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Why Not? is a japonais film of genre Drama directed by Shōhei Imamura released in USA on 8 january 1981 with Kaori Momoi
Why Not? (1981)
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Add to a movie listEijanaika or Why Not? (ええじゃないか , Ee ja nai ka) is a 1981 Japanese film by director Shohei Imamura. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival.
Synopsis
The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry "Ee ja nai ka" ("Why not?") in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminates in a revelrous march on the Tokyo Imperial Palace, which turns into a massacre. Characteristically, Imamura focuses not on the leaders of the country, but on characters in the lower classes and on the fringes of society.Actors
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Suggestions of similar film to Why Not?
There are 86 films with the same actors, 21 films with the same director, 61486 with the same cinematographic genres, 10433 films with the same themes (including 232 films with the same 4 themes than Why Not?), to have finally 70 suggestions of similar films.If you liked Why Not?, you will probably like those similar films :
The Ballad of Narayama (1983)
, 2h10Directed by Shōhei Imamura
Origin Japon
Genres Drama
Themes Films about families, Seafaring films, Transport films, Vieillesse
Actors Ken Ogata, Mitsuko Baishō, Taiji Tonoyama, Nenji Kobayashi
Rating77%
The film is set in a small rural village in Japan in the 19th century. According to tradition, once a person reaches the age of 70 he or she must travel to a remote mountain to die of starvation, a practice known as ubasute. The story concerns Orin, who is 69 and of sound health, but notes that a neighbor had to drag his father to the mountain, so she resolves to avoid clinging to life beyond her term. She spends a year arranging all the affairs of her family and village: she severely punishes a family who are hoarding food, and helps her younger son lose his virginity.
11’09”01—September 11 (2002)
, 2h15Directed by Sean Penn, Claude Lelouch, Amos Gitaï, Youssef Chahine, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Danis Tanović, Ken Loach, Idrissa Ouédraogo, Shōhei Imamura, Mira Nair, Samira Makhmalbaf
Origin Iran
Genres Drama
Themes Films based on the September 11 attacks, Medical-themed films, Films about terrorism, Transport films, Aviation films, Films about disabilities, Dans un avion, Disaster films, Sign-language films, French Sign Language films, Films about language and translation, Films about hijackings
Actors Ernest Borgnine, Emmanuelle Laborit, Akira Emoto, Mitsuko Baishō, Ken Ogata, Keren Mor
Rating67%
Dans un village au Moyen-Orient, la population se prépare à des représailles américaines en préparant des abris de terre cuite. Personne n'appréhende vraiment ce qui s'est passé à New York, mais ils savent que, même s'ils n'ont rien à voir avec cela, ils vont en subir les conséquences. Le film dénonce la manière dont des villages innocents dont la réalité n'a rien à voir avec les attentats du 11 septembre subissent finalement le même sort que les tours, sans vraiment comprendre.
Black Rain (1990)
, 2h3Directed by Shōhei Imamura
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, War, Historical
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Aviation films, Political films, Arme nucléaire
Actors Yoshiko Tanaka, Etsuko Ichihara, Keisuke Ishida, Taiji Tonoyama, Akiji Kobayashi, Kenjirō Ishimaru
Rating77%
The film moves between Shizuma Shigematsu's journal entries about Hiroshima in 1945, following the dropping of the atomic bomb, and the present, 1950, when Shigematsu and his wife Shigeko are the guardians for their niece Yasuko and charged with finding her a husband (she has been declined three times due to concerns over her having been in the "black rain" fallout). As the story progresses, Shigematsu sees more and more fellow hibakusha, his friends and family, succumbing to radiation sickness and Yasuko's prospects for marriage become more and more unlikely, as she forms a bond with a poor man named Yuichi, who carves jizo and suffers a form of post-traumatic stress disorder where he attacks passing motor vehicles as "tanks."
