japan: 2000 onwards
List activity
1.4K views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
162 titles
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsKoji YakushoTakayuki YamadaYûsuke IseyaA group of assassins come together for a suicide mission to kill an evil lord.
- DirectorShôgo FuruyaSatoshi KonStarsTôru EmoriYoshiaki UmegakiAya OkamotoOn Christmas Eve, three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo discover a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find its parents.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsHaruhiko KatôKumiko AsôKoyukiTwo groups of people discover evidence that suggests spirits may be trying to invade the human world through the Internet.
- DirectorMamoru HosodaStarsRyunosuke KamikiNanami SakurabaMitsuki TanimuraA student tries to fix a problem he accidentally caused in OZ, a digital world, while pretending to be the fiancé of his friend at her grandmother's 90th birthday.
- DirectorMamoru OshiiStarsMalgorzata ForemniakWladyslaw KowalskiJerzy GudejkoIn a dystopian world, a woman spends her time playing an illegal and dangerous game, hoping to find meaning in her world.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsTeruyuki KagawaKyôko KoizumiYû KoyanagiAn ordinary Japanese family slowly disintegrates after its patriarch loses his job at a prominent company.
- DirectorShunji IwaiStarsHayato IchiharaShûgo OshinariAyumi ItoThe problematic lives of teenager students for whom the singer Lily Chou-Chou's dreamy music is the only way to escape an alienating, violent and insensitive society.
- DirectorTetsuya NakashimaStarsKyôko FukadaAnna TsuchiyaHiroyuki MiyasakoMomoko, a strange and seemingly emotionless girl obsessed with 18th century France, befriends a Yanki biker and the two experience the ups and downs of their unusual lives in a rural Japanese town.
- 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.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsYo HitotoTadanobu AsanoMasato HagiwaraThe story revolves around Yoko Inoue, a pregnant woman in search of a cafe that was frequented by a Taiwanese composer whose life she is researching.
- DirectorSion SonoStarsMitsuru FukikoshiDendenAsuka KurosawaThe lives of a bored suburban couple are changed forever when a seemingly nice old man gives their daughter a job at his fish store, and soon his gruesome hobbies are brought to light.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsTakeshi KitanoRyûhei MatsudaShinji TakedaThe new member of a samurai militia unit causes disruption as several of his colleagues fall in love with him, threatening to disturb the rigid code of their squad.
- DirectorNobuhiro YamashitaStarsBae DoonaAki MaedaYû KashiiA music group of girls need to learn to play a song before the school festival.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsBae DoonaArata IuraItsuji ItaoA life-size blow-up doll develops a soul and falls in love with a video store clerk.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsJoe OdagiriTadanobu AsanoTatsuya FujiTwo young guys work in a plant that manufactures oshibori (those moist hand-towels found in some Japanese restaurants). Their weird bond is based on uncontrollable rage--something neither can articulate or control--and the strange jellyfish that they keep as a pet.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsMasatoshi NagaseTakako MatsuHidetaka YoshiokaA 19th Century samurai, held in low esteem due to an action by his late father, must resolve his history with a maid and with his close friend.
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsMakiko EsumiSayoko YamaguchiHanae KanThe No. 3 assassin of Japan is given the chance to usurp No. 1 and take their place.
- DirectorShin'ya TsukamotoStarsTadanobu AsanoNami TsukamotoKikiAfter a tragic car accident where his girlfriend Ryôko Ooyama (Nami Tsukamoto) died, Hiroshi Takagi (Tadanobu Asano) suffers amnesia with his memories completely blanked. When he sees a book about dissection, he decides to join the medical school with the support of his parents. In the dissection class, his group participates of the autopsy of a young woman, and while cutting apart the tissue, he partially recalls his accident. Later, when he sees a tattoo in the arm of the corpse, he discloses that she was his girlfriend and becomes obsessed to go further in the examination of the body.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsMasaharu FukuyamaMachiko OnoYôko MakiRyota is a successful workaholic businessman. When he learns that his biological son was switched with another boy after birth, he faces the difficult decision to choose his true son or the boy he and his wife have raised as their own.
