The Last Embrace (1953) [Movie] TMDB IMDb

抱擁

director: Masahiro Makino actor: Yoshiko Yamaguchi / Toshirō Mifune …

other title: 抱擁

Yukiko Nogami is rescued during a mountain blizzard by handsome forester Shinkichi, and the two subsequently fall in love. But when Shinkichi dies in an avalanche, Yukiko leaves the mountains in despair and takes a job in a bar where she becomes deeply involved in the personal lives of several of the patrons. One day she thinks she sees Shinkichi alive, but it turns out to be a gangster named Hayakawa, a man on the run who bears an astonishing resemblance to Yukiko's lost love. Against her better judgment, she is drawn to help Hayakawa, though clearly danger follows him.

Black River (1957) [Movie] IMDb WikiData TMDB

黒い河

director: Masaki Kobayashi actor: Fumio Watanabe / Ineko Arima …

other title: La Rivière noire / Río Negro …

A love triangle develops between a benevolent student, his innocent girlfriend, and a cruel petty criminal, all as a point of diagnosis of a social disease that had Japan slowly succumbing to lawlessness during the post-War era.

Punishment Room (1956) [Movie] TMDB IMDb WikiData

処刑の部屋

director: Kon Ichikawa actor: Hiroshi Kawaguchi / Keizō Kawasaki …

other title: 処刑の部屋 / El cuarto de los castigos …

Shimada is a student of U College. When the college's baseball team wins the day, he and his friend Ito drug two girls they met at the game.

The Challenge (1982) [Movie] WikiData TMDB IMDb

The Challenge

director: John Frankenheimer actor: Scott Glenn / Toshirō Mifune …

other title: L'ultima sfida / Dræbende sværd …

Rick, a down-and-out American boxer, is hired to transport a sword to Japan, unaware that the whole thing is a set up in a bitter blood-feud between two brothers, one who follows the traditional path of the samurai and the other a businessman. At the behest of the businessman, Rick undertakes samurai training from the other brother, but joins his cause. He also becomes romantically involved with the samurai's daughter.

Sanshiro Sugata, Part Two (1945) [Movie] TMDB IMDb WikiData

續 姿三四郎

director: Akira Kurosawa actor: Denjirō Ōkōchi / Susumu Fujita …

other title: Sanshiro Sugata 2 / A Saga do Judo 2 …

A few years after his breakthrough, Sanshiro resumes his path to judo mastery—testing his discipline against an American prizefighter and later facing vengeful karate brothers. As rival schools and public spectacle push him toward violence, he must reconcile strength with restraint and the true spirit of his art.

Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon (1965) [Movie] IMDb WikiData TMDB

ガリバーの宇宙旅行

director: Yoshio Kuroda / Sanae Yamamoto actor: Kyū Sakamoto / Chiyoko Honma …

other title: I viaggi nello spazio di Gulliver / Gulliver no Uchuu Ryokou …

The story concerns a homeless boy named Ted. After seeing a movie about Gulliver he meets Professor Gulliver himself in a forest. Gulliver is now an elderly, space-traveling scientist. With Dr. Gulliver's assistant Crow, and Ted's companions, a talking dog and a toy soldier, they travel the Milky Way to the Planet of Blue Hope, which has been taken over by the Queen of Purple Planet and her evil group of robots. Armed with water-pistols and water balloons, which melt the villains, Ricky and Gulliver restore Blue Hope to its doll-like owners.

Mermaid Legend (1984) [Movie] WikiData IMDb TMDB

人魚伝説

director: Toshiharu Ikeda actor: Mari Shirato / Kentarō Shimizu …

other title: La vengeance de la sirène / 人魚伝説 …

A couple of abalone divers has to confront brutal investors setting foot in their coastline.

