japanese time travel movie 2021

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Screen sensation: the single-shot thriller bringing time-travel into the Zoom era

It was shot in a week and premiered to 12 people, but micro-budget sci-fi movie Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes has become the breakout success of the year

“W e made the film in seven days, shooting non-stop from six in the evening to six in the morning. It was hell. We were always tired. And the cast and crew were always picking on me because my brain would just go completely dead at 2am every day.” Japanese film-maker Junta Yamaguchi is talking about his first feature film, Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, which was shot almost entirely inside a real cafe in Kyoto. “We couldn’t film anything during their opening hours.”

But Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes isn’t your average small-scale indie film. It’s a nicely innovative time-travel yarn that asks: in our world of remote working and Zoom calls, what if the face staring back at us from our computer was a version of ourself two minutes in the future? It’s also the latest example of the nagamawashi (long-shot) film, the micro-genre currently putting no-budget Japanese cinema on the map after the success of One Cut of the Dead – the 2017 zombie horror-comedy that became an international cult sensation, grossing over $30m (£22m) worldwide from a $25,000 budget.

Ostensibly filmed in a single continuous shot, Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes was made for JPY 3m, or just under £20,000 and follows Kato, an amateur musician who discovers that a live video stream on his PC is, in fact, being cast by a near-future version of himself from the cafe beneath his apartment. Kato and his friends bring the “time TV” downstairs to the cafe to face the monitor broadcasting the stream and pandemonium ensues, creating a Droste effect that multiplies the time vortex taking place.

Yamaguchi is speaking from his home in Kyoto over Zoom (no disturbances to the space-time continuum on this occasion) and says that, like almost everyone involved in Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, he is a member of Europe Kikaku, a Kyoto theatre group, and the cafe is a place they regularly visit. (Yamaguchi waves the menu: “Organic coffee, vegan hamburgers, and katsu curry and rice.”) Financial strictures meant Yamaguchi was the film’s cinematographer, camera operator and editor, as well as director.

Yamaguchi says that Back to the Future was the group’s biggest influence, but it was the “intricate and precise long-take camerawork” from films like Birdman , 1917 and Alfred Hitchock’s 1948 real-time classic Rope that inspired Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes’ form. The limited technological setup was a creative choice as well as a financial one: Yamaguchi shows off a camera no bigger than a Tamagotchi . “You can get close to the cast – like, five centimetres away – and take a really good picture,” he says. The camera was strapped to the back of a smartphone, which was used as a handheld monitor so Yamaguchi could watch the footage back as he followed the actors.

Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes premiered at Tollywood , a 46-seat micro-cinema in Tokyo that specialises in sci-fi and animation (“literally the size of my living room,” says Adam Torel, managing director of the film’s UK distributors, Third Window) and arrived in the middle of the pandemic: due to social distancing measures, there were only 12 seats available. But Japan’s state of emergency worked to the film’s advantage: with mainstream film production severely curtailed, it bagged a slot at Toho Cinemas, one of the biggest chains in Japan.

Since then, Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes has gone global, picking up awards and nominations at festivals in Sitges, Brussels and Montreal. “ Studio Ghibli are now our rivals,” says Yamaguchi. “I thought this was a niche, fun film, but it went worldwide. I never expected this to happen.”

• World cinema
• Science fiction and fantasy films
• Asia Pacific

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‘Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes’ Review: Hello, It’s You

In this time-travel comedy, a cafe owner and his friends discover a portal that allows them to see two minutes into the future.

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By Jeannette Catsoulis

More goofy than gripping, Junta Yamaguchi’s sci-fi farce, “Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes,” is a time-travel tale dotted with philosophical musings and romantic expectations. Yet however cleverly constructed and enthusiastically executed, this debut feature — shot on an iPhone in a single location — rarely surmounts the twistiness of its premise and the repetitiveness of its setups.

After closing his cafe for the day and retiring to his flat upstairs, Kato (Kazunari Tosa) is stunned to see himself on his television screen, apparently speaking from the linked monitor in the cafe — and from two minutes in the future. Kato and his delighted cohort waste no time in exploiting this marvel, racing up and down stairs and backward and forward in time to interrogate their near-future selves. And when fun experiments with lottery scratch cards have been exhausted, the group’s temporal tinkerings become infinitely more complex and consequential.

While there is much to admire in this scrappy, micro-budgeted debut feature, its sci-fi shenanigans are too convoluted and its visuals too claustrophobic to sustain interest. Yamaguchi’s skillful editing (he also acted as cinematographer) makes the tumbling momentum of Makoto Ueda’s script appear seamless, and the young, mostly theater-based actors are charmingly eager. Yet the movie’s darkest and most interesting insight is addressed only glancingly as Kato and his friends, with growing unease, realize that their foreknowledge is programming their present behavior.

That awareness of the unwelcome implications of seeing one’s future is soon subsumed by the movie’s more preposterous concerns, including the arrival of the time-travel police with memory-wiping powder. Bemused viewers, however, may feel they’ve been sniffing that all along.

Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes Not rated. In Japanese, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 10 minutes. Rent or buy on Apple TV , Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.

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Stories, experiences, and feelings in this journey of life.

A List of Must-Watch Japanese Movies with Time(Travel)Related Theme

• Dramas and Movies

I know I have posted about Japanese movies with time(travel)related themes before, but now that I have watched more, I guess I can list them here, just because. I mean, I can’t help it. It’s really one of my most favorite themes. Stories about time travel will always fascinate me.  [Btw, apologies in advance for the so many watch pics I post here. After all, we talk about a “time” related theme, right? 😆 ]

Ok, first, let me list some movies that I have posted before, so I can direct you to their post.

1. Be with You [2004] ( here, no. 3 ) 2. Kimi to 100-kaime no koi [2017] ( here, no. 2 ) 3. ReLIFE [2017] ( here, no. 3 ) 4. Orange [2015] ( here, no. 4 ) 5. My tomorrow, your yesterday [2016] ( here, no. 5 ) 6. Before the coffee gets cold [2018] ( here, no. 6 ) 7. Kimi no nawa [2016] (It’s an anime, but I really must list it here, you can read more here, no. 1 ] 8. 56-nenme no shitsuren/56-year heartbreak [2020] ( here, no. 3 ) 9. Second Summer, Never See You Again [2017] ( here, no. 7 ) 10. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time [2010] Previously I watched only the anime, I have briefly reviewed it before ( here, no. 10 ). But it looks like there was live adaptations for that, a movie, and a 5-episode drama. I haven’t watched the live adaptations yet so I can’t tell how different it is from the anime.

And here are some that I just watched 🙂

11. Tokyo Girl [2008] I found someone recommending this movie randomly, and when I checked I felt like I’ve watched it but I wasn’t sure, so I just went ahead and watched it (again). After watching it, I feel some scenes were familiar but I completely forgot the whole story, so maybe previously I only watched the trailer and not the whole movie, I don’t know. LoL But, wow, I actually loved this movie. I loved how it connected the past and the future, and how the connection to the past affected the future but did not change the future. Not sure if I explained it well, but it was just portrayed really well. I mean, the future happened because of that connection to the past, and the past happened because of its connection to the future. Does it make sense? If not, perhaps you could watch it yourself 😀 But I mean, it’s like a cyclical causal and correlational relationship. It was just amazing.

Summary: A girl dropped her phone during an earthquake. That phone fell into a “wormhole,” taking it to fall on the same place but in the past. The girl couldn’t find the phone, the guy from the past, when the cellphone wasn’t even invented, found it. The girl tried to call her phone, but it got connected only the moon wasn’t covered by clouds. Soon they learned that they were from a different era, with around a 100year difference. The guy bought her something in the past, he asked the shopkeeper to keep it, telling them that 100 years from that time a girl would come to pick it up. The girl later picked it up. The shopkeeper, who was just a kid when the gift was bought but had now been very old when the girl picked it up, was actually saved by the guy in an accident. Isn’t it amazing? Like, imagine you’re now talking to someone from the past and then they told you to come to a store to pick something they bought for you, and you could actually pick that 100-year-old gift intact. Just wow. I find it really amazing and mind-blowing. This kind of imagination. Fiction writers really have amazing imaginations, I respect them a lot.

12. The Devil Wears Juni-Hitoe Kimono [2020] I love this movie because of the characterization. I mean, it told a story about the past, but the character was quite progressive. The “devil”, actually the main character, who was the emperor’s wife, had quite progressive thoughts as a woman. I remember when she was told that she was feared, she said, “That’s fine. A feared woman. Any fool can be lovable but being feared requires brains. I don’t care what the idiots think of me.” Or when she reflected on how her love life was, she said, “People think I’m a pathetic woman without a man to love her. They are wrong. I go after what I want. I protect what’s important to me. I am going to keep deciding how I live my life. I’ll keep reaching beyond my limits. ” I love how in the midst of patriarchal society, in which men were often considered second to me, having to be submissive and all, the queen was actually a girl of her own. She defined herself and didn’t succumb to how people saw her. She had her own goals, and she was determined. At the same time, she was kind enough and actually a good mother-and person.

I also love this movie because Rai, the main character who traveled to the past, actually learned his lesson and became a better person when he went back to the future, facing all of his problems gently and more responsibly, and with more determination. And, [spoiler], I love how he was faithful to the girl he loved, not only in the past but also when they were “reunited” in the future.

Summary: A guy with an inferiority complex could not get a regular job so he just took part-time jobs. When he was working to set up an exhibition of “The Tale of Genji,” he was interested as he felt some kind of connection to the story, with him being the ordinary older brother with an excellent younger brother. That day, her girlfriend dumped him and he had to celebrate just another success of his younger brother. He felt down and passed out on the road, and when he woke up, he was in the past, in the time “Tale of Genji” actually happened. He worked for the emperor and learned a lot of things. He wished to stay there forever but somehow he was transported back to the future/his present time. 

13. Honnouji Hotel [2017] Summary: A girl was contemplating her marriage and accidentally stayed in the Honnouji hotel. When she got in the elevator, she was taken back to Nobunaga Oda’s era. She met Nobunaga Oda and lived in that era once in a while as she could go back and forth between the present and the past only in certain right times and when the bell rang.

My thoughts: What I love about this movie is perhaps how entertaining it is? Like, it is kinda hilarious and some scenes will definitely make us laugh. What intrigued me, however, is the interaction between the past and the present. Like, the girl somehow was trying to “save” the characters from the past because she already learned in history, i.e. who would die when, how, and why. When she informed them, people from the past, would it change it? Or would it actually be the cause of those historical events? I think, time-travel movies such as this would always be intriguing especially because of the “what if” thinking. Like, what if the time travel did not happen, would it have been different? Did it happen like written in history because of the time travel? Did the time travel actually change something? Etc. And we can’t be sure of the answers because, well, maybe because it’s fictional so that it’s hard to imagine and use our logic to get a clear explanation. Or maybe because I’m not smart enough to think of or understand the theory. Hhe

14. Calling you [2007] (Kimi ni shika kikoenai) Summary: An introverted girl had trouble holding normal or regular conversations with people. She had difficulty making friends so she ended up being alone and thus created imaginary phone conversations. One day, someone actually picked up and joined her imaginary phone calls, and they started to talk to each other.

My thoughts: I’m not sure if this can be included in time-travel-themed movies or if it simply involves magic. Well, okay, it’s fiction so anything can happen. But I mean, I’ve got some questions because 1) the phone was imaginary so basically the girl was just talking in her mind, 2) let’s say it’s more like mind-reading, how did the other person read the mind from a different place which is far away? So yes, it’s interesting.

15. The Miracles of the Namiya General Store [2017] Summary : Three friends ran into an old general store and decided to stay the night there. They found a mailbox and even saw a letter dropped from outside. The letter was asking for advice about their worries. When they saw the letter, they noticed that it was actually written and sent from 32 years ago. They decided to reply and left a letter themselves.

My thoughts: I love how simple this movie is, yet also intriguing. I mean, three boys stayed a night in a seemingly abandoned old general store and found a letter written years ago. So simple, right? But it’s amazing how their actions on it were actually connected to their present, like how what they did was actually what caused their “existence” and “survival.” Like, how what they did was actually what caused them to have a place to exist, live, and survive? You know, like, how it was actually a history that affected their life indirectly. One occurrence led to another and it led to another, etc. so that it looked causally cyclical and impactful? Well, I don’t know how I should explain without giving spoilers. LoL But it’s amazing. I guess you should watch it yourself 😉

16. Brave: Gunjyo Senki [2021] Summary: A school ground was transported into the past when thunder strikes. The students within the prestigious school found themselves traveled to the wartime era. As the students, becoming members and experts at their respective student clubs (i.e. archery, baseballs, boxing, etc), used their strength and worked together to find a way to save their friends who were caught hostages by the samurai and to bring them and their school back to the present era.

My thoughts: This is the last movie of the late Haruma Miura, so I had a mixed feeling when watching this. But aside from that, I love the movie. I might have said it before and again, but I really love how Japanese movies/anime/dramas often present their history through a movie like this. I’m not into history, but by watching such movies/anime/drama, I actually find history kinda interesting. In fact, I think I get familiar with some Japanese historical figures through movies like this. I wish my country’s history can be presented in a movie or drama like this. I think it will help us to get interested and learn more histories. I mean, movies like this tell us what happened in history without burdening our brain with memorization. It’s different from school, where we are often to memorize it. Watching history-related movies like this can help us learn and enjoy it at the same time.