- DirectorShinobu YaguchiStarsSatoshi TsumabukiHiroshi TamakiAkifumi MiuraIn a Japanese high school, a class of adolescent geeks joins the new synchronized swimming teacher and takes up the challenge to take part in the competition, in spite of the mockeries of the "real sportsmen".
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsHideaki AnnoHidetoshi NishijimaMiori TakimotoJiro Horikoshi studies assiduously to fulfill his aim of becoming an aeronautical engineer. As WWII begins, fighter aircraft designed by him end up getting used by the Japanese Empire against its foes.
- DirectorYôjirô TakitaStarsKiichi NakaiKôichi SatôYui NatsukawaA samurai goes to extraordinary lengths to provide for his family.
- DirectorFumihiko SoriStarsYôsuke KubozukaArata IuraSam LeeAs a child, the introverted Smile was being bullied by a gang of kids until the brash Peco came by and chased all of them away. Peco then takes Smile under his wing and teaches him how to play the game of ping pong. From there, a lifelong best friend relationship comes into existence between these two polar opposite kids. Fast forward a decade later, and Smile and Peco are now about to compete in a high-stakes regional ping pong tournament. While Peco has always wanted to be the best ping pong player in the world, he has never had the drive to fully devote himself to the game. Rather than finding him practicing in the high school gym, you would more often than not find Peco hustling other kids out of money at the local ping pong parlor. This is in contrast with Smile, who has the god-given talents to actually become the worlds best ping pong player but is too humble to destroy his opponents. More often than not, he allows his opponents to win points and even entire games out of sympathy for them. Now these two best friends try to deal with their own inner turmoils as they move further and further into the regional ping pong tournament. Peco has to overcome a knee injury while trying to rediscover the fun aspects of the game of Ping Pong. Meanwhile, Smile now seems to have gained the killer instinct by going through a rigorous training regiment instilled by his high school coach. As the tournament progresses, it becomes more likely that these two best friends will face off against each other in the final match.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsToshiyuki NishidaTomokazu MiuraTakeshi KitanoAs the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsKoji YakushoMisa ShimizuMitsuko BaishôA down-and-out businessman travels to a seaside town, where he meets a woman with unusual sexual powers.
- DirectorNaomi KawaseStarsKohei FukungagaYuka HyyoudoNaomi KawaseThe Aso family live in the old town of Nara. One Day, Kei, one of the Aso's twin boys suddenly disappears. Five years later seventeen-year old Shun, the remaining twin, is an art student. He now has to move forward with his life, together with his childhood friend, Yu.
- DirectorKôji WakamatsuStarsShinobu TerajimaShima ÔnishiKen YoshizawaThe story of a village woman given the grueling task of looking after (and fulfilling the sexual needs of) her quadruple amputee husband, a Japanese soldier in the Second Sino-Japanese War who has been decreed a "War God" by the Emperor.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsTakuya KimuraRei DanMitsugorô BandôA look at the relationship between a young blind samurai (Kimura) and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsArata IuraYûsuke IseyaSusumu TerajimaMembers of a cult, modeled on Aum Shinrikyo, sabotage a city's water supply, then commit mass suicide near the shores of a lake. Family members of those affected by it meet at the lake to observe the anniversary of their loved ones' deaths.
- DirectorIsao YukisadaStarsTakao OsawaKô ShibasakiMasami NagasawaWhile searching for his fiancee Ritsuko, Sakutarou rediscovers through flashbacks the void deep within him caused by the events from his high school days.
- DirectorKôji WakamatsuStarsMaki SakaiArata IuraAkie NamikiThe film outlines Japanese students movements in the 60s, then shows the formation of the Japanese United Red Army, a communist armed resistance group.
- DirectorNaoko OgigamiStarsSatomi KobayashiHairi KatagiriMasako MotaiWhere are we welcome? On a quiet street in Helsinki, Sachie has opened a diner featuring rice balls. For a month she has no customers. Then, in short order, she has her first customer, meets Midori, a gangly Japanese tourist, and invites her to stay with her, and meets Masako, a formal and ethereal middle-aged woman whose luggage has gone missing. The three women work in the diner, interact, and serve customers. A somewhat brusque man teaches Sachie to make delicious coffee, then he returns under other circumstances. Three neighborhood women inspect the empty diner every day; will anything bring them inside? We learn why Sachie serves rice balls; but why Finland?