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, 1h48Directed by Shōhei Imamura
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Comedy, Action, Crime
Themes Seafaring films, Films about sexuality, Transport films, Erotic films, Films about prostitution, Erotic thriller films
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Rating74%
The film focuses on Kinta, a member of the Himori Yakuza, who has been put in charge of the gang's pork distribution and his girlfriend Haruko, who works at a bar. Kinta is shown working with other gangsters, beating up a local shopkeep who caters to Americans and paying the people who work on the hog farm. When Kinta goes to visit Haruko in the afternoon she leaves without speaking to him and Kinta finds out through her sister that Haruko is being paid 30000 yen to go on a date with a sailor (and that her mother has already spent the money). Haruko returns to Kinta later that night, although Kinta is unhappy because of the earlier events. Haruko reveals that she is pregnant and expresses her concerns about Kinta’s work.
Vengeance Is Mine (1979)
, 2h20Directed by Shōhei Imamura, Taku Shinjō
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Crime
Themes Serial killer films
Actors Ken Ogata, Mayumi Ogawa, Rentarō Mikuni, Mitsuko Baishō, Taiji Tonoyama, Kazuko Shirakawa
Rating76%
The film's story is told in a series of flashbacks. In the opening scenes, Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata), is a prisoner of the police. A huge crowd of journalists and an angry mob greets him as he enters a cell. The police quiz him but he refuses to answer. The story goes back to the initial murders. Enokizu tricks and then kills two men and steals a large sum of money. He puts on a suit and disappears. Enokizu travels to another city. At the train station, he asks a taxi driver to take him to an inn where he can get a prostitute. Enokizu is sexually insatiable. He tells the innkeeper, a woman called Haru (Mayumi Ogawa), that he is a professor at Kyoto University. The police, searching for Enokizu, put out bulletins with his face on television. The prostitute thinks the professor is Enokizu, but she is told not to go to the police because of her job.
Intentions of Murder (1964)
, 2h30Directed by Shōhei Imamura
Origin Japon
Genres Drama
Actors Masumi Harukawa, Kō Nishimura, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi, Yoshi Katō, Yūko Kusunoki, Tomio Aoki
Rating75%
The film tells the story of a dull, plump housewife living in poverty with a common-law husband. After being raped by a thief, she is repeatedly accosted by him as he falls madly in love with her. Stuck between her adulterous, unloving husband and the rapist she struggles to find happiness.
Love and Honor (2006)
, 1h58Directed by Yōji Yamada
Genres Drama, Romance
Themes Seafaring films, Sports films, Transport films, Martial arts films, Samurai films, Films about disabilities
Actors Takuya Kimura, Takashi Sasano, Rei Dan, Nenji Kobayashi, Ken Ogata, Kaori Momoi
Rating76%
Shinnojo, a low level samurai, lives with his pretty, dutiful and loyal wife Kayo. He has come to find his position in a castle as a food-taster for a feudal lord to be boring and pointless, and talks about opening a kendo school open to boys of all castes where he can teach the use of the sword. Before he can act on his dream he becomes ill with a fever after tasting some sashimi made from shell fish, but an investigation reveals that the poisoning was not due to a human conspiracy, but a poor choice of food out of season. After three days he awakes but finds that the toxin from the food has blinded him. Kayo is summoned by Shinnojo's family to explain how the couple will survive. His uncle laments that he no longer knows anybody with influence in the castle, and asks Kayo if she knows of anybody. She relates how Toya Shimada, the chief duty officer in the castle and a samurai of high rank, offered to help and they tell her to act upon his offer of assistance. A message from the castle brings the good news that Shinnojo's stipend of rice will remain the same, and for life but his aunt tells him that Kayo was seen with another man. He has Tokuhei, his faithful servant, follow her. Kayo notices that she is being followed, and although Tokuhei offers to cover for her, she reveals to Shinnojo that Shimada offered to help but with a price, shown when he forced himself upon her. He then solicited three additional trysts by threatening to tell Shinnojo about the first. An enraged Shinnojo divorces her and orders her out of his house. When it is revealed to him that Shimada had nothing to do with maintaining his stipend, but that it came out of gratitude from the lord of the clan himself, Shinnojo seeks to renew his skill with the sword as a blind man to avenge the dishonor of Kayo. Through Tokuhei, he sends a message to Shimada to set up a duel, with the additional message to not underestimate him. The two samurai meet at the stables near the river to decide their destinies. In the subsequent fight Shinnojo cuts off Shimada's arm. He leaves Shimada to live a horribly disfigured life, telling Tokuhei that he has now avenged Kayo's dishonor. The next day Shinnojo is informed that the injured Shimada refused to tell anyone what had happened or who injured him in the duel. That night Shimada committed seppuku and killed himself, as a samurai cannot live with only one arm. He dies without anyone knowing of his sin against the Mimura family, his violation of Kayo, or his own dishonorable injury by a blinded man. Tokuhei tells Shinnojo he has found a girl to work in the kitchen and cook for him. After one taste of the girl's food, Shinnojo recognizes his wife's cooking, and calls Kayo to come into the house. Shinnojo and Kayo reconcile, with an understanding that they will begin their life together anew.