Twin Sisters of Kyoto (1963) [Movie] NeoDB IMDb Douban WikiData

古都

director: Noboru Nakamura actor: Shima Iwashita / Seiji Miyaguchi …

other title: Koto / 古都 …

In this Japanese drama, a dry goods merchant's daughter is surprised to discover that she has a twin sister. In rural Japan it was thought that twins bring bad luck, so the sister was abandoned at birth. Later her parents tell her that her sister was kidnapped. The woman doesn't believe this and when she eventually meets her twin, both women are involved in love affairs. The merchant's daughter is seeing an educated fellow. Trouble ensues when she begins suspecting that he may be more interested in her sister.

Japan's Longest Day (1967) [Movie] NeoDB IMDb Douban TMDB WikiData

日本のいちばん長い日

director: Kihachi Okamoto actor: Seiji Miyaguchi / Rokkō Toura …

other title: The Emperor and a General / Le jour le plus long du Japon …

Following the detonation of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese military and the government clash over the demand from the Allies for unconditional surrender. Minister of the Army Anami leads the military officers who propose to fight on, even to the death of every Japanese citizen. Emperor Hirohito, however, joins with his ministers in asking the unthinkable, the peaceful surrender of Japan. When the military plots a coup to overthrow the Emperor's civilian government, Anami must face the choice between his desires and loyalty to his Emperor.

Antonio Gaudí (1984) [Movie] IMDb TMDB

アントニー・ガウディー

director: Hiroshi Teshigahara actor: Isidro Puig Boada / Seiji Miyaguchi …

other title: Antonio Gaudi / アントニー・ガウディー

Catalan architect Antonio Gaudí (1852-1926) designed some of the world's most astonishing buildings, interiors, and parks; Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara constructed some of the most aesthetically audacious films ever made. With camera work as bold and sensual as the curves of his subject's organic structures, Teshigahara immortalizes Gaudí on film.

The Fossil (1975) [Movie] TMDB

化石

director: Masaki Kobayashi actor: Shin Saburi / Keiko Kishi …

other title: 化石 / Les Fossiles

An industrialist is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He is on a trip to Europe at the time, and a glimpse of a Japanese woman in that setting causes him to fantasize about her as the personification of his impending death. As his dialogue with his imagined mortality continues, he actually meets the living woman who is the template for his fantasy, and together they tour rural churches. Gradually he comes to some kind of peace about the diagnosis. When he returns to Japan, he is met with a series of challenges which profoundly test the lessons he has learned.

Pale Flower (1964) [Movie] WikiData TMDB IMDb

乾いた花

director: Masahiro Shinoda actor: Ryō Ikebe / Mariko Kaga …

other title: Fiore secco / Fleur pâle …

A gangster gets released from prison and has to cope with the recent shifts of power between the gangs, while taking care of a thrill-seeking young woman, who got in bad company while gambling.

Miyamoto Musashi (1961) [Movie] TMDB WikiData IMDb Douban

宮本武蔵

director: Tomu Uchida actor: Kinnosuke Nakamura / Akiko Kazami …

other title: 宮本武蔵 / La Légende de Miyamoto Musashi …

In this first episode, we are introduced to Takezo, what Musashi used to be before he became the man of legend. His beginning are not exactly auspicious. He sides with the Toyotomi at Sekigahara, and as a result finds himself on the losing side of the historic battle. He and his friend Matahachi manage to escape the slaughter although the latter is wounded in his leg. They stumble across the young Akemi who makes her living with her mother Oko by robbing corpses of their armor and anything else they can sell. Oko takes it into her head to seduce Matahachi, which she does first by skillfully sucking the gangrene from his blood, and then just by sucking.

Samurai from Nowhere (1964) [Movie] TMDB WikiData IMDb

道場破り

director: Seiichirô Uchikawa actor: Isamu Nagato / Shima Iwashita …

other title: 道場破り / Dojo Challengers, Samurai from Nowhere

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 who married the low-ranking Ihei to avoid becoming the clan lord's mistress. Into the mix comes Oba Gunjuro (Tetsurō Tamba), a mysterious ronin who will do anything for money. This leads to a fitting climax as the forces of hate and love converge while the couple attempt to break through the border!