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsKoji YakushoHiromi NagasakuYûsuke SantamariaHayasaki is an inventor working on an Artificial Body. It is not going well and he is stressed out and on the verge of being fired from the research division of his company. His doppelganger appears to help him out of the rut he has created for himself.
- DirectorRyûichi HirokiStarsShinobu TerajimaNao ÔmoriRiho MakiseAfter meeting a handsome truck driver (Nao Omori) in the midst of an urban mini-mart, a 30-something freelance writer (Shinobu Terajima) embarks on a life-changing emotional journey of sexual self-discovery.
- DirectorYôichi SaiStarsTakeshi KitanoHirofumi AraiTomoko TabataIn 1923, the Korean teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees. He makes fortune, abuses and destroys the lives of his wife and family, having many mistresses and children and showing no respect to anybody. Later he closes the factory, lending the money with high interests and becoming a loan shark. His hatred behavior remains until his last breath, alone in North Korea.
- DirectorDaihachi YoshidaStarsEriko SatôAimi SatsukawaHiromi NagasakuTraumatic incidents, conflicts, and bloody quarrels awaits the Wago family members who return home to bury their parents.
- DirectorToshiaki ToyodaStarsKyôko KoizumiAnne SuzukiItsuji ItaoA family struggling to live together even with the outrageous behaviors from each family members.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsTadanobu AsanoMayumi TanakaChieko BaishôBased on childhood days of Teruyo Nogami.
- DirectorSang-il LeeStarsEri FukatsuSatoshi TsumabukiDendenA young woman's murder provokes reflection on the ugliness and villainy of modern society.
- DirectorJunji SakamotoStarsNaomi FujiyamaEtsushi ToyokawaMichiyo YasudaWith no parents left to keep the peace and order two sisters, who could not be any more different, allow their frustrations and animosity to come to a head.
- DirectorTakashi YamazakiStarsMaki HorikitaHidetaka YoshiokaShin'ichi TsutsumiLeaving her provincial home, teenage Mutsuko arrives in Tokyo by train to take a job in a major automotive company but finds that she is employed by a small auto repair shop owned by Norifumi Suzuki. Suzuki's hair-trigger temper is held somewhat in check by the motherly instincts of his wife, Tomoe, and his young son Ippei immediately bonds with Mutsuko as if she were his older sister. The Suzuki shop lies almost in the shadow of the Tokyo Tower as it rises steadily above the skyline during construction in 1958. Others in the neighborhood also are striving to better themselves as Japan continues to emerge from the shadow of war. Hiromi has just abandoned her shady life as a dancer to start a sake bar. Abandoned by his single mother, young Junnosuke is first handed off to Hiromi but she passes him off to Ryunosuke Chagawa, a struggling writer who runs a candy shop and only manages to sell adventure stories for boys as his serious novels continue to be rejected. Junnosuke is an avid reader of Chagawa's stories and begins to idolize him upon learning about his authorship. Junnosuke also writes stories, and makes friends with Ippei and others when they discover his tales that show Japan in the hi-tech future of the 21st century.
- DirectorHiroshi NishitaniStarsMasaharu FukuyamaKô ShibasakiKazuki KitamuraIt's another battle of the wits for the brilliant but eccentric physicist, Yukawa, and detective, Kaoru.
- DirectorSion SonoStarsIsao NatsuyagiNaoko OhtaniJun MurakamiAn earth-quake causes a nuclear crisis in a fictive Japanese prefecture. In wake of the disaster, the members of the Ono family who reside just outside the border of the mandatory evacuation zone face uncertainty.
- DirectorJun'ya SatôStarsTakashi SorimachiShidô NakamuraKyôka SuzukiThe movie follows 3 Japanese friends from embarking on Yamato, the world's largest battleship, until it's sunk 3 1/2 years later on April 7, 1945 on it's way to Okinawa to stop American advance at the end of WWII.
