1. The Uptown
A vacant theater still has “screenings” of its own: apparitions that come to life on a curved screen without anyone to see them, creating spectacular scenes without any projectors at all.
2. The Broken Commandment (破戒)
At the strong insistence of his father, Ushimatsu Segawa conceals his origins from a “buraku” area of low-class “untouchables,” leaving his hometown to serve as an elementary school teacher where he excels and is loved by his students. But he constantly struggles with the secret of his low-birth status and is disturbed by all of the discrimination levelled upon his class. It prevents him from pursuing a romance with Shiho, whom he meets at the temple where he resides, but who descends from a samurai family.
It has an average vote of 7.4 on TMDB.
3. Tokio - Generalprobe für das Reich der Alten (Tokio - Generalprobe für das Reich der Alten)
(Tokio - Generalprobe für das Reich der Alten)
4. An Actor's Revenge (雪之丞変化)
In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.
It has an average vote of 6.542 on TMDB.
5. Animot (Animot)
The experimental documentary filmed at rescue centres in Prague and Vlašim refuses the anthropocentric perspective and views the world through the eyes of wounded animals. The term Animot was taken over from Jacque Derrida. While the French philosopher and deconstructivist uses the term to refer to everything animalistic and non-human, the film, on the other hand, uses intimate details to point out the proximity between human beings and animals. They are connected by their vulnerability, helplessness and mortality.
6. Kids Return (キッズ・リターン)
Shinji and Masaru spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates and playing pranks. They drop out and Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a local yakuza gang. However, the world is a tough place.
It has an average vote of 7.117 on TMDB.
7. Linda Linda Linda (リンダ リンダ リンダ)
Only three days before their high school festival, guitarist Kei, drummer Kyoko, and bassist Nozomi are forced to recruit a new lead vocalist for their band. They choose Korean exchange student Son, though her comprehension of Japanese is a bit rough! It's a race against time as the group struggles to learn three tunes for the festival's rock concert—including a classic '80s punk-pop song by the Japanese group The Blue Hearts called "Linda Linda".
It has an average vote of 7.297 on TMDB.
8. Shin 信 (Shin 信)
Haunted by bad luck, two friends learn to trust in the world again and take their destiny into their own hands.
9. A Little Love
Through interspersed conversation and prose, this experimental documentary follows a poet and a neuroscientist as they explore the definition of love, what it means, and why it matters.
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
10. Logistics (Logistics)
Logistics or Logistics Art Project is an experimental art film. At 51,420 minutes , it is the longest movie ever made. A 37 day-long road movie in the true sense of the meaning. The work is about Time and Consumption. It brings to the fore what is often forgotten in our digital, ostensibly fast-paced world: the slow, physical freight transportation that underpins our economic reality.
It has an average vote of 7.6 on TMDB.
11. When the Impressionists Discovered Japan (Quand les impressionnistes découvrent le Japon…)
(Quand les impressionnistes découvrent le Japon…)
12. The Cinderella Addiction (哀愁しんでれら)
Fukuura Koharu works at a child welfare office and plunges into despair overnight. Then she meets Daigo, a private-practice doctor raising his 8-year-old daughter on his own. She resolves to build a happy household, but things don't go as expected.
It has an average vote of 6.857 on TMDB.
13. Drunken Angel (酔いどれ天使)
Doctor Sanada treats gangster Matsunaga after he is wounded in a gunfight, and discovers that he is suffering from tuberculosis. Sanada tries to convince Matsunaga to stay for treatment, which would drastically change his lifestyle. They form an uneasy friendship until Matsunaga's old boss Okada returns from prison.
It has an average vote of 7.599 on TMDB.
14. Ah-So Graham Norton
This one-off TV special follows the exploits of camp comic Graham Norton on a visit to Tokyo. Staying with a Japanese family, he explores the city's seedy side, visits the home of a famous Japanese make-up artist, and has an embarrassing experience with an electronic toilet/bidet.
15. Kabei: Our Mother (母べえ)
Set in Tokyo in 1940, the peaceful life of the Nogami Family suddenly changes when the father, Shigeru, is arrested and accused of being a Communist. His wife Kayo works frantically from morning to night to maintain the household and bring up her two daughters with the support of Shigeru's sister Hisako and Shigeru's ex-student Yamazaki, but her husband does not return. WWII breaks out and casts dark shadows on the entire country, but Kayo still tries to keep her cheerful determination, and sustain the family with her love. This is an emotional drama of a mother and an eternal message for peace.
It has an average vote of 7.2 on TMDB.
16. The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief
Welcome to The Great Happiness Space: Rakkyo Café. The club's owner, Issei , has a staff of twenty boys all under his training to become the top escorts of Osaka's underground love scene. During their training, they learn how to dress, how to talk, how to walk, and most importantly, how to fake relationships with the girls who become their source of income. Join us as Osaka's number one host boy takes us on a journey through the complex and heartrenching world of love for sale in the Japanese underground.
It has an average vote of 7.1 on TMDB.
17. Air Doll (空気人形)
A life-size, inflatable sex doll suddenly comes to life one day. Without her owner knowing, she goes for a walk around town and falls in love with Junichi. She starts to date Junichi and gets a job at the same store where he works. Everything seems to be going perfectly for her until something unexpected happens.
It has an average vote of 6.989 on TMDB.
18. Birth and Death
This cinema-verite-style documentary interweaves the pregnancy and childbirth of a young woman with the lingering death of a cancer patient to comment on the celebration and tragedy of existence. The tenderness and intimacy of the young couple, and the mystery of birth are contrasted with the dignity of a man who faces his death without deception.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
19. Bodysong
Documentary footage from various sources, set to music. Showing the whole of human life, from birth to death and beyond.
It has an average vote of 5.1 on TMDB.
20. Corazón en el cenicero (Corazón en el cenicero)
(Corazón en el cenicero)
