Akira Kurosawa
5) Dreams: Yume
Description
Eight episodes exploring many aspects of humankind and man's need to harmonize with nature. Based on Akira Kurosawa's actual dreams.
6) Ikiru
Description
Considered by some to be Akira Kurosawa's greatest achievement, Ikirupresents the director at his most compassionate, affirming life through an exploration of a man's death. Takashi Shimura portrays Kanji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat with stomach cancer forced to strip the veneer off his existence and find meaning in his final days. Told in two parts, Ikiru offers Watanabe's quest in the present, and then through a series of flashbacks. The result...
7) Rashomon
Description
A riveting psychological thriller that investigates the nature of truth and the meaning of justice, widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife. This eloquent masterwork and international sensation revolutionized film language and introduced Japanese cinema, and a commanding new star.
8) Living
Description
The story of an ordinary man, reduced by years of oppressive office routine to a shadow existence, who at the eleventh hour makes a supreme effort to turn his dull life into something wonderful.
11) Yōjinbō
Description
A wandering Samurai-for-hire eventually finds a dramatic solution to the problems of a town with two warring clans.
12) Kumonosujō
Description
A vivid, visceral Macbeth adaptation, directed by Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai), sets Shakespeare's definitive tale of ambition and duplicity in a ghostly, fog-enshrouded landscape in feudal Japan. The film fuses classical Western tragedy with formal elements taken from Noh Theater to create an unforgettable cinematic experience.
13) Idiot
Description
Based on Dostoyevsky's fable of a holy fool, this story which takes place in Hokkaido in the winter is about a man who returns home after a stay in an asylum. He is being drawn toward Christianity; his antagonist is an anarchist.
14) Sanjūrō
Description
A group of young men set out to clean up the corruption in their town. They are joined by a scruffy, cynical samurai who doesn't fit their concept of how a warrior should look and act.
15) Ran
Description
"Akira Kurosawa's brilliantly conceived retelling of Shakespeare's 'King Lear' magically mixes Japanese history, Shakespeare's plot and Kurosawa's own feelings about loyalty in the epic masterpiece, 'Ran.' Set in 16th century Japan, 'Ran' relates the tale of how an aging ruler, Lord Hidetora (Tatsuya Nakadai), announces his intention to divide his land equally among his three sons. Hidetora's decision to step down unleashes a power struggle among...
16) Dersu Uzala
Description
The tale of an eccentric Mongolian frontiersman who is taken on as a guide by a Soviet surveying crew. At first perceived a naive and comical relic of an uncivilized age, he quickly proves himself otherwise with displays of ingenuity and bravery.
17) Red Beard
Description
A vain young doctor learns a valuable lesson from the dedicated director of a clinic for destitute patients.
19) Drunken angel
Appears on list
Description
Dr. Sanada is an alcoholic, in part due to the despair that constantly assails him as he tries to keep the inhabitants of a post-World War II Tokyo slum as healthy as possible. Food and medical supplies are scarce, the neighborhood is around an open sewer, and the only place to buy medicines is the black market-- controlled by the Yakuza. Matsunaga, a young yakuza with a violent temper, seeks Sanada's help to remove a bullet from his hand, but Matsunaga's...
20) Stray dog
Description
A bad day gets worse for rookie detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo's sweltering streets for the thief, whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, the cop and the criminal's lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami's own dark side -- Container.