21. High and Low ( Tengoku to jigoku )
Year of Release: 1963
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Thriller/Drama
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Actors: Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyôko Kagawa, Takashi Shimura, Isao Kimura, Kenjiro Ishiyama
Plot: An executive of a shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped and held for ransom.
22. Why Don't You Play in Hell? ( Jigoku de naze warui )
Year of Release: 2013
Overall Rating: 3.4 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Action/Comedy
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Shion Sono
Actors: Jun Kunimura, Fumi Nikaidô, Shin'ichi Tsutsumi, Hiroki Hasegawa, Gen Hoshino, Tomochika
Plot: A renegade film crew, dubbed The F*%k Bombers, finally realizes their decades-long passion to make a film - as long as they don't mind being embroiled in Yakuza clan feud where several parties will surely wind up dead.
23. Kiki's Delivery Service ( Majo no takkyûbin )
Year of Release: 1989
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Family
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Actors: Kirsten Dunst, Debbie Reynolds, Phil Hartman, Janeane Garofalo, Tress MacNeille, Matthew Lawrence
Plot: A young witch sets off on her own for a year of training in a far-away city and finds adventure and challenges await.
24. Ponyo on the Cliff ( Gake no ue no Ponyo )
Year of Release: 2009
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Adventure
MPAA Rating: G
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Actors: Frankie Jonas, Noah Lindsey Cyrus, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon
Plot: Hayao Miyazaki brings to life the story of Sosuke, a 5-year-old boy and
Ponyo, a goldfish princess who wishes to become human.
25. Wolf Children ( Okami kodomo no ame to yuki )
Year of Release: 2013
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Drama
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Actors: Kumiko Asô, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Megumi Hayashibara, Takuma Hiraoka, Amon Kabe, Tomie Kataoka
Plot: The story of student who fell in love with a young man who had a secret -
he was actually a wolf - and when fate suddenly takes him away, she is
forced to raise their children alone. Because of their unique nature, she
faces many trials, but the love is always there, even when the children
older and wandering farther away.
26. Tokyo Story ( Tôkyô monogatari )
Year of Release: 1953
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Actors: Chishu Ryu, Setsuko Hara, Haruko Sugimura, Chieko Higashiyama, Kuniko Miyake
Plot: An older couple head to Tokyo to visit their children and grandchildren, but are greeted with indifference and shipped off to a resort in this touching meditation on the sorrows of growing older.
27. Dreams ( Akira Kurosawa's Dreams )
Year of Release: 1990
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Drama/Fantasy
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Actors: Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baisho, Martin Scorsese, Mieko Harada, Yoshitaka Zushi, Mitsunori Isaki
Plot: Has eight various dream sequences which mostly tackle about humanity, nature and a child's innocence. Some characters repeat in certain dreams. A myriad of events occur such as mountaineers traveling thru a violent snow storm, tree spirits talking to a child, a demon explaining hell, nuclear plants exploding, a wise elderly talking about his opinions and a man stumbling inside a painting and meeting the artist who created it.
28. Akira
Year of Release: 1990
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Action
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo
Actors: Johnny Yong Bosch, Joshua Seth, Wendee Lee, Michelle Ruff, Jamieson Price, Mike Reynolds
Plot: The future and Neo-Tokyo where the leader of a violent biker gang becomes
involved with a shady military project that grants him amazing powers that
quickly spin out of control.
29. Ugetsu Monogatari
Year of Release: 1954
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Drama/Fantasy
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Actors: Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyô, Kinuyo Tanaka, Eitarô Ozawa, Ikio Sawamura, Mitsuko Mito
Plot: Long hailed as one of the great achievements in Japanese cinema, Kenji
Mizoguchi's film, set against the backdrop of the civil wars of 16th
Century Japan, follow two men looking for glory: one as a potter, the
other as a would-be samurai. Their ambition causes them to abandon their
respective wives, leading to tragedy.
30. Throne of Blood ( Kumonosu-jou )
Year of Release: 1957
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Drama/Action
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Actors: Toshirô Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura, Akira Kubo, Hiroshi Tachikawa, Minoru Chiaki
Plot: Inspired by a prophecy, an ambitious lord seeks to become emperor as his even more ambicious wife pushes him on.
