This year was bad for Japanese films box office-wise, but not quality-wise. Here are my best 10:
1) ¡®The Third Murder¡¯
Hirokazu Kore-eda¡¯s drama about an ex-convict (Koji Yakusho) arrested for committing his third murder has the arc of a crime film but deepens into a powerful meditation on the meaning of justice and the unknowability of human beings.
Read our review of ¡°The Third Murder¡± here.
2) ¡®Side Job¡¯
Fukushima native Ryuichi Hiroki¡¯s drama about a nuclear disaster victim (Kumi Takiuchi) who turns sex worker on the weekends overturns official pieties with an insider¡¯s insight.
Read our review of ¡°Side Job¡± here.
3) ¡®Alley Cat¡¯
Actor and director Hideo Sakaki¡¯s noirish buddy movie about a failed boxer (Yosuke Kubozuka) and blond-haired punk (Kenji Furuya) who partner to save a former sex worker (Yui Ichikawa) from an abusive ex is keenly observant about the realities of violence.
Read our review of ¡°Alley Cat¡± here.
4) ¡®Poolsideman¡¯
Hirobumi Watanabe¡¯s TIFF Japanese Cinema Splash prize-winner begins as an exercise in black-and-white minimalism but as its volatile silent hero interacts with a voluble colleague (Watanabe), it becomes a laugh-out-loud black comedy.
Read our review of ¡°Poolsideman¡± here.
5) ¡®Antiporno¡¯
Sion Sono¡¯s contribution to the Nikkatsu Roman Porno revival project gleefully subverts its title genre in a mind-bending romp that relentlessly exposes show-biz power dynamics.
6) ¡®Bangkok Nites¡¯
Katsuya Tomita¡¯s road movie about a Japanese Self-Defense Forces veteran and a Thai sex worker who bond in Bangkok is the rare Japanese film that gets under the skin of a foreign culture.
7) ¡®Tremble All You Want¡¯
Akiko Ooku¡¯s Audience Award winner at the 2017 Tokyo International Film Festival follows a nerdy office worker¡¯s obsession with her junior-high crush and is fresher and deeper than its romcom set-up implies. Mayu Matsuoka is a revelation as the self-deluded heroine.
8) ¡®Yocho ¡°Foreboding¡°¡¯
Kiyoshi Kurosawa¡¯s feature edit of the five-part alien invasion series he made for Wowow packs more of a punch than the first film he made from the same material, ¡°Before We Vanish.¡± One reason: Masahiro Higashide¡¯s chilling turn as an alien in human guise.
Read our review of ¡°Yocho ¡®Foreboding¡¯¡± here.
9) ¡®Hanagatami¡¯
Veteran Nobuhiko Obayashi¡¯s drama about teenagers in prewar Kyushu may feature gorgeous eye-candy visuals, but is also has a deep-memory dive with a passionate antiwar message.
Read our review of ¡°Hanagatami¡± here.
10) ¡®Dear Etranger¡¯
Yukiko Mishima¡¯s drama about the search of a middle-aged outsider (Tadanobu Asano) for family is as unsparing as the Biblical book of Job, while viewing even its devils in the human round.
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