Tsugaru” tells the story of a 100-year-old-diner in Amori prefecture and the family that runs the eatery. Youichi (Shingo Fujimori) is the successor to the family restaurant. He has had clashes with his father over the restaurant as well as a love/hate relationship with the town itself.Read More »
A 48-year-old company chief, Yukihiro Fujiyama (Koji Yakusho) goes to a hospital. There he discovered that he has got terminal lung cancer and will die within half a year. He declines any treatment and decides to go to see some people he has not met for years, to write farewell letters to his family, relatives and friends…Read More »
Etsuko, a female college student, tries to beat the con artists at their own game after she gets scammed one after anotherRead More »
Quote:
On the anniversary of the death of the mother of a hip and happening Tokyo-based photographer, the son returns to his hometown for the funeral. What follows is a return to the past that is more than just a trek home. Old relationships, love, conflicts and memories resurface and collide. Apparently, old perspectives don’t wither.Read More »
Quote:
Directed by the Japanese king of kooky-cool, SABU, Hold Up Down has it all: bank robbers dressed in skin-tight Santa suits, the subway busker that looks like he is straight out of Woodstock, the suicidal church minister-turned-truck driver, a couple of twisted policemen – oh, and a key to a whole lotta cash.
SABU exploded on the Japanese film scene in 1986, first as an actor and later, taking a more firm role behind the camera as both director and scriptwriter with the acclaimed Dangan Runner in 1995. Hold Up Down is SABU’s second collaboration with all-male J-pop group V6 (they first starred in his previous Hard Luck Hero), which serves as a gentle reminder that, in Asia, pop stars who also act can find their CD sales actually increase (as opposed to the norm in this part of the world which seems to have the opposite effect)..Read More »
A man looking to transplant cherry blossoms along the countryside encounters a blind woman who accompanies him for the journey.Read More »