Miyako Yamaguchi

On a cold Monday morning, a group of counselors clock in at an old-fashioned social services office. Their task is to interview the recently deceased, record their personal details, then, over the course of the week, assist them in choosing a single memory to keep ...  (more)

Dark Tales of Japan is a collection of five short horror films that are directed by five notable Japanese film directors, which are told by a mysterious old lady in kimono on a late-night bus traveling on a long isolated mountain road.  (more)

Set at the height of the Japanese student rebellion in 1968, the film tells the story of the friendship between two very different men—a fortyish film maniac who spends nearly all his time at the movies and a 19-year-old going through the final rites of passage ...  (more)

In a small town, high school students in their final year try to balance their studies while also playing together in a rock band.  (more)

Yukio is an ex-farmer working as a dump-truck driver in Kashima. Haunted by the drowning of his two young sons, whose names he has had tattooed on his back in penance, and locked in a sibling rivalry with his traditional but urbane younger brother who lives in ...  (more)

A seemingly "normal" office worker Hiroko has a secret. At home she lives with a prosthetic torso - no head, arms or feet, just body and penis. Hiroko bathes with the torso and she also makes love with the torso at night. Hiroko's secret life is interrupted when ...  (more)

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This is a biographical film about the late Yoko Araki, who was the wife of Japan's leading photographer, Nobuyoshi Araki.  (more)

Sukezo, a farmer manga comic artist, takes up the art rock business by setting up a shop in a shed by the river. He tries hard to be successful, but business does not go well and the family becomes progressively poorer.  (more)

Fifty elderly women are abandoned to die on a snow covered mountain, but instead wor together to build their own village named "Dendera." Some of the women wants to live their remaining days in peace, but others seek revenge against the villagers and their own ...  (more)

Kotaro and Kuroe marry almost immediately in a Christian ceremony and move into an apartment. Life is completely joyous until, one day, Kuroe falls ill.  (more)

Woodwork artist Takumi moves to the small village Asuka in Nara Prefecture. He remodels old homes and lives a peaceful existence with nature. Takumi then meets Kayoko, a woman who went to the same school as Takumi. Kayoko is fascinated with the color crimson. She ...  (more)

Emotionally withdrawn strip club dancer Ayako has never recovered from her mother's suicide when she was young. She begins a relationship with patient potter Daiji, but leaves him behind when she quits her job and returns to her home town after a 10 year absence.  (more)

Kazuya goes to live with his mother Shinobu because his father, Yoshiki, who works in the same company, has fired him according to the company policy regarding redundancy. However, Shinobu soon gets remarried to Sakamoto depriving Kazuya of a place to stay. He then ...  (more)

Yamaguchi, Ichikawa and Kosuge dress in white military-style uniforms to "clean" the streets of Shibuya from bad elements. After rightist gang boss, Aota takes an interest in the three, the boys gradually become influenced by him, but start to go their different ways.  (more)

Junko Miyashita plays a mysterious hitchhiker picked up by a brute of a construction worker named Kenzo who takes her back to his run-down and cramped apartment in a not so good part of town. Claiming that she is running away from an abusive husband, she shacks up ...  (more)

Kazuo encounters a religious group travelling around Japan performing "miracles". He discovers they are fakes, but is intrigued by the showmanship of the group, and becomes involved with them. The group is split into two, some members concentrating on spiritual ...  (more)

The story of a group of artistic people centred around a bar in Shinjuku.  (more)

Asami and Rina are two sisters who are both professional shogi players in the same B League. Both are also unsatisfied with their partners — Asami is in a slump and is danger of slipping into the C League and she blames her husband Kazuya, and Rina is tired of her ...  (more)

Based on a manga written by Tatsuhiko Yamagami, the story is set in a former seaport town Uobuka, where 6 former criminals were sent to live there by the government, with the intention of re-socialising them. Aside from the few who know about the project, the ...  (more)