17. Erased [2016] (Boku dake ga inai machi) Summary: A guy has the ability to “repeat” a time to prevent an incident from happening. He’d keep going back in time to a time before the accident happened until he solved the mystery and prevented it from happening. One day, he found his mother stabbed to death. Afraid he’d be suspected of the murder, he ran and tried to go back to the past to prevent his mom from dying. Unexpectedly, he went back to his old body, to a time when he was still a kid, when a serial murder was taking place. He kept going back to living his life as a child until he solved the mystery behind the serial murder case.

My thoughts: I don’t know what to say. Hahaha I mean, it’s really great. The idea of going back to prevent something bad from happening. How the future changed because we did something different in the past. Wow. I am just curious about the other characters, though. Like, when we prevented something from happening by going back to the past, does it mean all incidents after that are canceled and non-existent? Or did they still happen in another timeline? But, well, a 120minute movie won’t be enough to discuss it all. LoL It’s a fiction after all ^^ But I mean, the idea is really superb. And I always appreciate amazing ideas like this ‘cause I know it’s nearly impossible for me to come up with such marvelous ideas myself 😉

18. Enoshima Prism [2013] Summary: A guy went to the death anniversary of his childhood friend, and on his way home, when boarding the train, he was brought back to the past, right before his friend’s death. He found that he could travel to the past and so he was determined to change the past and went back there several times in attempt to prevent his friend from dying. There was a price he had to pay, though. Do you want spoilers? Haha

My thoughts: I couldn’t believe I had not watched this movie, until it was recommended to me. Like, how come? It’s such a great movie with a time-travel theme, how could I not decide to watch it the first time I read or saw the poster? Jeez. But, well, love is about timing and momentum, so perhaps the timing and my momentum with this movie is only this year but not before. But, well, it was intriguing. SPOILERS: He actually succeeded in preventing his friend’s death but then he was forgotten by them because any change in the past was said to rewrite everyone’s memory so everyone lost the memory about and with him including himself. Yet, that’s what he chose. He thought it’s ok that way, he believed it’s better as long as his friend was alive. Well, if it were me, I really am not sure if that’s what I want to choose. Like, they’re significant and important for me because of the memories I had with them, right? If nobody remembers, then it means nothing, right? After all, we live only as long as we’re remembered even after our death, once we’re forgotten, that’s death, right? But, well, I don’t know. It’s an interesting movie, though. If you could travel to the past and could prevent someone precious to you from dying but they’d forget you, would you choose that?

19. Summer Time Machine Blues [2005] Summary: The members of high-school sci-fi student club found something that looks like a time machine. They decided to give it a try and go back to the day before to prevent the AC remote from getting broken. It turned out that the time machine was brought by a sci-fi club member from the future who traveled to the present. Some events happened and they were connected, i.e. what they did caused something to happen in the past, and the time travel from the future caused them to change the present in attempts to create the said future. Overwhelming? It’s great, though. I’ll recommend anyone who loves time-travel movies to watch this one^^

My thoughts: So I have actually watched this, but all I remember was the Kappa thing. The rest I forgot. So when someone recommended it to me, I decided to watch it, and I was like, “Right, I had watched this before.” But, ugh, it’s actually a great time-travel movie, how they connect the past, the present, and the future. How they made it look like everything was planned (by God) right from the beginning, including the time travel. Like, what happened now was the result of the people from the future traveling to the present which caused people at the present to travel to the past, which in effects impacted the present. Confusing? But I mean, it’s really great. Somehow “it makes sense.” I don’t know how to explain it, but if you watch it, I think you’ll understand. At the beginning, it might be boring, like you try to find what’s so special about the movie but you can’t really find any, but if you keep watching without trying to find anything, it’s actually exciting. It’s “idle” but it makes you

Well, I think that’s all today. Anyway, here are some that are recommended to me but I haven’t watched. I might update them later when I have watched them. 1. Sakurada Reset 2. Nobunaga Concert [Ok, I think I watched this but kinda dropped it, so I can’t really tell. Might rewatch later].

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20 New Japanese Movies In 2021 Coming To Theatres, Including Shin Ultraman and The Master Plan

New Japanese movies 2021

If there’s anything we miss about life before the pandemic , it’s got to be catching a movie in cinemas. Well, you can expect a slew of exciting film releases to come your way. S tart marking your calendars and look out for these new Japanese movies that are making their theatrical debut in 2021. 

Some of these movies are already in theatres, which means eager moviegoers don’t have to wait to catch the latest film releases.  

1. I Fell In Love Like A Bouquet 花束みたいな恋をした

• Kasumi Arimura as Kinu
• Masaki Suda as Mugi 

What happens if you miss the last train in Tokyo? Both s tranded on an empty platform at Meidaimae Station, the two 22-year-old protagonists , Mugi and Kinu , meet by chance. As it turns out, the pair share similar interests and cultural tastes, and they quickly fall in love.  

Set in modern day Tokyo, I Fell In Love Like A Bouquet is a romance story that chronicles the 5 – year relationship between the couple. The film recounts the bittersweet journey of their relationship as they graduate from college and transition into adulthood. 

Genre: Romance Length: 2 hours 4 minutes Release date: 29th January 2021

2. The Master Plan 名も無き世界のエンドロール

• Takanori Iwata as Kida
• Mackenyu Arata as Makoto

Having grown up in a complicated environment, childhood friends Kida and Makoto have had each other’s back since they were young. Their friendship changes when Makoto disappears one day. In order to find his friend, Kida plunges into the underworld and becomes an unfeeling criminal. 

2 years later, Makoto re-emerges and is now an owner of a company. The Master Plan is a story about 2 friends who take different paths in life and how they reconcile with the changing dynamics of their relationship. 

Genre: Mystery, Suspense Length: 1 hour 57 minutes Release date: 29th January 2021

3. First Love ファーストラヴ

• Keiko Kitagawa as Yuki Makabe 
• Kyoko Yoshine as Kanna Hijiriyama 
• Tomoya Nakamura as Kasho Anno 

First Love is a film adaption of the award-winning mystery novel of the same title. Up-and-coming announcer and college student Kanna Hijiriyama has her whole life ahead of her – until she stabs and murders her father. Amidst heated public attention, psychologist Yuki Makabe is tasked to handle the case.

When Yuki tries to uncover the truth behind the mysterious murder, she begins to see her young er self in Kanna. As she digs deeper into the case, Yuki’s life history , which is buried deep in her psyche , begins to resurface .  

Genre: Mystery Length: 1 hour 59 minutes Release date: 11th February 2021

4. Photograph Memories おもいで写真

• Mai Fukagawa as Yuko Otosara
• Kengo Kora as Ichirou Hoshino 

Saddened by the passing of her grandmother – her one and only family member – Yuko moves from Tokyo to her hometown, Toyama. Frustrated by the out-of-focus funeral photos of her deceased grandmother, Yuko takes on the task of working as a photographer to take photos for the elderly for their iei (遺影; portraits of a deceased person). 

Though she was initially shunned for being “inauspicious”, the old people in her hometown gradually warmed up to the idea. Photograph Memories is a moving film about capturing the important moments and memories in life. 

Genre: Drama Length: 1 hour 50 minutes Release date: 29th January 2021

5. Suicide Forest Village 樹海村

• Anna Yamada as Hibiki Amazawa
• Mayu Yamaguchi as Naru Amazawa 
• Kamio Fuju as Akutsu Teru 

From the director who brought you Ju-On , Suicide Forest Village is a film set in Aokigahara, a forest that is notorious for being one of the most popular suicide spots in the world. 

Kotori box, a cursed box that has terrified people since the ancient times, is said to be sealed in the suicide forest. 13 years later, the box reappears in front of protagonists Hibiki and Naru, and people start to disappear one after another. 

Genre: Horror Length: 1 hour 57 minutes Release date: 5th February 2021

6. In Those Days. あの頃。

• Tori Matsuzaka as Mikito Tsurugi
• Taiga Nakano as Kozumin
• Takashi Yamanaka as Robi

After failing the graduate school exam, Mikito has no life goals and spends most of his time lazing around aimlessly. That is, until he saw idol Aya Matsuura sing and dance on television. Enamoured, he goes to an idol event and ends up forming a music band with fellow fans he met at the event.  

Though they were initially hyped up about making music, the members slowly go their separate ways to pursue other priorities in life. The group eventually reunites when one of the members, Kozumin, is diagnosed with cancer. In Those Days. is a feel-good film about enjoying one’s youth with friends. 

Genre: Music, Drama Length: 1 hour 57 minutes Release date: 19th February 2021

7. Under The Open Sky すばらしき世界

• Koji Yakusho as Mikami 
• Taiga Nakano as Tsunoda
• Masami Nagasawa as Yoshizawa

Having spent most of his adult life in prison, middle-aged former yakuza Mikami struggles to adjust to life outside bars and integrate back into society. 

As he tries to navigate a rapidly changing society and reunite with his estranged mother, Mikami is approached by aspiring novelist Tsunoda and TV producer Yoshizawa. Hoping to make a documentary about Mikami’s life, Yoshizawa baits him with the promise of reuniting with his long-lost mother, much to the chagrin of Tsunoda.

Under The Open Sky is a film that sheds light on how the highly conformative Japanese society affects those who fall through the cracks.

Genre: Drama Length: 2 hours 6 minutes Release date: 11th February 2021

8. The Night Beyond The Tricornered Window さんかく窓の外側は夜

• Masaki Okada as Rihito Hiyakawa 
• Jun Shison as Kosuke Mikado 
• Yurina Hirate as Erika Hiura 

Bookstore clerk Kosuke Mikado has been haunted by ghosts since he was a child as he has the ability to see spirits. One day, he’s invited by Rihito Hiyakawa, a spiritualist, to investigate a murder case that occurred a year ago. 

While searching for the body and the truth, the duo encounter some seriously bizarre and harrowing events. A live-action film adaptation of the popular supernatural manga of the same name, The Night Beyond The Tricornered Window will send chills down your spine.

Genre: Mystery, Horror Length: 1 hour 42 minutes Release date: 22nd January 2021

9. The Cinderella Addiction 哀愁しんでれら

• Tao Tsuchiya as Koharu Fukuura
• Kei Tanaka as Daigo Izumisawa
• Coco as Hikari

Despite what fairytales would have us believe, princesses don’t always have a happy ending. The Cinderella Addiction is a wicked twist on the classic fairy tale. 

Koharu Fukuura has her life turned upside down and loses everything overnight. Like a knight in shining armor arriving to save the damsel in distress, Daigo Izumisawa, a wealthy single father of an 8-year-old daughter, appears in Koharu’s life and proposes to her. Koharu accepts the proposal , but just when she thought happiness awaits her, unimaginable days lay ahead.

Genre: Drama, Suspense, Crime Length: 1 hour 54 minutes Release date: 5th February 2021

10. Aristocrats あのこは貴族

• Mugi Kadowaki as Hanako Haibara
• Kiko Mizuhara as Miki Tokioka

Tokyoite Hanako Haibara, who sees marriage as the endgame in life, struggles to find a nother suitable partner after breaking up with her boyfriend. Meanwhile , Miki Tokioka, who was born in Toyama, struggles against all odds to enter a prestigious college in Tokyo. The lives of 2 very different women intersect in Aristocrats and their world opens up in an unexpected way. 

Genre: Drama Length: 2 hour 4 minutes Release date: 26th February 2021

11. The Fable: A Contract Killer Who Doesn’t Kill ザ・ファブル 殺さない殺し屋

• Junichi Okada as Akira Sato
• Fumino Kimura as Yoko

Ordered by his boss to “lead an ordinary life” for 1 year, legendary assassin Akira Sato – otherwise known as the titular “The Fable” – is trying to lead a bloodless life. Under a pseudo identity, Akira lives with his partner Yoko and the couple pretend to be siblings. 

Despite his best efforts, Akira can’t seem to catch a break as an incident prompts his return as an assassin. He tries his best to complete the mission without having to kill anyone. The Fable: A Contract Killer Who Doesn’t Kill is a comedy film that’s jam-packed with exhilarating action scenes and will leave you in stitches. 

Genre: Comedy, Action, Thriller, Suspense Length: 2 hour 4 minutes Release date: 5th February 2021

12. Caution, Hazardous Wife 奥様は、取り扱い注意

• Haruka Ayase as Nami Isayama 
• Hidetoshi Nishijima as Yuki Isayama 

Caution, Hazardous Wife is an action film sequel of the 2017 drama of the same title. Nami, a housewife who happens to be a former special agent, concealed her past and married Yuki. Little does she know that her husband is actually a public security police who is monitoring Nami. And so begins a tale of a cat-and-mouse game as the couple deceives and tries to outwit each other. 

