A masterpiece fit to stand beside Tokyo Story, this film is quintessential Ozu. Unique among all filmmakers, Yasujiro Ozu developed a beautifully restrained style by positioning his camera three feet above the floor and rejecting such techniques as the dissolve, pan, and fade. He also avoided excessive plot, concentrating instead on the everyday activities that mold our lives. As a result, his compositions are exquisite and his stories heartfelt. This film focuses on Noriko, a 28-year-old woman who must choose between staying single or marrying the man her family has picked for her. Glimpses into the lives of Noriko's brother, young nephews, and aging parents underscore the conflicts between three generations. Written by Ozu and Kogo Noda and featuring a cast of Ozu regulars, this film is a moving --- and universal --- family portrait.

Akira Kurosawa's Dreams is the most visionary and deeply personal work to date from the legendary movie master whose credits include Rashomon, The Seven Samurai and Ran. Consisting of eight episodes shimmering with rich imagery and insight, it explores the costs of war, the perils of nuclear power and especially humankind's need to harmonize with nature. The cast includes Martin Scorsese as Vincent Van Gogh and Akira Terao (Ran)."Man is genius when he is dreaming," Kurosawa says. In Kurosawa's own instance, he is a most beautiful dreamer. Akira Kurosawa's Deams is a work of tenderness and power, of intricate detail and far-reaching sweep. It is the awesome dreamscape of one of this century's most inspired and inspiring filmmakers.

Stranded in a remote region of Japan, an entomologist (Iiji Okada, star of Hiroshima Mon Amour) is given shelter for the night in a sand pit inhabited by a hapless woman (Kyoko Kishida). She slaves day and night to unearth the enormous amounts of sand necessary for her community's survival. When morning comes, he finds himself a prisoner to the sand pit, expected to work at her side and be her mate. To his surprise, the scientist develops an intense bond with his companion and resigns himself to an eternity of hypnotic routine. An allegory probing the depths of identity and alienation, this film has become an enduring classic and is best known as a heavily symbolic erotic drama which effectively uses extreme closeups so that the characters become part of the landscape. The film's passionate existential contemplations offer simple and affectingly direct metaphors for the human condition.

Identical twin brothers, now successful artists, recall the summer of 1948 when they were eight years old and their Japanese village was a place full of wonder and magic. "The brats," as they are known, spend their days skinny dipping, fishing for eels and chasing birds in the woods --- when they're not busy causing mischief at home or at school. This visually ravishing film follows their adventures with humor and Zen-like clarity --- powerfully evoking the boys' vibrant sensations and emotions.

"Utamaro and His Five Women" is the highly-embellished account of a great artist, set against the background of Tokyo in the late 1700's. In this world of brothels, drinking parties and violent outbreaks of passion, the artist Utamaro dedicates himself to creating gorgeously vivid portraits. Although he worships women through his art, these emotional paintings are his only true connection to the passionate world around him. Rather than decorating his life, art becomes his life.

Hailed by critics as one of the most masterfully directed and beautifully photographed films of all time, Kenji Mizoguchi's stunning classic blends stark reality with haunting, erotic imagery. A desolate countryside ravaged by war provides the backdrop for Mizoguchi's eerie tale of misguided ambition and forbidden passion. In 16th century Japan, two peasants abandon their families to seek fame and fortune. Tobei, a poor farmer who dreams of glory, becomes a samurai warrior by claiming another's conquest as his own. Genjuro, a potter who longs for wealth, quickly forgets his wife and son when he is bewitched by a mysterious woman from the spirit world. But in attaining his goal, each man destroys his own life and brings tragedy to his family. A powerful testament to the illusory nature of happiness, Ugetsu firmly established Mizoguchi's reputation in the West, and earned him recognition as one of the world's greatest directors of women.

Yasujiro Ozu's TOKYO STORY follows an aging couple, Tomi and Shukichi, on their journey from their rural village to visit their two married children in bustling postwar Tokyo. Their reception, however, is disappointing: too busy to entertain them, their children send them off to the hot springs. After Tomi falls ill, she and Shukichi return home; the children, grief-stricken, hasten to be with her. From a simple tale unfolds one of the greatest of all Japanese films. Starring Ozu regulars Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara, the film reprises one of the director's favorite themes- that of generational conflict - in a way that is quintessentially Japanese, and yet universal in its appeal

In the most lavish penthouses, visible only through the keyholes, there exists a dangerous and erotic world. High paid prostitutes who specialize in high-stake games make the rounds. The richer the client, the wilder the ride. When fantasy gets too rough for one young call-girl, and escaping becomes her reality.

Akira Kurosawa's savage, free-flowing adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth plunges viewers into an eerie, fog-shrouded world of madness and obsession. Set in medieval Japan during a period of feudal conflict, Kurosawa's masterpiece combines the stylization of the Noh theater with the dynamic energy of the American Western to tell the tragic story of an ambitious warlord. International star Toshiro Mijune gives one of his finest performances as the proud warrior who is destroyed by his wife's murderous greed and his own all-consuming desire for power. From its first frenzied battle sequences to the brutal climax, in which the entire forest seems to move against Mifune, and he is slain by arrows from his own army, Kurosawa's brilliantly staged classic is a cinematic triumph.

Toshiro Mifune plays rookie Detective Murakami, who loses his gun only to discover that it has fallen into the hands of a killer. Terrified of losing his job, his search takes him into the Tokyo underworld, full of postwar shortages.