Blue Ribbon Award 1990-1999
by antodimichele | created - 21 Feb 2023 | updated - 21 Feb 2023 | PublicMovies to watch awarded or nominated in the Blue Ribbon Awards in the '90s
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1. A Scene at the Sea (1991)
101 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The lives of a young, hearing-impaired and gloomy couple are fulfilled after the boy holds interest in surfboarding.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Claude Maki, Hiroko Ôshima, Sabu Kawahara, Toshizo Fujiwara
Votes: 6,689
2. Sumo Do, Sumo Don't (1992)
105 min | Comedy, Drama, Sport
Chronicling the turmoil and pandemonium that ensues at a derelict university sumo club, and the rise of some unlikely heroes.
Director: Masayuki Suô | Stars: Masahiro Motoki, Misa Shimizu, Naoto Takenaka, Akira Emoto
Votes: 1,005
3. All Under the Moon (1993)
109 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Story of everyday life and romance of a taxi driver who is a Korean resident in Japan.
Director: Yôichi Sai | Stars: Gorô Kishitani, Ruby Moreno, Moeko Ezawa, Masato Furuoya
Votes: 185
4. Like a Rolling Stone (1994)
120 min | Crime, Drama
Tanaka is a yakuza who collects 'protection money' from establishments. He has just been released from jail, where he had spent eight years, and finds out that his boss wants to get rid of him.
Director: Tatsumi Kumashiro | Stars: Eiji Okuda, Eiko Nagashima, Reiko Takashima, Shô Aikawa
Votes: 47
5. A Last Note (1995)
110 min | Drama
Yoko is a famous actress who goes to a mountain chalet for a few days rest. There, she learns a secret from her companion Toyoko.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Haruko Sugimura, Nobuko Otowa, Hideo Kanze, Kyôko Asagiri
Votes: 246
6. Boys Be Ambitious (1996)
107 min | Comedy
Chunba and Kotetsu, grow up in the working class neighborhood of Kishiwada in Osaka in the mid-seventies. Their life in school is a never-ending series of fights and reprisals against gangs landing them in trouble with organized crime.
Director: Kazuyuki Izutsu | Stars: Hiroyuki Yabe, Takashi Okamura, Nanako Ôkôchi, Hiroyuki Miyasako
Votes: 72
7. Bounce Ko Gals (1997)
110 min | Drama
The film follows three modern Japanese schoolgirls in Tokyo as they flirt with lecherous old men and dodge the yakuza in the lucrative and sometimes dangerous practice of "enjo kosai" or "date clubs".
Director: Masato Harada | Stars: Hitomi Satô, Yasue Satô, Yukiko Okamoto, Jun Murakami
Votes: 790
8. Fireworks (1997)
103 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Nishi leaves the police in the face of harrowing personal and professional difficulties. Spiraling into depression, he makes questionable decisions.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Ôsugi, Susumu Terajima
Votes: 33,195 | Gross: $0.23M
9. Taboo (1999)
Unrated | 100 min | Drama, History, Thriller
The new member of a samurai militia unit causes disruption as several of his colleagues fall in love with him, threatening to disturb the rigid code of their squad.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Ryûhei Matsuda, Shinji Takeda, Tadanobu Asano
Votes: 8,077 | Gross: $0.05M
10. Ware ni utsu yoi ari (1990)
106 min | Action
A middle-aged man discovers an injured refugee woman trembling in the corner of his bar in Kabukicho. He quickly becomes aware that her life is in his hands when he learns she is hiding from the yakuza.
Director: Kôji Wakamatsu | Stars: Yoshio Harada, Kaori Momoi, Hsiu-Ling Lu, Renji Ishibashi
Votes: 37
11. Made in Japan (1993)
115 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
The story about the businessmen who are competing for international building contracts.
Director: Yôjirô Takita | Stars: Hiroyuki Sanada, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ittoku Kishibe, Kyûsaku Shimada
Votes: 80
12. Sharaku (1995)
138 min | Biography, Drama, History
A crippled kabuki player is taken into a strolling company of itinerant actors. An influential publisher notices his honest, bold drawings, and nurtures him despite persecution and betrayal... See full summary »
Director: Masahiro Shinoda | Stars: Hiroyuki Sanada, Furankî Sakai, Shima Iwashita, Tsurutarô Kataoka
Votes: 196
13. East Meets West (1995)
Not Rated | 124 min | Action, Western
(Japanese with English subtitles) A disgraced warrior planning the murder of a Japanese diplomat, and a ninja in the employ of a navy official are about to land in San Francisco when a band... See full summary »
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Hiroyuki Sanada, Ittoku Kishibe, Naoto Takenaka, Tatsuya Nakadai
Votes: 160
14. Sleeping Man (1996)
103 min | Drama
Ever since an accident in the mountains outside town, Takuji's slept in a coma; his neighbors care for him as new events occur every day.
Director: Kôhei Oguri | Stars: Christine Hakim, Jun Hamamura, Tokie Hidari, Masao Imafuku
Votes: 275
15. The Eel (1997)
Not Rated | 117 min | Drama
A businessman kills his adulterous wife and is sent to prison. After the release, he opens a barbershop and meets new people, talking almost to no one except an eel he befriended while in prison.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Koji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu, Mitsuko Baishô, Akira Emoto
Votes: 6,403 | Gross: $0.41M
16. Lost Paradise (1997)
119 min | Drama, Romance
Kuki is a veteran newspaper reporter who has been shuffled off to a book-development branch and finds escape in an illicit relationship with Rinko. Together they find the passion no longer present in their marriages.