Genre: Comedy, Action, Drama Length: 1 hour 59 minutes Release date: 19th March 2021

13. Kiba: The Fangs Of Fiction 騙し絵の牙

• Yo Oizumi as Teru Hayami 
• Mayu Matsuoka as Megumi Takano 

Teru Hayami, the editor-in-chief of a magazine , Trinity , is faced with the biggest obstacle in his career in publication. Due to workplace politics and internal strife, his magazine is on the edge of discontinuation . In a bid to save his magazine, Teru and newcomer Megumi use their wits to fight against all odds and navigate their way through treacherous office relations. 

Genre: Drama Length: 1 hour 53 minutes Release date: 26th March 2021

14. HOKUSAI

• Yuya Yagira as Katsushika Hokusai (Young)
• Min Tanaka as Katsushika Hokusai (Old)
• Hiroshi Abe as Tsutaya Juzaburo
• Eita Nagayama as Ryutei Tanehiko

You’ve had an animated film about Hokusai’s daughter – now it’s time for the fabled woodblock print artist to take centre stage in the upcoming film , Hokusai . 

As Japan’s most prolific Japanese artist, Hokusai has produced as many as 30,000 masterpieces , including his iconic The Great Wave Off Kanagawa . Yet, little is known about his life. Loosely based on historical accounts, the film is a dramatised recount of the revered artist’s life in the Edo period. 

Genre: Historical Length: 2 hours 9 minutes Release date: May 2021

15. Oshukatsu お終活 熟春! 人生, 百年時代の過ごし方

• Atsuko Takahata as Chikako Ohara
• Isao Hashizume as Shinichi Ohara
• Masaru Mizuno as Ryota Kanno
• Ayame Gouriki as Aya Ohara

With her husband now retired and homebound, Chikako suffers from the “retired husband syndrome”. It’s a stress-induced illness that stems from having to interact extensively with one’s husband, who was previously an absentee spouse due to work, on a daily basis.  

Amid rising tension s , the couple , who has been married for 50 years , is on the brink of divorce. In order to distract her mother, Aya urges Chikako to take part in the shukatsu fair – an exhibition that prepares the elderly for their death. Oshukatsu is a surprisingly light-hearted film about the life of a retiree in Japan and what it means to face the prospect of death. 

Genre: Drama, Slice of life Length: 1 hour 53 minutes Release date: 21st May 2021

16. Brothers In Brothel はるヲうるひと

• Jiro Sato as Tetsuo
• Takayuki Yamada as Tokuta
• Riisa Naka as Ibuki

Brothers In Brothel takes place on a remote island in Japan. Tetsuo, who runs a brothel on said island, is known for his surliness and bad temper. Tokuta, his younger brother, follows Tetsuo everywhere, while younger sister Ibuki lies on the floor all day due to her chronic illness. 

4 other women , who work as prostitutes at the brothel , have drastically different personalities – just like the siblings. The film explores the dynamic between the 3 siblings, as well as the prostitutes’ relationship between the respective siblings. Besides that, Brothers In Brothel also dives deep into sex work in Japan.

Genre: Drama Length: 1 hour 53 minutes Release date: June 2021

17. What Did You Eat Yesterday? きのう何食べた？

• Hidetoshi Nishijima as Shiro Kakei
• Seiyo Uchino as Kenji Yabuki

Popular manga and hit drama series What Did You Eat Yesterday? gets a big screen debut. 

Frugal lawyer Shiro lives in a small Tokyo apartment with his boyfriend , Kenji, an outgoing and friendly hair stylist. The middle-aged gay couple ha ve been in a loving relationship for 3 years. But there’s just 1 problem – nobody in Shiro’s circle, including his family members , knows that he’s gay and in a committed relationship.  

Depicting the subtleties of everyday life of gay couples in Japan, both the manga and drama versions have received widespread acclaim for its non-stereotypical portrayal of the gay community. Hopefully, we can expect the film to be equally groundbreaking.  

Genre: Food, Comedy, Romance, Slice of life Length: TBC Release date: TBC

18. Tokyo Revengers 東京リベンジャーズ

• Takumi Kitamura as Takemichi Hanagaki
• Yosuke Sugino as Naoto Tachibana
• Mio Imada as Hinata Tachibana

If you could go back in time, what would you change about the past? For 26-year-old freeter (フリーター; a person who is unemployed or works part-time) Takemichi, the answer to that question is undoubtedly to save his first love, Hinata, and her younger brother Naoto from being murdered by the titular Tokyo Revengers , a notorious school gang based in the Kanto region. 

After he saved Naoto by accidentally travelling back in time once, Takemichi is determined to go back to the past again to confront the Tokyo Revenger s and prevent Hinata’s imminent death.  

Genre: Action, Drama, School Length: TBC Release date: July 2021

19. Honey Lemon Soda ハニーレモンソーダ

• Murakami Maito Raul as Kai Miura 
• Ai Yoshikawa as Uka Ishimori 

Honey Lemon Soda is a movie about the budding romance between 2 unlikely people. Bullied in middle school, the shy and introverted Uka had a hard time making friends.

Determined to have a fresh start, Uka enters high school and meets Kai, a popular boy with bright lemon-coloured hair. The 2 become friends and they gradually develop feelings for each other. But unbeknownst to Uka, Kai has a hidden secret that no one else knows of.  

Genre: Romance, School Length: TBC Release date: 9th July 2021

20. Shin Ultraman シン・アルトラマン

• Takumi Saito as Ultraman 

To celebrate the 55th year anniversary of Ultraman, Shin Ultraman , a film adaptation of the famous series which aired in 1966 , will be released this summer.  

After colliding with an Ultra Warrior , Hayata, one of the senior members of the Science Special Search-Party – an international police organisation – becomes the human host of the iconic Ultraman. To maintain the peace of earth, Hayata transforms into Ultraman and fights dangerous monsters. 

Shin Ultraman will feature the hero’s classic nemes e s, such as Neronga and Gabora. 

Genre: Sci-Fi, Action Length: TBC Release date: TBC

New Japanese movies in 2021 to watch

From hair-raising horror movies to feel-good romantic films, there are plenty of exciting releases lined up for 2021 . B e sure to catch these new Japanese movies when they are out in the theatres. Which movie are you looking forward to most in 2021? 

Here are more movies and series to binge-watch: 

• New anime in Winter 2021
• Japanese dramas to look out for in 2021 
• Fantasy anime series 
• Best Japanese dramas
• Best detective anime series 

Cover image adapted from: @exile_news_ , @subarashiki2021 and Yahoo Japan

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Cinema Escapist

Explore and connect the world through a cinematic lens

The 10 Best Japanese Movies of 2021

Discover the top Japanese movies of 2021 across genres like comedy, action, romance, anime, and more—streaming links included.

By The Editors , 23 Dec 21 02:52 GMT

2021 was a big year for Japan, with the Tokyo Olympics finally occurring and a big COVID surge thereafter. Despite ups and downs, Japanese theaters and film festivals still persisted for a good part of 2021.

So what were the Best Japanese Movies of 2021 ?

Cinema Escapist has selected 10 Japanese movies that we feel are the top releases from 2021. Our choices include both indie and blockbuster films, with samplings across genres like comedy, action, romance, animation, and more. Note while feature-length sequels to popular anime or manga franchises took Japan’s box office by storm in 2021, we’ve tilted this list towards more original movies that display better narrative innovation and societal significance. We’ve also tried to include streaming links on services like Netflix, when available.

Let’s look at 2021’s top Japanese films!

Japanese title: いとみち | Director: Satoko Yokohama | Starring: Ren Komai, Daimao Kosaka, Mei Kurokawa | Genre: Drama, Music

Teenage girl rebels against family and finds a job at a maid cafe—that’s one way to describe the 2021 Japanese film Ito . However, this isn’t some sordid tale of a young woman fallen from grace. Instead, it’s an exploration of Japan’s cultural traditions, and outer prefectures that you don’t often see in cinema.

Ito ’s title comes from its protagonist, a girl named Ito Soma. She’s really good at a variety of music called Tsugaru-shamisen that’s a centerpiece of local culture in her native Aomori prefecture (in the north of Japan). However, Ito has significant anxiety about playing in public, and feels ashamed by her regional Aomori dialect. Pining for self-transformation, she ends up getting a job at a maid cafe (a wholesome one) and learning about life from the people she meets there.

Though Ito might feature some highly specific Japanese traditions, it managed to gain a decent amount of festival distribution in New York , Hawaii , and more. The film also won the Audience Award at 2021’s Osaka Asian FIlm Festival in Japan.

10. Masquerade Night

Japanese title: マスカレード・ナイト| Director: Masayuki Suzuki | Starring: Takuya Kimura, Masami Nagasawa, Fumiyo Kohinata | Genre: Fantasy, Thriller, Mystery

Masquerade Night is the sequel to Masquerade Hotel , which was on our list of 2019’s best Japanese movies .

The film returns to the Hotel Cortesia Tokyo, where detective Kosuke Nitta goes undercover to investigate a murder threat. At the hotel, Detective Nitta runs up against Naomi Yamagashi—a concierge who’s ruthlessly committed to fulfilling guest requests.

If you enjoyed Masquerade Hotel , you’ll find Masquerade Night strikingly similar in terms of substance and characters. Even if you haven’t seen its predecessor film, Masquerade Night should prove a spirited and entertaining movie with your standard murder mystery elements. Japanese audiences seemed to like it at least; Masquerade Night was the eighth highest grossing film of 2021 in Japan.

9. The Blue Danube

Japanese title: きまじめ楽隊のぼんやり戦争 | Director: Akira Ikeda | Starring: Kou Maehara, Hiroki Konno, Hiroki Nakajima | Genre: Drama, Experimental, Comedy, War

Movies critiquing militarism are part and parcel of Japanese cinema, given the nation’s pacifist legacies in the wake of WWII. The Blue Danube continues this tradition in its own absurdist, artistic way.

This 2021 Japanese film examines war through the perspective of two towns on opposite sides of a river. Every day, these towns wake up and start shooting at each other—though nobody really knows why. When a bugler named Tsuyuki is assigned to play in a marching band, he begins to play the Blue Danube Waltz by the riverbank whilst wondering what people in the other town are like.

The Blue Danube proceeds almost like a series of episodic sketches. It’s reminiscent of a Samuel Beckett play—full of boredom and bleakness, yet somehow still able to find humor amidst it all. It’s no wonder the film did decently on the festival circuit, screening at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and Japan Cuts, among others. If you’re someone who enjoys independent, experimental films, The Blue Danube is worth a watch.

8. We Made a Beautiful Bouquet

Japanese title: 花束みたいな恋をした | Director: Nobuhiro Doi | Starring: Masaki Suda, Kasumi Arimura | Genre: Romance

Masaki Suda and Kasumi Arimura are two of Japan’s most popular actors; they unite for the 2021 romance film We Made a Beautiful Bouquet .

Suda and Arimura respectively play a man named Mugi and a woman named Kinu. One day, the two meet after missing the last train home.

However, the movie starts five years after that encounter, and establishes that their relationship will not last. What makes this film interesting, then, is its exploration about the ephemerality of love and happiness, and how that fleeting nature imbues relationships with meaning.

Furthermore, We Made a Beautiful Bouquet offers a realistic, modern take on the challenges of romance. The film dives into the character’s financial issues and professional obligations, offering a welcome respite from the sudden cancer diagnoses or memory loss-inducing car accidents that often plague East Asian melodramas.

7. Aristocrats

Japanese title: あのこは貴族 | Director: Yukiko Sode | Starring: Mugi Kadowaki, Kiko Mizuhara, Kengo Kora | Genre: Drama

In 2019, a whopping 92% of Japanese considered themselves middle class. However, as director Yukiko Sode’s film Aristocrats show, that doesn’t mean Japan lacks class distinctions.

Aristocrats centers on two women, Hanako and Miki. The former is a wealthy Tokyoite; the latter grew up in a small prefecture and tested into the prestigious Keio University, but dropped out due to family circumstances and has to work odd jobs to make ends meet. When Hanako learns that Miki has also been seeing the man her upper-class family wants her to marry, the two end up meeting and building an unlikely connection.

Class divisions are certainly on display in Aristocrats . However, what’s even more interesting is how the movie shows that, regardless of wealth or privilege, Japanese women seem to always be second-class citizens compared to men. If you’re looking for a socially conscious film that’s female-centric and mellow, check out Aristocrats .

Learn more about Aristocrats in our full-length review

6. We Couldn’t Become Adults

Japanese title: あのこは貴族 | Director: Yoshihiro Mori | Starring: Mirai Moriyama, Sairi Ito | Genre: Romance, Drama

With the 2021 film We Couldn’t Become Adults , it seems like Japanese cinema is taking a page from China by producing a nostalgia-tinged tragi-romance .

The movie starts with a 46 year-old man named Makoto Sato. One day, a sudden friend request sends Sato back on a nostalgia trip to the 1990’s, one imbued with reminisces about past lovers. We see the vagaries of romantic disappointment and professional failure gradually grind Makoto down, his dreams fading into the past.

We Couldn’t Become Adults is particularly interesting when viewed as a mirror for the social malaise of Japan’s Lost Decades . Since the early 1990s, Japan’s economy has stagnated. As a result, a whole “lost generation” of Japanese stuck in a state of sclerotic social purgatory, with some retreating inwards as hikikomori . Though Makoto Sato is not a hikikomori himself, his trials and tribulations offer an easily accessible and emotionally resonant look into the struggles of those who’ve lost all direction in modern Japan.

