TADANOBU ASANO'S JAPANESE FILMS RANKED
- Robin Syversen
- Jul 5
- 13 min read
Updated: Aug 22
Top 12 Japanese Movies With Tadanobu Asano
In the early 2000s, all eyes were on Tadanobu Asano. Hailed as the Japanese Johnny Depp—or occasionally Brad Pitt—he was poised for international stardom. And in a way, he got there… sort of.
After making the leap from Japanese indie films to Hollywood blockbusters, Asano made a name for himself, but mainly within the circles that already cared. He never quite became a household name abroad, which is a shame.
Like Depp and Pitt, Asano was always more than just a pretty boy. He has that rare ability to vanish into wildly different roles with eerie believability—cute and quirky one moment, sadistic and unsettling the next.
Still, his most notable role overseas was as Hogun in the Thor movies, a far cry from his best work. Not that we offer much credence to Hollywood output here at JCA. We're all about Japanese cinema and Japanese actors. And so is this list of the top 12 Tadanobu Asano films.
Criteria for Our Selection of Asano Movies
First off, this list only covers Tadanobu Asano's best Japanese movies. So no Thor and no Last Life in the Universe. As excellent as that Thai drama is, it doesn't qualify. If it did, though, it would have ranked in the top 5 for sure. Just saying.
We've also made some judgment calls about Asano's roles. He doesn't have to be the lead, but his character needs to matter. It must be central to the plot, or at least crucial to how things unfold.
Take Maborosi. His character is undoubtedly important, but he only appears in a few scenes. The idea of him carries more weight than the performance. And as much as we love Kore-eda, we couldn't in good conscience label this an Asano film—out of respect for the rest of the cast, who deserve all the more accolades. The same goes for The Taste of Tea (2008).
And yes, this list reflects the taste of JCA. So Electric Dragon 80,000 V and Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl didn't make the cut. And don't get us started on Ichi the Killer. We'll get to butchering that overrated dung pile in a future review. (It's not all bad, I exaggerate ;p)
With that out of the way, here's our ranking of Tadanobu Asano's best Japanese films:
12. Harmonium (2016)
Director: Kôji Fukada
Related films: Hotori no Sakuko, Love Life, Nobody Knows, Shoplifters
Accolades: Cannes Film Festival Winner of Un Certain Regard Jury Prize. Kinema Junpo Awards Nominee for Best Film
Harmonium shows Tadanobu Asano tapping into his darker side in a subtler way than his more graphic or violent roles. He's quietly unsettling but also somewhat of a victim, which makes his presence all the more unnerving. The gray moral territory he inhabits hits harder because nothing in this world is ever completely black or white.
The film itself is a strong entry in the Japanese domestic drama tradition, though it can feel a little formulaic. In the crowded landscape of quiet, slow-burning family tragedies, Harmonium doesn't necessarily leave the deepest impression. Still, the story is distinctive enough to justify the watch.
The supporting cast delivers well, though no one quite matches Asano's magnetism. The direction is clean and confident, if a bit unremarkable—very much within the conventions of contemporary Japanese family dramas. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's as solid as you'd expect from the genre.
For die-hard Asano fans, Harmonium is a satisfying showcase of his quieter, more insidious side. For everyone else, it's a competent, slow-moving drama that may not leave a lasting impression, but its understated unease still has a way of sticking with you.
11. Picnic (1996)
Director: Shunji Iwai
Related films: Swallowtail Butterfly, April Story, Love Exposure, Funuke: Show Some Love...
Accolades: Japanese Academy Award Winner, Most Popular Performer (Asano)
Picnic is a strange little flick—an early sign of Shunji Iwai's playful experimentation with the film medium—that, while fleetingly charming, stumbles here and there in its delivery.
For example, it features one unforgettably absurd sequence in the first act: a creepy papier-mâché doll of Tsumuji's former teacher haunting him in a hallucination—probably the point where many viewers tapped out.
From a film researcher's perspective, Picnic serves as an interesting stepping‑stone in both Iwai's and Tadanobu Asano's careers, a modest experiment before each of them took much bolder creative leaps.
For viewers, it's the kind of film that builds its rewards. Stick with it, and toward the end, the chemistry among the somewhat over‑acted trio of mental patients kind of clicks into place, just before the credits roll.
If you're a fan of late-'90s Japanese absurdism, Picnic makes for a neat recommendation—alongside titles like I Am Keiko (1997), Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl (1998), Spiral (2000), or The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001).
At a brisk 68 minutes, it's a light sit for die‑hard Asano devotees, though most others should tread carefully. Let's call it an acquired taste—niche, divisive, and likely to attract its fair share of detractors. As an Iwai fanboy, I find it amusing… but certainly not his strongest work.
