AMP's 40 Great Japanese Films of the 00s (2000-2009)

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May 28, 2020
Panos Kotzathanasis

When someone talks about the Japanese movie industry in the 00s, inevitably the discussion goes towards anime, which, in the specific decade, accounted for 60% of the local film production. With films like Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” and the rest of Studio Ghibli’s productions, along with masterpieces from Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Oshii, Katsuhiro Otomo and other great filmmakers, there is no wonder why the 00s were considered “Japanese Cinema’s Second Golden Age”, particularly for the penetration of local films in cinemas around the world.

However, anime were not the only story Japanese cinema had to tell in this decade. Yojiro Takita also won an Oscar, Shinji Aoyama and Naomi Kawase won at Cannes, Hirokazu Koreeda continued his successful festival run, Yoji Yamada made an exceptional trilogy of samurai films, Shunji Iwai directed one of the most critically acclaimed film of the decade, Kinji Fukasaku released his last film and Takeshi Kitano his most successful. Furthermore, cult (exploitation) and horror favorites Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Takashi Miike and Sion Sono established themselves as masters of the categories, while a number of independent directors also arose.

Without further ado, here is the list with the best films of the 00s, in random order, again with a focus on diversity, in a list that, once more, could feature many more titles.

20th Century Boys trilogy is counted as one entry.