A Color Print of Edo

The Color Print of Edo is a 1939 black and white Japanese silent film with benshi accompaniment directed by Kazuo Mori. It is a cheerful period drama, sprinkled with comical scenes and tells the story of a loyal and handsome Edo period servant who fights to help his older brother marry the woman he loves. The star of this film, Utaemon Ichikawa, gained enormous popularity for his portrayal of a cheerful and chivalrous man.

Chacha: The Princess of Heaven

Chacha, the woman of the blood of Nobunaga, who loved with Hideyoshi, and feared Tokugawa.

広重ぶるう

Gambler Tales of Hasshu: A Man's Pledge

This is one of the many films based on the legend of Chuji Kunisada, a wandering gambler and a defender of the weak in the Edo period. In other words, he was the Japanese Robin Hood. In this film Kunisada (Chiezo Kataoka) arrives to a small town terrorized by an evil gang. He insists that he is not Kunisada, as the word is Kunisada has been executed, but of course the audience know better. Sonny Chiba plays an unusual supporting role as a helpless young man unable to defend himself from the gangsters. He does, however, get to play taiko drums and dance with Junko Fuji (who makes her film debut here). Chiba's father, an old judge who helps Kunisada, is played by Takashi Shimura. The film hardly anything exceptional, but it's a pretty decent jidai geki / yakuza drama.

Mountain Woman

Late 18th century, Tohoku. An outcast girl, Rin lives in a village suffering from famine. She draws strength from Mt. Hayachine, where the spirits of humans ascend after passing.

Miyamoto Musashi

In Part I we see the young would-be swordsman setting out to achieve greatness in war, achieving nothing because fighting on the losing side, & then beginning his long period of wandering & training, with the goal always in mind of his duel with Kojiro. Part II builds toward that great duel on Ganryu Island, with considerable focus on Musashi's planning & forethought as to how to gain an advantage.

Chûshingura

After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor.

Fighting Yasubei

Yasube Nakayama left the clan and lives in Edo. One day, Yasubei visits his uncle Rokuroemon Kanno to borrow money from a moneylender in the amount of 13 ryo in order to save Oteru, the daughter of a merchant. However, the next day, Rokuroemon was killed in a fight by the Murakami brothers. Yasubei rushed to the scene, took revenge and became the husband of Miya, the daughter of Horibe Yahei.

Last Days of the Samurai

Seppuku Day 17 Ako ronins, including Kuranosuke Oishi, who were entrusted to the Hosokawa family, and the events of the two days before are depicted as a tragic romance between one of the ronins, Jurozaemon Isogai, and Omino. An adaptation of Seika Mayama play "Genroku Chusingura, the Last Day of Oishi", which tells about the torments of life and death of samurai living in feudal times.

Records of loyal vassals

In the 15th year of the Genroku era (1688), the world praised the 47 ronin who avenged the death of their master Asano Takumi-no-kami. Shogun Tsunayoshi, who ruled at that time, experienced difficulties in what punishment to impose on the soldiers. As a result, it was decided to sentence them to seppuku (ritual suicide).

三屋清左衛門残日録

Snow on The Blades

At Sakurada Gate in 1860, the shogun’s chief minister and his retinue of bodyguards are ambushed and annihilated. Bearing the responsibility and shame for this failure is Shimura Kingo, master swordsman and chief of the guard. Forbidden to take his own life in atonement, he is instead tasked with hunting down the remaining assassins; however, fate intervenes and now only one is left. Devoted to his late lord and his duty, he relentlessly pursues the sole remaining assassin for the next thirteen years. But times are changing in Japan and the way of the sword has become outlawed. What does this mean for Kingo?

Gate of Hell

Japan, 1159. Moritō, a brave samurai, performs a heroic act by rescuing the lovely Kesa during a violent uprising. Moritō falls in love with her, but becomes distraught when he finds out that she is married.

