The 40 Best Japanese Movies of the Decade (2011-2020)

30. One Cut of the Dead (Shinichiro Ueda, 2017)

Frankly, this is an exceptionally enjoyable effort that finally offers a unique take on the zombie genre, which comes from plenty of strong characters and witty situations. This is definitely worthwhile for those that are trying for something new in the genre or can appreciate bizarre zombie comedies such as these, while others that don't even agree on that should heed caution with the film. (Don Anelli)

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29. Tezuka's Barbara (Macoto Tezka, 2019)

Evidently, “Barbara” is not a film addressed to those obsessed with context, real stories, etc. However, cinema can also work on other levels that focus on aesthetics, visuals and style, and that is exactly where Macoto Tezka's film thrives. Just allow your brain to shut down and simply enjoy the image. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

28. Helter Skelter (Mika Ninagawa, 2012)

The script sets about the concept of stardom and to what extremes the constant hunt for vogue can lead. The message regarding the contemporary Japanese society is evident: Every value has been commercialized, and beauty and appearances are everything, to the point of being grotesque. Stardom is like a cancer and the people after it are bound to sink deeply in the end, after their time in front of the lens has inevitably passed. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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27. The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki, 2013)

“The Wind Rises” tells the story of Jiro Horikoshi, a man who designed fighting planes for Japan during the war, but eventually started feeling regret for his manufacturing of these death-machines. This time, Miyazaki refrained from the magical realism of his previous film, instead shooting a biopic through an old-fashioned narrative, filled with nostalgia and romanticism. Through this setting, and the story of Jiro, Miyazaki presents the blight of war and its consequences on people, although the focus remained on the romantic story featuring in the film. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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26. Night is Short, Walk on Girl (Masaaki Yuasa, 2017)

If I had to use one word to describe the film, that would be relentless. Starting with the witty dialogues, continuing with the constantly moving in extreme angles animation of the characters and the background, and ending with the absurd collage of extreme episodes that form the story, the anime stops at nowhere and not for even a minute. Inside this chaotic setting, Yuusa, and the screenwriter, Makoto Ueda (who based the film on the homonymoys novel by Tomihiko Morimi) manage to entail much humor, but also a number of social comments. The elderly and how they deal with the world, the perception of time, books, art, friendship, and companionship, love and romance, and their difficulties are all examined here through the filter of drunkenness, and in an extravaganza of colors that makes the anime deliriously entertaining. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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25. Bad Poetry Tokyo (Anshul Chauhan, 2017)

Shoot in two weeks, “Bad Poetry Tokyo”, is an impressive piece of art. Of course, it has its lengthy moments caused by the sparse usage of cutting. Anshul Chauhan is, therefore, playing along with the rules of Japanese Drama, but spicing it up by creating a dark and shaking upside down fairytale. (Alexander Knoth)

24. Blade of the Immortal (Takashi Miike, 2017)

Slightly aging, massive pop star Kimura Takuya fits well in the moody and battered Manji's shoes and he manages to infuse it with the right amount of sense of humor and grumpiness.  Sugisaki Hana as Rin does her best but her character is not very well developed by the script, and therefore the couple suffers from a lack of chemistry. Fukushi Sota is Asano, a bit too boy-band-faced for the part maybe, but one can't say he is not consistent with the whole Ittō-ryū bunch and their camp Manga aesthetic. The movie launched at Cannes last spring and sold out tickets literally minutes after its opening sale at BFI London Film Festival. (Adriana Rosati)

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23. Call Boy (Daisuke Miura, 2018)

Daisuke Miura directs a movie that uses eroticism in order to present a number of comments, most of which revolve around desire and the true nature of women, with the film examining this topic in almost every age. In that fashion, the movie explores a number of desires that could be easily considered as “fetishes” but in reality are quite more common than anyone would think, although they are usually buried under layers of pretentiousness and a need to appear “normal.” The sincerity and sensitivity Miura addresses these themes is one of the film's biggest traits. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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22. Hanagatami (Nobuhiko Obayashi, 2017)

Nobuhiko Obayashi's “Hanagatami” is a work which blends beauty with the fatal knowledge of conflict and war. Its experimental nature regarding its form compliments a universal, yet touching message about the price people and the world has to pay in times of war, the changes it causes and the relationships it shatters. (Rouven Lin)

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21. The Blood of Wolves (Kazuya Shiraishi, 2018)

Kazuya Shiraishi directs a very entertaining film, building on the two axes mentioned in the prologue. The “Yakuza Papers” one derives from the narration of the events that are not depicted on screen, as from a newspaper article, and the depiction of the Yakuza, with their constant thirst for violence, the extreme accents, and the games for power and domination between the various gangs. The “Training Day” axis derives from the relationship of the veteran Ogami and the “rookie” Hioka, with the first taking the latter for a ride in the complex politics that shape the ties between crime and punishment, and the actual situation in the area. Shiraishi, though, takes this concept a step further, by eventually presenting a second layer in Ogami, which offers a plot twist that turns the film completely around, both regarding the veteran, and his relationship with the rookie. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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