I just watched a couple classic Japanese movies (Godzilla 1954, Ugetsu Monogatari, and Gate of Hell ) and  was reminded of how awesome classic movies are. I just wanted some recommendations on some more classic movies 1930s-1980s that you folks on mdl really enjoyed that I haven't seen yet.

None of these are really like anything you mentioned, but those 3 are pretty eclectic anyway, so I just picked things I liked :)   I also really liked both Ugetsu and Gate of Hell.  I've got Ballad of Narayama, Tokyo Olympiad, and Rashomon queued up for next time I'm in the mood for classics.

Hey, I've just started getting into old Japanese movies only last year! Some that I recommend:

  • High and Low (Kurosawa Akira, 1963)--crime drama
  • Throne of Blood (Kurosawa Akira, 1957)--Macbeth Japanese style
  • Seppuku (Kobayashi Masaki, 1962)--a man who tries to do ritual suicide explains how he came about to that decision
  • The Thick-Walled Room (Kobayashi Masaki, 1956)--a story about a bunch of class B and C war criminals
  • Tokyo Story (Ozu Yasujiro, 1953)--an elderly couple come to Tokyo, only to be largely ignored by their grown-up children
  • Akasen Chitai (Mizoguchi Kenji, 1956)--a story about a group of sex workers in a red-light district
  • Gion-bayashi (Mizoguchi Kenji, 1953)--an accomplished geisha tries to help out her young protege
  • A Legend of a Duel to the Death (Kinoshita Keisuke, 1963)--sort of like a Western
  • Twenty-four Eyes (Kinoshita Keisuke, 1954)--a new teacher tries to educate her twelve pupils, but poverty and war get in the way
  • Yearning (Naruse Mikio, 1964)--a young widow finds herself on a crossroad when a supermarket threatens the family business
  • Death by Hanging (Oshima Nagisa, 1968)--is state-sanctioned killing can be considered as "murder"?
  • Boy (Oshima Nagisa, 1969)--a young boy of a criminal family tries to survive
  • Giants and Toys (Masumura Yasuzo, 1958)--war of advertising, basically
  • Aozora Musume (Masumura Yasuzo, 1957)--basically like Cinderella, but more grounded
  • The Burmese Harp (Ichikawa Kon, 1956)--a humanist war movie, lots of singing but not much fighting as far as I remember
  • An Actor's Revenge (Ichikawa Kon, 1962)--a female impersonator tries to avenge his parents' death
  • Vengeance is Mine (Imamura Shohei, 1979)--a story of serial killer
  • Pale Flower (Shinoda Masahiro, 1964)--a newly released convict becomes fascinated with a posh young woman he meets in a gambling den
  • The Sword of Doom (Okamoto Kihachi, 1966)--a guy kills a large number of innocent people; is he crazy or just evil?
  • Eros + Massacre (Yoshida Yoshishige, 1969)--a loose "biography" about two anarchists living in early 20th century Japan

Just about any 1950-1960s Kurosawa movie is a must-see. Some of my old faves:

SEVEN SAMURAI. Groundbreaking cinema. Introduced so many movie tropes. This movie has it ALL: action, adventure, comedy, drama, sexual tension, hoidy-toidy editing... The only thing it *might* lack is a color negative and you don't really miss it.

YOJIMBO. Ever seen the Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood bootleg movie? You don't have to -- the original has it all and Mifune is way the hell more charismatic.

TAMPOPO. Is this Itami's masterpiece? FWIW this movie also has (in retrospect) one helluva all-star cast.

TOKYO POP. Not a Japanese production per se but I always include it in lists like this. Another one of the fish out of water tales that allows for great Tokyo location shoots but in a style full of heart/soul. Kinda foresees the independent cinema movement in the following decade. Underrated.
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Not in the same time frame but I'd add DEPARTURES and THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI in any list of classic Japanese cinema.

You can watch Kokoro (1954) live action based on the novel by natsume soseki.

Thank you all so much for the recommendations.

I also have Rashamon cued up as the next movie to watch!

(I've already seen Seven Samurai and my Professor played Tampopo for us in class- hilarious.)

Here are some of my favorites classic Japanese movies:

Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (1935, Sadao Yamanaka)

Late Spring (1949, Yasujiro Ozu)

Ugetsu (1953, Kenji Mizoguchi)

Sansho the Bailiff (1954, Kenji Mizoguchi)

Throne of Blood (1957, Akira Kurosawa)

The Human Condition trilogy (1959-1961,  Masaki Kobayashi)

Late Autumn (1960, Yasujiro Ozu)

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960, Mikio Naruse)

Harakiri (1962, Masaki Kobayashi)

High and Low (1963, Akira Kurosawa)

Woman in the Dunes (1964, Hiroshi Teshigahara)

The Face of Another (1966, Hiroshi Teshigahara)

Death by Hanging (1968, Nagisa Oshima)

Kuroneko (1968, Kaneto Shindo)

Shura (1971, Toshio Matsumoto)

Pastoral: To Die in the Country (1974, Shuji Terayama)

House (1977, Nobuhiko Obayashi)

Tampopo (1985, Juzo Itami)

 ShotaSidePart:

Thank you all so much for the recommendations.

I also have Rashamon cued up as the next movie to watch!

(I've already seen Seven Samurai and my Professor played Tampopo for us in class- hilarious.)

How'd your professor analyze the oral egg-swapping segment in TAMPOPO??!

 Saburo:
How'd your professor analyze the oral egg-swapping segment in TAMPOPO??!

We didn't get to watch the entire thing in class but he suggested we watch the rest at home and we had a quick discussion about it. Don't remember what we talked about (this was last year) but I remember it being weird/ funny.

Ha! Found the right forum thanks to Annie - I made a list and plan on doing more for the 70s-80s, 90s-2000s. https://mydramalist.com/list/1xrVDnD3


Great compilation of recs on here already. I just love this site ^-^