- DirectorIsshin InudôStarsSatoshi TsumabukiChizuru IkewakiJuri UenoTsuneo is a university student working part-time in a mah-jong parlour. Lately the customers have been talking about an old lady who pushes a baby carriage through the streets. They say she is carrying something for a crime syndicate, and they wonder what it is she has in the carriage. Money? Drugs? One day, the owner of the mah-jong parlour sends Tsuneo out to walk his dog. A baby carriage comes rolling down a hill and crashes into a guard rail. The old lady asks him to look into the carriage, where he finds a young woman clutching a knife. This is how Tsuneo first meets the girl who calls herself Josée.
- DirectorNobuhiro YamashitaStarsKahoMasaki OkadaElisa YanagiWhen eighth grade cool guy Hiromi transfers from Tokyo to a small elementary/middle school with only six kids enrolled, wholesome and honest Soyo becomes enthralled with his sophisticated world.
- DirectorShinji SômaiStarsKyôko KoizumiTadanobu AsanoKumiko AsôA government employee meets a hostess of a "pink club," and together they set out on a journey.
- DirectorKenji UchidaStarsYasuhi NakamuraReika KirishimaSo YamanakaSix months passed and Takeshi Miyata is still depressed after his girlfriend dumped him in a sudden way especially after he bought a big apartment for both of them but in one night after he just finished work his childhood friend.
- DirectorNobuhiro YamashitaStarsKeishi NagatsukaHiroshi YamamotoMachiko OnoTsuboi and Kinoshita have just arrived at a desolate town. Both of them are amateur filmmakers. Tsuboi is a screenwriter and Kinoshita a director. They have come to this town because Funaki, an actor, has tempted them to come here, but he has yet to arrive. Tsuboi and Kinoshita start wandering around the town and happen to meet a young woman, Atsuko. The three of them go on a journey together and become friends. But one day, Atsuko disappears.
- DirectorYûichi SatôStarsShun OguriYûsuke SantamariaKeisuke KoideFive devoted fans of a late idol gather for a commemorative meeting, only to uncover surprising revelations about her untimely death, leading them to question what they thought they knew.
- DirectorKôki MitaniStarsKoji YakushoTakako MatsuKôichi SatôNew Year's Eve at a posh hotel and all should be shipshape. It is not. There is the traditional party, an official ceremony, entertainment and a special dinner planned and yet there is trouble everywhere. An Animal is on the loose, a politician to protect, a prostitute to handle, a bellhop to focus and a few things more.
- DirectorShinji AoyamaStarsTadanobu AsanoKaori FujimitsuEri IshidaKenji, abandoned by his mother, scrapes out a meager existence doing odd jobs including driving bar hostesses and their customers home. Besides this he takes care of the sister of an old friend in jail and a young illegal immigrant. But his life reaches a turning point when he happens to meet Chiyoko, his long lost mother. She is now married to Mamiya, the owner of an express package delivery service. They also have a teenage son, Yusuke. Subdued feelings of alarm, discomfort and resentment between Chiyoko, Kenji, and his half brother Yusuke hide underneath and are seemingly caused by the inseparable blood ties that seem to wield control over everyone's destiny. Is blood that powerful? What exactly defines a mother or a father? While Kenji struggles with these questions and attempts to escape his fate, Chiyoko seems content to let these issues unfold and find a solution. Where will it ultimately lead them?
- DirectorDaihachi YoshidaStarsRyunosuke KamikiAi HashimotoSuzuka OhgoA story about the disappearance of Kirishima, a star athlete of the volleyball club, and how this affects every person in his school.
- DirectorKazuyuki IzutsuStarsShun ShioyaSôsuke TakaokaErika SawajiriKyoto 1968. Several high school students deal with their life as Korean-Japanese trying to earn each other's love and respect. But the times are not kind to them.
- DirectorKôki MitaniStarsKôichi SatôSatoshi TsumabukiEri FukatsuA hustler who gets in trouble with a gang boss in the port town of Sukago agrees to make good with the don by putting him in contact with a mysterious hitman -- an assassin the hustler has no idea how to contact. Instead, he hires an actor to play the role, though the thespian has no idea what he's getting into.