Director: Yoshimitsu Morita | Stars: Koji Yakusho, Hitomi Kuroki, Akira Terao, Toshio Shiba
Votes: 748
17. Cure (1997)
Not Rated | 111 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
A frustrated detective deals with the case of several gruesome murders committed by people who have no recollection of what they've done.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Masato Hagiwara, Koji Yakusho, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa
Votes: 23,097 | Gross: $0.09M
18. Keiho (1999)
133 min | Crime, Drama
Masaki Shibata Sinichi is a theater actor who murders a man and his wife. Masaki confesses the crime and alleges that the reason for it was that the woman, five months pregnant, had ... See full summary »
Director: Yoshimitsu Morita | Stars: Kyôka Suzuki, Shin'ichi Tsutsumi, Ittoku Kishibe, Naoki Sugiura
Votes: 216
19. Tôkyô yakyoku (1997)
85 min | Drama
Hamanaka Koichi returns to the old ward in eastern Tokyo. No one knows why he disappeared and left his family behind. No one knows why he is back either. His wife is unsure whether she ... See full summary »
Director: Jun Ichikawa | Stars: Kyôzô Nagatsuka, Kaori Momoi, Mitsuko Baishô, Satoko Abe
Votes: 108
20. Village of Dreams (1996)
112 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy
Tells of the childhood of nine-year-old twins in a rural village in Japan after World War 2. Includes the boys' relationships with their schoolteacher mother, civil servant father, elderly ... See full summary »
Director: Yôichi Higashi | Stars: Mieko Harada, Keigo Matsuyama, Shogo Matsuyama, Kyôzô Nagatsuka
Votes: 429
21. Love Letter (1995)
PG | 117 min | Drama, Romance
When exchanging letters two women discover new things about a man they knew.
Director: Shunji Iwai | Stars: Miho Nakayama, Etsushi Toyokawa, Bunjaku Han, Katsuyuki Shinohara
Votes: 11,009
22. Toki rakujitsu (1992)
119 min | Biography, Drama
Director: Seijirô Kôyama | Stars: Yoshiko Mita, Hiroshi Mikami, Tatsuya Nakadai, Riho Makise
Votes: 30
23. The Sting of Death (1990)
115 min | Drama
Period drama set in the 1950's about a couple isolating themselves from the outside world as they attempt to salvage their faltering marriage, no matter what the costs, after the husband has an affair.
Director: Kôhei Oguri | Stars: Keiko Matsuzaka, Ittoku Kishibe, Midori Kiuchi, Takenori Matsumura
Votes: 382
24. Ganbatte ikimasshoi (1998)
120 min | Drama, Sport
Etsuko - a typical Japanese high school student, who's unlucky in love, an academic failure, and plain bored with life. That's until one day, the view of a boat gliding gracefully in the ... See full summary »
Director: Itsumichi Isomura | Stars: Rena Tanaka, Mami Shimizu, Wakana Chizaki, Kirina Mano
Votes: 287
25. Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald (1997)
103 min | Comedy
Just before the live airing of a radio play, an actress decides to change the name of her character. This cascades into a battle of egos by all involved that causes continual script changes while the play is on-air live.
Director: Kôki Mitani | Stars: Toshiaki Karasawa, Kyôka Suzuki, Masahiko Nishimura, Keiko Toda
Votes: 2,095 | Gross: $0.01M
26. Maborosi (1995)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
A young woman's husband apparently commits suicide without warning or reason, leaving behind his wife and infant.
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu | Stars: Makiko Esumi, Takashi Naitô, Tadanobu Asano, Gohki Kashiyama
Votes: 7,330
27. My Soul Is Slashed (1991)
Comedy, Horror
A loyal employee of a pharmaceutical company finds himself in intensive care after a critical injury, and is accidentally given a transfusion of Count Dracula's blood.
Director: Shûsuke Kaneko | Stars: Ken Ogata, Hideyo Amamoto, Nina Blake, Tony Cetera
Votes: 64
28. Chizuko's Younger Sister (1991)
120 min | Drama, Fantasy
Follows two sisters, one clumsy and ignored, the other a perfect child. After the latter dies in an accident, she returns as a ghost to guide her little sister.
Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi | Stars: Hikari Ishida, Tomoko Nakajima, Toshinori Omi, Tomoka Shibayama
Votes: 333
29. Swimming Upstream (1990)
95 min | Romance, Sport
Kaoru, a highschool boy, falls in love with a girl, Sonoko, a leading member of his high-school's swimming club. Though he cannot swim at all, he joins the swimming club to win her heart.
Director: Joji Matsuoka | Stars: Michitaka Tsutsui, Saki Takaoka, Mikihisa Azuma, Kazuko Shirakawa
Votes: 63
30. Tugumi (1990)
105 min | Drama
Tugumi, who lives in a small seaside town, has been in delicate health from birth. Her parents spoiled her and she is rough and selfish. However, a few people are attracted by her beauty ... See full summary »
Director: Jun Ichikawa | Stars: Riho Makise, Tomoko Nakajima, Yasuyo Shirashima, Hiroyuki Sanada
Votes: 155
31. Kids Return (1996)
107 min | Crime, Drama, Sport
Dropping out of high school, two friends at first find success, one as a up-and-coming boxer and one as a low level gangster. Yet, their life decisions still find a way of catching up with them.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Ken Kaneko, Masanobu Andô, Leo Morimoto, Hatsuo Yamaya
Votes: 6,772
32. Gamera, the Guardian of the Universe (1994)
Unrated | 96 min | Action, Drama, Fantasy
An ornithologist investigates reports of a monstrous new species of bird just as a teenage girl is gifted an amulet found on mysterious atoll. As the creatures begin to attack, an ancient guardian with a bond to the girl emerges.
Director: Shûsuke Kaneko | Stars: Tsuyoshi Ihara, Akira Onodera, Shinobu Nakayama, Ayako Fujitani
Votes: 4,086
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