Kinema Junpo Award - Best Japanese Film
Japan's oldest film award. Awarded yearly by Kinema Junpo magazine since 1927
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- DirectorYutaka AbeStarsTokihiko OkadaYôko UmemuraKôji ShimaBased on novel "The Woman Who Touched Her Feet" by Nadematsu Sawada about Goheita Kita, an Osaka detective, and Saya Shiozawa, a pickpocket woman from Osaka, who go on vacation to Tokyo on an unusual journey.
- DirectorDaisuke ItôStarsDenjirô ÔkôchiHideo NakamuraKichiji NakamuraTrilogy about the travels of the kindly bakuto Kunisada Chuji. Film depicts Chuji's attempt to save the geisha Oshina, a rebellion against the rigid social structure of Edo Japan. Part 3. "The Chuji Patrol"
- DirectorMasahiro MakinoStarsKômei MinamiJûrô TanizakiTôichirô NegishiChambara (sword fighting film) about four ronins trying to save the woman they love kidnapped by the notorious Hatamoto. 8 minutes of fragments of "Ronin Street Episode 1: Beautiful Prey" were discovered and released in 2009.
- DirectorShigeyoshi SuzukiYoneo OtaStarsKeiko TakatsuRintarô FujimaYôyô KojimaA girl sets out on a lonely journey when a father decides it is best for his young daughter to go live with his brother and her uncle. The trek begins on a train, but has to continue on foot and by cart when a stranger gives her a lift. Alas, there is not any joy, compassion or kindness to be found; least of all at the uncle's home where she is both a surprise arrival and unwanted. She is sold to servitude and employment soon. Her world and life spirals downward as the girl finds how she is not able to rely on family, humanity or god for an iota of grace or assistance.
- DirectorHeinosuke GoshoStarsAtsushi WatanabeKinuyo TanakaMitsuko IchimuraA writer struggles to finish his story against many distractions, but the jazz party next door proves to be too much.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsTatsuo SaitôTomio AokiMitsuko YoshikawaTwo young brothers throw a tantrum when they discover that their father isn't the most important man in his workplace.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsTakeshi SakamotoNobuko FushimiDen ÔhinataTwo Tokyo co-workers come across a destitute young lady in search of a place to live.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsTakeshi SakamotoChôko IidaKôji MitsuiA kabuki actor's mistress hatches a jealous plot to bring down her lover's son.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsSachiko ChibaYuriko HanabusaToshiko ItôWhen she reaches adulthood, a precocious young woman sets out to find her biological father, who, as her mother tells her, abandoned them for another woman.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsIsuzu YamadaYôko UmemuraBenkei ShiganoyaTwo geisha sisters lead a hard life in the Gion district of Kyoto. After one of them feels obliged to support a bankrupt businessman, the other sister sets up various schemes to get rid of him.
- DirectorTomotaka TasakaStarsIsamu KosugiBontarô MiakeIchirô IzawaA patrol of Japanese troops in China goes on a patrol into enemy territory in this realistic ,if propagandistic, war drama.
- DirectorTomu UchidaStarsIsamu KosugiAkiko KazamiDonguriboyaThe setting is that of a farming family in Ibaraki from where also the originating writers hailed. The film depicts the events of a year during the Meiji era and occurrences and actualities of the farmers of the period. The family has little money. The wife has died and the teenage daughter has to work. The son attends school. The grandfather lives with them as well.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsMieko TakamineShin SaburiHideo FujinoWhen the patriarch of the Toda family suddenly dies, his widow discovers that he has left her with nothing but debt and married children who are unwilling to support her--except for her most thoughtful son, just returned from China.
- DirectorKajirô YamamotoStarsDenjirô ÔkôchiYatarô KurokawaSetsuko HaraWhen a boy who is in the navy college returns home for vacation he meets his young cousin who also wants to join in order to become a pilot. However, the younger man's mother is antagonistic knowing the folly of war. When the younger man recruits his cousin to speak to the mother the enlisted man is successful and the mother relents. The younger cousin is soon in the navy and training to become a pilot. He graduates too, but one night loses his friend yet has no time to reflect on the event as japan draws nearer to war with the West. The pilot and his fellow pilots are told to embark on a mission, but initially not told their purpose or destination. Only later it is revealed that the destination is Hawaii, USA. Pearl Habour looms.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsHaruko SugimuraToshinosuke NagaoShin TokudaijiA Japanese family weathers much hardship after their military uncle comes to live with them during WWII.
- DirectorKôzaburô YoshimuraStarsSetsuko HaraYumeko AizomeOsamu TakizawaAfter Japan's loss in the war, the wealthy, cultured, liberal Anjo family have to give up their mansion and their way of life. They hold one last ball at the house before leaving. The seemingly cold, cynical son secretly grieves for his defeated father and the values that the war destroyed, while the daughter tries to prevent father from taking his life and to find her own place in the new Japan.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTakashi ShimuraToshirô MifuneReizaburô YamamotoA drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChishû RyûSetsuko HaraYumeji TsukiokaSeveral people try to talk 27-year-old Noriko into marrying, but all she wants is to keep on caring for her widowed father.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsYoshiko KugaEiji OkadaOsamu TakizawaThe hero Saburo (Okada Eiji) is obstructed by a series of events from meeting Keiko (Kuga Yoshiko), his fiancee.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsSetsuko HaraChishû RyûChikage AwashimaA family chooses a match for their daughter Noriko, but she, surprisingly, has her own plans.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTakashi ShimuraNobuo KanekoShin'ichi HimoriA bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsAkiko TamuraYatsuko Tan'amiKen MitsudaStory 1 : "The Thirteenth Night". Seki turns up at her parents' house in the dead of night, where she breaks down and says she cannot continue to live with her husband, a rich man to whom the family is indebted. After a tearful and long discussion, they convince her to return. On the way home, the rickshaw driver turns out to be an old school friend, and they reminisce about the old days. .... Story 2 : "The Last Day Of The Year". Mine is a hard-working maid in the house of a miserly, slave-driving old woman who is burdened by a wastrel son, who pesters the old woman and her new husband for money to pay off gambling debts. Mine's uncle is her only surviving relative, and the man who raised her, who is very ill and needs money to repay a loanshark. Mine promises to borrow the money from her employer but, although the old woman initially agrees, she breaks that promise on the due date, New Year's Eve. Can honest Mine resist the temptation to steal ? ..... Story 3: "An Inlet of Muddy Water". The trials and tribulations of a group of young to middle-aged whores. All the women in this particular bawdy house look up to and admire the stunning O-Riki. But O-Riki is nevertheless troubled. Gen, a shabby coolie, hangs around and pesters her, despite having a long-suffering wife and a young son, who calls O-Riki "The Demon". One night, desperate for clients, several of the girls lunge at and literally drag some passers-by inside. One of these men is cultured and gentlemanly, and becomes O-Riki's regular client. She looks forward to his visits and hopes he will marry her. Meanwhile, Gen's wife alternates between solicitousness and harassment, and home life becomes tough.