Best movies on Apple TV+ (Japon) : our Top 20

2001 · Hayao Miyazaki

Chihiro finds herself stranded in a strange realm of spirits, and when her parents are mysteriously transformed into other beings, she must summon unexpected courage to brave the enchanted world, confront its challenges, and win her family back.

With Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Bunta Sugawara, Akio Nakamura, Yumi Tamai and Ryunosuke Kamiki

2004 · Hayao Miyazaki

A young hatmaker is cursed by a mysterious witch who enters her shop and ages her into an old woman overnight. Forced to leave her old life behind, she crosses paths with the elusive wizard Howl and becomes swept up in his efforts to evade the king’s demands for magical service, drawn into a dangerous struggle that challenges both their destinies.

With Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura, Akihiro Miwa, Tatsuya Gashûin, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mitsunori Isaki and Yo Oizumi

2016 · Makoto Shinkai

Two high-school students who've never met, Mitsuha and Taki, live separate lives until one night they begin inexplicably swapping bodies. Mitsuha wakes up inhabiting Taki’s everyday existence while he finds himself living hers, and the strange exchange keeps occurring at unpredictable times, forcing them to coordinate, leave messages, and rearrange their routines to accommodate each other's world.

With Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Ryo Narita, Aoi Yuki, Nobunaga Shimazaki, Kaito Ishikawa and Kanon Tani

2003 · Edward Zwick

Nathan Algren, an American veteran brought to Japan to teach modern military tactics, gradually becomes moved by the samurai’s discipline and code of honor. Faced with a drive to erase their traditions for the sake of progress and open trade, he abandons his original role, embraces the samurai way, and takes up arms to defend their right to endure.

With Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Timothy Spall, Tony Goldwyn, Hiroyuki Sanada, Koyuki and Shin Koyamada

2006 · Clint Eastwood

On the volcanic slopes of Iwo Jima, Japanese defenders brace for a brutal American invasion, and the film follows their daily lives, fears, and small acts of courage as the battle unfolds. Through intimate, ground-level perspectives—officers and conscripts, medics and tunnel diggers—we see their bonds, doubts, and sense of duty tested by relentless bombardment and impossible choices. The narrative reframes a well-known clash by focusing on the human cost of war for those who fought on the island, tracing sacrifice, resilience, and the moral complexities that arise in the fight to protect home.

With Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Shidô Nakamura, Hiroshi Watanabe and Takumi Bando

2003 · Sofia Coppola

In Tokyo, a neglected young wife of a photographer and a faded movie star in town to shoot a TV commercial form an unlikely connection; away from their lives and expectations back in America, they find a quiet refuge in one another where they can drop their roles, speak honestly, and taste a brief, contemplative freedom.

With Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris, Akiko Takeshita, Fumihiro Hayashi and Kazuyoshi Minamimagoe

1999 · Jim Jarmusch

A Black contract killer who has adopted the discipline, rituals and code of the ancient samurai becomes the mob's marked man, thrust into a lethal game where his sense of honor clashes with outlaw vengeance.

With Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, Isaach De Bankolé, Cliff Gorman, Henry Silva, Tricia Vessey and Victor Argo

2004 · Katsuhiro Otomo

Drawn into the shadowy machinations of the enigmatic Ten Rings, Shang-Chi is compelled to confront a past he believed he had left behind.

With Keiko Aizawa, Aiko Hibi, Manami Konishi, Anne Suzuki, Sanae Kobayashi, Katsuo Nakamura and Masane Tsukayama

2005 · Roger Donaldson

A portrait of New Zealander Burt Munro, a relentless tinkerer and racer who spent decades rebuilding and modifying a 1920 Indian motorcycle until, in 1967, his ingenuity and perseverance earned him the land-speed world record on Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats.

With Anthony Hopkins, Walton Goggins, Diane Ladd, Bruce Greenwood, Iain Rea, Tessa Mitchell and Aaron Murphy

2008 ·

In 208 A.D., as the Han Dynasty teeters on the brink, the calculating Prime Minister Cao convinces the capricious emperor that only a sweeping campaign against the western state of Xu and the southern principality of Eastern Wu can reunify the realm. Armies mobilize on an unprecedented scale, and, with survival at stake, bitter rivals Xu and Eastern Wu set aside their enmity to form a tenuous and unlikely alliance against Cao’s drive for domination.

With Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Feng Yi, Chang Chen, Zhao Wei, Hu Jun and Shidô Nakamura

2011 · Ron Fricke

Captured on 70mm over nearly five years and filmed across twenty-five countries on five continents, Samsara presents a visual odyssey through consecrated sites, regions marked by catastrophe, vast industrial landscapes, and the planet’s most awe-inspiring natural scenes.

