The best Kunie Tanaka’s movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Kunie Tanaka’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Kunie Tanaka.
Kwaidan
7.9/10
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.
Sanjuro
8/10
Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed "Sanjuro." In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.
The Face of Another
7.9/10
A businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality.
Pitfall
7.5/10
A man wanders into a seemingly deserted town with his young son in search of work. But after a bit of bad luck, he joins the town's population of lost souls.
The Bad Sleep Well
8/10
In this loose adaptation of "Hamlet," illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and marries the crippled daughter of company vice president Iwabuchi. At the reception, the wedding cake is a replica of their corporate headquarters, but an aspect of the design reminds the party of the hushed-up death of Nishi's father. It is then that Nishi unleashes his plan to avenge his father's death.
The Bullet Train
6.8/10
One of the Japanese Shinkansen “Bullet Trains” is threatened with a bomb that will explode automatically if the train slows below 80 km/h, unless a ransom is paid. Police race to find the bombers and to learn how to defuse the bomb.
Evil of Dracula
6.3/10
Dracula, was shipwrecked in the 1600s in Japan, when Christianity was illegal. He was forced to spit on the cross and wander alone in the desert. Upon finding himself bleeding, he was so thirsty he drank the blood and acquired a taste for it, attacking local teenager Keiko. In present day, Professor Shiraki arrives at a girl's school where he was to be teaching, but now the principal, whose wife died in a car accident, wants Shiraki to take over for him. The principal is keeping his wife in the cellar for a week, supposedly according to local custom, to see if she might return to life. Immediately suspicious, Shiraki investigates and becomes entrenched in horror of the vampires. Three girls are caught up too, as one has already been bitten, and her roomates stay to care for her.
Battles Without Honor and Humanity
7.4/10
In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza...
The Sword of Doom
7.9/10
Ryunosuke, a gifted swordsman plying his trade during the turbulent final days of Shogunate rule, has no moral code and kills without remorse. It’s a way of life that leads to madness.
The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity
8.5/10
Kaji is sent to the Japanese army labeled Red and is mistreated by the vets. Along his assignment, Kaji witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against the recruit Obara. He also sees his friend Shinjô Ittôhei defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Russian tanks division.
Dodes'ka-den
7.3/10
By turns tragic and transcendent, Akira Kurosawa’s film follows the daily lives of a group of people barely scraping by in a slum on the outskirts of Tokyo. Yet as desperate as their circumstances are, each of them—the homeless father and son envisioning their dream house; the young woman abused by her uncle; the boy who imagines himself a trolley conductor—finds reasons to carry on. The unforgettable Dodes’ka-den was made at a tumultuous moment in Kurosawa’s life. And all of his hopes, fears, and artistic passion are on fervent display in this, his gloriously shot first color film.
Goyokin
7.6/10
A guilt-haunted samurai warrior attempts to stop a massacre taking place.
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Final Episode
7.3/10
While Hirono is in prison, his rival Takeda turns his own crime organization into a political party, whose two executives stir up new tensions in their thirst for power.
Station
7/10
A detective goes out of his way to crack the case of a serial killer who specialises in murdering police officers.
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Proxy War
7.3/10
Shozo Hirono has managed to separate from the Yamamori family and create his own small family, and extend his circle of acquaintances. These new friendships include a powerful underboss of the Muraoka family, Noboru Uchimoto.
Tomorrow
7.4/10
On August 9, 1945, the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. This film, based on a story by Mitsukaru Inoue, describes the daily life of people in Nagasaki the day before that fateful event. It presents the human drama of people's lives, and their feelings of joy and sadness. These include a newlywed couple, an expectant mother, and lovers who must say farewell because the boy is called to serve in the army. Each of these people, like others in the city, hoped to live with their dreams for ‘tomorrow’. But tomorrow never comes for them, as their lives are brought to an abrupt and unexpected end. Knowing how the story ends, in this case, doesn't detract from it at all; rather, it enhances the emotional impact, which is further heightened by the poignant musical score from Teizo Matsumura. 'Ashita' is the first film in Kazuo Kuroki's 'War Requiem Trilogy,' which also includes 'Utsukushii Natsu Kirishima' (2002) and 'Chichi to Kuraseba' (2004).
The Demon
7.4/10
When Sokichi stops providing his long-time lover Kikuyo enough money to pay for the care of their three young children, Kikuyo leaves the children with Sokichi - and his very surprised and angry wife Oume - and disappears.
The Wolves
7.2/10
After going to prison for killing the boss of the Kanno gang, Seji Iwahashi (Tatsuya Nakadai) gets released early -- only to find that his former gang has merged with the Kannos. But with bitter resentments lingering on both sides, how long will it be before the bloodshed begins anew? Set in 1926 Japan, this serpentine crime thriller from director Hideo Gosha also stars Toshio Kurosawa and Isao Natsuyagi as Iwahashi's closest ally.
Company Buggers
6.5/10
Hiroshi, a small-time racketeer, makes a name for himself extorting vulnerable companies and their directors for financial gain.
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Police Tactics
7.3/10
As Japan gears up for the 1964 Olympic games, the cops start to crack down on the gangs, under pressure from the public and the press, adding a new dimension in the war for power among the yakuza families of Hiroshima.
