10 Movies Starring Masatoshi Nagase

Mystery Train

Mystery Train

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1989-11-07

Languages:

English, Japanese, Italian

Countries:

USA, Japan

Runtime:

110 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.6 (16951 Reviews)

Director:

Jim Jarmusch

Fullplot:

A Japanese couple obsessed with 1950s America goes to Memphis because the male half of the couple emulates Carl Perkins. Chance encounters link three different stories in the city, with the common thread being the seedy hotel where they are all staying.

Musuko

Musuko

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1992-06-19

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

121 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.3 (140 Reviews)

Director:

Yèji Yamada

Cast:

Writer:

Yoshitaka Asama

Makoto Shiina (novel)

Yèji Yamada

Fullplot:

Tetsuo is a young man living in Tokyo, who falls in love with a deaf-mute factory girl. He has always felt jealous of his college- educated brother, but ultimately wins both the girl and his father's acceptance and support in a touching and refreshing way.

Cold Fever

Cold Fever

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1996-04-05

Languages:

English, Icelandic, Japanese, German

Countries:

USA, Japan, Iceland, Denmark, Germany

Runtime:

83 min

Rated:

UNRATED

IMDB Ratings:

7.1 (1436 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Frièrik èèr Frièriksson

Jim Stark

Fullplot:

Hirata finds himself canceling his vacation plans to Hawaii when his grandfather reminds him of his duty to his parents. Seven years earlier, Hirata's parents had been killed in an accident in Iceland and Japanese tradition holds that their souls will not be at ease until the proper ceremonies have been performed. Thus, Hirata sets out on a journey, a quest to the river where his parents perished. Along the way, in this Icelandic-Japanese road movie, he encounters many difficulties, tough situations, and odd people in the land of fire and ice. Fridrik Thor Fridriksson's vision infuses Iceland's stark and beautiful landscape with a haunting spirituality.

Gojo reisenki: Gojoe

Gojo reisenki: Gojoe

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2001-10-07

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

138 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.6 (755 Reviews)

Director:

Gakuryè Ishii

Fullplot:

Benkei, a master fighter and killer, vows never to take another life after his conversion to Buddhism. His faith in pacifism, however, is shaken and ultimately broken by the attacks from a trio of fighters known only as "the demons". Taking up his sword once more, he sets out to end their murderous terror.

Party 7

Party 7

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2000-11-04

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

104 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.5 (505 Reviews)

Director:

Katsuhito Ishii

Genres:

Comedy

Fullplot:

Seven characters, introduced at the start of the film, get thrown together into the same hotel room: a thief who's stolen a suitcase of money from the mob, his ex-girlfriend, her obsessive boyfriend, the mob soldier sent to retrieve the briefcase, another mobster sent to kill them, master voyeur Captain Banana and his new apprentice, The Mister Yellow. Who will end up with the money?

Pistol Opera

Pistol Opera

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2001-10-27

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

112 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.4 (1046 Reviews)

Director:

Seijun Suzuki

Fullplot:

The No. 3 assassin of Japan is given the chance to usurp No. 1 and take their place.

Suicide Club

Suicide Club

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2002-04-06

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

99 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

6.6 (13910 Reviews)

Director:

Shion Sono

Fullplot:

54 high school girls throw themselves in front of a subway train. This appears to be only the beginning of a string of suicides around the country. Does the new all-girl group Desert have anything to do with it? Detective Kuroda tries to find the answer, which isn't as simple as one could hope.

The Sea Is Watching

The Sea Is Watching

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2002-07-27

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

119 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.1 (1337 Reviews)

Director:

Kei Kumai

Genres:

RomanceDrama

Cast:

Writer:

Kei Kumai (screenplay)

Akira Kurosawa (original screenplay)

Shègorè Yamamoto (novels)

Fullplot:

19th century. Oshin is a prostitute in a brothel of a red-light district. A disgraced samurai, Fusanosuke, rushes in the brothel seeking for a refuge, because he had wounded a powerful samurai. Oshin hides him from the authorities and falls in love with him, against an older prostitute's, Kikuno's, misgiving. Fusanosuke advises Oshin to cleanse herself by giving up her line of work. Believing falsely that this is a promise for marriage, she turns her customers over to the other prostitutes, who are happy to help her. Funasukoke leaves to be reconciled to his family, but, when he returns, he reveals that he is engaged and is going to marry his fiancè. Some time later a desperate itinerant, Ryosuke, appears and Oshin falls in love again. Meanwhile, an older man asks Kikuno to buy her contract and marry her, but she is entangled with an old abusive customer of hers. One night, while the madam of the brothel is away to thermal baths, a storm hits the area and everybody tries to flee. Ryosuke kills Kikuno's customer who tries to steal madam's money and runs away. Oshin and Kikuno stay at the roof hoping for a rescue from the flood. Ryosuke returns by a boat.

The Hidden Blade

The Hidden Blade

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2004-10-30

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

132 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.8 (4468 Reviews)

Director:

Yèji Yamada

Genres:

DramaRomance

Cast:

Writer:

Yèji Yamada (screenplay)

Yoshitaka Asama (screenplay)

Shèhei Fujisawa (short stories "Kakushi ken oni no tsume" and "Yuki akari")

Fullplot:

During the time of change of the mid-19th Century, Yaichiro is bid farewell by his fellow samurai friends Munezo and Samon as he leaves their clan's fiefdom on the northwest coast of Japan (Unasaka) to take an important position within the shogunate in far away Edo. Munezo has lived modestly with his mother and sister Shino after his father was forced into suicide after the failure of a bridge project. Kie, a farm girl serves them as a maid in their house. As time passes, Munezo's sister marries Samon, his mother dies, Kie is married into a merchant family, and he is required to learn western methods of warfare such as the use of artillery and firearms from an official sent from Edo. Learning that Kie is ill due to abuse, he rescues her from her husband's family. Although sharing mutual affection and respect, a marriage between Munezo and Kie is still impossible due to different castes, and when he, now a bachelor, is criticized for her serving in his house, Munezo sends her back to her father's farm. After being caught in a failed political intrigue, Yaichiro is sent home in disgrace and imprisoned in solitary confinement. After Yaichiro escapes, Munezo is ordered to prove his innocence from complicity by killing his old friend, and he seeks the help of his old teacher, the sword master Kansai Toda. Although Yaichiro had been the better swordsman when they studied together, Toda entrusted the secret of the "Hidden Blade" only to Munezo. Toda now teaches him a new technique to use as he prepares to face Yaichiro, who has taken hostages in a farm house.

Kano

Kano

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2014-02-27

Languages:

Japanese, Min Nan

Countries:

Taiwan

Runtime:

185 min

IMDB Ratings:

(1371 Reviews)

Director:

Chih-Hsiang Ma

Fullplot:

Under Japanese rule, an underdog high school baseball team from southern Taiwan defeats the heretofore superior northern teams and wins a rare opportunity to represent the colony in the 1931 empire-wide tournament. Comprised of Taiwanese, Taiwanese aboriginals and Japanese players, "Kanè," the Kagi Nourin School team, must integrate the ethnically mixed roster and make the best of its unique strengths to not just survive but thrive in the elite league.

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