Japanese Film Hall of Fame

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I thought of joining for a short time but decided against it. I would have nominated Shura aka Demons (1971)

The reason I didn't join is limited time and not wanting to watch a bunch of movies I've already seen with that limited time. Those nomination guesses up above, I've seen all of them. If something does get nominated that I haven't seen, I may watch it.



I thought of joining for a short time but decided against it. I would have nominated Shura aka Demons (1971)
Just watched this for the October horror challenge. Despite of the tags I wouldn't really call it horror but it definitely was a good movie. Would probably have been pretty high on my ballot.
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The reason I didn't join is limited time and not wanting to watch a bunch of movies I've already seen with that limited time. Those nomination guesses up above, I've seen all of them. If something does get nominated that I haven't seen, I may watch it.
I really hope the nominations are not that cliche.



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The first four nominations:

A Hen in the Wind

1948, Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
Nominated by Rauldc14

Harakiri

1962, Directed by Masaki Kobayashi
Nominated by Edarsenal

High and Low

1963, Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Nominated by Siddon

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

1984, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Nominated by Ahwell



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The second four:

Hana-bi

1997, Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Nominated by Pahak-

After Life

1998, Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Nominated by ScarletLiob

Kamikaze Girls

2004, Directed by Tetsuya Nakashima
Nominated by Guaporense

The Third Murder

2017, Directed By Hirokazu Kore-eda
Nominated by CosmicRunaway



Haven't seen except my own, as expected. Looking forward to watching all of these!
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Seen the first 4 but not the last 4. Harakiri and High and Low are big favorites and the other 2 are terrific as well. I already wanted to see Fireworks; I'll have to look up the other 3.



Good set of noms! If I would've joined I would've went with Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, love that film. I'll try to watch some of these but I doubt I can find them. If anyone has links give me a PM or post comment, I'd appreciate it



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
A Hen in the Wind
1948, Directed by Yasujiro Ozu Nominated by Rauldc14
This could, very well, be my first Ozu. Since, while I recognize a couple of his films, I cannot, for the life of me, remember if I have viewed them. Making this an intriguing introduction. Especially after reading up on it on IMDb. Loved the description in the first review. I'm pretty d@mn excited about this one.

Harakiri (aka Seppuku)
1962, Directed by Masaki Kobayashi Nominated by Edarsenal
This one is mine. Discovered it when searching for a nomination, and it called to me. Watched. Loved it. Excited for a secondary.
I have an excellent link for it from a very safe site. I'll message it out to everyone for any who may end up wishing it. Including you too, CR..

High and Low
1963, Directed by Akira Kurosawa Nominated by Siddon
A Kurosawa I have not seen, so doubly happy about this. So, YAY.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
1984, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki Nominated by Ahwell
And now, an Anime that I indeed SHOULD have and have not seen - quickly turning this into a list of "F@ckin AWESOME!" aka YAY.

And continues. . .

Hana-bi
1997, Directed by Takeshi Kitano Nominated by Pahak-
and kicks up a serious notch into F@CKIN YAY!!! with a Kitano I've been aching to see since seeing the comments regarding it in the 90's Countdown, along with Sonatine. I had my fingers crossed someone would nominate one of these. God bless YOU, pahaK!!
I f@ckin LOVE Kitano, and this was a top desire to have here.

After Life
1998, Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda Nominated by ScarletLiob
First off: who's ScarletLio"b"? And what happened to ScarletLion? Are they a surrogate?
I may have seen this. And IF it is that one - The Yayying-thing-a-ma jig is a-dancin!

Kamikaze Girls
2004, Directed by Tetsuya Nakashima Nominated by Guaporense
This is completely new, and the description has severely captured my attention and imagination of where such an organic scenario and unique characters explore. Add to the fact that this from Guap -- that imagination is excited as all f@ckin get out!
Deserving another holler out: YAY

The Third Murder
2017, Directed By Hirokazu Kore-eda Nominated by CosmicRunaway
And we end with another unknown but equally enthusiastic to check it out.
Here endeth a pleasantly delirious YAY session with a Cosmic film. YAYYYYYYYYY

A truly, truly, fantastic set of nominations! I am SO going to enjoy this HoF. A remarkable diversity of high-quality films. Kinda feel like throwing in another YAY. . . lol
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A Hen in the Wind
1948, Directed by Yasujiro Ozu Nominated by Rauldc14
This could, very well, be my first Ozu. Since, while I recognize a couple of his films, I cannot, for the life of me, remember if I have viewed them. Making this an intriguing introduction. Especially after reading up on it on IMDb. Loved the description in the first review. I'm pretty d@mn excited about this one.

