Shōhei Imamura

September 11 (2002)

An anthology of short films inspired by the events of the September 11 World Trade Center attacks. ...

Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (2001)

A down-and-out businessman travels to a seaside town, where he meets a woman with unusual sexual powers. ...

Dr. Akagi (1998)

At the end of WWII, Japanese doctor Akagi searches for the cure for hepatitis in the prisoner-of-war camp. ...

The Eel (1997)

A businessman kills his adulterous wife and is sent to prison. After his release, he opens a barbershop and meets new people, talking to almost no one except for an eel he befriended while in prison. ...

The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987)

Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old veteran of the New Guinea campaign in World War II, sets out to conduct interviews with survivors and relatives to find the truth behind atrocities committed by Japanese military, in particular the unexplained killing of two Ja ...

Zegen (1987)

At the time between the World Wars, Japan is involved in empire-building throughout East and Southeast Asia. After a brief career as a low-level military adventurer, Iheiji sets up chains of brothels throughout Asia. As Japan's power in the region grows, s ...

Have You Seen the Barefoot God? (1986)

2 almost inseparable friends. The talented painter recognized by all decided to leave the town where they live and become an artist and the shy poet who only sees his future in his mother's business. ...

The Ballad of Narayama (1983)

In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die. If anyone should refuse they would disgrace their family. Old Orin is 69. This winter it is her turn to go to the mountain. Bu ...

Eijanaika (1981)

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 ...

Vengeance Is Mine (1979)

A thief, a murderer, and a charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu is on the run from the police. ...

The Youth Killer (1976)

Though his parents help him run the family business, Jun still feels persecuted by their love; when they bar him from meeting with his girlfriend, tensions increase. ...

Outlaw-Matsu Comes Home (1973)

"In Search of Unreturned Soldiers was about former soldiers of the Japanese army who chose not to return to Japan after the war. I found several of them who had remained in Thailand. Two years later, I invited one of them to make his first return visit to ...

Karayuki-San, the Making of a Prostitute (1973)

Karayuki-san, the Making of a Prostitute is a 1975 Japanese film by director Shohei Imamura. It is a documentary on one of the Japanese "karayuki-san," who were women that were taken from their homes in Japan and used as prostitutes in the post-war period. ...

The Pirates of Buban (1972)

By going to the Philippines, Imamura comes to meet people living in an extreme poverty. He discovers very quickly that some communities are under the control of cruel & armed pirates. Imamura will come to meet those men in order to understand their positio ...

Oreno Shimokita (1972)

Shohei Imamura's short documentary. ...

Following the Unreturned Soldier: Thailand (1971)

In Thailand, three Japanese soldiers, left in the jungle more than a quarter of a century after their country's defeat, come together to discuss what their life was like during and after the war. Part two of Imamura's quest for Japanese soldiers who staye ...

History of Postwar Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess (1970)

Postwar Japan as it is described by Etsuko, the manager of a bar catering to foreigners in Yokosuka. The way of life of a woman brimming with vitality, who skipped the countryside right after the war and, with her womanhood as a weapon, lived through atomi ...

Following the Unreturned Soldiers: Malaysia (1970)

Famed filmmaker tracks down former Japanese soldiers in Malaysia. ...

Profound Desires of the Gods (1968)

Tokyo engineer Kariya arrives on a primitive tropical island, where he interacts with the Futori clan, to drill a well to power a sugar mill. ...

East China Sea (1968)

Rokurō starts a part-time job on a fishing boat, but the ship has an engine failure in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. ...

Neon taiheiki (1968)

A Man Vanishes (1967)

A Man Vanishes examines the concept of Johatsu, tackling the phenomenon of people missing in Japan over the years. It picks one such person from the list, someone who had seemed to disappear from the face of the earth due to embezzlement from his company, ...

The Pornographers (1966)

Subu makes pornographic films. He sees nothing wrong with it. They are an aid to a repressed society, and he uses the money to support his landlady, Haru, and her family. From time to time, Haru shares her bed with Subu, though she believes her dead husban ...

Intentions of Murder (1964)

The neglected common-law wife of a Japanese librarian is repeatedly harassed by a young man with a heart condition who seduces her with the prospect of a better life. ...

The Insect Woman (1963)

A woman, Tome, is born to a lower class family in Japan in 1918. The title refers to an insect, repeating its mistakes, as in an infinite circle. Imamura, with this metaphor, introduces the life of Tome, who keeps trying to change her poor life. ...

The Gambling Monk (1963)

One summer day, the chief monk of the Hojuin Temple dies. Harumichi rushes back to town hearing about his brother's death and requests for a grand funeral. He had been unwilling to take over the family business and had chosen a life as a middle school teac ...

A Modern Samurai Village (1963)

Tajima Yumi, in grade school, is overjoyed when her father says they are moving to an apartment in a big city. But the beautiful home she had imagined is in a slum area called Samurai Village, a little settlement, where people live from hand to mouth. To m ...

Foundry Town (1962)

Set in Kawaguchi in the early 60s, this simple story chronicles the lives of foundry families and one girl's dreams of higher education. ...

Pigs and Battleships (1961)

In the city of Yokosuka, Kinta and his lover Haruko, both involved with yakuza, brave the post-occupation period with a goal to be together. ...

