One i saw recently is Rental Family, a English/Japanese language fim by Japanese director Hiroko, starring Brendan Fraser, and it's a really interesting cross-cutral view of modern Japanese society.
one I saw in high school that had a huge emotional impact on me was My Secret Cache. The ending really caught me by surprise and helped me consolidate my personal world-view.
A fave Japenese film of mine, not that I've watched many, is Kikujiro. A quirky but heartwarming story about a young boy and a petty crook with themes of finding ones place, redemption. Joe Hiyashi also did the score, so same guy as many of the Ghibli films.
It's cliche, but the original Godzilla (1954) movie is really good. Other highly political/post-war movies I've enjoyed are Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), starring David Bowie, and No Regrets for Our Youth (1946), starring Setsuko Hara.
More non-war/recent movies I would recommend are Tampopo (1985), After Life (1998), and Air Doll (2009), with After Life being my favorite-favorite of the bunch. The
premise is that you can only keep one memory in eternity, and a film
crew does their best to recreate and film said memories within a week of
one's death. An interesting aspect of the movie is that some of the
older 'actors' are just regular people sharing their memories, and
reflecting on how Japan has changed throughout their lives.
I like spirited away, My neighbour totoro, Howl's moving castle (a good chunk of Child friendly movies), Spy X Family: code white, one of the Doraimon movies (the one with the music instruments, robots and the world ending) and next, I want to watch the Chiikawa movie as soon as I get my hands on it via streaming platforms. (Had to bold it because I love chiikawa that much)
My all time favourite is 送り人 (Departures). It's a bit older tho. It's a quiet movie about a failing musician who finds his calling as a kind of mortician. It explores his struggles due to the stigma of this profession.
My all time favourite is 送り人 (Departures). It's a bit older tho. It's a quiet movie about a failing musician who finds his calling as a kind of mortician. It explores his struggles due to the stigma of this profession.
This sounds so cool. Is it on a streaming platform? I absolutely love coming of the age books and films.
Also is there some cool and insane orchestra of music in it.
Siri says Departures is available on Plex, whatever that is. Your library may have the DVD as well. Music is a significant part of the film, including some original compositions. Since the protagonist is a cellist, there is a sweet cello solo.
I don't know where you can watch it. It's not coming of age. There's no insane orchestra in it, only a beautifully sad cello solo. Here's a sneak peek "Departures" Music Video ("Okuribito")