Harakiri (aka Seppuku)
1962, Directed by Masaki Kobayashi Nominated by Edarsenal
This one is mine. Discovered it when searching for a nomination, and it called to me. Watched. Loved it. Excited for a secondary.
I have an excellent link for it from a very safe site. I'll message it out to everyone for any who may end up wishing it. Including you too, CR..

High and Low
1963, Directed by Akira Kurosawa Nominated by Siddon
A Kurosawa I have not seen, so doubly happy about this. So, YAY.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
1984, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki Nominated by Ahwell
And now, an Anime that I indeed SHOULD have and have not seen - quickly turning this into a list of "F@ckin AWESOME!" aka YAY.

And continues. . .

Hana-bi
1997, Directed by Takeshi Kitano Nominated by Pahak-
and kicks up a serious notch into F@CKIN YAY!!! with a Kitano I've been aching to see since seeing the comments regarding it in the 90's Countdown. I add my fingers crossed someone would nominate this. God bless YOU, Paha-K!!
I f@ckin LOVE Kitano, and this was a top desire to have here.

After Life
1998, Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda Nominated by ScarletLiob
First off: who's ScarletLio"b"? And what happened to ScarletLion? Are they a surrogate?
I may have seen this. And IF it is that one - The Yayying-thing-a-ma jig is a-dancin!

Kamikaze Girls
2004, Directed by Tetsuya Nakashima Nominated by Guaporense
This is completely new, and the description has severely captured my attention and imagination of where such an organic scenario and unique characters explore. Add to the fact that this from Guap -- that imagination is excited as all f@ckin get out!
Deserving another holler out: YAY

The Third Murder
2017, Directed By Hirokazu Kore-eda Nominated by CosmicRunaway
And we end with another unknown but equally enthusiastic to check it out.
Here endeth a pleasantly delirious YAY session with a Cosmic film. YAYYYYYYYYY

A truly, truly, fantastic set of nominations! I am SO going to enjoy this HoF. A remarkable diversity of high-quality films. Kinda feel like throwing in another YAY. . . lol
That a record number of Yays from you? I counted 8



I guess I was off with my guess that half the films would be from the 50s and 60s haha. I'm glad there are a number of (relatively) newer films nominated, since everyone's aware of the classics. Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai was the ad I got on FB the other day, so it wasn't a crazy premonition, but was close to one of the nominations haha. Anyway, here are my initial thoughts on the films:

A Hen in the Wind - This is a new watch for me. I haven't actually seen any of Ozu's films, except for about half of Tokyo Story. I expected that one to get nominated, but I'll just watch it on my own time.

Harakiri - I think this is one of the films I saw many years ago that I've never figured out the name of. I've been meaning to watch/rewatch it for awhile, but haven't gotten around to it. Definitely looking forward to it!

High and Low - This is one of the three Kurasawa films I watched over the past week. I already wrote out some thoughts on this which I'll finish up after work today.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - Another film I've been meaning to watch for awhile, however the more Miyazaki films I saw, the less I wanted to see this one because I dislike far more of his work than I like. This is however much closer to my interests than say, The Wind Rises, so I'm still cautiously optimistic about it.

Hana-bi - When looking for films to watch for this HoF, this kept coming up but I didn't watch it. Looks like I'll get the chance now!

After Life - I enjoyed Maborosi, Like Father, Like Son, Our Little Sister, The Third Murder, and Shoplifters well enough, so I imagine I'll like this one as well.

Kamikaze Girls - I don't think I've heard of this film before. The images that come up on a google search look interesting, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the film's actually about.

