What films can people recommend to help your Japanese study? Period dramas and samurai films are of little use for me. A real story set in the real world should help natural conversation a lot.
The best that i've seen yet is called "Nobody Knows" by Hirokazu Kore-Eda. Or in Japanese 誰も知らない by 是枝裕和. A very upseting film that I think a foreign resident of Japan can see understand the wider meaning more than most Japanese people can.

The language is a bit tough to follow because Beat Takeshi's speech is a bit "rough" but 菊次郎（きくじろう）の夏 is a great movie, and certainly anyone can pick up bits here and there.

I'm a sucker for the sappy stuff, like "Sekai no Chuushin de, Ai wo Sakebu" and the high-school comedies like "Swing Girls."

Some Japanese DVDs (or the HK versions) have English subtitles, too. Like "Survive Style 5+, which is kind of Pulp Fiction-y.

I think you'd get a lot of good vocabulary out of Machine Girl, when it comes out. (NSFW)

http://link.brightcove.com/services/play...1320139451

Maybe it has by now.

I agree with JimmySeal in recommending Beat Takeshi's film. Its a pretty cute movie. I also liked his ソナチネ a bit better.

As for other films, I have tried for many years to find good media (movies, music, etc.) in general from Japan. It is a hard task if you look outside of the occasional comic book or animated movie. I absolutely can't stand most of the quirky stuff. So if you are the type who like "Puka-Puka-chan and her Magical Transformation in Octopus Land" or high school girls running around flashing panties as they fight rubber aliens, then I am not the guy to listen to. If you are a bit more discerning (or share my lack of taste depending on perspective) then I have a few more recommendations for you.

I am somewhat of a fan of 岩井俊二 (Shunji Iwai)'s films. In particular I liked スワロウテイル, リリイ・シュシュのすべて, and to a lesser extent 花とアリス. The last of the three being kind a let down, but still a cut above most movies from Japan. (You can find all of these movies on wikipedia)

I also liked a couple of recent movies, but they deal more with the Showa era(set about 50 years or so ago) than the current era. ALWAYS 三丁目の夕日 and currently in theaters 母べえ　is decent (but it is a bit of a knock off of the former).

If you are looking for something more comical I liked ラジオの時間 from a few years back.

I am also going to watch ユメ十夜 on the recommendation of a Japanese friend of mine but I can't vouch for that one.

That is all I can think of off the top of my head.

Linda Linda Linda
9 Souls

I liked タンポポ (Tampopo) as a teen, though I never watched it in Japanese...
also "Drive" by Sabu was fun, but again I can't tell how good or useful the Japanese in that film is.

いま、会いにゆきます　 is rather easy to understand and it's a nice movie to watch. I would actually recommend you to watch TV-Dramas for simple stories and easy to understand dialogues (most highschool dramas).

As for good Japanese films, I love Japanese films, so there's a lot to recommend. I haven't seen Koreeda's latest film, but everything else by Koreeda is worth watching.
Tony Takitani and Tokyo Marigold by Ichikawa Jun are great. His new film (forgot the title) sounds like another great film.
If you want to try your Japanese with lots of inner monologues try Hideaki Anno's RITUAL (式日）。I love his work (he's the director of Neon Genesis Evangelion).

Swing Girls is a lot of fun, but from what I remember they used a rather unusual dialect in that film (anybody correct me if I'm wrong).

Kurosawa Kiyoshi is a great director, I'd recommend BRIGHT FUTURE (アカルイミライ）.

That's right, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamagata-ben in Swing Girls. It's comical, so not as hard to understand as muttering obaasan, but maybe too hard for a beginner. Maybe "Hula Girls," then, which looks like the same movie with hula dancing instead of swing music (haven't seen it). Or "Tokyo Sora," where everyone speaks good Standard Japanese.

Mark Schilling writes English-language reviews of exclusively Japanese films for The Japan Times, and he has a book out. I've liked the films I've seen that he's recommended.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/entertainment/film.html

I like non-period dorama stuff.. And I love Otsuka Ai, so I have to recommend Tokyo Friends, haha. I'll second that Tanpopo recommendation, that's a fun one.

Not sure whether it'll help in your studies but I recommend Dark Water if you're a horror fan.

