Madadayo (
1993) | IMDb:
7.3
Based on the life of Hyakken Uchida, a Japanese author and academic. The film opens with Uchida resigning his job as a German professor at the onset of WWII. The story is told mostly in vignettes as he is cared for by former students in his old age.
Starring:
Tatsuo Matsumura
,
Kyōko Kagawa
,
Hisashi Igawa
,
George Tokoro
,
Masayuki Yui
,
Akira Terao
Directed by:
Akira Kurosawa
Dreams (
1990) | IMDb:
7.7
A collection of magical tales based upon the actual dreams of director Akira Kurosawa.
Starring:
Akira Terao
,
Mitsuko Baisho
,
Toshie Negishi
,
Mieko Harada
,
Mitsunori Isaki
,
Toshihiko Nakano
Ran (
1985) | IMDb:
8.2
Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an ageing warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.
Starring:
Tatsuya Nakadai
,
Akira Terao
,
Jinpachi Nezu
,
Daisuke Ryū
,
Mieko Harada
,
Yoshiko Miyazaki
Kagemusha (
1980) | IMDb:
7.9
Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.
Starring:
Tatsuya Nakadai
,
Tsutomu Yamazaki
,
Kenichi Hagiwara
,
Jinpachi Nezu
,
Hideji Ōtaki
,
Daisuke Ryū
Directed by:
Akira Kurosawa
Dersu Uzala (
1975) | IMDb:
8.2
A military explorer meets and befriends a Goldi man in Russia’s unmapped forests. A deep and abiding bond evolves between the two men, one civilized in the usual sense, the other at home in the glacial Siberian woods.
Starring:
Yuriy Solomin
,
Maksim Munzuk
,
Mikhail Bychkov
,
B. Khorulev
,
Vladimir Kremena
,
Aleksandr Pyatkov
Seven Samurai (
1954) | IMDb:
8.6
A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.
Starring:
Toshirō Mifune
,
Takashi Shimura
,
Yoshio Inaba
,
Seiji Miyaguchi
,
Minoru Chiaki
,
Daisuke Katō