Shadow Warrior of Nobunaga Oda

In Tensho 9, as Oda Nobunaga nears the unification of Japan, he assigns trusted generals to conquer remaining regions. Meanwhile, a peasant farmer named Sahei, resembling Nobunaga, is chosen by Hideyoshi and Sen no Rikyu to act as Nobunaga’s shadow. Furious at the idea of a double, Nobunaga confronts Sahei, who courageously performs the "Atsumori" dance, impressing Nobunaga enough to accept him as his Kagemusha. Sahei’s first test as the shadow warrior comes at a memorial service for the Oda family.

Detective Heiji

Police detective Heiji is assigned to catch the masked Maboroshi gang of robbers who have terrorized all of Edo, leaving few clues as to their leader's identity.

The Pass: Last Days of the Samurai

In the turbulent last days of the Edo period, Kawai Tsugunosuke, a Japanese samurai serving the Makino clan of Nagaoka, dreamt of independence from the restraints of vassalship. Despite his progressive views and his desire for his estate to remain neutral during the Boshin Civil War, he was bound by loyalty and duty to the clan and was compelled to choose sides.

Oshidori kenkagasa

Jirocho’s Days of Youth: The Youngest Boss in the Tokai Region

He was married to his lover's butterfly and started a new residence. But good things do not last. In his uncle, Uzaemon in Kawashima, Yoshiji Akaji, Yoshimoto's lender, and Kanehira Akagi, the older brother of the former loan of Mishima, played a challenge. It is said to open the ladies' room to the settlement of Wada island. Although Jiro headed to Shigetsugu for arbitration, he was forced to surrender. In such a case, Jiro became chased by Kinpei and others.

Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo

Zatoichi treks to a village that has always been a favorite spot of his, only to discover that it’s become a living hell, plagued by feuding father and son yakuza as well as the younger crime boss’s bodyguard, scruffy, smart-mouthed, cash-hungry Yojimbo of legend.

Little Tengu

A story about a tomboy, Otoshi, who is good at singing, dancing and fencing.

Kamui

A rebellious ninja in 17th century Japan takes refuge with a fisherman and his family.

Assassination

In 1863, when American warships approach Japan, an enigmatic ronin becomes an important figure in a complex game of power between the Shogunate and the empire.

The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail

A fugitive lord and his six retainers disguise themselves as monks to bluff their way through a hostile checkpoint.

Sky

A woman embarks on a journey alone across the United States after fleeing from her violent husband.

After the Rain

A group of travelers is stranded in a small country inn when the river floods during heavy rains. As the bad weather continues, tensions rise amongst the trapped travelers.

Return

Back from a tour of duty, Kelli struggles to find her place in her family and the rust-belt town she no longer recognizes.

Come Sunday

Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.

Girl in the Box

The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.

Farming

Based on the writer/director's childhood, FARMING tells the story of a young Nigerian boy, 'farmed out' by his parents to a white British family in the hope of a better future. Instead, he becomes the feared leader of a white skinhead gang.

Taboo

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.

Samurai Rebellion

The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped by the lord. Her husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to rescue her.

I'm Not Here

A man struggles with the tragic memories of his past to make sense of his present, but soon realizes that time isn't the enemy he thinks it is.

Blood and Bones

In 1923, teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees.

The Visit

Carla Zachanassian had a child by Serge Miller as a teenager. When Serge refused to marry her, she was driven out of town. By her own wit and cunning, she has returned as a multi-millionaire for a visit. The town lays out the red carpet expecting big things from Carla, only to learn that her sole purpose is to see Serge Miller killed...

El Chicano

A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.

Bastard Out of Carolina

A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.

Holy Lands

When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.

Babylon

Drama telling the story of Blue, a young man of Jamaican descent living in Brixton in 1980, as he hangs out with his friends, fronts a dub sound system, loses his job, struggles with family problems and has his friendships tested by racism.

Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple

After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo returns to Kyoto. Otsu waits for him, yet he has come not for her but to challenge the leader of the region's finest school of fencing. To prove his valor and skill, he walks deliberately into ambushes set up by the school's followers.

Imperial Dreams

A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.