Harakiri

Harakiri

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a...

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Inn of Evil

Inn of Evil

The story takes place in feudal Japan, when any commerce with the rest of the world was strictly prohibited. An idealist suddenly appears in an...

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Kwaidan

Kwaidan

Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money...

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The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his dear wife and his old...

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Black River

Black River

A university student moves into an apartment building and becomes involved with a waitress. The landlord then attempts to evict the tenants and...

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The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labor chief at a large mining operation in...

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The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

Kaji is sent to the Japanese army labeled Red and is mistreated by the vets. Along his assignment, Kaji witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts...

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Samurai Rebellion

Samurai Rebellion

The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to...

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Dodes'ka-den

Dodes'ka-den

This film follows the daily lives of a group of people barely scraping by in a slum on the outskirts of Tokyo. Yet as desperate as their...

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The Inheritance

The Inheritance

On his deathbed, a wealthy businessman announces that his fortune is to be split equally among his three illegitimate children, whose whereabouts...

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Tokyo Olympiad

Tokyo Olympiad

This impressionistic portrait of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics pays as much attention to the crowds and workers as it does to the actual...

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The Thick-Walled Room

The Thick-Walled Room

A group of rank-and-file Japanese soldiers are jailed for crimes against humanity, themselves victims of a nation refusing to bear its burdens as a...

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Carmen Comes Home

Carmen Comes Home

A rural village elder plans an event on the return of a farmer's daughter from the city, unaware that she has become a Westernized burlesque artist.

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I Will Buy You

I Will Buy You

A talent scout moves sharply, dead-set on signing a promising athlete to the baseball team the Toyko Flowers.

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Dora-heita

Dora-heita

A new magistrate in the town of Horisoto—widely reputed to be the most lawless township in Japan, uses guile and his opponents' own misperceptions...

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Beautiful Days

Beautiful Days

Masaki Kobayashi directs this romantic drama concerning a family of florists.

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Broken Drum

Broken Drum

When the future of his construction company falls into danger, a controlling father pushes his children into unsatisfying marriages and careers in...

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Hymn to a Tired Man

Hymn to a Tired Man

Zensaku, middle-aged and deaf in one ear, learns that his son's fallen for the daughter of a war officer responsible for the maiming.

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Fountainhead

Fountainhead

A botanist woos the secretary of an industrialist whose company threatens the local water supply.

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The Fossil

The Fossil

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...

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