An incredibly beautifully animated film about a 10-year-old girl figuring out how to solve her own problems, while also giving baths to monsters, it helped turn Studio Ghibli into a global brand.
Category Archives: Japanese movies
HOUSE (1977)
A serious candidate for the most insane movie I’ve ever seen, involving seven Japanese schoolgirls who get um, eaten by furniture? And other stuff. Also there’s an evil (but very fluffy) telekinetic cat.
MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS (1985)
The story of famous Japanese author who also had his own private army and tried to overthrow the government, as one does, told in such a highly stylized manner that I honestly lost track of it.
NAUSICAӒ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND (1984)
For those who enjoy a good post-apocalyptic diesel-punk environmental fable, with the usual stunning animation from Hayao Miyazaki.
SANSHO THE BAILIFF (1954)
A classic Japanese film where every frame looks like a classical painting. From a plot perspective, the weepiest of weepies.
LATE SPRING (1949)
An aggressively minimalist postwar Japanese family drama from Yasujiro Ozu, about a daughter who just wants to take care of her aging father, even though everyone else wants her to get married to literally anyone.
GOJIRA (1954)
With “Godzilla vs. Kong” trying to lure viewers back to theaters, we re-visit the giant lizard monster’s first on-screen appearance.
PRINCESS MONONOKE (1997)
A gorgeous animation classic that is firmly for adults, about the eternal struggle between humans and their environment.
OUR 100th MOVIE: SEVEN SAMURAI (1954)
Akira Kurosawa invented many of the tropes of the modern action movie in this great Japanese epic.
TOKYO STORY (1953)
A highly-acclaimed, aggressively minimalist, story about the disconnect between Japanese parents and their adult children.
Movie Valhalla 