The Third Murder - This is my nomination. It's a slow-paced courtroom drama that doesn't really have many courtroom scenes in it. This is not as popular as some of Kore-eda's other work, but I find it quite interesting. I've got my write-up ready to go, so I'll just post that now.





The Third Murder / 三度目の殺人(2017)
Directed By: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Starring: Masaharu Fukuyama, Kōji Yakusho, Suzu Hirose

The Third Murder is a slow-paced courtroom procedural whose characters are not initially concerned about the truth. With Japan's 99% conviction rate, Misumi is almost guaranteed to be found guilty regardless, especially since he has already confessed to the murder. His defence team's job is to find the best angle to argue for a lesser sentence, regardless as to what Misumi's real motive may have been, or whether it's possible that someone else committed the crime. It's not presented as a scathing critique against the Japanese justice system, but the plot does showcase it's flaws, and questions the morality of it all.

The performances of Fukuyama and Yakusho are outstanding, and are one of the film's strongest features. Since the story's intrigue comes almost solely from its characters, rather than any traditional suspense elements, the cast end up carrying the weight of the film. Luckily the scenes where Shigemori visits Misumi are fantastic, and they're framed very well, starting out professional and distant, with the shots becoming closer and more intimate over time as Shigemori becomes invested in Misumi and discovering the truth. The visual design includes a very cold colour palette, even in these scenes, which is a great reflection of the film's central themes.

Family relationship dynamics are a common feature of Kore-eda's films, and they do make an appearance in The Third Murder as well. However, they are certainly not the central focus, and as such they are not explored in any real depth, which may disappoint fans of the director's other work. Likewise, the ending will likely not be satisfying for anyone who expects every question to be answered. There is a distinct lack of closure, but I think that was the perfect route to take. We have to come to our own conclusions, because as in real life, no one other than the murderer will ever be certain of what actually occurred, and what the real motive was.


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A Hen in the Wind (1948)
I know Ozu by name (thanks to these forums, I think) but I'm quite sure I've never seen his films. Seems potentially interesting.

Harakiri (1962)
Seen this as a kid and tried to watch it again few years ago but didn't like it at all. I'm hoping it was just completely wrong day for this but a potential dislike all the same.

High and Low (1963)
I don't think I've seen this before. Kurosawa's samurai films have been OK but I've never been a huge fan. Interesting to see what he does in more modern setting.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
I'm quite sure I've only seen one Miyazaki (Spirited Away) and I kinda liked it. So yeah, I rarely watch animated films but I honestly expect this to be at least OK.

Hana-bi (1997)
My own nomination. I watched several Kitanos around the 2k and this was the one I remembered liking the most. Rewatch couple of days ago was very positive as well and I knew what my nom would be. I also need to rewatch other old Kitanos at some point.

After Life (1998)
Never heard of this before. Premise sounds quite silly to be honest and my expectations aren't too high. I'll to try to keep an open mind.

Kamikaze Girls (2004)
Never heard of this either. Premise doesn't really give away much so I don't know what to expect. Lets call this a wild card of this HoF.

The Third Murder (2017)
A courtroom drama, eh. Definitely not my favorite type of movie and also not what I expected from Japan HoF (I've always though these are mostly a US thing). I really hope @CosmicRunaway is correct when saying there's not many courtroom scenes in it.

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Some of my predictions were pretty close. I was sure that @ahwell goes with Miyazaki. @Siddon was the "anime or Kurosawa" in my predictions so that was correct as well. Decade split was almost correct (no 70s but two 00s+).

Genre predictions weren't that accurate though. Updated anime prediction was correct (2x anime or anime + Kurosawa). I expected one more samurai film. Yakuza/Police is the one I'm not sure. I expected Hana-bi to be the only one of those but seems like both High and Low and The Third Murder may fall into that category as well. If those two are police films then the "other: 3" was correct again.



Wow. I can't wait to watch these. I've seen Hana-Bi but can't remember much, and was going to revisit it anyway as I like Kitano. All the others are more or less on my watchist any way, so I'm excited that this gives me the kick up the rear.

I wanted Tokyo Story to be nominated because I really need to see that but will settle for A Hen in the Wind. High and Low is one of the many Kurosawas I haven't seen so happy about that. And I'm a huge fan of Kore-eda (as my nomination proves), so I'm really happy The Third Murder is nominated.

