Director: Akira Kurosawa

Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai) is about a poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves. This film was remade as a Western in The Magnificent Seven.

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Director: Hayao Miyazaki

This list wouldn’t be complete without mention of the greatest Japanese animator. His films are fairy stories which capture the social and cultural essence of Japan. They are invariably epic, beautiful, and touching. Spirited Away follows the adventures of a melancholy ten year old girl, who stumbles upon a world of monsters and spirits in the midst of her family’s move to the country.

Director: Itami Juzo

Tampopo is a humorous, understated, small movie about the owner of a ramen shop who learns to touch peoples lives and transform her own by making noodles. This is a heartwarming look at small town Japan and the interrelationships within family and community.

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Director: Akira Kurosawa (1910 - 1998)

Ikiru is the tale of a Japanese businessman who finds he is dying and wants to make the best of the time he has left. Kurosawa shows his distaste for bureaucracy and this movie is a sharp criticism of certain aspects of life in modern day Japan.

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Director: Akira Kurosawa (1910 - 1998)

Ran is Kurosawa’s last epic film. A period piece based in the Sengoku Era, this samurai film is visually very impressive. The color is beautiful and Emi Wada won an Academy Award for costume design. The action is stunningly shot and the huge battle scenes are breathtaking. The plot is loosely based on King Lear and adapted to a Japanese period piece.

Director: Yasujiro Ozu

Tokyo Story (Tokyo Monogatari) is about elderly grandparents who visit their children in Tokyo. The movie is a humourous satirical look at the the contrast of old and new, and the generational gap between the grandparents and their children.

Director: Masayuki Suo

A successful but unhappy accountant finds what he has been missing when he drops into a dance studio to take dance lessons. This is a delightful movie which far surpasses the inferior American remake starring Richard Gere and Jenifer Lopez.

Director: Yasujiro Ozu

Good morning is a humorous film where two boys decide to take out a vow of silence against all adults due to their family’s refusal to buy them a TV set. The vow of silence sets off a chain reaction of errors and comedic misunderstandings. Interesting as a time piece to show life in an era when television ownership was just beginning to sweep the nation in Japan.

Director: Isao Takahata

Takahata san is from the same Ghibli studios as Miyazaki and Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no Haka) is one of the saddest movies you will ever see. The movie is even the sadder for its poignant and beautiful animation. The story follows a young boy and his sister trying to survive in World War II Japan. This is an incredibly powerful film and easily deserves its place in the top ten.

Director: Hirokazu Koreda

Nobody Knows (daremo shiranai) is the story of four children, each to a different father, who are abandoned by their reckless mother. The movie won several awards and is a moving rendition of an actual event that happened in Tokyo.