- DirectorKichitarô NegishiStarsTakako MatsuTadanobu AsanoShigeru MuroiThis enticing period melodrama depicts a long-suffering woman's relationship with her brilliant but self-destructive writer husband in postwar Tokyo. Based on a semi-autobiographical 1947 novel by Osamu Dazai, the story centers less on the womanizing, heavy-drinking, suicidal hero than on the wife who loves him.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsSayuri YoshinagaTsurube ShôfukuteiYû AoiGinko seems to be living the good life: She's the respectable owner of a neighborhood drug store in Tokyo, and her daughter Koharu is about to get married to a doctor. However, Koharu's wedding day also brings homes Ginko's younger brother Tetsuro, a failed actor and a hard drinker who shows up causing trouble. Having covered for him all her life, Ginko is ready to disown her burdensome younger brother, but some things are easier said than done...
- DirectorMiwa NishikawaStarsTsurube ShôfukuteiEita NagayamaTeruyuki KagawaA young medical intern student is dismayed when he is assigned to work in a remote countryside village.
- DirectorKenji UchidaStarsMasato SakaiTeruyuki KagawaRyôko HirosueA failed actor switches identities with a stranger at a bath house thinking it is his way out of his life of misery but only to find himself filling the shoes of an elite assassin.
- DirectorTakashi KoizumiStarsAkira TeraoEri FukatsuTakanari SaitoThe story of a single mother housekeeper and a mathematics professor, who has a brain damage.
- DirectorJoji MatsuokaStarsJoe OdagiriKirin KikiYayako UchidaMasaya is going through a period of intensely rebellious behavior. He then learned that his mom has contracted cancer; suddenly, his mother comes to live with him in Tokyo the entire emotional landscape of his life is altered.
- DirectorMiwa NishikawaStarsJoe OdagiriTeruyuki KagawaMasatô IbuOn 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.
- DirectorYûya IshiiStarsRyûhei MatsudaAoi MiyazakiJoe OdagiriMajime, an eccentric man in publishing company, who has unique ability of words, joins the team that will compile a new dictionary, 'The Great Passage.' In the eclectic team, he becomes immersed in the world of dictionaries. But the team is overwhelmed with problems. Will 'The Great Passage' ever be completed?
- DirectorYukihiko TsutsumiStarsKen WatanabeKanako HiguchiKenji SakaguchiA successful businessman's family life is shattered by an early onset of Alzheimer's.
- DirectorTakashi YamazakiStarsShin'ichi HatoriMaki HorikitaFumiyo KohinataChagawa finds it increasing difficult to support his young ward Junnosuke in his store across the street from the Suzuki garage on Third Street. Unless he can provide a better life, Junnosuke's rich father, Kawabata will take him away. Chagawa focuses once again on winning the "Akutagawa-sho" literary award and the prize money coming with it. Mika, a 7-year old relative of the Suzukis is left to stay with them when her father has business reverses. She is accustomed to a richer life style and at first her behavior is very spoiled but is humbled when sees the menial chores that her same-aged cousin Ippei performs. Mutsuko continues to work in the family as a mechanic but has an aspiring boyfriend Takeo, who is studying cooking. Chagawa seeks to find Hiromi, who has become successful once more as the exotic dancer "Betty."
- DirectorYûya IshiiStarsHikari MitsushimaKôtarô ShigaRyô IwamatsuAfter 5 years in Tokyo, 5 part-time jobs, 5 boyfriends, Sawako's life is going nowhere. When her father gets seriously ill she have to take over his struggling factory. Gradually she becomes the decider of her own life.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsIsao HashizumeKazuko YoshiyukiMasahiko NishimuraIn this update of Yasujiro Ozu's "Tokyo Story", a retired schoolteacher and his wife visit their three working children in modern-day Tokyo.
- DirectorRyosuke HashiguchiStarsReiko KataokaKazuya TakahashiSeiichi TanabeSoon after the disparate yet compatible Naoya and Katsuhiro start to settle into a relationship, a slightly unhinged young woman named Asako asks Katsuhiro to father her child.
- DirectorHitoshi ÔneStarsMirai MoriyamaMasami NagasawaKumiko Asô31 years old, broke, single and lonely Yukio encounters four beautiful women suddenly appearing in his life. Will he be able to escape his "Moteki" status?
- DirectorKôki MitaniStarsEri FukatsuToshiyuki NishidaHiroshi AbeWhen a not-so-stellar lawyer is in need of something to help her case she has to rely on an unconventional witness for testimony. Will the court agree to hear testimony from and will the witness appear in the first place? After all, we are talking about a samurai ghost.