Stream this Japanese movie on Netflix

5. Ride or Die

Japanese title: 彼女 | Director: Ryuichi Hiroki | Starring: Kiko Mizuhara, Honami Sato | Genre: Romance, LGBTQ

The combination of brooding violence and lesbian sex isn’t something you see very often in live-action Japanese cinema. However, Ride or Die contains that unique mix.

This 2021 Japanese movie begins with an introduction to Rei. She’s a plastic surgeon from a rich family, who also happens to be a lesbian. Rei has just killed a man—the abusive husband of her former classmate (and teenage crush) Nanae Shinioda. In the wake of the murder, Rei and Nanae go on the lam together, and begin to explore the messy depths of their rekindled relationship.

What makes Ride or Die worth including on this list is just how refreshingly different it feels from other live-action Japanese movies. Most live-action Japanese movies these days are yawn-inducingly mellow , agonizingly spineless , disappointingly regressive , or some combination of those factors.

Ride or Die is none of those things. It’s exciting, avoids usual Japanese LGBTQ stereotypes (ex. Boy’s Love romance), and replete with a level of passion (thanks to gratuitous violence and full-frontal sex scenes) you might expect from Korea or Hollywood.

With high production values and a distinctive soundtrack from eclectic musician Haruomi Hosono as icing on the cake, Ride or Die is worth a watch if you’re tired of the usual plodding fare Japan puts out these days. Even better, it’s easily streamable on Netflix.

4. Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle

Japanese title: ONODA 一万夜を越えて | Director: Arthur Harari | Starring: Yuya Endo, Kanji Tsuda, Yuya Matsuura | Genre: War, Drama, History

You might notice that the director of Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle isn’t Japanese. Indeed, this film is a Japanese-French co-production with a heavily French crew and financing. However, Onoda tells a thoroughly Japanese story with 100% Japanese cast and dialog.

Onoda takes its name from Hiroo Onoda , a real-life Imperial Japanese Army officer who spent 29 years hiding in the Philippine jungle after WWII, refusing to surrender or even believe that the war had ended.

The film centers on Onoda’s time in the Philippines, diving deep into his psyche to explore what motivated him to hold out for so long. In doing so, it offers a nuanced and resonant exploration of the psychology of fanaticism. That should hold resonance for viewers even outside Japan, given the popularity of conspiracy theories and lies about stolen elections these days. Within a Japanese context, the notion of militaristic fervor should also strike a chord given increased nationalistic burblings over the past few years.

3. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Japanese title: 偶然と想像 | Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi | Starring: Kotone Furukawa, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Fusako Urabe | Genre: Drama, Romance

Noted Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi kicked off 2021 with Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy . The film won the prestigious Silver Bear Award at 2021’s Berlin International FIlm Festival, and garnered significant critical acclaim worldwide.

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy consists of three parts. Each depicts a coincidental encounter centering on a female character, and explores the vicissitudes of love. With this film, Hamaguchi has crafted flowing dialog and fleshed-out characters that all come to life with excellent acting.

If you enjoy artistic films that explore the intricacies of human nature, look no further than Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy . It’s a sweet, sensitive, and humorous examination of what it means for humans to feel, and be, connected.

Learn more about Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy in our full review .

Japanese title: 竜とそばかすの姫 | Director: Mamoru Hosoda | Starring: Kaho Nakamura, Ryo Narita, Shota Sometani | Genre: Animation, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Mamoru Hosoda is one of Japan’s most critically acclaimed animators, and he returned in 2021 with Belle . The film was not only critical success—garnering a standing ovation upon its premiere at Cannes—but also became one of the top grossing films in Japan during 2021.

Belle focuses on a 17 year-old student named Suzu, who lives with her father in Japan’s rural Kochi prefecture. After becoming traumatized by the death of her mother, Suzu finds solace in a virtual world called “U” and assumes an online alter ego through her avatar “Belle.”

It goes without saying that Belle contains some high quality animations; Hosoda does an exceptional job of bringing “U” to life with epic visuals of dragons and castles. On the front of social significance, Belle also comes at an opportune time. With large tech companies ramping up their efforts to create metaverses, the film helps us ponder whether such virtual realities will truly bring the world closer together, or instead simply transplant the real world’s alienation into a new yet parallel medium.

1. Drive My Car

Japanese title: ドライブ・マイ・カー | Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi | Starring:  Hidetoshi Nishijima, Toko Miura, Reika Kirishima | Genre: Drama

Topping off our list of 2021’s best Japanese movies is Drive My Car . This is yet another movie from director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who seems to have had quite a good year with 2021.

Hamaguchi was working from some pretty strong source material for this movie. Drive My Car is the adaptation of an eponymous short story by famed author Haruki Marukami . Despite the fact that the original story is just under 40 pages, Hamaguchi manages to make Drive My Car the movie into a three hour-long epic. Don’t be scared by that running time though. Drive My Car ’s plot flows by smoothly, and is pretty easy to follow.

The film follows a Tokyo-based theatrical actor named Kafuku. We learn that his wife Oto has been dead for two years, and her death has imbued Kafuku with silent streaks of trauma. One day, Kafuku accepts an invitation from a theater festival in Hiroshima to put on a production of Chekov’s Uncle Vanya. The festival assigns him a driver, a young woman named Misaki. As the two journey across Japan, their bond deepens—and the film takes us into a devastatingly beautiful exploration of loss and letting go. It’s a profound meditation on the human condition.

Want to find more good Japanese movies? Check out our lists of  2020  and  2019 ’s best Japanese films.

Want more? Join our 30K+ followers on Facebook and Twitter .

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The 10 best japanese movies of 2020, by the editors, interview: joe odagiri on "they say nothing stays the same," his scenic directorial debut, by keisuke takaya, review: “aristocrats” examines social class in modern day tokyo, by brenda chang, review: silver bear winner "wheel of fortune and fantasy" plays with coincidences and fate, the 11 best japanese movies of 2019, by anthony kao, interview: "japanology" host peter barakan—japan's accidental ambassador, by akshay suggula, the 16 best japanese romance movies, review: “wife of a spy” is an elegant musing on japanese fascism from a civilian's perspective, review: "hotel iris" exhibits transgressive love...and taiwan-japan amity.

Den of Geek

Erased review: Netflix’s gripping Japanese time-travel drama

A compelling time-travelling narrative is brought to life by a fantastic cast in a moving drama about the ties that bind...

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This review contains spoilers for episode 1 of Erased .

Satoru Fujinuma (Yuki Furukawa) is a manga artist. He’s finding it difficult to get his art published and to find his feet in the big world of work and so supplements his income working at a pizza chain with his young and somewhat over-enthusiastic friend Airi Katagiri (Mio Yuki). It’s not long into his latest pizza delivery, however, that the mise-en-scene warps and pulls like PVA glue off skin and Satoru breaks through the other side. He appears to be re-living life as it was a couple of minutes ago; as though time has reset itself.

He explains in a voiceover that he calls these moments ‘revivals’. When something bad happens, he is sent back to a few minutes previous by an unknown force to set things right. Satoru frantically scans the scene from his pizza delivery moped for signs of danger and soon notices that a lorry driver is asleep at the wheel. His interference neutralises the potential danger and he goes back to the current time, although his actions to stop the lorry have landed him in hospital. You get the impression this happens a lot and, much to his annoyance, his mother Sachiko (Tomoka Kurotani) has decided to come and stay to help him back on his feet.

During a shopping trip with his mother Satoru’s entire life changes. He experiences another of his ‘revivals’ and, although he is unable to identify a danger, his mother spots a man trying to abduct a little girl. She types something into her phone at the time but makes light of what she witnessed when Satoru asks her about it later. Hours later while alone in Satoru’s flat, Sachiko is brutally stabbed in the back by an unknown male, who waits for Satoru to find his mother’s body and then coaxes him into a chase that leaves Satoru the blood-stained number one suspect in his mother’s murder. Trying to avoid the police to set the record straight, Satoru runs head-long into another ‘revival’… but he’s gone back much further than ever before.

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Satoru finds himself in 1988 at his former school, Mikoto Elementary. He knows he must have been sent back this far for a reason, and soon recalls a string of kidnaps and murders that took place in this year while he was in the fifth grade. Three children disappeared and were later found dead but the perpetrator was never discovered. Instead, the police have the wrong man on death row in the present day (2006), an old school friend of Satoru’s that he nicknamed Yuuki, meaning ‘courage’.

It becomes clear that in order to save his mother, Satoru must save the three children that were abducted in 1988 and uncover the murderer and his connection to the attempted kidnap that his mother saw. He needs to break the negative chain in the past to save people in the present and, in the process, comes to appreciate the precious moments with his mother and friends in his childhood.

It sound like a series that would be difficult to keep up with, doesn’t it? Erased chops and changes between time periods and indeed actors, with two different performers playing Satoru in the present day and in 1988. It is credit to director Ten Shimoyama, then, that the series is not nearly as difficult to understand as it sounds on paper. The narrative elements are gently introduced and the characters well established, making time transitions easy to get on board with. It can feel at first that the present day, established in the first episode, is miles apart and almost unnecessary to the unfolding story in 1988 that we see from the second episode onward, but as the series progresses it becomes clear that no time period is irrelevant or left behind. The first time we revisit 2006, nothing feels amiss and the action picks right up from where it left off. It’s wonderful directing; matching the past and present tonally and giving the audience details from one time period to inform the other. It’s an intricately weaved narrative marvel.

Originally a manga by Kei Sanbe, Erased became an anime series and a live-action film in 2016 before being given the Netflix treatment. It’s a popular and well known story with a lot riding on it for the fans, so director Shimoyama plays with his captive audience, cranking up the tension as the narrative in one time period comes to a dramatic head… only for Satoru to then be thrust back (or forward) again to deal with matters on the other side. It’s excruciating and very deliberate; Shimoyama has his audience in the palm of his hand and we’re loving the high-stakes ride.

The series is truly made by its spectacular cast. For a story with so much emphasis on love and trust, it is crucial that the affection between characters rings true – and it really does. The mother-son relationship is very touching and actress Tomoka Kurotani does a wonderful job with both actors that play Satoru, her warmth and resolve helping to connect the two time periods and add urgency to Satoru’s quest. Shigeyuki Totsugi, meanwhile, is great as young Satoru’s school teacher and imbues the role with kindness and paternal warmth. Look out for a lovely scene involving a stash of lollipops.

The young actor who plays Satoru in 1988, however, pretty much runs the show. He certainly steals every scene he is in. Reo Uchikawa is outstanding, carrying the weight of half of the show on his shoulders like it is nothing at all with his wonderfully expressive face and often deeply moving performance. Young Satoru’s primary aim is to look after the first child who was kidnapped 18 years ago to prevent the murder spree from beginning, and in so doing befriends the vulnerable Kayo Hinazuki (Rinka Kakihara). It is in his scenes with Kayo that young Satoru really shines and this fantastic actor will certainly tug at your heart strings in his desperate plight to protect his new friend and let her know she is not alone.

Erased ’s cinematography is hugely impressive, with the repeated shots of smoke billowing out of industrial chimneys against a variety of skies punctuating the action down on the ground. Snow is a big feature of the show’s aesthetic, too, with the school yard in 1988 covered in a thick blanket of snow. Some of the shots in the school’s playground between Satoru and Kayo are truly breath taking; the images of the brilliant white snow wonderfully counterbalance the warmth that Satoru and his mother offer those in danger and it is as though every moment Satoru spends with Kayo could be stopped in a picture-perfect freezeframe.

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Erased is a gripping drama driven by some brilliant performances that will keep you clicking that ‘Next Episode’ button. You’ll not only want to know how these clever stories tie together, you will really care what happens to the characters.

All twelve half-hour episodes of Erased season one are available now on Netflix UK.

Catherine Pearson

Josei no Burogu

6 Recommended Time Travel Japanese Movies

1. Enoshima Prism (2013)

On the second year anniversary of Saku's death, Shuta went to Enoshima to attend the anniversary. In Saku's bedroom, Shuta found a watch that apparently a tool that could bring him back to the time before Saku died. Shuta somehow attempted to save Saku by changing the past.

I highly recommend this movie since it covers all genre (IMHO): romance, friendship, comedy as well as tragedy. Provide a roll of tissue by your side 😉

Check out the trailer

2. Tomorrow I Will Date Yesterday's You (2016)

Another Fukushi Sota's time travel movie. Well, it's not exactly time travel though, but I intentionally put this into time travel movie since one character here knows the future since she comes from the future.

Takatoshi Minamiyama (Fukushi Sota) studies in art major at a university in Tokyo. On the train to go to college, he meets Emi Fukuju (Nana Komatsu) and falls in with her on his first sight. Emi apparently has the same feeling that they start dating and enjoy happy times together.

But one strange thing occasionally happens when Emi sometimes blurts out something that hasn't happened. Takatoshi thinks that she might have a capability to see the future. The secret is revealed about Emi that is going to break your heart.

