Asian

Based on a novel by Tomiko Miyao (Kai, Kura, Midwinter Camellia). A woman’s love is tested as she faces betrayal.Read More »

From IMDB: This movie is adapted from the novel Heroes in Tongbai. Xiao Hua, a sister of Zhao Yongsheng, is deserted by her poor family. He Xiangdong, a woodworker, adopts her and rename her He Cuigu. To steer clear of arrest by the enemy, Dong Hongguo, offspring of a revolutionary family, is renamed Xiao Hua so as to be adopted by her adopter. Later, Zhao Yongsheng’s parents are killed by the enemy, he joins the Liberation Army. In 1947, when Zhao Yongsheng returns to his own village Tongbai, his sister Xiao Hua happens to find her brother. Doctor Zhou who works in the hospital of the army, adopts Xiao Hua without knowing she is her own daughter. He Cuigu has become a well-known guerrilla hero after she grows up. She doesn’t recognize her brother Zhao Yongsheng when she carries him on the stretcher. After the war, Zhao Yongsheng, Xiao Hua and Cuigu meet each other happily; Dong Xiangkun and Doctor Zhou also feel happy to reunite with their own daughter after 17 years of departure.Read More »

Machiko (Chieko Baisho) lives comfortably with her father, grandmother and two younger brothers while working at a cosmetics factory in Shitamachi. Her boyfriend Michio (Tamotsu Hayakawa) has dreams of landing a salaried position and settling down in the suburbs, but Machiko begins to question whether middle class life will really bring her happiness.Read More »

One morning Jun (Mizutani Yutaka) gets into an angry argument with his father (Uchida Ryohei) over his girlfriend (Harada Mieko) whom his father disapproves of. In a fit of bloody rage, Jun kills his father. He decides to turn himself into the police, but his mother (Ichihara Etsuko) stops him. Eerily calm after the shock, she suggests that they dispose of the body, and then move to another place where no one will know them. When Jun moves the body out of the house, his mother suddenly changes moods again and points a knife at him.Read More »

After moving in to their dream home, newlyweds decide to rent out their second floor to save money. They soon discover the woe of being landlords in director Yamada Yoji’s memorable debut film.Read More »

The story of Thirteen Assassins begins with a vassal of the Akashi clan committing seppuku in front of a daimyo’s house. As it turns out, it’s in protest to his lord raping and killing a girl and her samurai husband. This scandal is quickly covered up as the Akashi lord happens to be the Shogun’s younger brother. What makes matters worse is that this reckless scoundrel will be soon appointed to a higher political position which could prove to be detrimental for the entire Shogunate. In response to that, a plot is hatched: 13 assassins will undertake the suicide mission to murder him on his way back from Edo.Read More »

A man who was once a student activist marries the daughter of the head of a big trust company. He uses his position as an elite salary man to do whatever he pleases. However, a black shadow from his past starts to creep into his life…

This work from Wakamatsu’s early period was considered lost for a long time, but was later unearthed from the storage of the film center in Tokyo’s National Museum of Modern Art.Read More »

Bored with school, 15-year-old Daisuke Kawashima embarks on a pilgrimage to visit the 7,000-year-old cedar tree on distant Yakushima Island. Through his journey, Daisuke meets a number of interesting people, including friendly truck driver Sumire and a mysterious mountaineer girl.
—AnonymousRead More »

A drama about relations between Japanese immigrants and the indigenous Ainu on Hokkaido, the most northerly island of Japan. From a novel by Taijun Takeda.Read More »