10. Umbrella Flower (2000)
Director: Shinji Sômai
Related films: Maborosi, Nobody Knows, The Mourning Forest, Late Spring, Tokyo Story
Accolades: Japanese Academy Award Nominee for Best Actress (Koizumi)
Umbrella Flower (Kaza-Hana) is as melancholic as road trip movies get and as slow-paced as Japanese dramas come. Yet it served as a stepping stone for two of Japan's most prolific actors in the 2000s, as well as the final swansong for the late director Shinji Sômai (Moving (1993), The Friends (1994), Typhoon Club (1985)).
The tale of a bureaucrat whose career went off a cliff and a hostess plagued by memories of her estranged daughter tugs at our heartstrings from the get-go. Even so, through heartfelt performances, Asano and Koizumi manage to captivate our imagination, power through, and come out uplifted by the end.
Tadanobu Asano and Kyôko Koizumi would soon rise to cult stardom—perhaps more so abroad than in Japan. Watching their chemistry in Umbrella Flower, it should have come as no surprise.
Though it never gained much traction overseas, it was hailed by Japanese critics, presumably due to its poignant comment on a wide range of Japanese social issues. It's far from a joyride, and it's not afraid to challenge its audience, yet it remains a hidden gem well worth checking out for Japanese cinephiles.
9. Gohatto (1999)
Director: Nagisa Ôshima
Related films: In the Realm of the Senses, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Close-Knit
Accolades: Cannes Film Festival Nominee for Palme d'Or. Japanese Academy Award Nominee for Best Film and Best Director
Also known by its international title, Taboo, Gohatto is as elegant as it is evasive. Directed by Nagisa Ôshima in his final feature, the film takes the samurai genre and folds it inward on itself, less concerned with swordplay than with the charged gazes and veiled intentions of stoic warriors.
The story follows the disruption caused by a young, androgynously beautiful samurai (Ryuhei Matsuda) who enters the Shinsengumi—a secret police of sorts, tasked with protecting the shogunate. The homoerotic undercurrents aren't just subtext—they're practically the text—but handled with a kind of coy detachment that leaves a lot unsaid.
Asano plays Hijikata Toshizô, the vice-commander whose simmering presence anchors the film while everyone else loses their mind over Matsuda's character. Kitano "Beat" Takeshi also stars, further solidifying the film's prestige factor for international audiences.
Asano doesn't get the showiest role here, but he plays it with just enough restraint to let you wonder what his character is really thinking behind the façade.
While the film has garnered critical praise, especially outside Japan, one can't help but feel that the buzz is owed more to the novelty of its theme than its actual narrative drive. Still, as an outlier in Asano's filmography—and in the canon of samurai cinema—it earns its place. Just don't expect fireworks. This one smolders.
8. Vital (2004)
Director: Shinya Tsukamoto
Related films: A Snake of June, Kotoko, Cure, Bright Future, Confessions
Accolades: Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film (BIFFF) Silver Raven Winner
Vital is as emotionally raw as it is conceptually bizarre. Equal parts medical procedural, grief study, and psychological fever dream, this film leans hard into its weirdness and comes out the better for it.
The story follows Hiroshi, played by Asano, who wakes from a coma after a car crash that wiped his memory and killed his girlfriend. As he resumes medical school, he finds himself dissecting her body in anatomy class—yes, really—and the memories begin to seep back in, fragmented and unsettling.
What sets Vital apart isn't the concept alone, but the commitment to its mood: dream sequences that flirt with absurdity and sterile classrooms that feel more like confessionals. There are moments—especially in the vision scenes—where the film almost veers into unintentional parody, but it never quite tips over (except for one prison misstep).
Vital doesn't tie things up neatly, and it doesn't really care if you're comfortable. What it offers instead is a strange and singular atmosphere where loss, memory, and identity get tangled up in ways only Tsukamoto can get away with.
7. Kubi (2023)
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Related films: Harakiri, Sword of Doom, Ran, Zatoichi, 13 Assassins (Takashi Miike)
Accolades: Cannes Film Festival Nominee for Queer Palm. Nippon Connection Nominee for Best Film
If there's one thing you can say about Kubi, it's that nobody was reined in. Takeshi Kitano went full carnage-opera with this one, resulting in a film that's part bloodbath, part farce, and occasionally something resembling a historical epic. It's messy, self-aware, and utterly uninterested in subtlety.
Kubi loosely revolves around the lead-up to the Honnô-ji Incident—the moment Oda Nobunaga met his famously fiery end. But if you're expecting a slow-burning political thriller, forget it. This is backstabbery on steroids.
The ensemble cast—Ryo Kase, Hidetoshi Nishijima, and Kitano himself—spends most of the runtime plotting, betraying, or being dramatically impaled.
