High On Films' 50 Best Japanese Films of the 21st Century
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It is a general idea that the Japanese cinema’s downfall started in the 1980s, and the 90s economic stagnation knocked the film industry down until its revival through J-horror (in the late 1990s). But since cinema history is often written from a Western perspective, we need to deeply examine such one-dimensional outlook directed against any home-grown national cinema. It’s true that the spread of television reduced the number of theater-going audience in Japan in the 1970s and 1980s. At the same time, the Hollywood movies garnered more popularity than the Japanese ones. Moreover, the biggest Japanese film studios like Shochiku, Toho and Nikkatsu were in deep financial trouble from the start of 1970s and they hardly made the kind of films that found an international audience. Finally, we should take in the fact that around the 1980s & 1990s, Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong and Taiwanese cinema became the face of Asian cinema in the European and American markets.
But it doesn’t mean there was dearth of new talents in the post-new wave generation Japanese cinema. From Kazhuhiko Hasegawa’s The Man Who Stole the Sun (1979), Kohei Oguri’s Muddy River (1981), Yoshimitsu Morita’s The Family Game (1983) to Juzo Itami’s The Funeral (1984) & Tampopo (1985), and Mitsuo Yanagimachi’s Fire Festival (1985), we are gradually discovering the gems of Japanese cinema from this era. One of the great Japanese auteurs, Nobuhiko Obayashi made some of his best works in the 1980s. And who can forget the rise of anime and the domination of Studio Ghibli in the 1980s & 1990s? Then there was Takeshi Kitano, Shinya Tsukamoto, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Hirokazu Koreeda, Naomi Kawase, and so on. Even the veteran Japanese filmmakers like Nagisa Oshima, Shohei Imamura, Kaneto Shindo, Masahiro Shinoda, Seijun Suzuki, and Koji Wakamatsu were making movies in the 80s, 90s, and some even in the 2000s.
The point is that – despite the limited output of the massive Japanese film industry in the decades following the 1960s or the alleged lack of creative flourish – Japanese cinema always continues to be one of the greatest cinemas around the globe. The masters of 21st century Japanese cinema are also engaged in the process of comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comforted. Maybe, our myopic tendencies might have kept some of the gems of modern Japanese cinema hidden. It’s akin to what the Nigerian author Adichie says about ‘the danger of a single story’. A phrase she uses in her TED speech to emphasize how false perceptions and overly simplistic beliefs can restrict our ideas about a person or a group or a country.
In that way, movie lists are efficient to overcome the simplistic notions about a national cinema. A movie list, of course is strictly subjective, and hence it’s not definitive even though the title makes it sounds like that. In fact, making a movie list is not an act of educating movie-lovers. But it’s an act of learning and sharing. So join us in this process and let’s look at some of the best films of Japanese cinema from the ongoing 21st century:
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1 new
Ôdishon
1999 — a.k.a. Audition, in 11 top lists Check -
2 new
Yurîka
2000 — a.k.a. Eureka, in 2 top lists Check -
3 new
Batoru rowaiaru
2000 — a.k.a. Battle Royale, in 9 top lists Check -
4 new
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
