka's voice works so well in the sad mood of it.

Pistol Opera (2001) - Seijun Suzuki
Seijun's Suzuki return to movies made Pistol Opera's trailer promising a lot. It has a excellent music, gangster and surrealistic imagery! What can you ask more? Well, it turned out to be even more exciting than the real film...

Blogathon Top #2 - Favorite Japanese Directors

Following Nipponcinema and Wildgrounds, here are some of my favorite Japanese directors:

Yasujiro Ozu

(1903 - 1963)

With his minimalistic (some would say Zen) style and cheerful, yet slow pace, Ozu was one of the first filmmakers to caught my attention back in my school days, when I didn't know anything about Japanese Cinema at all. I don't think his style is accademic as some detractors call it, neither I consider that he repeats the same film over and over. What is proper in a Ozu work (and what differs all of them) is to simplify life to the point that it transceds every daily aspect of our existence. Like Kijû Yoshida said about him, the Ozu aesthetic was only possible because when Ozu first filmed he saw through the camera a devastated, finite world. His work is the calm, gentle answer to that disastrous vision.

Be sure to see: Late Spring (1949), Tokyo Story (1953), An Autunm Afternoon (1962)

Mikio Naruse

(1905 - 1969)

Although Mikio Naruse is like a forgotten gem of the golden age of Japanese Cinema, he is, in fact, one of the best directors Japan ever had. His discrete, silent style relfects his characters: brave women and weak men in troubled times. Often his films end in a hopeless open way."Like a great river with a calm surface and a raging current in its depths" (Akira Kurosawa) - Maybe the best way to describe his idiosyncratic style.

Be sure to see: Floating Clouds (1955), When a woman ascends the stairs (1960), Two in the Shadow (1967)

Nagisa Oshima

(1932 - ...)

Nagisa Oshima, or the director who banished green. Nagisa Oshima or the rebellious man, protector of freedom not only in cinematic practice but in life too. Finally, Nagisa Oshima the taboo breaker, the controversy film genius.

Be sure to see: Death by Hanging (1968), The Man who Left his Will on Film (1970), The Ceremony (1971)

Kijû Yoshida

(1933 - ...)

The greatest thing that happened in the past year was, without doubt, the French retrospective of Kijû Yoshida's work. It made me discover a thought-provoking body of work, in search of primordial definitons. Maybe one question is never answered completly (what is cinema? - THE question for Yoshida) but is in the search itself that all the excitment lies. Formally speaking, Yoshida is one of the best (just see Eros + Massacre, Heroic Purgatory or Coup D'État to see what I'am talking about!)

Be sure to see: Eros + Massacre (1969), Heroic Purgatory (1970) or Coup D'État (1973)

Shuji Terayama

(1935 - 1983)

A complete artist (without being a dilettante), Shuji Terayama exceedes all the norms of conventional art overcoming it by his own personal world, traumas, hopes. Being a poet first of all, his art (cinema, theater, writtings) bears the complications of poetic issues. His movies are deep, almost psychoanalitical and meta-cinematic, without being too theoretic Welcome to Shuji Terayama's mad world.

Be sure to see: Throw away your Books, rally in the streets (1971) Pastoral: To die In the Country (1973)

Takeshi Kitano

(1947 - ...)

As some of us know, Takeshi Kitano is (was, for some people) the man. His personal way of filming and raising questions outside the realm of language, still amazes me. Sonatine keeps haunting me, and I don't know how that film was possible. He seems to me that it's from another world, but, nonetheless even that transcendence was filmed. How? I don't know. That's what amazes me about the early Kitano works. In spite of the change of tone in his last three films, I still think that Kitano is searching for another force, another transcendence that blasts the cinematic rules. One thing i'm sure of: he is the greatest japanese director working today.

Be sure to see: Sonatine (1993), Hana-bi (1997), Takeshis' (2005)

Blogathon Top #1 - Takashi Miike

Welcome to the Blogathon Top Three Movies. A section where me and you can elect your three favorite movies about a specific topic. Feel free to respond to my top or elect yours in your Blog! We shall start with a major modern director like Takashi Miike. As we all know, this man-with-hundred faces is greatly responsible for Japanese Cinema boom in the late 90's, delivering us a great number of genre films mixed with unlikely aesthetics (some of them approaching the B-movie formula, others even expressing dadaist tendencies). Other fact that can't be forgotten it's his extensive filmography, remembering that even the genius must work hard to experience new possibilities. If today Takashi Miike is more commercial than ever, he proved us in the past that he could do all in cinematic terms, plus evolving them in new, kinda provocative ways.

So, here's the top three:

Number 3:

(Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha, 1999)

Dead or Alive: This is the film that absolutely blew me away. It was one of my first experience of a Miike film (maybe my truly WTF? experience too, and trust me I had many...). What can I say about this? Niihilistic movie inside and outside the filmed world. Truly an amazing experience, in a plot laughing at itself and at the viewer too. The end scene is pure unexpected madness. I still remember Riki Takeuchi's terrific face and Sho Aikawa's cold gaze in a fierce appocaliptical world.

Number 2:
(Odishon, 1999)

Audition: Maybe the most famous Miike movie, and yet it still deserves to stay at the top. If Gozu, another millestone, was horizontal in its pace and mood (horror is everywhere, in the same levels of intensity) then Audition develops a vertical climax like no-other Japanese horror film. Who can expect that the tumultous love story of a middle-aged man could be so scary? The horror lies on the dreams, which were projected by the little details in life. Carefully crafted, Audition plays with the viewer's sensibilities in order to show what is truly scary: solitude, the feeling of dying lonely.

Number 1:
(46-Okunen no Koi, 2006)

Big Bang Love, Juvenile A: When I saw The Bird People in China, I kept asking myself how was that possible? How was possible that such a fast-paced and furious director like Takashi Miike could delivery us such a tender, humanist story. When I was about to see Big Bang Love, Juvenile A, I already knew what to expect from the director's versatility, however, it still left me with open mouth, not knowing what to say or what to think. "Wow, this is beautiful", and those words open the way to silence, to a delightful silence.