Tadanobu Asano plays Araki Murashige, a role that could have easily gotten lost in the shuffle, but doesn't. While everyone else chews the scenery like it's their last meal, Asano maintains a calculating cool, as if quietly judging the lunacy around him.
What makes Kubi land—despite the chaos—is Kitano's complete refusal to play it safe. It's a film with all the elegance of a coup d’état in a teahouse, and Asano's presence lends just enough gravity to keep it from floating off into parody. It's not a masterpiece, but it is memorable and fiercely entertaining.
6. Dear Etranger (2017)
Director: Yukiko Mishima
Related films: Like Father Like Son, Our Little Sister, Harmonium, Sway
Accolades: Nippon Connection Nominee for Best Film
At first glance, Dear Etranger might look like another slow-burn domestic drama—but it's one of the most quietly radical films in Asano's career. Director Yukiko Mishima takes what Japanese cinema often skirts around—fractured families, step-parenting, and the emotional fallout of remarriage—and places it squarely under the microscope.
Asano plays Makoto Tanaka, a man trying to hold together a blended household made up of his second wife and her two daughters. All the while, he tries to maintain a relationship with his own daughter from a previous marriage.
The emerging tensions aren't explosive, but they cut deep, especially in a society where family has long been defined by bloodlines and hierarchy.
What gives the film its staying power is how sharply it portrays the unspoken pecking order within "patchwork" families: who gets to belong, who feels like an outsider, and how far anyone is willing to go to hold things together.
Asano delivers one of his most grounded performances here, not by dialing it down but by leaning into the emotional contradictions of a man quietly stretched to his limit. Dear Etranger doesn't lecture or moralize. Instead, it confronts a cultural blind spot in Japan with a rare kind of empathy.
5. Sad Vacation (2007)
Director: Shinji Aoyama
Related films: Helpless, Eureka, Nobody Knows, Tokyo Sonata, Tokyo Story
Accolades: Venice Film Festival Horizons Nominee for Best Film
Sad Vacation is the final part of Shinji Aoyama's Kitakyushu Saga, but you don't need to have seen Helpless or Eureka to follow it. It's a quietly intense character drama about broken families, slowly unfolding into a meditation on what family really means—and whether broken ties can ever be repaired.
Tadanobu Asano returns as Kenji Shiraishi, now drifting through odd jobs after a stint in human trafficking. When he takes in a young Chinese boy whose father dies during a smuggling run, he seems to be grasping at redemption—only to find the past unwilling to let go.
At the heart of it is Kenji's unexpected reunion with his estranged mother, Chiyoko, who once abandoned him and now runs a shelter for youths on the margins of society—shunned, escaped, bruised, or abused.
Aoyama offers no easy answers. Kenji may want to belong, but every step toward connection dredges up grief and resentment. Asano captures it all with remarkable restraint—this is one of his most internalized roles, balanced carefully between anger and detachment.
Sad Vacation isn't about healing so much as acknowledging the damage, and maybe—just maybe—choosing to live with it. It's about emotional legacies and the roles we inherit or try to escape.
4. Kabei: Our Mother (2008)
Director: Yôji Yamada
Related films: Always: Sunset on Third Street, The Little House, Twilight Samurai, Black Rain
Accolades: Japanese Academy Award Nominee for Best Film. Kinema Junpo Awards Nominee for Best Film. Berlin International Film Festival Nominee for Golden Bear
Beneath its sentimental leanings and historical polish, Yamada Yôji's wartime family drama manages to find its emotional footing—largely thanks to its cast, with Tadanobu Asano once again lending texture to what could've been a flat role. It's a film about grief, resilience, and how national politics crept into everyday lives.
Set in Tokyo in 1940, the story follows Kayo "Kabei" Nogami (Sayuri Yoshinaga), whose husband is arrested under the Peace Preservation Law, leaving her to raise their two daughters alone.
Asano plays Yamazaki, a clumsy, well-meaning apprentice of the husband who ends up becoming part of the household. His presence offers a rare thread of warmth and decency in a film otherwise draped in quiet repression and mounting dread.
Yes, it tugs the heartstrings. Yes, it dips occasionally into idealism. But Kabei also serves as a surprisingly sharp commentary on wartime paranoia and the erasure of dissent in pre-war Japan.
Asano, in his understated way, becomes the unlikely glue that holds the family's emotional life together. It's not the grittiest role in his career, but it is one of the most quietly humane.
3. Zatoichi (2003)
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Related films: Kubi, Hana-bi, Sonatine, The Sword of Doom, 13 Assassins
Accolades: Japanese Academy Award Nominee for Best Film and Best Supporting Actor (Asano). Venice Film Festival Silver Lion Winner and Audience Award for Best Film
Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi walks a fine line between samurai spectacle and arthouse indulgence—and somehow never stumbles. It's got tap dancing, geysers of blood, and a bleached-blond blind masseur slicing through gangsters like rice paper. That it all coheres into something this entertaining is a small miracle.
