Yûgorô Imai

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labor chief at a large mining operation in Manchuria, which also grants him exemption from military service. He accepts, and moves to Manchuria with his newly-wed wife Michiko, but when he tries to put his ideas of more humane treatment into practice, he finds himself at odds with scheming officials, cruel foremen, and the military police.

Black River

A university student moves into an apartment building and becomes involved with a waitress. The landlord then attempts to evict the tenants and sell the building through illicit means.

I Will Buy You

A talent scout moves sharply, dead-set on signing a promising athlete to the baseball team the Toyko Flowers.

The Thick-Walled Room

A group of rank-and-file Japanese soldiers are jailed for crimes against humanity, themselves victims of a nation refusing to bear its burdens as a whole.

Fountainhead

A botanist woos the secretary of an industrialist whose company threatens the local water supply.

Beautiful Days

Masaki Kobayashi directs this romantic drama concerning a family of florists.

Somewhere Beneath the Wide Sky

This drama of middle-class life in postwar Japan tells the story lower-middle-class workers in the city of Kawasaki, and their troubles and travails.

Carmen Comes Home

A rural village elder plans an event on the return of a farmer's daughter from the city, unaware that she has become a Westernized burlesque artist.