Cinema of Japan - A Retrospective
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- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoKippei ShînaRyô KaseThe boss of a major crime syndicate orders his lieutenant to bring a rogue gang of drug traffickers in line, a job that gets passed on to his long-suffering subordinate.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsHiroshi AbeYui NatsukawaYouA family gathers together for a commemorative ritual whose nature only gradually becomes clear.
- DirectorSion SonoStarsTakahiro NishijimaHikari MitsushimaSakura AndôA bizarre love triangle forms between a young Catholic upskirt photographer, a misandric girl and a manipulative cultist.
- DirectorYôjirô TakitaStarsMasahiro MotokiRyôko HirosueTsutomu YamazakiSoon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo learns that his orchestra is disbanding. He moves back to his hometown with his wife, where he answers an ad for what Daigo thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary.
- DirectorHitoshi YazakiStarsChizuru IkewakiNoriko NakagoshiYûko NakamuraStrawberry Shortcakes (2006) is a Japanese film by director Hitoshi Yazaki. The film, based on the Japanese manga of the same name by Kiriko Nananan, concerns the life of four girls, as they deal with their own insecurities while living in the metropolis of Tokyo. This movie ranked 7th Best Film at the 2006 Yokohama Film Festival and got Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography prizes from the same festival.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsYûya YagiraAyu KitauraHiei KimuraIn a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoTadanobu AsanoYui NatsukawaThe blind masseur/swordsman comes to a town in control of warring gangs, and while bunking with a farming family, he meets two women with their own agenda.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsHiroyuki SanadaRie MiyazawaNenji KobayashiAs the feudal Japan era draws to a close, a widower samurai experiences difficulty balancing clan loyalties, 2 young daughters, an aged mother, and the sudden reappearance of his childhood sweetheart.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsMiho KannoHidetoshi NishijimaTatsuya MihashiThree stories of never-ending love.
- DirectorShinji AoyamaStarsKoji YakushoAoi MiyazakiMasaru MiyazakiThe traumatized survivors of a murderous bus hijacking come together and take a road trip to attempt to overcome their damaged selves. Meanwhile a serial killer is on the loose.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsTatsuya FujiwaraAki MaedaTarô YamamotoIn the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill one another under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsRyo IshibashiEihi ShiinaTetsu SawakiA widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoYusuke SekiguchiKayoko KishimotoA young, naive boy sets out alone on the road to find his wayward mother. Soon he finds an unlikely protector in a crotchety man and the two have a series of unexpected adventures along the way.
- DirectorShunji IwaiStarsTakako MatsuSeiichi TanabeKazuhiko KatoIn spring, a young girl leaves the island of Hokkaido to attend university in Tokyo.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoKayoko KishimotoRen ÔsugiNishi leaves the police in the face of harrowing personal and professional difficulties. Spiraling into depression, he makes questionable decisions.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsMasato HagiwaraKoji YakushoTsuyoshi UjikiA frustrated detective deals with the case of several gruesome murders committed by people who have no recollection of what they've done.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsMakiko EsumiTakashi NaitôTadanobu AsanoA young woman's husband apparently commits suicide without warning or reason, leaving behind his wife and infant.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoAya KokumaiTetsu WatanabeSeveral yakuza from Tokyo are sent to Okinawa to help end a gang war. The war then escalates and the Tokyo drifters decide to lay low at the beach.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoMaiko KawakamiMakoto AshikawaA violence prone police officer discovers that his colleague is trafficking drugs.
- DirectorJûzô ItamiStarsKen WatanabeTsutomu YamazakiNobuko MiyamotoA truck driver stops at a small family-run noodle shop and decides to help its fledgling business. The story is intertwined with various vignettes about the relationship of love and food.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiAkira TeraoJinpachi NezuIn Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsKen OgataSumiko SakamotoTonpei HidariIn a poor 19th century rural Japanese village, everyone who reaches the age of 70 has to climb a nearby mountain to die. An elderly woman is reaching close to her cut-off age during her last days with her family.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiTsutomu YamazakiKen'ichi HagiwaraA petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord's double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsTatsuya FujiEiko MatsudaAoi NakajimaA passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
- DirectorToshiya FujitaStarsMeiko KajiToshio KurosawaMasaaki DaimonA strikingly beautiful young woman is trained from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.
- DirectorHiroshi TeshigaharaStarsEiji OkadaKyôko KishidaKôji MitsuiAn entomologist on vacation is trapped by local villagers into living with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChishû RyûShima IwashitaKeiji SadaAn aging widower arranges a marriage for his only daughter.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneEijirô TônoTatsuya NakadaiA crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraKeiko TsushimaFarmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
- DirectorHiroshi InagakiStarsToshirô MifuneMariko OkadaRentarô MikuniDepicts the early life of the legendary warrior Musashi Miyamoto; his years as an aspiring warrior, an outlaw and finally a true samurai.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChishû RyûChieko HigashiyamaSô YamamuraAn old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city, but receive little attention.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsMasayuki MoriMachiko KyôKinuyo TanakaA tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTakashi ShimuraNobuo KanekoShin'ichi HimoriA bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôMasayuki MoriThe rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChishû RyûSetsuko HaraYumeji TsukiokaSeveral people try to talk 27-year-old Noriko into marrying, but all she wants is to keep on caring for her widowed father.