Takashi Shimura

A vivid, visceral Macbeth adaptation, directed by Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai), sets Shakespeare's definitive tale of ambition and duplicity in a ghostly, fog-enshrouded landscape in feudal Japan. The film fuses classical Western tragedy with formal elements taken from Noh Theater to create an unforgettable cinematic experience.

A bad day gets worse for rookie detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo's sweltering streets for the thief, whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, the cop and the criminal's lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami's own dark side.

"The flip of a coin leads the blind masseur and master swordsman Zatoichi to his hometown, a place he has not visited in over two decades. Despite his extended hiatus, he finds that several people remember him from his hellcat youth, including a 'sister' that he never knew he had and the village's local government Superintendant. But things never stay quiet for the masseur for very long. An old face from Ichi's childhood, Shinbei, has hatched a nefarious...

A grand-scale adventure as only Akira Kurosawa could make one. A general charged with guarding his defeated clan's princess as the two smuggle royal treasure across hostile territory. Accompanying them are a pair of bumbling, conniving peasants who may or may not be their friends. This rip-roaring ride is among the director's most beloved films and was a primary influence on George Lucas's Star Wars. Delivers Kurosawa's trademark deft blend of wry...

A group of young men set out to clean up the corruption in their town. They are joined by a scruffy, cynical samurai who doesn't fit their concept of how a warrior should look and act.

American nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable, dinosaur-like beast.

Set in the Middle Ages, the nature of truth and subjective reality are probed in a series of flashbacks from four viewpoints to present the case history of a man's murder and the rape of his wife by a bandit.

Osaka elegy. Switchboard operator Ayako agrees to enter into an affair with her married boss after he promises to support her and her father--setting her off on a seemingly irreversible downward spiral. Sisters of the Gion. Two geisha sisters--one modern-minded, the other staunchly traditional--disagree over how to deal with the men controlling their lives and livelihoods. Women of the night. The story of two sisters, Fusako, a war widow, and Natsuko,...

No regrets for our youth. Yukie, the spoiled bourgeois daughter of a university professor, begins a soul-searching journey that takes her from the elegance of Kyoto to the peasant farms of impoverished rural Japan, the rise and fall of ultranationalism corresponding with her own moral awakening. One wonderful Sunday. Yuzo and Masako, a middle-class couple suffering from economic postwar decline, meet on Sunday in Tokyo with only thirty-five yen to...

Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.