3. Cafe Funiculi Funicula (2018)

I have written this movie in my old post here. Time travel story doesn't have to be heartbreaking, but it can be heartwarming. Check out my old post , will you? 😉

4. Orange (2015)

This movie might be my first encounter to know Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya. Both of them were like the king and the queen of shoujo drama from manga adaptation. And I was glad to get to know them, moreover, to see their acting talent grow rapidly.

What would you do if you get a letter from your future self? Are you going to toss it down or believe that you from the future write down the letter and do what the letter asks you to do? Takamiya Naho (Tsuchiya Tao), on her 16th year, received a letter from her future self. The letter mentioned someone called Naruse Kakeru. She didn't have a friend whose name was Naruse Kakeru. While reading the letter in her class, a new student from Tokyo was introduced in her class, and his name was Naruse Kakeru! She then realized that the letter was an account of the things her future self had experienced and regretted the most. Naho didn't believe what the letter said so she stopped reading the letter. But as her interest towards Kakeru bloomed, Naho eventually decided to support him. Together with her friends, Naho tried her best to avoid having the same regrets their future self might encounter.

Frankly speaking, I was a bit confused by the end of the movie. However, it's tear-jerking movie. So, tissue must be available by your side 😉

Fanmade clip of Orange

5. Erased/ The Town where Only I am Missing (2016)

I have written down this one as one of time travel dorama recommendation in my previous post. The storyline is more or less is similar. Different from the previous ones, this movie includes thriller in genre with some mysterious murder that happened in the past. The main lead here, Satoru Fujinuma (Tatsuya Fujiwara) has the power of revival to go back in time before the incidents happened and try to avoid the incident to happen.

The plot twist at the end of the movie would make you stunned for a few hours or even days. I saw the dorama in Netflix, I tried to watch a few episodes, but I think I cannot finish it since I still remember the bitter truth at the end of the movie.

Give it try if you don't mind with the unexpected plot twist.

6. The 100th Love With You (2017)

Aoi (Miwa) gets an accident and finds herself one week before when she regains consciousness. Riku (Sakaguchi Kentaro), Aoi's bestfriend has been in love with her and couldn't tell her how he feels. He travels back to save Aoi as well as to tell her how he feels. When the secret is revealed, how would Aoi feel?

I remember, I cried a river watching this 2-hour-movie.   🤭😁🤫

From 6 time travel Japanese movies I mentioned here, actually there are others that you might find interesting as follows. Click in each title, the link will direct you to mydramalist and the green italicized font is my nonsense comment. you can just ignore it 😃😃 

Time Trip App (2014) with Hiroshi Tamaki and Satomi Ishihara as the main leads

Nobunaga Concerto (2016) with Oguri Shun and Shibasaki Ko as the main leads

Time Traveler (2010) that has several adaptations from movies to dorama,

Calling You (2006) with Narumi Riko and Koide Keisuke,

A Boy and his Samurai (2010) with Nishikido Ryo and Tomosaka Rie (young Ryo-chanwas still 26 years old when he got this role. Check out if you want to see young Ryo 😉

Thermae Romae (2012) and Thermae Romae 2 (2014) with Hiroshi Abe and Uto Aya as the main leads ( does Hiroshi Abe ever get older ?) 😊

Brave: Gunjou Senki (2021) with Mackenyu as the main lead together with the late Haruma Miura. ( it might be Miura’s last movie. It’s so sad to find this )

The Returner (2002) with Kaneshiro Takeshi and Suzuki Anne as the main leads ( I knew Kaneshiro Takeshi from Chinese dramas instead of Japanese movies or dramas, though )

Summer Time Machine Blues (2005) with Ueno Juri and Nagayama Eita as the main leads ( I can't believe I found their old movie when they were very young ! 😍😍)

Tokyo Revengers (2021) with Kitamura Takumi as the main lead

Samurai Angel Wars (2011) with Arimura Kasumi and Kaku Kento as the main leads

Second Summer, Never See You Again (2017) with Nijiro Murakami, Kato Rena and Yoshida Madoka as the main leads

Nin X Nin: Ninja Hattori-kun (2004) with Yuri Chinen and Katori Shingo as the main leads ( oh my gosh, Yuri Chinen was still 11 years old when he performed in this movie! 😃😆)

The Door into Summer (2021) with Yamazaki Kento as the main lead ( I can't wait to see this movie. Whatever movie or drama when Yamaken is in it, it's a guarantee for you to watch ) 😁😂

A Heartful of Love (2005) with Ito Hideaki and Katsuji Ryo as the main lead. 

New Type: Just for Your Love (2008) with Aya Omasa and Takezai Terunosuke as the main leads.

Bubble Fiction: Boom or Bust (2007) with Hiroshi Abe and Hirosue Ryoko) as the main leads.  

Milocrorze: A Love Story (2012) with Takayuki Yamada as the main lead.

  Our War (2006) with Ueno Juri and Moriyama Mirai as the main leads.

Time Scoop Hunter (2013) with Kaname Jun and Watanabe Anne as the main leads. 

Bolt from The Blue (2014) with Oizumi Yo and Shibasaki Ko as the main leads. 

Honnoji Hotel (2017) with Ayase Haruka and Tsutsumi Shinichi as the main leads.

Bridge Over Troubled Water (2018) with Suzuki Anne as the main lead.

Linking Love (2017) with Tano Yuka, Ishibashi Anna and Jin Shirasu as the main leads.

The Master Samurai (2017) with Ichihara Hayato as the main lead. The dorama version was adapted in 2015.

Well, it's hard for me to scroll more than I have done with the list. Just don't ask me if I have watched those time travel movies listed. So far, I only have watched the first 6 movies. And, don't ask me where to watch those movies. Just use your luck to find the movies. OK? 😄😄😄

Ja, matta ne..   

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3 incredible time-travel movies on Netflix you need to watch ASAP

There’s something for everyone — even if you’re not a diehard sci-fi fan.

More than any other kind of science fiction , time travel stories are the ultimate escape. The ability to move forward and backward through history and change the outcome of your life is nearly irresistible — even if the repercussions are almost never worth it.

If you’re looking for a time travel movie to watch on Netflix , we’ve got you covered. Here are three amazing films you can stream right now, whether you’re in the mood for a classic sci-fi adventure, social commentary, or something else entirely.

Just make sure you watch them soon, before Netflix goes back in time and removes these movies from the streaming service forever.

3. Star Trek (2009)

A new generation...

Before he resurrected Star Wars (only to leave it in worse shape than ever before), J.J. Abrams took his talents to Paramount to reboot another classic science fiction franchise. The result was arguably the most pivotal sci-fi movie of the century (so far) and a pretty fun time travel adventure to boot.

In a recent essay on the importance of Star Trek in the year 2009, Ryan Britt writes:

There’s literally no way Lucasfilm and Disney would have hired Abrams to reboot the Star Wars movies had he only been coming off Cloverfield and Super 8 . The wildly successful and convincing Star Trek reboot in 2009 is what made Abrams into the super-director we think of now. Subjectively, that may not have been a good thing for Star Trek fans or Star Wars fans but, objectively speaking, the 2009 Trek reboot led to a vast pop culture universe and resulted in The Force Awakens . In this way, Star Trek can be thought of the most pivotal sci-fi movie of the 21st century so far. (And, unlike The Force Awakens or The Rise of Skywalker , it's aged well.)

• Read the full article.
• Watch Star Trek on Netflix.

2. See You Yesterday (2019)

And it’s only 80 minutes long!

Netflix makes a lot of original science fiction, and, if we’re being honest, most of it is pretty mediocre. But this underrated time-travel drama is an exception to that rule.

Produced by Spike Lee with a clever cameo from Marty McFly himself, See You Yesterday is what happens when you mix Do the Right Thing with Back to the Future . It’s a powerful social justice story dressed up as a sci-fi adventure. It’s also just a great movie.

Here’s a few lines from Inverse entertainment editor Gabrielle Bondi’s retrospective on the film:

See You Yesterday ’s brisk 80-minute running time gives this time-travel adventure a lot of energy. From start to finish, it sustains a pace that pulls you in and keeps you invested.

• Watch See You Yesterday.

1. The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009)

Watch this one before it leaves Netflix at the end of August.

Looking for something... different? The Time Traveler’s Wife is a time travel movie that doesn’t really care about time travel at all. Instead, it tells the story of a woman (Rachel McAdams) in love with a man (Eric Bana) who’s unstuck from time.

Bana’s character careens almost uncontrollably through time but seems inexplicably drawn to the woman who eventually becomes his wife. (When they first meet he’s approaching middle age and she’s a child, but it’s best not to think about the weirdness of their relationship.)

The Time Traveler’s Wife is a tragic love story with moments of joy and just enough sci-fi to keep genre fans interested. In other words, it’s the perfect compromise if you’re struggling to make your next movie night pick.

Here’s a preview from Inverse ’s recent recommendation:

Being in love with a time traveler is no easy feat, especially when that time traveler has no control over this power. Most time-travel movies are understandably preoccupied with the past and the future, but this underrated 2009 movie feels undeniably present

• Watch The Time Traveler’s Wife.

This article was originally published on Aug. 5, 2021

• Science Fiction

The 40+ Best Time Travel Movies You Should Watch in Japan

• Last updated: 18 Aug, 2023

Table of Contents

Time Travel has been a prevalent theme in the sci-fi genre for as long as the history of cinema itself. However, making a great time travel movie isn’t a walk in the park. Quite a few films tried and miserably failed over time. Nevertheless, there are some really prodigious time travel films that grab the idea so well and portray memorable plots and ingenious stories.

If you are looking to watch a perfect time travel movie but are unsure which title to choose, look no further. We had to dig out the lexicon of time travel movies to compile a list of the best time travel movies you should watch.

Note: Spoilers ahead!

Back To The Future (1985)

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Writer: Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale

Cast: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover

IMDB Rating: 8.5/10

A sci-fi movie with a twist of comedy in it? Yes, a perfect combo. Back to the future covers a fiction in which a teenager got sent back in the past by accident. There he bonds with the younger selves of his parents also struggle with how to not have sex with his mom. In the end, the movie is crazy as well as a great job is done by the actors and director.

The Time Machine (1960)

Director: George Pal

Writer: David Duncan, H.G. Wells

Cast: Rod Taylor, Alan Young, Yvette Mimieux, Sebastian Cabot, Tom Helmore

IMDB Rating: 7.6/10

The Time Machine is one of those movies which are made to watch again and again. It never gets old, even till today’s date. Director George Pal has really outdone himself. Rod Tylor has nailed his performance as George in the movie.  The story tells us about a man who travels forward in time to only find out the clichés of future society.

The Terminator (1984)

Director: James Cameron

Writer: James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd, William Wisher

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, Paul Winfield, Lance Henriksen

IMDB Rating: 8/10

A story ahead of its time, that came from just a little nightmare of writer and director James Cameron. But had the ability to pave the path for sci-fi movies and built a strong ground for the genre. The tale roams around a soldier sent in the past to protect a pregnant woman from a robot-cyborg also sent from the same timeline, who seems to be indestructible. Why is he trying to save the woman? Because the unborn child happens to be the future savior of humankind.

Time After Time (1979)

Director: Nicholas Meyer

Writer: Karl Alexander, Steve Hayes, Nicholas Meyer

Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Mary Steenburgen, David Warner, Charles Cioffi

IMDB Rating: 7.1/10

Famously known for his work with the Star Trek franchise, Time After Time is directed by Nicholas Meyer. The film stars Malcolm McDowell as H.G Wells, who believes in time travel, follows his sinister friend Jack The Ripper, a serial killer who uses the writer’s machine to escape the time of his arrest. This sci-fi film is full of action and drama, and the performance of legendary McDowell lifts the overall mood of the screenplay.

Donnie Darko (2001)

Director: Richard Kelly

Writer: Richard Kelly

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne

A teenager with a lot of psychological issues who doesn’t get along well with people around him. As a result of the situation, he starts to see a man dressed as a bunny but is no friend of his as the mysterious bunny persuades him by manipulating him to do unspeakable crimes. With the mystery of a parallel world in it, the movie presents the idea that not many would explore. Yet gives a genuine and heartfelt story going from an ordinary one to a spectacular scale.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Writer: James Cameron, William Wisher

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick

Mostly like other sequel movies, Terminator 2 does not disappoint its audience. As an identical robot, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the previous villain, comes to rescue the mother and son from a threat greater than before. As the new cyborg, which is sent again to kill the mother and her 10-year-old son, is far more dangerous and advanced. This movie definitely falls in one of the best time travel movies list.

Planet Of The Apes (1968)

Director: Franklin J. Schaffner

Writer: Michael Wilson, Rod Serling, Pierre Boulle

Cast: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore

Planet of the Apes is one of the best time travel movies. A classic that changes its perspective and unravels a whole new theory in the final moments. The audience watching it for the first time couldn’t have possibly thought that it is a time travel film. As an astronaut crew who thinks they have landed on a planet where Apes are intelligent and in power over humans. But at the end, the movie concludes they time traveled in the distant future of Earth.

