Ishirô Honda’s offbeat and dark sci-fi horror film was initially banned in Japan when it was released in 1963. But in time, it’s built itself up as an enduring touchstone in Japanese cinema.
Matango uses spectacular practical effects and great performances to tell a captivating story of vacationers shipwrecked on a tropical island with limited food and a population of previous shipwreckees — hideously transformed by the island’s sinister flora.
Read MoreIt’s a Summer Film! is a new teen romcom out of Japan that’s simultaneously an ode to creative youth and a love letter to filmmaking in all forms.
Barefoot and her teen friends set out to make an awesome samurai film for their school film fest. They’ve got only a small tripod and an iPhone, while their snooty classmates with high tech filmmaking gear make a romcom.
With humor, heart, and an unexpected sci-fi twist, Sôshi Masumoto’s 2020 film is refreshing, sincere, and the kind of movie you’ll catch yourself smiling at in a dark theater.
Quirky and charming, Hold Me Back feels kind of like Japan’s equivalent of Amelie — perfectly blending the loneliness and hilarity of the human experience into an unforgettable energetic romantic comedy.
Mitsuko (played by Non) is 31, single, and leads a happy life with her own imaginary counselor. When a handsome salesman enters her world… love is throws a wrench in the peaceful and solitary life she’s crafted for herself.
Read MoreOn-Gaku is the lo-fi, arthouse rocker comedy we didn’t know we needed. An unconventional animated film coming out of Japan in 2019, On-Gaku (translates to “our sound”) follows a group of bored delinquent teens who come together to play music and discover the joy of creating something of their own. It was based on a manga created by Hiroyuki Ôhashi.
Director Kenji Iwaisawa took seven years to make On-Gaku, his first feature film, and the scrappy passion for filmmaking and classic rock is contagious.
Read MoreA stylish and profound silent film from Yasujiro Ozu — director of Tokyo Story and Late Spring — Dragnet Girl stands alone in the gangster (yakuza) genre.
True to Ozu, the film is intimately focused on family and the interpersonal relationships between career hardened criminal Joji, his jealous girlfriend, and an innocent shop girl who gets pulled into his world.
Read MoreKiyoshi Kurosawa breaks the mold of serial killer movies with an engrossing thriller that takes you inside the psyche of society.
When police uncover a series of murders, committed by different people using the same strange method, a gloomy detective takes on the descent into the killers’ madness while managing his wife’s own mental stability.
Eerie and masterful, Bong Jon-ho (director of Parasite) lists it as one of his all-time favorite films.
Read MoreFrom acclaimed director Ayumu Watanabe (Children of the Sea) comes a heartwarming and moving comedy-drama about an unconventional family, based on the popular novel by Kanako Nishi.
Nikuko is a big and jolly personality in an otherwise sleepy seaside town in northern Japan. Her daughter Kikuko is the opposite — quiet and pensive as she navigates the everyday social dramas of middle school. Everything changes for the mother-daughter duo when a shocking revelation from the past threatens to uproot their tender relationship.
David Lynch’s first feature film deftly blends the genres of surrealism, black comedy, and body horror, earning it…
Read MoreDavid Lynch’s prequel to the popular Twin Peaks series is a dark and harrowing psycho thriller about two teenaged girls who encounter dark visions, supernatural forces, and ultimately grisly fates in two small towns in Washington State — where nothing is as it seems and everyone has something to hide.
Read MoreThe only film ever directed by revered poet Maya Angelou tells the story of a family fighting to recover from generational and racial trauma in rural Mississippi. True to Angelou, the film is simultaneously powerful and understated with phenomenal acting and a heart-wrenching plot.
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