Known for
7.1A mysterious video has been linked to a number of deaths, and when an inquisitive journalist finds the tape and views it herself, she sets in motion a chain of events that puts her own life in danger.
Ring
1998
6.8Benkei, a master fighter and killer, vows never to take another life after his conversion to Buddhism. His faith in pacifism, however, is shaken and ultimately broken by the attacks from a trio of fighters known only as the demons. Taking up his sword once more, he sets out to end their murderous terror.
Gojoe: Spirit War Chronicle
2001
5.4A young pathologist seeks answers to the mysterious death of a friend and soon comes into contact with the same cursed videotape that caused the death of the friend's wife and son, which is haunted by the curse of Sadako, a relentless spirit.
The Spiral
1998
7.8In rural Japan, the survivors of a tragedy converge and attempt to overcome their damaged selves, all while a serial killer is on the loose.
Eureka
2001
NRThose who want to die seek refuge in a mysterious café in this feverishly strange Japanese debut.
Haruneko
2016
5.5A private detective takes on an assignment to return a girl, who is set to marry into a prestigious family, from a mysterious commune in the forest.
Mike Yokohama: A Forest with No Name
2003
Film credits
Behind the camera
7.1A mysterious video has been linked to a number of deaths, and when an inquisitive journalist finds the tape and views it herself, she sets in motion a chain of events that puts her own life in danger.
Ring
1998
6.8Benkei, a master fighter and killer, vows never to take another life after his conversion to Buddhism. His faith in pacifism, however, is shaken and ultimately broken by the attacks from a trio of fighters known only as the demons. Taking up his sword once more, he sets out to end their murderous terror.
Gojoe: Spirit War Chronicle
2001
5.4A young pathologist seeks answers to the mysterious death of a friend and soon comes into contact with the same cursed videotape that caused the death of the friend's wife and son, which is haunted by the curse of Sadako, a relentless spirit.
The Spiral
1998
7.8In rural Japan, the survivors of a tragedy converge and attempt to overcome their damaged selves, all while a serial killer is on the loose.
Eureka
2001
NRThose who want to die seek refuge in a mysterious café in this feverishly strange Japanese debut.
Haruneko
2016
5.5A private detective takes on an assignment to return a girl, who is set to marry into a prestigious family, from a mysterious commune in the forest.
Mike Yokohama: A Forest with No Name
2003
6.0An autobiographical docudrama about an attempt to remake Alain Resnais' 1959 film "Hiroshima Mon Amour".
H Story
2001
6.3Three couples stay at a lakeside cottage with their children. They want them to prepare intensely for a prestigious high school entrance exam with the help of a private tutor. One night, one of the wives confesses to her husband that she has killed his mistress.
The Lakeside Murder Case
2005
7.3Depicts the life of a family in a remote Japanese timber village. Family head Tahara Kozo lives with his mother Sachiko, wife Yasuyo, nephew Eisuke and young daughter Michiru. Economic recession and failed development plans cause tragedy in the family.
Suzaku
1997
6.4A filmmaker and crew slowly go insane after being continually haunted by the ghost of a dead actress.
Don't Look Up
1996
5.2Years after moving to Tokyo with her parents, Hinako returns to her hometown in rural Shikoku. She soon learns that her childhood friend, Sayori, died several years ago and that Sayori's mother, who used to perform seances and exorcisms, has gone almost insane with grief. After seeing Sayori's ghost several times during the night, Hinako consults with some local experts on the paranormal and discovers that Sayori's mother has something planned for her daughter...
Shikoku
1999
5.8Tetsuro is living with his young girlfriend Aki in a pleasant house in Tokyo. They both spend a lot of time at their jobs. However their routine is upset when Tetsuro brings his 8-year-old son Shun to live with them, while his ex-wife recovers from a car accident.
M/Other
1999
7.4A.D. 2015: A virus spreads in many cities globally, a suicidal disease infected by pictures. Once infected, the diseased will soon meet death. They have no way of fighting back, filled with fear and despair. The media calls it the 'Lemming Syndrome'.
My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?
2005
7.0Emotionally withdrawn strip club dancer Ayako has never recovered from her mother's suicide when she was young. She begins a relationship with patient potter Daiji, but leaves him behind when she quits her job and returns to her home town after a 10 year absence.
Firefly
2001
5.8A young teen's father dies, and he is sent to an orphanage. He's teased because he stutters almost runs away, until a beautiful, androgynous boy, Yasuo, convinces him to join the choir.
Boy's Choir
2000
7.6The slow collapse of the relationship between an out-of-work actor and his girlfriend.
2/Duo
1997
5.1Nami has been creating artwork for a new video game based on images she's been seeing in her dreams. With one of the game producers, she travels out to an abandoned house that seems to match her visions. As they explore the old mansion, Nami begins to have more visions of a forgotten childhood, until at last she comes across a photo of twin infants, labelled "Nami" and "Naomi". As Nami and the producer go from room to room, an unseen person seems to be watching them from a hidden room.
St. John's Wort
2001
5.1Nami has been creating artwork for a new video game based on images she's been seeing in her dreams. With one of the game producers, she travels out to an abandoned house that seems to match her visions. As they explore the old mansion, Nami begins to have more visions of a forgotten childhood, until at last she comes across a photo of twin infants, labelled "Nami" and "Naomi". As Nami and the producer go from room to room, an unseen person seems to be watching them from a hidden room.
St. John's Wort
2001
5.8In the final days of World War II, a 15-year-old boy grappling with survivor's guilt watches a rural Japanese community quietly fracture under the heavy emotional tolls of war.
A Boy's Summer in 1945
2002
6.9A violent, guitar-playing, electrically charged boxer faces off against an electronic wizard half-merged with a metallic Buddha.