A Man Vanishes (1967)
, 2h10Directed by Shōhei Imamura
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Documentary
Actors Shōhei Imamura, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi
Rating71%
Un documentaire autour d'un homme ordinaire qui disparaît, comme beaucoup de japonais chaque année, laissant derrière lui sa femme, son travail. Shōhei Imamura, mène le récit vers des développements inattendus, ce qui amène le spectateur à s'interroger sur ce qui est la réalité et ce qui pourrait être la fiction.
The Eel (1997)
, 1h57Directed by Shōhei Imamura
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Crime
Themes Films about domestic violence
Actors Kōji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu, Mitsuko Baishō, Akira Emoto, Shō Aikawa, Etsuko Ichihara
Rating72%
Acting on the advice of an anonymous note, Takuro Yamashita (Kōji Yakusho) returns home early one night to find his wife in bed with another man. He kills her and then turns himself in to the police. After being released from prison, he opens a barber shop and brings along a pet eel which he talks to while mostly ignoring conversation with others. He helps save Keiko Hattori (Misa Shimizu) from a suicide attempt, resulting in her working at the shop. She starts developing romantic feelings for him, but he acts nonchalant and refuses the boxed lunches she prepares for him when he goes eel-hunting with the fisherman Jukichi Takada. Takuro recognizes the local garbageman from prison and the garbageman starts to stalk Takuro and Keiko, believing that Takuro isn't repentant enough for his crimes. He attempts to rape Keiko and leaves a letter revealing Takuro's past on the door of his barber shop, but it is removed by Takada. Keiko finds out that she is pregnant with the baby of Eiji Dojima (Tomorowo Taguchi), a loan shark, and that it is too late for an abortion. One night the garbageman goes to Takuro's shop and lectures him, accusing him of killing his wife out of jealousy. The two get into an altercation and Takuro fends him off. Keiko goes back to her old company, where she is the vice-president, and retrieves her mother's bankbook. This results in Dojima angrily going to the barber shop, along with henchman, and accusing her of theft since he was planning to reinvest the funds into his business. Dojima's group and Keiko's fight, with the false revelation that Keiko is pregnant with Takuro's child. The police find that Keiko's mother never signed power of attorney papers for Dojima, but a parole violation meeting for Takuro causes him to be sent back to prison for a year. Takuro lets his eel go and accepts a boxed lunch from Keiko, who promises to wait for him with her baby.
, 1h59Directed by Shōhei Imamura
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Comedy-drama, Romantic comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Themes Films about sexuality, Erotic films
Actors Kōji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu, Mitsuko Baishō, Toshie Negishi, Isao Natsuyagi, Takahito Iguchi
Rating66%
Warm Water Under A Red Bridge focuses on the troubles of a Japanese "everyman" who finds a new life with an unusual woman in a small fishing village. Imamura's last film contains considerable commentary on the search for happiness.