Groundhog Day (1993)

Director: Harold Ramis

Writer: Danny Rubin, Harold Ramis

Cast: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky

With Bill Murray as in the main cast, Groundhog Day portrays a story of the weather reporter who somehow happens to live the same day again and again. At first, he uses this to his advantage but later realizes the sad side of it. He had to live in the same small town, watching the same faces till eternity. With romance and comedy mixed, this film ranks high in the best movies about time travel.

Run Lola Run (1998)

Director: Tom Tykwer

Writer: Tom Tykwer

Cast: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup, Nina Petri

IMDB Rating: 7.7/10

Although Franka Potenteis is the main character of the film, but the director and writer, Tom Tykwer, is the real star for coming up with such a fantastic and cool concept. Lola is given three paths with the same time window to help her boyfriend get money, to save him from his boss. But she must choose the right way to do it. The movie portrays a simple daily life concept of making the right choice in such a wonderful way.

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

Director: Colin Trevorrow

Writer: Derek Connolly

Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni, Lauren Carlos

IMDB Rating: 7/10

On seeing an ad in the paper about someone wanting a companion to time travel, three magazine reports set out to interview the person and find more. Only to realize after that they all want to go back in the past and change some things that they could have done differently. And to mend some regrets. The movie is surely a good comedy and has a weirdo vibe to it.

Doctor Strange (2016)

Director: Scott Derrickson

Writer: Jon Spaihts, Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong

IMDB Rating: 7.5/10

In this marvel movie franchise, a journey of a top-end neurosurgeon is shown, how he goes from all self-centered to being spiritual. After a car accident that left him with a lot of physical injuries and hopelessness, he found the world of secrets. Which not only healed him physically but gave him powers he doesn’t even believe exists. With great power comes great responsibility, and so does the case here. So, Doctor Strange should act wisely to save the world.

Arrival (2016)

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Writer: Eric Heisserer, Ted Chiang

Cast: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg

IMDB Rating: 7.9/10

Arrival is not just a sci-fi story with aliens in it. It is a movie that has so many lessons in it for someone with the eye to see. The movie revolves around Linguistics professor Louise Banks, whose services are needed to communicate with the aliens who have shown around the world with their huge spaceships. As the world is on the verge of war, the professor should hurry and understand the purpose of their arrival.

Primer (2004)

Director: Shane Carruth

Writer: Shane Carruth

Cast: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhyaya

IMDB Rating: 6.9/10

Four friends, engineers, trying to invent something else but accidentally build the time machine. So on knowing about what they have built, they do what anyone at their place could have done, make a lot of money out of it. But later, the events take a dark turn. When greed and betrayal take over, it’ll do the damage. With a moral lesson in it, it’s worth watching a film from the list of best time traveling movies.

Interstellar (2014)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writer: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Mackenzie Foy

IMDB Rating: 8.6/10

This masterpiece comes from one of the best directors, Christopher Nolan. Along with being a sci-fi movie, it reflects love. As the Earth faces some disasters and becomes polluted, a team of extraordinary scientists wanders through space to find a sustainable land for humankind’s survival. And goes to the length in the solar system where no man has gone before. You’ll be intrigued by the screenplay no matter how many times you watch it.

12 Monkeys (1995)

Director: Terry Gilliam

Writer: Janet Peoples, David Webb Peoples, Chris Marker

Cast: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, Joseph Melito, Jon Seda

Mankind faces a man-made deadly virus and is on the brink of extinction. A convict is sent back into the past to gather information about it and stop it. Changing the fate of the world, easier said than done. His sanity is being questioned on this revelation, and he’s put into a psychiatric facility. There he found someone who might hold the key to solving this puzzle. 12 Monkeys definitely makes an argument on current human doom that is becoming inevitable.

Frequency (2000)

Director: Gregory Hoblit

Writer: Toby Emmerich

Cast: Dennis Quaid, Jim Caviezel, Shawn Doyle, Elizabeth Mitchell, Andre Braugher

IMDB Rating: 7.3/10

There is a reason why they say, ‘Whatever happens, happens for a reason. The movie is about the consequences of tampering with the past when a son and his father connect through a rare radiofrequency thirty years apart. As the son tries to warn his firefighter father of his accidental death to save him. He set a path for other tragic events to happen. Now together, they have to find a way to undo what they caused.

Timecrimes (2007)

Director: nacho vigalondo

Writer: Nacho Vigalondo

Cast: Karra Elejalde, Candela Fernández, Bárbara Goenaga, Nacho Vigalondo

IMDB Rating: 7.2/10

TimeCrimes is a low-budget movie, yet one on the list of the best movies about time travel. When a man uses his time machine without testing it, it messes with the time quantum, which traps the leading character into the time continuum. While stuck in there, he commits a series of crimes to fix his other crimes. And the loop goes on.

Deja Vu (2006)

Director: Tony Scott

Writer: Bill Marsilii, Terry Rossio

Cast: Denzel Washington, Paula Patton, Jim Caviezel, Val Kilmer, Adam Goldberg

After a terrorist attack on a ferry in New Orleans, an A.T.F agent joins a top-secret program to experiment to find the attacker. Observing through advanced surveillance technology which allows you to look through the past, he has to find the bomber before he strikes again. With all the action going on in the film, it will keep you hooked.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)

Director: Bryan Singer

Writer: Simon Kinberg, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn

Cast: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender

One of the best movies made in the X-Men franchise is Days of Future Past. When the mutants are being killed to eradicate them from Earth, through indestructible robots made by using the DNA of Mystique, Wolverine must go back in the past and save her from getting captured to be used in the Sentinel Program. To prevent things from ever happening in the first place.

Edge Of Tomorrow (2014)

Director: Doug Liman

Writer: Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth

Cast: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson, Jonas Armstrong

A blockbuster film coming from the director Dough Liman and writer Christopher McQuarrie. The film is a perfect cocktail with action, romance, sci-fi, and humor in it. As some alien forces declare war on Earth, fate lies in the hand of a soldier who is resetting the same day again and again upon his death on the battlefield. Each reset gets a step closer to defeating the mastermind behind the alien invasion.

About Time (2013)

Director: Richard Curtis

Writer: Richard Curtis

Cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Lydia Wilson

IMDB Rating: 7.8/10

When 21-year-old Tim discovers he can travel through time as a rare gift like all the men in his family, but not in history. He is set to make his personal and romantic life better. He travels through time to meet the perfect girl and to make her fall in love with him. But there’s only so much you can do by traveling in time.

The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009)

Director: Robert Schwentke

Writer: Bruce Joel Rubin, Audrey Niffenegger

Cast: Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams, Ron Livingston, Michelle Nolden

Not like other time-traveling movies relying on some time machine and making it the center of their story. The Time Traveler’s Wife is more of a love story and how time traveling causes some problems in the couple’s life. When the husband is on his time traveling cruise and the wife is left alone.

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Director: Woody Allen

Writer: Woody Allen

Cast: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Kurt Fuller

When a nostalgic writer goes on a trip to Paris with his fiancé. He tries to find the inspiration to unlock the creative block he is facing while writing his first novel. He wants to make a home there, but his fiancé doesn’t share the same thoughts. On a midnight walk, a mysterious taxi takes him back to the 1920’s era. Where he found himself lost and fascinated by the romantic notion of the city.

Looper (2012)

Director: Rian Johnson

Writer: Rian Johnson

Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano

IMDB Rating: 7.4/10

If you put all your logic and ‘how it can even happen?’ aside, Looper is a hell of a movie in the best time travel movies. When the future self of a classified looper is sent back for the assassination from the future, he is all prepared to face whatever awaits him. Rian Johnson pulls up a great storyline with outstanding direction.

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Director: Steve Pink

Writer: Josh Heald, Sean Anders, John Morris

Cast: John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke

IMDB Rating: 6.4/10

A group of friends who are tired of life takes a vacation together to a spot where they used to go to party. One of friend’s nephews joins them. They hang out in a hot tub there, which happens to be a time machine, and take them back to the time of a fateful night in their life. But while reliving the moments they perish, they must not change anything to the nephew to be born.

The Time Machine (2002)

Director: Simon Wells

Writer: H.G. Wells, David Duncan, John Logan

Cast: Guy Pearce, Yancey Arias, Mark Addy, Phyllida Law

IMDB Rating: 6/10

Inspired by the classic sci-fi novel by H.G. Wells, scientist Alexander Hartdegen is resolute in his claim that time travel is possible. A personal tragedy turns his fortitude into desperation that compels him to want to change the past. While testing his theories with the time machine already invented by him, Hartdegen is catapulted 800,000 years into the future, where to his shock, the human race has divided into two battle groups.

Predestination (2014)

Director: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig

Writer: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig, Robert A. Heinlein

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, Noah Taylor, Madeleine West

An agent in law enforcement has been going back and forth in time to catch criminals and ensure his career till eternity. But as his final assignment, he must catch a criminal who has always escaped by this much from him throughout his time. How the Spierig brothers unfold the story in their film slowly will leave you surprised.

The Lake House (2006)

Director: Alejandro Agresti

Writer: David Auburn, Eun-Jeong Kim, Ji-na Yeo

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Christopher Plummer, Ebon Moss-Bachrach

IMDB Rating: 6.8/10

The Lake House presents its viewers with a love story, one of its kind. Where the two lovers who met through the mailbox letters are living two years apart from each other. They both have possession of the lake house but in different timelines. How will they meet by breaking the mystery that’s keeping them apart before it’s too late?

Source Code (2011)

Director: Duncan Jones

Writer: Ben Ripley

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright

Duncan lays out a story of a man who relives a specific window of time again and again. Why? To find the bomber who has planted a bomb on a train. But while doing so, he grew fonder of a passenger on the train. Ben Ripley gives us an original script and idea when others are just making sequels or prequels. Source code definitely falls in the category of best time travel movies.

The Butterfly Effect (2004)

Director: Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber

Writer: J. Mackye Gruber, Eric Bress

Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, Melora Walters, Elden Henson

A kid had blackouts in his childhood, having no knowledge of what happened during that time. Grew up and found out he can travel in time. By making his old journals a guide he tries to fill in those gaps to make things better but only to find out he had made them worse. How can he undo this from the past? Question remains.

Timecop (1994)

Director: Peter Hyams

Writer: Mark Verheiden, Mike Richardson

Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mia Sara, Ron Silver, Bruce McGill

IMDB Rating: 5.9/10

Far in the future when time travel has been perfected in every way. A time cop whose duty is to make sure the time travel is regulated so that no one tries to temper the past for their own benefits. He must bring a politician to justice as he has done something like that.

La Jetée (1962)

Director: Chris Marker

Writer: Chris Marker

Cast: Étienne Becker, Jean Négroni, Hélène Chatelain, Davos Hanich, Jacques Ledoux

IMDB Rating: 8.3/10

La Jetée, one of the best time travel movies without any time machine in it. This movie was no doubt so far ahead of its time to date. After World War III, as Paris is all destroyed, the air is all contaminated, and people have to live underground. A prisoner with a strong mental connection with the past catches the eye of the scientists who are looking for a way for the salvation of humankind. La Jetée will remain a classy work with no time boundaries.

Happy Accidents (2000)

Director: Brad Anderson

Writer: Brad Anderson

Cast: Marisa Tomei, Vincent D’Onofrio, Holland Taylor, Mick Weber

Ruby, a girl who always seems to have guy issues, gets together with quite a nice guy. He is everything a girl wishes for. But some flashbacks reveal he’s not from the present time and has come from the future, and that’s what he tells her as well. Ruby is concerned about his mental health on hearing this. Is he really a time traveler?

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

Director: Stephen Herek

Writer: Chris Matheson, Ed Solomon

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, George Carlin, Terry Camilleri

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is probably one of the funniest in best time travel movies. Two teenage boys who are literally so dumb, they have no brain. They are set to travel in time with the help of a stranger to prepare for a history presentation at school. Because if they do not perform well in school, their parents will send them both different ways.

Idiocracy (2006)

Director: Mike Judge

Writer: Etan Cohen, Mike Judge

Cast: Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, Terry Crews, Anthony ‘Citric’ Campos

IMDB Rating: 6.6/10

Joe Bauers, an army officer, as average as it can get, becomes a part of a secret experimental program of human hibernation. But after a shutdown on experiments by the government is forgotten about. Later he wakes up 500 years into the future only to find out that the human race has taken a downturn in terms of intelligence and he is the smartest man alive.

Happy Death Day (2017)

Director: Christopher Landon

Writer: Scott Lobdell

Cast: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Charles Aitken, Laura Clifton

Happy death day is quite a mixture of Scream and Groundhog Day. With a psychopath killer a day on loop and with a lot of comedy. When a girl is killed, only to wake up again the same day from the start. She is on the search to find the identity behind the mask that kills her.

Tenet (2020)

Writer: Christopher Nolan

Cast: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Jefferson Hall, Juhan Ulfsak

Tenet, another sci-fi thriller blockbuster by Director and Writer Christopher Nolan. Presenting the classic trademark of it is said Christopher completed the screenplay of tenet in more than 5 years. A CIA agent is sent back in time to prevent World War III and bend the laws of nature. Only then he can succeed in his mission. Tenet is a 2020 sci-fi film that can easily come to top the list of best movies about time travel.