- DirectorMiwa NishikawaStarsYûsuke IseyaRena TanakaTakako MatsuAfter losing their restaurant in a fire, a husband and wife come up with a strange plan to rebuild their shattered finances: marrying the husband off to a series of lonely women and defrauding them.
- DirectorAkihiko ShiotaStarsHôshi IshidaMitsuki TanimuraHidetoshi NishijimaBased on the true events of the deadly gas attacks perpetrated by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult on the Tokyo subway system, CANARY tells the moving story of two children, each abandoned by their families, who come together in the wake of the scarring event. Twelve-year-old Koichi has grown up within the confines of a religious cult whose violently instilled dogma has all but destroyed his sense of identity. After a murderous attack, the cult disbands and Koichi finds himself abandoned by his mother and forcibly separated from his sister. To reunite his broken family, Koichi breaks out of the child welfare system and sets off to Tokyo. While on the run, he meets Yuki, a girl desperate to flee from her abusive father. Koichi and Yuki travel together in search of his sister, facing the inevitable troubles of children making their way in the world without the guidance or protection of adults. The separate scars of their pasts cause friction between the two, but their struggles develop a familial bond that allows them to confront both their pasts and the future ahead. Beautiful and poignant, Akihiko Shiota's film illustrates the resiliency of forgotten youth in forging their own destiny from a tragic past. For more information, please visit www.canarythemovie.com
- DirectorTatsushi ÔmoriStarsHirofumi AraiLeona HirotaMegumi Sawara
- DirectorHideyuki HirayamaStarsEtsushi ToyokawaChizuru IkewakiKôji KikkawaA talented but troubled Edo Period swordsman, Kanemi Sanzaemon. Three years earlier, Kanemi killed a woman, Renko, the corrupt mistress of the powerful daimyo Tabu Ukyou. Unexpectedly, Kanemi received a lenient sentence for his crime and is allowed to return to his clan after only one year of imprisonment. Following his return, Kanemi is faced with the death of his wife, Mutsue. Thereafter, Kanemi lives with and cares for his wife's niece, Satoo, who has secret affections for Kanemi and expresses them by helping change his bleak outlook on life. Meanwhile, Kanemi's develops his unique "bird-catching" sword technique which he will soon put to test in battle for the first time against the fearsome swordsman, Hayatonosho Obiya.
- DirectorYoshishige YoshidaStarsMariko OkadaYoshiko TanakaSae IsshikiThree women who share memories of the Hiroshima disaster try to uncover the hidden family ties that may or may not bind them together.
- DirectorShinji AoyamaStarsHaruma MiuraNana EikuraManami KonishiHaving gone through trauma and pain for most of his life a man finds refuse in his camera and the parks and greenery of Tokyo following a recent dismal event. On one such occasion he is approached by a dentist who instead of being anxious about the photographer snapping pictures of his wife hires him for a good penny to follow her as she walks through parks, photograph her and share the pictures. The photographer's personal habit becomes a paid gig.
- DirectorYôichi SaiStarsTsutomu YamazakiTeruyuki KagawaTomorô TaguchiA man serving a sentence in a minimum-security prison. Life in the jail is rigid and organized, eventually leading all of the cell-mates to abandon their individuality.
- DirectorKatsuyuki MotohiroStarsYûji OdaToshirô YanagibaEri FukatsuA special investigative team takes on a strange murder case. As they trace the killer, another murder happens and a witness shows up, making things even more confusing.
- DirectorNobuhiro YamashitaStarsTamae AndôHirofumi AraiHyôe EnokiSome hapless losers are introduced to the results of their stupidity.
- DirectorYûji NakaeStarsNaomi NishidaJun MurakamiTomi TairaThe film tells the story of a small community on a small island in Okinawa, Japan. Especially it focusses on the story of a grandma named Nabbie, but although it's her story told in the film's centre there are some young people, the grand-daughter of Nabbie and a young Japanese who just came to visit the little island. As the film evolves with the more or less ordinary events of the little island's inhabitant's more or less ordinary life, the story behind Nabbie's life gets more and more obvious. It's a surprise to most everyone involved in one or the other way.
