Japan

When a miner leaves his employers and treks out with his young son to become a migrant worker, he finds himself moving from one eerie landscape to another, intermittently followed (and photographed) by an enigmatic man in a clean, white suit, and eventually coming face-to-face with his inescapable destiny. Hiroshi Teshigahara’s debut feature and first collaboration with novelist Kobo Abe, Pitfall is many things: a mysterious, unsettling ghost story, a portrait of human alienation, and a compellingly surreal critique of soulless industry, shot in elegant black and white.Read More »

Plot Synopsis by Jason Buchanan
A race of malevolent aliens bent on world domination unleash the ultimate weapon of destruction on mankind, leaving them with no hope for survival but the power of the mighty Godzilla. Their galaxy dying, the endangered aliens discover a planet that could save them from extinction if it wasn’t already populated. In order to solve that significant problem, the scheming extraterrestrials construct Mechagodzilla, a 400 foot destroyer of worlds armed with powerful lasers and guided missiles. As Godzilla prepares to face off against his powerful intergalactic doppelganger, the traitorous Professor Mafuni lends his genius to the aliens to create the mighty Titanosauraus. Read More »

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This film depicts the delicate relationship between Keiko, who was born an illegitimate child and was regarded as a problem child at the mission school, and her teacher Mazaki, who understands her, and Hashimoto, a female teacher with whom he has a close relationship. One day, Keiko becomes pregnant, and rumors spread that the partner is Mazaki… A film that gave Toyoda Shiro the opportunity to show his talent in literary works. Later, the film was adapted by Kon Ichikawa, Katsumi Nishikawa, and Keisuke Kawasaki.Read More »

Synopsis:
Desiring another officer’s new wife, a military police lieutenant fabricates evidence of treason that consigns the innocent man to torture and a firing squad. The lieutenant rapes the wife, but is haunted by bad dreams which after he is assigned to a battalion with the victim’s brotherRead More »

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Nine convicts escape from prison; most are convicted murders. They commandeer a van from a strip club. Their plan is to find a stash of counterfeit money that a deranged cell mate told them about, divide it, then part ways. They make it to the site where the money is supposed to be hidden, and then one by one, each seeks out the place he wants to be, a version of home, somewhere to connect. Will it end well for any of them?Read More »

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The film’s main character Rei (Terashima Shinobu)is a freelance writer bombarded by the voices in her own head – her mother’s scolding, the gossip of friends at school, and the voice of her own unrequired desires. Losing sleep and developing eating disorders, and dependent on alcohol, Rei is on the brink of losing her mind.
Then one night, when she stops by a convenience store to purchase alcohol, she meets a long distance trucker (Omori Nao), and everything changes. Mysteriously attracted to this stranger, and prodded by the voices in her head, she joins him in a journey she hopes will eventually be the key to her salvation.Read More »

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A young and almost autistic-acting man arrives in Tokyo and wanders the streets, running afoul of some Yakuza and proving to be more than he appears to be. The young man speaks very little and his favorite phrase seems to be “not needed” and that’s generally in reference to Yakuza. He is taken into this gang and proves that he’s not well balanced by shooting a couple of drug dealers and then makes a pin cushion out of a rival gang leader, so he’s revered by those that he seems to hate, although they’re quite wary of him with good reason. The young man also hooks up with one of the Yakuza babes, maybe she’s a hooker, maybe she’s just a hanger-on, I couldn’t really tell, but somehow they get their mitts on some acid that was taken from the drug dealers that they young man shot and are going to flee to Fiji, but not before they get into skate-boarding some and wander the streets.Read More »

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Set in early 20th Century Japan, the movie follows the adventures of a young man who wants to get into the movie business — but in a job unique to his country: a dramatic narrator for silent movies known as “Katsubenshi” or just “benshi”. Comedy and action ensue as he becomes entangled with competing movie theaters where the crowds are drawn mostly by the skills of the dramatic interpreters rather than the movies themselves.Read More »

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The romantic pretensions of Hollywood to the contrary, love is a very messy business. After all, the other person is a completely separate being, whose independent thoughts, feelings, and experiences cannot be accessed immediately through ESP, whose very actions must always be interpreted through the unreliable filter of subjective impressions. One wonders if we ever really do get to know our lovers.Read More »