The top three Japanese Films that aren’t animated

Two weeks ago I slagged off the French film-making philosophy. In an effort to be more positive this week, I’m going to heap praise on my favourite film-producing country – Japan. Looking past the endlessly churned out anime crap, animated Japanese cinema may very well be the best in the world. – Miyazaki, Katsuhiro Ôtomo and Mamoru Hosoda are unmatched in the eyes of many critics. But it would be nice for live action films get a look in:

Tokyo Sonata (2008)

When reviewing the French ‘style’ of filmmaking I commented on its annoying fascination with endless dialogue and rich young people’s tiresome love lives. No film shows off the vastly superior Japanese filmmaking philosophy as Tokyo Sonata. Much like a modern-day Tokyo Story, the film is a classic Japanese slice-of-life drama focused on family and appreciating small things in life.

13 Assassins (2010)

Much like Tokyo Sonata is a modern-day, version of the classic Tokyo Story, 13 Assassins represents a new-and-improved version of Seven Samurai. It tells the classic story of an elite team taking on hordes of bad-guys threatening a poor village, with everything ramped up to 11. Seven Samurai may be the critic’s favourite but never try to challenge Takeshii Mike on violent spectacle.

Departures (2008)

I’m surprised that I’ve never spoken about Departures before. The problem is that it’s hard to describe it in a way that does justice to how beautiful and life affirming it is. It tells of a newly unemployed cellist who takes up a job preparing the dead for their funerals. The film is hugely intelligent and uniquely emotional. It explores the topics of death, family, and Japanese sensibilities better than any other film I have ever seen.