Japanese Movies
The cinema of Japan has a rich and varied history and remains popular both domestcally and abroad. In 2008 home grown movies outsold their hollywood rivals with the top box office slots being held by japanese movies Ponyo on the cliff by the sea and the feature film of popular tv Drama Hana Yori Dango taking the number 1 and 2 slots.
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Genres
Japanese cinema has several distinct genres:
Anime: Animation. Anime refers to "Japanese animation" in English.
Jidaigeki, period pieces featuring samurai, also known as chambara (onomatopoeia describing the sound of swords clashing).
Horror films such as Ring, also known as J-Horror
Cult Horror, such as Battle Royale or Suicide Club
Kaiju: monster films, such as Godzilla
Pink films, softcore pornographic films. Often more socially-engaged and aesthically well-crafted than simple pornography.
Yakuza films: films about mobsters.
Seishun eiga : films about teenagers
Famous Movies
Zatoichi - Blind Zatoichi makes his living by gambling and giving massages. But behind his humble facade, Zatoichi is a master swordsman, gifted with lightning-fast draw and strokes of breathtaking precision. Zatoichi wanders into a town run by sinister gangs and a powerful samurai. He's destined for violent showdowns when he stumbles on two beautiful geishas avenging their parents' murder... Duels, wit and a touch of zen! There are a number of films in this series.
Hotaru no haka (Grave of the fireflies - Setsuko and Seita are brother and sister living in wartime Japan. After their mother is killed in an air raid they find a temporary home with relatives. Having quarreled with their aunt they leave the city and make their home in an abandoned shelter. While their father's destiny who was a soldier is unknown the two must depend on each other to somehow keep a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs. When everything is in short supply, they gradually succumb to hunger and their only entertainment is the light of the fireflies.
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Spirited Away) - When Chihiro and her family stop by a beautiful hillside while driving to their new home, they stumble upon a magical world of spirits. With her parents turned into pigs, Chihiro must find a way to return to her own home while helping others along the way.
3-4 x jugatsu (Boiling Point) - Two members of a Japanese junior baseball team get mixed up with the local yakuza. After their coach is severely injured by the gangsters, the two boys set off to Okinawa to purchase a gun in order to get revenge. While in Okinawa they get befriended by a psychotic yakuza outcast who is planning a revenge of his own.
Koroshiya 1 (Ichi The Killer) - Yakuza boss Anjo disappears with three hundred million yen. His loyal gang members, lead by the masochist Kakihara, start a search, but their aggressive and gory methods worry the other yakuza gangs. Kakiharas most frightening counterpart is the mysterious Ichi, a psychopathic killer with a dark childhood secret, who is controlled by a retired cop.
Gojira (Godzilla) - Perhaps the most successful kaiju franchise, spawning both sequels and english language versions. The landmark 1954 Japanese science fiction film directed and co-written by Ishiro Honda with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya was produced and distributed by Toho Company Ltd. It was the first of many "giant monster" movies to be produced in Japan. Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships explode and are sunk. At first the authorities think its either underwater mines or underwater volcanic activity. The authorities soon head to Odo Island, close to where several of the ships were sunk. One night, something comes onshore and destroys several houses and kills several people. A later expedition to the island led by paleontologist Professor Kyohei Yemani, his daughter Emiko and a young navy frogman Hideto Ogata (who also happens to be Emiko's lover even though she is betrothed to Doctor Daisuke Serizawa)soon discover something more devastating than imagined in the form of a 164 foot tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan, but the rest of the world as well. Can the monster be destroyed before it is too late and what role will the mysterious Serizawa play in the battle?
Mosura (Mothra) - From the creator of Gozilla came another famous Kaiju classic. Shipwreck survivors are found on Beiru, an island previously used for atomic tests. Amazingly free of radiation effects, they believe they were protected by a special juice given to them by the natives. A joint expedition of Rolithican and Japanese scientists explores Beiru and discovers many curious things, including two women only a foot high. Unscrupulous expedition leader Clark Nelson abducts the women and puts them in a vaudeville show. But their sweet singing contains a telepathic cry for help to Mothra, the gigantic moth worshiped as a goddess by the island people. Mothra seeks the women in Tokyo, wreaking the usual havoc and special effects.
Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) - A veteran samurai, who has fallen on hard times, answers a village's request for protection from bandits. He gathers 6 other samurai to help him, and they teach the townspeople how to defend themselves, and they supply the samurai with three small meals a day. The film culminates in a giant battle when 40 bandits attack the village. Remade into the Hollywood classic, The Magnificent Seven.
Famous Directors
Akira Kurosawa - The youngest of seven children, born in Tokyo on 23 March 1910. After working in a wide range of genres, he made his breakthrough film Rashomon (1950) in 1950. It won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, and first revealed the richness of Japanese cinema to the West.
Hayao Miyazaki - Hayao Miyazaki, born in Tokyo in 1941, specialized in animation films that merged visual virtuosity, pagan mythology and mystical symbolism to view imaginary landscapes through the eyes of children.
Ishiro Honda - Influential Japanese film director born May 7th, 1911, often credited as being the father of Godzilla.
Takeshi Kitano - Born January 18, 1947 in Umejima, Adachi, Tokyo) is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. With the exception of his works as a film director, he is known almost exclusively by the name Beat Takeshi.
Osamu Tezuka - Born November 3, 1928 – died February 9, 1989 was a Japanese manga artist, animator, producer and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. He is often credited as the "Father of Anime", and along with Hayao Miyazaki is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during his formative years. His prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the father of manga" and "the god of manga". His grave is located in Tokyo's Souzen-ji Temple Cemetery.
Famous Actors/Actresses
Toshiro Mifune - (1920-1997) was a charismatic Japanese actor best known for his roles in Akira Kurosawa's masterpieces in the 1950's and 1960's: Seven Samurai, Rashomon and Yojimbo.
Ken Watanabe - An Academy Award-nominated Japanese stage, film, and television actor. To English-speaking audiences he is known for playing tragic hero characters, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in Letters from Iwo Jima and Lord Katsumoto in The Last Samurai.
Joe Shishido - most recognizable for his intense, eccentric yakuza film roles and his artificially enlarged cheekbones. He has appeared in some 300 films but is best known in the West for his performance in the cult film Branded to Kill.
Yumi Shirakawa - Joined Toho when she was just 19, in 1956. By the end of the year, Toho had catapulted the beautiful actress into her first starring role, alongside Kenji Sahara in Rodan (Sora no Daikaiju Radon, 1956). Director Ishiro Honda took a shine to her and cast her in several of his subsequent movies.
Where to watch
For cinema listings in major cities visit http://www.japantimes.co.jp/entertainment/movie_listings.html
Japans largest DVD rental store chain Tsutaya is also a good place to look!
Where to buy
Any large department store usually has a media department where you can buy DVD's, large retailers such as HMV and Tower Records are also a prominent in Japan. Japan boasts large department stores dedicated solely to all things technology such as Yodobashi, such stores also usually carry DVD's but not all titles offer english subtitles so be sure to check before you buy.
For subtitled versions of these movies the best bet is often online shopping, for those living in japan www.amazon.co.jp is a good starting point with an english version website and a variety of payment methods. www.yesasia.com also offer japanese with subtitles with free international shipping however be careful reagarding region encoding as for subtitled DVD's imports may have differing region codes from japan.
Region codes are as follows:
REGION 1 -- USA, Canada
REGION 2 -- Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East, Greenland
REGION 3 -- S.Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Parts of South East Asia
REGION 4 -- Australia, New Zealand, Latin America (including Mexico)
REGION 5 -- Eastern Europe, Russia, India, Africa
REGION 6 -- China
REGION 0 -- Region free.
See also
Links
Some content adapted from Wikipedia.org.