My Second Brother (1959)

The film tells the story of four orphans living in an impoverished mining town. An adaptation of a best-selling book based on the diary of a ten-year-old zainichi (ethnic Korean Japanese) girl, it was one of the first films to deal with the subject of zain ...

Endless Desire (1958)

Set in post-war Japan, a group of five, four men and one woman, gathers in the basement of a butcher shop to dig up a cache of morphine buried during the war. A grimly humorous tale of twisted relationships as one by one each of the group is eliminated. ...

Nishi Ginza Station (1958)

This short comedy concerns the extramarital affair of a drugstore owner. It is based on a popular song by the star of the film, Frank Nagai. ...

Stolen Desire (1958)

A rambunctious and ribald tale of a troupe of travelling actors who alternate highlights of kabuki theatre with strip shows. ...

A Sun-Tribe Myth from the Bakumatsu Era (1957)

Saheji, a man-about-town, gets stuck at a high-class brothel when he can't pay the bill. He makes the best of his situation by performing various tasks amidst the tumult of the end of the shogunate—but always by making sure to get a "commission" for his ...

Hungry Soul (1956)

Reiko, who tolerates abuse in her marriage to a man 23 years her senior, is friends with Mayumi, a beautiful widow. Reiko meets her husband's business rival, a young, capable businessman, and falls for him. Meanwhile, Mayumi enters into a relationship with ...

Our Town (1956)

In 1906, after finishing a tough migrant job in the Philippines, Takichi has returned to Japan. He starts to work as a rickshaw driver, but his lover had died of an illness, leaving a baby girl, Hatsue. Hatsue grows up beautifully and falls in love with Sh ...

Suzaki Paradise: Red Light District (1956)

A jobless young couple, Yoshigi and Tsutue, wind up at the outskirts of the Suzaki red-light district in Tokyo. Tsutue talks her way into a job pouring sake for male customers at a small bar run by a sympathetic older woman, while Yoshigi is shunted off in ...

The Balloon (1956)

Haruki Murakami is a successful family man and the head of a camera company. Unbeknownst to Murakami, his arrogant son oscillates between a mistress and a new lover who sings at a nightclub. When Murakami's daughter befriends the mistress, the affair throw ...

Tales of Ginza (1955)

In the thriving Tokyo neighborhood of Ginza, a woman in the process of selling her estranged husband's art collection attempts to identify the man who painted her own portrait fifteen years prior. ...

Till We Meet Again (1955)

Jiro Sone sacrifices all comfort to devote himself to research. Young housewife Yachiyo is disappointed with her husband Kappei, who is more attracted to mountain climbing and another girl. When Yachiyo's father is introduced to Jiro, all of their lives be ...

Burden of Love (1955)

The female members of the family of the Minister of Health and Welfare, who has just proposed a program of birth control, become pregnant one after the other. ...

The Moon Has Risen (1955)

Mokichi Asai is a widowed father living in Nara with three daughters—Chizuru, Ayako, and Setsuko. The youngest, Setsuko, plays matchmaker for her older sisters, leading to humorous and awkward romantic entanglements. ...

Tokyo Story (1953)

The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their ag ...

The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952)

The arranged marriage between a capricious woman from Tokyo high society and a quiet rustic man is tested by a marital crisis. ...

Early Summer (1951)

In postwar Tokyo, Noriko lives with her extended family. Although she enjoys her career and her social life, her more traditional family worries about her single marital status at the advanced age of 28. 40-year-old business associate Takako proposes, Nori ...

Japanese Cinema: New Territories (2011)

This documentary by Hubert Niogret looks at the revival of Japanese cinema during the 1990s. ...

2009: Lost Memories (2002)

There are breakpoints in the history, the result of a single event may change the whole course. In 1909, an assassination attempt of a Japanese governor fails. Now, in 2009, Korea is just another state of Japan's Empire & Seoul has become a major city. A K ...

Shohei Imamura: The Free Thinker (1995)

Documentary about Japanese film director Shohei Imamura. ...

I Lived, But... (1983)

An extremely lovely tribute to Ozu, on the 20th anniversary of his death. It uses a combination of footage from vintage films and new material (both interviews and Ozu-related locations) shot by Ozu's long-time camera-man (who came out of retirement to wor ...

Outlaw-Matsu Comes Home (1973)

"In Search of Unreturned Soldiers was about former soldiers of the Japanese army who chose not to return to Japan after the war. I found several of them who had remained in Thailand. Two years later, I invited one of them to make his first return visit to ...

Karayuki-San, the Making of a Prostitute (1973)

Karayuki-san, the Making of a Prostitute is a 1975 Japanese film by director Shohei Imamura. It is a documentary on one of the Japanese "karayuki-san," who were women that were taken from their homes in Japan and used as prostitutes in the post-war period. ...

The Pirates of Buban (1972)

By going to the Philippines, Imamura comes to meet people living in an extreme poverty. He discovers very quickly that some communities are under the control of cruel & armed pirates. Imamura will come to meet those men in order to understand their positio ...

Oreno Shimokita (1972)

Shohei Imamura's short documentary. ...

A Man Vanishes (1967)

A Man Vanishes examines the concept of Johatsu, tackling the phenomenon of people missing in Japan over the years. It picks one such person from the list, someone who had seemed to disappear from the face of the earth due to embezzlement from his company, ...