- DirectorIsshin InudôStarsJoe OdagiriKô ShibasakiMin TanakaSaori is a young woman who struggles to make a living, with no financial or romantic prospects in her life. One rainy day, she receives a visit at work from a handsome young man called Haruhiko. He claims to be the boyfriend of her estranged father, Himiko, who now runs a seaside rest home for elderly gays. He tells her that her father is dying of cancer. Saori still harbors resentment toward her father for abandoning her and her mother years ago. However, Haruhiko makes her a financial offer she can't refuse, and she agrees to go and work at House of Himiko.
- DirectorSatoko YokohamaStarsKen'ichi MatsuyamaKumiko AsôSeiji NozoeYojin, an eccentric young farmer living in the countryside, falls in love for the first time in his life. Her name is Machiko, she teaches in a kindergarten and is from Tokyo.
- DirectorKazuyoshi KumakiriStarsMitsuki TanimuraPistol TakeharaRyô KaseIn the city of Kaitan, during the winter, the local shipyard is downsized and workers are laid off. Futa (Pistol Takehara) lives with his younger sister Honami (Mitsuki Tanimura). He loses his job at the shipyard and, feeling uneasy about their situation, goes with Honami to see the sunrise on a nearby mountainside for New Year's Day. Makoto (Takashi Yamanaka), a new city hall employee, visits the only remaining house in a redevelopment area. The home belongs to a 70-year-old woman,Toki (Aki Nakazato) who lives with her cat and a few animals in her backyard. Toki refuses to vacate the land and Makoto tries to persuade her that she will be forcibly evicted. 49-year-old Ryuzo (Kaoru Kobayashi) works in a small planetarium, while his relationship with his wife Haruyo (Haruyo Hika) and teenage son is deteriorating. Haruyo finds release by working as a hostess in a cabaret. Haruo (Ryo Kase) has taken over the operation of his father's gas company, but he worries about the state of his business. He also has a strained relationship with his wife, who takes out her anger on their son Akira. Taichiro, a street car driver, spots his son, Hiroshi (Masaki Miura) walking in downtown Kaitan. Although Hiroshi lives & works in Tokyo, he has come back to Kaitan for business. But he doesn't contact his father, even though it is the holiday season.
- DirectorTetsuo ShinoharaStarsRena TanakaMieko HaradaMitsuru HirataSatoka Aida, a 17-year high school student, comes to know that her mothers hospitalization for cancer is disturbing the harmony of her home life. Satoka rarely communicates with her father like in many Japanese families, and without her mother, her relationship with her father deteriorates. Satoka one day finds an unsent love letter written by her mother long ago to her first love. Satoka on reading the letter sets out to fulfill her mothers long lost wish to meet her first love under the Cherry Tree of Wishes in her mothers hometown. But her mothers first love, Shinchio Fujiki is no longer the dashingly handsome young man mentioned in her mothers letter.
- DirectorKazuo KurokiStarsRie MiyazawaYoshio HaradaTadanobu AsanoBased on a play by Hisashi Inoue, it focuses on the sufferings of the survivors of Hiroshima. The film takes place during 4 days in the summer of 1948, as the ghost of her father visits Mitsué (Rié Miyama). He had somehow learned that she has fallen in love, and tries to convince her to start her new life. But Mitsué obstinately refuses his warm and humorous encouragements : « People were killed in my place. I do not have the right to find happiness », she says.
- DirectorKenji UchidaStarsYô ÔizumiKuranosuke SasakiMasato SakaiA middle school teacher, Jinno, is friends with a young couple that is about to have a baby. But on the eve of the birth, the father, Kimura, disappears. Then, a hired private detective appears and ask Jinno's help to find Kimura.
- DirectorRyôichi KimizukaStarsKôichi SatôMirai ShidaRyûhei MatsudaRyoichi Kimizuka's riveting exploration of the Japanese media's feeding frenzy focuses on a15-year-old girl forced into police protection to escape from the journalistic hordes after her brother is arrested for murder. It plays out like a propulsive edge-of-your-seat thriller that's sure to leave you breathless.
