Release Date: 1945-05-03

Overview: A few years after his breakthrough, Sanshiro resumes his path to judo mastery—testing his discipline against an American prizefighter and later facing vengeful karate brothers. As rival schools and public spectacle push him toward violence, he must reconcile strength with restraint and the true spirit of his art.

Rating: 5.974 (57 votes)

Release Date: 1964-01-15

Overview: War widow Reiko rebuilds and runs the grocery shop in the house of her husband's family. Many years later, their business is threatened by a newly built supermarket and Reiko's in-laws plan to convert their small shop into a supermarket, to her detriment.

Rating: 8.1 (67 votes)

Release Date: 1947-07-01

Overview: Two broke sweethearts wander war-scarred Tokyo on a single Sunday, stretching 35 yen as they chase housing, small pleasures, and a little hope.

Rating: 7.2 (88 votes)

Release Date: 1946-10-29

Overview: After her anti-fascist professor father is dismissed, Yukie navigates love, political repression, and wartime upheaval—ultimately forging her own path in pre- and post-WWII Japan.

Rating: 6.9 (82 votes)

Release Date: 1944-04-13

Overview: Young women at a precision optics factory in wartime Japan push to exceed production quotas, enduring illness, injury, and personal hardship to “serve the country.” Led by Tsuru Watanabe, they fight fatigue and setbacks to keep their line moving—even when duty collides with grief.

Rating: 5.587 (53 votes)

Release Date: 1989-01-15

Overview: The story of a young man who loves crime fiction books, and the daugher of a mafia leader.

Rating: 5.4 (15 votes)

Release Date: 1954-04-20

Overview: 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 and cinematography, An Inn at Osaka allows its complicated plotlines to disappear behind the minutiae of penury and humiliation that Mito and others suffer during the post-war economic and social reconstruction.

Rating: 7.3 (12 votes)

Release Date: 2012-10-31

Overview: A young boy comes of age in a Mumbai slum while dealing with his long-suffering mother and violent father, in this gently observational portrait crafted in the tradition of the great neorealist classics. (TIFF)

Rating: 6.1 (8 votes)

Release Date: 1944-04-08

Overview: Gino, a drifter, begins an affair with inn-owner Giovanna as they plan to get rid of her older husband.

Rating: 7.5 (262 votes)

Release Date: 1949-10-17

Overview: A bad day gets worse for young 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 stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.

Rating: 7.536 (336 votes)

Release Date: 1974-12-09

Overview: After her husband dies, Alice and her son, Tommy, leave their small New Mexico town for California, where Alice hopes to make a new life for herself as a singer. Money problems force them to settle in Arizona instead, where Alice takes a job as waitress in a small diner.

Rating: 6.934 (500 votes)

Release Date: 1953-02-13

Overview: When a priest hears a murderer’s confession, he becomes bound by his vow of silence—even as circumstantial evidence turns suspicion toward him. Torn between faith and self-preservation, he faces public scandal and trial for a crime he cannot reveal the truth about.

Rating: 7.1 (464 votes)

Release Date: 1949-09-13

Overview: Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.

Rating: 8.01 (450 votes)

Release Date: 1957-10-12

Overview: Veronika and Boris come together in Moscow shortly before World War II. Walking along the river, they watch cranes fly overhead, and promise to rendezvous before Boris leaves to fight. Boris misses the meeting and is off to the front lines, while Veronika waits patiently, sending letters faithfully. After her house is bombed, Veronika moves in with Boris' family, into the company of a cousin with his own intentions.

Rating: 7.919 (427 votes)

Release Date: 1992-05-08

Overview: A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?

Rating: 7.207 (901 votes)

Release Date: 1953-04-22

Overview: In a run-down South American town, four men are paid to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin into the jungle through to the oil field. Friendships are tested and rivalries develop as they embark upon the perilous journey.

Rating: 8.015 (1030 votes)

Release Date: 1997-09-28

Overview: A middle-aged Tehranian man, Mr. Badii is intent on killing himself and seeks someone to bury him after his demise. Driving around the city, the seemingly well-to-do Badii meets with numerous people, including a Muslim student, asking them to take on the job, but initially he has little luck. Eventually, Badii finds a man who is up for the task because he needs the money, but his new associate soon tries to talk him out of committing suicide.

Rating: 7.67 (670 votes)

Release Date: 2005-08-31

Overview: Justin Quayle is a low-level British diplomat who has always gone about his work very quietly, not causing any problems. But after his radical wife Tessa is killed he becomes determined to find out why, thrusting himself into the middle of a very dangerous conspiracy.

Rating: 6.989 (1642 votes)

Release Date: 2019-10-04

Overview: The story of Rudy Ray Moore, who created the iconic big screen pimp character Dolemite in the 1970s.

Rating: 7 (1230 votes)

Release Date: 2020-09-04

Overview: After years of swimming every day in the freezing ocean at the tip of Africa, Craig Foster meets an unlikely teacher: a young octopus who displays remarkable curiosity. Visiting her den and tracking her movements for months on end he eventually wins the animal’s trust and they develop a never-before-seen bond between human and wild animal.

Rating: 7.863 (983 votes)