Movies: Jun Tatara

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...

Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for...

Kaji is sent to the Japanese army labeled Red and is mistreated by the vets. Along his assignment, Kaji witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against the recruit Obara. He also sees his friend Shinjô Ittôhei defect...

Shows the devastation caused by the atomic bomb, and by use of a fictional storyline, portrays the struggle of the ordinary Japanese people in dealing with the aftermath....

Shiba, a wandering ronin, encounters a band of peasants who have kidnapped the daughter of their dictatorial magistrate, in hopes of coercing from him a reduction in taxes. Shiba takes up their fight, joined by two renegades from the magistrate's gua...

A poor rickshaw driver finds himself helping a young woman and her son after the woman's husband dies suddenly....

Older, wiser but still a wandering loner, the blind, peace-loving masseur Ichi seeks a peaceful life in a rural village. When he's caught in the middle of a power struggle between two rival Yakuza clans, his reputation as a deadly defender of the inn...

The lives of five sex workers employed at a Japanese brothel while the nation is debating the passage of an anti-prostitution law....

Two detectives begin a stakeout based on the slim chance of catching a murderer whom they suspect will try to reunite with an old flame....

The eighth sequel of the series by the successful “Fukasaku and Bunta” collaboration revolves around the men of a lesser organization that are constantly bullied by the upper organization and “bleed in vain” in gang wars....

At the close of the war in Japan, a widowed mother makes every possible sacrifice to bring up her ungrateful son and daughter who are unimpressed with their poor standard of living at home. They gradually reject her in search of the material comforts...

Considered one of the finest late Naruses and a model of film biography, A Wanderer’s Notebook features remarkable performances by Hideko Takamine – Phillip Lopate calls it “probably her greatest performance” – and Kinuyo Tanaka as mother and daughte...

An Inn at Osaka, rarely seen outside Japan, follows the story of an insurance company executive from Tokyo, Mr. Mito, who is demoted to the Osaka office. He takes a room at a small inn and tries to rebuild his life. Notable for its exquisite framing ...

It's a man's world. Shimamura, an artist, comes to this snowbound town to rejuvenate himself. He connects with Komako, a geisha he met on a previous trip, and it seems like love. She's the foster daughter of a local family, almost engaged to the fami...

A talent scout moves sharply, dead-set on signing a promising athlete to the baseball team the Toyko Flowers....

The story is of two people. One is deaf, the other deaf and mute. They marry after meeting at a school reunion, and the film follows their trials and tribulations ... and joys....

A woman remembers her own marriage when dealing with the love life of her son....

Tatsuhiko and Shofumi are hoodlums living in downtown Hawaii, having flown out of Japan and entered the country illegally for a reason. The two make a living by trafficking pakalolo – marijuana – under the pretext of selling tea leaves, but they are ...

Famous detective Kosuke Kindaichi follows a dying man's words to an enigmatic island, where he meets beautiful twin sisters and tragic events unfold....

An opportune salaryman moves his family into a model mansion for 12 months; unfortunately, they must allow prospective buyers to trek through their home during business hours....