Direction: Kon Ichikawa
The best movies, series, and documentaries directed by Kon Ichikawa. Explore exceptional titles that showcase a unique filmmaking vision.
The Burmese Harp
1956 · Movie · 116 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Rentarô Mikuni · Shoji Yasui · Jun Hamamura · Taketoshi Naitô
Plot July, 1945: Japan's army is on the run. A platoon in Burma sings to keep its spirit up. Inspiration comes from their self-taught lute player, Mizushima. At war's end, while...
7.6
1K votes
7.6
1K votes
Nobi (Fires on the Plain)
1959 · Movie · 108 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Eiji Funakoshi · Osamu Takizawa · Mickey Curtis · Mantarô Ushio
Plot It is the Philipines, 1945. The Japanese Imperial Army has been reduced to a ragtag mob hiding in the jungles. Among them is Pvt. Tamura. The situation goes from bad...
7.5
618 votes
7.5
618 votes
The Burmese Harp
1985 · Movie · 133 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Koji Ishizaka · Kiichi Nakai · Takuzo Kawatani · Atsushi Watanabe
7.2
73 votes
7.2
73 votes
The Heart
1955 · Movie · 120 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Masayuki Mori · Michiyo Aratama · Tatsuya Mihashi · Shoji Yasui
7.0
51 votes
7.0
51 votes
Tokyo Olympiad
1965 · Documentary · 170 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Abebe Bikila
Plot Ichikawa's cameras follow the 1964 Summer Olympics from opening to closing ceremonies. Sometimes he focuses on spectators, as athletes pass in a blur; sometimes he isolates a competitor; other times,...
7.0
153 votes
7.0
153 votes
The Outcast
1962 · Movie · 119 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Raizô Ichikawa · Hiroyuki Nagato · Eiji Funakoshi · Rentarô Mikuni
6.8
33 votes
6.8
33 votes
Her Brother
1960 · Movie · 98 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Keiko Kishi · Hiroshi Kawaguchi · Kinuyo Tanaka · Masayuki Mori
Plot "Her Brother" is a 1960 Japanese drama film directed by Kon Ichikawa. It was entered into the 1961 Cannes Film Festival, where it won a prize for Special Distinction. In...
6.8
31 votes
6.8
31 votes
Punishment Room
1956 · Movie · 96 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Hiroshi Kawaguchi · Keizo Kawasaki · Ayako Wakao · Yosuke Irie
Plot Katsumi is a university student who has no respect for his hardworking parents, his professors, or even his friends. One night after a celebration, he drugs and rapes Akiko, a...
6.7
24 votes
6.7
24 votes
Alone Across the Pacific
1963 · Movie · 97 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Yujiro Ishihara · Masayuki Mori · Kinuyo Tanaka · Ruriko Asaoka
Plot A powerful hymn to the human spirit, Alone Across the Pacific – by renowned Japanese director Kon Ichikawa (An Actor’s Revenge, The Burmese Harp, Tokyo Olympiad) – tells the extraordinary...
6.6
48 votes
6.6
48 votes
Odd Obsession
1959 · Movie · 109 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Machiko Kyô · Ganjiro Nakamura · Tatsuya Nakadai · Junko Kano
Plot A man getting on in years sets out to find a way to resurrect his flagging virility.
6.6
87 votes
6.6
87 votes
The Makioka Sisters
1983 · Movie · 140 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Keiko Kishi · Yoshiko Sakuma · Sayuri Yoshinaga · Yûko Kotegawa
Plot This sensuously beautiful film chronicles the activities of four sisters who gather in Kyoto every year to view the cherry blossoms. It paints a vivid portrait of the pre-war lifestyle...
6.6
41 votes
6.6
41 votes
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Enjo)
1958 · Movie · 99 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Raizô Ichikawa · Tatsuya Nakadai · Ganjiro Nakamura · Yoichi Funaki
Plot Told in an intricate flashback structure, Enjo dramatizes the psychological collapse of Goichi (Raizo Ichikawa), a young Buddhist acolyte from a dysfunctional family who arrives at a Kyoto temple -...
6.6
78 votes
6.6
78 votes
An Actor's Revenge (Yukinojo's Revenge)
1963 · Movie · 113 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Kazuo Hasegawa · Fujiko Yamamoto · Ayako Wakao · Eiji Funakoshi
Plot In 1836, in Tokugawa Japan, Yukinojo (Kazuo Hasegawa), a Kabuki actor specializing in female roles, arrives with his troupe in Edo. There he sets in motion a complex plot designed...
6.6
196 votes
6.6
196 votes
Visions of Eight
1973 · Documentary · 110 min. · United States
Direction Jim Clark · Milos Forman · Kon Ichikawa · Claude Lelouch
Plot This documentary of the 1972 Summer Olympics, held in Munich, is remarkable for bringing eight of the world's most notable film directors to work on it. They are: Milos Forman,...
6.3
22 votes
6.3
22 votes
I Am a Cat
1975 · Movie · 116 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Tatsuya Nakadai · Harold Conway · Masumi Harukawa · Tonpei Hidari
6.3
30 votes
6.3
30 votes
The Inugami Family
1976 · Movie · 146 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Koji Ishizaka · Yôko Shimada · Teruhiko Aoi · Mieko Takamine
Plot A strange will left by a wealthy man reveals a peculiarly twisted set of relationships and triggers four deaths and several other murder attempts.
6.3
36 votes
6.3
36 votes
Fusa
1993 · Movie · 92 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Yûko Asano · Kiichi Nakai · Hisashi Igawa · Koji Ishizaka
Plot Set in the 16th century, an ambitious young samurai is adopted into a noble household, thereby attaining the necessary status to marry the daughter of the castle warden. Plans for...
6.2
34 votes
6.2
34 votes
Princess from the Moon
1987 · Movie · 121 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Toshirô Mifune · Ayako Wakao · Yasuko Sawaguchi · Koji Ishizaka
Plot Based on a centuries-old traditional Japanese fairy tale, a country couple finds a baby girl in some bamboo and raises her as their own daughter. Not the same as the...
5.2
44 votes
5.2
44 votes
The Phoenix
1978 · Movie · 137 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Tomisaburô Wakayama · Mieko Takamine · Masao Kusakari · Kaoru Yumi
5.1
96 votes
5.1
96 votes
Topo Gigio and the Missile War
1967 · Movie · 65 min. · Japan
Direction Kon Ichikawa
Cast Koichi Fuse · Goro Fuyuki · Keiju Kobayashi
4.6
46 votes
4.6
46 votes