- DirectorSetsurô WakamatsuStarsYûji OdaNanako MatsushimaKôichi SatôA group of terrorists has taken hold of the largest dam in Japan. They also capture the workers as hostages, and demanded JPY$5 billion from the government with a 24 hour deadline in exchange for the lives of the hostages. To make things more complicated, there was a snowstorm and no one can get in or out near the area. Fortunately, the terrorists did not capture Togashi, the dam controller, and he is the only person who can rescue those hostages from the terrorists...
- DirectorIsao TakahataStarsChloë Grace MoretzJames CaanMary SteenburgenKaguya is a beautiful young woman coveted by five nobles. To try to avoid marrying a stranger she doesn't love, she sends her suitors on seemingly impossible tasks. But she will have to face her fate and punishment for her choices.
- DirectorMitsuo KurotsuchiStarsSomegorô IchikawaYoshino KimuraKôji ImadaA young swordsman is forced into a tough situation. He must resolve a potential power struggle that involves his adolescent crush Fuku.
- DirectorDaisaku KimuraStarsTadanobu AsanoTeruyuki KagawaRyûhei MatsudaIn 1907, a group of men climb an unconquered peak in the last unmapped region of Japan.
- DirectorShigemichi SugitaStarsKoji YakushoKôichi SatôNanami SakurabaAn army of loyal samurai plot to revenge their unjustly executed lord.
- DirectorTatsushi ÔmoriStarsEita NagayamaRyûhei MatsudaTasuku EmotoIn the fictional Tokyo suburb of Mahoro, Tada Keisuke works as a "benriya" - a general problem solver for hire. One day in January, former classmate Gyoten Haruhiko appears unannounced. Back in their schooldays Haruhiko was a quiet person who rarely talked. Now, Haruhiko is talkative. Both men are over 30 years old and divorced. Without giving an explanation, Haruhiko suddenly asks to spend the night at Keisuke's home. Keisuke turns down Haruhiko, but Haruhiko is persistent and finally Keisuke allows him to sleep over for one night. What Keisuke is unaware of is that Haruhiko plans to stay for more than one night. Eventually, Keisuke accepts Haruhiko as his assistant and they become involved in various cases involving an assortment of people from different walks of life.
- DirectorIzuru NarushimaStarsHiromi NagasakuMao InoueEiko KoikeAfter the collapse of their relationship, Kiwako abducts the 6-month old child of a man she was having an affair with. Raising the child as her own, it is four years before the authorities catch up with her and the young child.
- DirectorTatsushi ÔmoriStarsHirofumi AraiJoe HyûgaMansaku IkeuchiA child's horrific murder brings to light the haunted truth of an affair between her mother and a neighbor. As a magazine reporter investigates the case, he finds that nothing is as it seems.
- DirectorMasahiro ShinodaStarsIain GlenMasahiro MotokiKippei ShînaA foreign spy using the Sorge alias is assigned to Tokyo the capital of Japan just prior to the outbreak of World War II and in the midst of the Japanese imperial ambitions in Eastern Asia. The spy becomes acquainted with a sympathetic communist who like he is attached to the ideals of freedom and rule of the masses. Sorge is able to feed the Soviet Union useful information regarding the Axis allies and their movements in Asia and beyond.
- DirectorHideyuki HirayamaStarsTaichi KokubunKarinaKintarô HaraThe movie revolves around Mitsuba, a teenage boy that studies traditional art of rakugo. Rakugo is a form of comical story telling, sometimes referred to as sit-down comedy. Even though Mitsuba is mediocre at best, he ends up teaching three students.
- DirectorIsshin InudôStarsHidetoshi NishijimaRyôko HirosueTakeshi KagaSpurred by the disappearance of a newly-wed husband, three women in post-war Japan are drawn into a murder mystery.
- DirectorNobuhiro YamashitaStarsMirai MoriyamaKengo KôraAtsuko MaedaKitamichi is a 19-year-old labor worker. He develops feelings for Yasuko who works in a used used bookstore, but he has never had a girlfriend. He also befriends Kusakabe, but jealousy soon threatens their friendship.
- DirectorShûichi OkitaStarsAyumi ItoJun KunimuraGô AyanoWere people's lives changed by having known Yonosuke?