Bare Essence of Life
Youjin is a quirky young man living in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Yojin has a difficult time sitting still and can’t focus on extended conversations. His life revolves around farming his…
Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad
Adapted from the bestselling Japanese autobiography of the same title, this gentle coming-of-age drama concerns an adolescent boy, Boku – Masaya, torn between the inherited recklessness of his father Oton…
Hungry Soul, Part II
A continuation of Hungry Soul, from the same year. Reiko, who tolerates abuse in her marriage to a man 23 years her senior, is friends with Mayumi, a beautiful widow….
A Slope in the Sun
The young Takako Kuramoto has come to Tokyo to study and starts working for the rich Tashiro family as tutor of the daughter, Kumiko, while she receives attention from her…
Lullaby to Kill
Kôsuke Kindaichi, a somewhat peculiar private detective, visits a remote town. He meets a police detective and they start to investigate an old unsolved murder. Then some murders happen. Kindaichi…
With Beauty and Sorrow
When the man who seduced the famous painter Otoko as a teenager–and then wrote a bestselling novel about it–reappears in her life, her pupil–and lesbian lover–hatches a plot to destroy…
The Rambling Guitarist
Arriving in the town of Hakodate, a wandering musician, Shinji Taki, is soon recruited by the local gang as a hired hand. However, with the arrival of a sinister gunman,…
The Antique
Shioriko Shinokawa (Haru Kuroki) runs an old book store in Kamakura. She is exceptionally passionate and knowledgeable about books, but shy when not talking about books. She works with a…
Temptation
Shokichi, a shop owner and middle-aged widower, could never forget your first love. The second floor of the shop is an art gallery where his avant-garde daughter and other young…
Youth of the Beast
When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo’s underworld explodes with violence.
Kwaidan
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning “ghost story,” this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in…
The Inheritance
On his deathbed, a wealthy businessman announces that his fortune is to be split equally among his three illegitimate children, whose whereabouts are unknown to his family and colleagues. A…