Junzaburō Ban Movies

This film follows the daily lives of a group of people barely scraping by in a slum on the outskirts of Tokyo. Yet as desperate as their...

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,...

In Osaka's slum, youths without futures engage in pilfering, assault and robbery, prostitution, and the buying and selling of identity cards and of...

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...

Reiko Oshida stars as a young wannabe gangster tough girl, just released from reform school. She tracks down one of her classmates fathers, who runs...

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...

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...

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...

Five longtime friends get back together, but are disappointed to find that their bonds are not as strong as they once were.

Meiko Kaji reprises her role as Nami, a vengeful female gang leader, in the second installment of this high-action series that casts a new actor --...

Japanese soldiers stranded in Manokwari, New Guinea, improvise a theater play to keep their spirits up and endure the extremely difficult conditions.

This suspense drama set in the mid 1700's depicts the plan of the Tokugawa rulers to send a number of homeless men to a remote island Sado to perform...

A detective is charged with investigating a bank corruption scandal.

After an old man is attacked by a bear in the snowy mountains of northern Japan, he vows to hunt down the marauder.

In the midst of the depression, two ronin rack their brains to come up with a dishonest scheme. Taking a man from the countryside, they fashion him...

A taut, economical policier-cum-gang-hostage thriller.

Shiro Akitsu goes on a relentless search for his abducted 7-year-old daughter, with the aid of an Ainu dog summoned by a whistle she gave him.

A quintessential example of the period "ghost cat" (bakeneko or kaibyo) movie, this was one of at least six such titles released by the studio Shinko...

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...