With Ni Made Megahadi Pratiwi, Puti Sri Candra Dewi, Putu Dinda Pratika, Marcos Luna, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Olivier De Sagazan and Ladyboys of Cascade Bar

2013 · Carl Rinsch

A sealed briefcase containing an unknown prize falls into the hands of small-time criminals, sparking a brutal race as Irish extremists and the Russian mob close in. An Irish fixer assembles a handpicked squad of mercenaries—self-styled "ronin"—and sends them on a perilous mission to recover it.

With Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ko Shibasaki, Tadanobu Asano, Min Tanaka, Rinko Kikuchi and Jin Akanishi

2009 · Michael Mann

As President Lex Luthor engineers the fall of a Kryptonite-laced meteor toward Earth, he frames Superman for the impending catastrophe and puts a $1 billion price on the heads of the Man of Steel and his alleged accomplice, Batman. The declaration turns every corner of the globe into a hunting ground: heroes and villains, mercenaries and governments mobilize in a brutal, high-stakes chase. Hunted from the skies to the streets, Superman and Batman are forced to set aside their differences, rally a coalition of allies, and fend off an escalating, action-packed onslaught. Racing against time and a tide of adversaries, they must expose Luthor’s conspiracy and stop the meteor before it becomes the weapon that destroys them all.

With Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Jason Clarke, Rory Cochrane, Billy Crudup and Stephen Dorff

1992 · James Ivory

In Edwardian England on the cusp of modernity, liberal-minded Margaret Schlegel and her sister Helen find themselves drawn into the lives of two very different pairings: the wealthy, conservative industrialist Henry Wilcox and his wife Ruth, and the downwardly mobile working-class Leonard Bast and his mistress Jackie. Their intertwined relationships become a lens for examining shifting class divisions and the social upheavals of a changing era.

With Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter, Anthony Hopkins, Samuel West, Vanessa Redgrave, Adrian Ross Magenty and Prunella Scales

2000 · Takeshi Kitano

After a reckless young man named Kenai is mysteriously turned into a bear, he’s forced to experience life from a whole new perspective and discover what truly matters. His bold, often hilarious trek across the wilderness brings him unlikely allies—a talkative bear cub named Koda, the bumbling moose duo Rutt and Tuke, shaggy woolly mammoths and a herd of rambunctious rams—and through their friendship he learns compassion, responsibility and the meaning of family.

With Takeshi Kitano, Omar Epps, Claude Maki, Susumu Terajima, Masaya Kato, Royale Watkins and Lombardo Boyar

2022 · Jordan Peele

In a remote ravine in California's interior, a small community uncovers an eerie, deeply unsettling discovery that shatters the quiet of their secluded lives.

With Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Brandon Perea, Steven Yeun, Michael Wincott, Wrenn Schmidt and Barbie Ferreira

1996 · Mira Nair

Oliver Barrett IV, a Harvard law student, falls head over heels for Jennifer Cavilleri, a talented music student, and their intense connection pushes them to defy the expectations set by their different upbringings. Choosing love over social divides, they marry — only to face Oliver’s powerful, disapproving father, who vows to sever ties and the family fortune. Jennifer tries to mend the widening gap between father and son, but her attempts are met with cold resistance.

With Indira Varma, Sarita Choudhury, Ramon Tikaram, Naveen Andrews, Rekha, Khalid Tyabji and Arundathi Nag

2008 · Yojiro Takita

After losing his position in the orchestra, Daigo, a cellist, and his wife return to his small hometown to make ends meet. Expecting an interview at a travel agency, he instead finds himself being considered for a very different line of work — assisting at the local funeral home and facing departures of a far more final nature.

With Masahiro Motoki, Ryoko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Kimiko Yo, Takashi Sasano and Tetta Sugimoto

2022 · Jeff Fowler

Settled in Green Hills, Sonic is eager to show he can be a real hero. His moment arrives when Dr. Robotnik returns, now teamed with Knuckles, and the duo seek an emerald with the power to obliterate civilizations. Sonic and his loyal companion Tails set off on a globe-spanning race to recover the gem before it falls into the wrong hands.

With Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Idris Elba, Jim Carrey and Natasha Rothwell

2022 · Jeff Fowler

Settled in peaceful Green Hills, Sonic is desperate to prove he’s cut out to be a true hero. His chance comes when Dr. Robotnik returns, now teamed with the formidable Knuckles, in pursuit of a mythical emerald with the power to obliterate whole civilizations. With his loyal companion Tails by his side, Sonic embarks on a globe-spanning race to recover the gem before it can be seized and used for devastation.

With Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Idris Elba, Jim Carrey and Natasha Rothwell