Star Trek (1966)

Director: J.J. Abrams

Writer: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Gene Roddenberry

Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Eric Bana, Zoe Saldana

From the maker of the renowned Star Wars and TV series Lost, Star Trek is directed by J.J. Abrams. The story revolves around James T. Kirk, who tries to keep his father’s legacy alive by fighting the Romulan mining vessel. Meanwhile, Mr. Spock keeps James pinged as a rancorous Romulan from the future who makes ominous black holes to abolish the Federation one planet at a time.

The Endless (2017)

Director: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead

Writer: Justin Benson

Cast: Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson, Callie Hernandez, Shane Brady

IMDB Rating: 6.5/10

Two brothers escaped death by a UFO cult when they were children. Receiving a video message makes them want to revisit. Hoping to find some answers they couldn’t get as young men. Justin Benson’s this sci-fi horror fiction is all about brotherhood while they are locked in cosmic struggles.

Palm Springs (2020)

Director: Max Barbakow

Writer: Andy Siara, Max Barbakow

Cast: Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, J.K. Simmons, Meredith Hagner, Tyler Hoechlin

Imagine being on a beach in Los Angeles under the sun, sipping cocktails. Seems like a paradise’s dream come true but not the same for two people stuck in the time loop and forced to go through the same time again and again. And it starts to seem like hell when they are stuck there to maintain somebody else’s happiest day. With a lot of humor, this movie is one of the best time travel movies on Netflix.

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)

Director: Alfonso Cuarón

Writer: J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Gary Oldman, Harry Melling

Being one of the best movies in the Harry Potter movie franchise, Prisoner of Azkaban is also the best time-traveling movie. The series is based on the fantasy novel of J.K. Rowling. In this particular movie, Harry Potter and his friends must find a way to stop time and go back to change events in the past in order to save an innocent prisoner from execution.

Back To The Future Part II (1989)

Cast: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Elisabeth Shue, James Tolkan

Even though director Robert Zemeckis’s original film Back to the Future is intangible, the sequel of the film is nothing less. In the second movie, time travel is doubled up. Marty has to go to the past again to save the future, and also, he has to look out to not mess up and do any changes in this time travel and must avoid his previous self-visiting the past. It was a difficult screenplay only Zemeckis could pull off.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)

Director: Mamoru Hosoda

Writer: Yasutaka Tsutsui, Satoko Okudera

Cast: Riisa Naka, Takuya Ishida, Mitsutaka Itakura, Ayami Kakiuchi

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is an animated movie made in Japan. The story roams around a girl who has some mysterious powers and came to travel through time because of it. Being a teenage girl, she kept leaping forward and back in time. Knowing little about how it’ll affect her and the people around her.

Pleasantville (1998)

Director: Gary Ross

Writer: Gary Ross

Cast: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, William H. Macy, Reese Witherspoon

Pleasantville offers a very nice black and white and colored screenplay side by side. David is fascinated by a sitcom where everything seems to be perfect and without any violence. But when he and his sister get sucked into that 1950’s sitcom via magical remote, things were not as desirable as they seemed. Now they both must adapt to the lifestyle by oppressing their desires while trying to find a way home.

The Philadelphia Experiment (1984)

Director: Stewart Raffill

Writer: Michael Janover, William Gray, Wallace C. Bennett

Cast: Michael Paré, Nancy Allen, Eric Christmas, Bobby Di Cicco

IMDB Rating: 6.1/10

In 1948 when the USA government was doing experiments of making their ships invisible, due to some malfunction, they sent two of the soldiers 40 years ahead in the future along with the ship from Philadelphia. The movie is based on somewhat true experiences that actually happened during the experiment. There are books about it as well.

Somewhere In Time (1980)

Director: Jeannot Szwarc

Writer: Richard Matheson

Cast: Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, Christopher Plummer, Teresa Wright

Somewhere in Time is one of the most romantic movies, along with being on the list of best time travel movies. When an old lady comes to the playwright giving him an old pocket watch and asking him to come back to her, he is left in puzzles. After finding out about her being one of the famous actresses in the past, he uses self-hypnosis to travel back in time to meet her.

Time travel movies are always packed with fun, thrill, suspense, drama, and a lot of action. Whether the plot involves the characters traveling to multiple time dimensions throughout the film, or it’s a group of researchers just talking about it, these films give a perception of captivating facades of being human that coerce us to believe that nothing is impossible.

Joshua calls himself nerd+geek who is also passionate about rugby. He enjoys comics, animes, and science fiction. He finds his comfort in writing about suspense, thrillers and science fiction shows and movies.

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The 20 Best Japanese Movies of All Time, Ranked According to IMDb

Believe it or not, they're not all from Studio Ghibli.

When it comes to media, Japan is one of the greatest exporters of creative content. Whether it's Japanese film, video games, anime, or novels, the country consistently delivers quality storytelling combined with its own unique sense of style.

In the realm of film, Japan has an abundance of great movies. Whether it's animated films that commentate on the triumphs and failures of humanity, or sweeping epics set in feudal times, the country is host to a legion of talented filmmakers. While there are more fantastic Japanese movies than one list can cover, it's easy to see the best Japanese movies according to IMDb. Japan's contribution to the IMDb Top 250 should be considered essential viewing for fans , not just of Asian cinema, but of film in general.

20 'Throne of Blood' (1957)

Imdb score: 8.0/10.

A feudal Japan set take on Macbeth , Throne of Blood follows Washizu ( Toshiro Mifune ), a samurai who assassinates his sovereign at the behest of his wife. As Washizu becomes the new lord, he struggles with his guilt and the growing paranoia that his treachery is soon to be discovered.

Another samurai classic by Akira Kurosawa , Throne of Blood is one of the best adaptations of William Shakespeare's legendary tale and one of the top Japanese movies. The feudal Japan setting does wonders to elevate the themes of the story, with honor and loyalty to their liege often the most important traits of a samurai.

Throne of Blood

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19 'Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion' (1997)

Imdb score: 8.1/10.

Pitched as an alternate ending to the original popular anime series , Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion follows Shinji, Rei, and Asuka as they continue to fight their enemies using mechas named Evangelions.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most acclaimed anime series of all time, with its theatrical counterpart earning a place on the list of Japanese best movies. The best of the Neon Genesis movies, The End of Evangelion serves as a fitting end to the original series as it showcases the power of animation to tell dark, adult stories.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion

Watch on Netflix

18 'A Silent Voice' (2016)

Adapted from the manga of the same name, A Silent Voice follows Shoya Ishida, a former grade school bully who sets out to make amends with those he hurt. Top of his list is Shoko Nishimiya, a shy girl who was born deaf and who moved schools as a result of Shoya's bullying. As the pair reconnect, they learn more about each other and themselves.

Far removed from the fantasy and action that tends to dominate anime, A Silent Voice is a sweet story about two social outcasts finding a genuine connection with each other . While it may not be the best Japanese movie in everyone's eyes due to its low-key nature, it is still a lovely human story worth spending time with.

A Silent Voice

Rent on Apple TV

17 'Tokyo Story' (1953)

When an elderly couple decides to move from their small village to the bustling city of Tokyo, they plan to spend time with their adult children. But when they discover their kids are too busy with their own lives to entertain them, they instead find themselves being kept company by Noriko, the widow of their son who passed away.

An essential film by Yasujirō Ozu , Tokyo Story is a movie that could have easily been built on melodrama, but it is a subdued movie, operating quietly as it explores the dynamics of this family unit. It also gives a voice to elderly people, those who have been dismissed by their grown children as being merely nothing more than a nuisance to be ignored. The end result is the ultimate movie about a multigenerational family.

Tokyo Story

Watch on Criterion

16 'My Neighbour Totoro' (1988)

After their mother is hospitalized, young sisters Mei and Satsuki move to a new home in the countryside with their father. As the siblings spend their days playing in the nearby woods, they soon befriend Totoro, a giant friendly creature who is a forest spirit. Together they go on joyous adventures.

One of the best Studio Ghibli movies , My Neighbour Totoro is pure joy. It is a Japan movie that is full of minimal conflict and maximum cuteness, creating the ultimate comfort movie. Its impact can be seen in how much its characters have appeared in popular culture, with Totoro plushies available for purchase all over the world.

My Neighbor Totoro

15 'ugetsu' (1953), imdb score: 8.2/10.

One of the directors who came out of the Japanese golden age of cinema is Kenji Mizoguchi , best known for his mis-ec-scène and decadent long takes. Ugetsu is one of his films that received international recognition as it created an impalpable atmosphere that invites viewers to empathize with the character’s struggles.

Ugetsu follows the story of two couples who are struggling and whose lives are being torn apart by the civil war. While the men strive to lift themselves from indigence, they soon find themselves intertwined with supernatural entities, leading to catastrophic results. The movie holds up a mirror to human desires and ambition in times of desperation , while also showing the harsh realities of war. There’s no doubt of Ugetsu’s lasting effect on cinema as it has obviously influenced modern Japanese movies , as well as renowned filmmakers like Akira Kurosawa and Martin Scorsese .

Watch on Max

14 'Late Spring' (1949)

Imdb score: 8.2/10.

Directed by Yasujirō Oju, Late Spring is a drama movie that explores the relationship between an adult woman and her father. In the movie, Noriko ( Setsuko Hara ) feels the societal pressure to get married. However, she’s reluctant to leave her father due to their deep bond and her incredible desire to serve her family. It’s a poignant movie that highlights the complex realities of duty and sacrifice.

Ozu’s direction truly shines in Late Spring , as his storytelling allows viewers to fully connect with Noriko’s internal struggles. Static camera shots are partnered with pillow shots of mundane objects in Ugetsu in order to add a meditative atmosphere to the film. Despite the movie’s peaceful and minimalist visuals, there’s a lot to take away from its message of personal sacrifice and filial love.

13 'Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Movie: Mugen Train' (2020)

The sequel to the first season of the highly popular anime, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train moves the action to the big screen. As Tanjiro Kamado and his friends continue their journey to slay demons, they board the Mugen Train as it charges straight ahead into a fateful battle.

A juggernaut at the box office, Mugen Train earned a place as one of the most famous Japanese movies of all time as it topped the worldwide box office in 2020. This honor was more than earned as the film is a masterful combination of thrilling action, gorgeous animation, and a captivating plot that pulls at the heartstrings.

Demon Slayer: Mugen Train

Watch on Crunchyroll

12 'Yojimbo' (1961)

When a nameless ronin arrives in a village consumed by a conflict between two powerful men, he finds himself in the middle of their turf war. As the ronin convinces both men to hire him as their personal bodyguard, he begins to play them against each other and causes a full-scale war to break out in the town.

One of the most influential samurai movies of all time , Yojimbo also proved to be an influence on the Western genre . The famous spaghetti Western A Fistful of Dollars is a remake of Yojimbo, and retains the classic mix of action and comedy that makes Yojimbo such a revered classic.

11 'Rashomon' (1950)

After a samurai is murdered and his wife is assaulted, four witnesses are summoned to recall what they saw. With each witness providing a different series of events, finding the truth proves to be complicated. As the witnesses all embellish certain parts of the story to paint themselves in a favorable light, they each reveal how they wish to be seen.

A unique samurai movie, Rashomon focuses less on sword fighting and more on character study . Every character featured in the twisted narrative is performed to perfection, and the captivating narrative structure draws audiences in straight away as they seek to learn the truth of the incident.

10 'Ran' (1985)

Released towards the end of his career, Ran holds a place as one of Akira Kurosawa's finest films , as well as standing among the greatest movies ever made. Influenced by Shakespeare's King Lear , the story follows an aging warlord who attempts to pass his kingdom to his three sons.

The final epic of his career, Ran is a culmination of all the themes and techniques Kurosawa expressed throughout his filmography . Its sweeping landscapes, elaborate large-scale sequences, and profound story are all recognizable trademarks. The film earned him his only nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director.

Watch on Amazon Prime

9 'Howl's Moving Castle' (2004)

Another classic from Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki , Howl's Moving Castle is set in a fictional kingdom where magic exists. When a young girl is transformed into an old woman by a witch, she finds herself befriending a wizard named Howl and travels with him aboard his titular moving castle in an effort to break the spell.

Miyazaki has claimed that Howl's is his favorite creation , and he made it as a way to express his disdain for America's invasion of Iraq. Howl's Moving Castle also touches on feminism and ageism, offering thoughtful messages beyond its stunning visuals.

Howl's Moving Castle

8 'ikiru' (1952), imdb score: 8.3/10.

Kurosawa's 13th film, Ikiru provides one of his most understated stories. When an aged man nearing retirement discovers he is terminally ill, he attempts to make the most of his final days. Despite a strained relationship with his son, he vows to make a mark on the world through the happiness he can leave with others.

Commentating on the purpose of life and the acceptance of death, Ikiru is a must-see existentialist movie that explores themes that everyone will find relatable. The film is also Kurosawa's examination of what he considered to be a period where Japanese family life was falling apart.

7 'Princess Mononoke' (1997)

The fourth creature-filled film from Studio Ghibli , Princess Mononoke helped establish both of their names internationally. The film follows a young prince who finds himself in a war between the spirits of a forest and the humans harvesting it for resources.

