Reform schools are a way of protecting society by ridding it of lawless juvenile delinquents. But who’s protecting the juvenile delinquents from corrupt reform schools? Rica could be considered a…

Based on a novel by Tsutomu Mizukami, this haunting melodrama focuses on a young bamboo worker who takes his father’s prostitute as his wife.

Set in the time of steam locomotives and covering a period of almost 30 years, this sensitive film tells the story of the wife of a railroad worker in the…

On the eve of the Russo-Japanese war at the beginning of the 20th century, small-town girl Okane has married an old wealthy man to escape a life of poverty.

The culturally isolated, nomadic Seburi people of western Japan are the subject of this tragedy about a few of the community’s members who especially experience difficulties as modern Japan encroaches…

A young rock singer is not appreciated by her band, and gets a postcard from Japan saying “wish you were here”. She takes what little money she has including ex-boyfriend’s…

A thief, a murderer, and a charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu is on the run from the police.

A blind traveling musician is abused and oppressed wherever she goes, even as the modern world imposes change around her.

Three students spend their holidays at the seaside where they are mistaken for Koreans, a minority which is looked down on in Japan. The action develops into a crime story.

A sex-obsessed young woman, a suicidal young man she meets on the street, a gun-crazy wannabe gangster—these are just three of the irrational, oddball anarchists trapped in an underground hideaway…

Nobuo is a hot-headed hoodlum fresh out of reform school who struggles to make a clean break with his tearaway past.

Set in Kawaguchi in the early 60s, this simple story chronicles the lives of foundry families and one girl’s dreams of higher education.

Seeking revenge against the guard who tormented him, a young man returns to the island where he was imprisoned in reform school. But his plans for vengeance are disturbed when…

A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.

After a businessman is murdered, an investigation identifies a suspect who is then put on trial for that crime.

Murase is a bodyguard of yakuza group. Ochiai is a police officer who once was a student activist. When they meet, they are surprised how identical they look.

A family of four are the sole inhabitants of a small island, where they struggle each day to irrigate their crops.

Shokichi, a shop owner and middle-aged widower, could never forget your first love. The second floor of the shop is an art gallery where his avant-garde daughter and other young…

In the Sengoku period, a woman and her daughter are raped and murdered by soldiers during a time of civil war. Afterwards, a series of samurai returning from the war…

The tragic, true story about Hachikō, an Akita dog who was loyal to his master, Professor Ueno, even after Ueno’s death.

In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die. If anyone should…

While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. Both are…

A lighthearted take on director Yasujiro Ozu’s perennial theme of the challenges of inter­generational relationships, Good Morning tells the story of two young boys who stop speaking in protest after…

The world-famous woodblock artist Hokusai (1760-1849), a widower in need of a steady income, lives with his daughter Oei in the house of his friend Bakin.

For a girl who works in a 3rd rate bar, Ayuko is full of vanity. Nomura, her patron, is besotted by her and it is their habit that they cannot…

The chaotic worlds of the Yakuza and an alcoholic doctor collide in this film noir classic from Akira Kurosawa. Gangster Toshiro Mifune visits doctor Takashi Shimura, after an unfortunate incident…

Misawa Ihei (Nagato) is traveling with his wife Tae (Iwashita Shima) who abhors the practice of sword fighting for prize money. Tae is the daughter of the clan’s chief counselor…

At the time between the World Wars, Japan is involved in empire-building throughout East and Southeast Asia. After a brief career as a low-level military adventurer, Iheiji sets up chains…