2001 — a.k.a. Spirited Away, in 39 top lists Check -
5 new
Sennen joyû
2001 — a.k.a. Millennium Actress, in 7 top lists Check -
6 new
Kairo
2001 — a.k.a. Pulse, in 5 top lists Check -
7 new
Tasogare Seibei
2002 — a.k.a. The Twilight Samurai, in 10 top lists Check -
8 new
Amida-do dayori
2002 — a.k.a. Letter from the Mountain, in 0 top lists Check -
9 new
Zatôichi
2003 — a.k.a. The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi, in 6 top lists Check -
10 new
Tôkyô goddofâzâzu
2003 — a.k.a. Tokyo Godfathers, in 5 top lists Check -
11 new
Cha no aji
2004 — a.k.a. The Taste of Tea, in 2 top lists Check -
12 new
Suwingu gâruzu
2004 — a.k.a. Swing Girls, in 1 top list Check -
13 new
Dare mo shiranai
2004 — a.k.a. Nobody Knows, in 8 top lists Check -
14 new
Hauru no ugoku shiro
2004 — a.k.a. Howl's Moving Castle, in 18 top lists Check -
15 new
Linda Linda Linda
2005, in 2 top lists Check -
16 new
Yureru
2006 — a.k.a. Sway, in 0 top lists Check -
17 new
Paprika
2006, in 7 top lists Check -
18 new
Jitsuroku Rengo Sekigun: Asama sanso e no michi
2007 — a.k.a. United Red Army, in 2 top lists Check -
19 new
Mogari no mori
2007 — a.k.a. The Mourning Forest, in 2 top lists Check -
20 new
Aruitemo aruitemo
2008 — a.k.a. Still Walking, in 7 top lists Check -
21 new
Ai no mukidashi
2008 — a.k.a. Love Exposure, in 3 top lists Check -
22 new
Tokyo Sonata
2008, in 3 top lists Check -
23 new
Okuribito
2008 — a.k.a. Departures, in 8 top lists Check -
24 new
Fisshu sutôrî
2009 — a.k.a. Fish Story, in 0 top lists Check -
25 new
Kari-gurashi no Arietti
2010 — a.k.a. The Secret World of Arrietty, in 0 top lists Check -
26 new
Jûsan-nin no shikaku
2010 — a.k.a. 13 Assassins, in 1 top list Check -
27 new
Kiseki
2011 — a.k.a. I Wish, in 0 top lists Check -
28 new
Kotoko
2011, in 0 top lists Check -
29 new
Waga haha no ki
2011 — a.k.a. Chronicle of My Mother, in 0 top lists Check -
30 new
Like Someone in Love
2012, in 2 top lists Check -
31 new
Ôkami kodomo no Ame to Yuki
2012 — a.k.a. Wolf Children, in 7 top lists Check -
32 new
Soshite chichi ni naru
2013 — a.k.a. Like Father, Like Son, in 3 top lists Check -
33 new
Kaguya-hime no monogatari
2013 — a.k.a. The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, in 8 top lists Check -
34 new
Jigoku de naze warui
2013 — a.k.a. Why Don't You Play in Hell?, in 1 top list Check -
35 new
Iya monogatari: Oku no hito
2013 — a.k.a. The Tale of Iya, in 1 top list Check -
36 new
Ritoru foresuto: Natsu/Aki
2014 — a.k.a. Little Forest: Summer/Autumn, in 0 top lists Check -
37 new
0.5 miri
2014 — a.k.a. 0.5 Mm, in 1 top list Check -
38 new
Umimachi Diary
2015 — a.k.a. Our Little Sister, in 3 top lists Check -
39 new
Happî awâ
2015 — a.k.a. Happy Hour, in 5 top lists Check -
40 new
An
2015 — a.k.a. Sweet Bean, in 1 top list Check -
41 new
Fuchi ni tatsu
2016 — a.k.a. Harmonium, in 1 top list Check -
42 new
Kono sekai no katasumi ni
2016 — a.k.a. In This Corner of the World, in 2 top lists Check -
43 new
Kimi no na wa.
2016 — a.k.a. Your Name., in 12 top lists Check -
44 new
Hanagatami
2017, in 0 top lists -
45 new
Kamera o tomeru na!
2017 — a.k.a. One Cut of the Dead, in 4 top lists -
46 new
Manbiki kazoku
2018 — a.k.a. Shoplifters, in 10 top lists -
47 new
Netemo sametemo
2018 — a.k.a. Asako I & II, in 0 top lists -
48 new
Mother: Mazâ
2020 — a.k.a. Mother, in 0 top lists -
49 new
Gûzen to sôzô
2021 — a.k.a. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, in 3 top lists -
50 new
Doraibu mai kâ
2021 — a.k.a. Drive My Car, in 11 top lists
Last updated on Jun 19, 2022; source