Electric Dragon 80000V
2001
9.4Two brothers start working as benshi narrators of silent films in a cinema in the early 20th century. This premise is the jumping-off point for an epic family saga that follows the protagonists and their descendants through wars and technological developments.
BAUS: The Ship's Voyage Continues
2025
NR1995 Japanese mystery video film.
Two-Headed Devil - Who is the True Culprit?
1995
6.6One day Kyoko watches television and sees a man turning himself in to the police after murdering a family. Something within Kyoko connects with the man, as she recognizes a similar soul. Despite the worries of the killer's lawyer, she approaches the killer and the two start corresponding.
The Kiss
2007
NRIn the early morning of January 17, 1995, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake struck, and Tadao Furuichi (Hidekazu Akai), who was running a camera store in Kobe City, lost his friends, his house, and his property. Tadao is busy volunteering for the reconstruction of the town, and one day he comes across his own golf bag that survived the earthquake. Feeling a miracle, Tadao decides to challenge the professional golf test before he turns 60.
Arigatou
2006
NRIn the early morning of January 17, 1995, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake struck, and Tadao Furuichi (Hidekazu Akai), who was running a camera store in Kobe City, lost his friends, his house, and his property. Tadao is busy volunteering for the reconstruction of the town, and one day he comes across his own golf bag that survived the earthquake. Feeling a miracle, Tadao decides to challenge the professional golf test before he turns 60.
Arigatou
2006
7.4Mitsuko, a thirty-something Japanese secretary, lives a very simple life devoid of ambition. She has an affair with Eiji, a rich, arrogant and newly divorced businessman who is intrigued by her retiring personnality but she quickly breaks up as he repeatedly tries to make her change her lifestyle and values. While Eiji ponders the reasons of the breakup, Mitsuko falls for one of her neighbours, a young slacker who has the same approach to life as her. But Mitsuko's new lover is fascinated by Eiji's power and social status... A triangle that will inevitably leave one of the characters "unloved".
Unloved
2001
7.5Kawamoto works and lives in a dilapidated pool hall which also serves as a rehearsal space for him and his friend Chikako. They seem contented to while away their hours doing nothing much at all. Meanwhile, an old pool shark meets some people from his past that he is none too happy to see again. How will this affect their private haven?
Timeless Melody
2000
5.1It is 1980. Sadatomo is at a secondary school in a small town. His parents barely take any notice of him. The strict teacher Kobayashi has hung up a 'humanity index' in the classroom, divided into the categories 'delinquents', 'scum' and 'people'. In each category he has hung name-cards of pupils. One day Kobayashi finds out that Sadatomo and his friends have stolen some things from a shop for fun. Their fathers are informed and as punishment, the children have to write a 'self-critical' essay of no less than thirty pages. For the first time, Sadatomo is beaten by his father. Shocked, he writes a piece entitled 'I am an onion', in which the teacher thinks he can detect a first sign of humanity. That is the start of a confusing situation in which it gets hard to distinguish lies, truth, justified self-criticism and opportunist wheeler dealing, even for the boys.
Bad Company
2001
NRIn four chapters, the film anatomises the chaotic life of a radio agony uncle who is having simultaneous affairs with a sado-masochistic call-girl and the wife of an aggrieved tour-bus driver
Wild Side
1993
Omnibus film, set in a fictional town at 45゜N latitude: Wonder Rubbish; Pao-san to no fukushu; Jonetsu no koya; Kaze wa, dotchi ni fuite iru
N45゜
1994
5.0A photographer and a filmmaker challenge each other to shoot—one to photograph the other to film—two young actresses, one from Tokyo, the other from the countryside. The photographer seeks naturalism in his compositions, and Kawase observes and comments on his work. The competition between the photographer, the filmmaker, and the actresses creates a charged atmosphere.
Kaleidoscope
1999
10.0A washed-up former punk rocker is frustrated by his work at his grandmother's hot spring. He returns to Tokyo and finds himself entangled in a web of crime.
Human Trash
2001
NRAfter his shot at a record deal falls through, Jun transfers to sleepy Nagoya and begins busking songs by his favourite 1970s glam rock band, Exne Kedy. The music catches the eye of fellow fan Ibuki and the pair soon fall in love over their shared musical taste.
PLASTIC
2023
NRAbout an energetic kindergarden student and the people around him
Ringo no usagi
1997
NRAmi, a girl who works as a flower arranger, also works as a professional assassin
Korosiya Ami
1993
7.7Tokyo Blood is an omnibus film of 4 short stories featuring various characters entrapped in Tokyo landscapes.
Tokyo Blood
1993
7.0Coffee-shop waitress Kanako, divorced with a young son, finds herself obliged to honour a rash promise she made to a long-time customer. He always wanted to be buried in the land rather than a cemetery, so that his body would be 'useful' - and now he's dead. Kanako and her boy enlist the help of a friendly florist with a small truck, steal the corpse, and head for the mountains.
Elephant Song
1994
NRKaori, who can find nothing in her daily life but sex with her male friend Taro, suddenly meets a middle-aged man named Kosuke. She hopes that Kosuke will quench her thirst, but is disappointed to learn that he has a woman named Naomi. Upon learning of Kaori's feelings for him, Taro...
Tsutsumi honoo no gotoku
1994
8.0Set against the backdrop of the Aburanokoji incident, revered as the emblem of the Shinsengumi's decline, this captivating period drama intricately weaves the tales of samurai and commoners navigating through tumultuous times.
CHAIN
2021
10.0Three young Japanese drop-outs are comically adrift in New York
The Artful Dodgers
1998


