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Late 1950s – 1970s

Japanese New Wave

A generation of younger Japanese directors broke with the studio tradition and made provocative, political and sexually frank films.

By the end of the 1950s, young assistant directors at Shochiku and Nikkatsu were tired of the old studio style and of the traditional family film. Nagisa Oshima, Shohei Imamura, Masahiro Shinoda, Seijun Suzuki and Hiroshi Teshigahara made films about sex, crime, politics and the unsettled postwar generation, in bolder and sometimes more violent forms. Oshima's Death by Hanging and In the Realm of the Senses, Imamura's The Insect Woman and Suzuki's pop-art gangster films broke every convention. The movement faded as the studio system shrank in the 1970s, but it opened Japanese cinema to independent filmmaking.

Where
Japan
When
Late 1950s to the early 1970s
Key figures
Nagisa Oshima, Shohei Imamura, Masahiro Shinoda, Seijun Suzuki, Hiroshi Teshigahara, Yoshishige Yoshida
Landmark films
Cruel Story of Youth (1960), Woman in the Dunes (1964), Branded to Kill (1967), Death by Hanging (1968)
Legacy
Opened the way for independent Japanese cinema and later directors such as Takeshi Kitano and Takashi Miike

What to look for

  • Frank treatment of sex, violence and politics
  • Restless, experimental editing and colour
  • Young anti-heroes and a rejection of tradition

Famous Directors

Nagisa OshimaJapanShohei ImamuraJapanHiroshi TeshigaharaJapanSeijun SuzukiJapanMasahiro ShinodaJapanKaneto ShindoJapan

Top films · 50 films

  1. Woman in the Dunes 1964 · Hiroshi Teshigahara · IMDb 8.4
  2. The Naked Island 1960 · Kaneto Shindo · IMDb 8.0
  3. The Ballad of Narayama 1983 · Shohei Imamura · IMDb 7.8
  4. The Face of Another 1966 · Hiroshi Teshigahara · IMDb 7.8
  5. Onibaba 1964 · Kaneto Shindo · IMDb 7.8
  6. Pale Flower 1964 · Masahiro Shinoda · IMDb 7.7
  7. Intentions of Murder 1964 · Shohei Imamura · IMDb 7.6
  8. Vengeance Is Mine 1979 · Shohei Imamura · IMDb 7.6
  9. Double Suicide 1969 · Masahiro Shinoda · IMDb 7.6
  10. Children of Hiroshima 1952 · Kaneto Shindo · IMDb 7.6
  11. Death by Hanging 1968 · Nagisa Oshima · IMDb 7.5
  12. Pitfall 1962 · Hiroshi Teshigahara · IMDb 7.5
  13. Boy 1969 · Nagisa Oshima · IMDb 7.4
  14. Pigs and Battleships 1961 · Shohei Imamura · IMDb 7.4
  15. The Insect Woman 1963 · Shohei Imamura · IMDb 7.3
  16. The Eel 1997 · Shohei Imamura · IMDb 7.3
  17. Youth of the Beast 1963 · Seijun Suzuki · IMDb 7.3
  18. The Ceremony 1971 · Nagisa Oshima · IMDb 7.2
  19. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence 1983 · Nagisa Oshima · IMDb 7.2
  20. Dr. Akagi 1998 · Shohei Imamura · IMDb 7.2
  21. Branded to Kill 1967 · Seijun Suzuki · IMDb 7.2
  22. Gate of Flesh 1964 · Seijun Suzuki · IMDb 7.2
  23. A Man Vanishes 1967 · Shohei Imamura · IMDb 7.1
  24. Rikyu 1989 · Hiroshi Teshigahara · IMDb 7.1
  25. Tokyo Drifter 1966 · Seijun Suzuki · IMDb 7.1
  26. Assassination 1964 · Masahiro Shinoda · IMDb 7.1
  27. Silence (1971) 1971 · Masahiro Shinoda · IMDb 7.1
  28. Empire of Passion 1978 · Nagisa Oshima · IMDb 7.0
  29. Gonza the Spearman 1986 · Masahiro Shinoda · IMDb 7.0
  30. Postcard 2010 · Kaneto Shindo · IMDb 7.0
  31. Cruel Story of Youth 1960 · Nagisa Oshima · IMDb 6.9
  32. Fighting Elegy 1966 · Seijun Suzuki · IMDb 6.9
  33. Zigeunerweisen 1980 · Seijun Suzuki · IMDb 6.9
  34. Kagero-za 1981 · Seijun Suzuki · IMDb 6.9
  35. Yumeji 1991 · Seijun Suzuki · IMDb 6.9
  36. Night and Fog in Japan 1960 · Nagisa Oshima · IMDb 6.8
  37. Taboo 1999 · Nagisa Oshima · IMDb 6.8
  38. A Last Note 1995 · Kaneto Shindo · IMDb 6.8
  39. Warm Water Under a Red Bridge 2001 · Shohei Imamura · IMDb 6.7
  40. Lucky Dragon No. 5 1959 · Kaneto Shindo · IMDb 6.7
  41. In the Realm of the Senses 1976 · Nagisa Oshima · IMDb 6.6
  42. Black Rain 1989 · Shohei Imamura · IMDb 6.6
  43. Three Resurrected Drunkards 1968 · Nagisa Oshima · IMDb 6.4
  44. Pistol Opera 2001 · Seijun Suzuki · IMDb 6.3
  45. Diary of a Shinjuku Thief 1968 · Nagisa Oshima · IMDb 6.1
  46. Spy Sorge 2003 · Masahiro Shinoda · IMDb 6.1
  47. Under the Cherry Blossoms 1975 · Masahiro Shinoda
  48. The Profound Desire of the Gods 1968 · Shohei Imamura
  49. Kuroneko 1968 · Kaneto Shindo
  50. The Ruined Map 1968 · Hiroshi Teshigahara