Junzaburō Ban

On a Tokyo dump’s shantytown edge, interwoven vignettes follow residents scraping by: a boy who “drives” an imaginary trolley, a homeless father and son designing a dream house, a young woman brutalized at home, drunks, schemers, and saints of small kindnesses. Kurosawa crafts a ragged mosaic of hardship, fantasy, and flickers of grace that keep people moving forward.

Three robbers escape with loot from a heist before one of them kills the others. Their corpses wash up near the aftermath of a maritime calamity, provoking a policeman's interest.

When an American is murdered in a Japanese inn, Tokyo police detective Munesue follows the trail of the killer to New York. There he is joined by a New York City detective named Shuftan and together they sort out the crime.

In Osaka's slum, capricious folks without futures engage in pilfering, assault and robbery, prostitution, and the trading of ID cards and blood.

Okazaki Domain samurai Inaba Gotaro accidentally killed a superior while trying to save his beloved geisha, Ko-en. On the run, they were rescued by the actor Nakamura Utaemon, but Ko-en was taken by the Hatamoto, Ono Issai. Gotaro, who fell off a cliff, was saved by the Dutch-trained doctor, Shibarai Ryokai, and his daughter Oume. While traveling to Edo, they met Utaemon in Mishima, who was suffering from a serious eye disease. Ryokai’s treatment saved Utaemon from blindness, and a strong friendship was formed among the three.

The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry "Ei ja nai ka" ("Why not?") in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminates in a revelrous march on the Tokyo Imperial Palace, which turns into a massacre. Characteristically, Imamura focuses not on the leaders of the country, but on characters in the lower classes and on the fringes of society.

To solve the mystery of a murder of an old governess which takes place at a wealthy Daidoji family's country estate, family secrets and lies dating back several generations must be sorted out once and for all.

This extraordinarily complex film is not only a send-up of every samurai film ever made, it is also an extrapolation of the value of life. The Yamatai, represented by Prince Susano-O and elderly advisor Sumuke, hire Yumihiko of Matsuro to hunt the phoenix so that Queen Himiko, sister of Susano-O can have eteranal life.

The 18th "Ekimae" feature.

Driven by greed and a desire for his cousin's wife, Jiro orchestrates a complex frame-up to have his cousin arrested for murder.

A comedy directed by Mitsumasa Saito about a pair of clumsy detectives who solve a case they become involved in by chance. Shosuke Ikashima and Ryuji Kabaya, who repeatedly screw things up, encounter a real robbery during a bank robbery simulation training...

1967 Japanese movie

A comedic retelling of the legend of the loyal 47 ronin.

The golden duo of Yoshitaro Mura and Kiyoshi Atsumi brings you a full-on comedy filled with laughter and melancholy set in Kitakyushu. Matsujiro Minamida (Atsumi) plays an uneducated and uncouth local troublemaker who becomes the talk of the town following an unexpected incident.

Penultimate 23rd "Ekimae" comedy is about oil-field exploration.

A handsome young man infiltrates the Tanuki Kingdom, where conspiracies swirl around the Divine Mirror; he rescues the princess and turns the evil ministers against each other.

The 12th "Ekimae" feature.

A Toho film featuring the comedy duo Konto 55, (コント55号), comprised of comedians Kinichi Hagimoto and Jiro Sakagami.

The 19th NHK Asadora. A dramatization of the life of the singer Chiyako Sato. Michiko Godai replaced Haruna Takase in the lead two months into the series when Takase became ill. Adapted from the novel "Aa Tokyo Koshinkyoku" by Yuki Ryoichi.

Since his wife's death from illness, Oki Eisuke (Utsui Ken) has been working as a lawyer at the Oki Law Office, raising his high school-aged daughter, Kaori (Hayashi Norie). His late wife's father, Kimura Genkichi (Ban Junsaburo, Matsumura Tatsuo), a former Metropolitan Police Department detective, is in charge of accounting, while Ono Toshiko (Nakahara Rie) is in charge of typist and secretary. Also among the investigators are Sakamoto Ryu (Nakamura Masatoshi), who claims to be serving a two-year prison sentence, and Suzuki Masao (Okita Hiroyuki), who is on probation. These are the members of the firm that Eisuke trusts. A die-hard feminist, Eisuke throws himself wholeheartedly into the cases of female clients, regardless of legal fees, but...