Kamikaze Girls is a film I heard about around a month ago - so that's another yay. And am always please to tick another Miyazaki off the list.

Can't wait to get started.



The Third Murder (2017)
A courtroom drama, eh. Definitely not my favorite type of movie and also not what I expected from Japan HoF (I've always though these are mostly a US thing). I really hope @CosmicRunaway is correct when saying there's not many courtroom scenes in it.
There are only a couple of scenes that actually take place in the courtroom, and the ones that do are quite short and to the point. It's not about emotionally pleading a case in front of a jury, because that's not the way the Japanese legal system works. So if it's only the court scenes that turn you away from these types of dramas, then you shouldn't worry about that.

A lot of the film is the attorney in his office, at the jail house, and following up leads to help him come up with a way to avoid the death penalty for his client, while coming to terms with what Japan's definition of justice really is. So if that's also not your cup of tea, then you'll probably find it boring anyway.








Well that was the longest 83 minutes I've had to sit through...must be an Ozu film. Ozu basically strips his film of all the trappings of typical cinema, showing less of an interest in giving us action and more attempting to show an issue through conversation in as many different angles as possible. A Hen in the Wind feels agonizingly long conversation after conversation, characters are introduced and discarded.


The film has a unique feature in that first we get Tokiko's story (the wife and mother who has to make an unfortunate choice) and then the second half of the film is Shuichi's story where he has to deal with what Tokiko did while he was away at war. It's hard to say where your empathy lies with the characters. Shuichi proves to be somewhat of a passive aggressive manipulator and how he treats a different female in the story Fusako. I'm dancing around the plot points to avoid spoilers because spoilers will definitely take one out of the film. The whole situation leads to climax where the film really shows it's age and limits, I don't know if I would recommend A Hen in the Wind, but I was able to make it to the end which is a problem I have with many Ozu films.





High and Low / 天国と地獄 (1963)
Directed By: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyōko Kagawa

I've seen many claim that this film, along with The Bad Sleep Well and Stray Dog are Kurosawa's attempts at film noir, however I find that all three lack critical noir elements, which unfortunately happen to be my favourite aspects of the genre. As such, all these films are disappointing when you're expecting a noir, so my recommendation is to throw that label out the window. Luckily High and Low was the last of these films I watched, so I was no longer anticipating elements that were never going to appear.

Toshiro Mifune is excellent as the wealthy executive who is dedicated to his company's work, and it's a pleasure to watch him grapple with deciding whether or not to save his position and status over the life of an innocent child. Kagawa's soulful pleas are borderline heartbreaking to watch, but strangely my favourite performances are the detectives who awkwardly stand around the foreground or edges of the shot while these heated and emotional moments between husband and wife, or between Gondo and Aoki happen behind them.

There are very few instances, particularly in the first half, where lighting is used for dramatic effect, but later in the film there are some occasional uses of contrast that do actually give off a little noir vibe, which I naturally appreciated. However it's also during a chase sequence that goes on for far too long, and around the 2 hour mark I started wishing the film would wrap things up. My interest does get renewed for the ending, but I feel like many of those scenes in the final act could've been cut shorter, since I wasn't really feeling the suspense. Overall I really enjoyed the film though, and I'm glad I had abandoned the "Kurosawa noir" expectation before seeing it.

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There are only a couple of scenes that actually take place in the courtroom, and the ones that do are quite short and to the point. It's not about emotionally pleading a case in front of a jury, because that's not the way the Japanese legal system works. So if it's only the court scenes that turn you away from these types of dramas, then you shouldn't worry about that.

A lot of the film is the attorney in his office, at the jail house, and following up leads to help him come up with a way to avoid the death penalty for his client, while coming to terms with what Japan's definition of justice really is. So if that's also not your cup of tea, then you'll probably find it boring anyway.
That sounds somewhat encouraging. And yes, my issue with American courtroom dramas is exactly the court scenes where charlatans are trying to convey the jury with word plays and emotions and circus tricks. And fortunately most legal systems don't work like that (which is why I've always considered courtroom drama a US specialty).