50 Japanese Movies That Every Cinephile Should Watch

There’s probably no need to repeat that the Japanese culture is very different from the Westerners’, but how about its movies? Are they also so different that no one else would relate to them or understand them? Well, no and no! Japanese cinema, almost the same as everywhere else globally, developed in the late 19th century. Although the traditional art of kabuki heavily influenced the earliest Japanese films, it soon turned to the more universal topics and language of cinema. Of course, the movies were still heavily Japanese, saturated with their thousand-year-old culture, but that is what makes them even more interesting to our eyes. So, here we are with our list of the best Japanese movies to date!

We bet that even if you haven’t seen any of these movies, some of the titles will ring a bell. Take, for instance, Seven Samurai or Rashomon - both of them have been named as probably the best movies ever made! Then, a couple of decades later, we got a whole slew of Japanese horror movies - from The Audition to Ringu, and everything in between, all of these scary flicks are unlike anything else! Heavily based on the transitional lore of demons and paranormal entities, they will scare the heck out of anyone. Then there are movies like Battle Royal - a quite brutal flick that has influenced so many western films we couldn’t count them all! And, coming to the recent days, Japanese cinema has turned into something that always tells a heartwarming or gut-wrenching story that just leaves you speechless. Even a movie that is as slow as a snail will grip you with its beautiful cinematography and stellar acting.

So, scroll down below and check out our picks of the best Japanese movies to date! All of them are worth your time, and all of them are quite impressive pieces of cinema art. However, there still should be the one that you like the best, so give it your vote! Of course, you wouldn’t forget to share this article with your Japanophile friends, would you?