Akira Nishimura Movies

For a brief period during the 16th century, the Portuguese and Dutch were permitted influence in Japan, with the result that a considerable number of Japanese converted to Christianity. By the late 16th century, a reaction against these outside influences was in full sway. In this story, Lady Ogin is unable to marry her lover because he has become a Christian, and Christians are being persecuted by the Shogun Hideyoshi. This tragic romance is based on a story by Toko Kon. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A woman seeks the revenge that was her birthright in this action thriller from Japan. A gang of ruthless thieves break into the home of a rural couple, and after taking their valuables, they murder the husband and rape the wife once they've beaten her senseless. When the ravaged wife tracks down one of the thieves and attacks him, she is arrested by police; she was left pregnant by the rape, and gives birth to a daughter months later, dying shortly after delivery. The daughter, Yuki (Meiko Kaji), is raised by a priest who teaches her how to use a sword and trains her to show no mercy to the men who brutalized her family. When she turns 20, Yuki sets out to seek revenge, looking beautiful and tranquil on the outside but possessing a powerful taste for vengeance against those who wronged her and her mother. Lady Snowblood was written by Kazuo Koike, who also scripted several of the most memorable films in the Lone Wolf and Cub series. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Joe is an out-of-work drifter who is dependant on his fashion-model girlfriend to survive. When the model sleeps with the son of a wealthy tycoon to get Joe a coveted employment position, he drops her like a hot cup of saki. Later, Joe goes to a nightclub where he is seduced by a married woman who talks him into helping her murder her husband. The only witness to the crime is a homeless man, who Joe keeps close to his side and under the gun. Joe and the beggar built a raft in hopes of floating off to Brazil. He calls on his old girlfriend who pledges her love and agrees to meet him at the dock. When she arrives with the police, Joe shoots her out of anger. He and his wounded girlfriend embark on the makeshift raft and, against overwhelming odds, hope to get out of the harbor alive. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Shintaro Katsu once again plays the blind swordsman Ichi in this continuing series. The hero comes to the aid of peasants in a small town that is under the thumb of gangsters and corrupt government officials. The landowners are in cahoots with the mob, and it is up to Ichi to save the poor farmers and restore justice. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

This Japanese drama explores the fine psychological line between rape and romance as it chronicles the violation of a bored housewife while her husband is away. The next morning, the woman is unable to tell her husband of the rape. Strangely, she finds herself looking forward to the brute's return. He does and she struggles very little. Soon she finds herself fixated on the rapist and unable to get rid of him. In desperation, she decides to poison him. Fortunately, before she can, he suffers a heart attack and dies. The woman calmly resumes her dull life and the story ends. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Toshiro Mifune portrays a Samurai who finds himself in the middle of a feud-torn Japanese village. Neither side is particularly honorable, but Mifune is hungry and impoverished, so he agrees to work as bodyguard (or Yojimbo) for a silk merchant (Kamatari Fujiwara) against a sake merchant (Takashi Shimura). He then pretends to go to work for the other, the better to let the enemies tear each other apart. Imprisoned for his "treachery," he escapes just in time to watch the two warring sides wipe each other out. This was his plan all along, and now that peace has been restored, he leaves the village for further exploits. Yes, Yojimbo was the prototype for the Clint Eastwood "Man with No Name" picture A Fistful of Dollars (1964). The difference is that Fistful relies on Eastwood for its success, whereas Yojimbo scores on every creative level, from director Akira Kurosawa to cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa to Mifune's classic lead performance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Set against the final days of World War II, The Burmese Harp portrays the experiences of a group of exhausted, war-scarred Japanese soldiers as they prepare to return to Japan. The film focuses on Shoji Yasui, a soldier known to his comrades for his harp playing, who fails to convince a resistant company to surrender and is presumed dead when a battle destroys their hillside encampment. To rejoin his fellow soldiers, Shoji steals the robes of a Buddhist monk and begins to make his way across the countryside. But along the way, he becomes fixated on the hundreds of abandoned, unburied war casualties and begins to assume the duties of his costume and tend to the bodies. Meanwhile, Shoji's friends mount a search for him, eventually noticing the monk to whom he bears an uncanny resemblance. Director Kon Ichikawa's film was adapted by frequent collaborator (and wife) Nato Wada from a book by Michio Takeyama designed to introduce children to the fundamental principles of Buddhism. ~ Keith Phipps, Rovi