Stakeout (1958) [Movie] TMDB

張込み

director: Yoshitaro Nomura actor: Minoru Ōki / Takahiro Tamura …

other title: 張込み / Le Guet-apens …

Two detectives begin a stakeout based on the slim chance of catching a murderer whom they suspect will try to reunite with an old flame.

Warrior of the Wind (1964) [Movie] TMDB

風の武士

director: Tai Katō actor: Hashizo Okawa / Hiroko Sakuramachi …

other title: 風の武士

A suspenseful Ninja fantasy based on Shiba Ryotaro's novel, woven with the mysterious fate and romance of Shinzo and a beautiful Princess who find themselves at the center of an intrigue surrounding the legendary land of Yasurai in the mountains of Kumano. Hidden gold, the love of a beautiful Princess, and the approaching evil sword all contribute in bringing you a Ninja action thriller that only the legendary actor Okawa Hashizo and the genius director Kato Tai could produce!

Miyamoto Musashi: Showdown at Hannyazaka Heights (1962) [Movie] TMDB

宮本武蔵 般若坂の決斗

director: Tomu Uchida actor: Kinnosuke Nakamura / Wakaba Irie …

other title: 宮本武蔵 般若坂の決斗 / Les moines lanciers du temple Hozoin

The remake of Yoshikawa's novel continues with the second installment in which Takezo, soon to be Miyamoto Musashi, emerges from the Himeji Castle after three years of intense contemplation and philosophical study and starting on his epic quest to complete his skill in the Way.

Samurai Spy (1965) [Movie] TMDB

異聞猿飛佐助

director: Masahiro Shinoda actor: Kōji Takahashi / Shintarō Ishihara …

other title: 異聞猿飛佐助 / La guerre des Espions …

Years of warfare end in a Japan unified under the Tokugawa shogunate, and samurai spy Sasuke Sarutobi, tired of conflict, longs for peace. When a high-ranking spy named Tatewaki Koriyama defects from the shogun to a rival clan, however, the world of swordsmen is thrown into turmoil. After Sasuke is unwittingly drawn into the conflict, he tracks Tatewaki, while a mysterious, white-hooded figure seems to hunt them both. By tale’s end, no one is who they seemed to be, and the truth is far more personal than anyone suspected. Director Masahiro Shinoda’s Samurai Spy, filled with clan intrigue, ninja spies, and multiple double crosses, marks a bold stylistic departure from swordplay film convention.

The Ballad of Narayama (1958) [Movie] IMDb TMDB WikiData NeoDB Douban

楢山節考

director: Keisuke Kinoshita actor: Kinuyo Tanaka / Teiji Takahashi …

other title: La leggenda di Narayama / A Balada de Narayama …

In Kabuki style, the film tells the story of a remote mountain village where the scarcity of food leads to a voluntary but socially-enforced policy in which relatives carry 70-year-old family members up Narayama mountain to die. Granny Orin is approaching 70, content to embrace her fate. Her widowed son Tatsuhei cannot bear losing his mother, even as she arranges his marriage to a widow his age. Her grandson Kesa, who's girlfriend is pregnant, is selfishly happy to see Orin die. Around them, a family of thieves are dealt with severely, and an old man, past 70, whose son has cast him out, scrounges for food. Will Orin's loving and accepting spirit teach and ennoble her family?

The Bad Sleep Well (1960) [Movie] TMDB NeoDB Douban IMDb WikiData

悪い奴ほどよく眠る

director: Akira Kurosawa actor: Toshirō Mifune / Masayuki Mori …

other title: I cattivi dormono in pace / O Mal Dorme Bem …

In this loose adaptation of "Hamlet," illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and marries the crippled daughter of company vice president Iwabuchi. At the reception, the wedding cake is a replica of their corporate headquarters, but an aspect of the design reminds the party of the hushed-up death of Nishi's father. It is then that Nishi unleashes his plan to avenge his father's death.