James

Essentially anything Ozu or Kurosawa is gold. Aside from that it's a genre I for sure need to explore more.

Goofle

Shaolin Soccer.

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Exo

Damn. I need to branch into Ozu. I have not seen a single film.

Black Francis

Better than Kung fu hustle imo

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"Hey Kids you got to meet the MIGHTY PIXIES!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbRbCtIgW3A

Goofle

Nobody got love for Chung King Express? I think it's fantastic.

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Exo

I think it was mentioned above.

Goofle

Yeah that was me. Was hoping somebody would pat me on the back but alas, we end up here

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Lord Larehip

Hollywood copies so many Japanese movies--Ring, Shall We Dance, etc. Even "The Magnificent Seven" was taken from "Seven Samurai". They even tried to make a Godzilla movie and it blew absolute chunks. There is a Japanese-American remake of a Korean movie called "Shutter", a horror movie, that's worth a look. I still think "Audition" wins in the horror genre hands down but, of course, I'm open to suggestions.

A superb Japanese movie is "Okuribito" a.k.a. "Departures." The plot, at points, is predictable and yet it is so well done that it grabs you anyway. It's the acting. The acting is best I've ever seen in a movie. It does not appear to be acting. You really think it's real, it's so well done. The acting sells the whole movie. It's a tear-jerker and I usually hate that genre because they try too hard to be poignant and I never come close to crying. "Saving Private Ryan" for example just left me cold. "Terms of Endearment"--same thing. But "Departures" just hits the mark perfectly. Typically Japanese movie philosophizing on love and death--and the acting sells it and you'll buy it hook, line and sinker.

Chula Vista

I've got The Good, the Bad, and the Weird in my queue too.

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

James

Oh man, it's a must. It's a style of filmmaking I have seen no where else. Incredibly subdued and subtle. Tokyo Story is the visual starting point, but my favourite of those I've seen is Tokyo Twilight. Very dark film, which is odd to see in such a strange style.