Twenty-four Eyes is one of the great Japanese classic movies. Based on a novel, the story is very popular in Japan and the 1954 movie adaptation might be the best work of director Keisuke Kinoshita. The great Hideko Takamine plays a teacher of a rural school on Shodoshima Island from the years before World War II until the end of the war.

If you are interested into Japanase classic movies, then this one should be on the top of your list. It might start at a slow pace, but it definitely will drag you in. There are lots of memorable moments in it, like the "train" or the bicycle.

And also the other movies of Keisuke Kinoshita are worth to explore. Not all of his movies turned out great, but you should not miss 'She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum' despite its unusual presentation or the the somewhat horrifying tale in 'Legend of a Duel to the Death' (aka 'A Legend or was it?')

You might have watched 'Ikiru' from Akira Kurosawa. This one is in the same league.

BTW: I had to give a rating for the music, which does not make any sense for this kind of movie. I did not want to give any bad rating, so I simply gave 10/10, but please ignore this. :-)