Oshima’s magisterial epic, centering on the ambivalent surviving heir of the Sakurada clan, uses ritual and the microcosm of the traditional family to trace the rise and fall of militaristic Japan across several decades.

Boy

1969

Japanese

7.4

♡ 8

100%

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Akiko Koyama as Takeko Taniguchi

Fumio Watanabe as Takeo Omura

Toshi Amatsu as Toshio Omura

Do-yun Yu as Victim driver

A family of four lives off of scams in which they pretend to be injured by automobiles.

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

1983

Japanese

7.2

♡ 17

Action

based on novel or book

christmas movie alternative

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Daisuke Iijima as Corporal Ueki

Takeshi Kitano as Hara

Masanori Okada as Japanese Soldier

Hiroshi Mikami as Japanese Soldier

Island of Java, 1942, during World War II. British Major Jack Celliers arrives at a Japanese prison camp, run by the strict Captain Yonoi. Colonel John Lawrence, who has a profound knowledge of Japanese culture, and Sergeant Hara, brutal and simpleton, will witness the struggle of wills between two men from very different backgrounds who are tragically destined to clash.

Empire of Passion

1978

Japanese

7.0

♡ 15

80%

70%

Action

based on novel or book

Drama

Horror

husband wife relationship

regret

relationship problems

Romance

sexual obsession

suspicion of murder

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Kenzô Kawarasaki as (as Kenzo Kawarazaki)

Hiroko Isayama as Bride

Takahiro Tamura as Gisaburo

Takuzô Kawatani as Inspector Hotta

In a small Japanese village at the end of the 19th century, a rickshaw driver's wife takes on a much younger lover and the two conspire to murder him.

Max My Love

1986

French

6.0

♡ 4

22%

55%

Action

Comedy

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Diana Quick as Camille

Charlotte Rampling as Margaret Jones

Fabrice Luchini as Nicolas

Anthony Higgins as Peter Jones

The wife of a British diplomat in Paris takes a chimpanzee as her lover.

The Pleasures of the Flesh

1965

Japanese

6.9

♡ 3

62%

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Yumiko Nogawa as Hitomi

Akiji Kobayashi as Mari's pimp

Kei Satô as Police inspector

Mariko Kaga as Shoko

After committing murder, businessman Atsushi is blackmailed into keeping a suitcase of embezzled money. What follows is a descent into lustful, reckless actions and regret.

Violence at Noon

1966

Japanese

7.0

♡ 7

100%

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Kei Satô as Eisuke Oyamada

Hideo Kanze as Inagaki, husband of the raped woman

Sen Yano as Mayor

Teruko Kishi as Shino's grandmother

Two young women must come to terms with the fact that a man they're deeply linked to is a murdering rapist.

Night and Fog in Japan

1960

Japanese

6.8

♡ 2

43%

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Masahiko Tsugawa as Ôta

Hiroshi Akutagawa as Prof. Udagawa

Miyuki Kuwano as Reiko Harada

Kei Satô as Sakamaki

Long takes and a highly theatrical visual approach combine to form a tense and confrontational look at the decline of a socialist student activists' movement in Japan.

The Sun's Burial

1960

Japanese

6.9

♡ 3

60%

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Yûsuke Kawazu as Gang member

Isao Sasaki as New gang member Takeshi

Masahiko Tsugawa as Shin, leader of gang

Ichirô Nagai as The 'lance'

In Osaka's slum, capricious folks without futures engage in pilfering, assault and robbery, prostitution, and the trading of ID cards and blood.

The Man Who Left His Will on Film

1970

Japanese

6.9

♡ 2

86%

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Kiyoko Tsuji as

Kenji Shiiya as

Tetsuro Tsuno as

Tomoyo Oshima as Akiko

When a man chases down his stolen movie camera, the thief commits suicide by jumping off a building. But after the police take the camera as evidence, it becomes unclear if there was ever a thief in the first place.

Sing a Song of Sex

1967

Japanese

6.5

♡ 8

46%

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Hideo Kanze as

Hôryû Nakamura as

Jûzô Itami as Ôtake

Hideko Yoshida as Sachiko Kaneda

Four sexually hungry high school students preparing for their university entrance exams meet up with an inebriated teacher singing bawdy drinking songs. This encounter sets them on a less than academic path.

Three Resurrected Drunkards

1968

Japanese

6.4

♡ 1

63%

Action

alternative reality

Comedy

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Nagisa Ôshima as Interviewee

Mako Midori as Nee-chan - young woman

Takashi Ueno as Policeman

Kei Satô as Y Chong-iru - I Chong-il

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.

The Catch

1961

Japanese

6.8

♡ 4

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Akiko Koyama as Hiroko Ishii

Sadako Sawamura as Katsu, Kazumasa's wife

Rentarô Mikuni as Kazumasa Takano

Teruko Kishi as Masu Tsukada

Towards the end of WWII, a black American pilot is captured and imprisoned by rural Japanese villagers, who await official instructions as to how to proceed with their 'catch'.

Double Suicide: Japanese Summer

1967

Japanese

6.7

♡ 3

62%

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Masakazu Tamura as

Hideo Kanze as

Yoshiyuki Fukuda as

Kei Satô as The Man

A sex-obsessed woman, a suicidal man she meets on the street, and a gun-crazy wannabe gangster become trapped in an underground hideaway.

Death by Hanging

1968

Japanese

7.5

♡ 15

86%

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Takashi Ueno as Guard

Nagisa Ôshima as Narrator

Kei Satô as Prison warden

Akiko Koyama as The sister

A Korean man is sentenced to death in Japan but somehow survives his execution, sending the authorities into a panic about what to do next.

In the Realm of the Senses

1976

Japanese

6.6

♡ 33

84%

64%

Action

based on a true story

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Kyôko Okada as Hangyoku / young Geisha)

Akiko Koyama as Mansaki Geisha

Hiroko Fuji as O-Tsune

Eiko Matsuda as Sada Abe

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.

Cruel Story of Youth

1960

Japanese

6.9

♡ 18

100%

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Shin Morikawa as

Kei Satô as Akira Matsuko

Yûsuke Kawazu as Kiyoshi

Miyuki Kuwano as Makoto

A harsh young man seduces a freeloading young woman and eventually takes advantage of her knack for hitchhiking to rob middle-class men.

Taboo

1999

Japanese

6.8

♡ 11

71%

Nagisa Ôshima Director

Chikako Aoyama as

Masatô Ibu as Officer Koshitaro Ito

Tadanobu Asano as Samurai Hyozo Tashiro

Susumu Terajima as Spy

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.

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The Ceremony

Boy

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

Empire of Passion

Max My Love

The Pleasures of the Flesh

Violence at Noon

Night and Fog in Japan

The Sun's Burial

The Man Who Left His Will on Film

Sing a Song of Sex

Three Resurrected Drunkards

The Catch

Double Suicide: Japanese Summer

Death by Hanging

In the Realm of the Senses

Cruel Story of Youth

Taboo