And anchoring the film's moral opposition, Asano delivers a performance that is as precise as it is unsettling. He plays Hattori Genosuke, a hired sword brought in to protect a local gang. He kills without hesitation, and whatever conscience he once had seems long buried under duty and fatigue.
What makes Zatoichi stand out isn't just its visual flair—it's how confidently it balances pulp with poetry. Asano's Genosuke perfectly fits that equation: cold, clean, and fatally efficient. His final confrontation with Zatoichi doesn't just resolve the plot—it snaps the whole film into sharp focus.
Zatoichi may be excessive, but it's never hollow. And Asano, even as the antagonist, is key to why it all works. Never has ultra-violence, theatrics, and samurai drama been blended so effortlessly, and rarely did Kitano's arthouse antics land this well. Zatoichi deserved all the fuss—and earned its place as a Japanese cinema classic.
2. Survive Style 5+ (2004)
Director: Gen Sekiguchi
Related Films: Taste of Tea, Kamikaze Girls, Symbol, Love Exposure, Tampopo
Accolades: Fantasia Film Festival Winner for Best Director
There's no logical reason Survive Style 5+ should work, yet here it is—loud, erratic, and somehow one of the most unforgettable entries in Asano's career. Five storylines spiral around each other in what looks, at first glance, like absurdist comedy—but scratch the surface, and you'll find something far darker.
A neon-lit critique of Japanese consumerism, masked as chaos. If Japan is known abroad for minimalist cinema, this film is its maximalist counterpunch. Asano plays a suburban husband stuck in an absurd purgatory, murdering his wife over and over, only to find her back in their house, stronger and more disappointed each time.
In this world, we also encounter an obscenely arrogant hypnotist, three disillusioned youths, a nuclear family facing an absurd dilemma, and an advertising executive who dreams in commercials (Kyôko Koizumi).
The five narratives don't come together so much as they orbit the same cultural collapse—each one a thread in Sekiguchi's dense, glittering tapestry of dysfunction.
What makes Survive Style 5+ so potent is that none of this excess is accidental. It's not just stylish—it's weaponized. Sekiguchi, an ad man himself, knows how seductive the surface can be, and he fills the film with the very language of Japanese advertising: overstimulation, repetition, and the illusion of purpose.
Everyone in the film tries to play their assigned societal role, failing spectacularly—at first. Asano's arc, in particular, moves from performative masculinity toward something resembling self-awareness, like he's finally beginning to question the "commercial" he's been cast in. And that ending... Bizarrely beautiful, it makes the madness fall into place.
1. Villon's Wife (2009)
Director: Kichitaro Negishi
Related films: The Little House, Yearning, Osaka Elegy, April Story
Accolades: Japanese Academy Award Nominee for Best Film
Of all the films on this list, Villon's Wife lingers the most. Not for its plot, which is relatively straightforward. Not for its historical setting, though post-war Tokyo hangs like a cloud of smoke in every frame. It's the mood that stays with you—the melancholic swirl of devotion, self-destruction, and that impossible thing we still insist on calling love.
Asano plays Otani, a novelist whose drinking and debts spiral out of control while his wife, Sachi (Takako Matsu), picks up the pieces with a kind of quiet dignity that's as maddening as it is moving. He's selfish, weak, brilliant, and the film never lets him off the hook.
What makes it all work is the tension between these two performances—easily the best of either actor's career. You feel it in every glance, every silence, every sideways deflection. It's an emotional duel masked as a marriage.
What makes Villon's Wife soar is how perfectly it walks the tightrope between biopic, tearjerker, and post-war historical drama. All along, it flirts with melodrama, even invites it in for tea, but never lets it take over.
The clichés are there but held at just the right distance—familiar enough to disarm you, sharp enough to cut when you least expect it. The ending doesn't offer catharsis so much as a soft-spoken gut punch, leaving you dazed and, somehow, asking for more.
It shouldn't be rewatchable. And yet, here we are. Villon's Wife might just be Asano's best performance. That said, Matsu keeps up and takes center stage for large parts of the film. I won't say she outacts our favorite pretty boy, but they're certainly on equal ground, and their chemistry is nothing short of magnetic.
Tadanobu Asano's Top 10 Movies
There you have it. For the sake of order, here's the complete list of Tadanobu Asano's best films, all in one place:
Could other films have made the list? Possibly. These were simply the ones where Asano moved us by carving out something singular—whether with a sword, a cigarette, or a stare that said far more than the script.
Feel differently? Great. Make your own list. We'll be too busy rewatching Villon's Wife for the sixth time, wondering how Asano didn't become the international icon he deserved to be. Then again, maybe that's why he stayed so good.
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