This French film might interest someone:

"Ever wanted to work for a large Japanese company in Tokyo? 'Fear and Trembling' is the semi-autobiographical story of a French/Belgian woman that follows her dream of doing exactly that??.along with the trials and tribulations that went with it. This 2003 film is both a touching and humorous examination of the differences in office politics and culture between western and Japanese society. It?s a cross between ?the Office? tv series and ?Lost in Translation?. It is directed by Alain Corneau and stars Sylvie Testud, who won the French version of the Academy Awards for her performance in this film."

In Japanese and French with English subtitles.

I haven't seen it yet or tried to find it. But I imagine there are others on this site who might relate to the humour and frustration (I used to work at a traditional Japanese trading company in Tokyo).

If you go to "aznv.tv" there's a ton of Japanese movies available to watch (streaming) with full English descriptions. You have to have winamp to watch them. Asian movies always seem to be available pirated but it's quite a bit cheaper there than renting them from the store (10$ for 75 streaming hours). Most of the films here are subtitled so you'll have to cover them up but other than that I've had no problems over the past two years that I've been using it.

I've seen Fear and Trembling. At times I thought it was a bit artsy (French films often give me this feeling...), but overall it was pretty funny, so I'll second Thora's post. It'd be more enjoyable for french speakers though. The title is "Stupeur et tremblements".

I'll have to check out Stupeur et tremblements. I like the idea of French/Japanese films, since I can practice both my second languages at once. Along that line is Wasabi, a movie about a French detective who ends up in Japan after discovering he had a daughter there. A fun movie, not deep, good action.
Anybody know any other combination French/Japanese movies?
Also agree with recommendation for Tampopo, completely enjoyable film, and Beat Takashi's films are great. Hanabi, Dolls, Kikujiru, ...

A fun movie I saw in my university Japanese class was:

Odoru Daisosasen The Movie 2: Rainbow Bridge wo Fuusa Seyo!

It's a cop movie, but a good one. It's got some really fun moments. And, of course, some totally over-the-top cheesy drama bits, too. It's based on a popular TV series, I think. I can't remember for sure. I just remember all of the action bits in Odaiba. When I finally got to see Odaiba, I had a lot of flashbacks to the movie.

The R2 DVD that my Japanese TA had came with English subtitles, too, if you want to cheat.

Odoru Daisousasen is excellent. I'd recommend the TV Series. And the specials. And the films. There are also two Spin-Offs: "Negotiator Mashita Masayoshi" and "The Suspect Muroi Shinji". Negotiator Mashita Masayoshi was fun, but not as good as the series or the films. Have yet to see The Suspect.

I've been looking for a film that has a copy of the Japanese script floating around somewhere on the web so that I can quickly use rikaichan to learn words that I didn't understand.


If anyone has any suggestions as to where I might obtain a such a thing, that would be awesome

not so sure about movies, but try this thread for scripts for japanese TV drama series. the dramanote website listed there really has a ton of stuff.
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=541

as for japanese films, my vote's for hana and alice (花とアリス）: )

hey thanks for the help

There is a film called "I am Nipponjin". It's about a Japanese-American
going to Japan and experiencing culture shock. I've heard a lot of good things about this film.

Also, I'm gonna stick my neck out and say:
Use moves/TV shows to practice listening/speaking.
Use manga/readings to practice reading/writing.
And keep it that way.

Writing down vocab while you're watching film/TV can really bog you
down if you do it too often. These days, I think it's just better to just
listen and don't write anything down. Over time, you'll get better without
noticing.

Who's Camus Anyway? -- can be viewed on Netflix. Quirky and fun.

Mimi wo sumaseba (Whisper of the Heart) -- a very charming animation from Studio Ghibli. Also available from Netflix.

Orange Days -- TV dorama broadcast in 2004. Good story and excellent for listening comprehension.

I really liked lady snowblood. Yojimbo is a must. But I can't talk about Japanese movies without pimpin zatoichi (used that for a movie!)

Not sure if it's good for your studies or not, but Strawberry Shortcakes is the single best Japanese non-anime movie I've seen in a long while, possibly ever. I've felt that Japanese cinema has fallen dramatically from grace in the last couple of years (way too much cheese lately), so this movie was a real revelation for me and put some of my faith back into Japanese film.

Kurosawa's High & Low

Or any Kurosawa movie for that matter