A portrayal of humanity's negative effect on the environment, Princess Mononoke refuses to paint a clear villain. Both the gods of the forest and the humans have understandable reasons for their side of the conflict, and Princess Mononoke presents the ideal solution as a middle ground between mankind and nature.

Princess Mononoke (1997)

6 'high and low' (1963), imdb score: 8.4/10.

Wealthy Gondo ( Toshiro Mifune ) is a company executive, who is secretly attempting to stage a company buyout. However, when he receives a call claiming his son has been kidnapped, and he needs to pay a ransom to see him again, Gondo finds himself in a precarious situation.

What begins as a tense drama soon turns into a police procedural, as detectives become involved in the search for the perpetrator. High and Low mostly serves as an examination of Gondo's character , as he is forced to balance his desire to achieve success with that of being a good person.

High and Low

5 'your name' (2016).

Worthy of a spot among the top 10 Japanese movies, Your Name is a romantic body swap anime film that tells the story of two teenagers living in modern Japan . The pair begin to swap bodies and are forced to live each other's lives for periods of time. In an effort to solve their dilemma, the teens decide to meet for the first time.

The film was a major success at release and was praised by critics, becoming one of the most popular Japan movies overseas. Your Name is beautifully animated, and the story does a fine job of portraying the earnestness of young love and the awkwardness of trying to navigate your teenage years.

Your Name (2016)

4 'grave of the fireflies' (1988), imdb score: 8.5/10.

Easily the most depressing film on this list, Grave of the Fireflies tells the story of a teenage boy and his younger sister. Set during the final months of World War II, the film follows the sibling's desperate attempt to survive as the war finds its way to their home.

Animated by Studio Ghibli, the film is as beautiful as it is haunting. Grave of the Fireflies does not shy away from the harsh realities of war and its impact on civilians. Grave of the Fireflies is one of the greatest war films of all time and a milestone in Japanese movie history.

Grave of the Fireflies

Buy on Amazon

3 'Harakiri' (1962)

Imdb score: 8.6/10.

One of the best samurai films of all time, if not the best, Harakiri begins with an elder samurai arriving at the estate of a feudal lord. The samurai asks the lord if he may commit seppuku within his manor, causing the samurai to explain the events that led him here.

An anti-samurai film, Harakiri criticizes the failings the samurai code held for its followers . When wars had been won and peace enveloped the land, samurai often found themselves without purpose, choosing to take their own lives by performing "harakiri," resulting in a tragic waste of life.

Harakiri (1962)

2 'seven samurai' (1954).

Seen by many as Kurosawa's magnum opus, Seven Samurai tells the tale of seven samurai who band together to protect a village from the bandits who threaten it . Each of the samurai comes from a different background, but they all find meaning in protecting those who cannot protect themselves.

Often cited among the most influential and best Japanese movies of all time, Seven Samurai was adapted in America and released as The Magnificent Seven , placing it in a Western setting. The movie's storyline and concept of "getting a team together" can be felt in media everywhere, with the film's influence being felt in The Dirty Dozen , Saving Private Ryan , and even Avengers: Endgame .

Seven Samurai

1 'spirited away' (2001).

Animation house Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki possess a filmography that rivals anyone, but Spirited Away stands as their masterpiece (and continues to be the best Japanese movie). When ten-year-old Chihiro witnesses her parents being turned into pigs by a witch, she must work in the witch's bathhouse to earn her parents' freedom.

What follows is an amazing display of animation and imagination as Chihiro finds herself in a wondrous world parallel to our own, full of quirky characters and bizarre creations. Spirited Away won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, making it the first, and only, non-English language film to do so.

Spirited Away

NEXT: The Best Anime Films That Aren't From Studio Ghibli

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3 underrated sci-fi movies on Amazon Freevee you should watch in April

While Amazon Prime Video is great, Amazon Freevee adds another level to the experience. That’s because the streaming service, formerly known as IMDb TV, can be accessed entirely for free, both with or without an Amazon Prime subscription. You only get personalized movie and TV recommendations when signed in to an Amazon account, but we have some suggestions for you, too.

The Invisible Man (2020)

The matrix resurrections (2021), the mist (2007).

If sci-fi is on the menu tonight or the next time you’re ready to relax with a good movie, we have scoured what’s available to highlight three underrated sci-fi movies on Amazon Freevee you should watch in April. You’ll have to deal with a few commercials here and there, but it’ll be worth it to check out these gems.

Elisabeth Moss ( The Handmaid’s Tale ) stars in this sci-fi horror movie as Cecilia, a woman terrified that her mad scientist ex-boyfriend Adrian ( Surface ‘s Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is using his new method of invisibility to stalk and gaslight her. She is convinced that even though he’s presumed dead by an apparent suicide, his violent and controlling ways continue to manipulate and haunt her. Is she going mad, did he fake his death to torment her while being invisible, or is his ghost after her?

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The Invisible Man is based on the H.G. Wells novel of the same name and serves as a reboot of the famous 1933 movie. This update offers a smart and fresh story that, beneath the surface, also examines topical issues like domestic abuse through a horrifyingly exaggerated lens.

Stream The Invisible Man on Amazon Freevee.

The Matrix film series arguably put Keanu Reeves on the map as a bona fide action superstar. The Matrix Resurrections is the fourth movie in the franchise and a direct sequel to The Matrix Revolutions , released in 2003. It’s set 60 years in the future, where Neo (Reeves) is living a mundane life as a video game developer. That is, until he is freed from this new version of the Matrix to complete an important mission: Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) is being held captive, and she needs his help.

The Matrix Resurrections has all the same excitement, complexity, and intrigue as the three previous movies, with a more mature storyline that pays full fan service to die-hards. Despite this, the movie did not perform well at the box office. The Matrix Resurrections is a sorely underrated resurrection (pun intended) of one of the biggest movie franchises ever, and fans of the originals should check it out or watch it again.

Stream The Matrix Resurrections on Amazon Freevee.

Created by Frank Darabont ( The Walking Dead ) and adapted from the 1980 Stephen King novella , The Mist is a sci-fi horror movie that shows off the talents of the two horror experts behind its story. Similar to The Walking Dead , The Mist is, on the surface, about monsters, but deeper down, it’s about the difficult decisions people make when their lives are on the line. The movie begins when a mist envelops the city, with evil creatures emerging from its darkness. The main characters are holed up in a local supermarket, and as tensions rise due to differing beliefs about what’s going on, why, and how to handle it, the situation becomes dire.

The Mist features several actors who went on to work with Darabont in The Walking Dead ’s first seasons, including Jeffrey DeMunn, Laurie Holden, Melissa McBride, and Juan Gabriel Pareja. Also among the cast are Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, and the late Andre Braugher. If you love Spielberg, The Walking Dead , and apocalyptic stories that are about survival and the human condition, The Mist will be a welcome addition to the watch list this month.

Stream The Mist on Amazon Freevee.

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When you think of action movies, you probably think of gripping plots, great fight or chase scenes, and a compelling cast. The three action movies on Amazon Prime Video you need to watch in April all fit the bill. One was remade recently with a new cast and revamped storyline, but the original is available to stream as well for fans who appreciate the nostalgia.

The other two action movies you’ll want to check out this month are also classics, including one that saw a recent sequel enjoy tremendous box office success and another from the DC Comics universe. Whatever your tastes, this month, there are some exciting choices when it comes to action movies. Road House (1989) Road House (1989) | Official Trailer | MGM Studios

April has seen record rainfall across the U.S. and a solar eclipse that captivated the world. Yet there are also the constants in life: love, death, taxes, and ... British crime shows?!? That's right, the genre that brings us posh accents and elegant corpses never seems to go out of style, and this month, there are a handful of good series to check out if you're interested in the macabre.

If you've already watched them or just need new recommendations to fill up your queue, then the following three selections are just the ticket for quality entertainment. One show premiered earlier this year on Netflix, another features stars from the MCU and Mad Men, and the other adapts a series of popular novels.

Love is in the air at Hulu, and why not? Spring is a great time of the year to make a new romantic connection. It's also a good time for new movies on Hulu, especially rom-coms. Hulu may not have the wide selection of romantic comedies that its streaming rivals do, but the ones it does have are top-tier.

For this month, we've narrowed our picks down to the three rom-coms on Hulu that you need to watch in April. Strangely enough, all three of our choices are around two decades old, but that doesn't make them any less entertaining. And they all share a common theme of overcoming adversity in the name of love. 50 First Dates (2004)

When is Eid al-Fitr 2024 and how is it celebrated?

The three-day festival celebrates the completion of the fasting month of Ramadan by Muslims across the world.

As a new moon was not sighted on Monday evening after Maghrib prayers, Muslims in Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries will fast one more day, completing 30 days of Ramadan. The first day of Eid will then be celebrated on Wednesday, April 10.

The first day of Eid al-Fitr is determined by the sighting of the crescent moon marking the start of the month of Shawwal, the 10th month of the Islamic (Hijri) calendar.

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Lunar months last between 29 and 30 days so Muslims usually have to wait until the night before Eid to verify its date.

Other countries follow independent sightings.

When the sighting has been verified, Eid is declared on television, radio stations and at mosques.

How do Muslims celebrate Eid?

Traditionally, Eid is celebrated for three days as an official holiday in Muslim-majority countries. However, the number of holiday days varies by country.

Muslims begin Eid day celebrations by partaking in a prayer service that takes place shortly after dawn, followed by a short sermon.

On their way to the prayer, which is traditionally held in an open area, Muslims recite takbeerat, praising God by saying “Allahu Akbar”, meaning “God is great”.

It is customary to eat something sweet before the prayer, such as date -filled biscuits known as maamoul in the Middle East. This particular festival is known as the “sweet” Eid – and the distribution of sweets is common across the Muslim world.

Muslims usually spend the day visiting relatives and neighbours and accepting sweets as they move around from house to house.

Each country has traditional desserts and sweets that are prepared before Eid or on the morning of the first day.

Children, dressed in new clothes, are offered gifts and money to celebrate the joyous occasion.

Girls and women in many countries decorate their hands with henna. The celebration for Eid begins the night before as women gather in neighbourhoods and large family gatherings for the application of henna.

In some countries, families visit graveyards to offer their respects to departed family members right after the morning prayers.

It is common for Muslim-majority countries to decorate their cities with lights and hold festivities to commemorate the end of the fasting month.

Eid amid the onslaught in Gaza

For some 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza this Eid, this will be the first Muslim religious holiday after more than 33,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks. With little food aid, and very limited water, Gaza’s Eid al-Fitr will be mired in destruction amid the continuing attacks.

What are common Eid greetings?

The most popular greeting is “Eid Mubarak” (Blessed Eid) or “Eid sa’id” (Happy Eid). Eid greetings also vary depending on the country and language.

The video below shows how people say Eid Mubarak in different languages around the world.

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The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time.

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• Trivia Marisa Abela did all the singing in this film herself. She trained extensively to mimic Amy Winehouse 's vocals.

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Warner Bros. Lands ‘Black Samurai’ Movie From ‘The Color Purple’ Director Blitz Bazawule (EXCLUSIVE)

By Angelique Jackson

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• Warner Bros. Lands ‘Black Samurai’ Movie From ‘The Color Purple’ Director Blitz Bazawule (EXCLUSIVE) 2 days ago

In a competitive situation, Warner Bros . has landed “The Color Purple” director Blitz Bazawule ’s next project, which takes on the legendary Yasuke , an African warrior who became the first Black samurai.

Sources tell Variety that Warner Bros. beat out three other studios and streamers’ bids on the script, tentatively titled “Black Samurai,” which Bazawule wrote on spec and will direct and produce under his Inward Gaze banner.

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When Bazawule was named to Variety ’s 10 Directors to Watch list earlier this year, he reflected on the daunting task of mounting his musical reimagining of Alice Walker’s 1982 classic.

“When you get the opportunity to even pitch for it, the first question becomes, ‘What are you possibly going to add to this canon?’ That was my first biggest piece of anxiety,” Bazawule said. His solution: leaning into Celie’s imagination by employing magical realism to illustrate how this oppressed woman found her way to freedom.

Bazawule’s “Color Purple” debuted last December to critical acclaim, eventually garnering a supporting actress Academy Award nomination for Danielle Brooks, as well as BAFTA, Critics Choice, Golden Globe and SAG nominations for its star-studded ensemble led by Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Colman Domingo and Corey Hawkins. The movie also dominated at the NAACP Image Awards with 11 wins, including the prize for outstanding motion picture.

News of Bazawule’s buzzy next effort broke late Tuesday, just ahead of Warner Bros.’ presentation at CinemaCon where studio chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy previewed the studio’s slate. Notably, before taking on the top job at WB, De Luca was set to produce another Yasuke film, starring Chadwick Boseman . Also, in 2019, MGM had a Yasuke project in development from writer Stuart C. Paul and producers Lloyd Braun and Andrew Mittman.

Insneider was first to report Bazawule’s Yasuke movie being shopped around to studios.

Bazawule is represented by CAA, M88 and Granderson Des Rochers.

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