Hiroshima (Japan, 1953)

The film shows the bombing of Hiroshima and the horrific aftermath following the detonation of an atomic bomb on humans for the first time in history.

While not being a huge surprise, Hiroshima is one of the saddest films ever made and leaves you absolutely gutted afterwards. It apparently makes use of over 90.000 extras (!), and is based on several testimonies told from actors who actually experienced the horrible event only eight years earlier. There's some incredible sets in the film, and the many, many actors had to stumble around barefoot on piles of rubble surrounded by flames and thousands of screaming people. Talk about a tough shoot.

The harrowing and sorrowful music melts into the scenes and gives them that extra little push to being so miserably that people who'd been present when the bomb fell said that the film captured the disaster with scary accuracy. Not that it makes the film any easier to watch but, Hiroshima makes one hell of an effort to portray that day when history took another turn for the worse and with nothing omitted shows the tragedy from the perspective of those who had to live in it. 

Genre: Drama/War

Ugetsu Monogatari (Japan, 1953)

Genjuro is a potter who longs for wealth and luxury, while Tobei, a farmer, dreams of the glories of the samurai to the point of ignoring his wife. Though a war rages around them, they venture to town to sell their wares. Genjuro meets a beautiful woman and is immediately bewitched.

Ugetsu is one of the more well-known films in Japanese history, and it's often said to have popularized Japanese cinema in the west. A ghostly story where men's actions such as greed and violence have a horrible effect on the women. Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi (Street of Shame, The Life of Oharu), one of Japans most important directors. Ugetsu's literal title is Tales of Moonlight and Rain, which is one of the best titles ever.

Genre: Drama/Fantasy/Mystery. 1h 36min.

Gate of Hell (Japan, 1953)

In 1159, during an attempted coup, one of the court's ladies in waiting disguises herself as the lord's wife, and a loyal samurai conveys her from the city. This diversion allows the royal family to escape. After the coup fails, the samurai asks his lord to let him marry the woman as his reward. The lord grants the request and then discovers she is already married to one of the ruling family's lieges. The samurai clings to his desire, importuning her to leave her husband, then challenging the husband to release her. 

Filmed using Eastmancolor, Gate of Hell was Daiei Film's first color film and the first Japanese color film to be released outside Japan. In its native country, critics weren't too impressed by it, but at the 1954 Cannes Film festival it won the grand prize award. The use of colors is absolutely mesmerizing, with exceptionally bright kimonos and other small details which lights up beautifully in the moonlight. A love triangle where there's little hope of a happy ending. A sparkling gem from the old days of Japanese cinema. 

Genre: Drama/History/Romance

Tokyo Story (Japan, 1953)

An elderly couple journey to Tokyo to visit their children and are confronted by indifference, ingratitude and selfishness. When the parents are packed off to a resort by their impatient children, the film deepens into an unbearably moving meditation on mortality.

Tokyo Story has countless times been listed as one of the greatest films ever made. Critics and movie magazines all over the world has placed it at the top for over 50 years. There's no denying that this is one of those classics you need to see at least once in your life. Director Yasujiro Ozu uses his own distinctive camera style where the camera height is low and never moves, his so called "tatami-mat"-shot. Whole scenes are being shot this way in one take and it always gives me a rush when it doesn't cut to another shot in a long time, and to me it creates a sort of intense bond between the viewer and the film. You're not watching these folks at their dinner table, you're sitting down with them. A family centered story dealing with a probably all too plausible scenario in many households. 

Genre: Drama