11 Best Japanese Movies to Watch

Foreign

Slow

Best Film

91% Vouch

77% Users

After the Storm

A quiet, smart and well-crafted movie by the much celebrated director Hirokazu Koreeda. Like his other work, notably Like Father, Like Son and Nobody Knows, it addresses family dynamics and how they surface. Once a successful writer, Ryota is now a private detective who spends the little money he makes on gambling instead of paying child support. His ex-wife and son are increasingly alienated by his behavior, until one day, during a storm, they all find themselves trapped in Ryota’s childhood home. Subtly touching on notions of inter-generational bond and tension – this is the kind of movie of which you’ll remember flashes long after you watch it.

Prime

Drama

Warm

2017

Foreign

Good Movie

71% Vouch

95% Users

Tokyo Godfathers

This is a great movie to watch on say a Sunday.. The story of three homeless people who find a newborn baby while foraging through trash on Christmas eve and decide to care for the baby and track down its parents. Middle-aged Gin, aging transvestite Hana and teenage runaway Miyuki form a makeshift family haunted by its members’ past and troubled by their present. As expected, Satoshi Kon (who also directed Paprika) delivers a beautifully animated story with unique characters and unique dynamics. The result is a very humane and moving animation, not to be missed by both Kon fans and those willing to be introduced to his style.

Amazon

Sunday

2003

Award Sweeper

Foreign

Best Film

90% Vouch

93% Users

Spirited Away

This is director Hayao Miyazaki and producers Studio Ghibli at their best. On the surface level, it’s a film about a young girl who stumbles into an abandoned theme park with her parents. She accidentally finds herself in a creepy spiritual world wherein she must find a way to save her parents and escape. More broadly, however, this is a film about the struggle for Japanese cultural identity in the wake of the economic crisis of the early 90’s. A deep and deeply hypnotizing movie about a little girl’s journey.

Amazon

Animation / Family

Sweet

2001

Foreign

Good Movie

78% Vouch

Nobody Knows (Dare Mo Shiranai)

A very touching film about Japanese children who are abandoned by their mother in their apartment and left on their own. It’s movie that perfectly encapsulates the world of kids and its alignment with this story is both heartbreaking and joyful. Their innocence will make you smile from ear to ear until moments come where you will shed tears. This is a film everyone should have watched, it breaks my heart how little-known it is.

Amazon

Drama

Touching

2004

Award Sweeper

Foreign

Best Film

90% Vouch

94% Users

Like Father, Like Son

Like Father, Like Son is a profoundly interesting, multi-layered Japanese film about a young couple who come to learn that their son was unknowingly switched at birth with another boy, and begin a complicated relationship with their real son and his family. Both sides struggle to cope with the looming possibility of returning each boy to his true parents, while the differences between the two families in means and lifestyle lend further complications to their attitudes and their ability to find resolution. It’s an even-handed yet poignant story that examines the difficult emotions around parenthood and parental expectation, including a meaningful examination of the “nature versus nurture” argument. Very honest and real — you’ll enjoy it even more if you appreciate the intricate style of Japanese cinema. Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes.

Amazon

Drama

Humane

2013

Foreign

Best Film

90% Vouch

93% Users

Wolf Children

If you’re living alone and just came back home from a bad day, it could make you feel like everything’s alright again. This is the kind of movie that feels like a warm hug, that you’d keep in your hard drive to watch over and over again, just because it makes you feel so damn good! The story offers a realistic yet ultimately forgiving view of maternity, and growing up in general. From director Mamoru Hosoda, who’s known for his other works like “The Girl Who Leaps Through Time”, “Wolf Children” is another kind of beautiful that can only be fully understood after you watched it.

Amazon

Animation

Beautiful

2012

Foreign

Best Film

90% Vouch

90% Users

Departures (Okuribito)

Death is a weird and scary concept. Ironically, the only way movies have been successful in covering it is through humor (Sunshine Cleaning and Beginners are other great examples). Departures gives this trend a new home, Japan. This film almost never saw the light of day, since at first many distributors refused to release it given the taboos against people who deal with death. Eventually, it received the credit it was due, including an Academy Award. It’s one of those rare movies that will take you on a journey through all of your emotions: it will move from making you laugh, to making you cry, then happy, and finally highly engaged in its subject matter. It’s a beautiful, funny, and compelling movie.

Netflix

Drama

Well-acted

2008

Foreign

Best Film

90% Vouch

93% Users

Princess Mononoke

A fantastic animated period piece set during the Muromachi era in Japanese history. It follows a young man who is looking for a cure for his curse from a demon before he dies. At the same time, the film explores environmental issues, showing the effects of a brutal war between the nature gods and humans. The story is action packed and fast paced, drawing freely from Japanese mythology and modern hot topic political issues. Similarly, the renowned animation is a combination of classic hand drawn animation and pioneering 3-D rendering.

Amazon

Animation / Sci-Fi

Beautiful

1999

Foreign

Slow

Good Movie

79% Vouch

Tony Takitani

It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that the mix of ideas and aesthetics that gave us Her has roots in Japan. Borrowing from the country’s poeticism, attention to detail and just appreciation for beauty; Tony Takitani is Her’s quiet and delicate elder brother-film, and one of the best this genre has to give. After spending a solitary childhood, a Japanese kid with the American name Tony grows up to be a successful technical illustrator. Without the time for the outside world or any luck with it, Tony indulges in his work and by extension his loneliness until he suddenly falls a distinctive young woman. Tony Takitani is a slow film, which quickly becomes a memorable experience due to its profound study of loneliness.

Amazon

Drama

Well-acted

2005

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